The House on West 10th Street

by Helen Phifer

  He dragged himself off the bed, his head groggy. He felt as if he had a hangover from hell. He laughed. That was a pretty apt description. As he walked into the living area he heard the whispering, then shook his head as if it would clear the voices. It didn’t, they were there in the background. The smell in here was terrible, rotten eggs and sulphur. It smelt as if someone had been striking matches, he went to check and see if the candles were lit. The wicks were untouched but, something had been in here whilst he was sleeping. A cold shiver ran down the full length of his spine as he wondered whether he would be able to control it when the time came. If it was coming and going as it pleased, did it need him at all?

  Chapter Fifteen

  Max sat back and took a large gulp of the bottle of Bud she’d been nursing in her left hand. Maria did the same.

  Frankie asked. ‘Let me get this straight, you think the house has some kind of curse on it?’

  She shrugged. ‘I don’t know if I believe that it’s cursed, but there’s something wrong with it. There have been two murders in the same apartment. Both women had their limbs cut off and their heads removed. Not to mention the number of suicides and deaths by natural causes.’

  Frankie let Maria speak. ‘How many other deaths?’

  ‘Seven, well… nine with the murders. You have to admit that’s a lot of deaths for one house.’

  ‘You get that with rentals.’

  ‘I know, but they’ve all been women. Don’t you think it’s strange?’

  ‘Yes, I do. It’s not that I don’t believe you, it’s just I’m a trained detective who relies on cold, hard, evidence. I’m not very good when it comes to something that’s not black and white.’

  Frankie joined in. ‘It’s true, she isn’t.’

  ‘Well, what are we going to do about it? I can’t leave it, there has to be some connection between the murders.’

  ‘There are sixty-five years between the murders, who would even remember the first?’ Maria was trying to keep calm, but the kid was winding her up and she wasn’t even sure why.

  ‘What about the old lady you spoke to who owns the building? You said yourself that she knew all about the first one. We need to go back and interview her properly, she must know something. I don’t believe that she doesn’t.’

  Maria glared at Frankie, realising why she was so angry with Max. It was fear. She was scared to go back to the house and she would have to if they wanted to interview her. There was something about the house on West 10th Street that made her blood run cold. Max finished her beer and stood up.

  ‘Sorry, I know I’ve gone on and got all defensive. I can’t help it, I feel as if we have to find out what happened there. Why the women who live in that house die there. It’s as if it’s gotten under my skin. It’s all I think about and I feel as if it’s my duty to put their souls to rest because they’re not at peace. Whoever has died in that house is stuck there; it’s like a form of purgatory.’

  She glanced at Frankie who was sitting there with his mouth open. Maria smiled at her. ‘It’s not often Frankie is left speechless. It was nice to meet you, we’ll see what we can find out and be in touch. Is that okay with you?’

  ‘Yes, I guess it is. Thank you both.’

  She grabbed her purse and strode towards the exit, not looking back.

  Maria stared after her, and then turned to Frankie.

  ‘Well, what do you make of her?’

  ‘I want to say that she’s nuts, a complete loser.’

  ‘But you can’t, can you, because you think she’s on to something.’

  He nodded.

  ‘I do too. I’m telling you now, I really don’t want to go back to that house.’

  ‘Then what are we going to do? We have to question the old lady, you know that, Maria. She’s the only link we have. We go together, in the daylight. Neither of us are to go there alone.’

  She stood up. ‘I need to go home, I’m tired.’

  ‘Hey, I need to ask you a favour?’

  ‘What?’

  ‘Will you come dancing with me tomorrow night?’

  Maria frowned at him. ‘Ask Christy.’

  ‘It’s for Christy, you told me to put some spark back in my marriage. Well, I figured if I learnt how to dance for real, I could take her to one of the fancy Christmas balls at The Plaza or The Met. Surprise her. What do you say? It’s good exercise. You’ll be able to burn that burger and fries off you just swallowed whole.’

  ‘Do you have a death wish, Frankie?’

  He held his hands up.

  ‘If I need to burn the burger off I’ll go for a run, but since this is the first half decent, romantic idea you’ve ever had I’ll go with you. On one condition.’

  He grinned. ‘What?’

  ‘You don’t crush my feet.’

  He pretended to look hurt.

  ‘I’m going home Frankie, you should do the same. You better get some beauty sleep.’

  She walked to the exit smiling to herself, she was going home for a soak in the bath and refused to think about anything they’d been discussing until tomorrow. She wasn’t going to be terrified tonight, not when she was on her own.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Greenwich Village, 1952

  Emilia had never been so excited to go to the theatre, and it helped that Mae was taking the lead tonight. Who would have thought that her friend would be so beautiful and talented? She understood the attraction that her father must feel towards Mae, but she couldn’t understand why Mae found him so attractive. He was much older, she supposed he was relatively good looking for his age. James had come down from his room in the attic looking frightful, his face had an unhealthy pallor about it.

  ‘Are you ill James? Do you need a doctor?’

  He glared at her. ‘No, do you?’

