Housewarming

by Jennifer Bowen

  “You can come over if you want. I could use some grownup conversation.”

  “That sounds nice actually. Are you sure?”

  Was she sure? She was relieved. “Come on over.”

  “Okay, I’ll be there in a little bit. I have wine!”

  “Okay, see you soon.”

  Another grownup in the house. She was such a scaredy cat.

  Jack came inside, slamming the backdoor behind him, “Mom? Can Alan come over?”

  The more, the merrier, she thought. “Sure, and you guys can go swimming, if you want.”

  She went to the oven, not noticing Jack shift his weight or move his eyes over the window. “Yeah, maybe.”

  * * *

  “Sunscreen, boys,” Kara said, tossing the tube to Jack an hour later. “I don’t care if the sun will be going down soon, coat yourselves. We’ll be watching from the kitchen.”

  Jack watched her go inside, leaving Alan and him on the deck. He looked over the trees bordering the lawn and stole a glance at the swimming pool. The water rippled leisurely.

  Alan dabbed sunscreen over his arms and pulled goggles on and Jack carefully worked the lotion in over his belly. He picked up a scuba diver action figure and held it in both hands, watching Alan climb down into the pool.

  “Do you swim underwater?” Alan asked.

  Jack crept closer to the edge, eyeing the blue surface. Something had kept him away for weeks. He knew he had seen something; it had touched him and Lilah.

  Looking in, he saw only Alan bobbing around. “Yeah,” Jack finally replied. He approached the ladder, looking at the screws that fastened it to the pool. There were no strands of hair there. He climbed up, hesitating at the top.

  “Are you getting in?” Alan squinted at the sun.

  Jack looked over the pool edge and in the water. It was just an ordinary swimming pool. Nobody but Alan floated in the water. Jack nodded, shaking away his misgivings and jumped in. The water lapped around him. He looked over the surface again, seeing it was ordinary water. He was just in the pool in his backyard. He was with Alan and everything was normal.

  They swam underwater to prove they could. While Jack swam the left length of the pool, the action figure in his hand, Alan headed to the right. They held their breath for as long as possible, seeing how much distance they could tread. Jack didn’t wear goggles and the water was a bit murky, but he relaxed in the coolness wrapping around him. When he got to the end of the pool, he stood up tall, waiting for Alan to come up for air.

  When Alan popped up, Jack held the scuba diver over his head. “Okay, I’m going to throw this man into the water and we have to see who can find him first.”

  “Okay!” Alan called, adjusting his goggles.

  “One, two…three!” Jack threw the action figure as far as he could, toward the far edge of the pool. Both boys dove underwater and swam, searching for it.

  After several seconds, Alan came up as the victor. “Got it!”

  Jack scowled. “Okay, count to three and throw it.”

  “One…two…three!”

  Jack dove into the water, anticipating the diver’s descent. But Alan waited an extra moment before throwing it toward the center of the pool. Goggle-less, the water was too cloudy for Jack to see clearly. He pushed leaf bits and dead bugs away from his face, but he had no idea where the toy was. He hadn’t taken a deep-enough breath and so came up for air a moment later. He was about to go under again when Alan’s head popped up.

  Alan shot his arm out, revealing he had the diver. “Want to do it again?”

  “No goggles this time,” Jack said, chirping off the new rule.

  “Why not?”

  “Because I don’t have any and it’s hard to see.”

  “Oh, okay,” Alan said, seeing no problem with making the game fair.

  As Alan swam to the ladder to drop off his goggles, Jack stood, his eyes on the shadowed trees. Insects rattled, the noise all at once loud and irritating. The wind had picked up and the topmost branches of the skinnier trees waved to the pull of the breeze, their leaves wiggling. His eyes scanned the offshoots before settling on a white scarf. It was high and it must’ve weighed more than the leaves, because it didn’t move. He wondered for a fleeting moment why it was there.

  “Alright, I’m ready,” Alan said, grabbing Jack’s attention. Alan had moved to the center of the pool.

  Jack said, “Okay, count,” but part of his mind stayed with the rattling insects.

