Dr. Barnes stood over the dead body, peering down at the corpse that was missing both its feet and left hand. He drew the severed wrist toward his face to get a closer look at the jagged edges of bone and muscle, just freshly cut by what looked like an ax.
As the county coroner, he’d been tasked with determining the cause of death. That would be simple enough – shock and blood loss due to severed limbs.
But could he conclude this man, barely out of his teens, had severed off his own feet and hand? That question weighed over him. In all his 30 years as a coroner, Dr. Barnes had never seen a case quite like this.
Just then, he heard the morgue’s front door open and close. He glanced up at the clock – 11:40 p.m. It could be only one person - his new assistant, a college student, Dan Ivy, who hoped to attend medical school to become a coroner.
While Dan had been in the part-time position for only a month, Dr. Barnes found him to be invaluable in his assessment that was eclipsed only by his good company.
Dr. Barnes waited until Dan hung up his jacket and put on his medical coat. The rubber in Dan’s new gym shoes squeaked across the linoleum floor as he headed into the main room where the autopsy was performed.
“Got some new bodies for you,” Dr. Barnes said. “Pretty gruesome. Probably the worst case I’ve ever seen. Good chance for you to learn for med school.”
“Why are you the only one here?” Dan said.
“No one else is scheduled today,” Dr. Barnes said. “Maternity leave and vacation, so it’s just me. Out of nowhere, we’ve got this tragic case. I came in as soon as I found out about it. Sometimes you get that call as a coroner, and you’ve got to come in. Thanks for coming in too. I know it’s off hours, but I do need your help with this, and I think you’d learn a lot too.”
Dan looked down at the dead body.
“I heard about it on the news,” Dan said. “But I didn’t believe it. A satanic ritual? Is that right?”
“Take a look at this young man,” Dr. Barnes said. “What do you see?”
Dan peered down at the severed hand, leaning over it like he didn’t want to come closer.
“You can touch it. Don’t be afraid,” Dr. Barnes said. “Now look at the feet.”
“What feet?” Dan said.
Dr. Barnes placed a bag of two feet onto the table.
“Did he cut his feet off himself?” Dr. Barnes said.
“Night of the Witch,” Dan said.
“Excuse me.”
“That’s who they were trying to stop,” Dan said. “That’s what I heard, at least. How many people died?”
“Four in total.”
“Every 100 years, she comes back. For revenge,” Dan said. “For a body.”
“Who comes back?” Dr. Barnes said.
“For revenge,” Dan said.
“Don’t bore me with your nonsense.”
“It’s the town’s folklore,” Dan said. “I’m just the messenger.”
Dan fumbled with his cell phone until he found the webpage he was looking for. \
“Right, it’s all here,” Dan said. “I was right. It says the winter witch returns every 100 years to this town on the anniversary of her death on what’s called the Night of the Witch. And that’s tonight.”
“I do not believe in fairytales,” Dr. Barnes said. “Neither should you.”
“She’s looking for a body to take as her own so that she can live again,” Dan said. “But you have to stop her, or else she returns and destroys the entire town. Kills everyone in it. I guess they hung her a few hundred years ago.”
“Huh,” Dr. Barnes said.
“I don’t believe it,” Dan said. “Not one bit of it. But some do.”
“Don’t get me wrong, Dan,” Dr. Barnes said. “Your information is good to know because what could’ve happened is someone is using the story to cover up these murders.”
“Murders?” Dan said. “These wounds look self-inflicted to me.”
Just then, Dr. Barnes’s cell phone rang. He noted the number came from Sgt. Welles, who was assigned the case.
“Any luck, Doc?”
“Hold on,” Dr. Barnes said. He turned to Dan with the phone still cupped to his ear.
“Dan, can you continue here?” Dr. Barnes said. “I’ve got to take this in my office.”
Dr. Barnes headed to his office on the other side of the building.
“Just started. Will be done in probably two hours.” Dr. Barnes said. “I’m going to my office right now because I’ve some paperwork I want to go over with you.”
“I’ve something weird to say,” Sgt. Welles said.
“The Night of the Witch.”
“How did you know?” Sgt. Welles said.
“My assistant Dan here says there’s some folklore going around town,” Dr. Barnes said. “Night of the Witch. I told him maybe someone is covering up murders tonight.”
Dr. Barnes opened his office door and closed it behind him.
“I don’t want Dan to hear this. He’s just an intern, and I know this is a sensitive case.”
“Among the belongings of the deceased, did you find an amulet?”
“A what?”
“Amulet – you know, like a big shiny thing on a chain.”
“Necklace? I went through everything, but I’ll look again,” Dr. Barnes said. “Why? Is it valuable? Was this a theft gone wrong? Is that what you’re thinking?”
