Patrick grabbed for Kate. “Help me, I’m stuck!” she screamed. A large rock caught her full in the stomach, a sharp punch of pain which resonated through her whole body. She struggled to find her breath. A moment later, she felt Seth slide his arms around her shoulders and yank her from the dirt.
“Give me your hand!” Patrick yelled, standing on top of the dirt, dodging rocks. He reached down and pulled Seth up, who pulled Kate up after him. The fire had spread. The wooden beams of the ceiling were now ablaze and the old, dry wood was burning fast.
“Go!” Seth shouted, pushing Patrick and Kate ahead, toward the window to the laundry room, away from the torrent of rocks still shooting from the secret room. Another rock shot into the back of her calf, but she barely noticed.
Kate leapt through the window onto the floor below, sliding on the dirt they had thrown there. She picked herself up and got out of the way. Seconds later, Patrick and Seth vaulted from the window. They seemed to have lost the flashlight in the chaos, so they turned and ran for the stairs in total darkness. They pounded up the stairs. Rocks, seeming to materialize from thin air, pelted them as they ran.
The house twisted again, vibrating and tilting. Patrick lost his footing and crashed backward into her, but she held tightly on to the railing and managed to help him find his feet. They finally reached the door to the kitchen and all three raced through. The house screeched, separating walls from floors, pulling apart, knocking huge chunks of plaster from the ceiling.
Seth ran toward the back door and yanked on it. It wouldn’t budge. Immediately, Seth spun and ran instead for the front door. After a few desperate pulls, it sprang open. Seth ran out into the dark night. Patrick followed.
Kate reached the door and, grabbing onto the handle, attempted to swing it shut behind her, hoping somehow to trap the evil inside the house. She could do it. All she had to do was shut the door. Shut the door and lock it and it would be over. She ran through the door and was she was so sure she put her foot onto the front porch.
A second later, she slammed the door. She felt her hand turning the lock, ready to run down the porch steps to safety. She saw the lawn, saw Seth and Patrick running down the porch steps. Then she saw nothing but white.
Kate turned around, eyes wide open. She gasped with horror. She was still in the house. Instead of escaping to freedom and shutting the evil in the house, she had trapped herself in the house, alone.
Seth and Patrick yelled from outside, pounding on the door. Kate yanked frantically, turning the doorknob and twisting the lock, but it wouldn’t open. She banged her fists against the door, hoping Seth and Patrick could open it from the other side, but she only heard their panicked screams.
At that moment, the house quieted. The awful groaning died away and the lurching of the house subsided to a quiet trembling. The rain of rocks also slowed. With reluctance, Kate turned away from the door and stared into the dark house.
The once beautiful foyer was trashed. Rocks were embedded in the walls. Fissures crisscrossed the polished floor and sections of plaster piled up everywhere. Pebbles still fell from air, pinging against the walls and floor. Kate panted, scanning the house for another way out.
As she stood there, the house grew perfectly silent. Then, she heard heavy footsteps. Coming up the basement stairs. Each step, each creak of the stairs, sent jolts of fear through her whole body. The steps came closer. Then, she heard something else, a clicking, scratching noise.
Through the darkness Kate saw a dark figure at the end of the hallway. It was the shape of a thin man, old-fashioned clothes clinging to his spare body. His face was blurry and obscured in blackness. Kate stood spellbound, paralyzed, a scream trapped in her throat. Behind him, two giant black dogs circled, growling. Their claws clicked on the shiny wood floors.
Kate snapped her eyes shut, her mind frozen with fear. “In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit?” Kate whimpered, hoping the charm would banish this evil from her house, but the footsteps continued their steady thumping.
As he closed in on her, Kate’s paralysis gave way to shrieking terror. Yet still she couldn’t move her feet. She screamed over and over again, but she had no voice. Merely a hissing of terror escaped through her lips. She flicked her eyes open. The phantom was coming for her, his dirty boots slowly sliding across the foyer floor. His face was still obscured, but she could see his black eyes and toothless, leering grin. The dogs stopped and pointed their snouts at her. The hunt was almost over.
Not knowing what else to do, Kate squeezed her eyes shut again, weeping with fear. She could smell the phantom next to her, the sweet, sick smell she noticed in the basement. It filled her nostrils and permeated her brain. It was all around her, moving over her. She could feel the coldness of it. It grazed across her shoulders, across her chest, and down the middle of her stomach.
It whispered to her.
My love.
Kate felt fire on her finger. She looked down. The ring. The bone ring was on her finger. She was now the bride. She felt faint.
Somehow, she suddenly remembered. She snapped her head clear and grasped the tiny gold cross around her neck.
“No, you bully,” she murmured.
The icy fingers hesitated.
“No,” she said with more confidence. “No. No. No! No!” she yelled, her eyes still tightly closed. “I’m not afraid of you. You have no power over me.” She said the words, but still felt raw terror, still couldn’t open her eyes. The phantom continued to creep across her body, enveloping her in an icy embrace. It knew she was bluffing.
