On the Fringe

by Courtney King Walker

  “You’d think by now you would’ve learned that your impulsive need to act the hero hasn’t really worked out for you,” he continued.

  Shut up.

  He methodically pulled me from the dark hallway, through the wall into the bedroom, and then out into the hallway again. “Now we wait.” He stopped. “Felix needs a little more time.”

  “You have Felix doing everything for you now? Got tired of making the trip yourself?” I tried not to sound as panicked as I felt.

  He laughed, which made me more anxious. “Let’s pretend you’re not a total moron just for a second. How about that? Because this is the part I’ve been looking forward to the most.”

  “You never make any sense,” I mumbled, already feeling exhausted.

  At that, he pulled me with him back to the park, dragging me through the swings, down the hill, to the empty parking lot. At the bottom, he stopped and looked around, like he was waiting for something. “Where are they?” he muttered to himself, his voice verging on irritated.

  “Things not working out how you planned?” I taunted, hoping to distract him long enough to escape.

  “Where is he going?” Aden growled.

  “All you ever do is blame everyone else for your mistakes. You can’t do a single thing by yourself.”

  “Shut up!” he hissed, pulling at his hair. I felt a slight change in the force linking us together, like tension relaxing from a rubber band. “I’m the one who calls the shots!”

  “My point, exactly,” I said, encouraged at the way he seemed to be losing focus. I kept going, trying to egg him on. “Felix pulled the trigger because you couldn’t do it yourself. Just like everything else you do. You have no real power.”

  “That’s right!” he yelled, pushing me backward through a chain-link fence. “Thanks to you!”

  Wait a second…this was not where I was heading.

  “I was five years old when it happened! FIVE!” My own anger seemed to be working against me as the magnetic force drew me to him again. But I couldn’t help myself. “What’s wrong with you? You were drunk. Your death was more your fault than mine!”

  For a half a second he looked vulnerable, almost sad, like he had an ounce of remorse hidden behind his eyes. Quickly though, the pride/hatred/jealousy or whatever it was that drove him, took over. He threw me across the grass and slammed me through a wall. “You took my life away!”

  There was no pain, only a dull sensation from the force of the blow, and my mind felt cloudy. Speechless, I nodded at him in silent agreement as he pulled me by the neck, out of the wall. “Let’s go find your girlfriend, Romeo.”

  Next thing I knew, we were hovering above the water at Hidden Lake, waiting for something as the dense fog blew right through us.

  Claire

  A foreign noise called me back from a dream that had gotten all twisted and confusing. I tried opening my eyes at the sound, but the thickness of the dream pulled at me, refusing to let go. My head felt heavy, and I was disoriented until my eyes finally opened to my dark, moonlit bedroom. I scanned the shadows, wondering what had awoken me.

  Addie was still sound asleep, sprawled across the bed, snoring.

  I rolled out of the covers and wandered into the kitchen for a glass of water, my heart pounding with every step. Why was I still scared? Daniel would warn me if anything were wrong. Yet, I still practiced deep yoga breaths while filling my glass at the fridge, nervously watching the ominous shadows that seemed to be climbing up the kitchen walls.

  I gulped down the cold water in seconds.

  Wait.

  I froze, the cup still resting on the edge of my mouth. Why was the red blinking alarm light not blinking? Why was it solid green?

  “Dad? Matthew?” I squeaked, wondering if one of them had gone outside for some reason.

  I expected to hear the sound of breaking glass when the cup slipped from my hand, but someone caught it, instead. I turned my head and tried to scream when I saw Felix standing behind me, but he had already slapped his icy, rough hand over my mouth and shoved me against his torso.

  Where were Daniel and Matthew?

  I tried to run, but Felix pulled me back. “Don’t even think about it,” he growled.

  My heart pounded through my ears as terror engulfed me. Felix’s eyes seemed like fire as he craned his head forward to face me. The porch light cascaded across his head, illuminating his deep-set eyes and cracked, peeling lips.

