by Amy Cross
"I belong here," she says.
"You're alive," Elizabeth says. "Wherever you came from, you're alive right now."
"There's nowhere for me to go," she replies, sounding a little less sure of herself. I have no idea what Elizabeth is planning right now, but she seems to be deliberately riling Holly, and encouraging her to see things differently.
"You can't stay here," Elizabeth continues, getting closer and closer to Holly.
"You just want to kill me," she says, stepping back.
"I want to give you a chance," Elizabeth replies. "The world is huge. Do you really want to stay cooped up in this old place? Besides, it's burning. Can't you smell the smoke? What are you going to do when the house is gone? You have to leave. Everyone's home falls apart eventually."
"I'll rebuild it," she stammers, backing up against the wall.
"You're not strong enough!" Elizabeth says. "Look at you. Holly's body is weak. Her heart can't take much more strain. Her leg's ruined. Soon the house will be gone and you'll be left with nothing. Just a weak, crumbling body that's no use for anything."
"I'm alive," she replies uncertainly. "That's enough!"
"You're not alive," Elizabeth says firmly. "Not if you're happy to just hide away. You might have a mind, but you're not alive. Not really. You can't be alive if you're not truly living. You're just an echo of an emotion, trapped in a house by your own fear." She pauses for a moment. "I accepted my life in the basement because I was scared, and because I still had hope that one day I'd get out. But you don't even have hope. You're just rotting here."
"Fine!" she shouts, her anger suddenly bubbling over. "I'll take you!"
"I dare you," Elizabeth replies. "I'm too strong for you. You wouldn't know -"
Before any of us can react, there's a bright flash of energy and Holly's body drops limp to the floor. The energy burns in the air for a moment before it seems to be absorbed by Elizabeth's body, leaving her standing completely still.
"What was that?" I ask.
"It's in her," Natalie says, sounding terrified.
"Now!" Elizabeth shouts, turning to Natalie. "Do it! Lock it inside me!"
"How?" Natalie shouts back.
"Just do it!" Elizabeth screams. "Don't let it leave! It's already trying to find a way out! It's realized its mistake and it wants to move on! Both of you, focus on keeping it trapped inside me!"
"What are you doing?" I ask as Elizabeth stumbles to the top of the stairs.
"It has to stay in my body," she replies. "I'm stronger than Holly. Natalie, didn't I always tell you I was the strong one?"
"What are you going to do with it?" Natalie shouts back at her.
"I'm going to kill it!" she shouts. "I'm going to trap it inside my body, and there's only one way to do that!" With that, she turns and looks over at Natalie one final time. "I told you I was willing to sacrifice someone today, but not Holly. Get her out of here. Make sure this place can never, ever grow back. It has to end!" Without saying another word, she starts making her way slowly down the stairs, as if she's struggling with every step. "Focus!" she calls back to us. "Both of you, make sure it can't escape from my body! If it escapes, we're back where we started! I can already feel it trying to force its way out. It's terrified."
"Where are you going?" Natalie asks, hurrying after her with Samantha in tow. I follow them all as we make our way downstairs and Elizabeth finally stumbles through the smoke-filled kitchen to the door that leads down to the basement.
"There's one last thing you have to do!" Elizabeth calls back to us, standing by the door as flames roar up from the basement. "Natalie, Samantha... Make sure the door stays shut. Whatever happens, nothing can get out of this basement. Then you have to leave the house and let the flames do their work."
"You can't die!" Natalie shouts.
"You'll see," Elizabeth says, glancing back at us for a moment. "Remember to salt the earth."
We watch as she walks down the steps and into the flames that have engulfed the basement. Seconds later, the broken door starts to reassemble, as if Elizabeth's mind is putting it back together piece by piece. As the final section returns to its slot, we hear an agonized scream from the basement, as the flames finally overwhelm Elizabeth and devour her body. The strangest thing is, it's almost as if there are two screams.
