by Hunter Shea
Selena gripped the bottle, causing the plastic to crackle.
Eddie stared at the bottle, burning its image into his brain, willing it to come to him. Selena started to speak and he held up a finger to quiet her, adding a wry smile to allay any concern.
Closing his eyes, he had a vision of the bottle, a glowing effigy against the black backdrop of his conscious. The more he concentrated, the brighter it became until it was blinding in its brilliance.
Selena gasped when the bottle flew from her hands and landed, right side up, on the table in front of Eddie.
When he opened his eyes, he had to shade them with his hand to allow them time to adjust.
“How…how did you do that?” she gasped. He was relieved to see that she appeared more curious than afraid.
“I can tell you one thing. It wasn’t magic. David Copperfield, I’m not.”
Chapter Thirty
The following day was spent waiting. Jessica and Eddie had left with minutes to spare before Greg Leigh came home. Rita promised to talk to him that night and vowed that she would convince him to let them back in the house. When she had suggested that she and Eddie just come during the day, when he was at work, Jessica had told her that she much preferred working with total honesty. Hiding things from Greg was not the answer.
What she didn’t tell Rita was that in some cases, deception or anything with a negative connotation could feed the presence in the house like milk bones to a hungry dog. Thanks to Eddie’s sensitivity, she knew that there was at least one EB in the house that was antagonistic and highly deceptive. She didn’t need to add to its power.
Because she had spent most of the night listening to the audio that she had downloaded onto her laptop, she was now going on two nights with barely any sleep. If things kept up this way, she was going to get mighty irritable. Sleep and hunger were her two triggers to becoming a bitch on wheels.
Eddie, on the other hand, had gone out after breakfast and bought a bathing suit at a nearby mom and pop store and was now sitting poolside. Jessica watched from under the awning of the hotel’s back patio as a single mother took the lounge chair next to him. After applying sunscreen to her son, she proceeded to chat him up.
“Typical dog,” Jess muttered.
The chemical odor of over-chlorinated water permeated the air around the pool. Jessica’s stomach grumbled because it was lunch time, but she had to get away from that smell if she ever thought of eating. There was a little snack stand that sold burgers and hot dogs upwind from the pool. Walking there, she was run into by no less than three kids, all of them laughing and without a care in the world.
She envied them. She couldn’t remember ever being like that. There had always been a dark specter hanging over her and her family, even before her father had passed away. He had never gotten over the death of her mother. It must have been so hard, to say good night to the one you love only to have them never say good morning again. Her mother had been perfectly healthy. It was just her time to go.
Carefree moments were few and far between in the Backman family.
“What’ll it be?” asked a cute boy who looked to be just about Jessica’s age. He was tall with shaggy, blond hair and the most intense blue eyes she’d ever seen. He spoke with a heavy eastern European accent, as did most of the people who worked at the hotel. She assumed they must all have been part of some Russian exchange program.
“I think I’ll have two chili cheese dogs, fries and a large Coke,” she said, fishing her money out of her purse. The boy eyed her up and down, no doubt wondering where she planned to put all that food. He wasn’t the first, wouldn’t be the last. When she tried to think of some small talk, she came up blank. She didn’t even realize he was still talking to her.
“Would you like ketchup or mustard?” he asked.
“Oh, no, thank you.” Her mouth opened to say something else, but nothing came out. He leaned forward on his elbows, waiting. A heavy-set man that had been waiting behind her stepped to the counter and started spouting his order. Jessica moved over to the pickup window, embarrassed that she had stood there catching flies.
Why did she even care? She wasn’t here on vacation or to find a man, especially a kid in high school.
She looked back at Eddie who had put his newspaper down and was leaning close to the mature but pretty woman at his side. She wore a bikini top with black shorts and was leaning close to him, angling her chest so he could get a good look at her ample cleavage. Guys were so easy to manipulate.
“Now you’re being stupid,” she said to herself.