  He twisted my arms behind my back with a free hand. “You need to listen to me carefully, Claaaayre,” he said, his voice deep and raspy. Unable to breathe or see or think, it felt like I was drowning again. “My demon was right—the things he said about you.” He licked his lips, and I squeezed my eyes shut. “You will move very quietly now, do you hear me? Very quietly.”

  Obediently I nodded, willing to follow any command as long as it resulted in my release. As soon as he loosened his grip, I started forward.

  “Now,” he whispered. “If you scream or run, you’ll regret it, do you understand?” It was then that I felt the sharp point of a knife at my throat, its razor edge slightly piercing my skin. I felt faint, but did as he ordered, despite my wobbly knees.

  “We’re going to take a little walk now.”

  I had imagined this moment a hundred times, determined never to be taken by force—to scream, kick, bite, whatever it took, in order to keep from being forced away from safety into the unknown. But that was exactly what I was doing now. All my previous intuition failed me. The knife at my throat along with Daniel’s absence had paralyzed me. Not wanting to die, I took the risk of being able to escape between point A and point B, praying Matthew or Daniel would show up any second.

  “Slowly…slowly,” Felix whispered, pushing me out of the kitchen.

  As we entered the hallway, I tried peering back toward Matthew’s room, but Felix’s rough hand turned my face forward, forcing me to the front door. It was already cracked open, and the alarm somehow disabled.

  We silently stepped into the chilly night, the sudden coolness like a breath of fresh air, despite my circumstance. I paused at the top of the steps, but his hand was back at my throat and the knife now against my back. “Move,” he growled, shoving me down the stairs.

  The tranquility I usually felt in the fog disappeared as soon as Felix spoke, like his words had broken a magical spell. My bare feet felt raw and vulnerable as the hellish night engulfed me. Fog wafted around in wispy puffs, unintentionally providing an atmosphere of terror as it shrouded nearly every bit of light.

  All was eerily quiet as he forced me down the road, away from the house. I stumbled over a pothole, and Felix pushed me forward, almost knocking me down. I took advantage of the break by trying to make a run for it, when his hand caught my sleeve and yanked me back. The Self Defense 101 class Mom made me take last summer finally kicked into gear, and I kneed him in the groin and took off.

  Everything in the distance was fuzzy and dim without my glasses, and I wasn’t sure which way to turn. The only thing I knew for sure was that the dock and lake were to my left. Thanks to my hesitation, Felix caught up almost immediately, shoving me to the ground. I tried to scream out, but he crammed his face into mine, covering my mouth with his hand.

  “Nice try,” he said, almost calmly. That was when I started to freak out. Felix didn’t even seem rattled.

  He jammed his knee in my stomach, holding it there like he was trying to decide what to do next. The weight of his body on mine was suffocating, and I could feel myself beginning to break down. A sob shook my shoulders and ricocheted through my chest until I reined it in, nearly choking on it. He pulled me up by the hair and forced me further down the hill, to the dock where we waited…for what, I didn’t know.

  My muscles tightened in anticipation, and I expected him to push me over the edge at any second. I blinked hard, trying to keep my tears from coming, refusing to expose any weakness, even though the thought of drowning again threw me into a panic. I was not ready t
o die. Not yet. Not like this.

  But he didn’t push me. Instead, we just stood there staring out at nothing while his breath obscenely molested my neck.

  I started to protest, but he stopped me with a commanding grunt. “Shut up!”

  Some kind of movement over the middle of the lake caught my attention. Felix finally loosened his grip on me, and I felt liberated, but then remembered I was trapped at the edge of the dock with nowhere to run. Squinting through the darkness, I wished for my glasses. “What is it?” I whispered, feeling more and more nervous. Whatever it was seemed to be coming toward us across the water.

  Any previous thoughts of Daniel swooping in to save the day vanished the instant I recognized the approaching face—Aden. And he wasn’t alone. To my horror, I saw that he somehow held Daniel by the neck. I gasped when they stopped a few feet in front of us, hovering above the water.

  “Claire–” Daniel mouthed, but just like any other time before or after our four and a half minutes, I couldn’t hear him.

