"Zach?" I whispered hoarse as a sob rose up in my chest. "Please... Zach?"
The closet sat empty and I knew I was dealing with far more than a stunt. How he could get into a room and out without a door or window was impossible. I forced myself to stand and turned to the window, noticing the bars across the glass for the first time. He hadn't gone out the window.
There was no bed in the room and the only other option was the closet. I inched forward, working to find the horror seeking weirdo that lay in me. I liked these things. Right? I loved them.
My phone buzzed and I jumped and screamed. My mother.
Mom: Where are you, Missy? I just spoke with Kat and she told me that not only were you not there, but you punched her in the face on Friday night. Tell me where you are now, Jen. Your father and I are sick with worry.
I moved to the closet and pulled the door open again, the visual of the naked boy still sitting heavy in my memory. Nothing.
I would find Zach and get the hell out of there. There was a reasonable, logical explanation to all of it. A light flashed in the window behind me and I ran toward it, glancing down as my blood ran cold. There was a perfect view of the cemetery and various lanterns began to flicker to life as if someone were walking by and lighting them. With each new one, my vision picked up on their shadowy movement. It seemed as if small clouds had moved down to dance around the graves.
"Oh my God. Ghosts." I pressed my hand to the window in horror and awe. Where was Zach? Had he gone to the car? Did the teenage girl get him?
I glanced at my phone, realizing my only real way out was to get my mother to come get me, but would I put her in danger?
Only if what I was seeing was real and not one hell of a prank. Zach had the last seventeen years to work this all out. He was a brilliant mastermind if he did. I needed to rely on the fact that it was him. Otherwise I might lose my sanity.
Me: Mom. I'm at the Vandercamp Mansion. Zach and I came together. I thought it would be fun. Don't be mad at me, but I'm scared.
I teared up as her text came back immediately.
Mom: Jennifer. Get out of there now. Do you hear me? Run. Baby, that place is messed up. Get out.
Me: I can't find Zach, mom.
The phone rang and I picked it up, my voice cracking as I cried. She was right. I needed to get out of there. Something was wrong. Every hair on my body stood at full attention. I glanced out in the hall and saw nothing.
"Mom?" I whispered into the phone.
It cracked as if the reception was bad. I only picked up a few things, but nothing I could make into a sentence.
"Mom. I'm going to find Zach and then I'll..." the red ball rolled past me as giggling filled up the air. I screamed and ran to the main lobby, the room filled with the figures from earlier. None of them paid me any attention, but seemed to mind their own business as they flipped through newspapers and chatted. A little boy ran past me and I stumbled back, bumping into the wall by my backpack.
I knelt down and pulled it to my chest. Zach's bag sat next to me, completely covered in dust. It had been there for years... I had no doubt now. I whispered into the phone as my voice trembled. "Momma. This place is filled with ghost or I'm crazy. I can't be making this up. Please come get me."
The call dropped and I jerked it from my ear as the tall, handsome doctor moved into the room and looked around at the faces. He was beautiful in an old fashioned ethereal type of way. Something about him caused me to question if I knew him.
I was numb to the terror for a moment, my mind threatening to shatter more over the fact that I had lost Zach than the fact that I was sitting in a house full of ghosts that had the ability to reach out and touch me. He reminded me of someone I knew.
"Who?" I whispered, tilting my head. Was my great grandfather or a great uncle the crazy doctor who killed the kids? What was his name? I squinted to see his name-tag, but he moved just enough to keep it out of my view.
My phone buzzed and I watched for signs that he saw me - heard me - anything. Nothing. He tapped a clipboard in front of him and turned to smile at an elderly lady sitting by the door.
"Ms. Smithers. Do come back. I know Carolyn would love to see you."
I knew the voice, but I ignored my wayward thoughts. It didn't make sense anyway. My mother had blown up my phone with texts.
Mom: Get the hell out of there now.
Mom: Are you out of there?
Dad: Kiddo, this isn't funny. Get out now. We cannot suffer another loss.
Mom: Jen. Where are you? The call dropped. Please, baby. Call me back.
Dad: Your mother is losing her mind, Jenny.
Mom: Come home and we'll talk about everything. I know you've been through too much. We just thought your denial was normal, baby. Please. We'll work through this together.
Dad: We're coming out to get you. Stay put in your car, kiddo. It's going to be fine. We're here for you.
"What the hell?" I grumbled and texted back, getting pissed at the tone they were using with me. I was surrounded by dead people. Why would I be in denial?
Me: I'm fine. I'm stuck in the foyer, but I'll get out soon.
"No... You won't." The doctor spoke softly, his face right before mine as I glanced up.
I screamed so loud that everyone turned to look at me.
"Please. Where is Zach? I'm sorry to bother you. Please. Just let me have him and we'll go."
"Welcome home, J. I've missed you, baby." The ghost reached down and grabbed me. I knew the voice, and the features were older, but I'd loved him for so long that I couldn't deny who held me in his deadly grasp.
I glanced down at the tag on his chest and let out a soft yelp as my phone slipped from my fingers.
Dr. Zachary Vandercamp.
