Of course it was a shutter; what else would it be? A ghost? Thinking about what my mother would say if she saw me like this, I laughed until tears streamed down my cheeks. The symphony of a creaky old house settled around me. The shutter banged again. I choked back my laughter and straightened up. Narrowing my eyes at the thing, I stepped toward the opened window. It was too late and too dark to go out and fix it tonight. I leaned out the window and pulled the other shutter in and clasped them together, leaving only a half-inch gap between them. I closed my eyes slowly; the shadow moving outside registered on a delay. My eyes shot open as I leaned closer and stared intently at the spot I’d seen movement.
I remained there until my eyes started watering. No movement. Groaning, I closed the window and pulled the old cow curtains closed. The material felt grimy in my hands, and I pulled them away in disgust. Dark stains were splattered against the dingy tan color. Those would be the first things gone tomorrow.
Musing over the mess that was my first day, I went to bed.
Chapter Five
Light streamed in through the open window.
Open window?
I sat up in my bed and stared at my bedroom window that was wide open. The wind from last night gone, the dingy curtains hung like a sad reminder of the family that used to live here. I never opened that, did I?
One of the excavation crew members must have opened it yesterday. My lip curled at the thought of one of them in my room. I swung my legs over the side of my bed and heard footsteps downstairs. I jumped out of bed and picked my shorts off the floor and yanked them up as I ran downstairs to catch the intruder. Racing down the stairs, I skidded to a halt when I saw a smiling face pressed up against the front door window. One I didn’t recognize. Not that I would recognize anyone in this town.
She spotted me and waved, not moving her face from the glass. I pulled my hair into a messy bun and slowly approached the door. I could see several other people on the porch.
I opened it a crack, and the woman finally moved back. “Can I help you?” I asked, noticing that where the sun sat in the morning sky, it couldn’t be past 7AM.
An older woman in a pink baby doll dress at least two sizes too small stepped forward. “Hi, sweetheart. You called, and we came.” She smiled, showing tobacco-stained teeth as she curtsied. There were five people on my porch, each one looking weirder than the last. There was one man staring back at me. He was average height with long black hair; he was still as a statue, his gaze scrutinizing as he stared me down. Then there were the two girls who looked to be late teens.
A younger woman spun around, letting out a high-pitched giggle. Her ripped-up jeans hung loosely around her narrow hips, and her shirt was barely more than a sports bra. Her long, dark hair hung in loose curls. As if she felt my gaze on her, she stopped spinning and grinned at me.
My groggy brain tried to piece everything together. Alvah…my brain produced the name. My shoulders relaxed. “Right, wow, you guys got here fast! They haven’t positively identified them yet, but who else would it be, right?” I opened the door wider and stepped aside to allow them entrance.
The older woman walked in, looking around appreciatively. “Home sweet home! Never thought I’d see this place again.”
The rest followed. The girl in the torn jeans snapped her teeth at me and giggled as she passed. I stepped back and forced a tight laugh.
“Just, uh, make yourselves at home, and I will make us some tea.” I left them in the living room and went upstairs to get my phone. By the time I got back downstairs, it was obvious the waiting family had indeed made themselves at home, wandering around the house freely. I went to the kitchen and dumped several water bottles into my tea kettle.
When I brought out the tea, I found they had set up an old record player that had been tucked into a corner. The older woman danced with the younger one in torn-up jeans in a way that seemed…inappropriate. The other two girls were digging through one of my boxes. The man was watching the two dancing in a way that gave me chills.
I set down the tea and snatched away the box they were rifling through. “Excuse me,” I snapped. They recoiled from me. I realized they were twins, almost identical, with auburn hair and bright green eyes. There was a wildness about them. They stepped back and one mumbled, “Bitch,” under her breath.
The older woman smiled at me and stopped dancing. “I’m sorry, darlin’. You probably think we were raised in barns.” She went over and sat by the man. My unease was growing rapidly. “I’m Starla. These are my kids, my son Arlo, and the twins Karma and Rebel,” she said. Her eyes lit up when she looked at the one dancing. “And that beauty over there is Junie.”