Ben Lawler
Today
Making my way upstairs, I struggle in vain to cover my face from the thick black smoke that's filling the house. I can barely see a thing, and I can feel a wall of heat directly ahead of me. Just when things seem hopeless, however, I spot a figure curled up on the floor, over in the far corner. Realizing that this is my last chance to save Holly, but not even sure if she's still alive, I rush over and scoop her up into my arms before running back down the creaking stairs and finally tumbling out the door and into the garden.
"Over here!" Natalie shouts.
Still carrying Holly, I make my way to the far end of the garden before setting her down on the ground and turning to see the extent of the fire that has gripped the house. The entire building is burning, and seconds later I watch as part of the upper floor collapses. It's hard not to think of Elizabeth's body down in the basement, with the creature trapped in her mind. At least she probably died quickly, although her scream is still ringing in my ears.
"Where are you going?" I shout, grabbing Natalie's wrist as she suddenly starts running back toward the house.
"I can bring her back!" she says, shifting angles and trying to kick me away.
"If you go in there, you'll die!" I insist. "Listen to me, Natalie. She's gone. She's dead. There's nothing you can do to bring her back! You heard what she said earlier. The power can't save people back once they're gone. She sacrificed herself. Just let it be." Hearing a wheezing, groaning sound from Holly, I look over to see that she's starting to wake up. "If you want to save someone, Natalie," I continue, "save Holly. She needs help."
As Natalie goes to check on Holly, I look over at Samantha and see that she's sitting on the grass, staring at the burning house.
"So it's all true," she says after a moment. "Everything they said about what happened here." She glances over at me. "They were witches."
"I'm not sure that's a word they like so much," I reply.
"They described themselves as a coven," she points out.
"Well, whatever they are, you're one of them now. If you hadn't come back today -"
"I don't know why I did," she says, interrupting me. "It's like I wasn't in control. I don't want anyone to know about this. I don't want it to be on the news, I don't want anyone to ever find out that this happened."
Just as I'm about to reassure her, there's a crashing sound from the house and we look over to see the entire structure collapsing. Flames are still burning, but it's clear that the house has now been completely destroyed. After all these years, the house on Willow Road is gone, and its burning wreckage has crashed down into the basement.
"There's one thing we still need to do," Natalie says. She reaches out to Holly, who takes her hand and slowly gets to her feet.
"They need your help," I tell Samantha.
"I'm not like you," she says, turning to Natalie. "I'm not one of you."
"We need to do one final thing," Natalie replies, "or this could happen again. After today, you can go and do whatever you want, wherever you want, and you never have to see us again."
"Please," Holly adds, looking pale and ill. "We can't risk that thing ever coming back."
Sighing, Samantha gets to her feet and takes Natalie's hand, and the three of them walk toward the house. After a moment, they stop and Natalie looks up to the sky.
"Now what?" Samantha asks, sounding concerned.
"Just focus on the rain," Natalie says. "I'll do the rest."
Looking up, I see that dark gray clouds have begun to form in the otherwise blue sky, and soon I feel the patter of rain on my face. Within a few seconds, the rain has become much stronger, pouring down and
quickly dousing the burning house. As I watch steam rise from the ruins, I suddenly realize that something seems strange about this rain. I put a finger to my lips and realize that Natalie has finally done the one thing that should prevent evil from ever growing in this place again. She's brought salt rain, purifying the soil and ridding this place of the remaining vestiges of its past. Drenched, all I can do is sit and watch as the rain falls all around us and the last of the evil is destroyed forever.
Holly
15 years ago
"Holly, what's wrong?" Elizabeth asks, stopping and turning to me.
"Nothing," I reply, still trying to shake the terrible headache. "Just keep moving." Turning, I look back the way we came. We've managed to get a couple of hundred meters away now, and the house on Willow Road is barely visible behind the trees. It's so tempting to think that we've finally escaped, but I can't shake the feeling that somehow it's still with us. My leg is hurting and I don't know how much longer I can walk.
"Something's wrong," Natalie says cautiously.
"Nothing's wrong with me," I snap at her. "Is something wrong with you?"
