"But..." Rion considered Kerry's theory. "You might be right."
"You need to make nice. She…she might be more powerful here."
Sighing, Rion returned to the couch and Beckett was watching them through narrowed eyes. "Do you need to go to the bathroom?' she asked.
"Yes."
"Fine. But, we are going with you. And you can't shut the door."
Beckett tilted her head. "OK," she shrugged.
They took turns using the bathroom. While Rion didn't directly watch Beckett use the toilet, she could feel the girl staring at her—almost like a challenge. By the time they returned to the living room, Shep arrived. He came in slowly, as if he expected to be attacked, or to find something horrible waiting on him. Kerry moaned at the sight of the bags in his hands.
"I'm starving. Thank you," she declared.
She took the groceries from him and carried them to the kitchen. Rion could hear her talking to Beckett, try to make pleasant conversation. They hadn't discussed it, but Kerry seemed to be playing good cop. Rion didn't mind. It could end up coming in handy later. She knew Kerry wouldn't actually let her guard down around the kid.
"I just got snacks and stuff for sandwiches. I hope that's OK," Shep was having a hard time looking at Rion.
"That sounds perfect. It will be great for now."
"About...earlier. When I was leaving..." he lowered his voice. "I probably shouldn't have done that."
"Probably not," Rion agreed. Shep's face fell. "But," she continued quickly. "I'm glad you did." She could feel the change in Shep as he let go of the tension.
"You are?"
"Yeah. I mean—yes, this is terrible timing," she tried to smile a little to soften her words. "But, I think I needed that."
"Me too."
"I can't—I mean, I'm not going to make any promises. But...thank you."
Shep seemed to understand—maybe even more than Rion did. "I get it. It's OK. We need to figure this out...before we can figure us out."
"Right." Rion stiffened when Shep stepped closer. "Sorry," she shook her head. "It's just, we've got something new to worry about."
Shep backed off at Rion's reaction. "What?"
She could hear the dismay in his voice. None of them needed anything else to pile on in terms of bad news. "You should sit down."
"Oh no." Shep lowered himself to the couch.
Rion told him what she and Kerry had learned from Beckett. When she told him about the display of supernatural power Beckett had shown them, his face paled. "This can't be real."
"Well, Kerry and I aren't hallucinating. And that table really is broken!" Shep groaned and lowered his head to his hands. "I know you don't want to believe this," she said softly. "I certainly don't either. But, think about it this way. You believe in God. All kinds of 'paranormal' stuff happened in the Bible."
Shep didn't even bother to be offended. "The Bible is a book written by men. Yes, I believe in God, but I also believe in the human power of misunderstanding, exaggeration, and passionate imaginations." Even though his words wanted to argue against what he knew as happening, they lacked conviction.
Rion was surprised. She would have expected someone religious to have a much easier time believing in the supernatural and possession. "Look, we are all having to adjust what we know to be true versus what we thought was true." She watched Kerry make sandwiches for everyone and place them on the now wobbly table. Beckett didn't wait on the others. As soon as food was in front of her, she snatched it off the plate and began wolfing it down. Kerry drew back in surprise. She glanced at Rion and shrugged. They all knew they needed to keep things as calm as possible.
"Let's go eat," she told Shep.
"I don't know if I can," he mumbled from his hands.
"We need to. If we are going to fight this. We have to stay strong."
"I know," he sighed.
They joined Beckett and Kerry at the table and the kid just watched them with calculating amusement. She knew they were both terrified and fascinated by her—and she seemed to enjoy it. They ate their sandwiches in silence. The food was plain and tasteless in Rion's mouth, but she chewed and swallowed mechanically. When they were done it was late evening. She didn't relish the idea of searching the house in the dark, but they needed to do this as quickly as possible. Rion broke the news to Beckett.
"We are going to search the house. And you are going to stay out of the way."
"Where?"
"I'm going to make you a bed in the closet."
The kid stared at her with contempt. "I'm not sleeping in a closet. I'm not even going in one."
"Yes. You are."
"No."