I nodded, feeling even more grossed out by the dancing and leering. “I’m Kayteigh. So, uh…I don’t have the bodies here…”
The woman threw her head back and laughed. “Of course not, silly! But since we were in the area, I wanted to say thank you for calling. Lord knows that worthless sheriff wouldn’t have. Plus, I wanted to see the old house. What did you get it for?”
There was something in her eyes that made the hair on the back of my neck stick up. I just wanted these people out of my house. “Uh, um…if you guys want to have some tea before you head over to the coroner’s office...”
The one in the ripped jeans stopped dancing and glared at me. Starla’s happy gaze shifted from the friendly smile to menacing in an instant. “Well, that’s not very hospitable of you, now is it?” I was taken aback by the sudden change in her demeanor. She looked enraged. I reached for the phone in my back pocket when she grinned again. “Well, then, I guess we’ll be on our way.”
They were up and out the door before I could register what had just happened. Starla was the last to the door. She paused and looked back at me. She was still smiling, but the look in her eyes was chilling. “We’ll be seeing you, Kayteigh.” And then the door closed with a soft click.
My lungs deflated, and I dropped my head. What was the deal with those people? I’d met a lot of weirdos in my day, but there was something…sinister about every move they made. The sounds of the excavation crew arriving perked me up. I hurried to the door and threw it open in time to see a beat up old van driving away. Alex was coming up the porch steps watching the van.
“New friends?” he asked.
I shook my head. “No. That was the Alvah family.”
He looked at me, surprise etched into his chiseled features. “No shit?” I nodded, pushing thoughts of them far out of my mind. They weren’t my problem anymore. I did my part. Now it was time to make this house my own and start my new life.
I smiled at Alex. “So what’s the news?”
His brown eyes lit up as he smiled at me, and I briefly wondered if he was the Barret of this town. Lord, I hoped not. “Since we had a delay yesterday with the bodies and all, I thought we’d be delayed on the well, but I left some of the crew working on it, and they stayed on schedule, so you should have water by the time we leave tonight.”
I clapped, grinning from ear to ear. “Oh, that is great, Alex! Thank you so much. You guys are my heroes. I can shower again.”
He tipped his hardhat. “All in a day’s work, ma’am.” He was blushing a little. I bit down my lip while he walked toward his waiting crew that had been watching the exchange. One of them slapped his back and glanced back at me. I offered a smile and a wave.
When I turned back to the house, all thoughts of the creepy Alvah family were gone. I set to work on cleaning and unpacking the rest of my stuff.
Chapter Six
Music blared throughout the house. Night had fallen, and I was still scrubbing walls in the living room. The water had been back on for a couple hours. I’d ripped all the dingy, nasty curtains off all the windows and thrown them out when I cleaned the windows.
Sweat beaded my forehead while I scrubbed with everything I had. I dipped my cloth back into the soapy water. It was damn near black. I’d had to dump the bucket after each wall. I carried it to the sink, po
ured it down the drain, and stared out at the backyard. Nothing but shadows out there. And the old barn. I hadn’t even gone in to check it out. I wasn’t sure I’d even keep it up. A shadow darted behind a tree near the barn.
I blinked. My eyes had to be playing tricks on me. It looked like something was sticking out from behind the tree. I left the bucket rinsing and grabbed a knife and pushed the back door open. Squinting against the darkness, I stared at the tree, waiting for whatever it was to move.
“Whoever is out here, you need to get off my property before I get the shotgun and call the police!”
A high-pitched giggle erupted from somewhere in the distance, and something slammed against my face. It was cold, hard, and…wet. My hand shot up to the stinging spot on my cheek. Laughter erupted from the night. Whatever it was, it was gooey. I saw something flying toward me again and jumped back as an egg slammed onto the concrete of the porch.