“Excuse me?” the girl at the pickup window said. She was holding a basket of food.
“I’m sorry. Just talking to myself. Thanks.”
Sitting at a wooden picnic table under a stand of fir trees, Jessica devoured her food. Speed eating was a tendency of hers whenever she was worried or upset. Right now, she couldn’t tell which emotion held sway, much to the utter demolition of her chili dogs and fries. Her stomach was bloated and sour when she was done. She lay back on the bench, just taking in the fresh air and appreciating the shade. Sun had never been her friend.
She made a mental note to go to City Hall after she had digested. It was high time she looked through the records to see if she could find anything on the house, its history and even the geography of the land. It was said that certain types of minerals were conducive to spirit activity. Underground, running water was also said to enhance EB power. She wasn’t a huge believer in that, but it was part of her job to leave no stone unturned.
When her cell phone went off she bolted upright and answered on the first ring.
It was Rita Leigh, and she sounded distressed. “Jessica, can you come over now? Please?”
“Is everything all right?” Jessica felt the hairs at the back of her neck prickle with expectation.
“Just, please, come here.”
Jessica ran to the gate surrounding the pool and waved Eddie over. She must have looked as if she was in no-nonsense mode, because he broke off his conversation without hesitation and jogged to the white fence. “What’s up?”
“I just got a call from Rita and she sounded weirded out. She wants us to come to the house ASAP.”
Eddie hopped over the fence. “I’ll just need a couple of minutes to change.”
“I’ll grab some of my equipment. Meet you at the car.”
Jessica could feel the daggers the woman by Eddie’s now-empty chair was throwing at her back, but she couldn’t give a damn. From the sound of things, Rita needed help, and at the moment, that was all that mattered.
They made it to the house in less than ten minutes, thanks to Jessica’s lead foot and bob-and-weave driving skills. When Rita answered the door, she looked a decade older than the day before. Jessica could tell by her puffy eyes that she had been crying. Rita ushered them in and quickly closed the door. Selena was holding her brother on the couch. His head was pressed against her chest. Greg sat in his easy chair, elbows propped on his knees, his head in his hands.
Jessica decided to get right to the point. “Okay, what happened?”
“It’s still happening,” Selena said before burying her face in Rick’s crew cut hair. She looked as if she was ready to rabbit out of the house. Her grip on her brother was the only thing keeping her from doing so. It was apparent little Ricky knew they were not exterminators.
Rita was about to speak when Greg said, softly at first, “Do what you have to do. I don’t care what it takes. Just…do it.”
Greg wore an expression she had seen a few times over the past couple of years. It was defeat. He could no longer fight the crumbling of what he believed to be reality, the certainties of life and death. Everything he had known had been stripped away. This was beyond his control, beyond his comprehension and well beyond his ability to handle.
The waves of fear coming off all four members of the family were so thick, so strong, it was practically tactile.
Eddie moved onto the couch and sa
t next to Selena and Rick. When he asked her why she was so upset, her face brightened.
“After you guys left, things got pretty heated. My dad, well, he was angry that we let you in without telling him and we all got in an argument.”
Jessica looked toward Greg, but he avoided her gaze.
“I…I got mad because he didn’t believe me. When I asked him if he would at least look at the printout of the picture you took, he told me to go to my room. I was so upset, I didn’t even stop to think that I hadn’t been in my room in weeks.”
She had to stop as her breath hitched in her chest like someone winding down from a good, long cry. Jessica turned on her audio recorder and pointed it toward the couch.
Eddie gently prodded her. “It’s okay, Selena. We’re all here. Did anything happen to you in your room?”
Her head snapped up and her eyes were wild, almost feral.
“It was a bad night, she’s worn out,” her mother said.
