Towering Pines Volume One: Room 509

By Bruce A. Sarte

When star basketball player Liam Rider is sentenced to military school to serve out an aggravated assault charge, he thought his life was over. When he meets Lisbeth Harrington, she sparks feelings in him he didn't know he had. Pulled into the past of the historic school by nightmares of his own suicide, Liam and Lisbeth are spurned forward into the hidden history a murder, suicide and ghosts.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bucks County Publishing
• Release date: Jun 18, 2010
• ISBN: 9781452441016

Bruce A. Sarte

Bruce lives just outside of Philadelphia with his wife and three children. In addition to writing, he enjoys baseball, playing guitar, reading, church, cooking and being a dad.Bruce grew up at the Jersey Shore (the picture is at Point Pleasant Beach, where Sands of Time is set) and graduated from Admiral Farragut Academy in Pine Beach, NJ where he first became enthralled with reading and writing. From his early influences Bruce was introduced to and fell in love with Shakespeare, Marlow, Henry James and Nathaniel Hawthorne.

Book preview

Prologue

October 30, 1984

Scott Paulsen stood on the edge overlooking the campus watching the Toms River shimmer like black ice in the moonlight. From fifty feet up, the moonlight hit the water and reflected into his eyes so he could barely see anything else. For the third night this week Scott found himself here. After evening inspection and lights out, he put his head down on the pillow and began his nightly ritual of counting backwards in French from 100 to fall asleep. As usual, the last thing he remembered was reaching quarante cinq and then he fell into a deep sleep. The next thing he knew he was standing in this spot at exactly the same time each night.

Scott Paulsen’s return to consciousness was the same on each of these evenings. His eyes moved from port to starboard taking in Dodge Hall, the tennis courts, the football field and finally he could see the gym through the towering pine trees. With a startling suddenness the wind hit him hard in the face. The force of the wind stole his breath and caused him to blink his eyes rapidly. Just when he thought he as going to pass out the wind died down allowing him to inhale deeply. He looked up into the moonlight and stared for a long time. Then his eyes were inexplicably drawn to the reflection of the moon on the Toms River. Paulsen gazed into the blue-white coloring of the moon on the water as the waves moved slowly in and out of the light. Suddenly, just as it had done on previous nights the placid water began to darken and turn red. Seemingly without any warning the moon repeated the trick the water had played and slowly began to bleed red. Paulsen’s eyes darted back and forth from the water to the moon and back. He couldn’t believe it was happening again.

"Jump Scotty." The ethereal voice came to him from nowhere and everywhere all at once. This was the third night the voice came to him in his sleep, it wasn’t the only time the voice had injected itself into his life. He had heard it in the firing range when it told him to put the barrel to his chin and also at the waterfront when it told him to jump in and stay under the water.

"Come on Scotty, jump. You can do it."

On the first night that he found himself on the roof of Reingold Hall, when he heard the voice speak to him he ran as quickly as his feet would take him. He shot through the door and down the stairway, slamming into the wall at the landing and then burst through the door into the hallway. When he slid to a stop in front of the door to room 509 he stopped himself. Scott stood absolutely silent with his eyes pressed shut. When he opened them he stared at the door for another long moment hoping no one had heard him making all that noise. He slowly turned his head from side to side listening for any sounds. He didn’t hear a thing, but as he reached to push the door open something shot down the hall out of the corner of his eye. It startled him so much that he was frozen. Scott couldn’t move. He swallowed hard and turned his head to the left where he saw the movement, but there was nothing there. With a quick push the door opened and being very careful not to wake his roommates he slipped into the room and into his bunk. Lying in his bunk he turned his face into his pillow and realized that he was soaked with sweat.

Last night, the second night that he found himself on the roof of the old building the voice called to him again after a few minutes of staring over the edge. This time he wasn’t as startled and turned quickly – hoping to find the culprit who had been harassing him over the past month… but there was no one there. He walked slowly towards the large ventilation duct that sat in the middle of the roof. Scott walked all the way around it but still could not find anyone. Finally he had walked to each corner of the roof and looked down but did not see anyone before returning to his bunk.

But tonight was different.

"Do it."

The moon was full and the entire landscape around him was awash in red. That had not happened before. He could feel the beads of sweat trickling down his forehead and stopping at his eyebrows for just a moment in spite of the cool October air blowing up from the ground.

"You want to jump."

