Haunted House - A Novel of Terror

by Jack Kilborn

  Mal’s prosthetic hand always got a few raised eyebrows, but Deb’s artificial legs drew attention like a marching band down Main Street. Though Deb was always offered the option of a private search, away from gawkers, she never accepted, preferring to strip down to her shorts and show everyone on the planet her high tech artificial limbs.

  Mal knew Deb did it because she didn’t want to be treated any differently than anyone else. But they did treat her differently, and Mal watched the crowd finger pointing and murmuring, some assholes actually snapping pictures.

  It was made even worse by the fact that Deb was an athlete, and very fit, so standing there in her running shorts like a sexy female Robocop getting ready to pose for Playboy 2054 made him feel jealous as well as overprotective. As expected, after her scan and pat-down, Deb was immediately approached by a smiling Lothario who was better looking, a better dresser, and no doubt younger and richer than Mal was.

  So I get to endure her humiliation of stripping down to her stumps, and then nurse my own humiliation because I don’t feel I’m man enough for her.

  Mal was expertly in tune with his own feelings, thanks to the unrelenting therapy. Besides lacking a hand to touch his wife with, he also felt powerless to protect her. That led to feelings of inadequacy which normally didn’t reveal themselves during daylight hours. But as he watched CEO Joe chat up his wife while TSA played stupid with his mechanical hand, Mal felt himself getting angrier and angrier. When they finally let him through, he stormed over to Deb as she was re-snapping her running pants.

  “Picked up an admirer, I see,” Mal said, sizing up the man. He looked fit, and could probably kick Mal’s ass all day long and not break a sweat.

  “Just paying the lady a compliment,” the guy replied. He looked confident, which Mal hated. Especially because Mal remembered being that confident once.

  “I’m the lady’s husband,” Mal said. “Now go run off to your board meeting.”

  The guy puffed his chest out. “Or what?”

  “Or I’ll beat the shit out of you, then make you lick it up.”

  Doubt flashed across the man’s face. He muttered, “Asshole,” then turned and walked off.

  Deb looked irritated. “Where did all that testosterone come from?”

  “The guy was hitting on you, Deb.”

  “He said it was really brave of me to take my jogging pants off like I did.”

  Mal rolled his eyes. “He said that because you have a nice ass. Think he would have said that to some fat guy with artificial legs?”

  “Can’t I be brave and have a nice ass? You know, Mal, I feel like a freak often enough. Some guy innocently flirting makes me feel normal. He wasn’t a threat to you.”

  Mal wanted to turn away. But if he did, it would prove she won and he was wrong. So he forced himself to maintain eye contact. “He saw you as an easy target, Deb.”

  “I’m not easy. And I’m not a target.”

  Mal switched tactics. “Deb, there are… guys… who have fetishes about…”

  Deb’s eyes darkened. “So now he didn’t approach me because I had a nice ass. He came over because he’s an amputee pervert.”

  “I’m just saying—”

  “You’re acting like an asshole.”

  Mal studied his shoes. He wanted to kneel down, help her put her snap-away pants back on, but he couldn’t align the snaps with one hand.

  “Look,” he said, letting out a long breath. “I didn’t like that guy swaggering up to you.”

  “Him? You swagger more than any guy I ever met.”

  Maybe, once upon a time. But not lately.

  He changed subjects. “Do you have the Xanax?”

  “My purse.”

  He sat next to her on the bench and pawed through her handbag. The medicine bottle had a child-proof cab on it, and after trying to pry it off with his teeth, he simply cradled it in his lap until Deb finished dressing. She reached over, held his hand.

  “I’m sorry,” he said. “I used to be fine flying. But now…”

  “It’s okay to be afraid.”

  He wanted to scream, to smash the pill bottle against the floor and stomp it to bits. Instead he clenched his teeth and whispered, “But I’m afraid of everything.”

  “I know.”

  “Including losing you.”

  “I know.” Deb patted his hand. “And that’s not going to happen.”

  “I’m sorry, Deb. You deserve better.”

  “You’re all I need, Mal.”

  She kissed his cheek. A kiss of pity, not love.

