“Oh, my God,” Melanie whispered. “Kyle, I’m coming!”
She hurried around the clutter of the attic and unhooked the little door. To her shock, she saw Kyle’s pale face and plastered hair. There was blood on his lips from sucking his wounded hand.
“Alicen made me do it,” he said weakly.
“Shh,” Melanie cooed, hoisting herself up onto the roof to take him in her arms. “Come inside.”
Kyle held her very tightly, and Melanie felt the trembling of his body. He coughed a little as she moved back toward the door. Then, suddenly, a loud clap of thunder made him jump. His scream mixed with his mother’s as his body was torn from her. He slipped down the roof.
“MMOOMMMMYY!”
“KYLE! NO!!!”
She couldn’t reach out quickly enough to grab him. He fell over the roof, screaming all the while. Melanie crawled out after him and to her relief saw that he had caught hold of the rain gutters.
“Take my hand, Kyle!” she shouted, reaching down. Because of the decorative trim around the roof, the gutters were a foot below her. Kyle was too frightened, however, to reach up.
“I—I can’t!” he protested.
“Kyle, it’s okay,” Melanie insisted. “I’m right here. I’ll hold onto you.”
“I can’t!”
“Kyle, please,” Melanie begged.
The child began to cry hysterically. Seeing he would never let go of the gutters, Melanie crawled further out, until half her body was hanging over the ledge. She didn’t dare think that someone might be behind her, waiting to push her off the wet, steep roof. She didn’t think at all, but worked mindlessly in her efforts to save her child. Those gutters were so old they were rotted, and if they should break . . .
“I’ve got you!” Melanie shouted, feeling Kyle’s wrist in her hand. “Let go!”
“No!”
It began to rain again. Without arguing, Melanie gave a heave and tried to pull her son over the ledge. But he was too heavy for her one arm. Blinking in the rain, she reached her other arm down and grabbed his other wrist. At the very moment she managed to at last pull him on the roof, a piece of the gutter gave way and crashed to the gravel driveway below.
Without a word, Melanie held fast to her son and scurried back into the attic. She closed the door above her and locked it, all the time thanking God that Kyle was safe in her arms. He was coughing violently, his wet body shivering against her. She carried him down into the hall.
Gina and Nancy, who had heard all the shouting, were waiting there. Seeing Kyle’s wet clothes and hair, Gina reached into the closet for a blanket to wrap around him.
“What happened?” Nancy asked, frightened.
“Kyle was locked up on the roof,” Melanie said, hurrying down the hall to his room.
“Alicen did it,” Kyle said weakly.
Melanie laid him on his bed and began to remove his soaked clothes, while Gina looked through his drawers for a pair of warm pajamas and handed them to her mother. Melanie dressed her son more violently than she realized, throwing his wet clothes across the room with such force that they made slapping sounds against the furniture. She was furious that such a thing could happen to a nine-year-old.
At last she tucked him under his covers. “You lay still, darling,” she said. “I’ll call a doctor.”
Kyle closed his eyes. Gina and Nancy stood by the bed, watching him with concern. A hand went into Kyle’s, and he opened his eyes to smile at Gina. But his smile never happened. He saw Alicen standing beside his sisters.
“GO AWAY! GO AWAY!” He screamed on, stopping only when he doubled over in a coughing fit. Just then, the door opened, and Melanie hurried to his side.
“Get out of here,” she said to the girls, who obeyed immediately.
Melanie sat Kyle up to pat his back. “Easy, honey! Mommy’s here!”
Kyle quieted at last and fell against her.
“Okay, now?”
His eyelids began to droop, his voice became a whisper. “Alicen. Alicen. Alicen.”
Melanie bit her lip and laid her son back down again. He was delirious, the poor child. She kissed his burning forehead and went out into the hall. The three girls were standing there, wide-eyed.
“Alicen,” Melanie said, “did you tell Kyle to go up onto the roof?”
Alicen’s brown eyes rounded. “No! Why would I do a thing like that?”
“Kyle said you locked him on the roof,” Melanie reported.
“He’s a liar,” Alicen growled.