Fucking punk-ass kids.
I stepped inside and slammed the door closed, locking it behind me. I yanked a handful of paper towels off the roll, then wiped the egg off the side of my face, snatched my phone off the counter, and called 911.
I explained that I had some teens on my property vandalizing, and they assured me that they would send someone out soon. In a town like this, “soon” was probably tomorrow and only to take a report. Egg dripped from my hair to the floor. I groaned, turned off the faucet, and went to shower. I would deal with finishing the walls tomorrow.
I was lying in bed tossing and turning in a strange half-awake, half-asleep state of misery when I heard the footsteps coming up the stairs. Adrenaline woke me the rest of the way. I sat up in bed, my heart pounding, reaching under my pillow for my .45 I’d tucked under there after the egging incident. The heavy footsteps sounded like they were coming in my direction. Pushing my covers off, I climbed out of my bed and tiptoed to the door, pressing my back against the wall to wait for the intruder to come in here.
Something slammed into the wall behind me, rattling it. A startled yelp erupted from me. I covered my mouth and moved away from the door, scanning the room for my cell phone. It wasn’t on the nightstand. An image of it sitting on the kitchen counter teased my memory.
The overwhelming smell of cigarette smoke invaded my nostrils, and another loud noise sounded from downstairs. And then music from the record player started up. It wasn’t the record that had been on earlier in the day when the Alvah family had been here, but I’d taken the player out to the trashcan anyway. My brain was on overload, tears pricking my eyelids as those same heavy footsteps thundered down the stairs. My bedroom door rattled.
I could sit here crying, or I could protect my home. I pushed myself forward and threw the door open. A dark and empty hall greeted me. The music still sounded from downstairs and some quiet whispers. Maybe? I couldn’t tell for sure. I crept to the top of the stairs and looked down. Every light was blazing. Inhaling a deep breath, I aimed my gun and headed down the stairs slowly. Rounding the landing, I braced myself against the wall outside the living room. When I swung around, I couldn’t believe my eyes. The record player I’d thrown out earlier sat in the middle of the room on top of my coffee table.
Other than that, the room was empty. I slowly crept from room to room, checking every door and window. Everything was locked up tight. My real surprise was when I made it into the kitchen. All of my dishes were out of the cabinets and piled high, nearly to the ceiling. My jaw dropped as I approached the tall pile. It was meticulously stacked, cups, plates, bowls—all of them. Who could have possibly broken in and stacked these without me hearing them doing it? It would take at least half an hour to do that.
I found the phone, and for the second time tonight, I dialed 911. This time I reported a break in. I checked the back door, which was locked like I left it. Chills slid up my spine as the thought I’d been avoiding was no longer going to be ignored. We unearthed something that wasn’t ready to leave home. I bought a fucking haunted house. Suddenly I felt like I was being watched. Hell, I probably was. Looking around, I regretted not putting sheets over the windows. If it wasn’t a ghost but some kind of stalker, this was probably like an open invitation. My house had enough acreage that it was too out of the way to merely stumble on. Someone would have to go out of their way to get here.
While I waited for the cops, I cycled through all the people who would want to do something like this and came up with no one. It made no sense. When red and blue lights lit up the dirt road, I hurried to the door and waited on the porch, feeling a bit safer with the police here.
Chapter Seven
As expected, the cops found nothing and no one. It was two officers I hadn’t met before, which I was kind of grateful for, although apparently everyone in town knew about the bodies found out here because that was one of the first things they mentioned. All in all, it was useless to have them out. There were no signs of forced entry and a ton of random footprints all over the property from the excavation crew. They were as perplexed as me by the dishes stacked in the kitchen. One of them recommended I call the local priest for a blessing of the property.
When they left, I lay on the couch with my gun and phone clutched in each hand and fell asleep for a few fitful, nightmare-plagued hours.
