by James Hunt
It was a child’s cry.
The noise was coming from one of the rooms on either side of where Lindsy stood. The cries were muddled through the walls, but even though they were faint, Lindsy could tell they were distressed. Each time she heard the child’s cries, she clenched her jaw, forcing herself to remember that it was nothing more than another trick.
“It’s not going to work!” Lindsy shouted, but it only made the child cry harder. The screams grew even louder and more distressed the longer Lindsy remained in the room, and with each passing minute, it became harder and harder to stand her ground.
Little by little, the child’s cries began to plant seeds of doubt into Lindsy’s mind. What if it was Angela? She had promised Carla that she would do everything she could to bring her daughter back; what if she was just in the other room?
Lindsy knew that it was a lose/lose situation either way, but if she decided to go and investigate, then at least her curiosity would be satisfied. She finally turned back toward the door, and when she stepped out of the nursery, she was able to determine that the crying was coming from the room on the left. Just before she opened the door, she stopped herself when she heard another noise.
A second child was crying, coming from the other room. Lindsy paused and listened to both sounds, confused about what kind of game the midwife was forcing upon her now.
“I want you to choose.”
Lindsy looked back into the nursery and saw the midwife standing in the center of the room. “What did you do?”
Evelyn Carter smiled. “I’ve been in that head of yours, Lindsy. I’ve seen everything that troubles you. I’ve seen the pain. The guilt. The hate. All of it courses through you, and you spend so much time trying to fend it off. Why? Why let so much of your pain define you?”
“I don’t care what kind of trick you’re playing—”
“No tricks,” Evelyn said, remaining eerily calm. “Simply a choice.”
“A choice for what?”
Evelyn grinned. “Who do you want to save?”
Lindsy still wasn’t following, and the confusion was all over her face.
“You have seen what it is like for people on the other side,” Evelyn said. “You realize that there is a space beyond this world, even if you don’t quite understand exactly what it is. Yet, you are certain it exists because I exist.” She pointed to herself. “As someone who has anchored themselves to this world, or at least tried to, I still have a connection to the… other side.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about—”
“Your third miscarriage,” Evelyn said. “It was a boy. You and Mike were very excited. You had picked out a name, clothes, decorated the nursery. Just like I did. You couldn’t wait to welcome your son into this world, to hold him in your arms.” She stared down at her hands, longingly. “It’s a wonderful feeling to hold a child in your arms. I imagine it must be even more rewarding when it’s your own.”
The children continued to cry from behind the closed doors, and their distress was causing Lindsy to grow anxious.
“What did you do?” Lindsy asked.
Evelyn looked up from her arms, and for a moment, she looked like some of the women in the pictures Lindsy had seen before she had gone mad and started killing children. But it was only for a moment, and it passed as quickly as it appeared.
“I have a foot in both worlds,” Evelyn said. “I can pull the child you lost from that world.”
Lindsy’s heart dropped to the pit of her stomach, and her mouth went dry as she stood there, slack-jawed at what the midwife was telling her.
Evelyn nodded. “It’s true.”
Lindsy looked to the pair of doors that were still closed on either side of her. She was still able to hear both children, but she continued to shake her head in disbelief. “It’s just a trick. Like what you showed me before.”
“I confess that what I showed you before was nothing more than an illusion,” Evelyn said. “But during my time between worlds, I have learned much about both. And I tell you that this is no trick.”
“It might not be a trick, but there’s always a catch.” Lindsy drilled her eyes into the midwife and knew she was right.
“We both want something,” Evelyn said. “And we’re both in a position to help each other achieve what we want. You want a child that was stolen from you because that pregnancy represented a hope that you didn’t believe you could possess. And then that hope was smothered by the miscarriage you experienced through no fault of your own.”
Lindsy hated that this woman knew so much about her. It sickened her to the very core. But Lindsy had been the one to let her inside her head. Now she was paying the price for such recklessness.
“And what do you want?” Lindsy asked, hating that she was even asking because it gave the midwife the allure that Lindsy was considering taking the deal. But she needed to know for sure what was going to happen if she decided to go through with it.
“I want what I’ve been working for this entire time,” Evelyn said. “I want the resort to come here so I can continue my work.”
“Of stealing infants from their parents,” Lindsy said.
“Of freeing them from all the pain that is sure to follow,” Evelyn said. “How often do the relationships between parents and children go wrong? How many young children suffer at the hands of ill-equipped parents? How long before people finally understand the truth?”
“And what truth is that?” Lindsy asked.
“Some people don’t deserve to have children,” Evelyn said.
“And who decides that?” Lindsy asked. “You?”
“Who is more qualified than me?” Evelyn answered. “I dedicated my life to help mothers bring life into this world. I held their hands, encouraged them, guided them through one of the most painful experiences a woman can endure. And time and time again, I would watch mothers fall apart at the seams. They would flounder helplessly, and I would have to jump in to save them, and I grew tired of watching these helpless children go into these hopeless homes.”
Lindsy couldn’t believe what she was hearing, but then again, the woman was a psychopath. “And killing those children was your solution?”
