Rage's Echo

by J. S. Bailey

  And it had ruined her.

  “It seemed like a good idea at the time,” she said. It was true enough.

  This seemed to amuse the spirit residing within her daughter. “Ideas always do, don’t they?”

  “Are you going to do the same thing to me?”

  “I would.” Jessica’s eyes sparkled. “But I don’t have a knife with me. I do have a handy fire. Did you notice all the kindling I stacked behind you?”

  Maria squirmed around and saw that yes, there really were a number of sticks piled against the sapling she’d been strapped to.

  “Or I could use this,” Jessica said, patting the baseball bat. “Only I don’t see much beauty in clubbing someone to death with a bat emblazoned with Mr. Red.”

  Something behind Maria crackled, and heat radiated up her back. The stack of wood had caught fire without anyone lighting it.

  Fear surged through her veins. Maria strained against the tape and swung her body from side to side to try to loosen it. Maybe the climbing flames would burn through the tape and free her before it was too late.

  Flames licked her fingertips. She jerked her bound hands to the side as far as her bindings would allow. “Let me go! Jessica, do something!”

  “It’s a painful thing, being completely at another’s mercy like this, isn’t it? Don’t worry, though. I’ve heard that people being burned alive suffocate from lack of oxygen long before the flames consume them.”

  The back of her pajama shirt ignited. “Jessica, please! I love you!”

  Jessica only laughed. White-hot pain spread across Maria’s back.

  A fire burned up ahead. All the tree trunks and brambles blocking the view made it difficult to see anything else, but Wayne thought he could see two people illuminated by the realm of firelight—one sitting and one standing.

  The sight relieved him, and he uttered a silent prayer of thanks. Jessica and her mother were still alive. Everything would be all right after all.

  As they closed in on the pair, another fire sprang to life, and a scream cut through the night air with the sharpness of a razor.

  Wayne’s breath left his lungs, and his legs froze in mid-stride. “Oh, no.”

  Eric and Sidney broke into a run. Wayne shook off his sudden paralysis and followed. God, help us.

  He emerged into the clearing fifteen seconds behind them.

  Maria was tied to a tree. Burning. Eric frantically kicked sticks away from the woman while Sidney tried to wrestle a baseball bat out of Jessica’s hands.

  Wayne would have to ignore Jessica for the time being.

  He knelt beside Maria and tried to pat out the flames eating through her shirt. Each time he touched her she whimpered like a wounded animal, and Wayne was afraid he might hurt her worse if he continued in that fashion.

  Having removed all the wood from the base of the tree, Eric tugged at the tape that wrapped around Maria’s torso and fell backward when the partly burnt bindings broke in his hands.

  “I got it!” Sidney shouted. She must have gained possession of the bat.

  Though Maria had been freed from the sapling, her shirt was still ablaze. “Get it off me!” she shouted.

  Though it embarrassed him profusely, Wayne tugged the shirt off over her head and tossed it aside. He stamped out the remainder of the flames, which was kind of pointless since there was no way she’d ever be wearing the shirt again. It did keep him from having to look at her.

  “Here,” he heard Eric say. “Put this on.”

  Maria coughed and murmured something in reply. Sensing it was safe to look, Wayne saw that the woman now wore Eric’s undershirt while the latter attempted to undo the tape tying Maria’s knees and ankles together.

  “Here, let me help.” Wayne pulled his truck key out of his pocket and used it to tear at the tape.

  “Watch out!”

  Wayne lifted his gaze just in time to receive a heavy blow to the side of his jaw. The taste of blood filled his mouth, and it felt like a couple teeth had been knocked loose. He blinked back tears.

  Jessica had gotten a hold of the bat again. Wayne held up a hand to block her next blow, which struck his wrist.

  Something inside his arm cracked like a snapping twig. Tears sprang into his eyes as pain radiated through his arm and hand. For a moment his eyes crossed, and it looked like there were two Jessicas swinging at him. “Stop,” he tried to say, but it came out sounding more like a high-pitched whine. The bat struck his arm again. He tried to swipe the makeshift club from her with his good hand, but she was too quick and stepped to the side.

