by Polen, Teri
“What else would she have attached herself to? One of us that was there? Do you think she’s using me again?”
“Are you missing time or having unexplained behavior?”
“No, everything’s been normal this week, just like it used to be.”
“If you salted and burned the remains in her grave and none of you has experienced blackouts or lost time, then I think Sarah is attached to the place involved in her death. Your house.”
Chapter 33
I couldn’t have heard Mona right. With Finn’s loud swearing and the near constant blowing of the car horn, my hearing must have been impaired. “I’m sorry, Mona, what did you say? I don’t think I heard you right.”
“Your house, honey. I think Sarah has attached herself to your house. It’s where she’s spent most of her time since she died and where she found you, the person who enabled her to have access to the boys who killed her.”
“You want me to burn down my house?” At those words, Finn’s head jerked in my direction. Considering how fast the images blurred outside the car window, taking his eyes off the road probably wasn’t the brightest idea, but he was as shocked as I was.
“I know it’s a drastic measure, Cain, but Sarah is a strong spirit. After taking over your body and killing those boys, she’s only grown more powerful. From your description, I’m almost certain she was originally attached to her body, but was able to break that bond and bind herself to the house in order to remain in this plane. It’s rare to do something this extreme, but burning your house might be the only thing left to eliminate Sarah.”
Although Mona’s words made sense in the worst way, burning down our home, besides being nearly impossible to wrap my head around, was an extreme measure. I had no idea if we’d even be able to save anything in the house, like pictures of my Dad, things he’d left us. Mom uploaded all her pictures now, but she still had the actual photos of Maddie and me when we were younger, not to mention the early pictures of her and my Dad. She might never forgive me for what I was about to do. I might never forgive myself, but would do whatever was required to keep us safe. And alive.
“Will you come to help us?” I pleaded.
“I’m already in the car and on my way and I have something that may help. Be careful, Cain, and don’t let your guard down. Try to keep Sarah from figuring out what you plan to do. Are you still wearing your protection charm?”
My stomach twisted and I thought about how just a few days earlier I’d been confident Sarah was gone, taken off the talisman, and dropped it in my drawer. “No. I took it off and it’s in my bedroom.”
“Listen to me, honey. It’s crucial that you get to it quickly once you’re home. Do you understand?”
“Yeah, I do. Thanks, Mona. You have no idea how grateful I am you’re meeting us there.”
“Just be careful and trust your instincts, Cain. I’ll see you soon.” Then she hung up.
“If you’re talking about the protection amulet, I have mine in my gym bag. I’ve still been wearing it, but had to take it off for the game today. You take it.”
“No. No way, Finn. You keep it and get Mom and Maddie out. I’ll hold off Sarah long enough to make it to my room and get my own. Maybe Mona will be here by then.”
“Fine,” he huffed. “I’ll get them out, but I’m coming back in to help you. I’m not leaving you by yourself with Sarah, dude. You know what she can do.”
After what seemed like hours, we turned down my street, Finn’s tires screeching as he rounded the corner, then leaving trails of rubber as he slid into my driveway. I leapt from the car, not bothering to close the door, only focused on getting to my family. Finn and I nearly stumbled over each other as we burst through the laundry room, and emerged into the kitchen to see…..Maddie slinging her backpack over her shoulder and Mom wearing her baseball hat, carrying her purse and car keys, headed toward the garage door we’d just come through.
“Boys? What are you doing here? Doesn’t the game start soon? Maddie and I were just leaving. Hey, have you seen my phone?”
Adrenaline coursed through my veins and my pulse raced faster than Finn’s car. “Where is she? Is she here? Has she hurt you?” I asked breathlessly.
“Is who here, Cain?” Mom asked, her forehead creased in confusion. “What’s going on and why aren’t you at the soccer game? Finn?”
Just when I began to wonder if I’d jumped to the wrong conclusion about Sarah being here, several things happened at once. First, every cabinet door in the kitchen flew open, expelling their contents with deafening, ear-splitting cracks. With my nerves on edge already, at the sound of the first crack, I shoved Mom to the floor and shielded her with my body, while Finn did the same with Maddie, both of us ignoring their screams of protest. Although all had been calm outside when Finn and I arrived moments earlier, the windows shot open and wind roared through the room, upending chairs, books, plants and pictures, clearing all horizontal surfaces.
Raising my head slightly, I peeked over Mom’s head, the force of the wind nearly bringing tears to my eyes. My peripheral vision tracked something moving rapidly up and to my right. I shifted my gaze and what I saw filled me with fear beyond anything I’d felt so far. Sarah crawled along the ceiling directly towards us, her mouth a gaping maw of black, dark eyes incendiary and gleaming in triumph.
“Finn!” I shouted, but he was already watching her as he stood, scooping Maddie into his arms. “Get them both out of here!”
Mom followed our gazes and when she saw Sarah, her eyes widened in disbelief and fright, as her hand covered her mouth to keep from screaming and upsetting Maddie any more than she already was. Finn had tucked Maddie’s head against his shoulder so she couldn’t see Sarah, something for which I’d be eternally grateful, but she called for me, her arms outstretched as Finn carried her away. “Cain! I want to stay with you, please!”
