Craig got home in a bad mood shortly after he had seen the evil marking on the pole. He knew he would not be able to show his concern to his family, but how many bad things can one bear in such a short space of time?
As Craig expected, his family already had supper. Although he had not eaten much the whole day, the thought of food made him a little sick to the stomach. He knew he had lost his appetite the moment he had seen Ferris's hand, and the slaughtered, half-rotten animal mounted on the pole did not make things any easier. He felt a little annoyed for missing out on their casual supper conversation. Not only was it family bonding, but Craig used the invaluable supper time to detect if something was out of the ordinary with any of his family members. He needed those conversations with his children more than ever. Craig was happy to see the TV was switched off. It meant the kids were in their rooms busy with homework. He made his turn in each of their rooms and had a brief chat with them. They all seemed fine. Craig went to the bedroom where he found Sarah in bed with a book in her hand.
'Hey sweetheart,' Craig greeted and sat on his side of the bed. He could feel Sarah's eyes upon him.
'Hi, baby. How was your day?' Sarah asked. Craig sensed sensitivity in her voice.
'God, you don't want to know. One strange thing after another,' Craig sighed.
'What happened?'
Craig gauged his options and knew he had to share the strange events with his wife. He would not be able to handle this on his own. He had to share the load a little. He knew it might upset her and even raise unnecessary precautions, but he did not have a choice anymore. These things had a way of emerging from the dark sooner or later. He would rather share the information with his wife so that she was aware of what was going on in town. At the same time, she could check up on the kids and detect out-of-the-ordinary habits.
Craig signed, 'I'm working with this guy Ferris. He started scratching his hand some time ago. I thought it was a rash or allergy at first. He phoned me one day to tell me that the doctor had booked him off. He did not return to the office today, so I phoned him to find out what the problem was. He only answered his phone in the afternoon despite the messages I left him. When he finally answered, he sounded tired, so I asked him what was going on. He did not want to tell me over the phone, so I went to his house tonight after work. His hand and arm had been bandaged up, but when he removed them, I saw something hideous. I'm telling you, my love, it was something out of a horror movie,' Craig shook his head. 'He had two deep cuts on his hand. One cut went right through. I could see his bones. There was another cut on his forearm. His hand didn't look like that when I last saw him. The smell, oh my God. The smell that came from those wounds was revolting, worse than any rotten meat I ever came across.'
'What's wrong with him?' Sarah frowned.
'This is the weird part. The doctor could not find anything wrong, but he was given a prescription of antibiotics which basically did nothing. Ferris also soaked his hand in antiseptic stuff which did not work either. I first thought it was a bad case of allergies, but that is not the normal allergy you see every day. I knew Ferris was hiding something from me, so I pressed him to talk. He told me something that shook my foundations tonight,' Craig sighed. He looked up from the carpet and noticed grave concern in Sarah's eyes. If he had a choice in the matter, he would have cut his story short, but it would defeat the purpose of him starting in the first place. The only way was to go through with it.
Craig shook his head, 'Baby, the only reason why I share this with you, is because I will not be able to handle all the things that happened since our arrival. Believe me, I would rather keep these things from you, but I need moral support.'
'It's okay honey. No more secrets remember? Tell me everything,' Sarah said. She sat up straight in the bed with her legs crossed underneath the blanket. She touched Craig's shoulder, 'Go on.'
Craig sighed, 'Ferris told me he went to a pub one night, and that's where it all started. He saw a group of youngsters drinking. He had never seen any of them before. When he went to the toilet, one of them was busy smoking drugs, Meth he told me. When he confronted the youngster, he got cursed.'
'Cursed? Come one, how?' Sarah shook her head in disbelief.
'That's what I thought, but there are things going on around here that are far from normal. I mean, there's no docket for the guy we found on the R27. The police phoned me. They don't know anything about him or that specific case. They don't even have a docket for him. There is the missing teacher in the kid's school. I read in the newspaper last week that another child when missing. Ferris said these kids even knew his deceased wife's name which was impossible for anyone to know. He said there was something in their eyes as well, almost like they were possessed.'
