The Fade

by Demitria Lunetta

  “Garret,” I say. “He goes by Jim Garret.”

  “Yeah, how did you know?”

  “James Pratt is living in my house. He’s Shannon’s boyfriend.”

  I SEARCH THE house top to bottom, but I can’t find Shannon or Jim anywhere. I return to Coop.

  “We have to tell your dad. He probably has contacts in the police department. We just need to wait for him to sober up.”

  “Sure. But, Haley. Think for a second. He must know James is back. He, Mr. Grant, Mrs. Franz…they all knew him.”

  “Shit. You’re right.”

  “They must think he’s harmless. Just a grieving family member like them…like me.”

  “Okay, then we have to rely on Shannon. Let’s print out whatever you have that shows Jim is Kaitlyn’s brother. We’ll give her all the information—that he used to live in that house, that his sister disappeared. I’ll leave it where Shannon can find it.”

  “That doesn’t prove anything,” he says.

  “If he lied to her, it will at least be a start.” If I can plant the seed of doubt, maybe I can get Shannon out of there.

  “Maybe she’s safer not knowing,” Coop suggests.

  “Print it,” I insist. “Maybe she’ll go to the police, or at least confront him someplace where there are people around. Maybe he’ll confess to her.” It’s risky, but Shannon will also have me around to help. If Jim attacks her, I can trip him or hit him with something. I’ll make sure she gets away.

  Coop prints the article with the picture of young Jim. I hold it up. He looks so normal. How could anyone tell what he’s done?

  “If Shannon shows this page to the police, will they be able to trace this back to you?” I ask. I don’t want him to get in trouble.

  “I don’t think so…except for my fingerprints, but I don’t think they’re on file.”

  I use a rag to wipe the paper, then grab one of Coop’s markers. In red block letters I write MURDERER above Jim’s photo.

  “Well, that will definitely get her attention,” he says.

  “I’ll check in when I can,” I tell him.

  He steps up to me. “Wait, Haley.” He leans in and gently kisses my cheek. “Be careful,” he whispers.

  “I’ll be fine,” I assure him. “He can’t kill me twice.”

  Coop nods, his face filled with a desperate longing. I stand on my tiptoes, kiss his lips, then disappear before I can worry about how we are impossible.

  I TEST MY connection to Shannon, reaching out, and I feel her: she’s at the grocery store, and I’m glad to discover that Jim isn’t with her. At the house I leave the paper on the kitchen counter for when she gets home.

  I watch her find the note, see her look of surprise. She gives up putting away the groceries and goes to sit in the living room instead of heading straight to the police station.

  “No, Shannon. Don’t confront him alone.” What have I done?

  I sit with her. Hopefully she knows she isn’t on her own. When Jim gets home, he comes into the living room and asks her what’s the matter.

  “Someone left this for me,” she tells him, holding out the paper. She’s not at all angry; instead, she looks sad. Jim sits between us, and I jump up, not able to take being so close to him.

  “I’m so sorry about this.” His voice drips concern. It makes my skin crawl. “I told you some people won’t let my past stay buried.”

  “But it was so long ago,” Shannon tells him. “You were just a kid. You were never even a suspect.”

  “We knew how it would look, me moving back into this house.”

  “It was fate,” Shannon says. “What are the chances that we would meet? That I would live in your old house? That we would both lose our sisters?” There are tears in her eyes now. I put an unseen hand on her shoulder.

  Jim nods. “It was destiny, Shan. A second chance to live the life I could have had if Kaitlyn…” He pauses.

  “I know it’s hard for you,” Shannon tells him, thinking he’s choked up with grief, but I can see the truth: He’s angry. Furious that Kaitlyn rejected him. He can barely contain his rage and doesn’t want to show Shannon that side of him.

  He pulls the paper from her hands and balls it up. “Don’t let this hurt you. Whoever did this is sick. You should just ignore it.”

  “It was in our house….Someone came in while I was gone.”

