Southern House

by Mark Deloy

  I knew the maggots and small chunks of flesh that were left would only clog the drain, so instead I used the dustpan to scoop up what was left and dump it into the half full bag. Then I poured the whole bottle of Lysol around the gore-covered tub and turned on the hot water. I waited for it to get scalding hot and then turned the shower on. To my delight, I didn’t have to scrub it all that much and after about five minutes, the tub looked all right. It was still a little pink on the bottom, but I’d get some Soft Scrub on my way home today and let the bleach do its thing.

  My watch showed it was already nine-fifteen and I hadn’t even taken a shower. I couldn’t force myself to get into that tub, so I just washed up in the sink with a washcloth and soap, then got dressed. I grabbed the Ruger off of my nightstand. All I had was the western- type holster, which would attract too much attention, so I dug a small tactical bag out of my things I’d stuffed in the hall closet. I used to use it while hunting to hold my bone saw, binoculars and my flashlight. It was just big enough to hold the gun and a box of ammo. The weapon might be completely useless against Mr. Shift, but I felt better having it next to me on the passenger seat as I drove to Lisa’s apartment.

  28

  Lisa wasn’t ready yet when I arrived. I could hear her drying her hair in the bathroom. Her sister, Becky, let me in. She was playing the kid’s version of Monopoly with Connor. We chatted for a bit, mostly about the weather and how I liked it in Tennessee. After a few minutes, Lisa came out.

  “Hey, Hick. I see you’ve met my sister.”

  “Yup,” I affirmed, smiling at Becky.

  “I took the day off,” Lisa said. “Even though I’m technically working. I thought I’d come back after we talked to Talbot and spend the afternoon with Connor.”

  “Sounds like a great idea,” I agreed, knowing the boy was probably still a bit freaked- out and probably needed his mother around as much as possible.

  “I can drive,” Lisa offered. “We took your car yesterday.”

  “You sure?” I asked. “I’m not used to women driving me around.”

  “That’s kind of sexist,” she joked.

  “No, not sexist, just old fashioned.”

  “Ahh, a gentleman. I like that, but I’m still driving.”

  “Okay, lead the way,” I gestured towards the door.

  After we got in the car, I considered telling her about my bathtub warning., but Instead, I asked if Connor was having any more bad dreams or drawing anything else strange.

  “No, nothing. Not anymore.”

  “Good.”

  I told her I thought it was good because I didn’t want Mr. Shift to have any kind of supernatural hold on the boy. She nodded.

  We arrived at Willow Bend around eleven. The nurse had just brought Talbot his lunch, which consisted of fried okra, a chicken breast, and the nursing home and hospital staple, Jell-O.

  “Looks pretty good,” I said as we walked in. “Do you want us to come back?”

  “Only if you bring a Big Mac and large fries,” he quipped.

  “I will if you want,” I said.

  “You’re a good man, Hickory, but my diet is strictly enforced. I think Nurse Ratchet would sniff out fast food like a bloodhound, and then we’d both be in trouble. How are you two? Get any sleep?”

  We both nodded.

  “Yeah, slept okay,” I offered.

  “Good, because I didn’t. Too many old memories. That’s okay, though, because it means I’m still alive and if I can remember, it means I don’t have the Alzheimer’s yet, and it’s not the first time I’ve missed a night’s sleep. Won’t be the last, either. The secret is not to panic when you can’t sleep. To just go with it. Do some reading, enjoy the silence, write a letter, and get shit done. If you lie there for more than an hour and try to go to sleep, you’ll be tired and frustrated.”

  I thought that was good advice. Right after Kim and I split up, I went through a few rough weeks where I didn’t think I’d ever sleep normally again. And, yes, there were many nights where I would lie in bed watching the clock and willing myself to go back to sleep—to no avail. I learned the more you stress out about something, the more it controls you.

  Talbot finished about half of his meal and then pushed it aside.

  “Are ya’ll ready to hear the rest? I promise it won’t be as bad as yesterday. Or, maybe it was and it just doesn’t seem like it to me, since I didn’t witness it. I don’t have any inside information on what happened in ’65. Everything I heard was though letters. I was in ‘Nam back then.”

  “Thank you for your service,” I said, automatically. I was taught to respect those who went to war for our country.

  “You’re welcome. It was a clusterfuck, sorry ma’am,” he stated, then apologized, nodding to Lisa.

  “It’s okay,” Lisa assured him, smiling. “I can’t imagine what it was like.”

  “So, like I said, I was overseas back then. My wife, Margie—God rest her soul—would write to me every day. I joined up and went to ‘Nam voluntarily. I was in the Guard, but thought my skills were needed in Southeast Asia, more than they were here.”

  “What skills were those?’ I asked, curious.

  “I was a sniper. I was damn good, too, in my time. Twenty confirmed commie kills and several more they never found.”

  I nodded. I’m sure the respect showed on my face.

  “So, Margie told me a big Tennessee fair came to town that summer. There were fliers on every telephone pole around town advertising the ‘World Famous Babcock Fair’. Nelson Babcock put it together, organized the whole thing.”

