The Gatekeeper

"The Gatekeeper of Crystal Pond"

The Gatekeeper
Of Crystal Pond
“Not What Lies Above, but Below”

Maddy Sayers is on a mission to find Crystal Pond’s secret that has been hidden for centuries, but will she pay the ultimate price for her answer, the life of the man she loves.

July 11, 1989, Maddy witnessed Ryan, her best friend and first love, disappear into the clear water of Crystal Pond. Every year on July 11th, Maddy has returned home to the old farm, sixty miles from Charleston, to say she is sorry to Ryan, believing she should have stopped him that day from getting near the water.

July 11th, 2000, Maddy, a special agent with the FBI, has decided, with help from Terry Maples a forensic scientist, to begin an investigation into the secret of the pond: how the pond claims its prey, but never lets them go. Their research uncovers Clayton Montgomery, a man living in Savannah, GA…a man who drowned in the pond in 1956. When Michael, the son of Clayton joins the search, things begin to heat up, not only romantically, but also dangerously as they prepare to enter into the world of Crystal Pond.

The Gatekeeper of Crystal Pond mystery/Sci-fi

PURCHASE

The Gatekeeper
Cover Art by Artist
Carolyn Rischbieter

A young woman searches for answers of what happened to her friend who disappeared years ago in a pond. Her search literally leads her on a journey uncovering a mystery that is centuries old. Mystery, Sci-fi

The Gatekeeper of Crystal Pond
“Not What Lies Above, but Below”

Chapter 1
The Gatekeeper

Most people will say this story is unreal and could never be; nonetheless, I’ve seen with my own eyes that we aren’t alone in the great universe. No, don’t look up into the blue sky full of swirling white, cottony clouds. You see, it isn’t what lies above us, but below.

Aionios, the one small word written in red on the front of the leather journal that I hold in my hands sends chills down my back. So appropriate, that name meaning without beginning and end…forever! Madeline Jean Sayers was a young innocence girl who turned into a strong-minded woman. She became a woman with conviction, whose love sent her on an incredible journey. A journey I vowed to keep secret.

You see, my Maddy, with her long, curly, red hair bright as the setting sun and a temper to boot, was a carefree country girl. I remember the first time I met her. Her coffee brown eyes stared up at me with confidence and her tomboyish ways made her more persistent with whatever she pursued.

Maddy grew up on her family’s farm in Pine Grove, South Carolina with her father Jackson, a kind, but headstrong man. Aged live oaks, tall South Carolina pines, and rolling green hills covered the Southern farm. But, the old farm did have one mystery, a small pond with crystal water that terrified Maddy. She referred to it as her only Achilles’ heel. A devil's pond, her grandfather Winfred called it, a pond with a secret. If you enter into the pond, you disappear and never reappear. That pond brought me to the farm years ago to help uncover its secret.

For many years, the weight of the world was on my shoulders. I couldn’t sleep, and worry took over my mind. However, I’m getting ahead of myself.

Oh, you ask, who am I? Well, I’m the gatekeeper of Crystal Pond. Now the story of Maddy Sayers and the world of Aionios must be told.

Chapter 2
One Moment of Time

A blood-curdling scream, “NO!” jarred the old farmhouse from its peaceful slumber. Maddy gulped for air. Her hands wildly grabbed at her throat to free herself of a chocking sensation. Her flushed face felt the dampness of her pillow. There on the floor was her faded, rainbow colored T-shirt, raveled jean shorts and the tennis shoes, one with a broken shoestring. Her eyes darted up from the floor.

The morning sunlight flickered around her father’s silhouette as he stood in the doorway of her room. His tired eyes told the story. His head moved slowly nodding yes; it was true. Maddy’s head turned from him and faced the window. She felt the freshness of the breeze from the attic fan blowing into the bedroom.

It couldn’t be true… she thought. Sniffles continued. There wasn’t any stopping the tears.
Maddy didn’t have an answer of why her perfect world on that Saturday in 1989, in just one moment, had spun into an abrupt end. She only wished that the clock could go back counterclockwise and erase time.

***
Saturday, July 11, 1989

Maddy Sayer, a young girl of fifteen, full of spit and vinegar, woke to a beautiful summer day. She lay in her white, poster bed and her eyes stared out the window into the early morning. She sat up in bed. Something was wrong. Maddy had a sixth sense. Her grandfather Winfred said she was like his mom, her great grandmother, Virginia, who had the power of perception.

