by Amy Cross
Nothing.
“Well thank you, God,” she muttered, stepping back and enjoying the silence for a moment before turning and making her way back toward her room.
When she reached the top of the stairs, however, she glanced down and realized that her father seemed to have finally gone to bed. There was no sign of anyone down in the front room, and she figured that maybe she could grab a glass of water and perhaps take a look around without having to deal with Owen's annoying presence. Still limping slightly thanks to the pain in her damaged toe, she began to make her way down the bare wooden stairs. With the light off, she kept one hand on the wall, while muttering under her breath about the unfairness of the situation and about how she hated the house.
Still, at least the ticking sound had stopped.
Suddenly she felt one of the steps move slightly under her right foot, shifting down like a lever. She paused, a little unsteady, and a fraction of a second later she heard a clicking sound from behind the wall.
“Oh great,” she muttered with a sigh, making her way down the next couple of steps. “I knew it was too good to be -”
Bumping her damaged toe against the wall, she let out a gasp and stumbled. She reached out to grab the bannister but wasn't quite in time. Instead, she twisted and fell, briefly crying out as she tumbled down the final couple of steps. As she did so, she heard a sudden grinding noise and saw something flash through the air just a few inches above her face, accompanied by the sound of metal slicing across metal. Before she could react, however, she landed hard against the floor at the bottom of the stairs.
“Damn it!” she hissed, before rolling onto her back and looking up the stairs.
Three long metal spikes were protruding from the wall, running all the way over to the bannister.
Unable to believe what she was seeing, Jenna stared wide-eyed and shocked as the spikes glistened in a patch of moonlight. The ticking sound continued, as slowly the spikes began to retract into three holes in the wall. A moment later, she heard a faint bump from further up the stairs and she saw that the loose step was clicking back into position.
A moment after that, the ticking sounds faded again.
She stayed frozen in place on the floor. All thoughts of her damaged toe were forgotten now, and she simply stared at the three holes in the wall. She opened her mouth to call out, but no words came. Telling herself that there was no way a set of spikes had actually appeared, she began to sit up, although she was starting to realize that if she hadn't tripped and fallen, the spikes would have gone right through her waist and chest.
Shaking all over, she turned and looked across the dark hallway. There was no sign of anyone, although moonlight was streaming through the window and after a moment she spotted the framed photo of Cesar Marchionne on the opposite wall.
“Mum?” she said cautiously, her voice trembling with fear.
She waited, but the house was completely silent now. She wanted to just go back to bed and figure everything out for herself, but at the same time she was starting to feel a rush of panic.
“Mum?” she shouted again, before realizing that the whole situation was completely bizarre and impossible.
Crawling up the first step, she peered at the three holes in the wall. She made sure not to put herself in a position where she could get hurt, but she couldn't help reaching up and running her fingers around the edges of the holes, just to make sure they were real.
They were.
“No way,” she whispered, feeling a growing sense of panic in her chest. “No goddamn...”
Suddenly filled with the need to know for sure, she ducked down and started crawling up the stairs until she reached the step that had moved earlier under her foot. She hesitated for a moment, and then she looked around to make sure that there were no more holes in the wall, before finally she reached out and pushed the step down. Sure enough, it clicked the same as before, and she heard the ticking sound starting again behind the wall.
She turned and looked down toward the bottom of the stairs, watching the holes and -
Suddenly the three spikes shot out again, shuddering slightly as they came to a halt in the moonlight. Wide-eyed with shock, Jenna watched as the spikes stayed completely still, and then she saw then retracting once again into the wall, sliding away as cleanly as they'd appeared until they were one again out of sight.
“Mum?” she called out, before turning and scrambling back up the stairs. She was beyond panic now, and all she knew was that she had to warn her parents. “Mum! Dad! Wake up! There's -”
Before she could finish, she tripped on the last step and fell, landing hard on the floor. Letting out a gasp of pain, she rolled over and scrambled to her feet.
“Mum!” she shouted, limping quickly along the corridor. “Dad! You have to wake up, there's -”
Suddenly her right foot pressed down on a loose section of floorboard, which clicked slightly. The ticking sound immediately returned in the walls, and Jenna froze, looking around for any sign of more holes in the wall. After a fraction of a second, she heard a faint grinding sound over her shoulder, and finally she noticed a small hole on the edge of the cabinet.
She ducked out of the way, just as another spike shot out from the cabinet and almost hit the opposite wall, stopping just millimeters short. She stared in shock for a moment, before the spike slowly began to slide back into its slot.
“Mum!” she shouted, turning and crawling toward the door at the far end of the corridor. “Mum! Wake up!”
The door swung open and her parents emerged, slipping their earplugs out.
“What?” Helen asked, as Jenna clattered into her. “Honey, what's wrong? What in God's name are you doing on the floor?”
Chapter Ten
“Well nothing's happening now,” Owen muttered, pushing on the step again. Glancing back down, he looked at the holes in the wall and waited for a moment, before turning and looking back up at Helen and Jenna. “See for yourselves. I don't see spikes.”
“I'm telling you!” Jenna shouted, trembling as tears streamed down her face. “Why would I make something like this up!”
