The Nothing House

by Cherie Mitchell

  “I don’t like making a fuss. Oww!” I try to pull my head away but Liam’s holding me firmly by the jaw so he can apply iodine to the scratch. I have to admit that I got a shock when I saw it, too. It’s festered already, gone all swollen and pus-y and sore looking. I didn’t think an ordinary old scratch could do that so quickly. Maybe I really do have rabies.

  “There’s not making a fuss and there’s being sensible enough to tell me when you’re hurt. They’re two very different things, Ellie.”

  His mouth is close to mine as he studies his handiwork and I wonder if I should kiss him to try to distract him. He looks up then and catches my eye and he gives me one of his cautionary looks. One of his ‘don’t try anything cute’ looks. Seems he knows me too well.

  “What were you and Reece doing down by the garden?” I’m making conversation now in an attempt to steer him away from his tutting about the crow. I haven’t mentioned Obidiah yet and I don’t plan on it. Not for now. There’s a couple of people I need to talk to first before I discuss it with Liam.

  “Don’t try to distract me. Tell me more about the bird. What kind of bird was it?”

  “A crow. A big, black crow. Its wings were pretty. Kind of bluish and shiny. I always thought they were a solid black color but they’re not.”

  “And it just flew at you?” He’s holding my chin now and he tips my head this way and that, squinting his eyes to see the wound better. I have to admit that the scratch is stinging now that he’s applied the iodine but I’m not letting out a whimper. Ellie Friedlander does not show her pain to others. Not ever.

  “Yeah. Sort of jumped off the fence and into my face before flying away. You were busy with stacking the stuff we’d bought into the car and the kids were hungry so I didn’t think it was worth mentioning at the time.”

  “Everything that happens to you is worth mentioning to me,” he says solemnly and I don’t know whether to giggle or hug him.

  “You’re sweet.” I twist my head away so he has to release his grip on my chin. “The iodine will probably fix it.”

  “Are you sure you’re okay?”

  “I’m okay.” I’m smiling but I can’t shake the sight of those red, glowing eyes from my mental vision. It’s hard to explain exactly what they’re like and I know this because I’ve tried to explain them to Dr. McIntyre on numerous occasions. The best I could come up with was that they looked like solid evil dipped in luciferins, those chemicals that make sea plankton glow at night, but Dr. McIntyre just gave me a professional nod when I said that and quickly moved the session on. I don’t think she knows what plankton is but she didn’t want to admit it.

  “Is Ellie gonna be all right?” Reece is standing in the bathroom doorway, pale as paper from the weight of his concern and worry.

  “Sure I am.” I hold my arms out to him, already aware that he won’t run into them for a hug. Reece is not a run-and-hug type of kid. He never was.

  “Can I use the bathroom yet?” Organza appears behind Reece, her arms crossed and her foot tapping with impatience. “I’ll pee my pants in the hallway if you don’t let me in soon.”

  The bathroom is one of the rooms in this house that I’m anxious to change. The toilet is in here, crouched next to the bath like a porcelain goblin, and I hate that. I hate bathrooms that include toilets. It adds up to no end of problems – someone pooping when someone else needs to shower or vice versa, or someone wanting to take a relaxing bath but the smell of a recent poop puts them off. I don’t know whoever decided that it was a good idea to include a toilet in a bathroom. When toilets were first invented they put them in a separate room called a water closet. They knew what they were doing. Hey, builders and house designers of the world, if it ain’t broke don’t fix it.

  Anyway, did you notice that Organza didn’t ask if I was doing okay? That’s Organza for you. Organza and her needs always come first and last in her world.

  We shuffle out of the bathroom so Organza can pee and Reece wanders off to his room. Liam puts his arm around me, warm and protective, and leads me into the living room, which smells of chocolate cake and chocolate-orange frosting from Organza’s baking efforts. “You should rest.”

  “I’m not an invalid, Liam.” Don’t go and annoy me just when I was thinking how sweet you’ve been.

  “Sorr-eee.” He drops his arm from around me and takes a few steps back, holding up his hands in mock surrender.