Rion resisted the urge to chastise a child for cursing. "If you don't, I'll turn you over to the authorities. I'll tell them you set the fire. That I wasn't sure you did it, but now I am. They'll lock you away in a jail for kids. And you won't be able to do whatever it is you want to do."
Beckett's eyes shone with rage. "And I'll tell the social worker all that you have done!"
Chambers. Rion's heart sank. She had nearly forgotten about the social worker. How was she going to explain the fire? Also, if Beckett made good on her threat and told Chambers the things that Rion said, believed, and had done, they would take Beckett away and she wouldn't have a chance to help her. The system would be convinced she was insane. She remembered shaking the kid in her anger and frustration and could feel her face flushing with shame and guilt.
"Do you think they'll believe you? A traumatized child over Rion? And us?" Shep asked her.
Beckett turned her glare towards him. "Maybe. Maybe not."
"So we are at a catch twenty-two," Rion told her. "What I can do, though, is I can destroy that teddy bear." Beckett's eyes widened in alarm. "And, I could even burn this house down. Blame it on you. Whatever is so special about that toy, and this place—can be gone."
Beckett considered the situation. "Fine."
Rion lifted a brow. "What?"
"Let me have the bear, and I'll go in the closet."
Rion glanced at the others. They both looked as wary as she felt. "I don't know," Shep muttered.
If there was something dangerous about the bear, wouldn't Beckett have used it already? She'd had the bear for enough time, that if she was going to do something with it, she would have already. Even if she needed to be at the house to use whatever was special about the toy—what were the chances it was in a closet? Rion sighed. "OK. But, if there is even the slightest sign you are doing something...weird or dangerous with it, I'll burn it."
"Fine."
Rion felt like the lowest human in the world as she shut the closet door in Beckett’s face. The kid, of course, did all she could to make her feel worse. She just stood there, holding the teddy bear, with wide, velvety brown eyes. “Remember,” Rion told her. “Anything weird, and I’ll burn the bear.” She had to admit, a tiny part of her was also relieved and triumphant knowing there wasn’t really anything the kid could get into while locked in the closet.
“So,” Kerry whispered. “How do we keep her in there? There aren’t locks on the outside of doors for reasons.”
Rion looked around helplessly.
“Here,” Shep retrieved a chair from the kitchen table and wedged it under the door knob.
“Is that going to keep her in there? She lifted a fucking table earlier,” Kerry pointed out.
“But,” Rion shrugged. “She looked surprised she was able to do it. And she was touching it. That might have had something to do with it. I think there is a reason we’ve not seen her do something like this before.”
“Why?”
“I don’t think she could.” Rion looked around. “I think she’s stronger here.”
“Why don’t we call the police?” Shep tried.
“They wouldn’t believe us. They’ll just put us in jail. Take Beckett away. She could hurt more people.”
Everyone was silent for a moment. “Where do we start?” Rion asked.
“I say the attic,” Shep looked towards the ceiling.
Rion could feel Kerry tense next to her. That was where they heard the footsteps, just before seeing the twisted monster that had, or had not, been Beckett. As much as she hated to admit it, Shep was right. “I think so,” she nodded.
“Fuck,” Kerry muttered.
“Which bedroom has the access panel?”
“This way,” Rion didn’t relish the idea of being in the front, but she knew Kerry wasn’t going to be able to do it.
She opened the door to Frank and Lavinia’s bedroom. It was even darker in here. She immediately began searching for shadows that looked like a living creature. After not seeing anything on the first pass, she reached inside the room and flicked the lights on. No monsters waited for them. Shep pushed past her and headed towards the closet. “In here?” he turned to find them waiting in the doorway. “There’s nothing here.”
“Check under the bed,” Kerry demanded.
Shep looked like he wanted to roll his eyes, but thought better of it. Instead, he lowered himself to the floor and disappeared as he bent to check. He popped up at a normal speed, but it made Rion jump anyway. “All clear,” he announced.