  ‘What do you mean by that remark, why would I need a doctor? It’s not me who looks like a patient from a tuberculosis hospital.’

  Realising how harsh that was, she spoke in a much softer tone. ‘Why don’t you come with me to the theatre and watch Mae? I’ve seen the way you watch her, you like her. It would do you good to get some fresh air and life into your lungs.’

  He carried on glaring at her. ‘Does it not strike you as strange how you have suddenly become such good friends with the whore who is sleeping with our father? His place is by mother’s side, not shacked up with a cheap hooker.’

  Emilia crossed the room, raised her hand and slapped him hard across the face, leaving an angry red handprint etched into his skin.

  ‘Why do you have to be so mean? You’re just like mom. No wonder pop would rather spend time with Mae. Go back to your creepy attic where you belong, you don’t have a decent bone in your body.’

  He shook his head at her. ‘You’ll be sorry, just wait and see.’ He stormed out of the room down to the kitchen and Emilia wondered what had just happened. She had never struck anyone before and was wondering if she should apologize to him when the loud beep of the cab sounded outside. Instead she went to the front door and ran up the steps to the sidewalk and the waiting car. She had been given a seat in Mr Lawson’s private box to watch the show. If she calmed down by the time she came home she would go and apologize to him. He had always been jealous of her and now it seemed he was jealous of Mae. Which was stupid because he didn’t even know her, he hadn’t even attempted to speak to her. She got into the cab and pushed all thoughts of her strange brother out of her mind, if he was that bothered about mom he could go back and be with her. She didn’t know why he’d come into the city anyway, it wasn’t as if he had any business or friends to catch up with. He’d always been such a loner and judging by the way he was carrying on he always would be.

  James heard the heavy, oak door slam and ran to the window to watch. His sister was getting far too big for her breeches, but not for long. He would be putting an end to that very soon. How dare she think she could strike him across the face and not pay a penalty? This Mae was having a bad influence on her and
the sooner he killed her the better. Mom would thank him for it when she knew what had been going on. She would be more than a little upset to discover her husband was sleeping around so openly. Maybe he should kill him too; take all three of them out in one go. He only needed three bodies. Three was the magic number. Three was the devil’s way of throwing his scorn on the holy trinity. He went back upstairs to his attic room, for he had many things to prepare. He took the Ouija board from under his bed and put it on the table. He pulled the drawer out and took the planchette out, his hand trembling as he lifted it to his eye to look through it. Slowly moving around the room, this time there was nothing there. No dark, smoky shadows lingering in the corners. No strange-looking creatures, which considering the anger and hatred that was bubbling inside of him he found surprising. There was a long, drawn-out scratching sound behind him. He swung around. With the planchette still held up to his face, he stumbled backwards on seeing the huge, black, beast standing behind him. His blood turned to iced water in his veins as his heart pumped it around his body faster, turning him into a shivering wreck. The thing had its back to him and for that he was grateful. He wasn’t prepared for this yet. He stepped backwards away from it. Banging into the kitchen counter behind him, he dropped the planchette. Frantically searching the floor he panicked. Without it he couldn’t see the beast. He didn’t know where it was. As he scrabbled on the floor to grab it, he felt the hot, rotten, breath in his face. Looking up there was nothing in front of him; yet he knew different. He could smell it. It was inches from him. James had never felt terror so extreme in his life. He wasn’t ready. When he wanted it to appear it would be on his terms, he would be in control. The whole point of this was that the creature would be grateful to him for summoning it from the depths of hell and it would want to do whatever he told it to appease him. It wasn’t here on its terms. Every hair on his arms stood on edge as the sharp pain of gut wrenching terror made him double over. The air was charged with static electricity and for a moment he wondered if this was it, was his life about to end? All his planning would be wiped out with one swift blow from the demon standing in front of him. He closed his eyes, forcing his dry mouth to open as he whispered.

  ‘Beast be gone, you will not return until I summon you. You are not to come and go as you please, by the power invested in me as the one who will bring you back I command you to leave. Your time is almost here, we have to be ready or it won’t work and you’ll be forever stuck half in this world and half in the dark.’

  The room felt lighter, the smell had gone and his heart slowed down. Opening his eyes, he lifted the planchette to use as his mirror to the other world. This time he saw nothing through it; no dark shadows and no terrifying beast. For now, it was safe, and the space was his once more. He knew he needed to toughen up if he wanted to do this. How could he command a demon from the depths of hell if he couldn’t speak above a whisper?

  Emilia gave a standing ovation, she thought Mae had been amazing. She had turned into someone else on the stage who was completely captivating, even more so than her usually exotic self. Making her way from the private box she was met at the side of the stage by a young boy of no more than fourteen. He looked at her and grinned.

  ‘You must be Mae’s friend, she sent me to find you.’

  He held out his hand. She grasped hold of it, shaking it.

  ‘I’m Billy, you can call me Bill. I work here every night. I’m going to be on that stage soon.’

  ‘Well hello Bill, I’m Emilia. I can’t wait to see you up there.’

  He laughed. ‘Come on, she’s waiting for you. She told me not to talk too much.’