Chapter Ten
Lights moved about the room in front of me, and various sounds of children playing, and someone singing filled my senses. Zach had been real and a part of my life until May when he left for his trip. It was when he got back in August that everything changed.
Who brought him out to this place back then?
I did.
Memory after memory swam past me as I slid down to curl up on the floor.
At the game on Friday night...
Kat laughed and turned to look up in the stands. "It's weird this year. Feels like something is missing."
I shrugged and turned back to the stands, unwilling to have idle chat with my closest gal-pal. My parents sat together over to the left of the stands, obviously trying hard to avoid the students section.
Zach's mom and dad sat next to them, his mother still looking sickly and pale. She'd fallen ill sometime during the summer and where I was worried that it was cancer, my mother had come to the conclusion that it was simply depression.
Zach was gone and his mother was depressed because of it.
"I've missed you. You look hot in that uniform, Miss Popular." He winked and turned, jogging back up the stands to join his mother. She didn't respond, but I didn't expect her to. Her depression made her almost appear comatose most days. I'd die if that were my mom and we couldn't pull her out of wherever she'd gone to.
"Who were you talking to?" Katrina moved up beside me and offered me her water bottle.
I took a quick sip of it and glanced up to find Zach gone from his mother's side. "Zach. I guess he's finally back from his trip."
"Hmmm... Well, you know Carl doesn't like you talking about him."
About him. Not too him. Of course she didn't respond to him being there. He wasn't. Carl warned me to move on. How many times had he gotten in my face over the summer? At first he was kind about it, but then pushy and then down right pissed. A tear rolled down my cheek as my own voice roared to life in my head.
"Did you guys see Zach? I guess he's back from his trip finally."
"No. I didn't." My mother rubbed my arm and opened the gate to the exit for us.
"Really? He was sitting on the other side of his mother. I swear you're blind, mom. Anyway
... he looked good. I missed him like crazy."
Why didn't they say anything? Because I was in denial? Because I recreated him to be there the whole time?
I stood there while he walked into the lake just outside the mansion two months back, never saying anything. Never reaching to save him. They pulled him out of the river down at the docks near my house.
I choked on a sob, my soul tearing in half at the memory of the funeral. I'd locked it away. The journal didn't hold my grandmother's death. That happened five years back. It was Zach's funeral and Brent held me up while I lost my mind... in front of everyone.
That's why every touch, every kiss... every moment of passion over the last few weeks was light or too soft. They never happened. I reached up and brushed my fingers over my lips as I cried out again, completely unaware of anything happening around me.
I jerked up, "The texts."
I had texts from him over the last week. I know I did. I scrambled around the floor, looking for my phone and finally finding it. I ignored the explosion of texts from my parents and found his name. I pulled it up and fell back on my butt as the room darkened around me.
Friday:
Me: I just checked the lake and you were gone. The monster didn't get you did he?
Me: It'll cost you.
Me: A kiss
Me: Butthole
Monday:
Me: Meet me at the docks at eleven. We need to plan your birthday.
Me: Keep it up, funny boy and you'll not have another year to add to your age.
"None from him." I glanced up. The room was darker than before, but still. Silent. I turned the phone off and crawled to my bag, digging through it and finding the other book on the history of the mansion. I put my phone in the bag and moved to press my back to the wall. I would leave soon. The truth was out. I was delusional. A complete menace to society. I deserved to be in a home for the mentally challenged.
I had hit Kat. I could see it all now. She'd screamed in my face the night Carl had come to get me. She'd tried to force the truth on me. I could still hear her.
"You have to stop this, Jen. He's gone. I know you love him, but he's gone. He's not coming back and you have to live. He's dead." She screamed the last bit in my face and I snapped, hitting her harder than I've ever hit anyone. I wanted her dead. She didn't know anything.
"You're sick," I whispered and pressed my fingers to my face.
The counselor had tried to nudge me toward the truth.
My parents had spoken about Zach in past tense, and my dad tried to play along with my sickness until I realized it.
I cried out again and shook as anguish ran through me. Not only was Zach gone, but I was lost. Lost in a world in my head that forced him to stay alive. That pushed him toward loving me.
"It was all real, J."
I glanced up and let out an angry cry as he stood a ways from me, his hands in his pockets as his beautiful eyes filled with tears.
"It's a lie. It's all a damn lie. You were just my friend and here I was resurrecting you from the dead to make you into a romance that I thought was ours." I crawled to my knees before standing. "Every touch. Every kiss. Even the damn worms at the lake seemed real. Why?"
"Because they were, baby. Love allows people to move across the lines of life and death." He took a step toward me and I raised my hand as I shook violently.
"No. Just go away. Leave me alone. You're nothing more than a figment of my imagination."
"No, J. I'm not." He moved toward me faster than I imagined possible. His strong fingers slid into my hair and lifted my face as he moved down to hover above me. The outline of his face was fluid, as if he was made of liquid around the edges, but solidified in the center.
"I love you so much. Why did you leave me?" I cried as he leaned down and brushed his lips across mine.
