by Polen, Teri
“Right now, I want to have some fun with you. While using your body, I saw what was in your head. I know what scares you, Cain, that fear embedded in the back of your mind since childhood. About what lives under your bed. And what would happen if it snatched you under the bed with it.”
My skin felt clammy and my whole body trembled at Sarah’s words. Please don’t say it, I pleaded silently. She radiated malevolence, shrouded by pure evil, not a trace of humanity left. “I’m going to make your nightmares come true.”
Curling into a fetal position and surrendering seemed the easiest thing to do, but my survival instincts were stronger, shattering the grip of terror paralyzing my mind. I rolled to my side in an attempt to get my legs under me and run, but Sarah’s reflexes were like lightning. Her hand clamped around my ankle with the strength of a vise and although I kicked out, her grip never loosened. She began creeping backwards toward the bed, dragging me with her. I knew she was drawing it out to heighten my fear, because she’d already demonstrated her ability to move inhumanly fast.
My hands clawed for something to provide leverage and slow her progress. When my arm brushed against the dresser leg, I arched back, clamping both hands around it. Sarah never let up and my body felt like it might split in half, but she was too strong, and the dresser pulled away from the wall, forcing me to let go.
Sarah was halfway under the bed now, and I had only inches before following her. Out of sheer desperation, I clutched the nightstand, but it tilted, overturning the lamp and it fell to the floor, shattering the recently replaced bulb. Now only the flickering light of the television illuminated the room, casting Sarah’s face in a shifting array of shadows. I fought against the impulse to scream, afraid it would bring Mom or Maddie to my room, and knowing I’d rather endure whatever Sarah had planned for me than put them in danger. Nothing was left to hold onto, and I focused on the peaceful nighttime sky outside my window, knowing it might be the last thing I ever saw.
Being under the bed, alone in near total darkness with something that was no longer alive had been the leading cause of my sleepless nights as a child. When I was eight years old, Mom had been watching The Shining. I’d wanted to watch it also, pleading with her I was old enough and wouldn’t have bad dreams. Some of my favorite books were from R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps Series, so how could the movie be any worse than that? She’d chuckled and promised me we’d watch it together when I was a teenager, then tucked me in bed. Confident that I knew best, I’d gotten up, slithered behind the couch, and peeked around the corner at the television. What I’d seen had haunted my nightmares for many months after. It was the part where Danny went in room 237 and saw the lady in the bathtub. On those sleepless nights, more often than not, it was her rotting corpse pulling me under the bed.
Sarah wasn’t as old and decayed as the bathtub lady, but she didn’t look much better, and all those wakeful nights I’d spent huddled under my covers in terror, eyes tightly shut, washed over me and I felt myself withdrawing, seeking a safe place in my mind. The thundering sound of my quick, raspy breathing surrounded us, but I couldn’t calm myself. Like when I was a child, my eyes were squeezed shut and if I looked at Sarah, I’d become unhinged and never make it back.
“Look at me, Cain,” Sarah hissed. Her breath was fetid, smelling of rotten meat and dank earth and I instinctively turned away. Grabbing my chin, Sarah jerked my head back to face her. “I said look at me! What happened to the man who laughed at all those horror movies? You yelled at the screen, mocking those characters and telling them how stupid they were. Did you piss your pants yet, Cain? You’re pathetic,” she scoffed, shaking me so hard that my head snapped back. “Open your eyes!”
Tremors wracked my body and I knew there was no escaping her. When she was alive, Sarah had been roughly five and a half feet tall, around 120 to 130 pounds and I could have easily shaken her off, but this Sarah had the strength of ten men and her hands were like steel clamps as she gripped my upper arms. I knew I had to look at her. If I didn’t, she’d keep tormenting me. Maybe if I gave her what she wanted, she’d grow tired of this game and leave. I needed to rip off the band-aid and get it over with.
Knowing the light from the television would be diminished by the blankets hanging over the side of my bed and partially mask Sarah’s features gave me the extra push needed. My lids shot open and I was confronted with a demon who delighted in my intense terror.