  He turned and Emilia followed him to the far end of the first floor and a door which led to a stairwell. He ran down to a room with a gold star stuck to the door, she ran down after him. On it someone had written “Mae”. Emilia wondered how marvellous it would feel to be like her friend: full of confidence and beautiful. Lifting her hand to knock she paused as a sense of terrible foreboding fell over her, like a black shadow. It clung to her making her feel sick and dizzy. Her knuckles grazed the wood as she fell against it, her legs felt as if they didn’t belong to her. The door opened, and she fell into Mae’s arms. She let out a scream as Mae caught her and then the room went black.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Miss Green was shuffling to the elevator when Maria pushed her way through the glass doors of the lobby. Maria caught up with her and did a double take.

  ‘Miss Green, what’s the matter?’

  She’d never seen the old lady with no make-up or jewellery on, ever. She didn’t look at Maria.

  ‘Today isn’t a good day.’

  Maria felt her heart tear in two. In all the years she’d known her whenever she’d asked her how she was she always replied, ‘Today is a good day.’ She pushed her arm through hers and pressed the call button.

  ‘Come on, why I don’t I make us a nice pot of tea and you can tell me what’s wrong?’

  Miss Green didn’t look at her, she nodded and for the first time in forever it struck Maria just how old and frail she was. There was so much running through her head, she was afraid to find out what was wrong in case it was something that no amount of tea could help. The rickety elevator finally came to a stop on the ground floor, the doors rattled open and they both stepped inside. Maria could feel the burger she’d eaten earlier churning around in her stomach. She pushed the button for their floor and waited for it to judder to a halt. She took hold of Miss Green’s elbow and led her down to her apartment where she opened the door for her and followed her in. Maria pointed to the armchair and went to the kitchen counter to switch the kettle on.

  ‘You’re a good girl, far too good to be living on your own. You deserve a nice man or woman to keep you warm in bed each night.’

  Maria laughed. ‘I do. We both do. Although there’s a lot to be said for being single. I like being able to eat what I want and watch crappy cable shows all day in my sweats.’

  Miss Green looked up, her watery eyes fixed on Maria. ‘I do too, but when you get to my age it gets lonely. It’s all very well pretending you’re happy doing your own thing, but wouldn’t you like to have someone waiting for you when you got in from work? You work so hard, doing a terrible job. I can’t begin to imagine the horrors of what you must face every day. You are very brave and deserve to be taken care of, find yourself a rich boyfriend.’

  Maria laughed, she carried two mugs of tea over and placed them on the table, then she went back and grabbed the half-eaten packet of Oreos from the cupboard and put them on a plate. When Miss Green picked one up and started nibbling on it she smiled, the woman really was a woman after her own heart.

  ‘Thank you, dear, I’ve just realized how hungry I am.’

  ‘You’re welcome. Can I fix you a sandwich?’

  She shook her head. ‘These are just fine, I’m partial to a chocolate cookie.’

  They sat there in silence, both sipping their tea. Maria waiting for the opportunity to ask what was wrong. She didn’t have to wait long.

  ‘I bet you think I’m crazy, look at the state of me. I didn’t even put my lipstick on before I left the house.’

  ‘You look fabulous with or without it.’

  The woman’s cheeks turned pink and she laughed.

  ‘You’re a sweetheart. I was about to put my make-up on when the letter came, out of the blue, just like that it was pushed under the door. So it must have been hand delivered. I knew it must be something bad and I should have thrown it in the trash like my brain was telling me to. I didn’t. My inquisitive nature got the better of me and now look what a sorry state I’m in.’

  Maria sipped her tea, waiting for her to continue. Miss Green pulled a letter out of her purse and passed it to her. She read the single sentence, again and again. Trying to understand what it might mean and couldn’t. The words filled her mind.

  It’s come back

  Maria held it out towards Miss Green who shook her head.
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br />   ‘Please would you be a sweetheart and get rid of it for me, I can’t bear to think about it.’

  ‘What does it mean? Who sent it?’

  The old woman stared at her. ‘It means that someone has been dabbling in black magic, messing with things they have no concept of. When I finally fled that house I’d lived in for years, I hoped I’d never have to go back. I saw things with my own two eyes that I never knew existed. Things that I never want to see again. Something that I swore I would never talk about ever again.’

  ‘You can tell me, it might make you feel better to get it off your chest.’

  Maria wasn’t sure why, but she felt creeped out beyond belief. The hairs on the back of her neck were standing on end and she felt as if a dark cloud had descended over her. She looked around the apartment, surprised to see how dark and gloomy it was in here despite the lights being on. Miss Green shook her head.

  ‘I wouldn’t drag you into this, you’re much safer kept out of it.’

  ‘I’m a cop, it’s my job. I chase the bad guys and the killers every day. Hell, I shoot them if I have to and I don’t think twice about it because they’re BAD guys. Please let me help you Miss Green, I want to help.’

  A single tear fell from the corner of her eye and she shook her head.

  ‘You are a good girl, Maria, God knows this and He will look after you. Don’t ever doubt that.’