The voice was being more persistent tonight. It had not spoken to him repeatedly before. Yes, tonight was different because Scott knew what the voice wanted him to do and he knew why. He had found the picture left under his pillow. He saw the words written on the back in nearly formed block letters. He had looked in the 1945 yearbook and seen the dedication. He understood when his dream last night had shown him. Then the voices came to him as if they were all around him.

Here beneath the towering pines, by the river blue

Farragut will ever stand, alma mater true

Scott began to mouth the words along with the choir of voices. He was mesmerized until the voice came back to him and jolted him back to the ledge.

"You must!" the voice hissed in his ear.

And now that he understood the entire story, it came together all at once. Scott Paulsen knew that he could indeed help the voice. He could stop it’s suffering and torment for these past forty years. He also knew that was not the first one to have been chosen by the voice to help. If he was right, he knew that he would be the last one to have to do it.

Tomorrow was October 31st and the morning reveille would be met with a big Halloween surprise.

Scott Paulsen thought he knew how to put an end to all the madness. He thought he had to jump and that would end the vicious cycle. But there was only one way to find out.

So he jumped.

Chapter One

September 25, 2004

The chants were shaking the foundations of Brick Memorial High School. Liam could feel the energy from the exuberant crowd coursing through his body as the team gathered in the doorway of the locker room ready to charge out onto the floor for the second half of the most anticipated basketball game of the year. When the Mustangs played their cross-town rivals, the Brick Dragons, it was always the most anticipated game of the season. This year the game was in Memorial’s spacious gymnasium. All four sides of the court were packed with spectators wearing either the green and gold of Brick Memorial or the green and white of Brick. Liam had 22 points and the Mustangs were up by 3 at the half. Liam knew that this was it for him. This was the season that all the top college scouts would be watching him, preparing to court him and get his early commitment to their school. He was the top high school basketball player in the state of New Jersey if not the whole east coast and this was only his junior year. His teammates were getting charged up to finish the battle, but Liam stood stock still waiting for the coach to give the go ahead. When the coach gave the signal the Brick Memorial Mustangs bolted out onto the court minus their number one point guard. Liam took a deep breath and walked slowly behind his teammates. His foot hit the court and the light blinded him for a moment, so he squinted for just a second. Just as he reopened them his vision was blocked by a swirling sea of golden hair followed by a deep scent of lavender just before he was engulfed in the firm yet soft embrace of his girlfriend, Ashleigh Sommers.

Good luck, baby! she purred then released him and smoothly slid back into formation with the rest of the cheerleaders. Liam smiled as he watched her bounce across the court in the scant green and gold cheerleader’s uniform that covered far less than it revealed. He made mental note to try and find out who designed those uniforms. He wanted to send him a Christmas card of thanks. A scant smile played across his face as he chuckled to himself, it has to be a man.

But now it was game time.

He strode with a swagger onto the court towards his position with a swagger for the tip off to begin the second half. About five feet from his position, he was greeted by two Dragon players, Seth Rogen and Tom McNorton who had been double teaming him the whole first half. There had been some pushing and trash talking, but it was all part of the game. Seth and Tom now stood directly in between Liam and his position on the court.

Outta my way, Liam snorted.

They looked each other and laughed, but Liam could see the ref coming onto the court. He had to get into position quickly or the Mustangs would be penalized.

Jerks, and Liam moved swiftly to go around them. In his haste to get into position, he didn’t see Seth put his foot out and Liam stumbled over Seth’s size 12’s. That combined with a light push from Tom sent Liam crashing to the hard wood floor. He landed hard on his shoulder and felt it move in a most unnatural way. There was an intense pain that shot through his shoulder and down his arm. His hand went right to his shoulder as he rolled onto his back, his face wrinkled in pain. Within moments, Coach Rollins was at his side asking if he was okay. Liam’s response was to roll onto his good shoulder and push himself onto his feet. He shuffled past the coach and threw an evil look toward Rogen and McNorton. The two pretended like nothing happened which infuriated Liam even more. Liam glanced over at Ashleigh who was looking at him with concern. He saw her mouth, Are you alright? just as the whistle blew and the ball went in the air.

There was no time to answer as the ball swung his way almost immediately. Now he had to focus on the game, pain or no pain. For the rest of the second half Liam bounced between Rogen and McNorton doing his best to keep his head in the game and push the pain out of his mind.