  “Don’t be stupid.” I’m really not in the right frame of mind for games. I sit down on the sofa we bought yesterday and pull one of the new throw cushions onto my lap. Holding a cushion on my lap is very satisfying. I don’t what it is about it. Maybe it makes me feel shielded or something. “You didn’t tell me what you and Reece were talking about in the garden.”

  “Oh, yeah. We’re planning to dig it over and plant some vegetables. This land was once used to grow corn and beets so we know it’s good growing land. Plus, old Farmer Wheeler used to run cattle here so all of that bullshit will make for good fertilizer.”

  “Hmmm. Bullshit generally does.” I’m not really listening. I need some time to myself and I don’t know how to tell him that without sounding rude.

  “Yeah, okay. I’m going back outside.” He walks out the front door without a backward glance and I know he’s in a huff. He thought I was saying he was talking BS and I didn’t mean that at all.

  Oh well. Doesn’t matter to me. I have bigger sausages to fry. For now, I have some huge questions and I know exactly where I’m going to get the answers.

  Chapter Seventeen

  “Hi, Mom!” I’ve barricaded myself in the bathroom after first checking that Organza isn’t going to need another urgent pee or anything. I figure this is the most soundproof place in the house, especially as I’ve turned the cold faucet on and left it running. Running water is a great muffler of sound. More killers should stop to consider it as an essential part of their murderous arsenal.

  “Ellie!” She’s doing that split voice thing that she’s perfected over the years, where the top notes are cheerful but the bottom notes are loaded with caution. A self-protection type of caution. Yeah, she definitely knows she’s fucked me over by sending both the kids out here without any warning and she’s expecting me to jump down her throat.

  I decide to take the back way in, to catch her off guard and take her by surprise. It’s worked for me before and I’m sure it’ll work again. “I was so excited to see Organza and Reece waiting at the gate when the Uber driver dropped them off!”

  “You were?”

  “Of course. We’re a family and families should always stick together and look out for each other. We’re having sooooo much fun!”

  “Oh. Yes, of course families should look out for each other.” She clears her throat and I can picture her looking in the mirror above her dresser, fixing her hair in that anxious, fidgety way of hers. I mean, I don’t even know if she’s in her bedroom at the moment but if she is, that’s what she’ll be doing.

  “We’ve been shopping and we’ve bought stuff for the house. See?” I take the phone away from my ear and turn it around with the camera on to do a slow scan of the bathroom. “Towels, soap dispenser, shower curtain.”

  “You’re in the bathroom?”

  “Yeah. The others are busy doing renovation stuff and it’s quiet in here. Thanks for the check, by the way. We put it to good use.”

  “No problem. You thanked me already.”

  “Oh yeah.” We fall into an uneasy silence and I’m not in any hurry to fill it.

  “And how’s Liam?” Guilt is a strong motivator.

  “He’s good. It was somewhat of a surprise to him to realize we were babysitting so early after moving into our new house together, but otherwise he’s fine.”

  “Oh.” Her voice has faded a little, lost her cheerful edge, and I find myself feeling sorry for her. Don’t poke the monkey, Ellie.

  “I got attacked by a crow today,” I say, partly to make conversation that won’t be construed
as controversial or inflammatory. I need Mom on my side so I can ask her what I need to know.

  “What?! Are you all right?”

  “I’m fine. It landed on a fence beside me and it kind of scratched me as it flew away. It was probably an accident.” No it wasn’t. It wasn’t an accident at all and you know it, Ellie.

  “Ouch! I hope you got Liam to put some disinfectant on the wound. Birds can harbor all kinds of nasty diseases.”

  My hand goes involuntarily up to my cheek. It still feels puffy and raw and the iodine has left a sticky coating that colors my fingertips yellow as I pull them away to inspect them. “Yeah, he took care of it.”

  “And the house? Are you happy with it?”

  “Yes. It’s going to take a lot of work to make it how we want it but we knew that when we took it on.” Cut to the chase, Ellie. “Mom… has Reece mentioned Obidiah lately?”