  Mal felt his ears get hot. He endured the kiss without flinching away.

  “Take a few, Mal. Zonk out on the plane.”

  Mal nodded. But he wouldn’t. Deb couldn’t drive the rental car, which meant he had to, and alprazolam abuse and driving didn’t mix. So when Deb opened the bottle for him, Mal swallowed one, just to take the edge off, and then they shuffled into the terminal.

  With an hour before boarding time, they stopped at the Burgh Sportz Bar in the Airmall. Deb had a chicken salad. Mal had a burger. When the food arrived it looked decent enough, but Mal’s stomach was sour and he picked at his French fries while watching Deb inhale her food. She’d talked him into coming to this stupid experiment, and even seemed optimistic about it. Bless her little heart, Deb considered this trip a hybrid of vacation and adventure.

  Mal felt differently. He didn’t like confronting his fears in therapy, and he knew he’d abhor being purposely frightened. But the thing that bothered him most was being allowed to bring weapons.

  What kind of government experiment allows the participants to be armed? What safeguards were in place to prevent someone from getting seriously hurt?

  Mal had packed the gun in their check-in luggage, and both he and Deb had taken shooting lessons. But in fright’s grasp, Mal wouldn’t trust himself to hit a bus from a meter away. What if he fired wildly and hurt someone? What if he shot Deb? What kind of insane tests were going to be conducted on them that required firearms?

  “Aren’t you hungry?”

  He shook his head. Deb took that as an invitation to tear his burger in half and start munching. Mal stared at her, marveling at her resiliency. He wanted to tell her how much he loved her. How proud he was of her. She was two levels away from becoming a black belt. A double amputee, slowly becoming a karate master. Who could have ever guessed all she could accomplish? But instead of gushing his admiration, he thought of that CEO jerk hitting on her, and how she seemed to eat it up.

  She’s going to figure out I’m a coward, and leave me.

  Mal didn’t think he’d be able to handle that. But he was sure it was coming.

  Someone bumped the back of Mal’s chair, and he turned to see a teenager standing next to the table. Chubby, almond-eyed, protruding tongue. Down Syndrome.

  “What’s wrong with your hand?” the teen said, pointing at Mal’s prosthesis.

  “I lost it. This one is made of rubber.”

  “How did you lose it?”

  A madman strapped me to a table and cut it off with a scalpel while I begged for him to stop.

  “An accident,” Mal said. He looked at Deb, who was staring at the boy with wide eyes. While the teen was probably harmless, he was bringing up old memories. Bad memories.

  “Where are your parents?” Mal asked, searching around for the child’s caretaker.

  “You’re a freak,” the boy said.

  Mal blinked. “What?”

  “You’re a freak and you’re going to die.” He looked at Deb. “And so are you, lady.”

  Mal began to stand up. “Look, kid—”

  But the teenager stepped back and pointed, then began to yell, “FREAKS GONNA DIE! FREAKS GONNA DIE!”

  Mal turned to his wife. Her face had lost all color, and she looked ready to throw up.

  “FREAKS GONNA DIE!”

  Again Mal looked for the boy’s father or mother, but instead he only saw people staring. Not only those in th
e restaurant, but passersby had also stopped to watch.

  “FREAKS GONNA DIE!”

  Finally an older woman came rushing over, tugging at the boy’s arm, saying “Calm down, Petey, calm down.” She offered Mal and Deb a quick, soulless I’m sorry, and then managed to pull her son away from their table as he continued to shout.

  “FREAKS GONNA DIE!”

  The woman tugged the child further into the terminal, until his voice melded in with the rest of the airport noise. In the restaurant, the clinking of silverware on plates resumed, and conversations picked up to levels prior to the interruption.

  Mal, his whole body flushed and twitching, turned to his wife.

  “You okay, babe?”

  Deb’s face pinched, and then she vomited all over the table.

  Solidarity, South Carolina

  Forenzi

  Dr. Emil Forenzi sat on the mattress—the one piece of furniture in his bedroom that wasn’t an antique—and squinted at the Bruno Magli loafers he’d just put on. There was a stain on the toe. He pulled it off and licked his thumb, rubbing off a reddish-brown streak.