Rion slowly entered the room. She was still prepared for the creature to suddenly materialize and leap out at them. Kerry was glued to her back as they crossed to the closet. Shep opened the door and Rion held her breath until he turned the light on and revealed the closet to be monster free. He found the pull string that released the attic door and she could feel Kerry’s tension match her own. She hated feeling like she was waiting on Shep to protect them. But she couldn’t get over the idea that malevolence lurked in every shadow. “Wait!” Rion’s voice made them all jump. “We need flashlights.”
“I’m sure there are lights in the attic.”
Rion remembered every horror movie she had seen. “What if they go out?”
“Do you know where Frank stored his flashlights?”
Rion narrowed her eyes at him. “No. But we do have cell phones.” She pulled hers from her pocket and turned on the flashlight app. It helped chase away the shadows, but not the ominous feeling. Kerry and Shep’s lights added enough that Rion was able to breathe a little easier.
Shep lead the way up the rickety ladder. It creaked and protested the whole way. Rion followed him and Kerry was right behind her. She had to give it to her, Kerry was even more afraid than she was, but she was committed to seeing this through. Shep helped steady her the last of the way. “Luckily, someone put plywood down at some point. Just stay on those.”
“Why?” Kerry asked, joining them.
“Sometimes electrical wires run through there. If you step on them, you could get shocked. Or knock out the power.”
“Oh.”
“Where do we start?” Rion asked. "What about lights?"
"I can't find them," Shep was easing his way across the floor, shining his cell phone at the ceiling looking for a light bulb.
"Good thing we have our phones," Rion muttered. They cast their lights around the attic. Rion was relieved and surprised to see that there wasn’t a lot to go through. She saw maybe ten boxes, a Christmas tree box that was mostly busted open and the fake, pre-lit tree, was exposed. It looked like it hadn’t been touched in years. “Let’s start going through the boxes,” Shep directed his light to the closest stack.
The boxes weren’t labeled, but they were taped shut. Rion jumped when Shep flicked a knife open. As he cut the tape, she looked around. It didn’t smell bad—just dusty. And she couldn’t hear anything—and that, she realized, was odd. They weren’t on a secluded road. The house was located on a regularly traveled avenue. Why can’t I hear any cars passing? The silence and the feeling of eyes watching her from the dark corners of the attic caused her hair to stand on end.
“Clothes,” Shep announced, bringing Rion back to the task at hand.
“Yeah,” Kerry was lifting several items. “Probably Beckett’s.”
Shep pawed, carelessly, through the box to determine if there were just clothes inside. “Be careful,” Rion cautioned him. “You don’t know what you are going to find in the boxes.”
“Good point,” Shep pulled his hand out. “I’m pretty sure this is just clothes,” he lifted it off the stack and set it to the side.
The next box was full of old toys. Rion felt a little sad looking at the old dolls and building blocks. There wasn’t a lot of toys downstairs and even if the rest of the boxes were full of toys, there wouldn’t be many. Kids should have a massive number of toys. Why didn’t Beckett? The third box was more clothes. Kerry lifted some off to see underneath. When a blue shirt caught Rion’s eye. “Wait a minute.”
She took the stack from Kerry’s hands and lifted each piece off individually. “Do you see what I see?”
Shep and Kerry stared at the clothes for a minute before they raised their brows in surprise. Shep answered the question. “Those are boy clothes.”
Rion stared at the little boy's shirt, covered in cartoon cars. "I don't get it."
"Was there another kid?" Kerry asked.
Rion shrugged. "Or, I mean, hell, they could be Beckett's clothes. Maybe she dressed as a boy?" Rion knew she was grasping at straws
Shep raised a shoulder. "Maybe."
Kerry dropped the shirt back into the box like it was dirty. "If there was a boy here...what happened to him?"
"I'm not sure I want to know," Rion sighed. The social worker hadn’t said anything about Frank and Lavinia having other kids. She considered the possibility that they could have belonged to a previous occupant. But, she recognized the cartoon on the shirt. It wasn’t that old. Maybe five years. And Beckett had said they always lived in this house. She didn’t know what it meant if Frank and Lavinia had had more children. Where was he now? Had he been taken away? What if Lavinia wasn’t the kid’s mom? Or Frank the father? Maybe the kid lived with another parent. There could be any number of reasons there was a box of boys clothes in the attic.
