Cassandra's Well

Amber's phone vibrated loudly on her nightstand, waking her from a dream she'd been having about her crush at school. Annoyed, she tried holding onto the dream but it melted away as her phone continued its incessant vibrating. She cracked one eye open and squinted in the morning light shining in through the window, then reached over to look at who was calling. Yawning, she answered, "What's up Becky?"

"Did I wake you up? It doesn't matter," she continued, not letting Amber respond, "you've got to come with us!"

"Come where?"

"We're gonna go to the old Miller place tonight and chill, have a few drinks, talk to the ghosts, you know, fun stuff!" Becky laughed. "Jason thinks that he's gonna get to scare us but we're actually going to scare the shit out of him instead! So yeah, we gotta set things up before we go. Can Tyler come too?"

Sitting up, Amber scooted up against her headboard and positioned a pillow behind her head. "You know he'll come. He's got the biggest crush on you. He just won't admit it," she laughed quietly.

"Don't tell that to Jason!" warned Becky.

"What, do you think I'm stupid? I don't want that idiot getting all jealous and going crazy on my brother. What do you see in him anyway?"

"He's not that bad, he's actually pretty sweet."

Amber rolled her eyes. "So, this is a Halloween prank on him?"

"Yeah. I overheard him and Austin talking about trying to scare us there so I thought we could do it first."

"When do you wanna go? Tyler's great at setting that kind of stuff up."

"Let's do it after lunch. We're not supposed to go to the Miller place until it's dark, so we'll have lots of time to do whatever we're gonna do. Austin's going to bring that bitch too, so it's gotta be really good."

"Who, Jessica?"

"Yeah," Becky said.

"I hate that bitch. She's the one who narced Tyler out for his weed. Why's she coming? I thought everyone hated her."

"She's been following Austin around like a lost puppy and I think he got sick of her trying to act like she's his girlfriend so he offered to let her come with us."

"Then why are we trying to scare Jason? Let's do it to her instead."

"Because he's doing this in order to freak us out and we can't let him get away with that! Her coming with will just be a bonus treat for us."

Someone knocked on Amber's bedroom door, "Hey you up yet? Get your lazy ass out of that bed already! Dad's making breakfast."

"Fuck off, Tyler! I'll get up when..."

Her father, Mike, opened her door and scolded her, "Don't use that language in this house toward your brother, young lady. Now get off that phone and come join us for breakfast. Socialize with your family for once!"

"Sorry Daddy, I'll be right there. Just let me get dressed real quick." After her door closed, she started talking to Becky again, "Sorry, I gotta go eat. I'll text you when we can go."

"Okay. Make sure Tyler brings his spooky gear."

"The ghost-hunting crap?"

"Yeah, that."

Tyler shouted through her door, "It's not crap, Amber!"

"Oh my God, are you still outside my door you freak? Get away from my door!" Amber shouted. "I'll talk to you later Becky. I have a twin to kill." She disconnected the call and pulled on yesterday's pair of sweats she'd left on the floor before going to bed.

Opening her door, she yelled, "I'm going to kill you! You know I don't like it when you listen to my conversations!"

"Will the two of you keep it down? I have a headache and you're not making it any better!"

"Sorry Daddy," Amber said, meekly.

"Sorry Daddy," Tyler imitated, earning him a punch in his shoulder from her. "What about my gear?" he asked as they walked into the dining room.

"I'll tell you later," she whispered, "I don't want Daddy to get mad."

Their father sat at the small card table they used as a dining table, three plates already set and filled with steaming pancakes. "Sorry I got in late last night. I was out with the guys. You'll have to watch yourselves again tonight though 'cause I'm going to watch the game at Bill's place."

Amber and Tyler exchanged a quick look. They both knew that what Mike actually meant that he was going to go drinking and would probably stumble in and pass out on the couch again. "Well actually Daddy," Amber began as she took a bite of her pancakes, "Tyler and I were gonna go out tonight."

Tyler glanced at her, puzzled, but she quickly shook her head at him and continued, "We were gonna go to a haunted house for Halloween, if that's okay with you?"

"Sure, no boys though. Either of you."

"I'm not gay, Dad!"

