Hello All:
"This is a very, special week at The Literary World of Tom Raimbault; for this is Halloween week! And like we do every year, new stories written just for the holiday are featured throughout the week. This year we roll out some brand-new Mapleview material in the form of a mini novella titled The Friendly Fort. Be sure to visit each day for a new chapter. The Friendly Fort will be featured from Sunday through Saturday."
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The Friendly Fort (Chapter Three)
I think one of my favorite characters of fictional
Mapleview (aside from the lovable Mary) is Doctor Millheimer. Originally
created for a short story in the book, Freaked
out Horror, Doctor Millheimer eventually became the main character in a
first-person narrative short story titled The
Psychomanteum. It was featured during Halloween of 2013.
Doctor Millheimer was then used for a few scenes in the
most-recent Mapleview book, Sex
Magick. He now works in Mapleview as a family physician and also as a
psychiatrist! What a busy man!
Along with his old-fashioned, Victorian-era gentleman's
personality, it's his style of psychiatry that I enjoy from this fictional
character. You see, Doctor Millheimer has a fascination with the mystery of the
human mind. Surely a subscriber to the Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung schools of
thought, his treatments can sometimes be unconventional in the modern-day world
of psychology. For a grieving mother who had fallen under a bad stupor of
depression after tragically losing her daughter to murder: Doctor Millheimer
actually created a psychomanteum for the woman, and then taught her how to use
it in a means to continue the relationship with her murdered daughter. And the
treatment worked! She snapped out of her depression.
In the upcoming Mapleview novel, House of Witches, Doctor
Millheimer will become a therapist to one of the major characters of Mapleview.
And if you’ve read any of these Mapleview books, you’ll agree that plenty of
characters from that fictional town could certainly use some therapy!
Always citing how the human mind has been a mystery
throughout the ages, Doctor Millheimer is convinced that our minds are
connected and interact with that vast and mysterious world from behind the
veil. He provides trustworthy, scientific reasons behind the bizarre phenomenon
and sometimes hallucinations that people experience in Mapleview. And he
doesn't write his patients off as being crazy. Rather, he challenges them to
explore their disturbing visions in a means to understand what that world
behind the veil is trying to tell them.
Doctor Millheimer now appears in our Mapleview mini
novella which is being featured throughout this week. If you've been following
along, then you certainly know that the main character, Spencer, has witnessed
some baffling phenomenon—particularly with his next door neighbors who recently
moved in. He now questions their existence. Why does Spencer sometimes see them
living in that house with a large garden in the yard, only for the property to
become vacant an hour or so later? It's as-if these neighbors of Spencer's are
a hallucination.
And that's why Spencer will seek the psychiatric services
of Mapleview's much-accomplished Doctor Millheimer.
This is about the time when
Spencer felt that perhaps he needed to see a doctor—a good head doctor. Spencer
scheduled an initial visit with a psychiatrist, Doctor Millheimer, who lived in
town. Doctor Millheimer had been working in the region of Mapleview for many
years, and had seen plenty. The man of science is a wealth of understanding
into the human psyche. He once treated a patient whose wife was tragically
killed in a car crash; but suffered the horrible hallucination of seeing her
alive, conscious and well in the hospital room while he signed the death
papers. To this, Dr. Millheimer advised the patient some days later, "The
mind has been a mystery for countless ages, and it continues to baffle us. I'm
afraid the more we try to understand the human psyche, the more we will realize
how little we know of it."
As luck would have it, Doctor
Millheimer had a one hour time slot available on that Monday to make an initial
assessment of his new patient, Spencer. Poor Spencer believed that he was going
mad.
I'll spare the reader the
details of the first half-hour or so of conversation between Doctor Millheimer
and Spencer. It was mostly Spencer explaining why he had set up residence in
Mapleview along with relaying the peculiar things witnessed with the neighbors
next door. And many times when Spencer mentioned Lydia or her assumed family,
he would remind Doctor Millheimer that they didn't really exist—possibly a
hallucination.
