“I don’t wanna go to bed,” Crystal said quietly. “I’m afraid if I do, I’ll miss something. Every moment seems precious, now. Every heartbeat.”
“I’ll stay up with you,” Michael assured her. “All night, if you need.”
“I’ll stay,” Brandon said. “I don’t feel like sleep, anyways. I’m pretty sure I can hear Daniel snoring.”
“I’m sorry,” Michael said abruptly. “For leaving and for not coming back. For dying and for not being dead.”
Crystal turned and threw her arms around him. “I’ve never seen you cry before.”
He dropped his head into her shoulder.
She looked over at Brandon, and motioned for him to come over. Brandon knelt beside them, and embraced Michael.
“I didn’t think you were much of a hugger,” Michael choked out.
Brandon grinned. “I didn’t think you were a big crier.”
“There is never an end,” Michael said. “There’s not a final act. There’s only a fresh start and a blank page. There’s nobody else I’d rather face it with.”
Chapter 23
Final
The two curved sides of the stone bridge were left standing. The center of it, however, had collapsed and now lay on the creek bed like the ruins of an old city. There were two slivers of the bridge left standing, to the left side, and one to the right. On each, you could walk up the original stone paths to near the top, where the bridge had caved in. To the five of them, standing on the ground, it seemed like two, tall towers.
On the right piece of the bridge, the lady stood, holding in her arms Emma, the crying baby. Cassie was on the ground below, knocked out cold. She, the terrible woman, was holding a gun with her free hand, pointing it downwards. One finger was propped on the trigger.
Across from them, on the left tower, were two figures tied up. Alexander and Daniel’s third daughter, Lucy, were tied together with a rope. They sat on the ground, their backs to each other, and awaited their fate. All around them, there were bales of hay and large portions of wood. They glistened in the thin light coming through the treetops, drenched with gasoline.
“In my hand I hold a gun,” she declared dramatically. “I can kill your daughter with this gun, while she lays at my feet. Or I can shoot Alexander with it, and kill your other daughter as well. Their side of the bridge is lined with explosives. I will escape the blast. They will not.”
Daniel took a step forward from where the five of them were in a line. “What do you want?”
“Don’t come towards me, Detective,” She warned. “I told you. I will kill them.”
Tentatively, he took another step and began reaching his hand down towards the holster inside of his jacket. “Listen. Let’s just talk through-”
“Don’t you dare touch that gun!” the lady screeched. “I will shoot them! I have no fear of death. But if you kill me, your precious children will die, too. And who do you have left besides them? Nobody!”
“Daniel,” Michael whispered. “What are you doing?”
“She’s bluffing,” he said quietly.
“Don’t whisper around me,” the lady growled. “It makes me anxious. Anxious and fidgety. One wrong movement and… pop goes the weasel.”
With a deep breath, the former detective took another step. His beard was haggard from not shaving for weeks. His eyes were unfocused, and he looked more at home in the forest than in the city they had left. He might as well have been an animal. But as the lady stared down at him, he took yet another step.
“You’re bluffing,” Daniel called out. “This isn’t how you do things. You don’t kill people with guns, in cold blood. It’s not your style.”
She sighed. “I suppose you’re right.”
There was an enormous bang as the gun went off and a bullet flew down, lodging itself in Cassie’s forehead. Blood spurted up and Daniel let out a scream.
“Cassie!” he yelled, falling to his knees.
Nobody made a sound. For a moment, everything was still and their brains fought to register what had just happened. Daniel sobbed quietly on the ground, and everybody else stood in a numb haze.
“I told you not to mess with me, coward. And now your daughter is dead. Because of your pridefulness and your big head.” She shook her head at all of them. “I didn’t use guns before. But things have changed since then. Somebody broke the rules, and so now there are none.”
Michael stepped forward. “If this is between us, then let Daniel and his kids go free! They haven’t done anything against you! Let us finish this on our own.”