“I can do this, Mom.” Selena patted Rick on the head and he held her tighter. “My parents were still fighting and I just wanted to block it out, so I stuffed some tissues in my ears and cried. I don’t know for how long, because next thing I knew, I was asleep. It was one of those deep sleeps, you know, the kind where you don’t even dream. I was just out, exhausted. At one point, I must have pulled the sheet over myself. It got cold last night. When I felt the sheet being pulled off me towards the foot of the bed, I woke up.”
Greg held his hand up for Rita who took it in both of her hands. They watched their daughter recount her experience, willing her the courage to continue, ready to come to her side if she couldn’t.
Jessica asked, “You’re positive at this point you were awake?” She knew that the moments between sleep and waking could be filled with all kinds of sensations, thoughts, smells and visions that had nothing to do with reality. Sometimes it took the brain a bit to shake off the after-effects of its dream world.
“I’m positive,” Selena shot back with undeniable certainty.
“I apologize, it’s just something I have to ask. Please, tell us what happened next.”
Selena took a stuttering breath. “I was too afraid to move, so I just lay there, feeling the sheet pull down past my shoulders, then my stomach and hips. I was on my side, and I could see out my window that it must have been late in the morning. I didn’t need to look at the end of the bed to know something was there. Aside from my sheet being pulled, I could feel that I wasn’t alone, that there was someone else in the room with me and it was…it was hungry. I don’t know any other way to describe it.
“When the sheet was down around my knees, I knew I had to do something. In my mind, I thought that if I was on the bed, exposed, something bad was going to happen to me. But I was so scared, I wasn’t sure if I could even lift my head off the pillow. It was like I was paralyzed. Then, I felt the sheet slide past my ankle and I knew I had a few seconds to make a move. So, I pulled my legs up as far as I could, rolled onto my back and sat up. As soon as I did that, I saw the remainder of the sheet fly off the bed, like it had been yanked off. It landed by the door on the other side of the room. I tried to scream, but, nothing came out.”
Selena started shivering and Eddie put an arm over her shoulder.
“And then I saw it, and I did scream, and it…it…it didn’t even move!”
Chapter Thirty-One
They had to wait several minutes for Selena to calm down. Greg and Rita moved to either side of the shaking teen. Eddie was amazed by the sudden turn of events. Everyone in the Leigh family looked shattered.
Jessica took the time to pull her camcorder out of the case and turn it on. She had two digital cameras strapped around her left wrist and an audio recorder in her right hand.
Eddie still wasn’t sure what Selena had seen, so when it seemed she had settled down enough, he asked.
“It was that thing that looks like me. It was sitting on the chair by my desk, watching me. Even when I was shouting for my parents, it didn’t blink, didn’t flinch.”
She bolted from the couch and grabbed his arms.
“It’s still there.”
Eddie glanced at Jessica, saw the fervid look in her eyes. She was anxious to get to Selena’s room, but she also didn’t want to crash through the house like the other night, no matter how desperate the Leighs seemed at the moment.
Greg confirmed his daughter’s claim.
“Just before you got here, I went up to her room to see and it’s still sitting in the chair, looking at the bed. What is it? Why won’t it leave?”
It’s still there? It didn’t seem possible, but here was Greg, a man who had to hold himself back from physically throwing them out a couple of nights earlier, now desperate for their help. It was as if the doppelganger was going out of its way to clear any hurdles they had to remaining at the house and doing what Jessica did best. It was discomforting, to say the least.
“That’s what we’re going to find out,” Jessica said. “Why don’t you all go into the yard for a bit? Some distance and fresh air will do you good. Eddie and I will take it from here.”
Rita gathered her children to her side and walked into the kitchen. Greg stood, contemplating his next move. He looked like a man on the precipice of a life-defining moment. On the one hand, he must have wanted to be with his family, to give them comfort. On the other hand, he was also the man of the house and would want to be with Eddie and Jessica to confront what had invaded his home.
Eddie put a hand on his shoulder, said, “Your family needs you with them. You’ve seen enough for today.”
Greg’s shoulders slumped and he nodded. “I don’t care how you do it, just make it go away.”