Maddy’s premonitions didn’t happen often, but this morning, she sensed an eerie sensation.

Even so, Maddy wasn’t going to allow her feelings to disrupt this perfect day. She leaped out of bed, slipped her faded, rainbow colored T-shirt over her head, pulled on her raveled cut off jean shorts, and then slid her dingy, worn tennis shoes on her feet. She tugged on her shoestrings; one broke. The strangeness in the air had increased. It’s only a shoestring, she grumbled to herself as she repositioned the shoestring and tied a tiny bow.

Her brown eyes gazed back with confidence at her reflection in the long mirror behind the closet door. She began to laugh seeing freckles across her face making zigzag patterns. She sighed. Her mother had told her to wear her wide-brim, straw hat when she was outside, but that wasn’t going to happen, and Maddy had decided years before just live with the freckles.

She took in a deep breath; it was time to leave. Maddy’s wild, red hair flew behind her as she skipped down the stairs. She was motivated... chores, and then, the rest of the day with Ryan. She grabbed a fresh warm biscuit and piece of sausage off the kitchen table. She took a huge bite as she ran to the wooden, screen door. Then she closed the screen door gently, one of her daddy’s rules.

She grabbed the railing on the steps of the porch. “Ouch!” she hollered, another bad omen, a splinter. She studied her hand trying to pull the thin sliver of wood from her finger as she wiped the blood on her jean shorts.

Maddy ran into the yard. Sandy, her golden retriever lying on the porch floor, jumped from the old planks scampering alongside. The warm sun hit her in the face making her face tingle. She laughed; understanding the freckles would be growing just as fast as the tomatoes in the garden.
She slid to a quick stop in the damp dirt. In front of her was the boy that she had fallen in love with, Ryan Allen Beardsley. Ryan lived across the road on his family’s farm. He was her kindred spirit, her best friend.

Ryan leaned back in a green, metal lawn chair. His feet were propped upon an old stump. Ryan's hound dog Jonas was loyally sprawled by his side. The young man's arms rose over his head and he laced his fingers together as he watched Maddy begin her chores. Maddy grabbed the empty feed bucket from the fence post and let it swing on her arm as she hurried to the barn for chicken feed.

Ryan leaped from the lawn chair, zoomed past Maddy, and quickly flung both of the barn doors wide-open. He scrambled up the rungs of the worn ladder attached to the side of the hayloft and grabbed the long rope dangling from a huge ceiling beam. “Geronimo!” he screamed swinging from the barn’s loft. He cleverly landed on top of the haymow.

Maddy rolled her eyes and poured the chicken feed into the bucket. When she lifted the bucket, the chicken feed started to drain out a small hole. She stomped her foot and put her fist on her hip.

“Hey Maddy, what’s taking you so long!” shouted Ryan.

“I have to feed the chickens and this dag burn bucket has a hole,” she growled with her eyes squinting.

He made himself comfortable on top of the hay. “Ah, that’s okay. We’re fine; we’ve got all day,” he assured. His arms stretched out wide crossing above his head. His eyes closed. Ryan was tall for a boy who was almost sixteen, well…in two weeks.

Maddy crept quietly tiptoeing near Ryan, and then she slowly pulled her leg back ready to kick at his boots, but…
Ryan, always on the alert grabbed hold of her leg and she toppled into the hay next to him. His arm wrapped around her bringing her near and gently his fingers tossed her long hair from her face. He leaned his head over in front of hers, and their lips touched for the first time. His body jerked. He leaped up taking her hand in his, and pulled her beside him.

Frozen in her spot, Maddy studied the boy towering over her: high cheekbones, strong jaw, and those narrow, emerald eyes. He grinned making his cheeks even more defined as he gazed down at her.

“You finish the chores and then we’ll go to the old oak at Crystal Pond,” he called out grabbing another metal bucket pitching it to her. “I’ll get Wild Spice ready,” he said whistling for the chestnut colored horse grazing in the back pasture.

She finished feeding the chickens and hung the bucket on the fence post. She turned around and Ryan walked up to her holding Wild Spice and Jet, his dark black stallion, reins in his hand.

Maddy settled into Wild Spice’s saddle. She pulled the reins up into her hands in order to follow Jet. Both horses, knowing the way to the old oak, took off trotting along the small trail that weaved in and out of the pecan trees. The morning sun flickered though the branches, and birds serenaded them as they quietly made their way along the trail. Wild Spice walked up to Jet standing next to the gnarled oak full of Spanish moss draped from timeworn limbs.