I got up the next morning and threw my hair into a bun, brushed my teeth, and used some concealer to hide the lack of sleep before heading into town. I had to go to the library, the grocery store, and I was going to check in with the coroner to see if the Alvahs had claimed their family’s remains.
I used the GPS on my phone to lead the way to the library. I rounded a corner onto an empty industrial street, where a familiar beat-up van was parked under a shady tree. There they were, lawn chairs on the sidewalk and music blaring from the van. I slowed a little, listening intently to the song playing. It sounded familiar. The creepy son watched me pass. The street seemed darker than before. More empty even. It was only them and me…what were the odds?
I glared back defiantly. The smell of menthol cigarettes wafted through my car’s air vents. They all stared back at me, the look in their eyes cold. No trace of Starla’s overfriendliness, no dancing.
The horn of another car drew my attention away from the family. I swerved just before hitting it. The driver flipped me off and yelled something at me. My heart was in overdrive, and my hands were shaking. I hit the accelerator and didn’t look back.
When I got to the library, I went straight to the circulation desk.
The woman behind the counter, probably about my age, smiled. “Hi, you’re new in town?” I must have looked bewildered, because she laughed and shrugged. “In a town like this, you know everyone, and if you don’t know them personally, you know of ‘em. Can we get you a library card goin’?”
I shook my head. “Not right now. I have a few errands to run. I was wondering if you have anything about an Alvah family?” I felt stupid as soon as the words left my mouth.
Her smile faltered. “Not to my knowledge, only rumors in a small town. You’re the new owner?” I nodded. “I heard kids are giving you a hard time. I’m sorry about that. People don’t got much else to do in small towns.” She shook her head. “My husband was one of the cops who came out to check the house for you last night.”
I nodded, already not loving how small of a town it was. An old woman was standing nearby pretending to look at magazines. I kept catching her looking at me from the corner of my eye. “Oh yeah, well, I hear it’s the place to go for dares. Bad reputation and all that.”
The woman’s smile was tight lipped. “Yeah, like I said, all hearsay. An old house out there all by itself…people like to make up stories. I’m sure you’ll fix it up real nice.”
I nodded. “Well, thanks anyway.”
I made my way outside with the old woman following close behind. I paused and waited for her to catch up.
She motioned to me to keep walking and fell in step with me. “No one is going to talk to you about those folks you’re askin�
�� about. But I’ll tell you, that family was pure evil, and God help any poor soul that gets tangled up with them.”
“Evil? What is that supposed to mean? What did they do that was evil?”
She looked at me for a long beat. “People came up missing near their property. This town…it’s been trying to expunge them from their memories ever since. My husband, Lord bless his soul, he was one of the deputies that found them girls up there. They were skinned alive. Starla was dancing around naked, covered in blood. Her brother Cal was wearing one of their faces. That was the night they chased those horrible people out of town.”
“Why didn’t they arrest them, call the FBI…literally anything?” I asked, my stomach twisted in knots. “They released them out on the world with no warning?”
“I don’t know why they done what they did…my James wouldn’t ever talk about it. I suspect it had something to do with money. Those awful folks had plenty of it.” A woman standing in front of the library called out to the old woman. She waved at her and then turned back to me. Her face solemn, she patted my shoulder. “I don’t know why you were asking, but that’s an ugly wound not many here are willing to open.”
She walked away and then paused, not turning around at first. When she did, her eyes were filled with tears. “It’s just me, but if I were to have a run in with those folks, I’d do things different. None of them should’ve been allowed to leave that godforsaken house.”
With those parting words, she headed over to the woman staring at me curiously. A warm breeze picked up, rustling the leaves on the trees nearby. There was no way that the Alvahs truly skinned innocent girls and simply left town. It was a bizarre story. A shiver ran down my spine. The old woman didn’t look back, but what I was assuming was her daughter or nurse did several times, and she did not look happy. I knew the Alvahs were still in town, and something about them was just…wrong. But skinning people? Dancing naked covered in blood? That was something out of a slasher film, not real life.
13 Night Terrors Page 2