And then, the icy embrace suddenly felt good. Her head felt full and heavy and Kate felt herself falling, tumbling into cold blackness. And she felt strange relief. Finally, I can stop fighting, she thought. She fell into his arms. And his cold, dead arms became everything. The only thing. She lost herself in the darkness.
Welcome, my love.
She heard the dogs barking in triumph.
And for a moment, she thought it was Ace. Her sweet old dog Ace. She would miss him. Then, Seth popped into her head. And Lucy, Marie, Matt, her mother, her father, Lisa, Chris. The faces flashed before her. Patrick. Suddenly, the cold grip faltered. And in that moment, Kate fought back. She wasn’t afraid anymore.
Kate opened her eyes and stared into the vacant, dead eyes. She held her gaze steady. “Go away.” And this time, she believed.
Immediately, he was gone. They were all gone.
She stood motionless for a moment, steadying herself. Kate glanced around the house. It was quiet, but a thick layer of smoke was starting to collect near the ceiling. The fire. She took a deep breath and tried to bring herself together.
“Kate! We’re breaking the window!” she heard Seth yell. Then, the window of the dining room shattered. Kate jumped, her concentration broken. She moved quickly to escape, but as soon as she dropped her guard, Kate saw a flash in the corner of her eye and knew that they were coming after her. The dogs were coming.
She ran toward the broken window. Without breaking her pace, she stepped onto the window seat and sprang through the opening. She landed roughly on the front porch, right between Seth and Patrick’s feet.
Bruised but unharmed, Kate pulled herself up and they all ran down the porch steps to the grass below. They sprinted away from the house, not stopping until they reached the other side of the street, where they turned and looked back at the house. Smoke poured through the broken window. Kate collapsed on the curb, still shaking with fear.
“You’re okay,” Seth said, breathing heavily. “I’m so glad you’re okay. We couldn’t get the door open, then we couldn’t find anything to break the window. I’m just so glad you’re okay.”
A chilly breeze blew at their clothes, releasing puffs of dirt. For some reason, Kate started laughing, laughing so hard, her chest hurt. Patrick and Seth looked back at her with raised eyebrows. A moment later, she was crying.
26.
Kate sobbed hoarsely for a few minutes, th
en sniffled and wiped her nose on her dirty sleeve. “Seth, what are we going to do?”
Seth pulled his phone out of his pocket and dialed 911. He gave their information and sat down on the curb next to Kate. Flames were starting to lick through the windows of the dining room and living room. Moments later, the windows on the second floor shattered.
“Kate,” Seth began, “you have to tell us what happened in the house. Why did you lock yourself in?”
She took a deep breath. “It was so weird. I mean, I thought I was locking myself out.” Kate explained what had happened, and when she got to the part about the phantom, she glanced down at her hand. The bone ring was still there.
“Oh, God,” she said, feeling revulsion in her stomach.
“I’ll get it,” Patrick said, pulling the ring off her finger. “I put it on your kitchen table. How did it….?” As Patrick pulled the ring off, it disintegrated. He stood with his hand open, holding only dust. He brushed his hands together and it floated away on the breeze.
“We set him free, when we opened that door,” Kate said, rubbing her finger harshly. “Those were his bones, down there, his bones and maybe Pansy too. She must have found his body, brought it into that tomb. And when the flood struck, she was there with him. She died down there to be with him.”
They sat in silence for a moment. Patrick put his hand on Kate’s shoulder.
“Oh, no,” Patrick said suddenly as he sat down.
“What’s wrong?” Kate asked.
“I left my trench coat in your basement.”
Kate couldn’t help but smile, even if it was weak. “Good riddance,” she said.
Patrick smiled back and chuckled slightly. “Yeah, I guess it’s time I got a new jacket.”
As they sat there, Kate heard a distant siren. It grew louder. A minute later, a fire truck zoomed up, lights flashing and horn blaring.
“Anybody in the house?” a firefighter called to them.
“No, we all got out,” Seth yelled back.
While they watched, huge columns of fire consumed the fine hardwood floors, the crystal chandeliers, the dazzling stained glass windows, the wide staircase, the brand new, gleaming white kitchen, Kate’s own cross-shaped room, her clothes, her posters, the picture of Jacob. Everything was ablaze.
A small crowd gathered. Even here, on the other side of the street, they could feel the heat of the conflagration on their skin. Another fire truck pulled up and, judging from the swirling light in the alley, there appeared to be another one pulling into the alley behind the house. Four or five hoses blasted water through the holes where the windows used to be, but it was obvious the battle was lost. The house wasn’t much more than a shell of red bricks now. There was little urgency in the firefighters' movements. They knew they were beat. They concentrated on saving the houses on either side, spraying the roofs where hot coals landed. Part of the roof collapsed with a spectacular crash and shower of sparks.