  There’s a long silence on the other end of the phone. I might start to think that Mom has gone if it isn’t for the quiet sound of her breathing. Finally, she whispers, “What did he say to you?”

  “Reece has said nothing. Not yet. I wanted to talk to you first.”

  She sounds puzzled now. “If he hasn’t mentioned Obidiah why are you talking about him? I thought we’d agreed not to say his name.”

  Yes, we did agree that we should try not to mention the Satanist’s name again. After all the rigmarole and fuss of our rescue from the bush fire and the zombies died down, we managed to get in touch with Father Lucerne again. He told us he was proud of us for using our ingenuity to make the holy water and that we’d done exactly the right thing in burning the property down as we left. We kept in touch for a while before the correspondence naturally died away, but one thing he did warn us was that we shouldn’t give Obidiah the power of his name.

  “I know that… it’s just that strange things have been happening since Reece arrived.”

  “He only arrived yesterday,” Mom points out, reasonably enough.

  “There’s a rocking horse in his room. It was there when we moved in. I think it’s hideous but Reece fell in love with it as soon as he saw it. He’s called it Nostradamus. It weighs a ton but somehow it ended up in the middle of his mattress last night. Everyone swears they didn’t put it there and I believe them.”

  “Hmmm. What else?”

  “The crow, although we could probably discount that as a freak event. The big thing was what I saw in the oak tree earlier. Mom, I swear I saw Obidiah’s red eyes peering at me out of a knot hole.”

  “Are you sure?” She doesn’t sound too convinced, as if she was expecting my big reveal to be a lot more exciting that it is.

  “I’m positive.”

  “Okay. Well, Reece hasn’t said anything about him to me. I honestly think he’s forgotten that he ever existed. He was only three, Ellie.”

  “Four. He’d just turned four.” It doesn’t appear that Mom is going to be any help. Seems her solution is to brush what’s happened away and pretend everything is normal. I have to admit that she does tend to take that path whenever a challenge presents itself.

  “Ah, yes. So he had.” I can tell she wants this call to be over.

  “Anyway, it was nice talking to you.”

  “You too! Make sure you guys have fun out there. If you need any more money while the kids are there, just ask.” Her voice brightens again and it’s glaringly obvious she’s happy that I’m bringing the conversation to an end. She doesn’t want to believe that Obidiah is back and I can’t say I blame her.

  “I will. Bye, Mom.” I stab a finger at the End Call button. Time for Plan B.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Reece is lying on his stomach on his bed reading a book when I tap on his door and walk in. He looks up and grins at me. “Hi, Ellie.”

  “Hey, you.” I shut the door behind me. For now, what I’m about to say is for Reece’s ears alone. I sit on the bed beside him and ruffle his hair. “I see Liam fixed your closet door.”

  “Yeah.” He smiles happily. “I can shut the bad stuff away now.”

  Seriously, I get such a cold shiver then that my gums feel as if they’re shrinking. I’m sure that if I shake my head my teeth will rattle. “What bad stuff?”

  He shrugs and goes back to his book, turning a page and looking engrossed in the blocks of text.

  “Reece? You gotta talk to me, hun. This is important.”

  No reaction. I decide to try a different tactic. “What are you reading?”

  He makes that face that people make when you’re interrupting them but they know they should be polite. He flips the book over so I can see the cover. Jules Verne, Journey to the Center of the Earth. Reece always chooses books that are probably not so popular with his peers. I mean, it’s a great book, but it was written in the late 1800s. I don’t know how many other 13-year-olds are running down to the their local library to check it out. Actually, come to think of it, I don’t know if many 13-year-olds run down to the library at all anymore.

  “Nice. So, tell me what else you’ve been up to lately. Besides reading.”

  He does something weird then. It’s hard to explain even though I’m seeing it with my own eyes. He kind of extends and curls his neck, if that’s even possible. Like he lengthens it or something, as if he’s turned it into a bendy straw.