  “I’ve heard of him,” Lisa remarked. “He’s a big industrialist. He ships those big containers all over the world.”

  “Back then he was a bit more local, but he had big plans for just about everything. He was one of those folks who had big dreams, and will push and push until they come true. I’ve heard he is extremely honest in his business dealings. He’s lost money on deals by being so honest, but earned more clients when the word got out. Now he’s a billionaire.”

  “So anyway, he got this fair together, personally bankrolled it and contacted a variety of companies from all over the country. He wanted to put together the biggest draw ever to come to Tennessee. Not only that, he wanted to give local merchants the opportunity to make piles of money. Everyone who wanted a booth at his fair got one. Word was, he only charged Hickman County residents a dollar a day to set up.”

  “Wow, that’s extremely generous,” Lisa commented.

  “That’s the kind of man he was, and probably still is. People like that are made a certain way. He knew his fair would break all attendance records and he needed someplace big to set it all up.”

  “Your farm,” Lisa looked at me.

  I nodded. It made sense.

  “Correct. It was the perfect place. Babcock paid your grand pappy some insane amount of money… some say it was a million dollars. You see any of that money, sonny?”

  I laughed.

  “Not quite that much,” I said. “He left me some, but that was a long time ago, and farm life is expensive.”

  “They started setting the fair up right after Independence Day. Kids were off school, most people were on vacation. It was the perfect time. Vendors came from as far away as Louisiana and Texas. Those vendors paid full price, of course—although I have no idea what that was—but, with all those people attending, they surely made that money back several times over. There were rides as well... so many that I heard you couldn’t ride them all in one day.

  “The way Margie described the food, I felt like I could smell and nearly taste it all the way in Southeast Asia.”

  “I love fair food,” Lisa interrupted. “Guilty pleasure.”

  “Me, too,” I agreed, but I knew what we were doing with all this talk about the fair. It was safe. We were stalling. Even Talbot was putting off what he was about to tell us. He said this part wasn’t as bad, but I could tell he was still putting it off for as long as he could
.

  “The fair ran for two weeks,” Talbot continued. “The last night there were fireworks and attendance was the highest it had been the whole time, tens of thousands came. The traffic on your little dirt road must have been monumental. It was during that last night when the three girls were taken.”

  “Girls this time?” I asked. “The time before it was all boys. I wonder if that means anything?”

  “I have no idea,” Talbot shrugged. “They disappeared during the fireworks show. Margie said the reports stated the girls were sitting on blankets in the field with their parents one minute and gone the next. No one said they saw anything. Of course, their parents just thought they ran off to play with friends nearby, or went to get a hot dog or something from a vendor. It had been too long since the last children disappeared for anyone to suspect anything different. By the time the fireworks show ended, the girls’ parents were in a panic. With that many people all around, their kids could be anywhere. But they weren’t just anywhere, they were with him.”

  “How old were they?” I asked.

  “Seven, five and fourteen.”

  “How long before they came back?” Lisa asked.

  “Well, they all didn’t. Only the two youngest, Leslie, the seven-year-old, and Beth Winslow, the little one. The fourteen- year- old never came back. She was never heard from again. I don’t even recall her name.”

  “Jesus,” I exclaimed.

  “How about the other two?” Lisa asked. “What happened with them?”

  “You can ask them yourself,” Talbot told her. “They’re in rooms in the secure wing.”

  “Here?” I sputtered, shocked.

  “Yep. Their parents put them in here after a couple of weeks. I’m sure they finally heard the stories about the three boys and put two and two together. I don’t think they wanted to take any chances. Margie wrote me that one of them, the youngest tried to skewer the family cat, but I think the families stuck ‘em in here before they could do any real damage. They’ve been in here ever since. They each have their own rubber room. Nurse Karlow told me once they talk some, but not much. I’m not sure why they’re here instead of the looney bin, but maybe because they haven’t done anything wrong.

  “How hard would it be for us to see them?” Lisa wondered aloud.

  “I’m sure you’d have to get some kind of injunction or special permission from the family,” Talbot replied.

  “I wonder if Jensen could get us in to talk with them?” I looked at Lisa.

  “The sheriff?” Talbot asked.

  “He’s my cousin,” Lisa responded.

  “And a good friend,” I added.

  “It’s worth a try, if you think they could help,” Talbot said.

  My cell phone rang.

  “Hello?”

  “Hickory, something has happened.” It was Jensen. Speak of the devil, I thought.

  “What is it?” I asked, knowing I’d regret it.

  “Jim’s dead. He went to visit Anni Baker, to check on her. He was in her room, talking to her, trying to get her to talk to him. Anni’s parents said he was praying for her with his eyes closed when Anni pulled a kitchen knife out from under her pillow and slashed Jim’s throat, laughing as he bled out all over her and her bed. She tried to cut his head clean off, but her parents came in then, and she probably wasn’t strong enough. Jesus, Hick!. What the fuck is going on?”

  “Oh, my God,” was all I could say. I felt sick and dizzy. Tears pricked my eyes and I had a huge lump in my throat.

  “What is it?” Lisa asked. “What happened?”