  “We just have to be more careful. Maybe get a security system. I’ll stay right by your side until we do.”

  Shannon nods and wipes her eyes. “Let’s go for a run. That will make me feel better.”

  “That’s my girl,” Jim says with a smile. “I’ll be ready in ten.”

  I begin to tremble, rage coursing through my veins. How can he do this to my sister? How can he pretend to be a normal person? How is Shannon fooled?

  We watch Jim jog up the stairs, and I try to think of a way I can reach Shannon. She wipes her tears and stands to stretch. She’s already in her gym clothes—she practically lives in them—so she’s ready to go.

  I thought I needed to help the Grabbed Girls before I could move on, but I know now it’s Shannon I have to protect.

  And I’ll do whatever I have to, to keep her safe.

  “THAT NEIGHBOR KID is in the yard again,” Jim tells Shannon when he comes down from changing.

  “He was friends with Haley,” she responds.

  “Well, I don’t like him hanging around, especially when someone is trying to freak you out.”

  “Do you think he’s the one that left that printout?” Shannon asks.

  “I don’t know. I’ll talk to his dad. We go way back.”

  I rush out to the yard, to Coop’s side. He starts at my appearance.

  “You have to go,” I tell him.

  “What happened with your sister?” he asks.

  “I made it worse. Jim saw you. Go home. I’ll meet you there.” I glance over my shoulder. Jim is watching through the kitchen window. Coop spots him and backs away. “I’ll come soon,” I call after Coop. “I want to make sure Shannon is okay.”

  Back in the house, Shannon is in Jim’s arms, and it makes me so angry the temperature drops. Shannon shivers.

  “Look…maybe I’ll skip the run.”

  “You really aren’t feeling like yourself,” Jim tells her with a smile.

  “I think I’ll just take a nap and maybe we’ll go when I wake up?”

  “Sounds good. Hey, I might go check out a security system while you’re sleeping. Unless you want me to stay with you.”

  “No, that’s okay. I just was freaked out.”

  He lifts her chin and kisses her gently. “No one is going to hurt you.”

  I follow Shannon upstairs. When she settles in, I carefully and quietly snap the door lock. Shannon doesn’t nap very often, but when she does, she’s out for a couple of hours. That buys me some time.

  * * *

  In Coop’s room, I start to feel strange, drained.

  Coop’s arms reach around me and through me. He lets out a gasp of surprise. “This is not good. You’re fading.”

  “I’m exhausted.”

  “You need to rest.”

  “I can’t. Shannon is living with a killer.”

  “She’s been with Jim for a year and he hasn’t hurt her. She might not be in any danger.”

  “ ‘Might not be’ isn’t good enough,” I tell him. “He thinks you’re the one who left the note.”

  “No.” He wraps his arms around me, and this time I’m solid. I rest my head on his chest, seeking a few moments of peace without thinking how messed up everything is.

  “What are we going to do?”

  I feel Coop’s body tense and his arms drop. He takes a step back, staring over my shoulder. I turn to find one of the Grabbed Girls standin
g by the wall.

  “Emily?” Coop asks.

  She flickers, like a light turning on and off. She mouths something I can’t make out.

  “How are you here?” I ask. She has taxed herself to come here. She looks like a copy of a copy, blurred and unclear.

  “Help,” she whispers. Her voice is so low it barely carries to us.

  She disappears, and I hope for Coop’s sake that she hasn’t gone for good. I turn to him. All I manage to say is “They need me” before I appear in my own kitchen.

  Emily is there, her features re-forming. She’s panting as if she’s just run a marathon. I feel worn out myself, but I push past the fatigue.

  “Emily, what’s happening?”

  She shakes her head. It’s too much for her to talk; I’m surprised she managed it in the first place. She points toward the basement.

  In a flash I’m there. I find Jim standing over a figure.

  “Dad?” How is he here? I watched him leave. Why is he back?

  Dad is on his knees, his nose a bloody mess.

  “Why couldn’t you have let it go?” Jim is asking.

