The Presence

by Shady Grim

  “Saw what?”

  “Wait ‘til yeh get home and see it. It’ll freak yeh out. I went to the foyer door. I opened it to get to ‘er, and I saw the whole thing was full of blood.”

  “What ‘thing,’ do you mean the foyer?”

  “Yeah, the whole thing’s covered in blood, and there’s a lot on the porch too where she dragged herself. I just picked ‘er up and took ‘er with me.”

  “She must’ve been lying like that for some time, that’s the only way I can account for so much blood.”

  “No, that blood was all fresh. It was still warm.”

  “Maybe it just seemed that way because you were upset.”

  “I’m tellin’ yeh it was fresh! It wasn’t even sticky. It looks like somebody dumped buckets of it in there.”

  “Okay, okay, we’ll talk more when I get home. I have other patients to see.” I left the room and went outside to fetch a blanket from my truck to cover up the blood in his. He came out holding both children in his arms, and Shelly followed on crutches. I helped her get settled, and Ethan handed Jimmy to me to place on her lap. He sat in the driver’s seat and tucked Emmy in next to him. I leaned in the window and told him to get some sleep, and that I would bring home pizza for dinner.

  “That’s a good idea. Does pizza sound good, Em?” Emmy, who normally did backflips at the mere mention of pizza, just buried her face in her father’s chest and nodded her head. Shelly and Jimmy didn’t respond at all. “Um...yer gonna have to clean that mess up.”

  “Tell me something I don’t already know.”

  “Yeah well, yeh know how I am with blood and stuff.”

  I arrived home four hours later and they were all still asleep, so I left the pizza boxes on the table and fed Thor and the guinea pigs. Once I had the pets taken care of, I went to inspect the foyer. I followed the trail of bloody footprints left by Ethan until I reached the foyer door. I opened it and was astounded at what I found. The entire surface area of the floor was covered in blood that had to have been nearly a quarter of an inch deep. It showed no signs at all of congealing and still felt warm, unlike Ethan’s well-dried footprints and Shelly’s bloody imprints on the porch. I did notice some pieces of the lemonade glass that Shelly spoke of, so at least that part of the story was accurate. I spent the next hour mopping and scrubbing, and it was then that I realized that no blood had spattered onto the walls or glass of the foyer. There weren’t even any bloody fingerprints where Shelly would’ve opened the outside door. There were, however, numerous bloody finger and hand prints on Ethan’s tool chests, which were sitting on the porch and were all locked as he had stated. Just as I was finishing up, Ethan came downstairs carrying a bleary-eyed Emily. He placed her on her feet when he reached the bottom of the stairs.

  “Hey,” he mumbled as he ran his fingers through his disheveled hair.

  I nodded to him. “How do you feel, Emily?”

  “Okay.”

  “And you, Ethan?”

  “I’m okay, still a little wiped out. Did yeh see the mess?”

  “Yes, I want to talk to you about that later. I brought home pizza, but it has to be reheated. Are Shelly and Jimmy still asleep?”

  “Yeah,” he said. I went upstairs to wake them for dinner while Ethan reheated the pies. We had a quiet dinner and afterwards I put fresh bandages on Shelly and Emmy because they had soaked them when they were getting washed up. Shelly complained so bitterly about the pain in her leg that I upped her dose of sedatives. Not long after dinner, she hobbled back upstairs for bed. We put the children to bed about an hour or so later and retired to my study for a desperately needed talk. I repeated to him the story that Shelly had told me, and that it was exactly the same as what she told Dr. Zee.

  “What did yeh think of that mess?”

  “I’ve never seen anything like it.”

  “I told yeh, it was fuckin’ freaky.”

  “I can’t account for that amount of blood. It couldn’t possibly be all hers. She’d be dead, or damn near it, if she lost that much. She’s not even pale. She has better color than you do.”

  “It’s the house,” he said quietly.

  “I think she must’ve staged something. There’s no other explanation. Are you missing any tools?”

  “Nope, they’re all accounted for.”

  “What about your tool belt?”

