The Seer by Clifford Beck - HTML preview

Chapter 23

Tom Whitmen was a thirty-two-year-old electrician who had spent his life in Topsham. He lived in a renovated farmhouse with his wife Linda and their two children. His interest in the paranormal began a few years after his mother, Eleanor, died. She had spent several years living in the house after the death of her husband. Not wanting her to be alone, Tom had her move in only days after the funeral. At first, she simply wanted to be left alone with her grieve, but within a few weeks, she began to involve herself in the family, becoming especially attached to her grandchildren. But as time went on, her health began to decline. She was becoming weak, and seemed to be tired almost constantly. She did not want to go to a doctor, and in fact, was quite adamant about her disdain for the medical profession. In spite of this, Tom had her taken to the hospital by ambulance after finding her unconscious on the floor of her room. She was admitted for a few days and diagnosed with congestive heart failure. Tom and his family were assured the Eleanor would continue to live out her years so long as she remained on the medication he prescribed her.

For years, she took the medication religiously, and in doing so, discovered her grandchildren as a reason for living. After three years of anger, pain and grief, Eleanor, more or less, had her life back on track. But one autumn morning, Tom suddenly rose from sleep from sleep, wakened by a feeling he could not place, a feeling that drove him in only one direction, Eleanor's room. Running to the top of the stairs, he tried the doorknob, only to find it locked. He called to his mother at the top of his voice, but his panicked words went unanswered. By this time, Tom's family was awake and standing behind him with fearful expressions. Their children were beyond worry, and clung to their mother with tears in their eyes.

Without a response, Tom resorted to throwing his shoulder against the door. The lock shattered as the door flew open, sending bits of metal flying against the walls, bouncing away with a pinging sound. He rushed to his mother's beside as his family gathered in the doorway. He shook her gently by the shoulders, but, still, with no response, Tom turned his mother on her back, shaking her more vigorously. But, it was at this point that he noticed her appearance. Her eyes were closed, her mouth drawn into a thin line with one side of her face pushed inward by the weight of her head against the pillow. It was this side that also bore a large a large area of purplish bruising. He was later told that this was caused by blood pooling to the body's lowest areas following death.

Tom held his mother's body in his arms, crying uncontrollably while his wife pulled their children away from the doorway, shielding them from the fresh sight of death. Tom stayed with her until paramedics arrived. Making a brief examination, they pronounced her dead at the scene. A police officer took Tom's statement as a matter of public record. Later, an autopsy concluded his mother had passed due to natural causes, and her death would not be investigated. But death seems to know no boundaries, and the grave only a container for what goes back to the earth. What is left can reach out an ethereal hand, touching what was loved most in its earthly life.

The funeral was held only days later, as Tom's mother was lowered into the cool autumn earth. The viewing was attended by family and friends, and represented a final review of her life. The children had, by this time, came to the understanding that grandma was not coming home again, and with the aid of a small stepstool, each child, in turn, leaned down and kissed Eleanor's cold, expressionless face.

“Bye, Nana.” Their small voices were sad, but innocent. Children seem to know truths that many others forget as they grow and become victims of an evil world, and it was this awareness that would allow the connection between Tom's children and their now deceased grandmother to continue.