She stares at me, but I can tell she's suspicious. I swear to God, Natalie has always been irritating, but now she's really starting to piss me off.
"My fucking leg is agony!" I shout, trying to deflect her attention. "Have you got any idea how much pain I'm in?"
"Sorry," Natalie replies quietly, looking shocked by my outburst.
"We can't stop," Elizabeth continues. "We have no idea if the house is able to reach out this far. For all we know, something could be following us!"
"Then let's get going!" I say, pushing past her. I only manage a few steps, however, before my leg gives way and I fall to the ground. The pain is excruciating, briefly eclipsing my headache. As I struggle to get up, I try to ignore the voice in the back of my mind that keeps telling me that something's wrong. I just have to focus on getting away from this place. I have to go home, back to my family. Everything else can wait.
"I don't think you can make this journey," Elizabeth says as she helps me up. "Maybe you should wait by the side of the road while we -"
"And do what?" I ask testily. "Waste away while you two go wandering off? Sit and stare at the fucking sunflowers?"
"We can get help," Elizabeth says.
"Is that what you want?" I ask, turning to Natalie. She's still staring at me with that suspicious look in her eyes. "What's wrong with you?" I shout. "Are you too fucking scared to voice an opinion? Are you waiting for Elizabeth to tell you what to think?"
"Something's wrong with you," Natalie says.
"There's nothing wrong with her," Elizabeth snaps.
"Sorry," Natalie mutters.
"You're pathetic," I sneer, sitting down on the grass. The truth is, I can't walk any further. My leg is so painful, I can barely think, and my head is pounding with a kind of deep, splitting pain. Maybe I should just sit here and... what? Wait to be rescued? Wait to die?
"There has to be a town eventually," Elizabeth says, remaining calm as usual. "Maybe Natalie and I should go in opposite directions. As long as we stick to the same road, we'll have no trouble finding each other later."
"I don't want to go alone," Natalie mumbles.
"Fuck you," I say quietly.
"Holly," Elizabeth replies, sounding truly offended, "you've got no right to talk to her like that!"
"What's wrong?" I reply. "Worried your precious little idiot might break?" I look over at Natalie again. "You know that's what you are, right?" I continue. "You're an idiot. I don't know if you're actually, clinically disabled. Like, I don't know if you have a proper developmental problem, or if you're just a moron, but there's something so fucking wrong with you, I just want to..." I spot a small rock nearby, and for a moment I'm tempted to grab it and kill the stupid little bitch. "Forget it," I say eventually. "It's not even worth wasting my breath. Why don't the two of you just get going, and I'll be fine here. Seriously, I can look after myself. Someone's bound to drive past eventually. If not, well, fuck it, I'll just die right here."
"We're not leaving you," Elizabeth says.
"What about you?" I ask Natalie. "Don't you want to leave me here to die?"
Natalie looks at Elizabeth.
"You still can't think for yourself, can you?" I continue. "You're such a fucking idiot." I turn to Elizabeth. "And you. You're not much better. You're terrified of everything. You probably liked being held in that basement. You're probably missing it. I bet you were praying for him to give you a little action in the bedroom. Those ten years were just one long bit of foreplay for you, weren't they?"
"I have no idea where all this anger has come from," Elizabeth says calmly, "but -"
"Leave me here," I say, looking down at the grass. All I want is for them to go away. I can drag myself back to the house and wait. There's something about the house that feels strangely comforting. I know I just accused Elizabeth of wanting to stay there, but the truth is that I want to stay there. It's insane, and it makes no sense, but I just want to stay there forever and -
"There's a car," Natalie says suddenly.
Looking along the road, I see that she's right. A car is coming closer and closer, and after a moment I realize that it's not just any old car: it's a police cruiser. Elizabeth and Natalie run toward the vehicle as it comes to a halt, and I'm left to just sit and watch while they babble to the officer as he steps out. He looks totally stunned as he's bombarded by a torrent of claims, with Elizabeth insisting that he has to call for back-up to go to the house, while Natalie begs to be taken back to her family.