  A sickening sense of déjà vu overtook him. Mother.

  A red-haired blur flew through the air and barreled into Jessica’s side, knocking her into the dirt. “Give…me…the…bat!” Sidney gasped through clenched teeth as she struggled yet again to remove the object from Jessica’s grip. “Somebody help me!”

  Wayne would have offered his services, but he couldn’t speak. His arm had to be broken, and if it wasn’t, it would be the greatest miracle since the resurrection. He tried to focus the throbbing of his jaw and wrist into a single point that could be dealt with more easily. Please let the pain leave long enough for me to help end this. He took in a deep breath. Please.

  Suddenly Eric was rushing past him as he came to Sidney’s aid. He pinned Jessica’s arms to the ground and placed one foot on her chest while Sidney snatched the bat away from her.

  “Give it back!” Jessica growled.

  Sidney tossed the bat into the fire. “Oopsie.” She followed Eric’s example and stood on Jessica’s ankles.

  Even though the pain had barely subsided, Wayne struggled to his feet and stood over Jessica’s prone form. She glared at him in an expression of pure loathing that broke something in his heart. He had to remind himself that this wasn’t really Jessica, that the woman he loved was trapped inside somewhere, unable to set herself free.

  “Jerry?” he queried. The act of speaking made his stomach lurch in protest. He spat out a glob of blood and wiped his face on his sleeve.

  Jessica blinked. Her expression remained unchanged.

  “Get out of her.”

  “No.”

  Her icy tone raised goosebumps on his arms. “None of this solves anything.”

  “It solves everything!”

  “And just what is killing Maria going to accomplish? You’ll still be dead. Ending her life won’t bring you back again.”

  “That isn’t the point.” Jessica’s eyes narrowed. “You didn’t see what she did to me. How much she loved it.”

  “I’m sorry!” Maria yelped from where she sat.

  Jessica rolled her eyes. “You hear that? She’s sorry. She’ll make you think she cares, but really all she’s ever cared about is herself.”

  “That’s not true!”

  Wayne cut in. “You’ve got to let it all go. You two are both at fault, okay? How about you both forgive each other and let things be?”

  “You’re an idiot,” Jessica said in a seething voice. “All I ever wanted was a normal life. To be happy. To love my wife, to raise a family. It’s all I wanted.”

  “Maria doesn’t have anything to do with your wife.”

  “Doesn’t matter. She ruined me worse than Abigail ever did.” Jessica’s eyes seemed to blaze with an inner light. “But what does that matter to you? Your life is perfect. You live in your nice little house in a nice town with two attractive women—”

  “One of whom is my cousin,” Wayne retorted, his face growing warm.

  “And you have a nice job and probably never once thought about killing yourself, because you have people who care about you—”

  “Look—”

  Suddenly Jessica leapt up, knocking both Eric and Sidney off of her. She snatched a long stick that was as big around as Wayne’s thumb off the fire. Flames spread up the shaft. She held it like a javelin and flexed the muscles in her arm. She aimed it toward Maria.

  THE UNWANTED pair inside her skull let Jessica
take the back seat for a while, giving her time to think. She strained with all of her might to take back control of her body. It was as if the part of her brain that directed the movement of her muscles had been disconnected from the rest of her. She tried to speak. Couldn’t. Tried to move her legs so she could run. They wouldn’t.

  She refused to panic. That’s what Vindictam would want—to make her lose hope and turn away from the One who would save her. Trouble was, it was becoming harder and harder to believe that God cared. He had let Jerry’s baby die. He had let Jerry kill and be killed. He had let Marjorie succumb to cancer. He had let this thing overtake her with no apparent qualms.

  Maybe she wasn’t meant to get through this alive, either.

  She could sense that Jerry lingered close by, though she could no longer tell if he was the perpetrator or the victim. He and the Presence were working together despite the fact that Jerry seemed an unwilling participant. Vindictam fed off the man’s grudges, toying with his conscience to convince him that killing her mother was the only way to make things right.