With less than a minute left, Liam had only put four more points on the board and the Mustangs were trailing the Dragons by two. Coach Rollins called a time out and tried to rally the team into a frenzy for the last minute of the game. The Mustangs had to try and stage a come back victory with their star guard hurt. Liam could barely lift his arm high enough to dribble to ball, let alone take a shot. To make matters worse, every time he would run by McNorton or Rogen they would purposely jab at his shoulder or bump into him just to piss him off just a little more. Liam stood up from the huddle while Rollins was still talking. Liam wasn’t listening. His temper was at an all time high but he thought that maybe he could use the anger he was feeling to focus himself enough to play through the pain for one last three pointer.

I want the ball, he said matter-of-factly to Rollins as he inserted himself back into the huddled mass of Mustangs.

OK, Rollins responded with a smile. Here’s the plan to get the ball to Liam…

Todd inbounded the ball to Jimmy who moved the ball into the Dragon side of the court. Liam crossed the key, stopped and pivoted trying to shake the defender but failed. He looked through the bodies and saw Jimmy push the ball over to Stan at the top of the key. The Dragons double teamed Stan and forced him to pull up his dribble and look for help. But the double team left Liam open at the far corner of the three-point line. Stan saw Liam wave his hand and swung the ball out to him. Liam felt the ball hit his injured hand as if he had just stuck his finger in a light socket. The jolt shot through his arm and up his shoulder.

Despite his newly found focus, he winced before looking up at the clock to see there was still 35 seconds left. Far too much time to take the shot, he had to kill some time. He had to make a quick decision to move the ball or put it on the floor. He dropped the ball once and pushed it back over to Stan. Stan took the ball over his head and waited for Liam to shake the newly found defender in the corner. Liam looked at the clock as two defenders swarmed him, twenty seconds left. Liam head faked to the left and crossed in front of the basket effectively losing both defenders leaving him wide open in the corner. Stan dribbled up the middle and hit Liam with a bounce pass as Seth Rogen converged on him. Liam caught the ball with one hand and set his sights on the hoop. His teammates were gone. The crowd was silent. The only things Liam was aware of were the hoop and the clock ticking down from ten, Liam lined up the shot, nine, deep breath in, eight, exhale on seven, up and… just as the ball rolled from the tips of his fingers Liam felt a shoulder plow into his injured arm. Liam fell to the hardwood and blacked out before he even felt the pain that was surely there.

When light overcame darkness, Liam’s head thumped like he was hung over. His vision returned to him slowly and he could see Dragon players jumping up and down in celebration but he couldn’t hear anything. Liam couldn’t remember where he was or what had happened. Then he saw the crowd that had begun to gather around him. The rest of the team was above him, talking to him but he couldn’t hear them. His head rocked back and forth in frustration. He just couldn’t understand what was going on. He must be at a game but he couldn’t remember.

Ashleigh broke through the crowd with a look of terror on her face. It was the kind would have been perfect in A Nightmare on Elm Street, not at a high school basketball game. As soon as she saw him looking at her, she smiled and wiped a tear from below her eye that Liam couldn’t see. She threw herself on top of him in a poorly feigned display of concern that made the redheaded cheerleader to her left roll her eyes. Sometimes Liam wished Ashleigh would just go away and this was one of those times. The dangling of her blonde hair into his face made him want to shave her head. Much to his dismay all he could do right now was stare up into her blue eyes and hope that she could read the annoyance on his face. Apparently she could not.

Then all at once, his senses came back to him slamming into him like a locomotive. He was overwhelmed by Ashleigh’s cries of relief and then he heard the indecipherable chatter of his teammates. As he tried to push Ashleigh away, he was hit by a wave of pain that started at his shoulder and ran down his spine causing his to lose control of his arms for just a moment. When his face seized in pain, Ashleigh noticed that.

Are you okay baby? Ashleigh yelled in his ear over the cheering of the crowd.

Suddenly Liam’s memory came back to him. He remembered where he was. He remembered why the game was important. And most important: Liam remembered why his shoulder felt like it had ten knives stuck into it.

Get…off…me…NOW! Liam shouted through clenched teeth. Ashleigh’s sat up suddenly, her face frozen in surprise.

What did you say to me? Ashleigh whined. Liam responded by shoving her off of him with his good arm, causing her to stumble backward into the group. Fueled by his seemingly insatiable anger, Liam rolled onto his good shoulder and pushed himself up to his knees… slowly and painfully. Stan moved to help Liam to his feet.

