by Amy Cross
“Do you think he'd be mad if he found out I lied again?” Emily asked.
“He might well be,” Douglas replied, bringing up the feeds from the upstairs cameras. He flicked from one to the next, but there was no sign of movement. “Have you heard anything in the last few minutes?”
“No. Why?”
He checked the readouts from the heart-monitor and saw that everything seemed stable.
“Should I have heard something?” she asked.
“I'm not -” He turned as Robert opened the car door and climbed back in with a Spar bag. “I'm not sure,” he added. “Just let us know if anything pops up.”
“You sound worried,” Emily replied. “What's wrong?”
“Yeah, Doug, what's wrong?” Robert asked with a faint smile. “Did something spook her? I swear I swept for cats -”
“It's nothing,” Douglas said firmly. “I'll be in touch in an hour, Emily, unless you need anything in the meantime.”
“What?” Robert continued, as he watched Douglas setting the microphone down. “Come on, I know you. I know when you've got a bug in your ass.”
“I'm just being jumpy,” he replied, keeping his eyes fixed on the house. “It's probably nothing.”
***
Sitting alone on the sofa, Emily tried to focus on the book she was reading. After a moment, however, she looked up at the ceiling, as if she expected to hear a noise.
Nothing.
***
“I've changed my mind,” Robert muttered a few minutes later. “I don't think she's lying, not anymore. I think she genuinely believes this stuff. That's how tragically messed-up she is. You should have heard her earlier, she swore that the photo I showed her was the same face she saw when she was younger.”
Douglas opened his mouth to argue with him, before holding back at the last minute.
“I think...” Robert paused for a moment, before reaching into the plastic bag and pulling out some sandwiches. “I think we shouldn't put too much faith in anything she says. Hell, the other night she and her daughter even got into my head.”
“In what way?”
“I just thought I saw...” He paused for a moment. “The human brain is a remarkable thing,” he continued finally. “Whenever there are gaps in our sensory perception, we're able to smooth over those gaps. Sometimes, however, the brain goes wrong and adds assumptions that turn out to be wrong. They might seem real at the time, but there's absolutely nothing in them, even though they feel so real, it's almost as if you can reach out and touch them.”
“What happened when you spoke to Lizzie Stone?” Douglas asked. “I can tell something unnerved you.”
“It was nothing.”
“Clearly it was something.”
“No, it was just...” For a moment, he thought back to the sight of the little girl's empty eyes, and the other face peering through from what had seemed to be another world. “It was a brief moment of crossed wires in my head,” he continued finally. “No-one's immune to that sort of thing.”
“I sense a softening of your stance.”
“No, I just -” Stopping suddenly, he stared at the house.
“What?” Douglas asked, following his glance but seeing nothing, not even in the upstairs windows.
“I thought -” He paused, before forcing a smile. “It was nothing. Trick of the light. I seriously doubt ghosts hang around by windows for the benefit of anyone who might be watching.” Grabbing his phone, he checked the screen yet again. “Have you heard from Jenna? She hasn't replied to my last couple of messages.”
“Isn't she on holiday?”
Robert paused, before sighing. “I guess I forgot about -”
“Did you hear that?” Emily's voice asked suddenly, coming over loud and clear via the main laptop.
“Hear what?” Douglas asked, immediately checking all the camera views.
“There's something up there,” she replied, with obvious fear in her voice. “Are you going to come back inside?”
“No,” Robert whispered. “She has to be alone.”
“Negative,” Douglas told her, watching as one of the cameras showed Emily cautiously making her way to the foot of the stairs. “We can see you, though. The cameras in the bedrooms show nothing out of the ordinary, and the infra-red equipment is the same. There are no -”
He stopped as a faint thud could be heard from the speaker.
“Did you hear that?” Emily asked.
“We heard something,” Douglas told her. “Are you okay to go up and take a look?”
“Are you sure you can't see anything?”
Robert took a moment to check each of the upstairs cameras. “There's nothing showing,” he muttered. “It's as quiet as a mouse as far as the equipment is concerned.” He brought up one of the downstairs cameras and saw Lizzie standing in the hallway, with an expression of pure fear on her face. “Just be brave,” he added.
“Should I go up?” she asked.
“Please,” Douglas replied. “If this thing is localized around you and Lizzie, we need to see if we can draw it out.”
“Assuming it hasn't noticed all the cameras,” Robert muttered, “and that it hasn't been listening in the whole time.”
They sat in silence for a moment and watched as Emily slowly made her way up to the landing. She looked around, as if she was expecting something to leap out at her at any moment.
“Go to the child's room,” Douglas told her. “That's where everything has been focused so far.”
“I don't hear any more sounds,” she replied, heading along to the door at the far end of the landing. Reaching out, she turned the handle and started to push the door open.
“Her heart-rate's up,” Robert muttered, checking the monitor. “Are we sure she didn't slip more thumb-tacks into her shoes?”
“There's still nothing on any of the feeds,” Douglas replied, switching to the camera in Lizzie's bedroom as it showed Emily stepping inside. “Everything looks normal.”