  Jerry, she thought, you’ve got to give me a hand. I can’t do this alone.

  Her request went unanswered.

  This had to stop.

  If she died, would Vindictam leave? Jerry had been dead already but brought it with him anyway, so her demise might accomplish nothing.

  She mustered every last bit of will and began to pray as she never had before. Surely God could fulfill this final request, as there was nothing in it for herself. Father, if it will make Vindictam leave forever and ever, take me. I mean it. Don’t let it hurt anyone ever again.

  Long seconds passed. Suddenly her perspective shifted, and she was standing behind a woman holding a burning stick.

  She could think and see clearly now. There were two others present whom she hadn’t seen before—Sidney and Eric. They cowered beside Maria, gazing up at the stick-wielder in terror. Wayne stood off to one side, panting. Blood had smeared on his chin, and he held his left arm close to his chest as if he were afraid to move it. He lunged at the stick-wielder and pushed her out of Maria’s reach with his right hand. She staggered and swiped the stick at his head. He ducked and shouted something at Sidney and Eric.

  “Who—” Jessica started to say, but faltered. She saw the woman’s face.

  It was her own.

  A greater fear than she had ever felt coursed through her then. It wasn’t supposed to happen like this. If she were dead, she wouldn’t be here anymore. She’d be in some glowing state of elation hanging out with her grandparents and Sarah and Marjorie and Baby Madison…

  She held her hands out in front of her. They looked solid. She glanced down at her body. Jeans. Worn-out gym shoes. Sweatshirt. She flexed her fingers and toes. All seemed to be in working order, except for the fact that she couldn’t feel one blessed thing. Every nerve in her body was numb.

  Eric tackled her lookalike, knocking her down and flipping her onto her stomach. He and Wayne knelt on her back while Sidney wrapped duct tape around her wrists and ankles.

  Jessica approached them and stared down at her squirming double. “Uh, guys?”

  Wayne handed a cell phone over to Sidney. “Call 911. Have them meet us in the parking lot.”

  Jessica stepped in front of Wayne and waved her hand in front of his face. He didn’t even blink. “Hey!” she shouted. “Quit ignoring me! I’m here! Not down there!”

  He said something to Maria. Sidney was cursing at her phone. “How in the heck is there no reception out here?”

  The Jessica lookalike was still raving. “It’s all Abigail’s fault! I’ve got to kill her. I want to gouge her eyes out and cut that gloating smile right off her face and make her hurt like she hurt me and our baby!”

  “Dude, can you be quiet for one minute?” Sidney snapped, still having issues with her phone.

  “I hate her! She needs to die just like Maria and Stephen and Patrick and Amy and Rich and Joanna and all the others who got away with what they did! She’s got to be punished!”

  Sidney gave Jessica’s body such a hateful glare that Jessica herself retreated a few steps. “Abigail’s already dead, you idiot. She died seventeen years ago.” She refocused her attention on her phone. “Good Lord, why can’t I get any reception?”

  Jessica had no clue what Sidney was talking about. Evidently Jerry didn’t either, because Jessica’s eyebrows knit together in an expression of befuddlement. “How would you know anything about Abigail?”

  “She was my mom’s cousin. I never knew her, though. Died right before I turned three.”

  “Sidney, don’t,” Wayne said. Worry lines stood out sharply on his chalk-white face. He looked as if he had aged a decade.

  “She’s dead? How did it happen?”

  No one said anything. Sidney and Wayne exchanged glances.

  “How did she die?” the lookalike repeated in a more demanding tone.

  Wayne’s eyes glistened behind his glasses. “We don’t know if it’s her,” he said to Sidney. “There’s no proof.”

  “You were the one who was totally convinced just a bit ago,” Sidney said. “Remember?”

  “But I just…I can’t…”

  Sidney turned to Jessica’s tied-up body. “What was Abigail’s maiden name?”

  Jessica’s blue-gray eyes stared up at her. “It was Thompson. Why won’t you tell me how she died?”