"If you say so, little buddy. It's all good, you don't have to hide it from us," Mike joked. He'd convinced himself that his son was gay and tried too hard to let Tyler know that he was not homophobic.

Tyler's face turned beet red as he fumed. Nothing he said ever seemed to convince his father that he wasn't actually gay and it grated on his nerves. Changing the subject, he asked, "Did you sign my slip yet? I have to turn it in on Monday."

"What slip?" Mike asked.

"The one for the trip to the planetarium on Friday."

"Doesn't that cost money? We don't have that much to go throwing around, Tyler." Mike said, his mouth half-full.

'But we have enough for you to drink away,' Amber thought, bitterly. "It's okay, Daddy. I've got enough for both of us. We just need our slips signed please." She widened her blue eyes as she said 'please'.

It worked; it always worked -- she knew how to manipulate Mike when she wanted something. That was a talent her brother never seemed to be able to master. "I'll sign them today. Where are they?"

"On the counter, Dad," Tyler said.

"Okay. I'll sign them. Just be careful what you spend your money on."

Finishing her pancakes, Amber stood and put her plate into the sink. "I'm gonna go shower. Becky wants to meet us after lunch."

"When will you be home?" Mike asked Tyler, who looked at his sister quizzically.

"Probably not until late, Daddy. Haunted houses don't open until it's dark out," she answered.

"Okay, but you call if you need me to pick you up."

'Yeah right, you're probably gonna be too drunk to drive by sunset.' "Okay, we will Daddy." She hurried back to her room and grabbed her bathrobe. As she gathered the items she needed for her shower, Tyler knocked at her door.

"Hey, can I come in?" he asked.

"Yeah, it's open."

Tyler slipped into the room and quickly closed the door behind him. "What's up? Where are we going and why wasn't I consulted? Maybe I already had plans."

"You didn't have plans, you liar. All you do is sit at your computer looking at ghost hunting stuff!"

"Maybe that was what I had planned," he retorted.

Amber rolled her eyes, "Whatever," she said, "besides, what we're gonna do will fit right in with that anyway! Becky wants us to go set some things up at the Miller house to scare Jason, Austin, and Jessica."

Tyler's face darkened at the mention of Jessica. "I don't want to be anywhere near her. I almost got arrested because of her!"

"You almost got arrested because you had weed on school grounds, you mean."

"No one would've known if she hadn't said anything about it!" He grew angry as he argued his position.

"Chillax! I'm just fucking with you. Yeah, she's gonna be there and this is the perfect time to get back at her for what she did. Jason and Austin think they're going to scare the poor helpless little girls, but we're going to scare them instead! So I need you to put all your stuff into your backpack so we can set something up at the house."

"The Miller house?" Tyler chuckled. "We won't need to set anything up there because that place is haunted as fuck already."

"That's what everyone says, but come on now. There's no such thing as ghosts."

"It's not just ghosts that live there. There's a demon or two too." Tyler raised his voice as his excitement grew; he'd been wanting to check out the abandoned house on the outskirts of the woods but no one ever wanted to go.

"No such things as demons, you gullible idiot." Amber threw her towel at him. "Now, will you get out of my room so I can go take a shower?"

"There are so demons!" Tyler argued. "I'm going to take Mom's cross with us just in case one tries to possess one of us."

"Get. Out!" Amber demanded, pushing her brother toward the door.

"Yeah, that's what they're probably going to say once we go inside!" Tyler joked as he left the room.

"Whatever!" She closed her door behind him then went into the bathroom they shared between their rooms. Turning the shower knob, she waited for the water to steam before stepping into the tub. Their house's water heater was old and always took a long time to heat the water, so she usually tried to shower before her father and brother. The hot water felt great on her skin as she leaned her head back and smiled. Today, she decided, would be the start of something new for her. What that was, she didn't yet know.

"Hey Amber?" Tyler called from the other side of his door, "When you're done, come to my room. I pulled up the history of the house and it's really interesting. We can use that to help set up whatever you and Becky are gonna do."


#
Wrapping a towel around her hair, Amber stepped out of the shower and pulled on a pair of shorts and a t-shirt before knocking on Tyler's door. "Come in," he called.

"Hey, you said you found something?"

