Sometimes an unbelievable lie is better than an ugly truth, at least that’s what I tell myself to make nights easier. You see, I was never given the luxury of ever finding out what the truth was and have come to terms I never will.
I want to reminisce one last time of what happened back at Fort Mal, I want to remember before I put everything to rest, and I want to share it with you. But be warned what you may think may never happen, and what you believe may not be real, but none of it matters because this story will never have an end.
It’s hard to explain the appeal of Fort Mal for those who’ve never been. For me it would be like describing the color purple to someone who is blind. It’s impossible. But if I had to try it was almost like a nostalgic dream you just remembered you had forgotten.
It was 2014 when me and my daughter, Maria, moved to the town of Fort Mal. It was small, quiet, and a good distraction for her. She needed it after her dad died, so I thought a change of scenery would do her good. And fortunately this was the answer we had been looking for.
I bought a two-story house on the outskirts of town at a cheap price; two bedrooms, two bathrooms, and just us two. We were surrounded with fresh air, nature and enough to do to entertain Maria. To us this wasn’t just Fort Mal, it was home.
Integrating into society wasn’t challenging either, locals were welcoming, so-much-so I was convinced I had known these people my whole life. Along the way, I had befriended one of our neighbors, the Sherman’s, for the sole purpose Maria could at least make a friend before school starts. Thankfully, they had a daughter, Carol, who was also 9-years-old.
“So did your dad really die?” Carol asked between mouthfuls of her cucumber sandwich.
“Carol!” Sarah screeched. Carol peered at her mom with child like naivety. “That’s not nice.”
“It’s alright,” I turned to Carol as she was still busy feasting on her sandwich and explained that he was indeed dead. She slowly nodded acknowledging the reality, meanwhile brushing the strands of her blonde hair that crept into her mouth.
“I want to climb the tree,” Maria leapt up off of the picnic blanket. “Come on Carol we’re going.”
“Does this mean your family is cursed?”
“Yeah, so what? What are you gonna do about it?” Maria retorted, “now hurry up before I curse you.”
Carol scrambled to her feet and followed after Maria as they headed to the nearby willow.
“Sorry about that Diane I told her not to bring it up since it would upset Maria.”
“Don’t worry about it.”
“Anyway how’s she doing?” Sarah questioned.
“A lot better, she’s talking more,” I carefully watched Maria climb on the tree followed by Carol as they made their way up to where Carol’s older brother, Jake, was. “By the way, Thanks for setting up this picnic.”
“It’s no big deal,” Sarah shrugged while reaching for another brownie, “it’s the least I can do, but trust me when I say this Diane moving here was the best decision you could’ve ever made.”
Our attentions quickly turned to children once more. Carol was struggling to catch up to where Maria was, though Maria didn’t seem to notice as she was occupied arguing with Jake. A bit of a screaming match ensued between them as he refused to have Maria climb any further, yet she was having none of it.
“I don’t understand how they enjoy climbing trees? I don’t have the energy to. Also if you don’t mind me asking what happened to husband. You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to, it’s just curiosity got the better of me.”
I let out a defeating sigh, “It’s fine I don’t mind talking about it. One day he just got a sudden heart attack while he was taking care of Maria, and when I got home it was too late.”
“Oh that’s awful, that must’ve been traumatic for her,” Sarah scrunched her face probably imagining if that happened to her kids.
“Yeah, I think a part of her blames herself for it.”
I quickly changed the subject as I could tell the topic was too grim to have on such a nice day.
“by the way, I was thinking of doing a little dinner over our house this week and I would like to invite you and the family,” I said.
“Oh Diane that sounds wonderful,” she smiled delightfully. “But we’re pretty busy this week, some other time?”
“Ahhhhh,” Maria screamed as she fell from a branch. A deafening thud erupted when she reached the ground. I dashed to her side with only noticing a scrape on her knee to be the most concerning injury. “Is she ok?” Sarah ran over out of breath.
“Yeah she’s fine. Thank god it’s just a scrape.” Carol and Jake quickly climbed down; Carol looking worried and Jake trying his hardest not to seem guilty. “ I should take her home. Thank you for everything.”