  Wayne covered his mouth with his hand and shrank back from them, letting out a choked sound like that of someone suffering indescribable despair.

  Jessica herself was rendered speechless.

  Sidney took a deep breath. “She was beating her son with a fireplace poker. He accidently killed her in self-defense.”

  The face on Jessica’s body went blank. “What son?”

  “It wasn’t an accident.” Wayne’s voice was weak.

  “Of course it was an accident,” Sidney said. “There’s no way you’d have wanted to—”

  The color on Jessica’s face deepened to an angry red. “You mean she went and had a child with someone else after what she did to me?” Her body strained even harder against the bindings. “How could she even consider—”

  Jessica needed to evict the spirit from her flesh before the situation worsened. As much as it horrified her, she knew exactly where this conversation was heading. Jerry would be very, very angry. And he might do something very, very stupid.

  “Jerry,” she said, praying that he would hear her. “Let it go.”

  Jerry flicked Jessica’s gaze briefly in her direction.

  Anticipation hung in the air. Maria and Eric were wide-eyed and silent. Sidney’s cheeks flushed. “As far as I know,” Wayne said, “my mother was only ever with one man. My father.”

  Jerry blinked. “But she had an abortion. She took the money out of our account for it.”

  “They should have given her a refund.”

  “What for?”

  Wayne swallowed. “Because they goofed. Didn’t inject enough saline solution into her womb to properly do the job. She was supposed to go back the next day and deliver me dead, but she went into labor in the middle of the night at her parents’ house, and they rushed her to the hospital, not knowing at first what she had done. I’d been burned alive for at least twelve hours, and most of my oxygen supply was cut off for that length of time. That’s why I’m like this.” He tapped on his leg with his good hand. “Her parents convinced her to keep me when I finally got home from the hospital after being held there for a month. They thought that she would learn to love me. And maybe she did, somewhere deep inside where I could never see.”

  “So you see?” Sidney said, having finally given up on her cell phone. “Your baby never died. He’s right here and has been all along.”

  Jessica’s body went slack and rolled onto its side. From her disembodied vantage point, Jessica saw a writhing black mass rise out of her body and dissipate in the air. She thought she could hear a distant inhuman scream fade and then cut s
hort. Vindictam?

  Somebody gasped. Jerry’s apparition materialized no more than a foot in front of Wayne, gaping. Wayne gaped back at him.

  Though she had seen the two together the other night in Wayne’s kitchen, Jessica had never really compared them before.

  Jerry was taller by a good three inches. His face was narrower than Wayne’s, and their eyes weren’t the same color, so it was no wonder that Jessica had not made a connection. Wayne must have favored his long-dead mother.

  Jerry reached out a hand as if wanting to touch Wayne on the cheek but quickly withdrew it. “You,” he said. Then, “Oh, God, what have I done?”

  Wayne’s lower lip trembled. “I’m sorry. She never told me who you were. If I’d known…”

  Instead of growing angrier like Jessica had expected, Jerry hung his head in shame and shrank away from the younger man.

  Wayne began to look wildly around. “Where did he go? Jerry? Are you still there?”

  Jessica could still see Jerry as plain as day, though it was apparent that he was now visible only to her eyes. He faced her. “Please forgive me,” he said, taking a step closer to her and bringing his hands together in front of him. “Please, please forgive me.”

  She didn’t know what to say. How could she just forgive a man who had killed four children, including a sister she had never known? “You make it sound so easy.”

  “Important things never are. But you’ve got to do it. Please.”

  “Do you forgive Abigail? For never telling you the truth?”

  He didn’t answer. His gaze drifted over to Wayne, who was kneeling beside Jessica’s body checking for a pulse. “He has her face and eyes,” he said. “But not the hair. Hers was golden blonde.”

  The lips on Jessica’s body were turning blue. Eric set to work performing CPR. Jessica couldn’t watch, so she turned away. If she were out here, then it was already too late. Eric wouldn’t be able to do anything for her.

  Sorrow filled her, yet no tears sprang to her eyes, because her physical body lay dead on the ground, unable to weep again.