Outside on the patio, they pulled the heavy wooden chairs close to each other and sat holding one another’s hands. It was heartbreaking to see.
Jessica held a digital camera out to him, refocused his attention. “Can you feel anything now? Is it still here?”
He didn’t have to probe deep to know they were not alone in the house. It was a welcome relief to finally regain his sixth sense, though it was a bit dull around the edges at the moment. The presence in the house was strong, embracing, like a golden retriever jumping at your chest, hungry for attention. “Yes, but I don’t think it will be for long. Let’s go.”
Jessica took the stairs three at a time. Eddie nearly slammed into her back when she stopped at the door to Selena’s room.
“Holy mother of God,” she murmured.
He looked over her shoulder and gasped.
It was Selena, or her exact duplicate, as real in appearance as the frightened girl sitting outside with her family. The sole difference was in the eyes. Its irises were twice the diameter of a normal eye and black as tar.
The doppelganger continued to stare at the empty bed, ignoring their slow entrance into the room. It was wearing a light pink sun dress and sat cross-legged, its hands resting on one thigh. Eddie noticed that it was barefoot. Its skin was a healthy pink and looked even healthier and better rested than Selena. It was as if it had drained her life force, building its own in return until it could swap places with her.
Jessica inched closer to the bed, filming the specter. She spoke to it, “Selena? Can you hear me?”
The air in the room felt heavy, dull, absorbing sound, numbing senses. The sensory deprivation worried him, made his arms break out in gooseflesh.
Jessica continued trying to communicate with it, taking small, steady steps.
“Do you think it knows it’s not Selena?” she asked him, her eyes and camera trained on the doppelganger. Then she shouted, “Hey!”
She startled only Eddie.
Eddie felt nauseous and lightheaded. It couldn’t be fear. He’d spent his life talking to the dead, living in their world as much as his own. What the hell was going on here?
He had to grip the dresser to keep upright.
When Jessica was a foot away, she stopped and took a series of pictures. The doppe
lganger didn’t so much as twitch a muscle. He knew he had to make himself more useful than backup cameraman, but he was beginning to worry that he was about to pass out.
He called out, “Jess, don’t touch it.”
She turned to look at him, and mouthed, why not?
“Let me try to make a connection first. I don’t want you to scare it off,” he said, his breathing ragged.
“You have one minute.”
He put the camera on the bed, nodded, then closed his eyes, retaining the image of Selena’s double sitting vigil, eyes unblinking, chest devoid of the normal in and out motion of breathing. Reaching out to it was like swimming against the current at the lip of a tall waterfall. Subtlety wouldn’t work here. Jessica had been on the right track when she shouted. She just needed to know how to do it without actually verbalizing.
Eddie targeted all of his waning energy at the doppelganger and bellowed within his mind until it reached a howling pitch. His eyes snapped open when he was hit by a psychic reverberation. That did it!
The doppelganger jerked its head to face them, its eyes dark, fathomless, yet still very real, almost superhuman. Jessica took a tentative step back, jolted by the unexpected movement.
The nexus between Eddie and the doppelganger was as fine and fragile as a string of cotton candy. He opened up to it, hoping, in computer terms, to pull in an information dump so he’d have enough to sift through later, maybe find out why it was here and seeking Selena, and now them, out.
Jessica fired off a series of questions, pausing between each, hoping for an answer. “Can you hear me? Who are you? Can you tell us why you’re scaring Selena? What are you?”
A sharp pain knifed down the center of Eddie’s skull and he was sure his knees were going to give out. The pain obscured any images or feelings he might have picked up. He saw Jessica standing firm, the doppelganger staring past her, at him, curious.
When Jessica leaned forward and reached out, it leaped from the chair and jumped onto the bed, desperate to avoid contact, just like the night at the hotel. The chair clattered against the desk and turned over. Jessica shouted, “Wait! We won’t hurt you! We just want to know how to help you!”