"I didn't. I was called back first. Remember that night, baby? You were here with me when I made the decision to uphold our promise." He moved back and waved his hand in front of us as I withdrew from him. "It's your turn now."
My turn?
The scene in front of me materialized as if I'd gone back to nineteen-thirty. A beautiful woman in a long gown ran down the stairs and stopped at the front of the hall. "Zachary. They're coming."
"No. I need more time, J." He moved out into the hall, his clothes stained with blood. "I can make them better. I just need time."
"No, baby. The town has gathered. My brother just left not twenty minutes ago. They are coming to burn the place down. You know what they think."
"Dammit, Jennifer. They aren't demons. They're kids." His voice broke and he ran the back of his fingers over his lips, smearing blood over his beautiful lips. "What can I do to save them?"
"I don't know." She walked down the hall to him, pulling him close and kissing him.
I stood in shocked silence. I needed to see her. Was she me? Was this house mine? Was I Zach's?
"I know, but I would never ask you to do it, Jen." He closed his eyes.
Everything stopped and I moved to rest in her place, his handsome face tilted toward me, eyes full of ears as his heart broke.
"No. The old book my mother left is pure evil. I cannot use it." I glanced behind me, scarred at the words that drew from my lips.
"I would rather us suffer a million deaths than have these babies slaughtered. Please, Jennifer. For me? For us? For them?"
I turned back to him and swallowed hard, nodding and making the decision. It was All Hallows' Eve and where I didn't believe in magic, I knew that it worked. I'd seen it done a few times as a child and yet, it scared me to death. I was a good woman. My husband a good man.
"Hurry, baby. I can see the torches from the window."
"I'm scared." I muttered, my voice my own, but older in timbre.
I ran up the stairs, my long crimson cloak catching on a stray board that happen to squeak every time I stomped on it. The book was in our bedroom, our own child just down the hall asleep. The poor baby had mental problems as well, his twitching giving way to fits of terror every night in his dreams. He was the reason we moved from our surgery practice to this new life. The reason we reached out to help other children who had no one else.
It had been a mistake.
"No," I whispered as tears filled my eyes. I refused to believe that. I ran to his room and leaned over, pressing a kiss to his little head as tears rolled from me onto him. "I love you. All that me and Daddy do is for you. Please don't forget."
I cried out as fear and hatred for the situation consumed me. We had given everything to the town, to these kids and now they would die by my hand or be burnt alive because the town idiots believed us to be demons? My own baby too.
The book was hot to the touch, but I ignored it. I ran down the stairs, tripping and falling into Zach's arms.
"Do it, baby. Our lives for theirs. Do it now." He released me and moved behind me, wrapping his strong arms around me and pressing a kiss to the side of my neck.
I wanted to stay there, in that moment. Where he was real and I wasn't crazy.
I shook with painful sobs as I opened the book. I spoke quickly the words that I knew would skew time and give the babies in the house a glimpse of heaven. I closed the book and turned in his arms as he smiled.
"I'll come find you in the next life. Death will be ours to endure, but never theirs."
"These people will think we killed everyone. You know the spell will move the spirits of the babies into another life."
"A new life, J. They will have a new life. And so will we."
"We'll never be accepted into heaven for what we've done."
He leaned down and brushed his lips by mine.
"Heaven is right here for me."
I came to on the floor, the lights of a car pouring into the window of the house. I stood and turned as the Zach I knew moved to the door.
"It's time, baby. This life's over. Come with me again? Fulfill your commitment to us?" He reached for me and I extended my hand
knowing I had no choice.
We would live this lie until the time had come for it to own us no more. When that was or if I was capable of surviving it again without mentally bursting into pieces was anyone guess.
I walked out of the house and turned to my left, Zach's hand tight and warm around mine.
"Jenny. Stop right there. Don't you dare go any farther!" My father's voice caught my attention and I turned to find him and my mother fighting against some unseen force.
The curse.
"I love you." I smiled and walked down the dock to the sound of their screaming. Something inside of me knew I could turn and run to them, to reset history, but after all I'd come to know... I simply didn't want to take back the peace that I knew each of those children received because of the sacrifice Zach and I made. He'd fulfilled his part. It was my turn.
We stopped at the edge of the dock and I bent down, scraping my nails over the dried worms. "Are these from us?"
"Yeah. From the night I died. You don't remember much, huh?"
"No. I guess I blocked it."
The water moved in front of me again, the wave lifting the edge of a boat out of the mouth of the lake.
"What is this?"
"It’s a way for me to find you once you've crossed over." He pulled me up.
"Will you find me?" I lifted to my toes and tried to reason with myself that I could do this. That I had no choice. Fear tightened its grip on me.
"Each and every time, J. I will find you every time you start again. I love you with every ounce of me. Trust me." He leaned in and kissed me, the warmth of his love rushing across my skin and leaving me without a doubt.
I had made a promise - to him. Pulling from his grasp, I turned and stepped off the dock, being careful to grab a rope on the side of the boat and sinking to the bottom. Darkness washed away my thoughts, my concerns and reminded me that for everyone else - death was final... but not for me.
Darkness Echoes: A Spooky YA Short Story Collection Page 6