“It's okay,” Helen replied, pulling her closer for a hug as they sat at the top of the stairs. “Try to stay calm.”
“Spikes?” Owen continued, making his way down and examining the three holes in the wall. “Actual spikes?”
“Don't get too close!” Jenna yelled. “Dad, I swear to God, they're real!”
Peering closer at the holes, Owen ran a finger around the edges.
“Stop!” Jenna shouted. “They might come out!”
“Just calm down,” Helen said, kissing the side of her head.
“Don't tell me to calm down!” Jenna hissed, turning to her. “This house just tried to kill me! Twice!”
Helen sighed.
“You don't believe me!” Jenna continued. “I swear on my life, spikes came out of the wall!”
“Maybe you just had a very vivid nightmare,” Owen suggested, still examining the holes.
Jenna turned and looked down at him, her eyes filled with anger.
“A new house is a big change,” he continued, “and you've got to admit, you've been a little on-edge lately. Maybe -”
“I'm not a moron,” Jenna replied, interrupting him. Her bottom lip was trembling, and fresh tears were rolling down her cheeks. “I know the difference between being awake and being asleep. This goddamn house tried to goddamn kill me! Twice!”
“It seems completely harmless now,” he pointed out.
“That's because...” She looked down at the step for a moment. “Maybe it only works once. Or twice. I don't know, but I swear to God it happened!” She turned to Helen. “We have to get out of here! Right now!”
Helen sighed as she checked her watch. “It's three in the morning, sweetheart.”
“I don't care! The house is alive and it's trying to kill us!”
“What happened to your toe?”
“I stubbed it. Mum, ser
iously, if I hadn't slipped on my way down, those spikes would have skewered me!” She turned to Owen. “Take the wall apart! You'll see them!”
“No-one's pulling the wall apart tonight,” Helen told her. “Come on, you're being irrational.”
“There's something in there,” Owen muttered, trying to slip a fingertip into one of the holes but finding it was too tight. “I can't quite see what, though...”
“Stop!” Jenna yelled. “You might trigger it!”
“Just calm down,” Helen said soothingly, rubbing her daughter's shoulder. “Whatever happened, it'll seem much less scary in the morning.”
“Jenna might have a point,” Owen said, stepping through a door in the hallway and looking into the front room. “If there really are spikes in the wall, they must have retracted into this wall here. The geography of the house would technically allow that to happen. I guess I could take the wall apart and double-check, although...” He paused, before making his way back through and looking up at Jenna. “Don't you think you're taking this too far? I appreciate the effort, Jenna, but claiming that the house is somehow out to get you -”
“I'm not lying!” Jenna shouted. “Why can't you get that through your thick head! There's something seriously wrong with this place!”
“Maybe we should all go to bed,” Helen replied, standing and reaching down to take Jenna's hand. “In the morning, everything'll look a lot better.”
“This house is booby-trapped!” Jenna hissed.
“Come on, let's get you to your room.”
Jenna stared up at her mother for a moment, before taking her hand and getting to her feet. Turning, she looked down the stairs and saw that Owen was still examining the holes, and that he'd found a pencil from somewhere and was poking it into one of the gaps.
“Be careful, Dad!”
“I know what I'm doing!”
“Since when?”
“You're getting over-excited,” Helen told her. “This is ridiculous.”
“Do you really think I'd make something like this up?” she asked, her voice still trembling with shock. “I'm not insane!”
“Of course you're not,” Helen continued, as Jenna stood and took her hand. “Owen, we need to know what's going on in this house. If there are spikes or whatever in the walls, you need to find them. Not that I think there...” She paused, clearly struggling to make sense of the madness. “This is just too crazy,” she added, leading Jenna along toward one of the bedrooms. “I feel like I'm losing my mind.”
“Do you believe me?” Jenna asked.
She waited for a reply, but by the time they reached the door to her room she was starting to realize that her mother's silence was an answer in its own right.
“Why would I lie?” she continued. “Mum, I'm not stupid. I wouldn't lie about something that'd be so easily disproved. What would I even gain from that, apart from making myself look like a prat?”
“Sit down, sweetheart.”
“Mum -”
“Just sit down.”
Heading over to her bed, Jenna sat on the edge. Her feet were twitching and she was wringing her hands, unable to stay still as she felt a wave of nervous energy rippling through her body. She waited for her mother to join her, but instead Helen hesitated in the doorway.
“Do you think I'm a liar?” Jenna asked. “When have I ever lied, Mum? I'm not the liar in the family.”
“I know. I know, honey.”
“Dad lies enough for the three of us.”
“Let's not get into that now.”
“I admit that it all sounds crazy,” Jenna continued, “and I agree with you, it is hard to believe. Hell, if I hadn't seen those spikes myself, I don't think I'd have believed it, but...” She paused, waiting desperately for her mother to show a little support. “They're real. I promise.”
“Your father's taking a look now,” Helen replied. “If there's anything to find -”
“There is!”
“If there's anything to find, then he'll find it. And if there isn't...”
Her voice trailed off.
“You know I'm not a bullshitter,” Jenna said after a moment. “Deep down, Mum, you know I don't lie. I always swore I'd never be like Dad.”