  Aden was talking, too, though I couldn’t hear him any more than I could Daniel. Felix, on the other hand, seemed to be paying close attention, like he was listening to every word. Yet, instead of looking at Aden, his eyes roamed back and forth across the lake. Felix suddenly twisted me around and forced me back up the hill to the road while Aden and Daniel circled around us. Aden closed in abruptly into Felix’s ear, and Felix pushed me to the ground, the cracking sound of my knees smashing into the pebbly concrete.

  I cried out in pain. Daniel futilely reached out to help me, but Aden launched him backward across the lake. A screaming, twisting sound trailed after them, and they were gone.

  Felix yanked me up to him again, anchoring me stiffly against his torso as we waited in silence until Aden and Daniel returned a few seconds later.

  “Let’s try this again.” Felix said, pressing the knife into the base of my ear, running it up and down along the side of my neck, puncturing my skin. I screamed and jerked at the pain, then forced my eyes shut when Felix’s mouth brushed the side of my cheek.

  “Where were we?” His lips touched my skin. “My demon says this is where your boyfriend gets to make his choice. What’ll it be? You going to keep up your little connection, or not?”

  Aden dragged Daniel upward so his face was right in front of me. His eyes met mine, wide and afraid—so far from the inviting, soothing brown I was used to.

  “Last chance,” Felix said, scanning the darkness, like he was waiting for some kind of sign. “Do you want to keep her, or can I have her? She’s real pretty.”

  I looked at Daniel. His mouth was still, but now his eyes were fuming.

  “Well, okay then,” said Felix as he twisted me around and pushed me down the road…away from Hidden Lake…away from safety.

  Daniel

  I tried a million times to break free. But I was Aden’s prisoner as we circled around Claire while Felix forced her down the deserted road through the fog.

  “Having fun yet?” Aden sneered.

  Claire turned her head briefly, catching my eye. “Go,” I mouthed to her. “Run.”

  She understood perfectly, turning sharply and jerking Felix backward. The knife slipped from his hands and fell to the side of the road as she ran away from him, down to the hill. As I silently cheered her on, Aden’s grip on me slackened long enough for me to escape. Before he could react, I’d already shifted away from him, straight to Matthew’s bedroom.

  Matthew was sound asleep, the covers pulled up tight around him. I had absolutely no clue how to wake him—poltergeist-type activity being new to me. Getting right up in his face, I tried pushing my thoughts toward him. But nothing seemed to be happening other than a lot of snoring.

  Aden poked in through the wall separating Claire and Matthew’s room. Only his upper torso and head were visible as he peered in, like he’d been searching each room in the house. When he saw me, he rushed forward, but I dodged him and he careened straight through the foot of the bed, creating enough of a draft to move Matthew’s covers. Matthew stopped snoring, and turned over to his side before falling back into heavy breathing.

  I slid across the bed, purposely provoking Aden. “So, what’s your plan now, Aden?” I taunted, dancing around Matthew’s bed. “Your Felix wasn’t so great out there, after all.”

  Aden careened toward me again, this time right on target. He tagged me and took me with him as we flew across the bed, creating enough of a draft to topple a lamp. It landed on the floor with a thud. Matthew’s eyes popped open.

  “What the…?” he moaned.

  Aden stopped when he realized his mistake, but it was too late. Matthew was already sitting up, scanning the room.

  The door flew open, and Addie flipped on the light. “What was that?”

  Aden glared at Addie, then at me, and vanished.

  “What?” asked Matthew, still in a daze.

  “Where’s Claire? She’s not in bed…not in the bathroom…and why is your lamp on the floor?” Addie asked, looking down.

  “I don’t know. It felt like someone opened the window or something…” His eyes grew big and he leapt off the bed to the window, checking. He was finally awake. “Wait—Claire’s gone?” he asked, his face losing color.

  “I don’t know. But she’s not in her bed.”

  Matthew ran out of the bedroom and down the hall, flipping on the lights as he tore through the house. I shifted outside to Claire. She was scrambling along the edge of the lake, only a few yards ahead of Felix, who was momentarily lost in the fog behind her. But Aden seemed to be leading Felix right to her.