Shep and Kerry continued to go through the stack of boxes. When they didn't find anything more interesting than clothes and toys, they moved onto the next stack of boxes. Rion shined her light around the attic. Mostly to see what else she could find, but also because she didn't like the shadows in the far reaches of the space. The light, even though weak, found a dresser pushed against a far wall. She wasn't sure what it was, but something about it stood out.
She left Kerry and Shep opening more boxes and crossed the attic, careful to stay on the plywood boards. It wasn’t until she was closer she was able to figure out what stood out about the dresser. It looked cleaner than the other stuff in the attic. There was a fine layer of dust on most of the other things—but the dresser was almost shiny it was so clean. She used her light to examine the outside. It looked cheaply made and unremarkable.
“What did you find?” Shep called.
“I don’t know,” she muttered. The other two joined her. “Doesn’t this look cleaner to you? Cleaner than the other stuff up here.
“Yeah a little,” Kerry agreed.
Rion handed her phone to Kerry and put her hands on the top of the dresser. Oddly, it felt warm. Not hot enough to burn, but it seemed warmer than room temperature. She remembered the heat that emanated from the symbol painted on the kitchen floor and her stomach tightened. She took a deep breath and moved her hands to the top drawer. It slid open without a sound and Rion held her breath until the phones’ lights provided enough illumination to make out the contents.
Papers. Folded notes. Pages torn from books and notebooks. Mixed in with the papers were newspapers and pictures. Rion’s stomach rolled and she had to take several breaths not to throw up. The pictures depicted kids. As she fumbled through a couple of the wrinkled Polaroids she was sure she would find the worst. The possible scenarios ran through her head. Kerry must have feared the same because she gripped Rion’s arm in ice cold fingers. Rion remembered Beckett's aversion to having her photo taken and gr
itted her teeth After shuffling through a few, Rion breathed a little easier—to some degree.
She didn’t find any pornographic images. But, the photos themselves were still unsettling. There seemed to be three kids, each photographed multiple times. Two girls and a boy. A couple of the pictures showed that some time had passed as the boy they depicted seem to age a couple of years. All of the pictures showed children simply staring into the camera. All of them looked scared and unsure of themselves, maybe a little tired, but otherwise unharmed. The kid also had something else in common. They were all dark haired with large dark eyes. Additionally, it was hard to tell, but no picture seemed to show a child older than six to eight years old. Rion didn't recognize Beckett in any of the pictures, but she didn't examine them all.
Kerry picked up one of the newspapers and opened it. Its yellow pages were brittle but they didn’t tear or crumble. Together, the three of them scanned the front page. Baseball scores. Reports on President Obama’s struggle to establish a health care system. Reports of terrorist activity. But, nothing that seemed significant. The same with several other newspapers they found. No one spoke as they shuffled through the drawer looking for anything significant.
The loose pages had handwriting that was almost impossible to decipher. The book pages were varying degrees of yellow and wrinkled. Some were large with heavy paper, indicating a book of high quality. The others were smaller and thinner. Rion’s brain resisted the need to read over the pages, but eventually she forced her eyes to focus. After a few moments, her stomach sank even more. Most of the pages seemed to have been torn from books describing exorcisms or discussing demonic possession. Rion knew they would need to spend more time with these. They needed time to sit and read and make notes. They wouldn’t be able to fully grasp what they had found while standing here with cell phone flashlights. With a sigh and a heavy heart she returned the papers to the drawer and slid it shut.
The second of the four drawers was full of candles. Some partially burned, others looked mostly new. They were white, red, and the stereotypical black. Maybe even a couple of purple ones so dark they looked black. A few, at least, must have been scented because a waft of waxy perfume tickled Rion’s nose. She slid the drawer shut and opened the third. Inside was numerous cans of spray paint and other random tools. They clinked together as they shifted with the motion of the drawer. Rion slid that drawer shut and bent to open the bottom drawer.
Something Happened Page 27