Desolace Omnibus Edition

by Lucian Barnes

  Before she knew it, nearly an hour had passed. Glancing up from her math book, Katie realized that she hadn't heard a sound from the bathroom for quite a while, and she found herself hoping her mom had not passed out. As she considered knocking to check on her, the door swung open and Mrs. Johnson shuffled into the hallway.

  "Are you okay, Mom?"

  "I wouldn't say that, but I am feeling better than I was," she answered with a half-smile that resembled a grimace of pain.

  Actually, she looked better than she had earlier. Some of the color had returned to her face, and she no longer resembled an escapee from a zombie movie. Instead, she seemed like someone who hadn't slept in about a week. "Are you coming down with the flu?"

  "I wish it was something so mundane. Come out to the living room and sit with me for a bit. I need to talk to you," Mrs. Johnson urged.

  Katie followed her mother down the short hallway leading to the next room, keeping a hand on her back to steady her.

  As Mrs. Johnson eased herself down to the couch cushion, she recalled her earlier phone conversation. "I can't remember if I told you already, but Julie called for you right before you got home from school. You should probably call her back before I talk to you."

  Placing her books on the end table, Katie picked up the phone and dialed Julie's number, her fingers moving so quickly they were a blur. The phone hadn't even rung on the other end when Julie answered.

  It was almost as if the two of them had some sort of psychic connection. Katie hadn't uttered a word, but somehow Julie knew it was her on the other end of the line. The thought of caller ID surfaced in her mind as a possible explanation, but she quickly dismissed the notion. Julie would be far too impatient to bother checking it, even if her phone had the feature. "I didn't find the Ouija in the car, so it must be at your house. Can I come over? We could always study for exams first, then once it's dark we could get it out."

  "Hang on a sec." Covering the mouthpiece with her palm, she glanced at her mom with pleading eyes. "Can Julie come over so we can study for exams?"

  "Sure, sweetie." Mrs. Johnson smiled weakly.

  Removing her hand from the phone, Katie happily blurted, "She said okay."

  "Yay! I'll be over in a bit."

  Before Katie could reply, the line returned to a dial tone. Hanging the phone in its cradle, she turned her attention toward her mom. The room was eerily quiet now. Apparently, while Katie was on the phone her mom had turned off the television. Raising an expectant eyebrow, she tapped her fingers impatiently on the arm of the couch, waiting for her mom to say something.

  After a couple of minutes, Mrs. Johnson sighed. "I don't know where to start, or how to tell you this," she remarked, her tone laced with dismay.

  "Mom ... you're kind of freaking me out here. Tell me what?" Katie asked nervously.

  Silently, Mrs. Johnson searched for the best way to begin. "Well, I suppose blunt and to the point will have to suffice, since I can't think of any other way to go about this." After a short pause she continued, "Right before you got home, one of those special bulletins came on the television. It seems the police have identified one of the two victims from the park, a woman they suspect was abducted recently. They think the other body they found was the other lady who was reported missing, but they haven't confirmed it yet. From what I heard on the news, the evidence points to them being kidnapped and killed by the same person. The police haven't said it, but the reporter seems to think there is a serial killer on the loose in the area."

  Katie's complexion grew pale, and her mouth hung open in shock.

  "I'd feel a whole lot better if you promised me that you would never go anywhere alone. At least, until the police catch this monster."

  Picking her chin up off her chest, Katie nodded and replied, "I promise."

  Mrs. Johnson smiled. "Thank you, sweetie. That was all I wanted to talk to you about, so if you want to go study for a bit before dinner, go ahead."

  Katie rose and gathered her things from the end table before shuffling down the hall to her room. Plopping onto her mattress, she pulled a book into her lap. Before she managed to open it, there was a knock at the front door. Julie was probably so excited about the Ouija board stuff that she sped all the way here, Katie thought with a grin as she went to answer the door.