“Don’t you call my brother a liar!” Nancy said angrily.
“Alicen,” Melanie said, her tone grim, “I’ll get the truth when Kyle is better. But right now I have to call a doctor. Stay out of his room.”
Gina turned to study her friend’s face as her mother walked away. There were tears in Alicen’s eyes, tears of a child who couldn’t understand why she was being blamed for something she didn’t do. Gina said nothing to her. She heard the sound of the front door opening and ran downstairs, Nancy at her heels. Passing her mother at the telephone stand, she raced to throw her arms around her father as he entered the house.
“Well, hello!” Gary said cheerfully. “That’s just the kind of greeting I need on a day like this.”
“Daddy, Kyle’s sick,” Nancy said.
Gary’s smile faded. “What’s wrong with him?”
“He got caught up on the roof,” Gina said. Confused, Gary walked down the hall with her, his raincoat dripping on the carpet.
“Please, he’s feverish and delirious,” Melanie was saying over the phone. “He was caught out in the storm for God knows how long. Couldn’t you come here?”
A pause.
“Oh, thank you,” Melanie said. “You’re very kind. I’ll see you in a few minutes.”
She hung up and looked at Gary. But before she could speak, Derek interrupted her.
“How did Kyle get caught up on the roof?” he asked, thinking the worst.
“I’m not sure,” Melanie said. “It seems he climbed out through a trapdoor, and it slammed shut behind him. I didn’t hear him calling, because the storm was so loud.”
She bowed her head and cried a little. “I didn’t hear my child calling me!”
“Melanie, don’t blame yourself,” Gary said gently. “Let’s go upstairs and have a look at him.”
“I hope he’s all right,” Derek said, an uneasy feeling creeping over him.
In Kyle’s room Gary bent over his son and brushed back a strand of hair that was plastered to his forehead. Kyle slept fitfully, pulling away at his father’s touch and whining a little. Gary straightened up.
“What on earth possessed him to do such a foolish thing?” he asked.
Melanie looked over her shoulder and saw they were alone. But she still kept her voice down. “Gary, he said Alicen made him do it. She must have dared him.”
“I believe it,” Gary said angrily. “The little—”
“Shh,” Melanie said.
“Tell me something,” Gary asked. “With Derek leaving us so abruptly and Kyle blaming Alicen for this, do you still think this house is haunted again?”
“I don’t know what to think right now,” Melanie said.
She put her arms around her husband, her wet hair dampening his shirt. Kyle’s room was darkened by the storm outside, and silent but for the wheezing of a little boy in a huge four-poster bed. A short while later, they heard a knock at the door. Melanie let the doctor in, and the young woman came close to the bed. She looked Kyle over carefully and at last stood up.
“It’s possibly pneumonia,” she said. “I’ll take this blood sample in for tests, in case something else is wrong.”
“Something else?” Melanie asked.
“Just routine,” the doctor said. “All he needs is plenty of rest and fluids. And give him one of these every four hours. I’ll leave you a prescription for more.”
“Is he going to be all right?” Gary asked.
“He’ll b
e fine,” the doctor said. “Call me if his fever doesn’t break by morning.”
“I’ll do that,” Melanie said.
That night, she sat by Kyle’s bed and didn’t close her eyes until exhaustion claimed her sometime in the morning.
24
Gary came in sometime the next morning to insist that Melanie come downstairs for breakfast. After all, she hadn’t eaten anything for dinner the night before. He had taken care of the children that morning, and now that they were off at school, he had decided it was a good time to get the entire story from his wife.
“Come on, honey,” he said, pulling her gently from the chair beside Kyle’s bed. “If you don’t get food in you, you’ll collapse.”
Melanie followed him from the room without protest.
Gary poured his wife a cup of hot coffee in the kitchen. She drank it slowly, not tasting it. Gary waited for her to wake up a little more, then said, “While we have the chance, tell me exactly what happened yesterday.”
“I’m not quite sure,” Melanie said, yawning. “I’ll tell you what I think happened. Alicen dared Kyle to go up on the roof—for whatever reason. He knew better, but he couldn’t resist a dare.”