“W-what do you want, Sarah? Just do whatever it is and g-get it over with and leave.” My teeth were chattering so much, it was difficult to speak clearly.
“Not so fast, Cain. Just because I’m dead doesn’t mean I can’t have some fun, right?” The putrid smell of her breath as it wafted across my face made my stomach churn. “You were right before, you know. I’d been with Nathan and we had a real heart to heart conversation, baring our souls to each other. He was coming to see you, to lead you to my grave, but I couldn’t let that happen.
“I hid in his car while he drove here, waiting for the right moment to surprise him. I knew if any of the three admitted what they’d done to me, it would be Nathan. He and Liam were like dogs trailing after Jacob, obeying him, seeking his approval. But Nathan had always hung back a little, even questioned Jacob a couple of times, and I knew he wasn’t as cruel as the other two.”
“Then why did you hurt him?” I asked, barely whispering.
“Because he hurt me!” Sarah screeched, her hands clutching my upper arms even tighter, spittle spraying my face. “He helped hold me down while Jacob ripped my shirt! If Nathan hadn’t been trying so hard to please Jacob, maybe he would have seen how wrong he was and helped me instead!”
“Sarah, what they did to you – it never should have happened, and they deserve to be held responsible, but not like this, you can’t kill them. It’s wrong.” Through the pale rays of light, I saw her brows furrow, and her grip on my arms loosened slightly. A part of me, a very small, skeptical part, because I knew Sarah, wondered if my words were having an effect on her.
My brief moment of hope was shattered when her face morphed back into the murderous demon who only accepted excruciatingly painful blood sacrifice as payment for the wrongs done to her.
She moved closer, one hand releasing my upper arm, moving slowly up to my shoulder, then to the back of my neck, her decomposing hand running through my hair. Her other hand trailed up my arm, then to my face, and gently stroked my cheek before clamping the back of my neck, holding me in place.
The quivering began at my core, then jumped to my limbs, my muscles twitching and seizing, I was so repulsed and horrified by Sarah’s touch. Instinctively, I jerked away, but the hand clutching the nape of my neck might as well have been made of titanium.
“How does this make you feel, Cain? I know you’re straining to pull away from me, your body aching to be free. You’re being held against your will and there’s nothing you can do about it. What if I do this?” She inched closer, touching her forehead to my own as her arms encircled me, drawing me against her rotting form.
Chaos controlled my body and mind. Physically, I felt like a trapped animal, desperate to put some distance between us and escape the abomination wrapping her body around mine. Psychologically, I was in panic mode, my worst nightmare multiplied exponentially, damaging me forever. This wasn’t really happening. I was asleep and needed to wake up, or close my eyes and Sarah would be gone when I opened them.
“How do you like this, Cain?” she hissed. “Do you like being forced to do something you clearly don’t want to do? Do you like having my arms around you? Being this close to me?” My head shook violently, but I was unable to speak. “Neither did Nathan. He was babbling like a lunatic, begging me to let him go, not to hurt him. But that wasn’t going to happen, not after he helped hold me down for Jacob.”
Sarah was
so close her lips grazed my ear and I continued to shudder involuntarily. “I made him go out by the old drive-in, but not so far away that what’s left of him wouldn’t be discovered. He needs to be found so Jacob knows he’s next. I dragged Nathan through the trees, and he screamed all the way, pleading with me. Once he saw the hole in the ground, he knew his fate. After all his crying and begging, killing him was an act of mercy instead of vengeance. He wasn’t as fun as Liam and was borderline annoying. But you know what I did before burying him, Cain?”
“N-n-no. I don’t want to know. Please, please….just don’t tell me.”
