The Cheating Zone 05: Linda

"Where are we going?" she asked.

"Home," the man said gruffly.

"But this isn't the way home, J.D.," she said. The man looked at her, his face contorted into an evil smile.

"Who's J.D.?" he asked. "My name's Daniel. Surely you remember me? You're even wearing the same dress you had on that night in the barn." Linda's eyes grew wide and she screamed.

"No! It can't be!" she exclaimed. "You're dead. You can't be here."

"You're right. I am dead. Have been for years. And you will be too, soon," he said. "Remember what Elder Thomas told you when you got tested? If you survived the test you would have proven yourself to be a witch from Hell and you would be burned or hanged. Well, you're still alive, so you seem to have survived the test."

"No, this can't be for real," she said.

"It's very real, my dear. It's just a shame that you're married to my descendant. You have disgraced my family with your wicked ways and that cannot stand," he said. "Don't worry, though. Prudence has found a much better replacement for him from her family tree. They will live a long, happy life with many children and the family line will continue."

"You're crazy," she said. "Stop this car right now and let me out."

"Or what?" he asked. "Ah, we're almost there. I promise your death will be quick, although your punishment will be eternal. Once you're gone, Prudence and I will be released from our earthly bonds and will spend our eternity in heaven." He smiled and looked at her. "Goodbye," he said before he pressed on the gas pedal and disappeared.

Linda felt the car swerve and looked out the front just in time to see the giant boulder. She gasped and tried to open the door, but couldn't. In a second, the car slammed into the boulder, slamming her head into the windshield, knocking her out. The passenger side air bag never deployed. The force of the impact smashed the engine and caused the gas line to break. Soon, the gas erupted into flame and the tank eventually exploded. Within minutes, the entire car was engulfed in fire, killing the single passenger.

...

J.D. finished the re-enactment that afternoon and was frustrated that he never heard from the hospital. He called and was told that his soon-to-be ex-wife had already been discharged.

"Dammit, why didn't someone call me?" he asked the woman on the phone.

"I'm sorry, sir," she said. "Our records show that Mrs. Wilcox was driven home by her husband."

"What?" he asked. "This IS her husband. I never drove her home. Who drove her home?"

"I'm sorry, sir, that's what our records show," she said. J.D. ended the call and considered the situation. Maybe a friend or one of her lovers took her back to the house, he thought. He jumped in his truck and headed home, thinking he would confront Linda and whoever it was that picked her up.

As he pulled into his driveway, he was surprised to see that her car wasn't there. Maybe she left a note or had already left to stay with Julie. He went into the house and found everything just as it was when he left that morning. There was nothing to indicate that she had ever been there, no note, nothing. All of her things were still in the closet, which meant that she hadn't shown up to pack. He called Julie and explained the situation.

"That stupid bitch. I'm so sorry, J.D.," she said. "I haven't heard from her for several days. I'll call around and see if anyone knows anything. If I hear something, though, I'll let you know."

"Thanks, Julie, I appreciate that," he said. He turned on the television and noticed there was a "Twilight Zone" marathon playing. Again. He enjoyed watching the show, but had hoped there would be some news.

...

Jake rounded a curve and was close to the old settlement when he noticed smoke billowing on the road ahead. Looking closer, it appeared that someone had taken the curve too fast and ran off the road. He hoped no one was hurt.

He called dispatch, reported the sighting and asked for a fire truck and an ambulance. It seemed this section of the road was getting a bit popular. As he got closer, though, he noticed the license plate.

Pulling off the road behind the burning vehicle, he looked again and confirmed it - this was the same car they pulled out of the settlement. He called for an ambulance, grabbed a fire extinguisher and got out of the cruiser.

He walked around the front of the car and saw the entire front end was smashed in. He tried to put the flames out but his extinguisher was no match for the fire. Looking closer at the car, he saw one charred, burning body in the passenger seat. The airbag had not deployed on that side, but the driver's side bag had deployed. There just wasn't any driver in the seat. He looked around, but the only tracks he saw on the ground were his. What the fuck, he thought to himself.

By now, a fire truck and an ambulance had arrived on the scene. Jake stepped back and let the firefighters do their job. Soon, the blaze was out and Jake was able to confirm there was only one person in the car, and there was almost nothing left of the body. Unable to do anything for the passenger, the medics called for a coroner's van and returned to their base.

Jake knew in his mind who the victim was, but he was mystified - who was the driver and where did he or she go?

He sat back in his cruiser and began his report. Looking up, he saw what he thought was a ball of light quickly moving from the driver's side of the car, in the direction of the old settlement. No fucking way, he thought to himself.

He made a call.

...

J.D. was sitting in his recliner looking closely at the pictures on Linda's phone when he heard a knock on the door. Opening it, he saw Julie, Linda's half-sister. He invited her in and noticed how much she resembled the blonde woman in Linda's pictures. Could Julie be a descendant of Prudence Wilcox, he wondered. The similarities were far too striking to be discounted as a coincidence.