“Like I said, I got something weird here,” Sgt. Welles said. “I got these two people with me at the crime scene – a young man, like a teenager, and a former cop, who’s a private investigator. They investigate supernatural occurrences. I know. I was skeptical too, but I’ve seen too much tonight. The PI tells me we’re all in danger – everybody in the town.
“Do you think they had anything to do with this?” Dr. Barnes said.
“Nah, out-of-towners. Alibis tight,” Sgt. Welles said. “But they seem to know so much about it, especially this kid. He’s asking about the amulet. He says he needs it to send the witch back. I know it sounds crazy.”
“It’s not here. I would’ve seen it. But just in case, I’ll keep an eye out for it,” Dr. Barnes said. “What does it look like?”
“Let me put you on the phone with Chance. He’s that young man who works with Detective Tyler, a former officer, now a paranormal private investigator. Hold on,” Sgt. Welles said.
Dr. Barnes heard a rustling on the other end of the phone.
“Hello, sir, my name’s Chance. Thanks for talking to us,” Chance said. “Simply put, we need the seven-point amulet. We can’t stop what’s happening without it.”
“It’s not here,” Dr. Barnes said. “I assure you.”
“You can’t miss it. Circular. Size of a half dollar,” Chance said. “Gold inlay denoting the seven points of the netherworld above an emerald, ruby and diamond colored crystals.”
“Not here,” Dr. Barnes said. “I would’ve seen it in their belongings that came in.”
“Can you check again?” Chance said. “Please, it’s so important.”
“I appreciate the concern, but we’re thorough here,” Dr. Barnes said. “I’d have seen that. I also have to tell you I’m a bit skeptical of your story.”
“Dr. Barnes, I’m passing the phone to Tyler,” Chance said.
“Dr. Barnes, it’s Detective Vanessa Tyler. I know what you’re hearing from Chance sounds crazy, but I swear it’s not. I used to be as skeptical as you, but I got my head turned around. That’s why I wanted to talk to you. You must believe us. We don’t have much time and lives are in danger.”
“I don’t know what kind of game you’re playing, but it doesn’t matter anyway because it’s not here,” Dr. Barnes said.
“It’s not at the crime scene because I’m here,” Tyler said. “It’s not in the vehicle that brought the bodies to the morgue. It can only be in one other place. That’s with you. It must be somewhere hidden.”
“I went through it myself. It’s a comprehensive search. I must log all the items. All the pockets were emptied.”
“Your life is in danger,” Tyler said.
“Is this a joke?” Dr. Barnes said. “Did Sgt. Welles put you put up to this? Tell him it’s not funny. Four people are dead.”
“No one would ever joke about that. I wish it were a joke,” Tyler said. “So please listen. If it’s with you, and I think it is, she’ll try to retrieve it. If she gets it, she’ll kill everyone in town.”
“I’ll look again, OK?” Dr. Barnes said. “In fact, I’ll have my assistant Dan go through it right now, and if we find it, we’ll call you back. I’ve Sgt. Welles number in my contacts.”
After he hung up, Dr. Barnes dashed through the hall, making his way back to the morgue to look for Dan.
“Dan, you will not believe this,” Dr. Barnes said as his voice echoed off the ceiling. “We need to look for of all things a witch’s amulet. I know it’s crazy. Don’t ask. Sgt. Welles says it’s essential, so let’s humor him. Might be key to determining the cause of death. He says it must be here. I looked through the clothes and cataloged them, but could you…”
As Dr. Barnes rounded the corner, instead of seeing his medical assistant where he’d last left him, he found an empty room.
“Huh?” Dr. Barnes said. “Dan?”
He went to the back of the morgue room, lined with empty, silver metal corpse tables, looking for Dan, but couldn’t find him.
“Must be in the bathroom,” he muttered.
Dr. Barnes put the cell phone back in his pocket and picked up a scalpel that he’d left on a nearby tray. Then, he turned on the recorder to begin the autopsy report.
He stared at the muscle and bone of the severed limbs.
Just then, Dr. Barnes received a text message: “Hi, it’s Chance. We just spoke. Here’s my cell phone if you need to call me. Please be careful.”
Dr. Barnes stared at the message until he felt his mouth go dry. He jammed the phone back into his pocket.
“Dan, you there?” Dr. Barnes yelled. He craned his neck, hoping to hear anything in the hollow halls of the morgue. He put the scalpel down on the tray.
“Dan!” Dr. Barnes said. “Where are you? If this is a joke, it’s not funny.”
“Dan!” Dr. Barnes yelled again, but he only heard the echo of his voice bouncing off the barren walls and ceiling.
Dr. Barnes pulled out his cell phone and dialed the number.
“I don’t know why I didn’t think of this before,” Dr. Barnes said.
Dr. Barnes heard the muffled sounds of a phone ringing behind him. Staring at one of the blank walls, Dr. Barnes lowered the phone to his side. He rotated his head toward the sound, spotting the silver metal drawer where they kept the bodies. The ringing stopped, and it went to voice mail.