Hey man, you all right? I can’t believe the stupid ref didn’t call a foul on that. Rogen hit you like a linebacker!

What? Rogen? Liam looked at Stan in disbelief. He couldn’t believe that Rogen did that to him. Then to compound the crime, no foul was called. The realization hit him that the game was now over and the Mustangs lost. That was all he could stand. Liam quickly located where Seth Rogen was. He saw him standing across the court near his bench high fiving his teammates. Liam ran across the court, pushing through people and not even noticing the faces as he plowed past them. He couldn’t hear anything; he couldn’t see anything except Rogen’s self-satisfied smirk. Liam didn’t even feel the pain in his shoulder as he picked up the folding chair and hit Rogen in the back of the head with it. Rogen fell like a sack of potatoes to the ground. So, when Liam hit him the second time he felt it a little bit in his shoulder when the chair connected with the side of his head. The third time the chair connected with Rogen’s head blood splatter hit Liam’s face bringing him back to reality. Liam dropped the chair as if it weighed two hundred pounds right before he was subdued by a crowd of people.

Chapter Two

It was three days after the incident and his father had barely said three words to him. His father would look at him and shake his head almost every time he saw him, but no words. His mother told him that he should stay home from school and that the whole thing would blow over. Still, three days later, his father had nothing to say. He didn’t ask what happened; he didn’t ask why… he didn’t tell him everything would be all right.

When the police came knocking on Liam’s front door, he watched his father open the door and let them in. From the crack in his bedroom door, Liam could see that there were two officers. One appeared to be freakishly tall and the other man was a tick shorter than Liam. He listened to the tall police officer explain to his father that they were here to take Liam into custody. The officer went on to explain that because Liam was a minor, his mother and father had a right to be present when he was being processed. Liam felt the long pause before he heard his father reply, He’s in there. The next sounds he heard were his father’s footsteps as he retreated deeper into the house.

Although Liam was spared the humiliation of being handcuffed because of his dislocated shoulder, he still had to suffer through the walk to the police car. The ride to the police station was nothing more than a blur. Liam was in a daze as he was booked and put into a holding cell where he would be held until his bail hearing in the morning. Liam sat in the cold eight-by-eight cell, staring at the battleship grey walls wondering what came over him that night. Why did he fly off the handle and beat Seth Rogen with a chair?

While Liam was stretched out on a cot that was about as comfortable as a slab of concrete, he could do nothing but think about Seth laid up at Ocean Medical Center in a coma. Liam was sixteen years old in a place that very few kids his age ever see. He knew that this was the end of life as he knew it and that he would spend the rest of his life regretting ever having set foot on that basketball court that night. He would spend a good part of his upcoming days in a jail cell just like this one. The cell was complete with cold iron bars, a cardboard-like cot with a single thin musty sheet and a seatless toilet in the corner. Tonight the young basketball star sat in jail charged with aggravated assault and was going to be tried as an adult.

Liam had stared at the wall for the entire night. At some point he drifted off to an uncomfortable sleep for a short time.

Liam was sitting in a lounge chair with a picturesque view of some trees along a riverbank with a small dock extending out about twenty feet into the water. The breeze kissed Liam’s face as he smiled and enjoyed the moment. As he scanned the view from left to right he looked down and saw a football field with some people standing in the middle. There were three of them and Liam watched them with increasing curiosity because they were all standing still. He sat forward in his chair and noticed they were standing in a strange triangular formation and as he looked even closer he realized they were looking right at him. He blinked and sat straight up in shock when a hand clasped his shoulder and a male voice whispered in his ear, See you soon Liam! The boys on the football field pointed straight at him.

Liam bolted straight up in his cot. He was breathing heavily and scared out of his mind.

Must be the stress, he told himself to rationalize the odd feeling of impending doom that he had. Liam didn’t get any more sleep that night. He had no clue what time it was and wouldn’t even have known if it was morning except that the guard had brought him breakfast. Liam could hear the guard shuffling towards his cell. He didn’t look up when the tray slid through the slot in the bars.

Mornin’ sunshine, here’s some cereal and milk. Enjoy our gourmet breakfast.

Liam looked up at the slightly overweight and more than slightly balding guard from the cot and didn’t move. The guard’s smirk agitated Liam a little bit, but he didn’t have the energy to show it.

"If you ain’t gonna eat it, I will. I’ll sit right out here and eat