“I'm sure the noise came from in here,” she said, sounding tense. “This is how it always starts.”
“And what usually happens next?” Robert asked.
“Lizzie's usually here,” she pointed out.
“The child's absence might affect things,” Douglas said, turning to Robert. “We don't know what acts as the catalyst for this thing, but children do seem to be -”
“Jesus!” Robert replied, leaning closer to the screen.
Turning, Douglas saw that a dark figure was standing in the doorway, right behind Emily and watching as she stepped further into the room.
“What the hell is -”
Before he could finish, the camera cut to black, as did all the other views.
“Emily?” Robert asked, grabbing the microphone. “What do you see?” He waited, before turning to Douglas. “It's dead. None of the equipment inside the damn place is working.”
“Should we go in?” Douglas asked, turning to look out at the dark house.
“Maybe we should wait and see what she's got planned,” Robert replied. “She's probably counting on us going in there.”
“You still think she's staging the whole thing?”
“I think we shouldn't underestimate how complicated things are in her head right now. She genuinely believed she saw that woman in that photo and -”
“She was lying about that,” Douglas replied, still watching the house. “She admitted it earlier, when you weren't listening. She only said she recognized the woman because she was worried you'd lose interest and leave.”
“Are you serious?” Robert asked.
“It's what she told me. Or do you think she's trying to play us off against each other?”
“Well, then -” Robert paused for a moment, before opening the door and climbing out of the car.
“Are we going in?” Douglas called after him, as he watched Robert hurrying toward the house. “Okay,” he muttered, opening the door on his side, “I guess we're going in.”
; ***
“Emily!” Robert shouted as he hurried into the hallway and looked up the stairs. “Emily, are you -”
Before he could finish, he heard voices shouting in the distance. Racing upstairs, he looked along toward the far end of the landing and realized that flickering blue light was blasting out from beneath one of the closed doors.
“Rob!” Douglas shouted from down in the hallway. “Where are you?”
“She's up here!” he called out, before hurrying to the door and trying to open it, only to feel searing pain as soon as he touched the handle. Struggling for a moment to pull his hand away, he finally ripped an entire layer of skin from his palm and fingers, and as he held his bloodied hand up to take a look, he realized that the handle had been ice cold. Looking down, he saw patches of his skin stuck fast to the metal.
“What the hell is that light?” Douglas asked as he reached him, before spotting the damage to his hand. “What happened to you?” He reached toward the handle.
“No!” Robert shouted, pulling him back just in time. “Don't touch it!”
“Emily!” Douglas called out, banging on the door but immediately pulling back. “The damn thing's almost frozen!” he said, his eyes filled with shock.
From inside the child's bedroom, a voice could be heard shouting, and there was the sound of something slowly cracking.
“We have to get in there,” Robert muttered, taking a step back and sizing up the door, ready to try knocking it down.
“Emily!” Douglas shouted. “Can you hear me?”
“I'm going for it,” Robert told him, before slamming against the door with his shoulder, hard enough to make the wood buckle but not quite hard enough to force the whole thing open. Taking a step back, he steadied himself and then tried again, this time knocking one of the panels away. A blast of bright blue light burst through, forcing him back, and this time the sound of howling wind could be heard.
“What's going on in there?” Douglas asked, too shocked to move.
“Emily?” Robert called out, holding up a hand to shield his face as he stepped toward the broken door. “Emily, are you -”
“Help me!” Lizzie suddenly screamed, appearing at the door's broken panel and trying to reach through.
“What the hell?” Robert shouted, grabbing the little girl's hand and holding on tight, even though her skin was almost too cold to touch. “Lizzie, what are you doing in there?”
“It's got her!” she told him, with frozen tears in her eyes. “Help!”
Ignoring the pain in his bloodied right hand, Robert grabbed another of the door's panels and forced it away, finally creating a hole that was big enough for him to haul Lizzie through. As she dropped down onto the carpet, he knelt for a moment and rolled her over, finding that although she was almost frozen, he could feel her heart pounding as soon as he put two fingers against the side of her neck.
“Mummy's in there,” she whispered, looking back at the door.
“I'll find her,” he replied, getting to his feet and looking through the broken panels. Inside the room, a vast haze of blue light seemed to be bursting from a hole in the far wall, and he could just about hear a faint scream coming from inside. A moment later, he saw a faint silhouette on the floor, and he realized that Emily was down there, with her legs apparently partway into the hole in the wall.
“They're going to take her!” Lizzie shouted, as Douglas brought a duvet from the other bedroom and placed it around her shoulders.
“Hang on,” Robert replied, taking off his jacket and wrapping the fabric around his hand, before reaching through the broken door and fumbling for the handle on the other side. After struggling for a moment, he finally managed to get the door open. Stumbling into the room, he dropped his jacket as he stepped forward, and he immediately felt a blast of ice-cold air forcing him back.
“Mummy!” Lizzie shouted from the landing.
“No, wait!” Douglas hissed, holding her back.