"Yeah, check this out." Tyler stood from his chair and invited her to sit. He pointed at a Wikipedia page loaded on the screen.

"How come you didn't know about this before?" she asked as she sat. "You're all into this ghost stuff. I would've thought you'd already know it."

He shrugged. "Never really thought about it. Check it out."

❊ ❊ ❊

Miller House (Candle Cove Haunting)
The Miller House is an allegedly haunted house located in Candle Cove, Georgia. Originally built in the early 1800s by Thomas Wayne Miller, an infamous slave owner who built a reputation for cruelty toward his slaves. The antebellum style house was constructed on a 10 acre cotton plantation. It was later abandoned by the Miller family after Thomas was hanged for the murder of his 13 year-old daughter, Cassandra. Today, the original acreage remains in the Miller family, but the land has since been reclaimed by the nearby woods.

Disappearance and Murder of Cassandra Miller
Rumors persisted among Thomas' slaves for over a decade that he was practicing a form of witchcraft, but none of the white families in the area were inclined to believe stories told by slaves. Still, they must have held some level of suspicion toward him because he was the first suspect in his daughter's disappearance.

Neighbors noticed that she was no longer attending church services sometime in the middle of September, 1824, and when pressed Thomas replied that she was visiting family members in nearby Atlanta. When a badly beaten slave escaped the plantation and was captured, he told a horrifying story of human sacrifice committed by Thomas Miller. Local authorities dismissed the claims until they noticed blood stains on Thomas' shirt when they returned his slave to him.

Their suspicions aroused, they inquired as to Cassandra's whereabouts. His response, unknown to this day, swiftly resulted in a massive search of the property for the missing child. Her decapitated body was discovered at the bottom of a well at the back of the house. A newspaper article of the discovery recounted Thomas' "mad ravings" and described him as a "lunatic who swore poor Cassandra was possessed of a demon until he swung in the wind." Her missing head was never located and is assumed to be buried on the property.

Abandonment of the House
After the execution of Thomas Miller, his family name was tarnished and his surviving relatives sold his slaves and allowed the house to sit empty. Once every few years, a family member came to check on it and to make sure no one was squatting on the property. As the home decayed and the land grew fallow, rumors began to circulate that the house was haunted by both Thomas and his murdered daughter. The number of reported sightings increased around the time of All-Hallow's Eve (known today as "Halloween").

While the house remains standing and still belongs to the descendants of his relatives (he has no direct descendants), no one has lived in it since 1824. The doors and windows are boarded up and locked to discourage anyone from entering the dilapidated structure.

Allegations of Witchcraft
The only people who accused Thomas Miller of practicing witchcraft were his slaves, who were victims of his exceptional cruelty. While no written record of his interest in the occult exists, he was well known for whipping the people he kept enslaved and he took exceptional pleasure in beating young children who were not given his permission to be born. The surviving slaves swore he studied ancient spells and even went as far as to write particularly interesting ones down in a thick tome he kept hidden. No such spell book has ever been located, and the veracity of these claims is doubtful.

❊ ❊ ❊

"That sounds awful," Amber said.

"Yeah it does, but that's the kind of place that's definitely going to have ghosts!"

"Did you ever see any there?"

"No but I never went on Halloween! Maybe that's when they come out. We can print this out and use it to, you know, 'set the mood' when we go there."

"Yeah that's great and all, but Becky's going to expect us to really do something. Not just tell ghost stories. Besides, they've lived here their whole lives so they probably already know what happened."

"What if we found her head?"

"Whose head, Becky's?"

"No, stupid! Cassandra's! It's probably down the well."

"What the fuck would we do with her head?" Amber asked, disgusted. "Even if we found it, which we won't, it'll be all gross and nasty!"

"No it won't because it's been almost 200 years. It'll just be a skull by now. Any flesh would have been rotted off by now. If we take a rope and a flashlight, I can climb to the bottom and look around."

Amber rolled her eyes at her twin. "It'll be full of water and disgusting."

"And if it is, I just won't go down. It can't hurt to go look. That could be part of what we do to them tonight."

"Whatever. Why don't you get in the shower before Daddy uses all the hot water?" she suggested as she stood up to leave.