"I see... I see..."
would answer Doctor Millheimer. Then, satisfied that he had heard enough; he
began with some basic questioning. "And you haven't had any history of
mental illness?"
"Nope." answered
Spencer.
"No history of mental
illness in your family?"
"Not that I know of."
answered Doctor Millheimer.
"Have you recently suffered
from any injuries; particularly head trauma that resulted in black out or loss
of memory?"
"No." answered
Spencer.
"Is there any drug use or excessive
alcohol?"
"I never used drugs and I
rarely drink." declared Spencer.
Doctor Millheimer paused for a
several seconds in deliberation. "How do you feel about this project that
you are involved in? Do you ever feel that it goes against something you might
believe in? Take for example; perhaps you feel guilty that you are acquiring
personal land to be used for this investment of yours."
Spencer shrugged his shoulders.
"I wouldn't say that I feel terribly guilty or resentful for seeking out
land to acquire. Sometimes I feel bad because Mapleview is a really, nice area.
I realize that people have lived here for most of their lives. But I always
remind myself that I am helping to improve the region with alternative
energy."
"Yes, very good!" acknowledged
Doctor Millheimer. "But let's talk about the encounters that you've had
with your so-called, non-existent neighbors. I am most interested in the fact
that..." Doctor Millheimer looked at his notepad for a name.
"...Lydia brought you to a remote location in the forest to show you a
cemetery that had been long forgotten. Even more, she showed you a nearly-buried
gravestone that could only be seen by the light of a lantern before the Sun
rose. This name was..." he glanced at the notepad, again.
"...Reverend Jensen."
Doctor Millheimer stared at
Spencer for a few seconds in anticipation for any input from his patient. But
Spencer remained silent, almost appearing to be ashamed of the recent incidents
with his so-called, non-existent neighbors.
"Well before we write you
off as being crazy..." began Doctor Millheimer. "...I need you to do
a little homework for your next visit. I want you to do two things for me—for
both of us, actually. First, I want you to go back to the very location of the
cemetery where Lydia had brought you. I want you to confirm that it is there,
and not vanished like your mysterious, non-existent neighbors. I predict that
when you go to this location, you will see the cemetery. Cemeteries remain for
many decades, even centuries. And you already received permission from your
neighbor, Lydia, to use her backyard to access the forest. So don't feel bad
about doing this.
Next, I want you to fulfill your
promise to Lydia, and do some research into the history of Mapleview. Go as far
back as the 1800s when this area was first established. Newspapers were in
print at the time, so I'm sure there might be some of these on file at the
library. Look, particularly, for a Reverend Jensen. Surely, he would have been
an important figure in the area at the time."
Doctor Millheimer paused for
another few seconds while studying Spencer. Then he continued; "Now I know
what you are thinking! Maybe I should be treating you for hallucinations and
giving medications and such. But I'm not entirely convinced that this
phenomenon of encountering your so-called, non-existent neighbors is a mental
problem. Chances are that someone or something is trying to communicate with
you. Maybe it's your own subconscious coming to terms with something you've
learned of the area. You need to shed light on it—like the oil lamp on the
grave stone—and fully understand it. You see; the mind has been a mystery for
countless ages, and it continues to baffle us. I'm afraid the more we try to
understand the human psyche, the more we will realize how little we know of it.
As for these nightmares of
people coming to get you, and strange dreams of communicating with Lydia
through the mirror; I am only going to suspect that these are symptoms of a
greater problem. I will not treat symptoms! I need you to reach the very crux
of the matter."
***
With no business matters to take
care of on that Monday afternoon, Spencer started his homework that was
assigned by Doctor Millheimer. He began by cutting across the vacant backyard
(Lydia's yard) into the forest. Now light outside, Spencer could finally see
the creek that snaked through the dense forest. After following it for some
distance; he confirmed that it did, in fact, open up as a wide brook—approximately
twenty feet. And as Spencer discovered now that it was daylight, the brook was
surrounded by a three-tiered coliseum of heavily-mossed flagstone. He could
have easily sat down on this coliseum as if it were bleachers. But Spencer
wasn't there to sit. He was on a mission to find the cemetery.