  Chapter 24

  Opening his eyes, George saw the sun dipping below the horizon. On his walk through the woods behind his house he had found a large, odd-looking tree. When he had sat down and propped his back against it, he had drifted to sleep. In the depths of his subconscious, he had believed that by doing so he might wake up in the other world he had dreamt about earlier. No such luck it seemed. Same shitty day. Same shitty world. He had hoped that by wandering through the woods for a couple of hours he would find the cave from which he had previously reentered his world. However, the only thing he had found was the tree he now leaned against, which vaguely reminded him of the one he had walked into on the other world. The biggest difference, though, was the fact that this one wasn't as large, and it was by far uglier.

  Apparently his friend with the booming voice didn't think he was ready to cross over for real yet, or maybe the alternate world really was nothing more than a dream; the temptation of a place he would never see while he was awake. Frustrated, he stood up and brushed the dirt and grass from his jeans, heading in the direction he thought his house to be. Although he hadn't been home long, he was quickly growing bored. His thoughts drifted. If I don't hear from the Black Knight by tomorrow, it will be time for another recon mission. I need a new toy to play with.

  Chapter 25

  After dinner, Katie and Julie helped Mrs. Johnson clean up. Heading outside, Matt and Mr. Johnson decided to get a little more work done in the one acre garden beside the house. Soon it would be too dark to see what they were doing.

  "I think I'm going to go to bed. I'm wiped out," Mrs. Johnson proclaimed with her hands on her hips, looking completely exhausted. "Can you girls finish up here for me?"

  "Sure," they answered in unison.

  "Thank you." Mrs. Johnson smiled wearily.

  Once she had left the room, the girls went into a whirlwind frenzy of splashing water and flying soap bubbles. Within minutes, they had all of the plates, glasses, and utensils cleaned and stacked in the dish drainer. As they left the kitchen, Julie snapped Katie on the behind with a wet towel, causing her to emit a startled yelp. Tossing the dish rag on to the counter, Julie darted past her friend and headed for Katie's bedroom, laughing as she jogged down the hallway.

  It wasn't completely dark outside yet, but Julie was so excited that she couldn't wait any longer. Pulling the curtains closed to shut out the last remaining light of the day, she dove onto the floor and looked under the bed. While Katie laughed hysterically at her acrobatic-like display, Julie poked her head up from beneath the bed frame and set the Ouija on the mattress. Turning toward her desk, Katie piled their school books on its surface and opened a drawer, pulling out a candle. Grabbing the slender white tapered wax from Katie, she lit the wick.

  "Come on! Shut the light off already!" Julie urged excitedly.

  With a barely restrained laugh, Katie flicked the switch. Sitting down on the bed, she pulled the Ouija into her lap and waited for Julie to position herself properly, so they could rest the board on their knees between them. "I hope it works this time."

  "Me, too." Julie grinned.

  "Hey ... I have an idea. Why don't we try contacting one of those missing women?"

  "As far as I know, only one of them is actually dead, but if you want, we could try that one. Do you remember what her name was?"

  "I'm pretty sure it was Tina something. Do you want me to find a paper and look real quick?" Katie asked, trying to recall where she had last seen the paper. Julie had just begun to nod when Katie's face lit up excitedly. "Oh, wait. I think I remember. It was Blackwell. Tina Blackwell."

  "That sounds right," Julie admitted.

  Simultaneously,
they took a deep breath, attempting to calm their nerves so the Ouija wasn't dancing around on their knees. When the board stopped shaking, they placed their fingertips on the message indicator.

  "We are trying to contact the spirit of Tina Blackwell," Julie announced. "Are you here, Tina?" Almost instantly, the message indicator began to move, stopping with the word no in the clear plastic viewer.

  "Did you do that?" Katie implored, her eyes wide in disbelief.

  "No way! That was the real deal."

  Hesitantly, Katie glanced back at the Ouija. "If you aren't Tina, then who are you?"

  Again, the indicator started to move. While they watched in silent awe, it glided effortlessly from one letter to another, spelling out A-M-B-E-R.

  "Who is Amber?" Julie asked, raising a confused eyebrow in Katie's direction.