Tyler nodded blankly as he sat down and looked at the Wikipedia article. "I wonder if there's more to the story," he mused. Amber sighed and walked back to her room.

'Why did I get stuck with the weird brother?' She sat on her bed and unwrapped the towel from her hair to finish drying it when her phone vibrated. Glancing at it, she saw several missed text notifications from Becky.

"What's up?" she texted.
"Nm, getting ready. Wbu?"
"Just got out of the shower. Tyler found a creepy story about the house."
"Cassandra's Well?"
"Yea, he wants to climb down to see if he can find anything."
"U no her head is missing?"
"Yea, that's one of the things he's hoping to find. Fucking weirdo."
"What if he does? Their some creepy things about that house."
"*There are."
"Wutever. When ru guys coming? Meet us at my house."
"In a while. Tyler's in the shower."
"Ok. We gotta do it quick bcuz Jason & Austin wanna hang out b4 we go to the house tonight."
"Ok. Maybe Tyler will pretend to be a ghost or something."
"Jessica is scared of zombies. Tell him to be a zombie."
"It's a haunted house Becky, not The Walking Dead. Haunted houses have ghosts."
"So? She's a stupid cunt who won't know the difference anyway."
"Yea you might be right about that. But it won't scare the guys."
"Good point. We gotta think of something good."
"We will. I can't wait until..."

A knock at Amber's door interrupted her. "Come in Daddy!"

Mike opened the door and leaned against the doorjamb. "I signed your slips for you guys. Don't spend anything on junk."

"We're not little kids anymore Daddy, but okay we won't."

Mike stared at her bedroom window before continuing, "I know things have been tough since Mom died..." he trailed off.

'Yeah and your constant drinking doesn't help much either!'

"I know Daddy. But really, Tyler and I will be okay. For real." She looked away as she said it.

Mike closed his eyes and exhaled slowly. "If there's anything I've done that made things worse..."

"No Daddy, it's okay. Really," she lied.

Mike knew his daughter was lying, trying to spare his feelings. He knew his drinking had gone out of control over the last year, but didn't know how else to cope with his wife's sudden death. He'd realized some time ago that he was an alcoholic like his own father had been. Correction: not like his father; Mike didn't abuse his kids like his father did. Yet, he worried that he might one day lose control and step over that line, and he didn't know how he'd live with himself if that ever happened.

"If you guys need me to pick you up..."

"We'll be okay Daddy. Please don't drive anywhere tonight."

Amber's words cut deeper than she'd intended and she saw the pain in Mike's eyes as she said them. "You're right, honey. You two guys go have fun. I won't go anywhere, I promise."

"I'm sorry Daddy, I didn't mean..."

Mike entered the room and gave his daughter a kiss on top of her head. "No, honey. You did, and you're right. I love you and we'll see you tonight."

"I love you too Daddy."

Mike closed the door behind himself and Amber felt awful. He always managed to make her feel guilty for his drinking and she hated him for it. "Damn it," she said softly. Her phone vibrated again.

"U there?" Becky texted.
"Yea, sorry. Daddy was at the door."
"Is he gonna let u guys go?"
"Yea that's no problem. He offered to drive us back home."
"No offense but fuck that shit. I'm not getting in a car with him."
"We don't either lol. I think he's gonna stay home so maybe we can take the car."
"You don't got your license yet tho."
"So? He won't notice if he's passed out on the couch drunk."
"And my mom says you're a bad influence."
"Whatever, Becky! I was a little angel before I met you."
"Yea right. Ur forgetting that even the devil was an angel."
"Are you going to bring anything tonight?"
"Yea my camcorder. I'll tell them its to record the ghosts but it'll really be to record them act like babies when we scare the fuck out of them."
"Can you bring the rope from your boat?"
"Y?"
"Tyler wants to use it to climb into the well."
"Have u seen the well? Idk what we could tie it to bcuz the wood is all rotten."
"Nope, we've never been there. You?"
"Hell yea! I used to break into the house when I was little. Thats y they won't be able to scare me. It's all just stories."
"LOL! And I'm the bad influence? Really?"
"Ok maybe its me but I don't see u complaining."
"Nah. Hey, I gtg. Tyler just stopped his shower and I gotta do my hair still. We'll see you at your house soon."
"Ok see u then."
#
Amber knocked loudly on her bathroom door. "Hey you in there! Hurry up! I need to use the bathroom!" The click on the other side let her know that Tyler unlocked the door. "Thanks," she said as she entered.