Sarah backed away far enough to see my face, thrilled at my vulnerability. “Right before pushing the dirt over him, I ripped off his hands – the hands that held me down for Jacob. The hands that wouldn’t be able to push the dirt from his face or claw his way to the surface. He was shrieking when the dirt fell over him and I could heard his muffled screams several minutes after.” The image of Nathan lying there, bleeding and terrified, stole my breath, making me feel light-headed. Knowing the last minutes of his life were filled with such fear and revulsion – it was too painful and disturbing to think about.
“Since killing Nathan wasn’t as enjoyable as I’d hoped, I need something to lighten my mood. And I know just what that is.” Sarah moved her hand from the back of my neck and brushed her fingers across my lips.
No. For the love of all that’s holy, God in heaven, please, no….not that. Her putrefied mouth stretched obscenely, knowing the thought of her kiss brought only feelings of disgust and terror. My synapses were sending out signals faster than I could process them. Fear, loathing, horror, disbelief, and denial ricocheted through every cell of my being. Run, fight, escape…..I couldn’t accept the fact I was defenseless. No, nonononno……
Sarah leaned toward me and as her icy, decaying lips met mine, my mind shut down and I knew nothing else.
Chapter 30
My head jerked up, whacking the underside of the bed frame, and I cursed in pain. What was I doing under here? Did I roll out of bed and not feel it? Then, like a storm cloud releasing heavy rain, everything flooded back in a dizzying rush – Sarah dragging me under the bed, telling me how she killed Nathan, and then she’d…. . No. Can’t think about that right now. My mind refused to wrap around what I’d experienced – and Sarah’s filthy, murdering lips on me.
But I’d survived. For some reason, she’d let me live.
After scrambling out from under the bed, I dashed downstairs. The house was quiet in the early gray dawn hours, so there was no one to see me when I stumbled into the living room and ripped the cushions from the couch, tossing them to the floor. I shoved my hand between the crevices, wriggling my fingers until I felt the leather cord, then yanked out the talisman. After draping it around my neck, I dropped to my knees and kissed the cold metal, knowing I was protected again. I hoped. Last night, I’d thought it was final curtain call for me. Remembering the way Sarah had touched me, I felt contaminated, unclean all over and craved a long, hot shower.
. . . . .
When Finn picked me up for school that morning, I filled him in on Nathan’s death and last night’s sordid events. On the way, we stopped off at an old laundromat housing one of the few remaining pay phones in the city, and made an anonymous call to the police department, telling them we’d seen an abandoned car near the drive-in movie theater. Since Nathan’s parents had reported him missing, connections were made, bad news traveled faster than Eby at the first whiff of tuna, and by late afternoon, news about Nathan’s death and how he’d died was all over school. Rumors and suspicion circulated again.
When Finn and I were leaving soccer practice - I’d finally been cleared to play – we found Jacob pacing in front of Finn’s car, glancing back over his shoulder every few seconds. His head snapped up as we neared and he made a beeline for me.
“You seem a little jumpy, Jacob. I almost didn’t recognize you with the baseball hat pulled so low over your eyes. If I didn’t know better, I’d say you were trying to disguise yourself,” Finn said.
“She did this, didn’t she? Sarah killed Nathan?” Jacob asked, seizing my forearm, which was covered in Sarah’s hand-shaped bruises from the night before. Heat coursed through me and I shook him off, but got in his face, only inches away.
“Yes, Sarah killed him, Jacob. Do you believe us now? Maybe if you hadn’t kept Nathan from talking to us, he’d still be alive, we’d have found Sarah’s body, and you wouldn’t be scared out of your mind. Did you think about that?” Jacob immediately went on the defensive, shoved me, and drew back his fist. In an instant, Finn grabbed Jacob’s arm, twisted it behind his back, and shoved him face down to the ground. Jacob grunted in pain and tried to reach Finn, but the way he held Jacob’s arm didn’t allow for wiggle room.
“Can’t you play nice just once, Jacob? Look what you made me do. And you know how I hate violence.” Which was absolutely not true. Finn had never shied away from a fight if he was provoked. “Will you stop going after Cain if I release you? Think about it, Jacob. You may want to show more respect to the guy who could save your unessential life.”
