by JG Faherty
“Did you see that? Did anyone see that? The bar wasn’t bent before! I remember! I remember!”
The crowd remained still, their eyes all facing him, their mouths unmoving.
So why did he hear people giggling with joy?
That laughter. I heard it before. When I was chasing the stroller.
But that wasn’t the first time he’d heard it. It was familiar, as familiar as his own.
It was—
The transition from dream state to awake happened so smoothly Alec didn’t even realize it at first. The childish laughter was still everywhere and nowhere, coming at him from all directions.
“Nicky? Sue?” Hearing his own voice alerted him to the fact he was no longer asleep.
Was he that far gone that he was hearing the laughter of his dead children? And if so, why did it sound mean? Evil? Nick and Sue had possessed the sweetest laughter in the world.
“Something’s not right.” His words brought more titters from the specters haunting his mind.
The bar on the fence.
In his dream, he’d seen it bending upward as Jennifer fell toward it. Before that, it had been shaped in a downward curve like its neighbors.
Before that.
“Jesus Christ on a popsicle stick.”
He remembered now. He’d taken pictures of the bears earlier, before… And while he’d been doing that, he’d aimed the camera to the side to capture some birds perched on the bars.
And none of the bars had been curved.
No. I must be remembering wrong. Or that fucked up dream has made me crazy.
Alec stood up and then had to catch himself on the arm of the couch as he swayed dangerously to one side, the alcohol in his blood still messing with his equilibrium. Once he steadied himself, he made his way into the kitchen, where he remembered seeing the camera earlier. He had no recollection of putting it in his pocket at the zoo or taking it out when he got home from the hospital. But it was still there.
He turned it on and quickly scrolled through the stored pictures, his hands shaking from more than just the scotch.
There!
The same as he remembered it. The sideways shot had captured the curved bars in a long row, stretching off into infinity, the way he’d intended it when he took the picture.
Not a single bar was out of place.
Is that what my dream was telling me? That between the time when I took that picture and when Jennifer’s carriage hit the wall, somehow a solid iron bar had gotten bent into just the right shape to catch my daughter, who just happened to be floating on an invisible magic carpet at the time?
Alec dropped the camera onto the counter. He had to be going insane. Those things didn’t happen, not in the real world.
And little girls don’t change direction in midair, either.
But he’d seen that happen, hadn’t he? He didn’t need a dream to remind him.
“What the fuck is going on?”
Someone giggled behind him.
Turning so fast the room continued to spin after he stopped, Alec looked around. That definitely hadn’t been his imagination. Someone was in the house with them.
Bell.
The name popped into Alec’s head and instantly he knew what was going on. The goddamned crazy insurance investigator was behind it. He’d read about Casey’s death and decided to torment Alec into believing ghosts were real.
He had four days to come here and set up his toys. Hide things throughout the house. And not just sound effects. He’s probably watching me right now, getting his fucking jollies.
The more he thought about it, the more he wondered just how far Bell would take his sick plan—had he even doctored the photo in the camera? Whispered subliminal messages to a sleeping victim?
“Mother—” Alec caught himself and finished the rest in a soft voice so he wouldn’t wake Jen. “—fucker!” He started toward the living room, intending to tear it apart looking for bugs or transmitters or whatever, and then he stopped as a new thought came to him.
Why give Bell the satisfaction of seeing him upset? It would drive the bastard crazy if Alec did nothing but relax and act as if everything were fine.
So instead of searching for concealed devices, he poured another drink and flicked on the TV. Casey’s death still weighed heavily on him, a grief compounded by his own guilt and loneliness. His intention was to drink himself into a stupor and let the TV’s drone push him back into the land of sleep. Tomorrow he’d have the added torment of a hangover to go with his appointment at the funeral home, but he’d get through it, take care of everything, comfort Jen some more.
And then tomorrow night he would drown his sorrows all over again.
The TV automatically came on to the regional news station, and Alec was ready to change the channel, afraid he’d see a story about his own family, when a scrolling headline caught his attention.
Coming up next—investigations continue into the death of a man with ties to the recent victim of the bear mauling at the…
“What the fuck?” Alec put down his scotch and the remote.
Ties to Casey? Who—?
A nasty feeling came to life in his stomach, churning up the scotch and the frozen pizza he’d had for dinner.
“Whatever killed Gregg, Trano and Watkins is moving in a straight line towards us.”
Bell’s words, spoken at the diner. He’d believed something was killing everyone who’d been involved in the events following the bear attack at the campsite.
But it had to be nonsense. There couldn’t—
“Yesterday afternoon, the body of Terrance Bell, a claims investigator with—”
The news story continued, but Alec missed most of it. He just stared at Bell’s face plastered on the screen. Scattered words reached him, enough of them getting through his shock for him to figure out what happened.
Knives…
Thirty times…
Casey Winter…
Files found…
Bell is dead. Murdered. Stabbed to death in his own kitchen. They found his files on my family. The other deaths.