  “Shannon called me in tears. She was so upset. Why are you doing this?” my father asks. He’s sweaty and shaky, but he looks like he’s not hurt too badly.

  “You mean you didn’t know about me?” Jim barks out a hysterical laugh. “You’re lying.”

  Dad shakes his head. “I have no idea what you’re talking about!” He’s shouting now; his anger gives him strength. “I’m going to call the police. You’re going to jail.”

  “No, Dad,” I whisper. Kaitlyn threatened the same thing and James killed her.

  “Be as loud as you want,” Jim tells him quietly. “This basement is pretty soundproof.”

  My father realizes that he can’t bully him, so he tries a different tactic. “What are you going to do to Shannon? She’s my little girl.”

  “I’m not going to do anything to Shannon. I love her.” He says it with such conviction. Dad reaches his arm out for support, but Jim hits him again.

  I cry out as his head snaps back and he drops from his knees to his elbows. Still he struggles to rise.

  “You don’t appreciate her. Not like I do.” Jim hits him again, even harder, and Dad collapses completely. He lies motionless on his stomach, and I think for a moment he may be dead, but his spirit doesn’t appear. His body moves slightly with his shallow breaths. I watch, frozen and powerless.

  “I don’t want to do this,” Jim says as he grabs my dad’s legs and drags him toward the far wall, continuing his half of the conversation. “I never wanted to do any of it. Kaitlyn was just an accident. Something came over me. And then Brandy looked so much like her, I thought…I could have another chance. But it happened again! Gigi…she knew something was wrong. It wasn’t my fault. It was either take care of her or get caught.”

  He rummages in his toolbox and takes out an electric screwdriver. He pulses it a few times, and for a moment I think he’s going to harm my father with it. But instead, he gets to work on one of the panels in the far wall. “And Emily. She was kind, and so unhappy at home. Her drunk dad always made her watch her brothers, acted like she was a babysitter, not a daughter. I really thought it would work out between us. But then…” He stops and looks at the tool in his hand. He lets out a shaky breath. “She said it was over. That she was only with me because she was sad about losing her friends. She didn’t want me. Just like the rest.”

  Suddenly, the girls appear, one by one. They watch Jim intently. I expect them to be livid, to enact their vengeance against this man who harmed them. But they keep their distance, make no move against him. Only Kaitlyn steps forward, stares at her brother. Her mournful look is heartbreaking. The others stay well back. They are too scared to do anything.

  Well, I’m not. I’m determined to stop him. He won’t kill my father. My determination breaks my frightened immobility.

  I walk to Jim and push him, hard. Caught off guard, he falls down, as does the wood panel he was working on. It tumbles to the ground, along with a layer of pink insulation. I gasp at what is revealed: a yellowing corpse, bone poking through shriveled, dried-out skin. A wisp of blond hair is still attached to the cracked skull.

  Kaitlyn sees the desiccated husk of her former body and shrieks, falling to her knees. The other girls gather around her.

  Dad is still out cold, and Jim isn’t even fazed.

  I go to push Jim again, to keep him away from my father, but he’s found his balance. I barely nudge him. He’s confused but recovers quickly from my attack.

  I try again, but this time he’s ready and he grabs for me, his arms flowing harmlessly through me. Instead of trying to push him again, I kick at his legs in a swiping motion, causing him to crash to the floor.

  His eyes search the room, look through me. “What are you?” he whispers.

  As Jim gets to his feet, a figure rushes him: Coop.

  He jumps on Jim’s back and tries to put him in a chokehold. But Jim is strong, and it’s clear that Coop hasn’t been in many fights. He shakes Coop off, and Coop hits the wall hard. He lands next to the toolbox, and in an instant Jim is upon him, a hammer ready in his hand. Before I can react, he hits Coop with a dull thud.

  Anger wells up through my body, so sudden and fierce I can’t contain it. I’m not thinking rationally; I just want to protect Coop. I want Jim to get what he deserves. I walk toward him and release all the rage I feel.