“Why spare a life when you can just as easily take it?” she asked him.
Daniel stopped sobbing. He rose up from the ground and stood on his shaking legs, staring at her furiously. “Is my daughter wired to explosives, or are you lying about that?”
The lady grinned at him. “You want to gamble again, Detective? It’s already cost you one life. Why not two more?”
“Answer my question,” he said.
“Why don’t you take the shot yourself?” she asked him. “You have a gun. Take it and shoot at them. Shoot the bridge itself. If it explodes, then yes they are wired. And if not… you’ve called my bluff.”
“I won’t kill my own child,” Daniel growled, his voice cracking.
“You already have, Daniel.” She patted Emma softly on the head, staring below her feet at Cassie. “You already have.”
He drew out his gun swiftly, pointing it at the lady. Daniel took a breath. He could feel everybody’s eyes on him. His arms swiveled, and he was aiming towards the left section of the bridge, where Alexander and Lucy were tied up. They both stared at him with wide eyes, although their mouths were gagged.
“Daniel, please don’t,” Jill whimpered from behind him.
He took a deep breath and pulled the trigger. His bullet bounced off the stone and nothing happened.
“Bravo, Detective.” Up on the bridge, holding Emma, the lady smiled. “I suppose you’ll now come to kill me.”
“Michael, go get Alexander.”
Daniel took off sprinting for the right tower, while the others went for the left. The lady stood on top of the bridge, with only a smile on her face. Approaching her cautiously, he took step by step up the stone curve until they were only a few feet away and he could make out every wrinkle.
“This is the closest you’ve ever seen me,” the lady whispered. “I can’t say the same about you.”
“Give me my daughter,” Daniel commanded, his eyes watering as he tried not to look towards Cassie.
With a malicious twist of her lips, the lady brought her foot down upon Cassie’s face and began to twist, making an awful squelching sound. Blood squirted everywhere, as the dead body was crushed. She began to kick it, over and over again, until it fell off the edge and was impaled on the rocks below.
Daniel watched helplessly as she did all of this. He stood like a rock wall, not making a movement but for the tears running down his cheeks.
“What’s your next move, Detective?” she asked. “I’ll have you know…” She moved the gun to point towards the baby in her arms. “If one of your friends happens to shoot me from behind, since I know that Michael has a gun… Well, I’ll be taking out your baby girl as well. You can’t have her and not have me. One might say we’re a package deal.”
“Don’t shoot,” Daniel yelled to Michael, who was standing on the other structure with his gun trained on the old woman. “Don’t do it or she’ll kill Emma.”
“But Daniel-”
“I said no!” he shouted. “I want you all to leave. Head back now. No arguing. This is only between me and her, now.”
Michael glared at him, but turned to the others. He nodded, and they all began to head down the bridge. Jill had her arm wrapped around Alexander. Lucy was walking with Crystal. And the two men kept glancing at Daniel, but ultimately they began walking back up the creek, the same way they had come.
“Good choice. Good choice.” The lady put one finger on the trig
ger. “Throw your gun over the side, down where Cassie is.”
He tossed the gun down.
“Now kneel on the ground.”
Shaking and beginning to cry, he did as he was told.
“Good, child. Good.” She walked past him, on her way down to the creek, and ran her gun alongside his head. “You’ve been good today. It’s sad that you’ve lost again. You’ll always lose.”
“I’ll get you next time,” he mumbled.
“There won’t be a next time, darling. Your daughter is the next one. In twenty years, she will be the one taking children. It’s not my job anymore. I’ve already done my part.”
Chapter 24
Again
Was it days or hours or weeks later when they finally sat in the living room of Daniel’s rental home? Lucy sat beside him on the couch, crying silently, as Daniel stared ahead at the television screen. It was blank, nothing but an electronic black, but still he gazed ahead at it.
Michael, Crystal, and Brandon sat on the other chairs, watching Daniel and each other in turn. They all were anxiously waiting for somebody to speak up, to say something. There was nothing really to talk about. The clock had run out and they missed their chance. Now they waited again, for twenty years.
