by Amy Cross
Turning, she saw that the fire had grown to the point that it was almost at the metal stairs. She knew she had to get out fast, but she was determined to take Sebastian with her. Finally, after checking the room again, she realized her only hope was that he'd somehow made it out already, without her. Hurrying to the stairs, she raced up and finally managed to get to the exterior door. Reaching the snowy parking lot, she looked around, hoping to spot Sebastian somewhere, but there was no-one in sight.
“Sebastian!” she shouted at the top of her voice, before turning to see flames roaring up from beneath the diner. Figuring that he might still be down there, she began to make her way back to the door, but suddenly an entire corner of the diner began to creak, finally crashing down into the hospital below.
Stopping, she realized that if Sebastian was still in there, he couldn't be saved. All she could do was watch as another section of the diner fell through, sending huge plumes of smoke and flame up into the night sky.
Determined to see if there was any sign of him, she hurried across the parking lot, and after a moment she spotted what appeared to be footprints in the snow, heading away from the diner. She followed them for a moment and found that they led to the road and then off into the field, leading toward the farm. A shiver ran through her body as she realized that the prints most likely belonged to Jonah Lund.
Behind her, the rest of the diner collapsed, leaving nothing but the burning hospital underneath. With light from the fire flickering across her face, she stepped out onto the road and, as snow fell all around her, she realized that there was a chance Sebastian had followed Lund to the farm. Either that, or he was burning in the ruins of the hospital, and she couldn't bear to think about that possibility. Hurrying across the road, she followed the footprints out across the snowy field, desperate to catch up.
The journey took almost half an hour, as she fought against not only the knee-deep snow but also the howling wind that was whipping more snow through the night air. Breathless and with aching limbs, she told herself that she had to keep going, that if there was even a faint chance of Sebastian being alive, she had to help him. Soon the barn appeared on the horizon, and as she got closer she felt as if she was about to collapse, but she forced herself to keep going until, finally, she reached the edge of the barn. Hurrying around to the southern side, she stopped as soon as she saw the open, gaping door that led into the lower section.
With snow blowing all around her, she suddenly felt as if something was in the barn, calling for her to go inside. She tried to focus on Sebastian, to remember that he might need her, but somehow all her rational thoughts seemed to be being pushed aside, replaced by the one, overpowering belief that she had to go into the darkness. It wasn't the first time that she'd felt called to go into the barn's lower level, but it was the first time there had been no-one around to stop her.
Slowly, with fear in her eyes but unable to stop herself, she stepped forward and walked into the dark barn.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Today
“Paula!” Sebastian shouted, stumbling along the desolate road as he clutched the wound in his side. The bullet had passed straight through, missing his vital organs, but he'd lost a lot of blood and had blacked out for a moment back at the diner, before waking in the inferno and forcing his way out. Finally he'd spotted Paula's silhouette as she ran across the field, but no matter how loudly he'd tried to shout, he hadn't been able to make her hear him.
He'd chased her, desperately trying to catch up, but she'd been too fast.
Slipping on a patch of ice, he fell down and let out a gasp of pain. For a moment, he felt as if he was too weak to get back up, but after a moment he managed to force himself onto his feet again. He could see the farm up ahead, and he knew Paula was there somewhere. He took a few more steps forward before falling again, and this time the effort of getting back up was even harder. There was a part of him that was ready to give up, to just sink down into the snow and let nature take its course, but something was urging him to get up, forcing him to keep going.
“Paula,” he whispered as he got to his feet and hurried along the road.
By the time he reached the farm, the snowstorm had become a blizzard. Shielding his eyes as best he could, he began to force his way through the piles of snow that had already accumulated in the yard, but the house ahead looked dark and abandoned, and there was no sign of any other prints leading to the door. Stopping in the middle of the yard, he looked around, but all he saw were shadows and -
Suddenly he saw it.
Standing a little way off, in the shadow of the barn's northern end, there was a little girl, staring at him with dark, pained eyes.
“Where is she?” he shouted, forcing his way through the snow until he got closer to the girl, at which point he stopped again. Her expression seemed strangely calm, although her eyes were twitching slightly. Although he knew exactly who and what she was, Sebastian felt as if the only thing he could think about at that moment was Paula. “She's here, isn't she?” he continued. “Please, you have to help me!”
The girl's lips moved, but the howling wind seemed to snatch the words from her mouth.
“What did you say?” Sebastian shouted. Forcing his way forward, he reached the girl and dropped down to his knees, gasping as he felt cold snow against his gunshot wound. Blood was pouring out, covering his hands, but he was focused on only one thing. “Where is she?” he asked.
Up close, he could see now that the girl was frozen. Her skin looked to be as white as ice, with faint cracks running across her face, and there were ice crystals in her eyes. She was exactly as Paula had described a few nights earlier.
“He came back,” she said finally, with a hint of fear in her voice.
“Who came back?”