“It freed them from their pain,” Evelyn said. “Not that they could understand what was happening around them. Their consciousness hadn’t fully taken hold. People have no memories from when they’re infants.”
“So you were judge, jury, and executioner,” Lindsy said.
“I did my part to ease the suffering of the world,” Evelyn replied. “Just as I hope to ease your suffering.”
“Oh, and you think I’m worthy?”
“Look at how far you’ve come,” Evelyn answered. “And I have seen your pain. The loss you felt after those tragic miscarriages, and yet you still had the courage and conviction to try two more times, even though it was only the same result.”
Lindsy knew they could spend the rest of the night going round and round, but she still needed to know. “What’s on the other door? I hear two children.”
Evelyn tilted her head to the side. “Well, I do know how much promises mean to you, and you did promise to bring the Maples daughter back.” She gestured to the room to the left. “That’s where you’ll find her. Still in one piece. Ready to be reunited with her mother.”
“That’s the choice you want me to make,” Lindsy said, incredulous. “My son or the Maples’ daughter.”
“A difficult choice, I know,” Evelyn said. “But you’re no stranger to the difficult choice, Lindsy. You’ve had to make difficult choices your entire life. And now, to get what you want, what you’ve always truly desired, you’ll have to make one more. Your future?” She gestured to the right. “Or the Maples’ future?” She gestured to the left. “Once you open a door, the other option will disappear.”
Lindsy grimaced. “And then I just walk away.”
“That’s right,” Evelyn said. “Forget what you saw here. I’ll be sure to have the sheriff drop t
he charges against you. I can make him do that.”
“And what about the Maples?” Lindsy asked. “What about their home?”
“What about it?” Evelyn asked. “The deed is already done. The home is lost. But they can still have a future elsewhere. What kind of future they have rests in your hands.”
Lindsy was so mad she was shaking. She hated that she had even considered the options. But the child’s cry in the room to the right, in her heart, she knew that was her son. It was a mother’s intuition.
Lindsy knew that if she went after her son, that she would never be able to forgive herself for letting the Maples down. And then there would be the hassle of explaining to Mike what happened and how she managed to retrieve their unborn son who had been dead for nearly seven years.
Lindsy pondered that for a moment. Seven years had passed since that last miscarriage. Time had gone by so quickly and yet so slowly. She could see herself back then, but she didn’t recognize that woman.
Time and circumstance had hardened Lindsy. She knew it, and she could tell that Mike sensed it as well. He would always love her no matter what, she knew that about him. He was loyal to a fault. But even this would be hard for him to wrap his head around.
But maybe he would be glad? He had been just as excited by the pregnancies and crushed by the subsequent miscarriages as she had been. There was no reason to think that Mike wouldn’t be glad to have a chance to be a father.
However, deep down, Lindsy knew that accepting this offer from the woman across from her wasn’t the right decision. She would never be able to forget the Maples daughter. She would never be able to rid herself of the child’s screams.
She had already said goodbye to her son once. And if there was a chance to get the Maples daughter back and keep her promise, then Lindsy knew that was the smart play.
Then again, there was a third option.
“I let you go and you’ll just kill more innocent lives,” Lindsy said.
“But you’ll have your happy family,” Evelyn replied. “Or you could give the Maples their happy ending. It’s up to you.”
“How about I pick door number three?” Lindsy asked.
Evelyn looked at Lindsy and frowned. “There is no third option.”
Lindsy raised her hand, revealing the bracelet.
Evelyn scoffed. “You think you can still beat me with that? Look at you, Lindsy. You’re alone. You’re exhausted. You have failed at every turn to try and stop me, and now that I try and give you a way out, you spit back in my face. Why?”
“Because the only reason you would give me a way out would be if you were scared,” Lindsy said, taking a step forward. “Scared because you’re not as strong as you’ve let on. Sure, you’ve shown us a few of your tricks, but your real power, the one that you held at the height of Roster, back when it was booming, hasn’t been around in decades. It’s why you need the resort deal to go through. You’re fading. And you know it. And I think you’ve already used the last bits of your abilities to try and fend me off.”
Lindsy could tell that she had struck a nerve with the midwife, and she was glad. It was time to give the midwife a taste of her own medicine.
“We can do this the easy way or the hard way,” Lindsy said.
Evelyn grimaced. “I gave you a chance. Remember that when you’re begging for your life.”
Lindsy knew Evelyn would try to vanish, and she used the last bit of her concentration to tether the woman to the room, not allowing her to escape. Evelyn screamed from the constriction and then charged Lindsy when she realized there was no chance of escape.
The pair of women collided in the nursery, Evelyn continuing to choose the place where she was still the strongest, making it difficult for Lindsy to maintain the concentration needed to keep Evelyn present in the room.
The women grappled with one another, Lindsy driving Evelyn into the back wall with all the strength she could muster. And while Evelyn couldn’t kill Lindsy in this current form, she could still hurt her.
Evelyn raked her nails down Lindsy’s arms, drawing thin lines of blood, and the pain forced Lindsy to release the woman.
Evelyn capitalized on the moment and punched Lindsy on the cheek. The blow was strong enough to send Lindsy stumbling to the left, but she didn’t go all the way down. She righted herself as the midwife took another swing, but Lindsy managed to dodge the effort and countered with a stiff right hook of her own.
