by Brett McKay
Beaumont snapped around and clutched Lester’s throat in his clawed hand. “Is that why you brought me this young girl? Because she’s easy prey? This work is too important to be lazy. My friends are still back there, being hunted by the Tormentor. We need to get them through before it finds them. Before it finds me! Get off your lazy ass for once and bring me some real bodies. You can use my friend Kayle to help.” He gestured toward the stairs. I assumed he meant the Dark Man. “It appears he’s getting around well enough, and he’s strong.”
Beaumont pushed Lester, and he stumbled back against the staircase.
“My friends need energy too. They’re not strong enough when they enter these bodies. They need to be fed.” He turned and burned another glare at Kilborn. “We need a couple of live ones to feed them.”
“Do they eat them?” Lester’s eyes widened, and his mouth twisted as if he’d swallowed something horrible.
“No. It’s their souls we feed on.”
I tried to pay attention to their discussion, but I couldn’t get my eyes off Andrea. She still moaned. She rolled on the floor, changed directions, and started to crawl toward me.
Her arms were limp as if no muscle hid beneath her pale skin. She dragged her useless feet behind her. Her sunken eyes were white with fear, and her mouth hung open, dripping black sludge. Her hair was splayed across half her face, and her eyes transfixed on me. I’d been found. Her eyes widened as she saw me.
Heart in my throat, I froze. She kept coming, groaning, and with her eyes targeting me, I knew I had to move. Finally, I found the nerve to shuffle my butt deeper into the shadows.
Her fingers scrabbled against the playhouse and boxes, and she pulled herself forward enough to press her face against the plastic house. I saw one of her eyes through the upstairs window of the dollhouse. We stared eye to eye, inches from each other.
Suddenly, she disappeared as Lester grabbed her ankle and dragged her back toward them. Then Beaumont raised a shovel high above his head.
I turned because I couldn’t look, but I couldn’t spare my ears from hearing the sickening thud. I cried so hard inside.
“We can’t afford to lose more time. I need three more bodies fast, and no more children,” Beaumont growled. “Unless the children are for the feeding.”
I continued to stare at the floor, holding back sobs, as Lester scooped her body into his arms and followed Beaumont upstairs. The door shut, and I was alone again. The only sound that accompanied me was the screech of the floorboards above.
Tears streamed down my face, and my chest heaved in and out as I shook with sobs for a good five minutes—partly because of my sheer horror and partly out of grief for Andrea and her family. An emptiness filled me and expanded to every finger and toe. I’d let Andrea down. I’d failed her. I should have been stronger and forced the police or my parents to listen. If I’d done something sooner, then maybe, just maybe...
I felt warmth on my shoulder and turned. Andrea stood behind me—the real Andrea, not the monster. Her spirit. Her form was luminescent with a soft glow.
She smiled. She didn’t speak a word. She didn’t have to. The gratitude in her eyes told me not to worry. Warm feelings washed over me, and I felt a strong sense of love and joy emanating from her. The feelings hit me like an invisible wave. The overwhelming sensation was like nothing I’d ever experienced, and I felt tears run down my cheeks. I would have guessed there would be sadness or anger, but maybe those didn’t exist in the afterlife.
She was only visible for a matter of seconds, then her image faded, leaving me alone again. She left me with a gift to pass on, one of hope and love, and my own realization that there was more to life than just being alive. What we did in it was what counted.
I stood up, feeling rejuvenated and stronger. I looked at the ceiling and listened for footsteps. I needed to get out of that house, but first, I needed them gone so I could make a break for it. A few moments later, I heard footsteps that sounded rhythmic, perhaps someone ascending the stairs.
Mathilda appeared at the top of the basement stairs, looking at me with wild anticipation. She motioned for me to follow. She was signaling that the coast was clear! I wondered for the briefest moment why Mathilda seemed different than Andrea, then I hurried up the steps, and she disappeared. I listened intently at the door. Nothing. I slowly opened the door and peeked out. No one was in sight. The back door was only feet away. I bolted for it.