Dr. Barnes took a step toward the drawer and then another and then another until he stood before it. The sound of the building fans whirled around as the fluorescent lights hummed overhead.
He pursed his dry lips and drew a stale breath. He dialed Dan’s number again. The phone went off as if it was inside the morgue drawer. It rang over and over again as Dr. Barnes stared at the cold silver metal drawer. Then finally, it went to voice mail. Dr. Barnes stood there for a moment, staring at the barren handle.
He reached out, grasping the handle with his right hand. He stood there for a moment, simply looking at his hand holding the cold metal in his grasp. As he finally pulled back, he felt the heavy weight of a body inside. When the drawer opened, Dr. Barnes saw Dan lying inside.
Dr. Barnes stared into the dark pits that once held his eyes, Rivulets of blood had streamed down his face on all sides, and Dan still held the stained red scalpel that had excised his eyes from his skull.
The coroner felt his knees buckle, causing him to lurch back. His chest beat so loudly he could almost hear it in his ears.
Dr. Barnes bolted out of the room, down the hallway, heading to the front door. He tried to push the door open, but it wouldn’t budge. He tried again and again, but nothing worked. He threw himself against it finally, but it still wouldn’t open.
Just then, the overhead florescent ceiling lights flickered off and on until they went out completely, as Dr. Barnes stood in near darkness.
Movement down the hall caught his attention. Dr. Barnes suddenly felt cold as he could not look away at what laid at the end of the hallway. A silhouette of a naked woman stood before him, simply staring like a lion about to eat its captured prey.
“Hello?” Dr. Barnes said, lifting his glasses to get a better look. The woman stood there, unmoved as if she never heard him at all. Moonlight from the outside window illuminated her outline, but he couldn’t see her face clearly. A lock of her hair fell off her shoulder down to her waist.
Dr. Barnes backed up against the door, trying it again, even though he knew it wouldn’t open. He steadied himself as his right foot caught on the utilitarian grey carpeting he’d walked over hundreds of times before during the decades that he’d worked there.
Just then, the fluorescent light flickered for a second, allowing him to see her face. He’d seen her before, just moments before, lying on his morgue table. She was one of the four bodies – all dead.
Dr. Barnes bolted to his left running down another hall, heading to his office. Then, he opened the door and closed it behind him, locking himself in. He shut the light off, leaving him in near darkness, except for the meager moonlight streaming in the one office window.
He dove under his desk, waiting for her to find him. Even though, it was dark, he could see light coming from under the door. Under the door, he spotted a shadow of two feet standing there. He heard the jiggling of the door handle and the turning of the knob that he’d locked just a second before. Afterwhile, she walked off, leaving Dr. Barnes alone in the dark.
Dr. Barnes fumbled with his pockets, retrieving his cell phone and dialing it until he heard it picked up.
“The winter witch!” Dr. Barnes whispered into the phone as his hand shook.
“Excuse me?” Chance said. “Is this Dr. Barnes?”
“She’s here,” Dr. Barnes whispered.
“Who’s there?” Chance said. “Dr. Barnes?”
“Give me the phone, kid,” Tyler said.
“She’s here with me,” Dr. Barnes said. “She killed my assistant.”
“Give it to me now,” Tyler said.
“She ripped his eyes out,” Dr. Barnes said.
“She can’t… what do you mean?” Tyler said. “Are you safe? Where are you?”
“I found him in a morgue drawer where we keep the dead bodies. My assistant Dan. His eyes were gone. Cut out with a scalpel. I tried to get out of the building, but I couldn’t. The doors won’t open. Can’t escape. Then I saw her, standing there behind me. One of the dead teens.”
“Listen, Dr. Barnes. The doors are open. She’s tricking your mind,” Tyler said. “We’re in the car now and getting to you, but we’re still 10 minutes away.”
“I think she’s walking around,” Dr. Barnes said. “But she’s dead. I saw her. She’s one of the four kids who came in here. I know she’s dead. I checked her corpse in.”
“She’s stolen the girl’s body, and she’s regenerating her power,” Tyler said. “That’s the only reason she hasn’t killed you yet. So, you’ll have to stop her before she kills you.”
“Are you out of your mind?” Dr. Barnes said. “What are you saying?”
“Where’s the amulet?” Tyler said. “You must find it.”
“It’s not here,” I checked the clothes when they came in.”
“Check again,” Tyler said. “It has to be there.”
“How do you know?”
“She’s there,” Tyler said. “That’s how I know. It’s there somewhere.”
“What is the amulet going to do?”
“It will stop her. Chance knows the incantation. That’s what the others who died were trying to do tonight. Lure her in with the amulet and then say the incantation, sending her back to hell, but they were not able to perform the ritual in time.”