  “Locked up, like everythin’ else. Maybe she cut herself on the glass she dropped.”

  “No, that’s a precision cut she has, straight with uniform depth. A piece of glass would’ve left a jagged cut. It had to be something like a razor. One of your power tools maybe?”

  “No way! She woulda cut ‘er foot off if she even tried. She ain’t that strong anyway. She wouldn’t be able control any of ‘em. Besides she woulda had to plug it in, and then unplug and wrap it up all in the space of a few seconds. If she cut ‘erself before she left the kitchen, there woulda been blood tracked through the house, and I definitely woulda seen it if there was. It just don’t sound feasible.”

  “Neither does the amount of blood I saw, or the fact that it was still fresh. There’s an extra piece to this puzzle, and we’re not seeing it.”

  “It’s the house, that’s the missin’ piece.”

  “We must be messing up on the time frame. She had to have had more time to stage all of this than we realize.”

  “How could she? The kids were in the house with ‘er. After they came out to me, I was in here. It couldn’t possibly have been more than a couple of minutes between the time I went out with the sun block, ‘til the time I came in for my keys.”

  “She must have a razor on her somewhere...”

  “For Christ’s sake, Heather, it was the fuckin’ house! Will yeh listen to me for once?”

  “It’s not possible that she could’ve planted stage blood or animal’s blood, and maybe treated it with some kind of anti-coagulant, but it’s totally feasible that the house is blood-letting itself. What’s next, Ethan, a plague of locusts?”

  “If yeh think it’s such a crazy story then why didn’t yeh take any samples? It’d be pretty easy to prove if the blood was all human or not.”

  “Oh, right, like I’m going to explain to someone that my disturbed houseguest made the walls of my house bleed, and I was just curious as to what blood type it may be.”

  “Yeh were always a shitty liar. Yeh’d think with that brain, yeh’d be able think up better lies. Yeh never in yer life cared what other people thought. Yeh always swam against the current, and yeh expect me to believe that yer suddenly worried about what other people might think. It ain’t workin’. I know yeh better than that. Yeh know the fuckin’ truth, and yer gonna have to face it sooner or later.”

  “Well, we have something more important to face right now. Like what to do about our unstable friend.”

  “She is not unstable. She knows exactly what she’s doin’, I’m sure of it.” He rose to pace the floor and expel some of his temper.

  “Alright, Ethan, you believe whatever you want to believe, but something has to be done. Today she injured herself; tomorrow it may be one of the kids. We can’t take that chance. I think we should call Jim.”

  “No way! All he’ll do is blame the little guy for everything. Let ‘er tell ‘im.”

  “I know you don’t like Jim, but Shelly is his responsibility. He has a right to know what happened today.”

  “Dude, I’m tellin’ yeh, it’s a mistake lettin’ him in on anythin’.”

  “Then what do you propose we do, sit around and wait for her to hurt the kids?”

  “She ain’t gonna hurt the kids.”

  “You can’t be certain about that. You don’t know what she’ll do.”

  “She didn’t even hurt ‘erself. She ain’t gonna hurt them.”

  “Oh, here we go again!”

  “Just let it lay. When ‘er brother’s done doin’ what he’s gotta do, then he’ll come get ‘er and everythin’ll be fine again.”

  “I
don’t know, Ethan, this goes against my better judgment.”

  “Will yeh just trust me?”

  “Oh God, that’s always a bad omen.”

  “Real funny, Heather.”

  Chapter Twelve

  We chose to have a barbecue at the weekend to break in Ethan’s new grill. He was adamant that a relaxed atmosphere was key if Shelly was to remain placated. She was still limping around on her crutches and insisting that she was in dire agony even though her very minor wound was healing well, and she had no signs of bruising. Emily, however, was back to her old self the next day, and Ethan had to reprimand her for catching toads. He complained to me that she never listens to anything, and I reminded him that I was well acquainted with someone else who always had to learn things the hard way. He denied any familiarity with the person of whom I spoke. The children were excited beyond description about having a barbecue and seeing Ethan’s new grill. I couldn’t understand why they would be so animated over a barbecue grill, but then I remembered Ethan’s unique gift for encouraging enthusiasm. He had, no doubt, been telling so many absurd stories about all the wonderful things one could do with a grill that their little minds were brimming with fantastic images. He had this thing hidden somewhere on the property so even I was not permitted a preview. The children were instructed to stay with Shelly and await the unveiling, while he took me to the run-down barn behind the house.