I ran across the kitchen floor as quietly as possible, but I got ahead of myself, tripped over the cooler of ice, and thudded to the floor. The milk jug inside split open, spreading its white contents across the floor, along with skating ice cubes. There was no way they hadn’t heard the noise.
I jumped up and threw open the door just as I heard the men charge down the stairs. I ran outside, where I panicked, trying to decide which way to go. Then Rosco popped up from behind a berm about twenty feet ahead and motioned for me. I’d been in that basement for a while, and I’d thought my friends would be long gone by then. I’d never been so happy to see him. I ran to him and leapt over the berm to find Dawn and Gary were still with him. They grabbed me in a group hug, then we crouched out of sight behind the berm.
“They killed Andrea. She’s inside,” I whispered.
“Bastards,” Rosco hissed.
“Where’s Jax?” I asked.
“He went to call the cops. We didn’t know what was going to happen to you,” Dawn said.
“We gotta go,” Gary said. His nose was practically pressed against the dirt ledge of the berm, watching the Crooked House. He shuddered, and I crept up beside him to peek over the edge. The Dark Man stood in the doorway, silhouetted by a light inside, and Beaumont’s face scowled over his shoulder.
“Go,” I heard Beaumont order the man.
I grabbed Dawn, and we all tore out of there faster than rabbits. We moved to run the way we came, but the Dark Man cut off our escape to the south. So we ran to the north, directly opposite, and the Dark Man followed.
We ran hard, jumped over bushes and rocks, twisted around blocked paths, and flew over small hills like deer. Dawn stayed next to me. We started to curve back east and eventually south toward home, but then I realized we’d gone so far north that we were on the other side of the field and had a long way to go. I felt the Dark Man gaining.
Ahead and a little to our left, I spotted the dark shape of Farmer Joe’s barn. Lungs burning, I gasped and pointed at it. “We’re not going to make it. Go in there. Hide.”
Dawn nodded, and the others followed.
The door on the side was open, and we ran in. Bales of hay were stacked to the ceiling, and loose hay covered the ground. Dust and particles of grass filled the air, threatening my lungs. There were a ton of places to hide inside the maze of stacks, and we quickly dispersed and found clever hiding spots. I ran to the back of the barn and hid behind a stack of four bales, next to an open path. I waited, panting and sweating heavily. I thought Dawn was next to me, but when I turned, I didn’t see her.
Where are the cops? I silently begged them to come.
Gary hid a few feet behind me. He climbed two bales of hay and found a good spot. Rosco’s position didn’t look so good. He was fifteen feet to the side of me behind one square of hay. He held his pellet gun out and started pumping it rapidly.
“What’re you doing?” I asked.
“Just in case,” he assured me, but I was worried he would shoot early and piss off the giant man. The Dark Man didn’t appear to be vulnerable to pellets.
Where is Dawn?
“Dawn?” I called out quietly.
To my relief, her head popped out from a stack behind me, and she gave me a wink then disappeared again. I had a tiny view of the entrance and watched as the dark form stepped in. He stopped and stood still.
Rosco rested his rifle on the bale of hay and took aim. I clenched and prayed silently for him not to shoot.
I looked around for anything that could help us and saw a worktable
against the wall not far from me. I crept low and scooted my way to it. Scattered across the table were tools and one long shotgun, probably the one with rock salt in the shells, but it would be a hell of a lot better than Rosco’s pellet gun.
Dawn turned and watched me as I took the shotgun and moved back into my hiding spot. Gary looked down at me, wide-eyed.
I’d fired a shotgun a few times before with my brothers, cousins, and uncles when we went rabbit hunting, so I was familiar with it. I couldn’t pump in a shell yet because the sound would alert him to where I was.
The Dark Man approached, walking slowly through the aisles created by the stacks of hay.
“Here, here, boys...” The tone of his voice sounded familiar, despite the sing-song words. “Come out, come out, wherever you are.”
His footsteps crunched on brittle hay. I clutched my gun. Rosco and I shared a glance.
The Dark Man twisted fast and looked behind a stack. Finding nothing, he kept moving.
