The House in the Hills

by The House in the Hills (retail) (epub)

  They didn’t speak for a few minutes, just stared at each other, breathing heavily, getting angrier by the minute and starting to feel just a touch of hatred for one another. And neither one wavered for even a second as they faced off.

  Marc took a breath. “I just wanted you to have a nice house,” he said and looked away from her. “I knew we’d never be able to afford anything like this and I guess I got star struck.”

  As soon as the words were out of his mouth, Harmony softened and wanted to hug him. She knew he was telling the truth and she knew he had good intentions.

  “Can we stop fighting and make up and go to the beach or not?” Marc asked.

  She nodded. “We can,” she said and rose up out of her chair. “Let me get a quick shower.”

  “We’re just going to the beach,” he said. “Take one when you get back.”

  “But I want one now,” she said, getting irritated at him again. “Is that too much to ask?”

  He nodded slightly. “No, it’s not too much to ask.”

  “Good,” she muttered.

  * * * * *

  While Marc waited for her, Harmony stood under the rainfall shower head letting the hot water pour over her without moving. She stood there a long time, not wanting to get out, not wanting to move. The heat from the water made her feel better. Her head swam a little from the heat and steam and she steadied herself by putting her hand on the wall. Then she got the same pain in her stomach as she did the day she had lunch with Darcy.

  “Ahh!” she grunted, holding her stomach. Now what? What could this be? She pushed all the dread thoughts of what the source of the pain might be and just stood there feeling it. Within a minute, the pain had passed and she breathed a sigh of relief. She knew she’d have to go to the doctor if it didn’t dissipate and she dreaded having to do that. She hated to go to the doctor for anything. She hated the waiting room where it always seemed like an eternity before they called you back and she hated the little exam room where they stuck you and seemed to forget you existed.

  Another pain struck and she groaned again, but this one left more quickly than the last. How long was this going to go on? Probably until she went to the doctor and found out what it was. Just great, she thought bitterly. Everything was going just great. She was living in a weird house, her husband was acting like an asshole and now, in addition to hearing voices and having bad dreams, she was being plagued by intense stomach pains.

  Harmony took a deep breath and cleared her mind. The pain had dissipated and part of her anger at Marc had as well. It was just another day, that’s all. As she continued to stand under the hot water, she looked around at all the details of the shower, from the built-in shelf for shampoos and shower gels to the little niches for razors and bars of soap. There was even a long bench at the back of it so she could prop her leg up to shave her legs or, even, sit down and take a rest if she got exhausted while showering. She almost chuckled at this thought then wondered briefly who had come up with all these smart design elements and wondered if they, too, had been as tormented by the house as she had. But, as she stared around the shower, she realized whoever had designed this shower had loved this house, probably more than she did, for that matter. They had obviously adored it and wanted to make it pretty and new.

  She remembered the excitement she’d felt when she first entered the house and wished she could have that moment back. It was all so wonderful and the house had seemed to welcome her home. What had happened to that feeling of security it had given her at first? Had she thrown common sense out the window because she had been mesmerized by all of the pretty? Had she been fooled or had she fooled herself? She didn’t know but she felt like a fool, like such a fool for not doing the minuscule amount of research it would have taken to learn its bloody history. But something about the house made her not want to look, made her not want to know anything bad about it. It made her want to overlook all the bad stuff and just fall in love. And that’s what had essentially happened. She had been in love until… Well, until she wasn’t anymore.

  It was all her fault really. She was the one who had turned a blind eye and had just taken the house at face value. She knew she really couldn’t completely blame Marc for this because, as much as she wanted to, it wasn’t really all his fault. It was also her fault for not being more responsible.

  Harmony sighed and put her face under the shower head, squeezing her eyes shut as the water washed over her. She knew Marc was waiting on her to go to the beach and he was probably getting impatient. She felt the pressure from that and decided she had to get out of the shower. Then she did. She turned the water off, stepped out of the shower, grabbed a towel from the rack and wrapped it around her body, then grabbed another towel for her face and hair.

  “Ugh,” she groaned, thinking about the mess her life was becoming, then buried her face in the towel, breathing in deeply. She pulled back, then did it again, wiping at her face as she so. She did this several times, feeling a little better each time as she did it, then on the last time, she felt something. Something very, very weird.

  She looked down in fright at the towel and saw that part of the skin from her face was on it. In fact, a lot of her skin was on the towel, as if each time she had wiped her face, layers of skin on her face had come off.

  Harmony stared at the towel in disbelief then at her face in the mirror. Her face was raw and red and outlines of the blue veins were showing. It was as if her facial skin was all gone. Without thinking, she wiped her face with the towel again. This time, even more skin came off. Her face looked red and very raw and really horrific.

  This was really happening. It was really happening! She wasn’t imagining this! Her face was gone! A major surge of panic shot through her and she was about to have a major meltdown. A deep scream erupted from her mouth. As soon as it was gone, she screeched, “Marc! Marc!” Her breathing was so labored she could barely manage to get his name out. She tried again, tried to get her breathing under control and yelled as loudly as she could, “Marc! Marc!”

