by Jack Morley.
‘Ma’am, would you please breathe for a moment.’
‘Sorry, this is just all very overwhelming,’ she says. ‘I’ve never had to give a statement to a police officer, let alone the Sheriff.’ She pulls a tissue from the box sitting on his tidy desk.
‘Just tell me when you’d like me to start recording.’ The Sheriff’s voice is low, like the twang of a bass string.
‘Whenever you’re ready, Sheriff.’ Her voice whines like an untuned viola, with emotion and too much vibrato.
The Sheriff takes a small device from his pocket and lays it on the table. He clicks a button and states into the device, ‘The date is November fifteenth, nineteen-sixty-six, I have with me Linda Scarberry, resident of Point Pleasant, West Virginia.’ He slides the device closer to her, ‘Whenever you’re ready, Ma’am.’ He takes the teapot which sits between them, pours the ochre liquid into a cup and places it in front of her.
‘I really love the winter,’ Linda says, adjusting in her seat. ‘It reminds me of band camp in fifty-two, where me and Roger met. He was a sweet boy back then, short with brown hair. Me and Mary, that’s my girlfriend from back in the day, used to be sweet on all the boys. She ended up with Steve Mallette, he’s a tall glass of water, but he hasn’t got two thoughts in that head of his.’ She takes a tissue and dabs the corners of her eyes.
The Sheriff leans back from the recorder and crosses his legs, peering over his spectacles at her.
‘After me and Roger got hitched,’ Linda continued. ‘You best bet they were soon to follow. The four of us were like a little gang back then. But nowadays we only get to spend time together once in a blue moon.’ She sighs and twists the gold wedding ring around her finger. ‘Ya see, Mary’s got this little one back home, out of state of course. Steve and her were always joined at the hip, they never really had time for me after they started dating. But for once they made the effort for me.’
The Sheriff leans forward and reaches over to pause the recorder.
‘Can we please stay on topic, Ma’am?’
‘Oh, yes. Of course, Sheriff.’ She runs the palms of her hands down her dress to flatten imaginary creases. ‘I do get carried away sometimes.’
He reaches over and restarts the recorder,
‘As you were, Ma’am.’
‘Well, last night was the first time us four had gotten to see each other in a while. Mary and Steve had driven down from Ohio to visit us. Mary looked beautiful as always. It was me and Roger’s tenth anniversary. So, we had a nice meal at the diner and then afterwards we went on to have some drinks. We didn’t have many, just one or two each. Me and Mary drank gin and tonics and who knows what the boys had.’ Linda rolls her eyes and waves her hand over her shoulder dismissing the thought.
The Sheriff taps the top of the recorder, making eye contact with Linda.
‘After dinner and drinks Mary said, “I think we should go to the TNT Area, like we used to when we were kids.” The TNT Area was where they used to test a bunch of those nasty bombs back in forty-five. Us four used to spend so many late nights there, dreaming like kids do.’ Linda looks off past the Sherrif. She blinks suddenly, remembering where she is.
‘The road was wet and shiny from the Chevy’s lights. We drove just out of town for about ten minutes, until the road was surrounded by trees and eventually it became dirt and grass. We parked the Chevy. The mud was sticking to our shoes when we went up the hill that the army men made over the bunker entrance. At the top of the hill, my lovely Roger unrolled our picnic blanket… Oh, deary, we left the picnic blanket!’ Her eyes begin to glaze over with tears.
‘Ma’am, are you alright?’ The annoyance in his voice snaps Linda back to reality.
‘Yes, sorry.’ She wipes away a tear from her eye. ‘Roger unrolled the picnic blanket and we all sat together. We watched the stars and the moon doing their little dance together. Mary used to dance. She was like a graceful duck. I always wished I could dance like she did.’ She plants her fingers on the table waltzing them back and forth like a puppet.
The Sheriff’s eyes narrow before he scribbles something down on his note pad.
‘We sat for maybe half an hour before Mary had the genius idea to go exploring inside the TNT bunkers,’ She continues. ‘Naturally, I objected. But Steve and Roger nagged me to come with them.’ Linda’s lips contort. ‘She always gets her way.’
The Sheriff studies Linda’s face. She sits shockingly still, barely blinking and slowly chewing her bottom lip.