I carried her in my arms all the way to the car after exchanging our farewells, though from Carol’s crumpled expression with pink tainted cheeks and Maria’s meek wave told me that was the last thing they wanted.
“Jake is such a prick,” Maria screeched once we drove off, “he pushed me off the tree just cause I wouldn’t listen to him. He’s the absolute WORST.”
“I’m sure he didn’t mean to push you, it was probably just an accident.”
“Whatever you say, I still hate him,” she whispered under her breath.
“What about Carol?”
“She speaks her mind too much but she’s nice enough. Do you know when I can met her again?” She asked.
“Soon enough,” I grin. Maria couldn’t help but grin as well while doing a little jig in her seat when she thought I wasn’t looking.
“Also Jake said something really weird to me up in the tree.”
“Oh, what?”
“He said that we were climbing the weeping woman’s tree and if you go there at night, if your lucky, you’d hear her faintly weeping but NEVER go towards the sound, and in the morning NEVER climb to the top of the tree because she hates people touching it, and if you do the last thing you’ll see is the weeping woman right before she snaps your neck.”
“hmmm… sounds to me like he’s got a crush on you.”
“Ewww, mom seriously, gross!” Maria shouted while covering her ears.
“What? I’m just saying he was probably trying to get your attention.” Maria rolled her eyes in disbelief. “But Jake aside, I promise you, your going to love it here.”
And true to my word, our love for Fort Mal grew. I mean how could anyone not have loved it? Even from a few days Maria changed just in a blink of an eye, and soon enough she was back to her old self.
We had also grown closer to the Sherman’s. I discovered, beyond first impressions, Sarah Sherman was an undeniable ray of sunshine that cared deeply about family and strangers equally; she’d talk your ears off until she lost her breath, you’d never leave her house hungry, and being friends with her was effortless.
Unlike Richard Sherman; he was a man of few words and if he could he wouldn’t talk at all. He hated the company of others, and rather preferred solitude. Honestly, there wasn’t much to say about him since the times we’d visit the house he’d disappear into his study, or, on rare occasions, briefly converse with me. Though strangely, from our conversations even when he said so little it seemed he knew a lot.
Jake Sherman, on the other hand, required many of his mother’s traits mixed with the rebellious nature of a twelve-year-old boy. As well-mannered as he was his itch for chaos caused him to get into trouble often, most times with Maria. And I prayed for them to get along, unfortunately, that would never be the case due to their stubborn, head-strong personalities, unlike her relationship with Carol.
Carol was a curios girl who had endless questions, Maria, craved adventure, and would take them places so Carol could ask all the questions she wanted, while Maria would confidently answer them. To a fault Carol was gullible and Maria enjoyed lying, however their dynamic oddly worked.
Most days were spent at their home were Carol and Maria would be with themselves, and on occasion, Jake would join up stairs were they’d talk amongst themselves about who knows what. Though their muffled whispers would be drowned out by Sarah and I obnoxious laughter, as we talked about anything and everything.
And when we weren’t with them it was just us two at home doing whatever we wished. The days were short, and weeks long when we were together. One activity we enjoyed was putting on shadow puppet plays. We’d clear a space in the living room, draw the blinds and shine a lamp on a wall, although, us both were awful at creating basic shapes that we instead created our own.
Maria’s favorite was Pr-Oof, a hybrid of a cat and a dog (which was debatable), though mine was Mr. Squiggles, a squiggly man, and often, we’d argue which was better. We disagreed on quite a few things, one most notable, was the supposed rotting smell coming from the wall we’d use to put on our shows.
Maria insisted that it smelled like something had died, yet every time I went over I smelled nothing. However, her persistence was ripe and, not long after, I hired an exterminator to come check it out. And just as I had suspected he’d claimed that there were no dead animals inside, or around the vicinity.
I was victorious and Maria was not pleased with his assumptions. No matter how hard I tried to convince her there was nothing there she wouldn’t bug and our shadow puppet show came to an end, while we moved on.
One day Sarah had invited us to Nelly Bay Park on the weekend. It was a fairly big area by a cliff where many mothers would go to socialize and have their kids play on the nearby playground. There I meet one of Sarah’s friend, Kelly Carmen, and her two kids, Lily and Ben.