“I hope I’m dead in twenty years,” Daniel mumbled. “I hope I never have to see my daughter grow into the monster we’ve been fighting. Join the lineage that killed our whole family.”
“Daniel…” Crystal tried to speak, but she fell silent just like the rest.
“Where’s Alexander?” the former detective spoke up.
“His parents came by and got him,” Michael said. “I tried to explain what happened, what’s been happening. As best as I could, anyways. They seemed pretty furious, but I’ll just stop by and talk to them later. They took Jill, as well. I think the two kids wanted to stay with each other for a while.”
Daniel didn’t respond or move.
“Lucy, go to your room.” He added gruffly, “Please.”
“I don’t want to leave you,” she sobbed. “Daddy, I wanna stay here.”
“I said go.”
She stood up from the couch, still crying desperately.
“Just go into the kitchen for a minute,” he said a little less harshly. “The adults need to talk.”
She stared at him with raw eyes and stumbled away into the other room. As the door closed behind her, the three of them turned to look at Daniel.
“I’m leaving,” he said. “I’m gonna let Lucy stay with her uncle, or somebody. I’ll find somewhere for her to go. And then… I’m leaving. For good. You all can take anything I leave here and sell it. I don’t want anything of this.”
“Daniel…” This time it was Brandon who addressed him with a shaky voice. “You really shouldn’t…”
“Don’t tell me what I should do!” he screamed at the other man. “You don’t understand anything that’s happened to me! Your wife left you. My wife killed herself! You never saw your kid, but I just saw mine die. My baby is… is gone. She’s becoming a monster as we speak! You don’t understand a thing, Brandon, so just shut up!”
Michael stood up from his chair. “Daniel, just take a couple days. Just think-”
“I’ve been thinking. 24/7. Non-stop. About all of them. I lost my entire family! Everything I had. It’s all gone.” His voice strained with emotion as his eyes threatened to let loose more tears. “Don’t you understand that? Do you understand?”
“I’ll stay here with you,” Michael offered. “You just need to… see a counselor or something. Take some time to yourself.”
Daniel stared at him darkly. “You’re an idiot,” he grumbled. “And you know nothing. You all should leave. Before I hurt you.”
They all three glanced at each other and slowly got to their feet. Brandon anxiously started to creep around his chair and towards the door. Michael was a little less quick, but he too headed for the door. Crystal, however, stood her ground, staring Daniel in the face.
“We’re all adults here,” she said roughly, “so why don’t you stop pretending like you’re still in charge of us? We aren’t kids anymore, Daniel.”
“I never said that you were.” He folded his arms over his chest. His eyes were narrow and bloodshot, like someone who isn’t quite awake and isn’t quite asleep, not fully alive and not fully dead either.
“You may think you can just kick us out, because it’s your house and all, but that doesn’t mean a thing right now. You can’t just run away.”
“Crystal…” Michael said softly from the doorway. “Let’s just go… please.”
“Listen to him,” Daniel said with a full lack of emotion. “Listen to him. I don’t want to do anything I’ll regret.”
“How am I just supposed to leave Lucy here with you?” Crystal demanded. “How am I supposed to know you won’t hurt her?”
“You think I would hurt my only kid?” The question was one that shouldn’t have been difficult to answer. Crystal remained silent. “She’s all I have. I’ve lost everything.”
“You keep saying that!” Crystal yelled. “Just stop it! You haven’t lost everything. You’ve lost a lot, yeah, but you have a daughter that desperately needs a father. You can’t just send her away to some family member and go kill yourself? I know what you’re thinking, Daniel. I know exactly what you’re thinking, and all that crap about ‘leaving for good’... Well, I know what that really means. No, don’t give me that face. You know I’m right.”
He glared at her with death in his eyes. “I want you to leave.”