She dismounted Wild Spice and gazed up at Ryan who was already getting settled on the huge limb. He leaned over stretching out his arm to her. She put her hand in his and he hoisted her up, helping her swing onto their limb, a routine they had mastered since childhood.

Her eyes peered below them into Crystal Pond, the name her great grandfather had given Unktehi Pond, which meant monster or water spirit. A mysterious pond that had taken many men’s lives over the last century, it was a pond that terrified Maddy, but intrigued Ryan.

Maddy’s head turned toward Ryan and she studied him. Today he seemed different from the hundreds, maybe thousands, of other times they sat in their tree. She wasn’t going to let that morning's eerie feeling get to her as she leaned her head back and felt the cool breeze touch her face.

“Well, you gonna say something?” questioned Ryan pulling off some bark from the tree and fidgeting with the Spanish moss.

“It’s nice out, and the wild roses smell so sweet this morning,” answered Maddy, pressing her lips together not letting her grin emerge.

“No, silly, not about the wild roses.” He smoothed his long, blonde hair from his face with his tan fingers. “I mean about earlier?”

“Oh, that,” she answered nonchalantly.

“Yes, oh that. Aren’t you going to hit me or something?”

“Why?” she asked, her lips finally curled into a smile as she stared back at him.

His head turned to her. “You’re being obstinate, aren’t you?”

“You’re using those big words again,” she exclaimed, letting her feet dangle from the huge limb.

Ryan looked into her vibrant brown eyes and his hand reached over pulling her face to his. He kissed her again with so much passion.
Her fingers stroked his face keeping him close.

He pulled back from her and smiled playfully, “Maddy, you sure are an enigma.”

      “Would you stop with the words?”

“You’re not mad at me?”

      “No, don't be ridiculous. Why would I be mad?”

“I don’t know, I guess…

“Ryan Allen Beardsley,” Maddy blurted out, “you should know by now I love you.”

“I can’t ever surprise you, but hell, you sure can surprise me. I love you, too, Maddy Sayers. There, I said it. You happy?” he said proudly.

She grinned. “Yep,” she answered staring into his green eyes.

His head shook back and forth. “I’m gonna try and catch some fish,” he announced, leaping from the tree branch.

“No Ryan! Please forget this idea,” Maddy begged, “I don’t like this pond, and you know there ain’t any fish in it.”

“You don’t like any deep water.”

“I sure don’t like Crystal Pond. There’s something strange about it, Ryan. We can easily go to the small pond in the back pasture. I don’t mind fishing there.”

“We can go there in a little while. Stop worrying. If you’d let me teach you to swim, then you wouldn’t be so terrified of the water.”
“I will…someday,” she mumbled.

“I wish you’d come over here and look into the water!” he shouted climbing onto the sandy bank next to the clear water.

“No, I’m not getting near that water. I mean it, Ryan, I've always been told that there's something wrong with it.”

“Don’t be such a scaredy-cat. It’s just water, very clear water. You’d think you could see to the bottom. I wonder how deep it is?”

“Too deep for me!” Maddy hollered back. “Ryan, let’s go. I'm getting a weird feeling.”

“You and your premonitions, I’m fine.”

“Ryan, please, most of the time my feelings are dead on. Let’s go! There’ve been too many little things happening. My shoestring broke, then I got a splinter in my finger, and the feed bucket had a hole in it. This bad feeling just won't go away. Let's get outta here.”

“Not yet, you’re being paranoid. That’s all just coincidences. I’m going to put some weights on the end of the fishing line and see how deep the line goes.”

“Ryan, stop being so stubborn!”

“In a minute,” he insisted, positioning the grey weights on the fishing line and then casting it in. “Wow, I can’t believe it. I didn’t feel it hit bottom. I’m going to try a longer line.”

“Ryan, quit playing around,” Maddy continued to beg. “Let’s go to the small pond; Daddy said the fish are biting there!”

“Just one more crack at it, and then we’ll go.”

The sand beneath Ryan began to shift. His body weaved back and forth. His cane pole flew up into the air and landed on top of the water, floating.

The Gatekeeper of Crystal Pond mystery/Sci-fi

PURCHASE

The Gatekeeper of Crystal Pond “Not What Lies Above, but Below”

The Gatekeeper of Crystal Pond
“Not What Lies Above, but Below”