"Have you heard the news?" Julie said, flipping her long blonde hair back. J.D. shook his head. Julie turned up the volume on the television.

"This just in," the announcer said. "A car burst into flames after running off state highway 5 outside Centerville. It appears the vehicle struck a rock at a high rate of speed, causing the car to burst into flames. Authorities say they cannot locate the driver, but were able to identify the passenger, who appeared to be the only person in the vehicle. According to state police, the person was found here in this area just a few days ago and was just released this morning from St. Michael's Medical Center where she was treated for burns and trauma. It's not known why the car was back in the area and police say they are asking the public's help in locating the driver. More on this story at 11. Stay tuned to Eyewitness News."

The newscast ended and the marathon continued. J.D. and Julie looked at each other, astonished. His cell phone rang and he answered it.

"Mr. Wilcox, this is Trooper Patterson. We met at St. Michael's Hospital. Can I ask you a couple of questions about your wife?" he asked. J.D. put the phone on speaker so Julie could hear the conversation.

"Sure, officer. I've got her half-sister here and the phone on speaker so you can talk to us both," J.D. said.

"Good, that'll save me some time," Jake said. "Do you know when your wife was discharged from the hospital? And did you pick her up?"

"No, officer, I was hoping to have heard from the hospital but never did. When I called, they said that her husband had already picked her up, but I never saw her and I was never at the hospital," J.D. said.

"Do you know who might have picked her up?" Jake asked.

"No, sir, I don't," J.D. said.

"Where were you this afternoon?" Jake asked.

"I was at the re-enactment all day today, officer. There's a hundred other re-enacters who can verify that plus several hundred other people who watched us," Jake said. "I called the hospital and they told me she had already been picked up so I came home to see if she was here."

"Okay, Mr. Wilcox. Listen, I'm sorry to say that your wife was killed in an accident on state highway 5, near the old settlement where she was found the other day. Please accept my condolences for your loss," Jake said.

"Thank you, officer," J.D. said.

"Listen, there's going to be an inquiry on this so we'll need you to be available, okay?" Jake asked.

"Sure, officer, anything I can do," J.D. said. They ended the call and Julie collapsed in his arms, crying.

"Oh God, J.D., I'm so sorry," she said. He hugged her tight and tried to comfort her as best he could.

"It's okay, Julie, we'll get through this," he said. They felt a cold breeze go through the room and looked around.

"Did you feel that?" Julie asked. J.D. nodded his head.

"Yeah," he said, noticing the book was opened to the pictures of Daniel and Prudence Wilcox. Strange, he thought. That book was closed when Julie knocked on the door. They both looked toward a darkened area of the living room and saw two mostly transparent figures that looked like younger versions of the couple in the paintings.

The man wore the uniform of a Continental Army officer, much like the one J.D. had on while the blonde-haired woman was arrayed in a long elegant dress similar to the one in the painting.

Both of them gasped, more from surprise than fear. Oddly, they weren't scared and felt as though they were in the presence of family. The two figures said nothing but smiled and nodded their heads in approval. As suddenly as they appeared, they disappeared and the temperature in the room went back to normal.

They looked at each other for a moment, realizing the similarities between themselves and the two figures they saw earlier. Could it be real, they each wondered. They both suddenly felt an urgent need to kiss the other and were soon embracing each other passionately.

As they broke the kiss, J.D. pulled out Linda's phone and showed Julie the pictures from the settlement. Julie gasped as she recognized the two characters. Then they looked at the pictures of the paintings in J.D.'s book. J.D. already knew, but slowly Julie realized that they each were in fact, the descendants of the two last survivors of the raid on the old settlement.

They sat down on the couch, still in shock at the afternoon's events.

The Twilight Zone episode that was playing ended and the scene shifted to a grim-faced man wearing a suit, holding a cigarette in one hand.

"It's been said that time heals all wounds," the man said. "The final execution of a 250-year old sentence handed down to Linda Wilcox, an adulterous wife marked for her sins long before she was born, was carried out today on a lonely country road next to the ruins of a settlement whose residents are nearly completely forgotten. A sentence that can only be executed in... the Cheating Zone."

The man smiled, winked and took a long drag off his cigarette.

Fade to black...

Note: In early Puritan settlements in North America, those found guilty of adultery were sometimes branded with an "A" on their chest. Other crimes, like drunkenness, warranted a "D," and so on. Branding was even done by the Union Army during the Civil War.

The practice of "dunking" as a test for witchcraft was also carried out by many societies until sometime in the 18th century. It's generally believed that those convicted of the "crime" of witchcraft were burned, and many were in Europe, however, of the 19 people convicted of witchcraft in the Salem witch trials, none were burned, but were hung. In this regard, I took a bit of artistic license...