Through instincts and foggy
memory from that morning, Spencer followed the brook some distance until
reaching a small clearing in the forest. And just like earlier that morning,
Spencer could see the stone cross. It was definitely an antique; stood the many
seasons and decades while marking the location of a long-forgotten cemetery.
Yes, Spencer found it!
He walked to the area where he
felt that Lydia had brought him earlier that morning. Just like before, it was
as-if instinct had guided him. And there it was! The partially-buried
gravestone lay right before Spencer's feet. Doctor Millheimer was right. The
cemetery and gravestone would be there for the simple matter that these sites
and their occupants remain throughout the many years... decades... centuries.
It wasn’t like Lydia’s garden that suddenly vanishes as-if it never existed.
But as for the name, Reverend Jensen, it could not be seen in the daylight.
Apparently, Lydia was right. Only through the lighting of a lamp could it be
seen. Strange…
But what about other
gravestones? Surely there had to be more. To look for these Spencer proceeded
to walk around. But he soon imagined in his head the voice of Lydia urging him,
"Careful! You don’t want to walk over people's graves!"
"Oops!" acknowledged
Spencer out loud. "Sorry about that!"
Carefully, Spencer walked about
in such a way that he imagined nearby gravestones with the bodies laid to rest
before them. And amazingly, this enabled Spencer to find a total of thirteen
additional headstones throughout the seemingly-forgotten cemetery. It was only
necessary to kneel down and move away a bit of dirt with his fingers to find
them.
After some time, Spencer
approached the most-visible item in the cemetery, the stone cross. Now in the
daylight, he could see that it stood many decades and many season. It was
weathered and old, nearly a shame to symbolize Christianity and salvation. But
it matched, none the less, the state and condition of the forgotten cemetery.
Unlike the cemetery, however, the cross was not so forgotten. It had seen
graffiti along with possible attempts of physically destroying it. The sad
condition of the cross made Spencer wonder what sort of people would do such a
thing and why.
***
Spencer had dinner that night,
in town, at the Mapleview Supper Club. He sat at one of the long tables in the
dining room along with other residents of Mapleview and ate his Yankee pot
roast. The supper club often provided Spencer a chance to have simple
conversation with residents. And he always hid his true identity and purpose. You
see, Spencer didn't want people knowing that he was affiliated with the
organization that had plans of installing wind turbines throughout the area.
Residents clearly weren't happy with this prospect as evidenced by the signs
throughout town and the rural area that had a wind turbine with a red-X over it.
The people who ate near Spencer
discussed church rummage sales, weekend farmers’ markets, sports, etc. He
wanted so badly to inquire of the old and forgotten cemetery near his home. But
doing this might have clued people in of Spencer's whereabouts. Already he was
beginning to suspect that some people knew who he was. After all, who was this
out-of-town person who ate with the locals at the Supper club a few times a
week?
It was early in the evening when
Spencer returned home. It had been a long day for him, and he was exhausted
beyond belief. Who wouldn’t be? Spencer retired early, and fell asleep the
moment his head hit the pillow. By midnight, Spencer awoke and lie in bed for
about a half-hour or so while staring into the dark. Perhaps this is what Lydia
had meant by with the term ,"first sleep". Spencer never paid much
attention to the phenomenon; but throughout his entire life he would awake in
the middle of the night to lie there for a while—sometimes an hour—before
falling back to sleep.
But this temporarily-awakened state brought with
it that night some strange and eerie sensations. For the first time in
Spencer's life, he felt something unexplainable that surrounded him. He likened
the sensation to being inside of an invisible enclosure—some sort of membrane
without matter that possessed a consciousness of its own. What was happening to
Spencer?
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