  “This is where you’ve hidden it? This barn is falling apart. It isn’t safe to be walking around in there.”

  “I know, but this model was recalled ‘cause it was defective. Apparently a few people got hurt or somethin’.”

  “How did you convince someone to sell you a recalled model?”

  “Yer good-lookin’ cousin can be very persuasive. Anyway, I had to work on it, and I figured if it was gonna blow up that this was the best place for it to be.”

  “Well, that was good thinking...in part. Why didn’t you just get a reliable model instead of bringing home a defective one?”

  “‘Cause I got this thing seventy percent off. I saved so much on it that I was able to get a butt-load of accessories, which we really needed anyway.”

  “It never ceases to amaze me how much money you can save by spending it. Are you sure this thing is safe?”

  “It’s okay; I fixed it. It’s perfectly safe now. Now brace yerself, I’m gonna open the door.” He opened the barn door and pulled a canvas drop cloth off of the largest grill I’d ever seen. I stood speechless, gaping at it. “What do yeh think?” he asked, grinning from ear to ear.

  “It’s mammoth! You could feed a battalion with this thing. Why did you get such a big one?”

  “Only the best for this family; now help me get it outta here.”

  “You know, you are the only person who’s ever been able to raise my blood pressure.”

  He pinched my face. “It puts color in yer cheeks. Now, come on, I got a lot of cookin’ to do. I hope it don’t rain, it looks a little overcast today.”

  “It’s been threatening all morning. I think we’ll be fine.”

  The children cheered as we approached with Ethan’s prize. We heated it up to bake the potatoes while we all went swimming, all but Shelly. She preferred to sit on the dock in a deck chair with her sun hat on and read a book.

  “I don’t think you should swim in there with all those snakes. Jimmy could get bitten,” she whined.

  “There aren’t that many snakes in here, and I assure you that both of the children will be fine,” I snapped at her, Ethan elbowed me. There was a pile of pond turtles sunning themselves on the end of the dock, but they splashed into the water at our approach and joined the other, much larger group of turtles, that were congregated on the other side of the lake.

  “Are there any snapper turtles in there?” said Shelly.

  “I’ll handle this,” Ethan whispered in my ear. “Have yeh ever seen a snapper, Shell?”

  “No, I haven’t.”

  “Oh, well, then I’ll tell yeh how yeh know if yeh got any. See those turtles over there?” He pointed to the other bank.

  She squinted as she looked to where Ethan was pointing. “Yes.”

  “Well, those are pond turtles. Wherever yeh see pond turtles, yeh don’t see snappers ‘cause they don’t get along. It’s like rats and mice. They’re both rodents, but they’ll kill each other if they get the chance.” That ridiculous lie satisfied Shelly, and she allowed Jimmy to join in on the fun.

  “But, Dad,” whispered Emily as she tugged on his shorts, “ain’t that a snapper sunnin’ on that log over there?”

  He bent down to whisper back to her, “Yeah, but we can’t let Shelly know that or she won’t let Jimmy swim with us. If we don’t help Jimmy, his mom’s gonna turn him into a sissy.”

  “Ethan!”

  Emmy took in a sharp breath, and her eyes grew wide with alarm. “Oh, that’s really bad, Heather,” she whispered to me. “Dad says a sissy’s almost as bad as a nerd.”

  “That’s right,” he said stone-faced. “And it’s up to the people who love ‘em to make sure they don’t go down that dark and lonely path. If yeh get nerds and sissies early enough, yeh can help ‘em; but after a certain age it’s too late.”

  “What about dweebs?” I said.