“No. It’s not possible. He was…”
What? Crazy? So why couldn’t someone else be crazy? Someone who wanted everyone involved with the Winter family dead?
The churning in Alec’s stomach grew worse and he had to run for the kitchen sink, made it there just before the scotch and pizza came bursting up and out in a burning, vile explosion. Vomit splattered the insides of the sink and peppered Alec’s cheeks. He dry heaved a few more times and then wiped his mouth. After washing the stinking mess down the drain, he poured himself a glass of water and leaned against the counter to drink it, purposely not thinking of anything, not looking at anything.
Gradually his brain started working again, and he realized his blank gaze was focused on the pile of mail sitting on the kitchen table. It had been on the porch when he came home, and he’d dumped it on the table out of habit. It was Casey who’d always sorted it…
Mixed in with the white envelopes and penny-saver flyers was something that didn’t belong. A brown manila envelope, large and fat.
Seeing it brought the whirlpool in Alec’s stomach back to life. That envelope was wrong; he could feel it from across the room.
His body was moving toward it before he comprehended what he was doing. He felt as if someone were controlling his body as he put his water down and picked the envelope up.
It was addressed to him.
The return label said T. Bell.
Oh, God.
His fingers shook as he tore it open and dumped the contents on the table. Pictures clipped from newspapers. Printouts of autopsy reports. A copy of the map he’d shown Alec, with dates next to each of the murder points.
And a note.
It landed atop all the other i
tems. Alec was able to read it even as his hand reached for it.
Dear Alec,
Please call me. Things have been happening lately. I’ve heard voices. Laughter. But there is no one here except me. I sent my family away. I know what it is that’s after us. It’s your children, Alec. Nickolas and Susan. My research into brutal deaths shows many instances of angry, vengeful spirits who
A sudden wind whipped the papers up and away from his hand. They flew across the room and swirled around in a circle, moving faster and faster until a miniature tornado of paper hovered in the arch between the kitchen and dining room. A crackling, whining sound filled the air. Occasionally a piece of paper would dart out and then return to the supernatural cyclone. After one such emergence, Alec felt a stinging sensation on his arm and looked down to find a thin red line running from his shoulder to his wrist. Tiny droplets of blood were already beading up.
The sight of the long paper cut made him step back several paces, fear overcoming astonishment.
“Something’s out there and it’s coming for us.”
Bell’s words returned, only this time they didn’t seem so crazy. In fact, they made perfect sense. The murders. The laughter. The strange—no, impossible—occurrences.
Alec’s stomach clenched and his bowels threatened to let loose as it all became crystal clear to him. Bell was right.
Nick and Sue. They’ve come back and they want me dead for what I did. And along the way they killed everyone who unwittingly helped me keep my dirty secret.
It was almost too ghastly to think about but once the thought was in his head it took on the heavy weight of certainty. It was dreadful, appalling, horrific—but there was no other explanation.
“Nicky! Susan! I know you can hear me. Show yourselves.”
He didn’t feel the least bit foolish shouting at the empty room, especially when the miniature tornado died in an explosion of papers and all-too-familiar giggling echoed through the room.
All of Alec’s pent-up guilt and self-hatred burst up from the dark places inside him where he’d kept it locked away. His children had come back from the dead for revenge all because he hadn’t tried to save them, had gone on to live his life while the true memory of their deaths stayed a secret.
All those people dead because of me. If I hadn’t run away, or maybe even if I’d just told the truth…
“I’m sorry!” Alec held out his hands. “Do you hear me? I’m sorry! I should have done something but I ran away. I was scared. I didn’t tell anyone because I was afraid your mother would leave me.”
The room stayed silent, and Alec wondered if his children were contemplating his death or letting him live. It had felt good to finally admit what he’d done, to burst the infected boil on his conscience and let the poisonous truth out.
He wished he’d done it months ago, a year ago.
A salt shaker rose up from the table and launched itself at him. It struck him in the chest before he could even try to block it. The pepper shaker followed. Other objects on the table—a napkin holder, a plastic bottle of vitamins, a pencil—levitated and then aimed themselves at him. Alec covered his eyes and so didn’t see them take flight, but he felt their attack. The bottle and napkin holder bounced off his arms. A sharp pain blossomed in his right forearm and he cried out. Lowering his arms, he saw the pencil lodged an inch deep in the flesh just below his elbow. He pulled it out and then had to duck when a vase sailed across the room and shattered against the wall next to him.
This is how the others died. Stabbed and beaten by the objects in their own houses. So why had they killed Casey—their own mother!—differently?
The answer came to him right away.
The bears. It was a message for me.
But why kill Casey? She hadn’t done anything—she’d already been unconscious when the bear went after Nick and Sue, had no idea her husband had been a lying coward.
It didn’t matter anymore. Alec watched as a drawer opened and a large barbeque fork emerged. He was ready to die. It was what he deserved. He spread his arms wide and closed his eyes.
“Go ahead. Kill me. I should have died—”
Upstairs, Jennifer started crying.