"You could've said please, you know," he retorted.

"Maybe if you put some clothes on, I would."

"What? I've got my towel on."

"Ew. Just get dressed already. Can you drive us? Daddy might let us take the car."

Tyler gave her a look. "Yeah right. Like that'll happen. Are we talking about the same man here?"

Amber pushed her brother toward his door. "Just get dressed and try to get the keys, okay? He said he's not leaving tonight so he's probably already drinking. And if we have the car then he won't be able to drive it drunk again."

"I shall work my magic, milady!" Tyler gave her an exaggerated bow as he backed out of the bathroom.

"You're so stupid! Just do it already," she laughed in spite of herself. Closing the door, Amber started getting ready.

A few minutes later, Tyler tapped on the door and said, "I've got them. Dad actually said we could take the car as long as I'm careful."

"That's weird."

"Yeah, I know. But hey, we've got wheels tonight! Are you almost ready?"

"Just a few more minutes."

"You've been in there for an hour!"

"I have not! It's only been like five minutes, asshole!" she shouted.

"Well, with you it feels like an hour."

"It'll be longer if you don't go away and let me finish!" She waited a moment for a response and finished putting her make up on.

❊ ❊ ❊

Twenty minutes later, they knocked on Becky's front door. A little girl opened the door and wrapped her arms around Tyler's leg. "Tyler!" Becky's younger sister screamed. The seven year-old had a crush on him and was always happy when he came over with Amber.

"Hey there, little Munchkin. What's up?"

"I'm not a munchkin, I'm Cala!" Cala corrected him.

"Oh, sorry Cala, my bad. What's up?" he asked as they entered.

"I got a rabbit! His name is BB! Wanna see him?"

"Maybe you can show him later, okay? We gotta go now," Becky said as she gently peeled her sister's arms from Tyler.

"Aw but they just got here! It won't take long, I promise! He's out back in his hutch!" she pointed toward the large bay windows that looked out on their large lot.

"Sorry, Munchkin. Later, I promise." Tyler said. He looked at Becky and blushed as he quickly glanced away.

Becky ignored it and put her arm over Amber's shoulder as she guided them out the front door. "Let's go get it set up." She turned her head and called into the house, "We're going now Mom! I'll be home later."

"Okay, have fun with your friends!"

In the car, Amber asked, "What did you tell her we were doing?"

"The truth, that we were going to a haunted house for Halloween. I just didn't say which one." Becky grinned coyly.

"Hey do you have that rope?" Tyler asked. Amber had let him in on their conversation on the drive over.

"Oh yeah, I almost forgot! Hold on a minute." Becky darted out of the car and into her backyard. A couple of minutes later, she returned with a length of rope, neatly coiled over her shoulder. Tossing it into the seat next to her, she said, "This should be long enough, I hope. You're really gonna climb down the well?"

The tires squealed on the asphalt as Tyler pulled away from the house. "Yeah as long as there isn't any water at the bottom. How deep is it?"

"I don't know really. I never looked inside it because it's all boarded up. I don't know what we could tie the rope to though."

"Tie it around a tree. There are a lot of trees around the house so there should be one close enough to the well."

"Oh yeah I didn't think of that. What're you gonna do down there?"

"I was thinking that I could look to see if there's a skull or anything down there that we could use."

"Why would there be a skull down there?" Becky asked innocently, winking at Amber when she glanced back.

"Oh, didn't you hear?" Tyler's excitement grew at the prospect of being able to tell a story. "There was a girl two hundred years ago who was murdered and they found her body in the well but not her head. Her father decapitated her and no one's ever found her head, so I thought that maybe it might still be down there. It could've been missed if there was still water in the well when they pulled her body out. If it's still there, then we could just position it somewhere. I brought some mini glow sticks that we could put inside and make it look like the eyes are glowing."

"You're twisted," Amber said, disgusted, "that's someone's head. How would you like it if someone did that to your head in two hundred years?"

Tyler chuckled, "I'd think it was funny. Hell, if I could haunt my head I'd even help them."