  “Oh, they’re incurable.”

  We spent several hours swimming and had a great time despite Shelly’s perpetual whining. Ethan and Emily could fight their hunger no longer, and we all retired to the back porch for Ethan to work his magic. Just as I was bringing him a pile of veggie dogs and veggie burgers, it began to downpour. “It never fuckin’ fails!” he shouted, and slammed the lid down on the grill. He stormed around the grill, ranting and kicking up grass. I warned Shelly to let him be, but she insisted on trying to calm him, which only enraged him more. Emmy and Jimmy sat calmly on the porch playing with their marbles. I left Shelly sniveling and begging for him to curb his temper, while I went inside to search for my parents’ old beach umbrella. Having successfully retrieved it, I took it outside and gave it to him. Instantly, his tempestuous ranting ceased and a big smile claimed his features.

  “Dude! Now that’s why you’re the smart one.” He set it up over the grill and continued cooking.

  “You can’t barbecue in the rain,” warned Shelly.

  “Shut up!” shouted Ethan and I in unison.

  Jimmy thought that cooking in the rain was the coolest thing he’d ever seen and Emily responded to him proudly with, “Yeah, well, my dad does a lot of cool stuff.”

  Shelly continued her complaints about Ethan and I standing in the rain and I, with some irritation, countered with, “What the hell’s the difference, Shelly? We were wet from swimming anyway!” Ethan elbowed me again and asked the kids to stay on the porch with Shelly until the rain stopped. “You’ve got a lot of nerve elbowing me after that tantrum you just took,” I whispered.

  “That’s different,” he answered back. “Yeh know, I’ve been thinkin’–”

  “That must be the reason for the sudden storm.”

  “As I was sayin’,” he continued snottily, “I was thinkin’ about when we were kids and all the stuff that I wanted outta life. I haven’t done a single thing that I promised myself I’d do.”

  “You’ve got Emmy. You always wanted kids...and you didn’t become a nerd. I know that was always a big concern for you.”

  “I’m happy I got Emmy, although I’m not happy about how I got ‘er. But I’m really talkin’ about all my hopes and dreams. I had so many of ‘em and I haven’t fulfilled any. You on the other hand, all yeh ever really wanted was this house, and yeh waited for years ‘til yeh got it. This is the only place where yer ever really yerself. Yeh know what I mean?”

  “Yes, I know what you mean. This is where I feel I belong, and it makes me feel contented.”

  “Yeh know what would make me feel satisfied? If I could win somethin’, it don’t really matter what, just as long as I came out on top. Man, if I could win just one thi
ng, I could be proud of myself forever.” With that statement, we were both instantly transported into our own separate recollections of the past. He stood in silence staring up at the clouds, and I at the ground until Emmy’s chirping voice broke our meditations.

  “Heather?”

  “Yes, Emily.”

  “What does my name mean?”

  “Oh, that sounds like a junior egghead question to me. What’ve yeh been doin’ to my kid?”

  “What’s an egghead?” she asked suspiciously.

  “It’s a very good thing to be,” I answered. “To answer your other question, I think Emily means ‘rival.’”

  “What does Jimmy’s name mean?”

  “James is a variant of Jacob, which means ‘supplanter.’”

  “What’s a supplanter?” she asked with a frown.

  “Yeah, what does that mean?” chimed Ethan.

  “It means ‘one who takes the place of another.’ For example; if a king’s son, a prince, steals the throne from his father, he’s a supplanter.”

  “Okay, what about yer name?”

  “Ha, she was named after a weed; an ugly one too! I remember Uncle Harry sayin’ that. He hated your name.”

  “I know, he wanted me named after his mother. Her name was Alexandra, which is my middle name, and it means ‘to defend.’”

  “What about Dad?”

  “Um...Ethan means ‘strong,’ I think.”

  “Yes, Daddy is strong like bull.” He proceeded to pose in several bodybuilder positions. Satisfied with the answers to her questions, Emily rejoined Jimmy on the porch.

  “What made ‘er ask that stuff?”