A police car arrived. The young policeman began questioning bystanders. Seth walked toward him, Kate close behind. Patrick stood a distance away and watched the blaze.
“Excuse me,” Seth said, approaching the policeman. Seth appeared distraught and dazed. Kate felt the same way. “That’s our house.”
The policeman immediately clicked on his radio and said, “Owners of the house have presented themselves. I’ll take a report.” Without a word of consolation, he took out his notepad and pen. “Name?” Seth gave their names. “Was there anybody in the house when the blaze started?”
Seth looked at Kate. His look said it all. They couldn’t lie. This was an official report, after all. But the truth was so unbelievable. Kate nodded to Seth, giving him permission to say what he thought was right. She would back him up.
“Yes, we were.”
“Anybody else?”
“Just the three of us.” Seth pointed to Patrick.
“Your name?” the policeman asked Patrick, who gave it. “Glad to hear everybody got out. Nobody would have survived this.” The policeman nodded his head in the direction of the house. “These old houses go up awful fast. This one is going really quickly. Do you know how the blaze started?”
Seth took a deep breath. “Yes, it was an accident. It was a lantern that we had hanging from a beam in the basement. It fell and broke and the oil spread out so far, so fast...we could barely get out of the way. We just ran to get out as fast as we could.”
“Uh-huh.” The policeman scratched away in his notebook. “And why did you have a lantern hanging from the ceiling?”
“Uh, we were in a room that had no electricity. We were using it for light.”
“Uh-huh.” More scratching. A news van suddenly pulled up to the curb. A cameraman jumped out and starting setting up his tripod. “Were you consuming alcohol tonight?” The officer subtly leaned forward, probably sniffing them for the scent of booze.
“No, sir,” Seth replied. At least that was the whole truth, Kate thought.
“There were several reports of earth tremors from your neighbors this evening. It was kind of strange, just this neighborhood reported them. Did y’all feel earth tremors tonight?”
“Yes,” Seth brightened slightly. “That’s what knocked the lantern down off the hook.”
“Uh-huh.” Scratch, scratch.
Kate suddenly shivered intensely, a whole body shiver that rattled her teeth loudly. The front of her body was warm from the fire, but her back was freezing. The policeman, noticing it, called out to a firefighter, who brought them each a blanket to wrap around their shoulders. It helped enormously.
After further questioning, and more questions from the fire investigator, the policeman tapped Seth on the shoulder. “Do you have anywhere to stay tonight?”
“They can stay with me,” Patrick said, overhearing the question.
“Make sure you call your parents tonight. They need to contact their insurance company as soon as possible. This report will be ready for them by tomorrow morning.” He paused for a moment, then his eyes softened. “I’m sorry about your house, kids.”
“Thank you, officer.” Kate smiled back at him and felt grateful that this young police officer had taken their statement.
“I’m glad y’all are okay.” The officer went back to his car, leaving Seth, Kate and Patrick alone. They stood silently gazing at the house. The flames still burned, licking high into the moonless, dark sky. Another huge section of roof suddenly collapsed, sending coals into the air and shooting out windows. It was mesmerizing. Kate couldn’t look away. Suddenly, Ace ran up to Kate, wagging his tail. She belt over and stroked his head, glad to see him. She had completely forgetten about him.
So much had happened tonight. Kate felt weak and tired, but a small part of her felt strangely victorious. They had beaten him. No longer would Connor or the spooks of Blacker House ever torture anyone again. She’d never have to sleep another night in the house wondering where she would wake up. I guess, she thought, we won, but she felt only a little triumph. Besides, there still remained another battle. They would have to tell their parents tonight. Kate shivered violently again, dreading the conversation.
They watched the fire until it was merely smoldering ashes within the brick shell. The crowd started to trickle away. They briefly looked for Ink, but couldn’t find her.
Patrick suddenly turned to Kate and Seth. “Holy crap,” he said. “This is the most unforgettable Halloween I’ve ever had, or probably ever will have.” Kate and Seth both nodded somberly. “I’m sorry about your house,” Patrick added.
“You know, I never liked it, actually,” Seth said. “It always felt wrong to me. Too big and creaky.”
“Well, it certainly wasn’t good for sleeping. I don’t think I got one good night’s sleep since we’ve lived here,” Kate said.
“Me either.”
Kate went on. “It’s a shame about all our stuff. I guess none of it was very great anyway.”
“Yeah, but Mom will be devastated,” Seth said, his
eyes dropping to the sidewalk.
“Yeah, and Marie’s teddy bears and dolls. She’ll be pissed,” Kate said. “But I guess the good news is that the insurance will pay for all new stuff, right? I’ll get a whole new wardrobe, new bed, new sheets. That sounds pretty good, actually.”
“Earth tremors,” Seth said quietly.
“Yeah, earth tremors that only occurred on this block,” Kate added.
The Blacker House Page 27