  Blood.

  Forenzi couldn’t remember wearing the shoes in the lab area, and his mind wandered as to elsewhere he might have trod in bodily fluids. His revere was interrupted by a knock on the bedroom door.

  “Enter,” he said, dropping the shoe next to the bed.

  Sykes came in, holding a sheaf of papers. He silently presented them to Forenzi. It was reports on their guests.

  Tom Mankowski, the cop, had just arrived at the airport. Excellent. He would make a sturdy test subject.

  The amputees, Mallory and Deborah Dieter, had boarded their plane in Pittsburg. Forenzi had high hopes for them.

  Dr. Frank Belgium and Sara Randhurst were due at Butler House any minute. Forenzi’s intel provided an interesting tidbit.

  “They’re sharing a cab?” he said to Sykes. “Do they know each other?”

  “I have no idea, sir.”

  Forenzi glanced at him, caught a glimpse of the man’s sharp dentata.

  “Do you mind if I ask you a personal question, Sykes?”

  “Nothing is personal to me, sir.”

  “Do you ever bite your tongue while eating?”

  “As much as anyone else.”

  Sykes didn’t elaborate. Forenzi flipped through more pages, seeing who else was attending, and frowned at the lack of a dossier on the VanCamps.

  “Josh and Fran VanCamp didn’t confirm?”

  “No, sir.”

  Forenzi clucked his tongue. That was a shame. They would have been ideal.

  No matter. This weekend would proceed without them, and it would be a success nonetheless.

  “Have you spoken to your team?” he asked Sykes.

  “Yes, sir. We’re ready.”

  “My team?”

  “I checked on them half an hour ago. Proceeding as scheduled.”

  “Dinner?”

  “Planned for seven, as requested.”

  “Will we have those little Swedish meatballs? Those are wonderful.”

  “Those are listed on the menu, sir.”

  Forenzi nodded. In the hallway, floorboards creaked.

  Both Forenzi and Sykes turned to look. No one was there.

  “The ghosts are getting anxious,” Forenzi mused.

  The paranormal history of Butler House was well-documented, and Forenzi had lost count of the strange phenomenon he’d encountered since coming here. Doors closing by themselves. Sharp drops in temperature. Strange odors. Creepy sounds. Last week, he was awoken from deep sleep, absolutely positive someone had been at the foot of his bed, watching him

  “Do you believe in ghosts, Sykes?”

  The man shrugged.

  “So you aren’t afraid of the supernatural?”

  “I’m not afraid of anything, sir.”

  “Of course you’re not. Dismissed.”

  The man left, closing the door behind him. Not much of a conversationalist, Sykes. But he had other areas of expertise.

  Forenzi stood up and looked into the ornate, full-body mirror hanging above the bureau. He laced a tie through his collar and fussed with a half Windsor knot, trying to get it even. As he fought the fabric, he noticed something moving in the lower corner of the mirror.

  The dust ruffle of the bed.

  Forenzi looked down, behind him, and the rustling stopped.

  Mice? Rats?

  Something else?

  And what happened to my shoe?

  Forenzi searched the floor, turning in a full circle, looking for the loafer with the blood stain. He could have sworn he’d dropped it on the floor before Sykes came in.

  Under the bed?

  The doctor got on his hands and knees, ready to lift up the dust ruffle. But something gave him pause.

  Behind the dust ruffle, something was making a sound. A distinct, recognizable sound.

  Chewing.

  I hear chewing.

  A streak of panic flashed through Forenzi, and he crabbed backward, away from the bed. Then he quickly scanned the room for some sort of weapon. His eyes settled on an old, cast iron stove. Atop the bundle of kindling next to it was a fireplace poker.

  Forenzi got to his feet and snatched the poker, turning back to the bed. Then he held his breath, listening.

  The chewing was now accompanied by a slurping noise.

  What the hell is that?

  He knelt next to the bed, firmly gripping the poker with his right hand, reaching toward the dust ruffle with his left—

  —and hesitated.

  Do I really want to know what’s under there?