“Maddie, go with Finn, I’ll be alright, I promise.”
“Cain, what is that? What’s happening? I’m not leaving you here alone!”
“Mom, go, run! You have to go now!” Finn’s hands were full with Maddie, so I had to push Mom out the door while she fought to stay behind with me. “Take them somewhere safe, Finn, anywhere but here.” With Mom still screaming for me to come with them, I slammed the door and locked it behind her, then turned to face Sarah.
“Where’s your protection amulet now, Cain?”
Chapter 34
Before I could react, Sarah, floating a couple of feet above my head, grabbed me by the throat, her hand icy and reeking of rot and she looked and smelled as if she’d been in the ground for months. I tried to speak, but her grip was like a vise crushing my windpipe.
“Sacrificing yourself for your precious family, Cain?” she hissed. “If you’re wondering why I didn’t hurt them before you got here, let’s just say I’m feeling kind of generous after what I did to Jacob. Turns out vengeance puts me in better mood. Besides, I knew you’d come running after you heard what happened to him.”
Sarah let up on my throat enough for me to speak. “What did you do to Jacob?” I asked, my voice already raspy.
What was left of her mouth stretched into a macabre smile and it chilled me to my core. “I’ve been looking forward to sharing all the details. You know, even though I’d wanted Jacob dead sooner, the actual experience of it might have been worth waiting for.” And that statement chilled me down to my bone marrow. “Let’s go somewhere and talk about it.”
Sarah jerked me closer to her, again clutching my throat, then we were sailing into the two story family room, as my feet kicked to find purchase to support my weight, hands clawing at Sarah’s arms in vain attempts to free myself. All the while I struggled, I heard her gritty, guttura
l laughs at my useless endeavors. Just when my vision started to blacken around the edges, Sarah slammed me to the floor, my back screaming in protest at the hardwood floors underneath while my lungs gulped in sweet oxygen. As she straddled my upper thighs, she removed her hands from my neck, pinning my shoulders instead. I was trapped, pure and simple, and the likelihood of me retrieving the protection amulet in my bedroom was less than zero. And that was my only chance of staying alive until Mona got here. Assuming Mona could even help.
“Are you comfortable, Cain? No? Well, this is probably as comfortable as you’ll be before I kill you, so enjoy it while I tell you about Jacob and his glorious death. Just keep in mind, while you’re lying there listening to the details, I want you to know yours will be even more painful, after what you tried to do to me. Burning my body, Cain? Did you really think I wouldn’t be able to attach to something else?” As she spoke, black, oozy liquid dripped from her mouth and over her chin, making me want to retch.
“Anyway, we’ll deal with that later. Did you enjoy the few nights of peace I gave you? It gave me time to plan Jacob’s death. Last night, after he kicked a girl out of his car for not sleeping with him on the first date….oh, wait, it wasn’t really a date. He’s cheating on Erin, you know, but I can’t really blame him for that, and this was just the girl he’s sneaking around with.
“When Jacob got home, his parents were out for the evening, so he grabbed a beer and went outside to lie in a lounge chair by the pool. One beer turned into a couple more, and I decided it was time. He was nearly asleep, but when he heard water dripping as I crept out of the pool, he opened his eyes. There was no one there except me to hear his howls of terror, and seeing the effect I had on him, making him experience mind-numbing fear, gave me such a feeling of satisfaction. Can you understand that, Cain?”
“Watching another person literally be scared to death? No, Sarah, I can’t understand how that would make you happy,” I croaked. It was difficult to talk, partly because she was sitting on me, but also because I was trying not to breathe in her stench.
“Oh, I didn’t scare him to death, Cain. No way would I have let him go that easily.” Her eyes glittered from the memory of torturing Jacob before she’d killed him. He’d been a narcissistic, loathsome person, but he hadn’t deserved persecution. Not to that extent anyway.
“He was blabbering, begging me not to hurt him and apologized for everything they’d done to me. I crawled onto the lounge chair and straddled him, and he was in almost the same position you are now. Jacob tried scooting away, but there was nowhere to go, and I held him in place while he whimpered and pleaded with me.
“I told him how it had felt, regaining consciousness in the dirt, in my shallow grave, not knowing where I was or what had happened. I tried moving, but the blanket wrapped around me bound my arms and legs. Imagine being claustrophobic, Cain, held immobile and unable to breathe. I panicked and struggled to free myself, but that used up what little oxygen I had. It was my own personal hell.”
To each his own personal hell. I’d been living through my own since the day I’d met Sarah and the embodiment of my suffering sat astride my chest dragging out the last moments before ending my life.
“I tried to scream, but the weight of the dirt pushed the blanket into my mouth and I knew my time was limited. I managed to free one of my hands and clawed at the dirt, trying to dig myself out or just make a hole to breathe, but I knew it was useless. Just before drawing my last breath, I vowed to come back somehow, to make them feel everything I’d felt. They would know their lives were ending, there was nothing they could do to save themselves, and no one was coming to help them. I’d make sure they died suffering, terrified, and alone in a monstrous, painful way.