Lily had a fierce gaze that perfectly fitted with her long umber hair, and confidently introduced herself. Ben, on the other hand, was quite scrawny for his age, mostly skin and bones, and clung to his sister like she would disappear if he were to let go. A simple wave was what he gave before the two ran over to the other children. Maria and Carol took a liking to the Carmen kids mostly due to them all being the same age, but Jake could care less.
“Jake please don’t fight with Maria,” Sarah pleaded with him.
“Well then tell her to stop being such a bitch,” he answered back.
“Jake!”
“It’s alright Mrs. Sherman at least I’m not an immature asshole,” Maria swiftly ran away before he got the last say. Sarah sighed as they began to fight on their way to the swing set, followed by Carol and the Carmen’s.
“Will they ever get along?” Sarah wondered.
“Give it time,” I attempted to reassure her as they began to tackle each other to the ground. “Lots of time.” She chuckled in agreeance.
“Oh, before I forget,” I turned to Sarah. “I want to do a movie night for the kids over at ours for next weekend, does that work for you?”
“I’m really sorry we can’t, Richard’s parents are coming over for the weekend so we’re gonna be pretty busy.” She apologized.
‘It’s fine,” I shyly smile.
Recently Sarah was a bit worse for wear, it didn’t ruin her spirt as she had no problem being her bubbly self, but no matter how much she talked it didn’t hide her gaunt appearance. I wished to ask if she was alright, however, I could tell that was the last thing she wanted to be ask.
On the bright side today was fairly busy with the sounds of mothers gossip and kids squeals filling the air. On the swings Maria pushed Carol back-and-forth, meanwhile Jake was on the seesaw with one of his friends, not wanting to deal with them.
“Stop moving,” Lily slapped away her brothers hand as she threw piles of sand on top of him. In the nearby sandpit she continuously put clumps of sand until a hill sat upon his stomach. Peculiar shapes where engraved on top with various pebbles and leaves scattered in certain spots. “Lily there’s sand getting in my eye! get it out!” He demanded.
“Well, maybe if you didn’t move so much it wouldn’t be there.” She used the end of her pink jacket sleeve to gently swipe away the grains. “Now stop complaining its almost over.” She leaned in to whisper something in his ear and in one big scoop she removed him from his sandy tomb. “There, your fine now,” he patted down his clothes removing anything else she may have missed and skipped on his merry way.
Yet before she could go play someone had approached her. A girl wide-eyed with pursed lips opened her hand to reveal something to Lily, and whatever was in her hand made Lily’s face distort into the same expression as her’s. “He came?” Her voice cracked, the girl slowly nods. Lily scrambled to her feet and ventured off in a quickened pace.
“Hmmm,” Kelly ease dropped on their conversation.
“What?”
“The crooked man,” she quietly said.
“The crooked what?”
“…Well they believe there’s a crooked man who has his crooked ways, and he lurks around here blending into all the crooked trees. They say if you try and touch the broken bench he leaves surprises for you to find.” Sarah pointed directly to a bench far across the playing grounds where no one dared get close to.
“It’s a tale you hear about when your young,” Kelly interjected.
“What?” I laugh in pure amazement. “Who made it up?” Sarah shrugged.
Who would spread this awful lie amongst children? I wondered bewildered and slightly furious. “I mean honestly the crooked man? who would believe that?”
“Trust me it’s easy to believe,” Kelly softly explained. “But it’s nothing to worry about -“
A scream ripped through the playground coming from within the red slide. Everyone rushed to see what the commotion was about and witnessed blood running down Ben’s leg. Repeatedly he said “no,” over-and-over as tears streamed down his face. All down his thigh thumb tacks were sunk deep within his skin.
Kelly drew him close comforting him in her arms as he whimpered in pain, the tears falling off his cheek rapidly as the ‘no’s’ got quieter. I ran over to Maria, shielding her from the sight as she trembled in my embrace. Frantically I glanced around the crowd that had formed with their gaze no longer on Ben.
Mothers gripped their kids, as they whispered in fear. Silence fell upon us all as everyone looked back at the broken bench as it stared back at us.
On the car ride home Maria confessed Ben had touched the bench, she had dared him saying if he didn’t he was a pussy. “I didn’t think it was real,” she burst into tears. “I didn’t know he would get hurt,” she wept in the palms of her hands.