“Kyle’s like that,” Gary said. “She probably shamed him into it.”
“But Kyle wouldn’t have locked himself on the roof,” Melanie went on. “And he certainly would have called Alicen right away when he saw it shut. She must have heard him yelling and ignored him. Apparently, she locked him out there on purpose. But when I asked her about it, she denied everything.”
“Of course,” Gary said.
“I was inclined to believe her,” Melanie said, “because she’s never been a vicious child. Then I saw the way Kyle reacted when she came to his bedside. Gary, he became completely hysterical!”
“The poor kid,” Gary said. “I believe what he said about Alicen. The question is, do you?”
“I still have to force myself,” Melanie said, “but I do. I’m not sure she killed Lad—I still can’t bring myself to think that. But considering the fact that she did hurt Kyle, I wouldn’t put Lad’s death past her.”
She sipped again at the coffee. “My God,” she said. “A thirteen-year-old murderess.”
“It’s no less believeable than a two-hundred-year-old ghost,” Gary said. “Melanie, now that you’ve seen what Alicen did, are you willing to believe our troubles will be over once we get rid of her?”
“I want to,” Melanie said. “I don’t want to be afraid, Gary.”
“We can handle a child,” Gary said “Derek will be gone from here in a week or so, and then everything will be back to normal.”
He sighed. “I hate to see him go, though. Derek’s a fine therapist. The rest of his life and career are going to be ruined by a disturbed child.”
“Alicen should get counseling,” Melanie said. “I wish Derek would send her away right now, even if he doesn’t leave himself.”
“You know he won’t do that,” Gary said. “In spite of everything, he still feels a sense of responsibility toward her. But don’t worry. We’ll keep an eye on Alicen. Now that we know who to watch out for, we’re perfectly safe.”
Across the room an unseen figure began to laugh as she listened to that statement. Perfectly safe! It struck her as so funny that she screamed with delight, a scream heard only by those who dwelt in her own dark world.
Later in the morning, Melanie went to check Kyle’s temperature. To her relief it had gone down two degrees. She kissed him and left the room again. With the children at school and Gary busy doing paperwork in his office, she decided to treat herself to a long, warm bath. She had been through such a mental ordeal that even her physical body was taxed.
She and Gary hadn’t discussed Alicen with Derek yet. Not because they didn’t want to, but because neither of them had had the chance. He had barely said good morning before he hurried from the house, racquet ball equipment in hand. He had tried to call Liza, needing her, but there had been no answer.
I never really liked you, Derek, Melanie thought to herself, but I never wished this kind of heartache on you.
She slipped out of her robe and tested the water with her toe. “But I’ve been hurt, too,” she mused, sinking down into the water.
She closed her eyes and leaned back. The water was so hot that steam rose from it, relaxing every bone and aching muscle in Melanie’s body. She heard a squeaking noise but didn’t open her eyes to investigate it.
She began to hum lazily. The squeaking continued.
Probably water in the pipes, she thought.
Her arm flung over the side of the tub, then pulled back with a jerk. Something wet had brushed against it. Melanie sat up with a startled cry, staring wide-eyed at a huge brown rat.
It bared its teeth at her, yellow, vicious teeth. Melanie remained perfectly still, too shocked to move. It was one of the beach rats, the filthy animals that lived among the jetty rocks. What the hell was it doing in here?
It wasn’t alone. Melanie heard a whimper and slowly turned to see another one running circles around the base of the sink. At that moment Gary pushed the door open.
“Melanie? I heard you cry—” He let out a groan when he saw the rats.
“Gary, get them out of here!”
The rats moved closer together and hissed defiantly. Gary leaned heavily against the doorjamb for support. One crutch raised high in the air and came crashing down full force on one tiny head. Blood squirted across the room. While Melanie clung to the bathtub faucet, Gary made an attempt at the other one. Instead, the rodent made a blood-curdling hissing noise and flew at Gary, it’s long teeth sinking into his side.
“AAAAUUUGGG!”