“I don’t know the incantation,” Dr. Barnes said.
“Don’t worry about that now. Listen, we’re in the squad right now, coming to you,” Tyler said. “But we don’t have much time. If she’s in human form, she’s already found a new skin to be in. You must stop her before midnight.”
Dr. Barnes rolled his wrist over to look at his watch.
“It’s 11:55!” Dr. Barnes said.
“Right, so it’s on you now.”
“It’s not here,” Dr. Barnes said. “I’ve looked. “It’s not with them.”
“That’s where you’re wrong,” Tyler said. “It most certainly is there with you.”
“I’m not leaving this room,” Dr. Barnes said.
“Then you’re already dead,” Tyler said. “And everyone in this town is too. She’ll kill everybody. You’ve got to go out there, go through the clothes, find the amulet. We will stay on the phone with you. Now do it.”
“I can’t. I won’t. She’s already murdered my assistant.”
“And she’s going to kill you too if you fail to act now,” Tyler said. “Listen, she’s not strong right now. If she were, you’d be dead too. Killing your assistant and getting into a new skin took a lot out of her. But the longer you wait, the stronger she gets. We’ll be with you all the way. Now put on your big boy pants and find that amulet!”
Dr. Barnes moved the phone to his other ear while keeping his eyes on the door.
“I don’t understand any of this,” Dr. Barnes said. “How can this be happening?”
“Look, she’s tried to come back every 100 years, and every time someone has somehow found a way to stop her,” Tyler said. “You can do it. We will help you, but you must hurry. The Night of the Witch is almost over. You don’t have much time. She’ll kill us all if you don’t try now.”
Dr. Barnes bolted out of the office, holding his cell phone. He ran down the hall and stopped to catch his breath. He scanned the hallway again but saw no one, so he started running again. Finally, he spotted the open door to the mortuary room. He ran through the door and shut it behind him.
He rifled through the clothes, going through all the pockets, but found nothing. Then, he remembered Chance and Tyler were still on the speakerphone.
“Are you still there?” Dr. Barnes said. “It’s not here.”
“It has to be,” Tyler said.
“I’m telling you, it’s not here!” Dr. Barnes said.
“Maybe she’s tricking your mind into believing you’re not seeing it, but no, that can’t be it,” Tyler said. “She has no power over the amulet.”
“It has to be somewhere on the bodies then,” Barnes said. “But where?”
Dr. Barnes felt around the body’s necks and then pushed them back to see if anything was there. But he found nothing again.
“It’s not here,” Dr. Barnes said as his hand shook, holding the phone. “There’s nothing on the body.”
“I don’t understand. It has to be there.”
“Unless…”
“What?”
“Would they’ve hidden it?” Barnes said.
“From her, yes,” Tyler said. “She can never be in possession of it. But it’s not at the crime scene. It’s with you because she’s there. She wouldn’t be there if it weren’t there.”
“I think I know where it is,” Dr. Barnes said.
“Where?” Tyler said. “Dr. Barnes, what are you going to do?”
“I’m putting you on speaker phone,” Dr. Barnes said before placing it on a table near his side.
He grabbed the scalpel and jammed it into the stomach of one of the bodies, ripping through the tissue, fat and muscle. With his bare hands, he pushed into the stomach, finding nothing but undigested spaghetti that dripped off his fingers.
“Dr. Barnes, you must not look at her,” Chance said. “She will capture your mind if you do. Never look her in the eyes, not even for a second.”
He did the same with the next body but found nothing.
Then he came to the corpse with the missing hand and feet.
Just then, she saw the woman in the doorway, glaring at him.
Dr. Barnes looked away but felt his hands shake as he began losing control. With his hand shaking, he slashed the body cavity open. He rummaged around the stomach content until he found a hard substance that he ripped out of the stomach.
“Holding the amulet in one hand and the scalpel in the other, he called out.
“Got…” Dr. Barnes said.
The young woman walked toward him with her light brown hair hanging around her shoulders as she headed toward him, her eyes locked on her target.
Dr. Barnes’s hand shook as the scalpel moved closer to his neck until it rested on the jugular.
“It…” Dr. Barnes said.
“Sorry, what?” Chance said.
Dr. Barnes’s hand began slicing through his neck. He struggled to stop himself from moving the scalpel back and forth, but he couldn’t fully control his hand anymore.
“Say again?” Chance said.
“Say!” Barnes said. “It!”
“Excuse me, sir?” Chance said.
“He’s got it! He said got it! Just say it, Chance!” Tyler said. “Say the incantation! Do it now!
As Chance recited the sacred words, Dr. Barnes felt his arm straighten as he regained control and the scalpel moved away from his neck as blood trickled down his neck.
The woman fell to the ground, dead as she had been before.
Dr. Barnes looked up at the clock that said one minute to midnight.