  Back at the house, Matthew was still running up and down the hallway, still calling for Claire. But I needed him to hurry and get down to the lake. I shifted back to Claire, then back up to Matthew, trying to decide where I was needed most.

  I took a gamble, and went back for Claire.

  She was hurrying her way through the fog, across a narrow ledge over a steep embankment, stumbling across rocks and boulders that lay stacked atop each other among the grass and cattails. It was the same spot she’d fallen in on her birthday. Hopefully, she hadn’t noticed.

  But she wasn’t fast enough. Felix’s hand caught her foot and pulled her to the ground, slamming her against the rocks. She screamed as Felix flipped her over and jumped on top of her, smothering her with his body. “You’re not getting away again, sweetie.”

  Aden was right behind him—both he and Felix staring at Claire wildly, regarding her like a piece of meat or a means to an end. Furious, I dove in, trying to push Felix off of her, trying to yank her out of there. But I couldn’t do it.

  Felix slapped Claire across the face and she screamed. Aden turned to me. “See what you started?”

  Just up the hill, I heard familiar voices.

  Finally.

  Claire tried to scream again, but Felix shoved his hand over her mouth, and she seemed to choke.

  “Hold on, Claire,” I said to her, hoping she could read my words, but she didn’t seem coherent. Her eyes were glazed over; she was already going limp, giving up.

  Footsteps were coming…running down the hill….

  Felix looked up at the sound, then clasped his hands around Claire’s neck. I instinctively flew at him, trying to pull his gigantic paws off of Claire’s body as Aden yelled in Felix’s ear. “Don’t kill her yet, you idiot! Pick her up. Let’s go!”

  But Felix wasn’t listening to his demon anymore. He seemed possessed by something else—something inside his own head.

  Claire’s eyes opened again, finding mine just as a dark shape approached from behind Felix, pummeling him in the head.

  Matthew!

  He launched Felix off of Claire, shoving him to the ground. Claire flipped to her side and began crawling out of the way while Matthew continued his assault, slamming Felix’s head into a rock, shouting at him furiously. It was a Matthew I had never seen.

  I drifted backwards, hovering beside Claire. Aden held back, watc
hing me, watching Matthew and Felix, probably wondering what to do next. I could only imagine what was spinning through his mind as he watched his plan disintegrate.

  Claire lay there in a daze, gasping.

  “Claire!” Addie was suddenly beside her, pulling her to her feet, squeezing her tight. “It’s okay, Claire-bear,” she said over and over again.

  Claire’s parents emerged from the fog, calling her name as they ran down the hill. Relieved to see more faces, I looked up just as Felix broke free from Matthew. He dove straight for Addie and Claire, knocking both of them over a steep ledge. Right into the lake.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  SUBMERGED

  Claire

  The impact was so hard that I felt the wind go out of my lungs just as Addie landed on top of me. Water rushed in my ears and up my nose. Everything was melting together into one big watery mess as I struggled to untangle myself.

  My head popped out of the water to a rush of cold air. I gasped and kicked, trying to keep afloat. Something brushed by me, and I twisted around to find Addie right behind me.

  “Addie!” I yelled, reaching for her, but she wasn’t swimming. My heart nearly quit when I realized what that meant. I threw my arms around her and swam toward the shore. About halfway there, something pulled at my ankle, jerking me away from her. I kicked, trying to get away. Frantically, I swam toward the voices calling my name…toward Dad…toward his fingertips touching mine…

  Like quicksand, I was sucked back down before I had a chance to grab his hand. The watery world enveloped me and the darkness returned, until everything was quiet.

  Daniel

  Claire’s parents made it down the hill just as Claire and Addie hit the water. Claire’s dad immediately jumped in the lake, leaving her mom on the shore, crying and blubbering into her cell phone, screaming for help.

  Aden was down by the water, likely trying to figure out how to fix his botched plan, while I hovered near Matthew and Felix. They were still pounding fists into each other, when Felix suddenly flipped around on top of Matthew and started smashing his head into the ground.