"Yeah and Hell is probably where you're going to end up."

Rolling his eyes, Tyler said, "Don't make me turn this car around!"

"Who are you? Daddy?"

"Guys!" Becky interjected from the back seat, "can we stay on the subject? I think that's a great idea, Tyler. Cassandra might think it's funny too."

"Oh," Tyler's dejected sigh let the girls know he realized he'd been fooled. "You already knew the story."

"Of course I did, dummy. I grew up in this shit town. Everyone knows the story. You've only been here like a year or something. But I still think it's a great idea. Jason and Austin are going to try spooking us with ghost stories tonight and they don't know you're coming. So we could really turn the tables on them, especially if you do find that head. We should give it a proper burial afterward though..." she trailed off.

"We will. We can bury it with the rest of her."

Becky looked surprised. "You know where she's buried?"

"No, I thought you did."

"In the old cemetery probably, but I don't know where in it. We could ask someone though. But not tonight! It's just too creepy to be in a cemetery on Halloween night."

Amber said, "I think that's the best time to be in a cemetery. I love that creepy stuff."

"No you don't," Tyler said, "you always give me a hard time about it."

"That's because that's all you ever talk about! It gets boring."

Tyler drove in silence the rest of the way to the Miller house, feeling slightly affronted by his sister's casual dismissal of his interest in the paranormal.

"I'm sorry," she said softly as they pulled up to the old wrought-iron gate.

"It's whatever. We're here. How do we get inside?" he asked Becky.

Becky pointed at the gate, which was chained shut. "We can squeeze in through there, or we can hop the fence by that tree. I always squeezed in, but that was when I was little. It might be easier to hop the fence now."

The gravel crunched underneath their shoes as they climbed out of the car. Tyler closed his door quietly so as not to attract unwanted attention while Becky and Amber let their doors slam loudly shut. "Shhh!" he hissed.

"Who's going to hear us out here? We're out in the middle of nowhere."

"I don't know, maybe hunters? The owners if they're here? Maybe the ghosts?"

Amber patted his shoulder. "We're fine. Let's get over that fence." They quickly walked toward the tree Becky pointed out and found that a couple of branches grew through the bars in such a way that they made a sort of natural staircase.

"Well that was easy!" Tyler said.

They climbed a short rise in the front yard. Becky explained, "Yeah, the Millers don't want anyone on the property but they don't go out of their way to stop anyone from getting on. I don't think anyone's been by here in years actually. The well is in the back of the property, close to the wood line. Did you know this used to be a slave plantation?"

"Yeah I read about that this morning," Tyler said.

Amber stopped suddenly and stared at the house. "Are you sure that there isn't anyone here Becky?"

"I'm pretty sure. I'm sure there would've been a car parked over there. Why?"

Amber pointed at a second-floor window. "Then who's that up there?"

Tyler swung his head and stared intently at where Amber pointed. "I don't see anyone there."

"She's right there! You don't see her?"

Becky squinched her face as she tried to see through the distant dirty glass. "I can't see anyone either."

Tyler dropped his backpack and started rummaging through it and pulled out a small device with a gauge on the face, and switched it on. "This is an EMT meter, and it'll be able to tell us if there's an anomalous electromagnetic field up there. Maybe it's Cassandra's ghost!"

Amber couldn't hold it in any longer and burst out in a guffaw. "I didn't see anyone up there. I was fucking with both of you."

Becky shoved her friend in the shoulder with mock anger. "You're supposed to be on our side, not Jason and Austin's!"

"Maybe, but it was funny!" She continued laughing as Tyler glared at her.

"Let's just go to the well, okay?" He threw his backpack over his shoulder and started walking toward the back of the house.

"Oh my god Tyler! Can't you take a joke? I'm sorry!"

"It's whatever," he shrugged.

Amber looked over at Becky dejectedly. "Maybe you're pushing it a little too far," Becky whispered. "He really believes this stuff, I think. Maybe be a little nicer to your brother?"

"Yeah, maybe. But we always mess around with each other like this."