“You have a daughter, for Christ’s sake! Go take care of her! Go take care of Lucy! She’s young. She can still heal. But you’re so ridiculously selfish that you can’t even see… can’t even see the small sliver of family you’ve managed to hold onto.”
“Your parents were Bible people,” Daniel said. “Think of it like this. If you had 100 sheep and you lost 99, would you not cry? Would you not be so, so hurt and so messed up that all you could think about is what you lost? You can’t tell me you’d be just fine after that. You can’t tell me you wouldn’t cry and be in pain.”
“I didn’t tell you not to cry.” Crystal turned her back and walked to the door. Brandon opened it, and the two men stepped outside. Before she left, though, Crystal turned around, her black hair flying around and her eyes leaking tears. She bound back into the house, throwing her arms around Daniel in a warm embrace.
His body loosened and he began to cry. Lucy peered her head around the kitchen door. Crystal saw her and gave the little girl a smile, waving for her to come over. Lucy walked over gently, trying not to make noise, but after a few seconds of waiting she wrapped her arms around her father’s waist.
“You’re going to cry,” Crystal admitted. “But when you do… please do it with her. Cry with her. Because you don’t have forever.”
As Crystal turned to go, Daniel spoke up again. His voice was softer now, and shaking.
“I need you to stop her next time. I can’t do it. I hope I won’t even be here in twenty years. It’s up to you. You have to do it. You have to… kill her.” He choked on his words and broke down again, sobbing. All three of them rushed over to hold him up. “I’ve messed up. I’ve lost my family. I”m not even… I’m just not what I… I’m not. I’ve lost and I’ve left and I’ve let her win. She did this to me. She did this to us. Don’t let her get my daughter, too.”
They stood there for a minute, until Daniel steadied himself on the couch. Lucy left to go into the kitchen and make her dad a sandwich, leaving the four of them alone. Everyone knew it was the last time. They glanced around, silent and waiting. Always silent, always waiting.
“I love you all,” Daniel said, wiping his eyes. “I always will.”
“I guess there won’t be any Thanksgiving dinner for us all next year?” Brandon asked half-heartedly.
“I guess not,” Daniel mumbled.
“We love you, too,” Crystal spoke up. “In some ways, you�
�re like a father. And in other ways, you’re like that cop on the TV shows that just beats everyone up.”
He smiled. “Take care of yourselves.”
“You too.”
When all three of them were outside again, with Brandon’s car parked in the driveway, Michael grabbed both of them and huddled up on the front porch. It was cool outside today, although walking back through the woods had made it seem humid and miserable. Now, the sun was setting and the air was starting to shine with fireflies.
“We don’t need to kill Emma, and we don’t need to worry about what happens in 20 years. Because we’re getting her back now.”
“What?” Brandon exclaimed.
Crystal raised an eyebrow. “We don’t know where she went?”
“I’ve done more research than anybody in history on this… person, I guess. And if anybody can figure out where she goes to at the end of every summer, it’s us three. We’ll just have to… use our heads and work together.”
“And if we do find her?” Brandon asked. “What then?”
“We go all out. We go for the kill. But we go strategically. No more running into her traps. Instead, we’ll set one for her.”
“She won’t be expecting us,” Crystal said thoughtfully. “We have the time to plan right. And we have all three of us. I think it might work.”
“Are you in?” Michael asked, turning to Brandon.
“You never grew up, man.” Brandon shook his head and sighed. “Only stupid kids come up with ideas like this.” A small grin broke out on his face and began to grow. “I’m really glad you never grew up. Let’s do it.”
“Where do we start?” Crystal asked.
“My house,” Michael answered. “I buried most of my research material in a box under the ground, and the rest of it is online. Thank God for Google Drive.”
“Quite a bit different than how we did research in ‘95,” Crystal smirked.
“So is the pep music,” Brandon interrupted. “Trust me. I have plenty of pep music this time around.”
She Watches: A Horror Novel Page 15