Jen! Who will take care of her if I’m dead?
“Save my baby!”
Those had been the last words Casey ever said to him. Not “I love you”, not “Goodbye”. Even though she’d known leaping into the bear enclosure was pretty much a death sentence. There’d been no thoughts in her head other than saving her baby.
How can I do less?
Alec dove to the floor and rolled to one side. A second later there was a loud thunk as the fork struck the cabinet where he’d been standing, the impact followed by a metallic diving board sound as the metal arm vibrated in place.
The manic laughter cut off as Alec crawled toward the hall. He imagined the ghosts of his children weren’t pleased their prey had escaped.
He had no plan in mind, just a frantic desire to save himself and Jen. The one thing he knew was he couldn’t take time to sort through ideas or create an escape strategy. The ghosts could see everything he did, follow effortlessly. His only chance lay in keeping them off-balance, surprising them over and over again like he’d done in the kitchen.
Getting to his feet, he ran for the stairs, dodging from side to side so that he was harder to target. Objects collided with the steps and banister and walls all around him, forks, knives, cups and even a book. More than a few struck him glancing blows but he took no direct hits until he reached the top of the staircase and turned toward Jen’s room.
In that moment where he had to pause or fall down, fire blossomed in his ankle and he had to grab the banister to keep from tumbling back down the stairs. Without looking, he reached down and pulled a steak knife free. Hot, sticky liquid was already plastering his sock to his skin as he limped-ran down the hall. Inside Jen’s room he slammed the door shut, knowing it wouldn’t offer any protection but the habit was too ingrained. Jen was still screaming but he figured there’d be time to comfort her later, when they were safe. He reached down to pick her up and her cries intensified.
In the soft glow from her nightlight, he saw why.
Someone had carved a stick figure bear in her chest. The symbol was clearly recognizable despite the blood smeared all over.
“You goddamn bastards!” Alec shouted. “She’s just an innocent baby! She wasn’t even there!”
He took Jen’s blankets and wrapped them around her, hoping they would offer some protection against whatever the insane spirits of her siblings had in mind for her. He stood up and then had to duck and pull her close to his body as the contents of her shelves flew at him from all directions. Toys, hair brushes, combs, plastic mirrors, books and plastic jewelry struck him with enough force to leave purple and red welts on his arms, back and neck. Hunched over Jen to protect her, he crossed the small room and yanked the door open.
Something struck his arms and chest with the force of a freight train, knocking him back into Jennifer’s room where he crashed into a dresser. Reality disappeared as his head cracked against hard wood and he fell to the floor. For a moment there was nothing except whirling, colored lights and a sound like water flowing over stones. Then his senses returned and he saw Jen lying motionless and silent a few feet away.
“No.” The one word was all that squeezed out before his throat closed up. He reached out and pulled her toward him.
Twin lines of blood ran from her nose over her upper lip. A similar rivulet cascaded from inside her ear, flowing out and over the edge like a miniature stream emerging from a cave. When he lifted her up, her head flopped back until it touched between her shoulder blades and her chin pointed at the ceiling.
Alec lowered her still form to his lap, his own body cold and empty. It was over. They’d taken everything from him, left him with only a worthless life and s
ome remaining shreds of sanity, both of which he was ready to give up.
He rose and placed Jen’s lifeless body in her bed. He had no tears, placed no final kiss on her forehead. There was no point. He’d failed her like he’d failed the rest of his family. Failed to protect them from the bear. Failed to protect them from Nick’s and Sue’s ghosts. He imagined they were all watching and hating him, cheering Nick and Sue on.
He went into his bedroom. Laughter followed him but he ignored it. Everything was exactly as he and Casey had left it when they’d gone to the zoo. The scent of her perfume still lingered in the air. Her work clothes were still crumpled on the bed where she’d tossed them.
Alec paused. Something was scrawled on the mirror, the letters written in red lipstick.
Come join us, my love. We’re all here waiting for you.
It was Casey’s handwriting.
All at once hope surged to life in Alec’s chest.
His family was waiting for him.
Was that what all this had been about? Nick and Sue simply wanting to bring their family to the other side so they could all be together again? Two lonely children, half-mad with grief, doing the only thing in their power to put an end to their isolation? Acting not out of anger, but love?
A smile—the first one since the zoo—stretched Alec’s lips. He was going to see his family again. It didn’t matter if he had to die to do it. There was nothing left on Earth for him anyhow.
He went to the bed and lay down, his hands holding Casey’s shirt and his eyes facing the ceiling, where a double handful of gleaming knives hovered in the air.
Still smiling, he closed his eyes.
“Take me.”
The pain was more horrendous than anything he’d ever felt.
And then it was gone, taking with it all light and sound.
Alec opened his eyes to a gray world. There was no up or down, no ground or skies. Only an endless gray. He knew at once he’d passed on from his old life to whatever comes after, and he felt no fear, only joy.
His family was waiting!
“Casey? Where are you? Nicky? Sue? Jen?”