  The chewing and slurping sounds stopped.

  Forenzi continued to hold his breath, focusing on the silence.

  After ten seconds, he let out a sigh, already starting to convince himself he’d imagined the whole thing.

  Then he heard something else.

  Scratching.

  From under the bed. As if something was raking its nails on the floorboards.

  Acting fast, before he lost his nerve, Forenzi lifted up the dust ruffle and jammed the poker underneath, flailing it around.

  He didn’t hit anything. And the scratching sound stopped.

  Forenzi leaned down, squinting under the bed. But it was too dark to see anything.

  Moving the poker slowly, he swept it across the floor, kicking up vast colonies of dust clods. When his poker touched something solid, he retracted quickly—

  —pulling out his missing loafer.

  He stared at it, trying to make sense of what he saw. The shoe was damp with a viscous goo, and the toe had a large hole in it, surrounded by what appeared to be…

  Bite marks.

  Charleston, South Carolina

  Tom

  Fetzer Correctional Institution was known as a Level 3 prison. It housed the worst of the worst. Violent offenders and lifers did their time here, as did the death row inmates, up until their appeals ran out. In order to arrange a last-minute visit with one of its prisoners, Tom had to call in a big favor with his old boss, a retired Chicago Homicide Lieutenant named Daniels. She’d pulled a few strings and gotten him an audience with possibly the most depraved and sadistic murderer in this nation’s history, Augustus Torble. The millionaire heir who bought Butler House then tortured several women to death.

  Tom drove the rental SUV to the perimeter fence, and an armed guard looked at Tom’s badge and checked his name on the visitor roster. Tom was allowed through the double fence, electrified and topped with razor wire, and he drove past one of the prison’s five gun towers. The main building was a red brick monstrosity that was among the drabbest, ugliest buildings Tom had ever seen. It had a flat façade devoid of any embellishments, save for barred windows and an arched entryway with ugly steel doors.

  He parked in the visitor lot, and walked down a cracked, sun-baked sidewalk to the entrance. It was overcast and hot, the gray sky looking like it was ready to rain, but the humidity
seemed strangely absent. Tom was buzzed in after being directed via intercom to look up into the security camera, providing them with video footage of his face.

  Inside, he was met by two more armed guards, who led him without fanfare down a harshly lit hallway to a waiting room, where he was told to have a seat. Tom parked his butt on a steel bench bolted to the floor, and watched the clock on the wall—a clock housed in wire mesh. It was much more humid in the prison than outside. In fact, Tom almost immediately began to perspire, and wished he’d had a handkerchief to blot his forehead.

  When two minutes passed, a dour woman in a frumpy pantsuit entered and frowned at him. She was accompanied by a guard.

  “I’m the assistant warden, Miss Potter. You couldn’t have come at a worse time.” Her southern lilt making the last word sound like tahm. “The prisoner is being readied for transport.”

  “Where is he going?” Tom asked.

  “Out of my hair. Prisoner transfers are common, and I’m not always told the particulars.”

  “Do you know the reason?”

  “I wasn’t informed.” The way her mouth pursed told Tom that this annoyed her. “What is it you want with the prisoner?”

  “I have some questions to ask him. About Butler House.”

  Potter snorted. She removed a handkerchief from her jacket pocket and blotted the sweat on her neck. “That house is a blight on the beautiful state of South Carolina. Needs to be razed flat, if you ask me.”

  “What have you heard about the house, Ma’am?”

  “You mean, is it haunted? I deal in the real world, Detective. I see enough hatred and evil in men’s souls without having to blame the supernatural for it. But I’ll tell you something. I’ve had several interactions with Mr. Augustus Torble. And if there was ever a man possessed by demons, it’s him. Just last week he had an altercation with another prisoner over the last bag of potato chips. Mr. Torble bit the other prisoner’s finger off. When questioned about the incident he had to be restrained, because…”

  Her voice drifted off, and Tom could detect a bit of flush in her cheeks.

  “Ma’am?” he asked.

  She blew out a stiff breath. “Because Mr. Torble was noticeably aroused by the incident, and kept playing with himself while being questioned.”