"Okay," the cop says eventually, "let's just take this one step at a time." He reaches into his car and grabs the radio. "This is Officer Joe Kukil, out on Willow Road. I've got a situation here with three ladies who claim to have escaped from someone's basement. Requesting back-up and an ambulance."
While he speaks, I look over at Natalie and we make eye contact. Maybe I'm paranoid, but I swear to God: she seems to know what's wrong with me. It's almost as if she understands that I'm carrying the evil in my soul. As I stare at her concerned face, I can't help but let a slow, knowing smile spread across my lips. This isn't over yet. I'll get these bitches back to the house eventually.
Ben Lawler
Today
"The Mayor's plans are in disarray," Joe Kukil says as we walk across the town square. "Without the house, he's got nothing to sell to the studio. He's got to pay back the money they gave as a deposit, except he's already spent that on part of his re-election campaign. I think he's gonna have some explaining to do over the next few days."
"No-one should go out there," I reply, seeing Natalie and Samantha sitting on the grass nearby. "I know it's safe after the ground was salted, but still... Just to be safe, I think the whole place should be out of bounds."
"The house isn't on any maps," Joe says as we walk over to the others. "If you ask me, the whole thing's gonna fade into obscurity. You know what people are like these days. No-one's got much of an attention span. Now that the house is gone, I think the town can start to move on."
As he speaks, there's a small bang on the ground between Natalie and Samantha. They both sit back, looking a little surprised as a plume of smoke rises above them.
"What are you two doing?" I ask as we reach them.
"Nothing," they say in unison.
"Nothing?" Joe asks, raising an eyebrow.
"Practicing," Natalie says, glancing nervously at Samantha before breaking into a smile. "Checking our powers out."
"I thought you didn't want anything to do with this kind of thing," I say to Samantha.
"I don't," she replies quickly. "Well, I didn't. Well, I mean, I might as well see how it's going, right? If I've got them anyway, it'd be stupid to not know how they work." She pauses for a moment. "Natalie's gonna teach me."
"You are?" I say, turning to Natalie.
"I don't know much about it," Natalie says, "but I've got a small head-start
. We're just going to see where it goes. It's totally a secret thing, though, so don't go telling anyone."
"Who would I tell?" I ask, glancing over at Holly, who's sitting alone on a bench nearby. "The last thing we need is for tourists to come and turn the whole town into a theme park. We need to forget what happened out there, not revive it. Besides, it's gone. There's nothing left to look at." I turn back to Natalie. "I didn't get a chance to say it earlier, but I'm sorry about Elizabeth. I know you two were close."
"She saved us," Natalie replies. "She did a good thing."
"What about her?" Samantha asks, looking across at Holly. "Is she going to be okay?"
"I think so," I reply. "Eventually."
"We thought about asking her to join us," Natalie says, "but I get the feeling she needs some time alone. Anyway, we're going to see what we can do with just the two of us. Having three was a bit crazy. We can do some pretty cool stuff without anyone else around. A complete coven might be taking things too far."
Without saying anything, I turn and head over to Holly. She doesn't respond at all when I sit next to her on the bench; since the house was destroyed, she's seemed lost in her own thoughts. To be honest, I'm worried about her; she went through a lot, and she doesn't seem to be dealing with it very well.
"So when are you going home?" I ask.
"What?" she replies, turning to me. "Oh. Yeah. I've got a leave of absence from work. I don't know if I want to go back."
We sit in silence for a moment.
"Is Natalie going to be okay?" she asks eventually.
I nod. "She's going to help Samantha out. I'm not quite sure what they've got in mind, but I don't think they'll cause too much damage."
Holly smiles uneasily.
"What about you?" I continue. "You don't want to go with them?"
She shakes her head.
"You're scared?"
She takes a deep breath. "How do I know that it's gone?" she asks, turning to me. "It was inside me for so long. How do I know it's really gone? When it ditched my body and entered Elizabeth, it could have left something behind." She pauses for a moment. "I keep trying to calm my thoughts and make my head go completely silent. I keep listening for any hint of something else being in my mind."