The blow took Evelyn by surprise, and she stumbled backward. Lindsy capitalized on the opportunity and charged forward, reaching for the midwife’s wrist as she tried to stick the bracelet on.
“NO!” Evelyn screamed and bit into Lindsy’s neck, breaking flesh and drawing blood.
Lindsy screamed, letting the midwife go, and she lost her concentration in the moment, allowing Evelyn to vanish into thin air. “Shit.” She pressed down over the open wound on her neck, blood oozing between her fingers. “No.” She stumbled around, knowing that she wasn’t going to get another chance at this. She needed to conjure the midwife, and she needed to do it now.
Lindsy dropped to her knees, focusing all of her mental energy into locating the spirit. She knew she hadn’t been able to do it before, but the stakes had never been this high.
“C’mon, Lindsy,” she said, whispering to herself through gritted teeth. “C’mon!”
Evelyn was very skilled at hiding. She could practically make all of her energy evaporate, spreading herself so thin it was like she wasn’t here at all. But Lindsy had sniffed out ghosts with the same ability. All she had to do was find one thread, one single piece of the ghost’s essence, and then she would be able to track it.
And since Lindsy had allowed Evelyn to enter her head earlier, she could already sense where the midwife was hiding.
“Got you,” Lindsy said, locking onto Evelyn’s presence and pulling her back together. The midwife appeared in the nursery, stunned that she had been found, and Lindsy lunged again. This time, the midwife was too weak to protest.
Lindsy slipped the bracelet onto Evelyn Carter’s wrist and then collapsed to her knees, out of breath, exhausted and barely able to keep her eyes open.
“NOOO!” Evelyn screamed so loud and so powerful that it shook the entire house.
Lindsy looked at Evelyn and saw the power radiating from her. She had seen powerful spirits before, but she had never seen one resist the call into the afterlife as much as the midwife.
“You think you’ve beaten me!” Evelyn shouted. “If I go down, then I’m bringing you with me!” She screamed again, and the house continued to tremble and shake.
Lindsy got to her feet and stumbled toward the door, the ground trembling like she was in the middle of an earthquake. Evelyn was going to bring the whole house down upon her head. Lindsy hurried down the stairs, pieces of the ceiling collapsing, the steps beneath her feet giving way. She nearly tripped and stumbled down the stairs twice.
When Lindsy finally reached the first floor, the roof finally caved in, starting in the center of the house and working its way outward like a domino effect, the house crumbling to the ground like a deflated accordion.
Lindsy shouldered open the front door and sprinted outside just as a plume of dust and debris chased after her, nearly consuming her in the process.
She landed hard on her stomach on the ground. She coughed and hacked, catching her breath, her entire body aching from the fight. She turned to look behind her and found the house completely leveled. It was as if a tornado had come in and attacked it, destroying the house and nothing else.
But it was done. It was all finally done.
Lindsy stood, her arms and legs shaking from the concentrated effort, but she managed to stand upright without collapsing. A simple accomplishment, but after what Lindsy had just gone through, she allowed herself the moment to revel in it.
The house was nothing more than a pile of rubble now. The midwife, in her last show of defiance, completely disintegrated the house that her husband
had built for her so many years ago. The place that was supposed to have brought them joy and laughter but only brought pain and sadness.
Lindsy thought back to how she felt after that third miscarriage. She had been angry and sad. She had felt everything the midwife had experienced. But instead of burning down her house, she sold it along with everything else they owned to buy an RV and set out across the country to do what she had been doing for the past seven years.
Lindsy chose to make a difference with her pain, while the midwife had decided to let her pain consume her and harm everything that she touched.
But the choice that Lindsy made here today, the option of choosing to stop the midwife instead of taking her son, or the Maples daughter, that was a decision that was going to appear in her nightmares, just like her miscarriages had done to her.
Lindsy stared at the remains of the house for a little while longer, but then she knew she needed to get into town and find Daniel and Carla and figure out exactly where Mike had been taken.
She turned away from the house, heading down the dirt road, when something caught her attention in the woods.
At first, there was nothing but the sound of the wind rustling through the trees, but then Lindsy heard the noise rising above the sound of the wind, and she took a step toward the woods on the east side of the house.
Lindsy approached cautiously, unsure of what she would find. The midwife couldn’t have stopped her transition into the next realm, but then again, it had been a day of many firsts.
The closer Lindsy walked toward the noise, the less she was certain that she had heard it. But there was something else that was pulling her deeper into the woods. It was like an instinct, like her ability to see the dead.
And just when Lindsy considered turning around, leaving this place for good to go and find her husband, she heard it again. Only this time, it came through crystal clear: a child’s cry.
With the midwife gone, Lindsy knew that what she was hearing wasn’t a trick. Lindsy hastened her pace through the woods, following the crying as she searched for the baby.
The brush grew thicker the farther she traveled from the house, but Lindsy continued to push through with conviction. She was aware that while Carla had heard the cries of children from the woods, that was under the control of the midwife. She certainly wasn’t making this up in her head.