‘We walked down to the grass and Steve got out a flashlight from his coat. Of course, he had a flashlight. Classic Steve. The door to the bunker was a very large, open entryway. The thick metal door hung to the side. We hopped over the door into the bunker. There were cobwebs everywhere, cockroaches, and all those nasty things.’ She shivers. ‘Steve’s torch was the only light in the bunker aside from the occasional crack in the roof. The deeper we went the fewer of these cracks appeared. We walked to a set of stairs that headed downwards even further. We all stopped, looking into the pitch black. Like always, Mary went first, holding Steve by the hand. She stomped down the staircase like an oaf. Me and Roger followed, not wanting to be left in the dark.’ Linda picks up her cup of tea and sips before setting it lightly on its saucer.
‘The deeper parts of the bunker were terribly quiet,’ she continues. ‘Steve’s flashlight was as bright as a summer day. It shone its way around the rubble on the floor and revealed the small critters that had set up shop down there. We eventually came to a large metal door, like the door to the bunker. On the door, there was a sign stating danger do not enter without a permit.’ Linda rolls her eyes. ‘Of course, this sparked Mary’s interest and she immediately pushed on the door. It didn’t budge, but Mary was never very strong, you see. She got Steve and Roger to help her push and together the three of them managed to make a crack big enough for us to squeeze through.’
The Sheriff scribbles something else down.
‘Now Sheriff, this room was something special.’ Linda inches forward on her seat. ‘The room was full to the brim with weird barrels of green fluid and there were these huge metal crates. They had a weird symbol on them, like a skull and crossbones. I think they were like the ones in those pirate films, except with a diamond around them. There was this awful metal stretcher bed in the centre of the room. It had massive handcuffs that looked like they had been broken open, and all over the bed were these long black feathers. They were this big.’ Linda holds her hands up about a foot apart from each other.
‘How interesting,’ the Sheriff says. ‘When the officers inspected the TNT Area, they found no sign of this room.’ The Sheriff flicks through the pad of notes from another detective.
‘Well, I promise you I saw it with my own two eyes Sheriff.’ Linda’s crosses her hands in front of her and turns her nose up. ‘Now the rest of the room had many an interesting thing, but what most intrigued me were the papers. They were covered in strange mathematical scribblings, and some had photographs pinned to them.’
‘What were the photographs of?’ The Sheriff interrupts before she can continue.
‘The ones I can remember showed a tall man covered in those long black feathers. It was hard to make him out, honestly. The pictures were faded, so the main detail I remember were these huge glowing eyes, about the size of apples.’ Linda holds her hands over her eyes like binoculars.
‘What was Mary doing at this time?’ The Sheriff leans forward.
Linda lowers her voice and swivels around, scanning the small room. ‘Mary had walked over to the papers, too. She said something like, “This place must have been some kind of torture room for those Nazis.”’
‘Would you mind telling me what some of the papers said?’ The Sheriff takes his spectacles off and folds them.
‘I’ll try to remember…uhm…It said something like, the test person has begun to develop feathers all over his body, uhm…from his back are the signs of wings growing too.’
‘Any other details you can remember Linda?’
‘Uhm…yeah, of course. There was one more page that said something like, the scientists have decided to call the test person Mothman… I think it’s an excellent name. Also, the test person’s eyes have begun to change. First, they changed colour, red like apples, but now they have begun grow to the size of apples too.’
‘Very interesting.’ The Sheriff scribbles something on the notepad.
‘Mary had an excitement in her eyes that I hadn’t seen in years. She squeezed a handful of papers and said, “I need to tell the news about this place! This could be a huge deal. I could get my name in the newspaper!” She ran to the doorway and called to us to follow her out.’
‘Why do you think Mary wanted to tell the world about your discovery?’ The Sheriff doesn’t look up from his notepad.