  Trick or treat, Ellie? It’s a Halloween party and you’re the main attraction. I shake my head to rid it of the insidious voice that has just snaked its way inside my head. I know my mind is playing tricks on me, Halloween trick or treats, but I’m not going to let it run away on itself. It’s time to drop all the small talk and get to the point, despite the fact I don’t know if my brother remembers that devil worshipper’s name. “Reece, I need to know about Obidiah Wulfstan. When did he find you again?”

  Reece is staring at me without seeing me. His eyes are wide but they’re glazed over, as if someone has wrapped cling film across them. “He’s been thinking about you a lot, Angel. For years and years.”

  Angel? As far as I’m aware, Reece doesn’t remember that I was ever called Angel. He stopped talking completely after we were rescued from Cemetery Hill and he didn’t start talking again until he was well over six years of age. By that time, everyone knew me as Ellie and as far as I was concerned, little Angel Friedlander was dead and buried along with all of those zombies.

  I place my hand on Reece’s shoulder in an attempt to get him to sit up and then I hurriedly snatch it back again. He’s burning up! This can’t be good. He’s still staring at me blankly but at least it seems he’s pulled his ropey neck back in again.

  “Reece, I think we should go outside. Get some fresh air. You feel too hot.”

  He doesn’t move. I’m about to say more when suddenly something crashes to the floor in the closet, behind that newly fixed door. I swear, I jump so high in fright it’s a wonder my head doesn’t hit the ceiling. Reece blinks, startled out of that coma or whatever it was he’d sunken into, and he swivels around to look at the closet. “What was that?”

  “I don’t know.” A vision of the dead opossum that Liam and I found in that closet flashes up in front of me. The dead opossum that ended up as tree paint.

  Reece scoots over to the side of the bed and stands up, looking and sounding like my brother again. “I know what it could be. I put my statue in there and it must’ve fallen off the shelf. I hope it didn’t break.” He yanks open the closet door before I can stop him and I peer over his shoulder to see that the entire space is empty, except for whatever it is he’s picking up off the floor. He turns around and shoves a head-and-shoulders plaster image of Abraham Lincoln at me. “It didn’t break.”

  “Jeepers, Reece. Why are you lugging that thing around?”

  “I like old stuff.” He sits Abe reverently down on his flag bedcover. “Don’t you think it’s cool?”

  “Um, not really but each to his own.” I watch him as he inspects the statue for any signs of cracks. He’s an odd boy, my brother, but I’ve a
lready told you that. He gets fascinated, almost obsessed, with random stuff that most people wouldn’t look at twice. I decide to try the Obidiah conversation again, but I’ll do it a little more subtly this time around. “Do you ever have a voice in your head that you don’t think is yours? A voice that feels as if it’s someone trying to talk to you from the inside?”

  “Huh?” Reece gives me a ‘you’re nutso’ look as he lifts Abe and sits him precisely on top of the stack of books on the bedside cabinet.

  “You know, a voice that sounds as if someone might be trying to contact you. Like a phone call without the phone.”

  “Telepathy?” He seems curious now.

  “Yeah, I guess.” That’ll do. It’s close enough.

  “Nah, but I’d like to. There are some twins in my class at school and they reckon they can communicate by telepathy.” He looks wistful. “I’d sure like to be able to do that.”

  “So you never have? You’ve never felt as if someone is trying to contact you with their thoughts?” I’m testing the waters, trying to find out how much Reece remembers.

  “Of course not.” He tips a barrowful of scorn into that comment, as only a 13-year-old boy can. His eyes shift to the door. “Can we go find Liam?”

  “Sure.” I slide off the bed and walk over to the door, well aware that the conversation has gone as far as it can for now. I haven’t found my answers yet, but I will. I have to, before things spiral out of control.

  Chapter Nineteen

  It’s not until later, when the kids are in bed, that I get a proper chance to talk to Liam. I’ve spent the past few hours trying to get the words right in my head. I don’t want to scare him but he needs to know what’s going on. I don’t know how or why, but Obidiah has somehow managed to attach himself to Reece again and I know from past experience that he’ll just keep getting stronger. My only comfort is that we’re not living in a house parked on top of an old cemetery and Obidiah can’t go calling up the dead to chase us this time around.