“I don’t like playing games. But I am sure going to love snapping your necks in two. Slow. Between my hands. Or maybe I’ll just stomp on your neck. Either way, I’m going to have fun.”
He jumped into another spot and came up empty. He was on the path closest to me. He would soon be on me. I took deep breaths and waited.
I saw his foot first, and I tensed. Then his whole body stood in front of me. He turned, and I saw his face in the moonlight streaming from the upper windows.
Suddenly, I understood why the voice was familiar. Though the voice was absent of his Southern accent, it had belonged to Todd Harrison. He was the man Lester had whined about being tough to take down, and now I knew why Lester ran Todd off the road.
He looked at me. A sly grin crept on his face. I quickly pumped a shell into place. He growled. Hands outstretched, he came for me.
Pop, pop, pop! Rosco fired the first shot into the man’s back, pumped quickly, and fired twice more. The Dark Man arched his back and yelped. It irritated him, but nothing more.
I squeezed the shotgun trigger, but the trigger didn’t move. Oh shit, the safety!
I couldn’t find it in the dark. The creature came after me again, and Rosco kept firing, to no avail. A beam came from above. Gary shot a beam from his flashlight into the Dark Man’s eyes, blinding him.
The light was enough for me to find the safety. I clicked it off, aimed, and fired. The gun kicked against my shoulder. The spray of rock salt hit his chest in a puff of powder, and he stumbled.
I pumped another one in and shot again. It rocked him back even farther, and he hollered in pain. I saw blood, and vapors rose from his wounds. I heard sizzling like cooking bacon, and the creature cried in pain. It all seemed surreal.
Enraged, the Dark Man attempted to shake off the pain. He wailed, and I pumped another salt pellet into him. He stumbled but didn’t fall.
Dawn pounced out of nowhere and charged him, swinging a bat like she was going to knock him out of the barn, and smacked it hard against his chest. The Dark Man fell to the ground. More smoke arose from Todd Harrison’s body.
It must be the salt, I thought. Maybe it hurts him like it does demons.
Gary hopped down, and Rosco ran over and grabbed the shotgun from me. Before we bolted out of there, he blasted another one into Todd Harrison’s body. “For Andrea, you bastard!”
Then we bolted, and the Dark Man didn’t follow. He didn’t get up as far as I knew.
We ran across the field in record time and were almost to the fence behind my house when I heard the sirens. Seeing the flashing lights approach the Crooked House across the field, I sighed with relief and stopped running. I turned to my friends, who slowed to a stop—except for Gary, who leapt on the fence to climb over it. He craned his head back to me with a questioning look as if I were crazy.
“What are you doing?” Gary cried.
“We gotta go back.” I gestured to Lester’s house.
“What the hell for?”
“Ret’s right.” Rosco stepped toward Gary. “Come on, buddy. We gotta set this wrong right.”
“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Dawn asked, with a squeak of fear in her voice.
“Someone has to tell the cops what happened,” I said, looking into her eyes, then turned back to Gary. “Jax called the police because I was trapped in the house, right? They’ll be looking for me. Besides, I need to show them where Andrea is, or this was all for nothing.”
Gary hopped off the fence and stomped through the brush to me, still panting from the run. “That Todd thing is going to come charging out of that barn any minute and tear us into pieces.”
“We best hurry then.” Rosco grinned with confidence and a fire in his eyes. “The cops will call our parents for us, and they’ll sort this whole thing out.”
“You okay?” I asked Dawn. She took a deep breath and nodded.
“Let’s go,” Rosco ordered, and Dawn and I trotted after him toward the Crooked House. Gary stayed back, contemplating with both hands on his hips. I was about to call after him when he began to run for us.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Out in the Open
The next couple of days was a surreal blur of policemen, news reporters, and curious neighbors. My body was numb, like I was in a tunnel, watching it all play out in a strange slow-motion reel.