  "I'm not sure, but the name sounds familiar."

  As Julie rolled the name around in her head, an idea struck her. "Maybe it's the other missing woman ... the one we weren't sure about being dead." The indicator quickly slid to reveal the word yes in its window.

  "Holy shit," Katie mumbled aloud.

  "What?" Julie gazed nervously at her friend.

  Lost in thought for a moment, Katie didn't hear Julie's question. Inquiring in a voice just above a whisper, she glanced at the Ouija. "Can you make yourself visible to us?"

  Suddenly, the flame on the candle shot up nearly a foot for a second or two. Just as quickly, it extinguished, leaving the girls in total darkness and causing them to jump, slapping hands over their mouths to stifle their screams. Before their eyes had time to adjust to the pitch black room, a glowing form began to materialize by the window. Katie gasped, unable to believe what she was seeing was real.

  Tapping Katie on the shoulder, Julie whispered, "Do you think we can talk to her without the board?"

  The apparition seemed to be nodding its head in answer to Julie's inquiry. Seeing her ghostly glow jarred something in Katie's mind. "Oh my God! Are you the woman I followed when I thought I was dreaming?" The spirit clearly confirmed her question.

  "Holy fucking shit!" Julie gasped, recalling her friend's story.

  The glowing form raised an arm, beckoning the girls to follow. The curtains flew open and the window slid soundlessly up. With making any obvious movements, the apparition was suddenly outside of the house, looking in at them. Unsure of why she trusted the entity so perfectly, Katie rose from the bed and walked to the window. After her previous encounter, she felt like she knew the dead woman. Hesitantly, Julie joined her friend by the open aperture. Unlike Katie, she had no idea what to expect.

  The ghostly figure retreated a few feet while the girls crawled out of the window. Just like in her first experience, the glowing form soundlessly turned around and drifted toward the woods, glancing back to make certain Katie was following. Without a word, the girls trudged through the darkness using the spirit's shimmering essence as their guide. After a few minutes, Julie was growing nervous. "Do you know where she is leading us?"

  "Not really. I got the impression the last time I followed her that she was trying to show me something, but I'm not sure what she wanted me to see," Katie confessed.

  After what seemed like an hour, they emerged from the forest. Amber stopped at the edge of the pavement before crossing the road. Raising a ghostly arm, she pointed to the other side. As both girls glanced in the direction of her luminescent finger, the only thing either of them could discern was what appeared to be lights coming through the windows of a farmhouse.

  "Are you pointing at the house over there?" Katie inquired.

  Nodding her head, Amber nervously edged backward, attempting to retreat.

  "Is that your house?" Julie asked.

  In response, Amber raised both of her hands toward her face fearfully, and quickly floated into the nearby tree line. The glow of her form wavered just inside the edge of the forest, seeming to grow significantly dimmer.

  "Apparently not," Katie remarked. "She acts like she's terrified of the place. Maybe it's where she was killed."

  "If that's the case, it would mean there is a killer living close to you. I get the feeling that we're still pretty close to your house."

  "I don't even want to think about that, Julie." Katie shivered.

  "Should we sneak over and peek through a window to see who lives there?"

  "Have you lost your mind? If there's a killer in there, I don't want to be anywhere near that house!"

  "Just think, Katie. If we do go over and have a look and actually see someone, we will know what the killer looks like. We can go to the police and describe the person," Julie pleaded.

  "Fine," Katie relented, "but I'll be across the road and in the woods before you can say my name if something unexpected happens."

  Reaching out, Julie grabbed Katie's hand and lightly pulled her along as they crept across the pavement. A couple of minutes later they stood in the grass at the edge of a massive porch, gazing through the lighted window. An antique floor lamp was nearby, illuminating a large bookcase on the opposite wall, but they couldn't see anything else without actually mounting the front steps. Julie tugged lightly on Katie's hand, coaxing her to follow her onto the porch for a closer look.

  "No way am I getting any closer to that place," Katie whispered harshly, attempting to pull her hand free from Julie's grip. "If you want a better look that's up to you, but I'm staying here."