‘She wanted to be the centre of attention. She always wanted everyone to notice her and no one else. She always had her name in the school newsletters, and she always got all the praise when half the time she just copied my work. When we left the bunker, Mary still had a bunch of papers rolled up in her hands. She wanted to talk to me alone. She held my hands and said, “I’ve made such an amazing discovery, I could be famous for this.”’ Linda purses her lips before continuing. ‘I got angry at her. I yelled, “It’s not about you!” I’m ashamed to admit I pushed her. The papers fell to the ground, some landing in mud. She scrambled to pick them up. She shouted, “What is wrong with you Linda? You’re just annoyed that I have more ambition than living out the rest of my life in Point Pleasant!” I can’t believe…’ Tears begin to well up in her eyes and she sniffles. ‘I can’t believe…that that’s the last thing she said to me.’
The Sheriff pulls a handkerchief from his pocket and hands it to her. ‘What happened next Linda?’ His voice is low and measured.
‘That creature, that monster from the photographs and papers, it came from the sky. It was, I think seven-feet-tall. It had gigantic wings and those huge red eyes. He came flying down from the sky like a crow. He swooped onto Mary with massive, clawed feet. They dug into Mary’s shoulders. He dragged her to the ground. Oh, it was something awful!’ Linda dabs at her eyes again. ‘The monster, it had a jaw that seemed to unhinge, and it bit down around Mary’s whole head, and it… cracked… I think she died.’ Linda bursts into a cacophony of sobs. She blows her nose loudly into the handkerchief.
‘It’s alright Ma’am. I know you’ve been through the ringer. Maybe we take a break and keep going in a little while.’ The Sheriff’s voice is hollow, but gentle.
Linda wipes away her tears. ‘No Sheriff, it’s alright I’ll finish. The monster, it stole the papers off Mary’s body and took off into the trees. Her neck was so…twisted. I couldn’t even scream. Roger and Steve carried her body. I just stood there. I just watched as they carried her to the Chevy. We tried to drive straight to the station, but as we went we realised we were being followed by the creature.’ She inhales with a shudder.
The Sherriff studies Linda’s expression through narrowed eyes. ‘Try to breathe Ma’am.’ He inches his chair towards the table and holds out his hand for Linda to hold.
Linda takes his hand and slows her breathing.
‘Roger stomped on the gas. We were on Ohio River Road, a long strip of straight road so we could go flat out. Even though we sped up, the monster began to gain on us. Suddenly, I felt something thud on the roof of the boot. I saw the monster begin to tear into the Chevy through the roof, making its way towards Mary. It had these clawed hands too, and it clawed me as well… look!’ Linda moves and pulls up her sleeve, revealing three symmetrical slash marks on her upper arm.
The Sheriff leans over her outstretched arm and inspects the shallow cuts.
‘The monster was almost on top of Mary,’ she continues. ‘But I noticed she still had a single sheet of paper clenched in her hand. I grabbed it and threw it at the monster’s face. It flew past it, and those huge red eyes followed, darting around to track it. The monster launched itself out of the back of the car. It flew with great speed, but we kept driving, and we didn’t stop until we reached the station.’ She sighs. ‘And now I’m here.’
‘Well, Ma’am. Your story is something interesting indeed. Are you sure that you came straight from the TNT area to the station?’
‘Yes, of course.’ Linda withdraws her hand from the Sheriff’s and adjusts her seating, sitting up defiant.
‘We spoke to Mr Mallette an hour ago, as you know. But I’m afraid to say that Steve has given us a different story all together.’
‘Oh, really?’ Linda furrows her brow. ‘That’s odd. What did he say?’
‘He told us that when you push Mary, she hit her head against a tree. He said you killed her.’ The Sheriff stands up and walks around to Linda. He takes the handkerchief out of her hand and places it on the table.
Her face fanes confusion. ‘Why would he lie like that?’ She glances around the room, looking towards the closed door which is maybe five paces away from her chair.
‘Don’t.’ The Sheriff asserts, placing a hand on her shoulder.
Linda’s face contorts into a mix of rage and fear. Her fingernails dig into the table turning her knuckles white. ‘Steve Mallette!’ She slams a fist into the table. ‘I told him to his mouth shut. We could have been happy Steve… just us…’
The Sheriff pulls Linda’s hands from the table and gets her stand. He twists her hands behind her back, and she feels cold metal and something tightening around her wrists. When they click, she realises the Sheriff has handcuffed her.
‘Linda Scarberry you are under arrest for the murder of Mary Mallette.’