  “One, two…three!” Alan tossed the diver over Jack’s head, and both boys dove under, murky to both of them this time.

  Jack swam to the bottom, feeling blindly along the floor. He saw Alan swim close to him, moving his hands through the water. Jack turned and swam a yard farther, still holding his breath, searching. He was losing air and soon buoyed up.

  He popped out of the water and sucked in air, choking on it when he caught a flash of yellow beyond the tree-line. He looked away while his coughing fit ran its course, then turned back to the woods. The yellow was gone. His eyes combed upward until he spotted the drooping white scarf. He noticed then the insects had silenced.

  “Did you find it?” Alan asked, his eyes gliding over Jack.

  Jack shook his head no.

  Alan dove back down, splashing Jack’s face. Jack wiped his chlorine-stung eyes and sank underwater. He swam away from Alan. He didn’t think the plastic diver could’ve slipped this far from the center of the pool, but he swam away anyway. The water was hazy, but the sunlight worked its way to highlight the indigo-and-orange figure the boys sought.

  Jack had no other strategy than to move his arms around, hoping to strike something hard and small. Where was it?

  He turned and swam in Alan’s direction. He could see the outline of his friend’s legs, skinny and kicking.

  Something tugged on Jack’s leg. It couldn’t have been Alan, because he was ahead of him. Jack changed direction. It couldn’t have been the pool filter. It wasn’t that strong and he wasn’t anywhere near the far corner where it was. He swam to the ladder, coming up for air. Stepping on the bottom step, he felt something fuzzy wrapped around his toes. He climbed up, pulling his foot out of the water.

  “I got it!” Alan shot up, holding up the plastic diver. “What’s that?” he asked, looking from the confused expression on Jack’s face to the floss the boy pulled from his toes.

  Jack held it up and both boys saw they were long strands of blonde hair.

  Something shrieked, making Jack scramble to the grass.

  “Jack? Why you gettin’ out?”

  Jack heard Alan’s question, but couldn’t comprehend him. He hurried to the deck and opened his fist to release the hair. But when he looked, it was gone.

  “Jack?” Alan climbed up the ladder.

  “D-did you hear that?” Jack whispered, his eyes combing the pool’s surface.

  “What?”

  Jack’s eyes went to the trees, but he didn’t think it had come from the woods. The sound had come from the water, shooting up from below. It reverberated inside him. “That scream.”

  “What scream? I didn’t hear anything.” Alan was looking around now, scanning the trees. “Huh?”

  * * *

  “I don’t want to swim anymore.”

  “That was pretty good pizza, huh, Lilah?” Shannon asked, smiling.

  Lilah nodded shyly before whispering to Kara she wanted to play.

  “Go ahead,” Kara said.

  “She’s so cute,” Shannon said, watching Lilah walk down the hallway, the statue hanging from one hand at her side.

  “I think she’s in a shy phase right now.”

  “Is that a phase?”

  “Yeah, I think so.”

  Shannon got up and squatted next to the antique chandelier. It leaned lopsidedly on the tiled floor near the far kitchen wall. “Is this replacing the light in the foyer?” She touched a sconce.

  Kara nodded, sipping wine. “Yeah. I actually got that from Buried T
reasures last weekend.”

  “Oh, so you got to check it out. How’d you like it?”

  “It’s a really cute shop. I can’t wait to take down that God-awful teat we have hanging in the foyer!” Kara groaned with a laugh.

  “Teat?” Shannon looked down the hallway to glimpse the dangling, brassy chandelier. She broke out in laughter. “I don’t think it looks like that! But this is a pretty light.”

  “It does! It’s awful. I can’t wait for John to switch it out. Oh! I have to tell you about their sign! Buried Treasures’s.”

  “What about it?”

  “You know Lilah’s statue?”

  Shannon nodded, sitting down at the table.

  “This is going to sound bizarre, but I swear her statue has to be connected to the girl and frog on their sign.”

  “How do you mean?”

  “So, we dug up the statue in the yard. It’s the creepiest thing, but she loves it. Anyway, when Tracy and I went to Buried Treasures and saw the sign out front, it was so uncanny. The girl and the frog on the sign look just like the statue.”