The police dogs found Andrea’s body in a shallow grave beneath the trees next to the creek. The grave wasn’t any closer to the Crooked House than anyone else’s house, and nothing found tied her to Beaumont, Lester, or the house—other than my own testimony. It was enough for Sheriff Packard to bring them in for questioning and for an army of men, including a special crime scene investigation unit, to scour the house.
My mother was the first person I saw after we left the barn and met up with the police. I didn’t know how strong I’d stayed until I crumpled into her arms and sobbed. She held me tightly and caressed my hair.
I talked to Andrea’s parents briefly. Her mother looked at me, her eyes bloodshot and face full of pain, as if her soul had been left with an empty hole she would never be able to fill again. I was nervous about what to say, but I felt Andrea with me. I opened my mouth, and I’m not sure where my words came from, but they came out with honesty and sincerity. I told them what I had seen, despite what the police had found. I also told them about Andrea’s spirit and that she was around them to comfort them in their grief. I owed her that much. I wasn’t sure if my words penetrated or helped at all.
Sheriff Packard allowed me to visit with my parents and Andrea’s family for a short while, but he kept close, listening and watching. I knew what he wanted. He couldn’t wait to question me.
He was the same with my friends. He allowed their families to comfort them, then his deputies took each of them separately for questioning. I caught Dawn’s eyes as an officer led her to another area to talk to her. She looked concerned but strong.
Packard gripped my shoulder. “I need you for a moment.”
I looked at my mom, who nodded, then followed him to his squad car. I sat in the front passenger seat while he took the driver’s.
“How are you doing? Are you okay?”
I was wrapped in a gray blanket the officers had given me, and I drank from a Styrofoam cup of water. I needed them both. “Good. Still shaky. Did you find the man in the barn?” When we first came upon the police I told them someone chased us into the barn and was still there, and Rosco backed me up.
“I sent a couple of guys to check it out.” Packard stared out the front window for a moment then turned to me. “What brought you here, Ret? Why did you and your friends come to Lester’s house?”
“I just—we wanted to find Andrea. We were looking through the field and ended up here.”
“At night? In the dark?”
“Yes. I know it sounds weird, but we didn’t want to give up. We wanted to find her.”
“Lester and Beaumont said you boys broke into his house. They came home and found you runnin
g from his kitchen.”
“We did sneak into their house, but—”
“Why? Ret, why did you go into their house?”
I thought of the torn piece of Andrea’s dress in my pocket. I was afraid to reveal it. How could I tell him? Had one of my friends already divulged that information? If I didn’t, and they did, that would look bad for me.
“Those two were acting real suspicious. I just had a feeling.”
Packard’s stare drilled into me. There was no escaping his lie-detecting capabilities. “Don’t feed me a line of bullshit, Ret. I wonder if I hadn’t driven by Lester’s house the other day if you and Dawn would have broken in then. This is serious stuff. We’re through with lies and excuses. If all of this is true, and those two are behind Andrea’s disappearance, I need every bit of information and evidence I can find. Do you understand? Let’s start again from the beginning. You and your friends got together, and what did you say to each other?”
I closed my eyes and let out a deep breath. I had to tell him. “I found a piece of Andrea’s dress.”
I pulled it from my pocket and showed him. His eyes widened, and his mouth dropped open.
“Where did you get this?” He took the cloth, holding it between two fingertips. He took a small plastic baggie out of his shirt pocket, carefully placed the cloth inside, and sealed it.
“You’re going to find this crazy, but there’s a ghost who lives in that house. She brought it to me. After that, I had no doubt where Andrea was.”
“A ghost?” Packard rolled his eyes. “Come on, Ret, let’s keep this story in the real world.”
“You wanted the truth. No bullshit, Sheriff. Look at my eyes. Tell me I’m lying.” My assertiveness surprised even me. He studied me again.
“Weeks ago, my friends and I snuck into that house on a dare. Before Lester moved in. Halfway through the night, we ran into a ghost who scared the hell out of us, and we tore out of there. Her name is Mathilda Stockholm. She and her husband, Henry, moved into this house in 1902. They had a daughter. She drowned in that house, and Mathilda took her own life. She now haunts the place.”