Helen paused. “I know that,” she said finally, nodding. “Sure, sweetheart, I know you always tell the truth. I just think that with all the stress we've been under lately -”
“You think I imagined it?”
“Stress can do surprising things to a person's mind.”
“Ugh!” Leaning back, Jenna slumped down on her bed and stared up for a moment at the bare ceiling. She could hear her father bumping around in the room below, no doubt trying to locate the spikes, but she didn't care about his opinion. All she cared about was that her mother believed her, and she felt fresh tears in her eyes as she realized she was being written off as some crazy teenager.
“You should try to get some sleep,” Helen said finally, sounding exhausted. “Things'll look better in the morning.”
“Whatever,” Jenna replied, feeling a cold shiver running through her body. After a moment, however, she realized that perhaps her mother was right. “Maybe I am nuts,” she added. She took a deep breath as she replayed the night's events over and over in her mind's eye. Suddenly the idea of the spikes seemed ridiculous, and she began to doubt herself. “Maybe I'm just some easily-led, over-imaginative jerk,” she continued, “and I let this house get to me. Maybe it was just some kind of weird waking dream.”
“At least the house is quiet now,” Helen pointed out, just before there as another bump from downstairs. “Apart from your father's work, that is.”
“Sure.”
“Goodnight, sweetheart.”
Jenna paused. “Goodnight, Mum.”
She waited, before hearing her mother stepping out of the room.
Suddenly there was a clicking sound from nearby. Sitting bolt upright, Jenna saw that her mother had frozen in the doorway, looking down at her left foot, while the ticking sound had returned on the far side of the room.
“Mum -”
“This floorboard just moved a little,” Helen said with a frown. “Weird, eh?”
“Mum,” Jenna continued, feeling a rush of panic in her chest as she heard something rattling in the wall, “don't stand there!”
Helen turned to her. “What are you talking about?”
“Mum, move!”
Helen glanced at the frame and spotted a set of three holes at chest height.
“Mum, get out of there!”
Leaping up from the bed, Jenna was already halfway across the room when suddenly she saw three spikes slicing out from the frame, cutting straight through her mother's torso and slamming her like a rag-doll against the frame.
Chapter Eleven
“Mum!” Jenna screamed, reaching her mother as blood started dribbling down the front of Helen's night-shirt. “Dad! Help!”
“What...” Helen stammered, looking down at the spikes that were embedded in her chest, on the left-hand side of her body. One had entered just below her ribs, one had crushed through the ribs, and one was in her shoulder. Her eyes were filled with shock and confusion, as if she couldn't quite process what was happening.
“Dad!” Jenna shouted. “Help!”
“What's going on up there?” Owen shouted from downstairs.
“Dad, the -”
Suddenly the spikes retracted, sliding back into the holes with blood caked around their tips. Helen remained standing for a moment, as a torrent of blood began to rush from her wounds, but she quickly let out a pained sigh and slumped forward. Jenna caught her, almost collapsing under the weight as she felt her mother's blood rushing over her hands.
“Help!” she screamed. “Dad! Mum's hurt!”
“What do you mean?”
She heard footsteps from below.
“Helen?” Owen shouted. “What are you two -”
Suddenly there was a loud bump from downstairs, accompanied by the sound of m
etal hitting wood.
“Dad?” Jenna yelled, struggling as she began to drag her mother toward the bed. “Dad, are you coming? Just get the hell up here!”
“Get out of the house,” Helen whispered, reaching down and touching the front of her bloodied night-shirt. “Jenna, you have to... get out of...”
“No way,” Jenna stammered, lowering her onto the bed and then looking down to see several large, growing patches of blood. “Dad!” she screamed, looking toward the doorway. “Dad, help! Mum's really hurt!”
She waited, but the only sound was the renewed ticking sound from behind the walls.
“Dad!”
Again she waited, before turning back to Helen. “I think maybe Dad's hurt too,” she stammered, as she broke into a series of sobs. “Oh God, what's happening?”
“Get out,” Helen replied, already starting to look pale. “Jenna, get... get out of this place. Something's wrong...”
“I have to patch you up,” Jenna stammered, reaching down and starting to move the night-shirt aside. As soon as she saw her mother's bloodied abdomen, however, she froze as she stared down at the thick, bloodied would that had been cut by the spike. “Jesus,” she continued, lifting the shirt up a little further with trembling fingers, only to see another wound, this time with shards of broken bone poking through. “Oh God, no...”
“Get out of here!” Helen hissed, wincing as she tried but failed to sit up. “Jenna, please, for God's sake, you have to move! I'll be right behind you, but you have to run!”
“I told you something was wrong in this place,” Jenna replied, looking around for something she could use to stop the flow of blood. “Mum, tell me what to do. I don't have a clue!”
Still looking around the room, she realized after a moment that her mother hadn't replied. Turning, she saw that Helen's head was tilted to one side, and her eyes were slipping shut.
“No!” she shouted, shaking her shoulders. “Mum, don't fall asleep!”
Helen whispered something, but her words were too slurred to make out. More and more blood was blossoming across her chest and running down onto the bed-sheet.