  “Really?” Shannon leaned on her elbows. “I haven’t noticed. But then again, I haven’t gotten a good look at Lilah’s statue.”

  “Lilah won’t even let me look at it. The lady at the store wants to see if it’s an antique, but I don’t think Lilah would ever part with it.”

  “She knows something about it?”

  “She seemed pretty clueless about it. She wants to have somebody look at it, though.” Kara sat back and folded her arms. “It’s just the weirdest coincidence if there’s no connection to their shop sign.”

  Shannon looked thoughtful, swirling the wine in her glass. “Unless it was some sort of popular image back in the day, copied or something. The story of the princess and the frog maybe.”

  Kara considered that. The statue girl held an umbrella and the frog sat at her feet. There were no crowns or anything that she could recall that might be a nod to the fairytale, but the connection could be possible.

  “When are you putting up the chandelier?” Shannon asked.

  “Whenever John’s available,” Kara sighed. “He’s been working late a lot lately, because of this project. He’s already had two overnights at the office. This is number three. I hate when he’s out. I don’t sleep very well,” Kara confessed. She had the dark circles under her eyes to prove it. “I think I hear things.” She laughed mirthlessly, her thoughts turning to the shadowed figure, purposely omitting, I see things.

  “If you’d feel more comfortable having another adult around, I don’t mind sleeping over. I know Tom wouldn’t miss me. He’ll be out most of the night anyway.”

  “That’s okay. I’ve got the kids. We’re fine. I’m just a coward.”

  “I don’t mind, really.”

  Without further prompting, Kara grasped at the straw being handed to her. “If you really don’t think Tom would mind…”

  “He won’t care. I’ll call him to break the news to him.” Shannon laughed, taking another drink. “Trust me, he won’t care.”

  “Okay, thanks. I can put you in Lilah’s room. The kids are used to bunking with me anyway on these kinds of nights.”

  “Oh, honey, I don’t want to mess with her sleep. I’m fine on the couch. It’s probably more comfortable than my bed.”

  “She’s gotten used to sleeping in my bed when John’s out. You can have her room tonight.”

  “Okay. So, what are these noises you hear? You don’t really hear anything, do you?”

  Kara gasped, remembering. “I have to show you something.” Remembering the LEAVE!!! note she had found taped to the door, she went into the office. But it wasn’t on John’s desk. She checked the wastebasket and glanced around the room, but couldn’t find it. “He must’ve thrown it away,” she said, sitting back down at the kitchen table.

  “What?”

  Thinking it silly now, Kara told Shannon about finding the note.

  “That’s unsettling,” Shannon said.

  “We think it’s a prank.”

  “Has anything else happened since you moved in? Anything that could be related?”

  “What do you mean?”

  Shannon leaned forward, looking serious. “I don’t want to make you nervous or anything, but has anything else happened that might seem threatening?”

  Kara’s thoughts drifted again to the shadowed figure. Was it related? Had she really seen someone? “This is all we’ve received. Oh,” she said suddenly, “when we first moved in, someone rang the doorbell and ran away before we opened the door. John said it was probably kids playing Ding-dong Ditch.”

  “Hmm…”

  “What?”

  “Nothing. John’s probably right. It’s a prank. But just be careful.” Seeing Kara tense up, Shannon laid a hand on her arm. “I’m not trying to scare you. I just mean in general. Everyone should be careful.”

  Kara drained her glass. “I hate to mention it, but…You remember how I got that text from my mom about David and how he reached out to her?”

  “Yeah. What did he want?”

  “I have no idea. She hasn’t been forthcoming after dropping that bomb on me. She’s making me sweat about it.”

  “Would she do that?”

  “I wouldn’t put it past her. Well, I don’t know. She’s not that vindictive. I don’t know why she’s not telling me anything.”

  Shannon’s eyes widened. “You don’t think there’s any connection with him and the note on the door, do you?”

  “No. Why would he leave a note telling me to leave?”

  “Maybe it was meant for John?”

  Kara looked into her empty wineglass. “But that’s a bit vague, isn’t it? Why wouldn’t he have said anything else in the note? And why would he want John to leave?”