“I reminded Jacob how he’d tried to kiss me when the four of us had been in the attic and how angry he’d been when I’d pulled away. I told him I’d changed my mind, and even though Liam and Nathan were no longer here to see it, at least Jacob would know he’d won the bet. When he realized he was about to die and would finally be able to kiss me, it must have broken his mind, judging by the way his body convulsed and the vacant look in his eyes.”
After living through the experience of having Sarah kiss me, but mercifully passing out before it happened, I could sympathize with Jacob. I hoped he’d been able to find a room inside his mind, someplace where he could close the door and pretend he was somewhere else. If I hadn’t passed out, I would have found a room in my own mind, locked the door and thrown away the key.
“I took his face between my hands to hold him in place and pressed my lips against his. Other than you, Cain, Jacob’s the only boy I’ve ever kissed, and at least he was semi-conscious. He was making a keening, whimpering kind of noise and when I pulled away from him, his eyes had rolled back in his head. I wanted him aware and present, to experience what was happening to him, so I slapped him across the face, hard enough to rock his head to the side, but it seemed to work.
“When Jacob looked at me again, his eyes were more focused, but his body still trembled. I told him in exchange for giving me hope that a guy could genuinely be interested in me, making me believe I’d been enough, then destroying my life and my future, he owed me his heart – literally. Then, just as he comprehended the meaning of that statement, I reached through his chest and ripped out his still beating heart.”
Oh no, no, no, no. A roaring began in my ears, blocking all other sound, even my own grating breaths. It was beyond my mental capacity to comprehend what Jacob’s last moments had been like. I hoped he’d been unaware of what was happening to him, that his mind had drawn the blinds and closed up shop. Hopefully the alcohol had numbed him somewhat, but I feared seeing Sarah had shocked him sober.
“Stay with me, Cain!” Sarah shouted, as her hand collided with my cheek. “You know, I think after I tore his heart from his body, Jacob was still alive for a few seconds. Do you think that’s even possible? He gasped, maybe even tried to say something, but then his head fell back against the chair, his eyes still open even in death, frozen and staring at me. Knowing I was the last thing he saw gave me some peace – but just a sliver.
“I thought once Jacob was taken care of, I’d move on to wherever I go from here, but now I feel the need to take care of some loose ends – that would be you and Finn – and I’ve been having so much fun being with you, I think I’ll hang around a little longer. When you bore me, I’ll asphyxiate, disembowel, behead, or exsanguinate you – I haven’t decided which. I may even visit that snob ex-girlfriend of yours, considering she was one of the girls who used to laugh and point when I walked through the halls. But no worries. We have plenty of time to figure it out. Unless I decide to…”
Sarah’s words were abruptly cut off by a black iron fireplace poker exploding through the front of her chest. And then she disappeared. What. Just. Happened?
Chapter 35
“Cain, get up, we don’t have much time! Finn, you can come in!”
Mona stood over me, the afternoon sun reflected off her unruly copper curls resembling a halo hugging the back of her head. “Mona? How did you…? What…?”
Finn burst through the kitchen and rushed to the front door, hanging something on the door handle. He then ran to the windows and, with a black marker, began drawing some sort of symbol on the glass.
Mona pulled at my arm, getting my attention. “Run, Cain, get your protection amulet! Sarah will only be gone for a few minutes and we have to get the protection symbol over all the doors and windows.”
My head was full of questions, but with the urgency of the situation, I decided answers could wait, and took the steps two at a time, then dashed down the hallway to my bedroom. As soon as I entered, Eby scurried out from under the bed, jumped on the dresser and yowled loudly. He must have been petrified.
I tugged open the desk drawer, fumbling through the pencils, papers, and other clutter before my hand closed around the coolness of the metal amulet. As far as I was concerned, it was the Holy Grail. As I draped it around my neck, Finn sprinted into the room and began sketching the same symbol on my windows. He tossed me a handful of the pendants he’d hung on the doors downstairs.
“Hang these on all of the doors,” he said, breathing heavily. “I still have to go up to the attic and draw the protection sigils on that window.”
Grabbing Eby, I put him into the bathroom, closed the door, and then hung an amulet over the doorknob. He should be safe there. “Mom and Maddie?” I asked, following him up the attic stairs.
“Your Mom refused to leave without you. It was all I could do to keep her from coming back into the house, but convinced her to stay in the car with Maddie. Told her help was on the way and I promised to get you out. Besides, I figured Mona would need….”
Before he could finish his sentence, Finn sailed across the attic, yelling as he flew through the air, his fall broken by a stack of boxes.
“Finn! Are you…” But my words were cut off as I felt a tug around my chest, then my back slammed into the window and shattered it, my eyes squeezed together in pain as glass shards splintered my skin. I dropped to the floor where some larger chunks of glass had fallen, incredibly lucky they hadn’t sliced into my vital organs instead.
Raising my head, I saw Finn crawling slowly, but at least he was moving. The attic filled with spiteful laughter that seemed to come from every direction, surrounding us and echoing in my mind. If I had even a shred of a chance at surviving this, I knew I’d be haunted by that sound for the rest of my life.
Then my whole body went numb as I realized Sarah had just hurt both of us - while we wore the amulets.