"Well, boys can be stupid. They're really the emotional and irrational ones, if you stop to think about it."
#
The trio rounded the corner and looked around. The back of the property was spacious and overgrown with weeds. Century-old trees, their thick branches still dropping dried leaves, stood in the distance. Having been left undisturbed for so long, they had effectively turned the plantation into a small, dark forest. A few adventurous saplings grew tentatively closer toward the house.

Tyler spotted the well first -- nestled in a small clearing just inside the wood line, it was difficult to see. "There it is," he said, pointing at it.

They hurried over to the well. Becky pulled her jacket closed as they approached. "It's getting chilly," she complained.

"Yeah, it is. I'll try to be quick." They stopped a few feet from the old stone well and examined it. The well itself stood about four feet tall, the circular walls formed of stones that had been cut to fit into each other. Its opening, which was covered by rotting planks, looked to be about five feet in diameter. A patch of bare brown dirt surrounded the well.

Shivering, Becky said, "Hurry up. It's getting colder."

Tyler stepped into the bare dirt and gave the planks a firm shove; they slid easily over the stone. "Give me a hand, will you?" Becky and Amber positioned themselves on either side of him, and began pushing the wood off. One of the planks crumbled and fell into the well.

The well now uncovered, Tyler opened his backpack, took out a halogen lantern, and peered into the depths. He leaned over to cast the light deeper into the well and caught a glimpse of the bottom about thirty feet below. "It doesn't look like there's any water down there. I'm gonna go in. Amber, could you tie the rope to that tree over there?" he pointed at a nearby cedar.

Becky grabbed the rope from her friend, saying, "I'd better do it. I tie my dad's boat to the dock all the time when we go out to the lake."

"Okay, but make sure you tie it good. I don't want to have to explain to Daddy why Tyler's got a broken leg."

"Yes ma'am!" Becky saluted before bursting into laughter. She hurried to the cedar and secured the rope around a large branch, tugging on the line to make sure it was tight. "It's good, Tyler!"

Tyler threw the other end of the rope into the well and climbed over the top. "Be careful, you butthead!" Amber warned.

"There are a lot of footholds in here, I might not even have needed the rope. I'm gonna climb down," he said as he did just that. Slowly he climbed down the stone wall and marveled at how easy it was to climb without the rope. A few minutes later, he was at the bottom. Looking upward at the disc of daylight, he called up, "I'm gonna have a look around but I need the light. Toss it down here."

"Okay, watch out!" Amber said. She reappeared a moment later with the lantern. "Here, catch it!" She held it above Tyler and let it drop once she was sure he was ready.

"Got it!" he said. Turning it back on, he shone the lantern around the damp ground. A musty smell permeated the small space and the ground was littered with bones of small animals that had fallen through the gaps between the planks. Using his feet to move the litter around, he searched for any sign of a skull, but found none.

"Did you find anything?" Becky's voice echoed off the stone walls.

"Not yet!" The white light glinted off a small object wedged between the well wall and the dirt floor. Tyler knelt and took a closer look at it. It was mostly covered in dirt so he gently dug it out. Gasping in surprise, he dropped it and fell back onto his rump. It was a ruby ring, still attached to a finger bone. Regaining his composure, he picked it back up and examined the bone. Amazingly, three of the bones making up the ring finger remained attached to each other. The metacarpal bone looked like it had been snapped off the hand to which it once belonged.

"I found a ring! I'm going to keep looking to see if her head is still down here!" he called up, but leaving out the bit about the finger bones. He figured he could tell them about that once he was back on the surface. Tyler moved the lantern slowly around the well, taking his time to examine the ground carefully. Finally, satisfied that there was no skull to be found, he gazed up the wall to see if he could climb up the same way he'd come down. He spotted what looked like deliberate hand holds going up about halfway. Tying the lantern to the end of the rope so they could pull it back up, he started his climb up.

"Be careful!" Amber shouted. "You should use the rope!"

"You don't have to shout. I can hear you just fine down here, and it looks like whoever dug this well designed it to be climbable." Tyler quickly reached the halfway point where the hand holds ended and glanced around to see if there were others. He spotted an outcropping about a foot above his right shoulder and took hold of it. No sooner than he started pulling himself up on it, the stone pulled free and plummeted to the floor below. He snatched the rope and ended up swinging in midair before he stabilized himself.

"Tyler!" both girls shouted.