“The man from the river,” she replied, suddenly seeming as if fear was taking control of her body. “He came back,” she stammered, “and now...” Peering past him, she looked at the house. “They're here, aren't they? They're still angry at me.”
“What are you talking about?” he asked. “Did you see a girl, she -”
“I was only trying to make them like me again,” Sara whimpered, taking a step back. “The voice told me they'd be happy if I sent them to Heaven. Even the priest said that once, that people go to paradise when they die and then they're happy forever. The voice told me I should hurry them up, but then...” She paused. “I have to hide again,” she added, turning to run. “I have to -”
“No!” he shouted, reaching out and grabbing her arm. Shocked by how cold she felt, he nevertheless kept hold of her. “I'm looking for someone!”
“They're coming,” Sara replied, watching the house with a mounting sense of horror. “They hate me! They want to punish me!”
“Who?” Turning, she saw that the front door of the house had blown open, and two dark figures were stepping out into the yard. As he realized he was seeing the ghosts of Kari and Elizabeth Olesun, he lost his grip on the little girl's arm and she began to run, heading over to the edge of the barn and then ducking down.
“Wait!” he shouted, hurrying after her and finding that she was trying to get into a small gap beneath the wall. It was the same hole that Paula had mentioned, the hole the little girl had reached out from on the first night they'd met. “What are you doing?”
“I'm going back to my hiding place!” she told him. “They won't find me here!”
Reaching down, he tried to grab her, but it was too late: she'd wriggled too far into the gap. He turned and saw the two ghostly figures crossing the yard, slowly getting closer.
“Don't let them see me!” the little girl's voice called out from down in the hole. “Please, they hate me! I've been hiding for so long!”
“What are you talking about?”
“I killed them!”
Staring at the two dark figures, he watched as they stopped by the bare cherry tree. They were clearly in no hurry, but he could tell that they wanted something.
“Please!” the little girl hissed. “You're going to lead them straight to me!”
Watching in horror, Sebastian realized that the two ghostly figures were approaching. As soon as he was able to see their faces, he realized that he recognized them from the old newspaper cuttings. Elizabeth Olesun had a pained, mournful expression, while her sister Kari had large, gaping holes where her eyes had once been, but as they stepped closer he could tell that they were both looking straight at him.
From behind, down in the hole beneath the edge of the barn, he realized he could hear the little girl sobbing.
“Is that her?” Elizabeth asked, stepping ahead of Kari. “Is Sara in there?”
“I...” Pausing, Sebastian finally pulled back as Elizabeth took another step closer.
“We've been looking for you,” Elizabeth continued, leaning down toward the hole in the ground. “Sara, why have you been hiding from us for so long?”
She waited, but the only sound was a series of faint sobs.
“We just want to be together,” Elizabeth added, reaching a hand down toward the darkness. “We know you were tricked. We know the thing in the barn made you do it.”
“I just wanted you to go somewhere you'd be happy!” Sara sobbed.
“How could we be happy without you?”
“The voice said it was the only way I could make it up to you!”
“What's past is past,” Kari said, stepping forward. As she leaned down, her face seemed to flicker slightly, and finally she looked younger than before, and her eyes had returned. “We can't stay here forever, Sara. We're sisters, we belong together. Elizabeth and I have been ready to move on for a long time, but we refused to go. We waited, hoping to find you so we could take you with us.”
“But you're very good at hiding,” Elizabeth added. “Please, Sara, just come out and we can get away from here. You don't want to spend eternity down there in that freezing little hole, do you?”
Sebastian watched in horror as, slowly, a frozen hand emerged from the hole, and finally the little girl climbed back out. She was clearly terrified, trembling with fear as she looked up at her sisters, but after a moment she took Elizabeth's outstretched hand.
“You have to kill it,” Sara whispered, before turning to him. “You have to kill the thing in the barn or it'll never stop feeding on the misery of living people.”
“What do you mean?” he asked. “What's in the barn?”
Chapter Thirty-Five
Today
In the dark of the barn's lower chamber, Paula could hear a great, monstrous heart beating all around. With every beat, she felt herself being drawn closer.
All she could see ahead was darkness. Glancing over her shoulder, she saw the wide-open door with snow blowing past, but she knew that going back was no longer an option. Turning to look ahead again, she stared into the pitch black depths of the barn and felt a fresh certainty starting to blossom in her heart:
It was waiting for her.
All other thoughts, all other concerns, seemed trivial now. She could barely even remember Sebastian, or her father, or anything except the fact that she had to keep walking forward.
Reaching into her pocket, she took out her phone and activated the flashlight app, shining it forward and finally seeing the dirty, rubble-strewn concrete floor ahead. Raising the phone a little, she shone its light to either side, stopping suddenly when she spotted a human form slumped against the wall. She froze for a moment, before taking a couple of steps over and seeing that the form was a woman in old-fashioned clothes, her face frozen and shriveled as if she'd been in the barn for a long time. Shining the flashlight app further along the wall, Paula stopped as she saw another slumped body, which seemed to be a younger girl wearing just underwear, and then there were several piles of human bones further along.