  “We’ll be right there,” I murmured, ignoring Lisa for the moment. “Are you at the station?”

  “Yes. Jim’s body is at the morgue. I just called his wife. I put the girl in a holding cell. I didn’t know what else to do with her.”

  “Okay, we’ll be there soon.” I ended the call.

  “Jim is dead. Anni killed him when he went to check on her and her parents. She did it while he was praying for her. She took a knife and tried to cut his head off.”

  Lisa didn’t say anything. She just stared at me, her hand covering her open mouth... Her face had drained of all color...

  “You should call the sheriff back and tell him to take the other two kids into custody before something else happens,” Talbot advised, as we were on our way out the door.

  “I will,” I said, as we were headed out the door. “I’ll call him from the car.”

  “Wait,” Talbot called. “One minute.”

  He waved us back into the room.

  “I have something for you,” he stated, taking a pocket knife out of his pocket. “I don’t know if it’ll help, or even what it is, but I know it might help.”

  The old man got down on one knee beside his bed and cut into the side of his mattress. Then he shoved one wrinkled hand deep inside, felt around for a minute, then pulled it back out. With a groan he stood up and opened his hand.

  “When I saw old Shift take my friends in the woods that day, I saw him drop something. It took me three days to get my courage up enough to go back into those woods and see if it was still there.”

  In Talbot’s deeply wrinkled palm was what looked like a cross between a key and a credit card. It was flat like a card, but had ridges on one side. They were iridescent and shimmered, changing colors just like Mr. Shift’s face.

  “It’s yours, now,” he said. “I don’t know what it is, but whatever happens, I don’t want it back.”

  “Okay,” I agreed, and took the card. It was much colder than it should have been, and it had a greasy feel to it like a car part just wrestled from an engine. “Thank you.”

  “Whatever you do, don’t thank me. If you ask me, you and your lady should take that money your grandpappy gave you and hop the next plane to the Bahamas,” he said solemnly, and shook my hand. “But I can see quittin’ ain’t in ya.”

  Lisa started to cry softly as we got into her car. She wiped her eyes with her knuckles like a little kid.

  “I can’t believe this is happening,” she sniffed, shaking her head.

  “Are you okay to drive?” I asked. “Or do you want me to?”

  She handed me the keys and we switched positions.

  29

  I called Jensen back and gave him Talbot’s advice. He said he was already working on it. We arrived at the station ten minutes later. Jensen was sitting outside in a plastic chair, smoking a cigarette.

  “I didn’t know he smoked,” I looked at Lisa, questioningly..

  “He switched to vaping about a year ago,” Lisa said, then shrugged. “Guess he switched back.”

  Jensen saw us pull in, crushed his cigarette under his heel and stood up.

  On our way over there, I had decided it was time to tell Jensen what I knew, but now that I knew I had to face him, I was questioning my resolve.

  “We need to talk,” I said as soon as we walked up. I could feel Lisa’s eyes on me, and then her hand was on my arm. I ignored it for the moment.

  “We don’t have time,” Jensen started. “My men are at the crime scene now, but I’ve been waiting for you. I need to—”

  “You’re going to want to make time for this,” Lisa declared.

  “Alright, have a seat,” he acquiesced. “Jim told me this morning you were going up to talk to Talbot. Is that what this is about?”

  “Yes, and no. First, I have to tell you about some things that have happened to me since I’ve been at the farm.”

  I recounted everything I could think of, starting with the weird animals I’d seen during my first night, then everything I’d encountered in the woods, including the house and Mr. Shift. I also shared my account of waking up to a bathtub full of animal heads. When I got to this part, Lisa asked why I hadn’t told her, to which I didn’t have an answer, other than I didn’t want to scare her.

  Then, I let Lisa take over, as she regurgitated what we’d learned from Talbot and how it all tied together, then showed him the keycard. I handed
him the picture of my grandfather with Mr. Shift behind him.

  When we finished Jensen bowed his head for what seemed like a full minute. I wondered if he would get up and pull Lisa away from me, declaring me a dangerous lunatic who had obviously gotten inside her head and warped her judgment.

  Finally, he raised his head, looked at me and said, “Did Talbot know how to stop it?”

  At first, I was too stunned to speak, but he continued staring at me until I did.

  “He just told us about the last two times it’s happened. He remembered seeing the same man, or whatever it is when he was a boy. He said they used to call him ‘Mr. Shift’ because his face changes when you look at him. It might be how he was able to take the kids so easily. If his face changed into someone’s that they trusted,. They might have gone with him passively.”

  “Did he have any idea how to stop him?” he repeated.

  “No, he didn’t.” I shook my head.

  “I’m done fucking around,” Jensen said. “At first light I’m going to go into your woods and find that house, burn it down and kill the bastard. Maybe the kids will go back to the way they were if he is dead.”

  “Maybe,” I said somewhat dubiously.

  “Do you have a better idea?” he asked. “Either of you?”

  “I think we need to go and talk to the two girls who were taken in the sixties. Talbot says they are up there at Willow Bend with him. Maybe they’ll know something.”