  A few seconds later, Marc rushed in and stared at her in a panic. “What is it?”

  Harmony held out the towel and screamed.

  He looked down at the towel and then back at her. “What is, Harmony? Tell me!”

  She shook her head and shook the towel at him. “Look!”

  He looked again. He didn’t see anything. Harmony stared at him in disbelief then looked down at the towel. There was nothing on it. She turned to the mirror and touched the side of her face, which was completely intact. Her skin was fine. It was like… It was like nothing had happened. And that meant… It meant it was all in her mind. But how could that be? How could that possibly be? Harmony couldn’t make herself believe she’d imagined that, imagined that the skin from her face had been wiped off with a towel.

  She couldn’t stop shaking her head. “But… But…” She turned to Marc, giving him a look of confusion, as if he held the answer to what had just happened.

  “What is it, Harmony?” he asked gently. “What is it?”

  She didn’t even hesitate to say, “I thought my face was peeling off.”

  “What?!” he asked her in disbelief.

  Harmony stared back at him and realized how crazy she sounded. But… But… Hadn’t that just happened? Hadn’t it? She shook her head and looked away from Marc, knowing she couldn’t tell him what had just happened. It was just too crazy. In fact, it was inexplicable.

  “Are you okay?” he asked.

  If he told her she was acting crazy, she would probably slap him. She knew she was acting crazy. That much was obvious but just why she was acting crazy was beyond her. Maybe this was the sort of stuff that happened before the big psychotic break took place. She was probably fucked. She was losing her mind and there was nothing she could do but sit back and enjoy the show. She accepted as much.

  So, she regained her composure and said, “Nothing. It’s nothing. I’m okay.”

&n
bsp; “Are you sure you’re okay?” he asked, looking really concerned.

  “Yeah, I’m fine,” she said and noticed his look, which irked her. “I’m fine! I’ll be ready in a minute!

  He studied her then left the bathroom. She went to the mirror and stared at herself. She took a deep breath and calmed down. There was definitely something going on and she would have to figure it out on her own. And if nothing was going on? She’d have to accept the fact that she was losing her mind.

  Neither option seemed overly appealing but what had to be done, had to be done. And there was nothing to be done but to move forward with it.

  PIE

  A few days later, Harmony was sitting on the couch poring over a design magazine she’d found on the bookshelf when they first moved in. She heard the accordion doors open before she heard Darcy chirp, “Hey! It’s me!”

  Harmony looked up and smiled as Darcy entered. “Hey! How was your trip?” she asked.

  “It actually did not suck,” she replied and smiled back at Harmony. “How are things going around here?”

  Harmony shrugged and threw the magazine down on the coffee table. “Same old, same old.”

  “Cool,” Darcy said. “Anyway, I just stopped by to see if you might be interested in lunch.”

  “Oh,” Harmony said. “I guess we could but I should tell you something first.” She had been feeling bad about going into the guesthouse and wanted to get it off her chest.

  Darcy nodded and leaned against the arm of the couch. “Ohhh…kay.” She stared at Harmony with curiosity. “Should I ask what?”

  “I’ll tell you what if you want to sit down.”

  “I’ll sit down,” Darcy said and crossed over to the Eames chair, sat down, then swiveled around to face Harmony.

  Harmony turned to her and considered how she should put all this. Well, there was no delicate way, so she’d just tell her. “I know this sounds weird, but…” She paused, not knowing how to word this. “Anyway, I went in the guesthouse the other day when you weren’t home because I had this dream and you were in it.”

  “I was?” Darcy asked, a sly smile playing on her lips. “Did I look cute?”

  Harmony almost cracked up, but instead held it in and gave her a slightly hard look. “Darcy, please,” she said and shook her head a little. “Let me explain. Anyway, in this dream, there was this man who was saying weird things about the guesthouse, so I had to look.”

  “Wow,” she replied and nodded with understanding. “This must have been some dream.”

  “It was a doozy,” Harmony replied.

  “Okay,” Darcy said and nodded, looking slightly perplexed. “Okay.”

  “Anyway, I looked up some stuff on the house,” Harmony continued, then noticed how Darcy was acting. “Are you okay?”

  “I’m okay,” Darcy said and stood and started to walk out of the room. She threw up a hand and pointed to the door. “I have to get going. But, no, it’s cool, man. I mean, about looking in on my house. I mean, it’s your house, you own it. That’s what I mean. I don’t care. I don’t have anything to hide.”

  “Are you sure you’re okay, Darcy?”

  “I’m fine. Just a little too much coffee.” She nodded a little and headed to the door.

  “Wait,” Harmony said, wondering why she was leaving so soon. “I wanted to tell you more.”

  Darcy stopped and turned back to Harmony. “Like what?”

  “Well, like everything I found out,” Harmony said.

  “Can we do it later?” Darcy asked. “I have to go. I forgot but I have a meeting with my agent. But if you want to grab some lunch later, let me know.” She started backing out of the room.