Jacob stopped struggling and nodded, letting out a huff of breath as Finn freed him.
“Get in the car. We’re already drawing enough attention,” I said, as our teammates filtered out of the field house, many of them looking in our direction questioningly, wondering if a fight was brewing. A couple of guys moved in our direction, but Finn waved them off.
The three of us got in Finn’s car, Jacob in the back and us up front. Although we weren’t going anywhere yet, Finn started the car and turned on the air conditioner, because you never sat in a parked car in the Charleston heat without air conditioning if you could help it.
“Why are you here, Jacob? Does this mean you believe us?” I asked.
Jacob’s gaze bounced from window to window, continuously checking to see if anyone was around the car, and his hands were in constant motion, raking over his thighs to his knees. He resembled strung out or detoxing junkies I’d seen in movies. “I’ve never believed in ghosts, they don’t exist. You die, and you stay dead. That’s the way it works. You don’t come back.”
Finn rolled his eyes. “So what do you want, Jacob? Why are you here wasting our time?”
Jacob stared at the floor, his hands still for a moment as he clasped them together. “Maybe you’re right, okay? I’m not sure what to believe anymore. All I know is, two of my friends were murdered, you say you’ve seen Sarah, and I’m the only one left. She’s the link between us and you know details we’ve never told anyone.”
“So you admit it? The three of you were at my house with her the night she died?”
“We didn’t kill her!” Jacob shouted, lunging toward us, his hands slamming against the headrests of our seats. Finn’s hand shot out, grabbed the front of Jacob’s shirt and shoved him back.
“I warned you once, Jacob. Don’t make me come back there.” Jacob scowled at Finn and I knew that under different circumstances, a time when Jacob didn’t need our help, fists would be flying and I’d be in the middle trying to separate them.
“Alright. You didn’t kill Sarah. So what happened, Jacob?”
Jacob slumped in the seat and took a deep breath. “It was a bet between us. Sarah never talked to anyone, didn’t have any friends, and definitely never had a boyfriend. It’s not that she was bad to look at, but she always acted like she was better than the rest of us, you know, because of her grades. Like we were all stupid or something.
“Liam and Nathan dared me to ask her out, make her think I was interested. They said I couldn’t do it, that she’d never go out with me, but I knew I could make her believe me. A girl like that, someone guys don’t see even when they’re looking directly at h
er, who gets noticed by someone like me - I had her practically groveling at my feet after a couple of weeks.”
Finn snorted. “You ooze modesty, Jacob.”
“You know it’s true, Finn. Look how fast Erin jumped in my bed,” Jacob sneered.
“And you think that’s a good thing? She did it because you’re such a great guy? Look how fast she’d jump in anyone’s bed if it suited her purpose.”
“Can the two of you cut it out so we can get on with this? Sarah could show up at any time.”
Jacob and Finn were locked on each other, but nodded. Barely.
“I convinced her to come to a party at a house under construction. Told her a lot of people would be there, she’d be my date, and everyone would know we were together, and she agreed to come. Liam and Nathan said that was the last step in making her think I really liked her – getting her to the house.”
“My house. The one haunted by Sarah’s blood-crazed ghost.”
“Yeah. I guess so,” Jacob agreed, shifting uncomfortably. “Anyway, when we met up that evening, she looked different, you know? Like she’d put on makeup or something and dressed differently, stuff like the other girls wore. When we got to your house, she mentioned how no one else was there, but we convinced her they were picking up the keg and just running late. I told her we should go up to the attic, said the view was nice and we’d be able to see when the other guys showed up.
“Once we got upstairs, Liam and Nathan changed the stakes. They said I had to kiss her to win the bet, then they laughed about it. Sarah knew then it was all a lie. She spazzed out and started screaming at me, saying she never should have trusted me and was leaving. I explained it was just a joke, no harm no foul, and she didn’t have to go foaming at the mouth. Just give me a kiss and I’d win the bet. No big deal.”