Grabbing hold of the bed, Robert pulled himself forward. The air all around seemed to be shivering with the intensity of the blast coming from the far side, but he kept going, fighting every inch of the way until finally he reached Emily and was able to grab her hands. He shouted at her, telling her to follow, but he couldn't even hear his own voice above the immensely loud cracking sound coming from the far wall. Pulling as hard as he could manage, he was able to drag her away from the blinding light, but he stopped suddenly as he realized he could see another hand holding Emily's leg, trying to pull her back the other way.
“What the hell is that thing?” he whispered.
For a moment, he forgot all about Emily. Crawling past her, he took a closer look at the rotting, partially-decayed hand that was holding the woman's leg. After a moment, he realized he could see something beyond the arm too, as if the light was a door to another world. On the far side, there seemed to be a vast space filled with -
“Robert!” a voice called from over his shoulder.
Turning, he was just about able to make out the sight of Douglas at the door, reaching toward him.
Adjusting his grip on Emily's hands, Robert began to pull again, and this time he saw that the other hand was losing its grip. After a moment, he managed to get Emily all the way to the door and then out onto the landing, before reaching up and pulling the battered door shut.
“Mummy!” Lizzie shouted, falling onto Emily and wrapping her arms around her.
“What the hell is that thing?” Douglas asked, looking toward the door as the light started to fade.
“I saw it,” Robert stammered, as he saw Emily opening her eyes. “I swear to God, I looked right into it. I saw a whole other world through there.”
“What did you do?” Emily whispered, shivering as she began to sit up.
“It's okay,” Douglas told her, “you're -”
“Let me back in there!” she shouted, lunging past him and reaching for the door, before he pulled her back.
“Are you insane?” he asked, forcing her down to keep her from going into the room again. “Whatever's in there, it almost had you!”
“We made a deal!” she screamed, reaching toward the door as the light from the other side started to fade. “No! Come back! It's not my fault!”
“I'm going back in,” Robert said suddenly, hurrying to the door. “I have to see.” He pushed his way back into the room, but it was too late: the light had already dwindled away, and he found himself standing in darkness.
“What's not your fault?” Douglas asked, still holding Emily back. “Come on, talk to me!”
“We had a deal!” she shouted, with tears running down her face as the blue light finally dwindled away. “Come back!”
“What deal”? Robert asked, turning to her. “Emily, what are you talking about? What was that thing?”
“She wanted me!” she replied, her voice filled with anger. “Not Lizzie, she didn't care about Lizzie, she was only using her to get to me! We made a deal! She gave Lizzie back to me, and then I was supposed to let her come through to this world!”
“What is it?” Robert continued, stepping toward her.
“You don't understand, I just -”
“What is it?” he shouted. “For God's sake, just tell me!”
“Calm down,” Douglas hissed. “Robert, seriously. This can wait.”
“But Lizzie...” Turning, Robert saw the terrified expression on Lizzie's face. “Where the hell did you come from?” he asked her.
“The woman took her,” Emily explained, her voice trembling with fear. “She agreed to let her come back, but only if I let her take me in return and use me as her way through. I was willing to do that to save Lizzie, and you made me break my side of the deal! Do you know what that means? It means she'll come back and try again!” Lunging at Robert, she knocked him back against the wall. “Why did you have to interfere?”
“You were being pulled into that thing!” he spluttered. “You were up to your knees in whatever the hell it was!”
“I was willing to do that!” she shouted, before hearing a faint beeping sound from her leg. Looking down, she saw that her ankle-monitor was flashing.
“Why's it doing that?” Douglas asked. “Did you try to take it off?”
“No, but...” She paused. “My feet went through to the other side for a couple of minutes. It must have triggered the alarm, the police must have thought I'd left the house.” She turned to Robert. “Technically I did leave the house. Now do you believe me?”
“I...” He nodded, before looking toward the stairs as he realized there were police sirens approaching.
“That's them,” Emily continued. “They think I broke the terms of my release. They're going to take me away, and they'll never let me see Lizzie again. You have to help us!”
“This is insane,” Douglas muttered, sitting back. “It's way beyond anything I've ever experienced before.”
“Please,” Emily hissed, grabbing Robert's arm as the sirens came closer. “You have to help me!”
He stared at her for a moment, his mind racing as he tried to work out exactly what was happening.
“Please,” Lizzie whispered, still hugging her mother tight. The ice in her eyes had begun to melt, and finally tears were rolling down her cheeks.
“If you believe me,” Emily continued, “if you believe any of this, you can't let them take me away. Not now.”
He paused for a moment, before finally making a decision. “Wait here.” Turning, he hurried to the stairs and made his way down to the kitchen. As he heard a car pulling up outside and saw flashing blue lights at the window, he grabbed Douglas's toolbox and carried it back upstairs, before setting it down next to Emily.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“I'm doing what you wanted,” he muttered, opening the box and pulling out a pair of industrial-grade shears. Slipping one of the blades inside the strap of Emily's ankle-monitor, he began to cut the device loose, finally managing to pull it away.