Taking a deep breath, he began climbing up the rope when he spotted something inside the hole left behind by the stone. Curious, he peered inside and found a dirt-covered book. "I found something!" he said, excitedly.

"What is it?" Becky asked, intrigued.

"It's a book. It looks old. I'm going to bring it up but I need my backpack. Can you drop it to me? I'll try to catch it."

"Okay, hold on." Becky dropped his backpack and he caught it with his free hand.

"Got it!" Bracing his legs against the opposite side of the well, Tyler reached into the hole and slid the old book into his backpack and slipped it over his shoulder. Taking one final look inside the hole, he checked to see if it contained any other secrets. Seeing nothing, he began climbing and pulled himself out of the well.

"Let's see it!" Becky said excitedly.

Tyler removed it from his backpack and set it on the ground. Becky wiped the dirt off the leather cover which had strange symbols embossed into it. "What kind of writing is that?" Amber asked.

"I don't know," Tyler said, carefully opening the book. The pages were filled with more of the symbols, all hand-written in faded ink. "These pages feel strange. They're not paper."

Becky ran a finger over a page. "Yeah, I think they're vellum."

"What's that?" Amber asked.

"It's a type of paper that they used to use but it's made from animals instead of trees," Becky said. "I think it's supposed to last longer than regular paper."

Turning the pages slowly, Tyler said, "Well, this book must've been in there a long time so yeah it definitely does last longer."

Amber's eyes widened suddenly. "Oh! You don't think that this might be that spell book, do you?"

"It might be," Tyler said slowly, scrutinizing the symbols in the book. "You know, I think these might be runes." He pointed at a large symbol at the top of one page, centered by itself. It consisted of a long vertical line with two shorter diagonal lines at either end and vaguely resembled an 'S'. "I've seen this one somewhere before."

Becky pulled out her phone and launched her browser to run a Google search. Almost immediately, she said, "I found it! This is the rune of immortality." She began reading, "The name of the rune, Eihwaz, refers to the yew tree, which also itself refers to Yggdrasil, the world tree. Yggdrasil connects and nourishes the nine worlds, while the yew tree is revered as a symbol of immortality. Eihwaz's energy can be used to make a fresh start and is symbolic of death and rebirth. But be warned that you should only use Eihwaz if you are completely ready to start a new life."

A smile grew on Tyler's face. "Hey... if these are all runes, I bet we can learn how to pronounce them and use the book to scare them since I couldn't find the skull. Make up some story about the book, read the runes, and then I'll climb out of the well like that girl from The Ring."

Becky laughed, "Your hair is long enough for that. Just make sure it's wet so it covers your face."

"That's kind of lame, but it sounds fun," Amber said. "We should do it when the moon is up tonight. Isn't it supposed to be a full moon?"

"Oh yeah! Yeah, that's even more perfect," said Tyler. "Look, you guys sit in a circle here and make sure that your backs are to the well so that they have a front-row view of me climbing out of the well. I'll wait a minute after you finish reading this page before I climb out."

"How come?" Becky asked, puzzled. "Why not right away?"

"Because it'll help build the suspense. You just finish reading it and then nobody say anything. It'll be dark, the moon will be out, crickets should be chirping... it'll be eery as fuck. Then I moan and groan and climb out, and they piss all over themselves trying to get away."

"Why do I have to read it?"

"You found the page about the rune."

"I don't want to read it. It's kind of creepy in a way," Becky demurred.

Amber rolled her eyes. "Whatever! Show me how to say the runes and I'll read it."

They sat down and examined the runes in the book and compared them to those on the webpage. They all appeared to have counterparts on the webpage with phonetic translations. "We're going to need to print this out. There's no way I can remember how to pronounce all of these."

"We could go back to my house, type it up on the computer and then put the printout inside the book. That way it'll look like you're actually reading the runes as long as you hold the book so they can't see the pages." Becky suggested.

"That's a great idea," Tyler said, "We've still got lots of time so let's go do that now. Then we'll come back here and hide the book somewhere so that you can "accidentally find it" tonight."

Becky grinned at her friends, "I like how you two think when you're getting along. You're both as demented as I am and I love it!"

"We're not demented, we're just crazy!" Amber cackled evilly.