'Couldn't they have found information from someone and messed with his head?' Sarah frowned.
'I don't think so. Apparently, the boy said that everything will start with Ferris's left hand. That was just before the itching started. Jesus, and that smell,' Craig grimaced.
'God, that's awful.'
'That's not all my love. I had a long conversation with Brian over the weekend. He told me ugly things of demon activity in Saldanha.'
'Demon activity?'
'Yes, apparently he can see them. Those things,' Craig shook his head.
'Things.'
'Yes. He said they were like balls of black energy. It's a long and sad story, but his whole family had been destroyed by these things. Brian said it all started with marking.'
'You're not making any sense honey. What markings?' Sarah frowned.
'The fence poles of the farm they used to have. The poles were marked by slaughtered animals. The animals were mounted on the fence poles. I didn't want to tell you this before, but I found one of those things in our attic. I removed it and threw it away.' Craig leaned forward and started undoing his shoes.
'Slaughtered animals? God,' Sarah shook her head. 'You found one of those things in our house?'
'Yes. According to Brian, they were like territorial markings. The bad thing is, these markings were spotted just before the bad things started happening. He said we were lucky to have found it because they are usually hidden for a reason. I think we should be safe, but when I came home tonight, I saw something else, and it bothers the shit out of me. I found one of these things on a light pole, just as you enter Saldanha from Vredenburg. This one hasn't been there too long. It started to smell, but it was fairly new. It was a slaughtered cat tied up to one of the poles.'
'Oh my God,' Sarah said, and placed her hand in front of her mouth. 'What do you think that means? Is Saldanha marked?' Sarah's face was pale.
'Don't know yet, but I'll ask Brian. He seems to know quite a lot. Anyway, I want to ask him what we can do with Ferris's hand. Maybe he knows of someone who's able to help. We need to keep an eye on the kids as well. They are most susceptible to these things, especially bad influences.' Craig looked at Sarah and remembered their conversation from earlier. 'You wanted to talk to me about something this morning.'
'Yes, there was a man here today,' Sarah said.
'What did he want?' Craig asked, removing his last shoe.
'Work at first, but I didn't trust him. I just got out of the shower when I heard a knock on the door. He was looking for a small job like working in the garden, so I told him you'll be home for lunch and he should rather ask you. He started asking for money. He was practically undressing me with his eyes, making me feel really uncomfortable. I had a hard time getting him to leave. I slammed the door shut and watched him through the window. He was looking at the house from all angles. I'm sure he was looking for a way in.'
'Fucking bastard,' Craig snapped. His face was red. 'Why didn't you phone me?'
'It all happened so fast. He walked down the street and disappeared behind the houses.'
'What did he look like?' Craig asked with piercing eyes.
'Still young, early thirties, maybe even late twenties. Dark eyes, I remember those pretty well.'
Craig shook his head. 'Next time please call me. I want to make an example of one of these little fuckers. Now he knows you are home alone during the day,' Craig said almost absentmindedly. 'I need to phone a security company for an alarm system. One of those with panic buttons. That will keep you and the kids safe until either myself or the police arrive.'
'Rather sooner than later. That guy really freaked me out. He might be back for more, and I know he's up to no good.'
'I'll give them a call first thing tomorrow,' Craig got up slowly. 'I'm so tired tonight. Time for a quick bath.'
Craig opened the bath taps and dumped his clothes in a bamboo laundry bin. He stood in front of the mirror looking at his face. He looked more tired than he really felt. Was it his age kicking in or was it simply all the strange events from the past few weeks that got to him? Steam from the hot water was building up and soon his face was distorted and faded. Moments before his face was obscured, Craig could have sworn he saw something behind him only for a fraction of a second. Instinctively he turned around, but there was nothing. He had an odd feeling he was not alone. He wiped the steam off the mirror and looked into it again. Only his tired face stared back at him.