  Harmony watched her and shook her head. “Well, I guess but if you’ll wait, we can go ahead and talk through this now. I think you should know.”

  Darcy sighed with irritation and stopped walking, then put her hands on her hips and said, “Well, what is it, then? I can tell you need to talk.”

  Harmony was taken aback by her comment for a moment, then realized she did need to talk. She needed to talk to someone other than Marc about this whole mess. “Yeah, I do. If you don’t mind. But if you have to go, go.”

  Darcy glanced at her watch and shrugged. “I got a few minutes.” She came back over and sat in the Eames chair again and faced Harmony. “Shoot,” she said.

  “Well, I found out some pretty disturbing news,” Harmony said and wondered if she should prepare Darcy for the shocker to follow.

  Without promoting, Darcy said, “Yeah, there was a massacre here.”

  Harmony’s mouth fell open. “You know?”

  “Yeah, I know. It’s not like it’s a secret or anything,” Darcy said with nonchalance. “Henry, the former owner, was actually really, really intrigued with it. He was doing an outline for a movie about it, told me I could have one of the lead female roles if he got financing.”

  Harmony studied her. “Oh. Okay.”

  Darcy sighed with annoyance and shook her head a little. “Listen, I’ll be honest with you, it’s not a subject I love to discuss. I get freaked out, too. But, I mean, you know everything, right? About the guy who built this house back in the sixties, right?”

  “No,” Harmony said. “I don’t know about that.”

  “Seriously, Harmony, you should have done your research. It would freak most people out.”

  “What exactly are you getting at?”

  Darcy sighed heavily and said, “The guy who built it was an occultist. That was big in the sixties, right? Anyway, the rumor was that he was trying to… Supposedly, he tried to conjure something up, some sort of demon or something.”

  Harmony sat up very straight. It is as if all the hairs on the back of her neck stood up at once. “What did he conjure?” she asked, wondering if this was somehow connected to her dream.

  Darcy gave her a look, then almost cracked up, stopping herself just in time. “Obviously, nothing. Duh. But people have been fascinated with this house ever since. They think something lives here. And, then, of course, everyone wants to talk about the party where all the people died. You know, debauchery fascinates most people.” She pulled back and stared at Harmony. “Haven’t you ever noticed that there are always cars driving by here? They’re just getting a look at where the massacre happened.”

  Harmony shifted nervously in her seat. She actually hadn’t noticed this. All she could muster was a, “Wow.”

  “Well, they used to do that a lot,” Darcy said. “And I mean a lot. It was very irritating. I’d be trying to back out of the driveway and there would be some asshole wanting to take a picture. And then there were the tour buses but that stopped because the buses had a hard time making that curve, you know the one right before you get here? A few even got stuck and people had to walk down the hill. It was ridiculous. People can be so morbid.” She shuddered as if this bothered her very much. “But now it’s just occasionally you see some people just driving by. Not so much since you moved in. Maybe the fascination is finally waning.”

  So, my house is famous and not in a good way, Harmony thought and just stared at Darcy. Great.

  Darcy continued, “Anyway, the story goes that the guy who owned the house went crazy and killed everybody and then himself at the party. But, of course, others like to say that he got possessed by whatever he conjured up and that’s why he did it.” Darcy rolled her eyes.

  “So, this man killed all those people here?” Harmony asked.

  “That was never proven,” Darcy replied. “In fact, no one really knows how they died or who—or what—killed them.”

  “Seriously?” Harmony asked then remembered reading that the mystery of their deaths had never been solved.

  “Seriously,” Darcy replied. “But most do think, or like to think rather, that the demon had something to do with it.” She rolled her eyes again. “Total bullshit, but Madeline—you know, Henry’s wife the one I told you about—thought that. She wa
s convinced whatever he conjured up actually killed all those people in the massacre.” She shook her head as if this annoyed her. “She started acting like… Well, the way you are now.”

  Harmony scrambled to cover herself, “I’m not… Uh… It’s just… I mean, I just—”

  “Just chill out, you know? It’s just a house. And… Well, you do spend a lot of time alone. Maybe your imagination is getting the best of you.”

  Harmony blanched at her words.

  “If you ask me, I think it was just they all got a hold of a bunch of bad drugs and poisoned themselves,” Darcy continued. “From what I understand, those people partied hard and partied a lot. You can’t just stick anything in your arm or snort it up your nose or however you might ingest some toxic drug into your system. One day, you’ll have to pay the piper.”

  “That’s one way to put it,” Harmony muttered.

  Darcy ignored her and kept talking, “My opinion is, I think that might have been what happened. It was tragic but where drugs are concerned, I don’t have much empathy for junkies. Sorry, I know it’s not very PC, but I’ve seen how drugs make people act and it makes them act despicable. They get greedy and they get arrogant and then they want everyone to solve their problems and take care of them, preferably with more drugs.” She paused and then added, “You know, all people die eventually but these people were especially asking for it, from what I read.”