  Sneaking up the steps, Julie crossed the porch to the window. Slowly raising her head, she peeked through, first from the lower right side of the glass, then from the opposite side. While on the left side of the aperture, she spotted a man sitting in a recliner, reading a newspaper. She was unable to get a good look at his face; the only feature she could make out was his long brown hair. For a few more minutes, she remained vigilant, hoping to get a glimpse of his face.

  As the man turned the page, he shifted the paper, allowing Julie to see his features clearly for a moment. Shocked recognition spread across her face. Momentarily losing her balance, she bumped the window shutter with her shoulder. Whipping his head toward the sound, the man squinted through the darkened pane. Quickly, Julie ducked her head down out of sight and scrambled toward the grass where Katie was waiting.

  Flying down the stairs like the devil himself was chasing her, Julie grabbed Katie's hand as she reached the bottom. "We have to go! Now!" Sprinting toward safety, she practically dragged Katie out of her shoes. Barely maintaining her balance, the girls ran like stampeding cattle to the other side of the road.

  Amber's glowing form was still cowering behind a tree when they crashed into the forest. Stopping briefly to catch their breath, they glanced back across the road. A shadowy figure stood in the open doorway of the house.

  "Oh my God! That was way too close!" Julie gasped. "I hope he didn't see me."

  "Did you get a good look at him? Enough to describe him to the police?" Katie wheezed, still trying to catch her breath.

  "I would say so. We actually know the guy."

  "Really? Who was it?"

  "It was Mr. M," Julie stated. "Our bus driver from last year."

  "No way!"

  "Believe me, I wasn't ready for that surprise either," Julie remarked.

  "Can we please go back to my house now?" Katie pleaded, approaching the ghostly silhouette. With a nod, Amber wasted no time retreating deeper into the woods.

  The return trip to the house seemed to go by in a matter of minutes. As soon as the shed in the backyard became visible, both girls made a mad dash for the safety of the house. Climbing back in, they collapsed in a heap on the floor, breathing heavily. After closing the window and curtains, the girls sat still for a few minutes, trying to catch their breath. The only light in the room came from the glowing form of Amber, who had followed them inside.

  After she finally caught her breath, Katie got up to turn on the lights. As soon as she flicked the switch the glowing spirit vanished. Uneasy because she could no longer see Amber, she tu
rned the light back off and sighed. Seeing that the ghost was no longer in the room, Katie flipped the light on again.

  "Ya know ... doing that is making it really hard to see anything." Julie blinked rapidly, a note of irritation in her voice, trying to get her eyes to focus.

  "Sorry, it freaked me out when I turned the light on and Amber vanished. I had to turn it back off to see if she was still here. When I saw that she wasn't, I didn't see a point in sitting around in the dark."

  "I'm sorry, too, Katie. I shouldn't have snapped at you like that. Guess I'm still kind of in shock from a ghost leading us to Mr. M's house. Do you really think he's the killer?"

  "I'm not sure what to believe," Katie confessed. "He always seemed so nice when he was driving the bus last year, but on the other hand, why would Amber lead us to his house if he wasn't?"

  "What should we do?" Julie asked.

  "I don't know. It's not like we can just stroll into the police station and tell them a ghost showed us who the killer is."

  "True ... They would probably try to lock us up in the loony bin if we told them that." Julie sighed.

  "Maybe once we get a good night's sleep the answer will come to one of us," Katie suggested.

  "You're probably right. We're too pumped full of adrenaline right now to think clearly. I should be getting back home soon, so my dad isn't freaking out about his car being gone." Rising from the floor, Julie gathered her books. "I think I'll just leave the Ouija here with you for now, if that's all right. It'll keep me from forgetting it the next time I come over."

  "That's fine with me." Katie picked up the Ouija from her mattress and slid it back underneath her bed. After helping Julie get her things together, she walked her to the front door. "Be careful on your way home."

  "I will," Julie smiled halfheartedly, pausing to exchange a brief hug. "See you tomorrow at school."