  My feet lift off the ground, raising me a foot in the air. My hair swirls around my face, as if I’m in a pool of water. Icy air flows from my body and circles the room. My fury is so great that it shakes the house. Jim drops the hammer, tries to maintain his balance, and falls over.

  I feel my strength deflate. I’m so tired. I need Coop to get up, to call the police. I pull at his boot. He doesn’t look good. A gash leaking bright blood streaks across his forehead.

  “Please, help,” I beg the girls, but they don’t move.

  “Help!” I yell again. But they just stare past me. I turn to find Coop looking down at his body.

  “No,” I whisper. He looks surprised, studies his own motionless corpse. Then he sees me and seems to shake his shock.

  “Haley. I…” Stepping over his body, he puts his arms around me.

  “You’re not dead!” I cry out. “You can’t be dead!”

  “Leave it.” He pulls me to my feet. “That’s not me.” He motions to my father. “Let’s get him out of here.”

  Jim has crawled over to Coop’s body to see if he’s alive. While he’s distracted, I pull my father’s leg while Coop tries to take the other one. He can’t grip, though; his hands move through Dad’s body.

  “Try again,” I beg.

  Coop gets a look of intense concentration and again grabs Dad’s foot. This time he manages to get a hold. Together, we tug and move Dad an inch.

  “Harder!” I yell, and move him another inch. How will we get him upstairs?

  Out of the corner of my eye, I spot Jim move. He again grabs the hammer, raises it, and pounds on Coop’s already-mangled head. “I! Don’t! Want! Any! Of! This!” he yells.

  “Don’t look,” Coop tells me.

  I focus on my father. “This isn’t going to work,” I say.

  “What is going on?” a voice asks from above.

  I look up, my greatest fear realized: Shannon has stopped about halfway down, and gapes through us at Jim. She must see the truth now—Dad’s motionless form, Coop’s body. Jim has done all this. He’s even holding the hammer he used to kill Coop, wielding it over the corpse.

  “The neighbor boy broke in and attacked us!” Jim tells her. “Your dad came home for a surprise visit.”

  “Dad?” Shannon stares at him in horror. “Is he going to be okay?”

  “I don’t know. Help me
tie this kid up so we can call the police!”

  “Shannon, don’t believe him!” I scream, but she can’t hear me.

  It only takes her a moment to make her decision. Jim is her boyfriend. They’ve been together for over a year. Why wouldn’t she believe him? She continues down the stairs to the basement.

  SHANNON REALIZES SOMETHING is really wrong when she spots Kaitlyn’s desiccated remains. She stares at the wall and blinks hard, as if she can make the image go away. Her face goes from bewildered concern to panicked horror. But then it’s already too late. Jim grabs her arm.

  Still she doesn’t understand. She looks up at him, her face full of concern. “What happened here?” she asks weakly.

  “I can explain.”

  “Who…” She can’t take her eyes off the corpse in the wall.

  He sees his opportunity. “I think this kid killed my sister,” he tells her, motioning to Coop. “I caught him down here messing around with the wall.”

  “We have to call the cops,” Shannon says. “We have to get an ambulance here for my dad.” She moves to go to his side, but Jim pulls her back to him. She stares in revulsion at the blood on his shirt. The blood that isn’t his. Her eyes search him, questioning.

  “You should be worried about me,” he scolds her. “About my injuries.”

  “We have to help her,” I tell Coop.

  “How, Haley?” he asks desperately. “What can we do?”

  “My dad needs help right now!” she tells Jim, dismayed. Her eyes fall on Coop. “You did that to him?”

  “It was self-defense. He must have killed those girls, and then his dad manipulated the evidence to cover it up. That’s why no one was ever caught.”

  I can’t believe it, but I can tell she’s accepting his explanation.

  “What should we do?” Her eyes spring to Dad’s immobile body. “Is he dead? Is that why you don’t want me to check him?” she asks with a hiccup in her voice.