Melanie, forgetting her own fears for the moment, stood up and stepped out of the tub, nearly slipping on the bloody floor. She whipped a towel at the hideous creature that clung so viciously to Gary’s side. Gary screamed in pain, his crutches falling from under his arms as he furiously pried at the animal. Unsupported, his legs flew out from under him, and he fell to the floor.
“Gary!”
Grimacing, he at last tore the animal away. His face was red with fury as he smashed the hideous creature against the tile floor, again and again. Melanie watched him, crying loudly, until at last she could stand no more. She pulled the dead rat from his grip and threw it across the room.
“Stop it, please!”
She moved closer to him. Gary clutched at his side, grimacing in pain. “Where d-did they come from?”
“I don’t know!” Melanie cried. “Gary, I’ve got to get you to a doctor.’
“I’m okay,” Gary insisted, foolishly trying to get on his feet again. Uttering a terrible cry, he fell to the floor. “Damn it!”
Melanie, still naked, stood up now and walked to the medicine cabinet, her body dripping water that mixed with the blood on the floor, making it dangerously slippery. She found a bottle of hydrogen peroxide and a package of gauze. Carrying these in either hand, she walked carefully across the floor and knelt down beside her husband. She sniffled as she helped him get his shirt off. There was a tiny gash in his side, but it was deep, and so much blood gushed out of it that Melanie was forced to use the entire package of gauze to stop it. Although she shook as she worked, she managed to do a good job. At last she stood up and put on her robe.
“That’ll hold until the ambulance comes,” she said. “Please don’t try to move, Gary.”
“I’m okay,” Gary said weakly.
“That thing could have had rabies,” Melanie said firmly.
She hurried downstairs to the phone. Gary protested when the ambulance arrived, but Melanie refused to listen to him. She followed the paramedics from the house as they carried her husband on a stretcher. To her relief, they had placed the rats in a bag for inspection at the hospital.
“Please take care of him,” she said.
“You’re not coming?”
“I—I can’t,” Melanie said. “I have a sick child upstairs.
Gary, call me when you can?”
“I will,” Gary said. “And don’t worry.”
Don’t worry! How many times had he spoken those words? Now, feeling tears rise again, Melanie tightened her robe and watched the ambulance drive away.
“MOMMY?”
Kyle’s frantic cry broke her spell. She ran as fast as she could. Upstairs, to her disgust, she found him staring at the bloodstained bathroom floor. She hurried to him and lifted him away.
“What are you doing out of bed?”
“I had to go,” Kyle said.
Gary’s cries had wakened him, and now he stood in his bare feet, trembling. Melanie took him in her arms and suddenly felt the seat of his pants becoming wet. He looked at her, embarrassed. But Melanie kissed him and said, “It’s okay. You’re frightened and sick. Come on back to your room and I’ll get you dry pajamas.”
She helped the little boy undress. Weakened by his fever, Kyle didn’t protest. Melanie then tucked him under his covers and bent to kiss his perspiring forehead. He was sweating—that meant his fever was going down, thank God.
“Go to sleep honey,” she said. “You’ll be all right.”
She wished she could feel that way herself.
Derek had come to the spa to work off his frustrations, only to become more frustrated because he had to wait for a court. At this early hour, it was a marvel to see how many people were playing racquet ball. For a while he sat on a blue vinyl couch, staring at a bad oil painting. Then he stood up and fished a dime out of his pocket. For the tenth time that morning, he would try to get Liza on the phone. She couldn’t stay away forever, could she?
Derek tried not to think that something might have happened to her. He was glad when someone answered the phone but disheartened to hear a male voice. Idiot? He’d dialed the wrong number. And now they were calling him onto the court.
It was satisfying to take out his anger on those four walls. The loud, repetitive bouncing marked his fury. BANG! That one was for Alicen. BANG! That was for that bitch Janice and how she controlled his life. BANG! That was for this job. He had once called it a godsend, but for all he cared now, God could send it to hell. BANG! BANG! BANG! He wanted out. Away from Janice, away from Alicen, maybe even away from Liza. Where the hell was she now?
Ghost House Revenge Page 23