And all the while, the heartbeat was still thumping around her, sending shockwaves through her mind.
Turning, she started to walk toward the far end of the barn, still shining the light forward. There were dark, smeared patches on the floor now, which she took to be blood. She knew, deep down, that she should turn and run, but the heartbeat was drawing her onward, telling her not to worry and making her feel as if this moment had always been her destiny. Finally she stopped, but only because the light had picked out a naked man up ahead, kneeling and facing the far end of the barn. A shiver passed through her spine as she realized that she'd found Jonah Lund.
“What are you doing?” she whispered.
No response.
Making her way cautiously around Lund, while taking care not to get too close, she finally saw that his eyes were wide open and that he was staring straight ahead, as if he could see something in the darkness. With the heartbeat sounding louder than ever, she realized that if she shone the light forward, she'd most likely see what was waiting for her. Still, she hesitated for a moment, before turning and holding the phone up.
Her eyes widened with shock.
The phone's weak light had revealed a large, throbbing black shape that took up most of the far-right corner. Glistening as its flesh shuddered with each heartbeat, the creature – and it was a creature, she had no doubt of that – seemed unable to move, unable to speak. It didn't even have a face, as far as she could tell. It was simply a huge black blob, several meters wide in every direction, with the only definite feature being a faint ridge running through its fleshy mass, almost as if part of its backbone was showing.
“It calls to me,” Jonah Lund whispered.
Turning, she shone the light at his face and saw the darkness in his eyes.
“Ever since I first saw it, back when I saw a child, it has been in my soul, whispering to me as it whispers to others.”
“What is it?” she asked, turning back to look at the huge mass. “What the hell is this thing?”
“Let it into your mind,” he continued. “It might tell you. It told me a lot of secrets when I was a boy, but I don't remember... I barely remember anything anymore. Between the creature and the doctors, so much of my mind is gone.”
Taking a step forward, Paula stared at the huge mass. The heartbeat, throbbing in her ears, seemed even louder now, as if it was in danger of pulsing through her entire body and rattling her skull. She could feel her own heart beating too, but it seemed so weak and feeble in the face of the creature.
“What are you?” she asked finally, taking another step closer. “What do you want?”
She waited, and slowly she realized that she could feel another presence in the back of her mind, as if something was starting to grow in her thoughts. She took a step back, momentarily convinced that she should fight, before realizing that whatever was happening, it seemed somehow benign, as if it was reaching out from the vast black mass and trying to make contact, slipping like curling tendrils of smoke through her thoughts until, finally, she heard her own voice speaking to her from a place she didn't recognize:
“What if I could tell you a secret?”
“What?” she whispered, unable to stop staring at the glistening black mass as the light from her phone continued to pick out its form, set against the barn's brick wall.
“I would require something in return,” the voice replied.
“What do you want?” she asked, taking a step forward. “Name it. I'll give you anything.”
“I don't permit many people to hear me speak,” the voice continued. “I mostly push people away and discourage them from entering this place. Sometimes I have to let them in, so I am able to feed. And then, just occasionally, I sense someone stronger nearby, someone who can carry a few of my secrets without losing their sanity, and who can offer me something in return. You feel like such a person.”
“I am,” she replied, almost desperate to hear more. “Tell me. I swear, I'm strong enough.”
“I've been here for so long,” the voice explained. “Longer than you can imagine. I need to feel t
he world beyond these walls, I need to sense the emotions of its people. Some emotions are stronger than others, some are easier for me to hear. I can feel them through you, if you will let me.”
“Of course,” she said, even though in the back of her mind she wasn't quite sure why she was so eager. Something about the voice was simply compelling, luring her closer and closer.
“Come to me,” the voice replied. “I want to feel you.”
Stepping forward, she reached out, ready to put her hand on the creature's vast black surface.
“There can be no going back,” the voice added. “Once you are sealed to me, you are sealed for all time. I will give you truth and knowledge, but you will have to give me something in return. I need to share your pain. The pain of a man who kills his wife, or the pain of a little girl who kills her sisters. Only true pain and misery will satisfy me.”
“Anything,” she replied, marveling at the creature's beauty as she moved her hand closer. “I'll give you anything.”
“The world,” the voice told her. “I want the world.”
“I...” She paused for a moment. “I don't know if I can -”
“You can,” the voice continued, trembling for a moment, as if it was on the verge of a change, with the heartbeat becoming louder and louder in the air all around them. “I will teach you how. I have tried to make this deal with so many of your kind. Perhaps you, finally, will be the one who gives me everything I desire. If I can become stronger, I might finally be able to leave this place.”
“I'll help you,” she replied, “I promise.” With that, she moved her hand closer.
“No,” Lund said suddenly, grabbing Paula's wrist and pulling her back.
“Let go,” she replied, turning to him, desperate to seal the connection.