“Darling,” I pulled the car over. “You listen to me here, none of this was your fault some sick person put thumb tacks at the bottom of the slide. It was not you.”
“But mom we all saw him.”
“Who?”
“The crooked man,” she croaked.
I did everything I could to calm her, yet persistent was all I got back. She was convinced she saw a crooked man in the woods with a crooked smile who punished poor Ben for touching a bench. I filled a police report which was denied since I didn’t have a clear description of who the “crooked man” was and that they would conduct an investigation only if Mrs. Carmen filed for child endangerment.
She never did, though once she discovered I went to the police she gave me a mouthful of everything under the sun. That was the last time I ever spoke to her. When night came Maria went to the wall and what felt like an eternity she walked away happy. And as horrific as the incident was it quickly was forgotten and Nelly Bay Park was still full with families including the Sherman’s.
Although we never went back.
We never brought up that incident thinking the worst was far behind us. But I would slowly find out that would be the least of my worries.
I forgot to mention after the death of my husband Maria had difficulty sleeping at night. Trust me when I say I tried everything to fix the issue, however, nothing seemed to work. And so, I gave her the freedom to do whatever she wanted as long as it would help her fall asleep.
Ever since we moved to the house every night she’d be downstairs for hours, though I never questioned it since it worked, but I still found it to be quite odd. I wouldn’t hear the TV playing or her reading a book out loud, there was always silence.
One day, at midnight, I headed to the kitchen for a glass of water, when in the darkness, I was greeted with the sight of my dear Maria, wide-eyed, on the living room floor, with her ear pressed against the wall.
“Shit!” My heart dropped, “darling what are you doing?” I questioned, though, She didn’t respond nor acknowledge my question. Her eye’s beamed in the dark, while she was occupied with the wall.
“Maria? …Maria!?” I crouched beside her gently tapping her shoulder.
“Mom,” she gasped. “What are you doing here?”
“Getting something to drink. But… sweetie… what are you doing in the dark?”
“shhhhhh,” she pressed her finger against her lips. “I’m… listening,” she quietly spoke.
“Listening? To what?” Perplexed at what she was implying.
“Mom do you not hear it? The walls they whisper.” Maria motioned me to listen in which I did not wanting to reject her request. However, just as I predicted, on the other side was nothing.
“Do you hear it?”
I questioned whether or not I should go along with her little charade, but decided to as I reluctantly nodded, as I assumed any second she would say it was a prank, yet no, she beamed with pure excitement.
Afterwards, she gently placed her ear back against the wall holding onto the same gleeful smile.
“Come on, I think you should go to bed now,” I interjected. “How about you read me one of your stories.” Maria hesitantly rose to her feet while I gripped her hand leading her upstairs far from whatever that was. As quiet as the wall was an unspeakable dread began to brew within me.
Out of curiosity, on the stairs I asked Maria why the walls whisper. Cheerfully she explained, “Well Carol told me once that our house was the dead men’s den where dead men go to confess their sins, and if we don’t leave we’ll be cursed to have everyone we love die or be killed by the hands of the men. And of course I didn’t believe her at first until I tried it, but -“
“Maria,” I cut her off. “You shouldn’t believe everything you hear,” I calmly state, trying to mask how freaked out I was.
“But mom you said you believed me even when I knew you were lying.”
“What?” I stopped at the entrance of her room.
“It’s alright, if you don’t believe me. When you put your ear to the wall they weren’t talking to you, maybe one day they will.” Before I got the chance to say anything else she said goodnight and closed the door right afterwards.
After that, little-by-little I noticed how consumed she was by the walls. Every night I’d slip down stairs to check up on her and their she’d be listening to what they had to say as they whispered about stuff I’d never get the chance to learn about. Sure it was terrifying but it was harmless at first so I decided to ignore it.
You see, at the time I believed that certain things happen for a reason; Some people come into your life to teach you a valuable life lesson, and sometimes we go through hardships to help us grow. I like to tell myself that what happened was for a good reason, as comfort to heal from the pain. And yet, looking back I wish I had stopped it sooner, because that was only the beginning.