  Shannon shrugged. “Or it was for the whole family. Maybe he wants you all back in Cosgrove so he can be close to Jack? Is he still living there?”

  “I have no idea where he is. I don’t think it’s from him.” She shook her head and said with more conviction, “It wasn’t from him.” She thought of the figure in the shadows again. “It was just a prank from some kids.”

  Chapter Nineteen

  Saturday morning, Kara woke up groggy and bleary-eyed. She sat up in bed and looked around, finding herself alone. It was just after seven. She scooted off John’s side of the bed and groaned.

  They must’ve had a storm, because the windows in the master bedroom and bathroom had rattled so fiercely during the night that she had thought they would blow in. At one point during a lull, she had tiptoed to the bathroom window to spy. Was the shadow watching? The windows had fogged, so hadn’t been able to see, and that had meant no one outside could see in. She had resisted the urge to check the other windows. It would’ve been embarrassing if Shannon had caught her creeping through the house.

  Presently, she stood up, light-headed from the movement, and took a step. Her foot struck something hard, startling her more than hurting her. She looked down. It took a moment to register what it was, and when she did, she sank to the floor. What was Sophie’s memory box doing on the floor?

  Picking it up, she opened it. Carefully, she leafed through its contents, her remembering fingers moving over the receiving blanket before gingerly tucking it back in. Everything was there, safe and sound. She inhaled the powdery scent and closed the box. Her eyes raked over the bedroom before she set it on the dresser. Who had moved it?

  She got dressed and found Lilah curled on the couch in the great room, watching TV.

  “Were you playing with my white box?” Kara asked without preamble.

  “No.”

  “Lilah, look at me.”

  Lilah twisted, her movement turning the familiar statue in her lap, so that three faces looked upon Kara.

  Kara glanced at the clay faces that forever laughed at her before meeting Lilah’s passive gaze. “Do you know the white box I’m talking about?”

  “Uh-huh. The one
on your dresser.”

  “I found it on my bedroom floor. Did you put it there?”

  “No.”

  “You’re sure?”

  “No, Mommy. I want to watch my show.”

  “Soph—” Damn. Emphasizing her name, Kara said, “Lilah, this is important.”

  Lilah’s blue eyes widened. “I didn’t move it, Mommy.”

  “You’re sure? You won’t get in trouble.”

  “No, I didn’t touch it.”

  Well then. Had Jack moved it?

  “If you ever want to see it, tell me and we can look at it together.” And talk about your sister, Kara didn’t say aloud. “Okay?”

  “Okay, okay.” Lilah wiggled from side-to-side, her eyes drifting back to the TV screen. The statue’s dual faces, however, kept its gazes on Kara. Kara turned away to break contact with it just as Shannon rushed in the room, her short blonde hair swept back and wet.

  “Good morning! I took a shower, I hope you don’t mind.”

  “Good morning.” Kara started toward the sink. “No problem. Coffee?”

  “I’ve got to run. Tom’s probably wondering what happened to me. I couldn’t reach him on my cell last night or this morning.”

  “I didn’t know you couldn’t reach him. My cell service is hit or miss, but we could’ve tried my phone.”

  “That’s alright.” Shannon grabbed her purse and car keys and headed to the front door.

  Kara followed. “I wish you had told me.”

  “It’s seriously no problem. Thanks for having me.”

  “Thanks for coming over. I appreciate the grownup sleepover.” It was true. She would’ve been a wreck without her being there.

  Shannon rested her hand on the doorknob, hesitating. “Did you sleep okay?”

  Kara wanted to say, I never do, but instead said, “Yeah. Did you?”

  “Yeah.” Shannon pulled her hand back. “I came down in the middle of the night for some water and I heard you.” She looked uncomfortable. “I think you were having a nightmare. I thought it was Lilah crying at first.”

  “Crying?” Had she not awoken to Lilah’s nightmare?

  “But I went to Lilah’s side of the bed and realized it wasn’t her. It was you. You stopped when I shook your shoulder. You said ‘Sophie’ a couple times and then you were quiet. You were clutching onto a box…Was it her memory box?”