by Harper Lin
Bea nodded, trying to put on a brave face that said she believed her mother. But the glint of tears in her eyes said otherwise.
“Do you have any idea why they seem to focus on men?” I asked.
“Well, I’ve read some stories about women being terrified by them, but all I can think is that if these creatures feed off of fear… well, let’s face it. Cath, you’d be just as terrified of a spider in the shower as you would these things.”
I nodded in agreement looking at Aunt Astrid and then Bea. “Probably.”
“So, my theory is that men are harder to scare. They’re just hardwired to be brave in certain instances. They will automatically look for a reason or answer to something abnormal.” Aunt Astrid wiped her hands on her skirt. “If you can scare them to the point of ending their own lives, well, I just think there must be a bigger payoff, more food or more energy.”
“Is it just me, or does everyone in this room feel a little superior right now?” I asked.
Bea nodded, squaring her shoulders. “I do. Yes.”
“Calm down, you two. It doesn’t mean we can’t be attacked too. It just means they prefer machismo. And it’s machismo in a certain area.”
“Okay. You’ve found a pattern in these suicides. What does that tell us?” I asked, hoping that if we let Aunt Astrid continue, there would be some shred of hope that those things weren’t messengers of imminent death.
“It just turned out that the first two deaths recorded were on streets that still exist today. So I marked them on the first map. The others were on streets that have since been renamed, but look at this.” She pulled out all three maps. They were of the same areas in Wonder Falls, but each map became more and more detailed.
More streets were illustrated. The district lines were changed. But the odd thing was that all Aunt Astrid’s little red ticks where a suicide was reported to have happened were all in the same vicinity.
“It’s like a coup of circles,” I said. “And they don’t seem to vary too much.”
“Exactly,” my aunt said. “There is something strange about this area, and I haven’t yet figured it out.”
“Wait.” Bea looked at the maps. “What’s this?” She pointed to an area on each of the maps that was wide open. “It looks like the system has a nucleus.”
Did I ever mention that Bea is smart? She was really smart. And at that moment, I was shocked by her brilliance as we stared at a perfect starting point.
“That is a place in Prestwick,” I said. “See, Darla lives in Prestwick, and so all kinds of evil is attracted to the place. We ought to just run her out of town.” I didn’t mean for the words to just fall out of my mouth.
Bea chuckled and rolled her eyes.
“What?” I asked.
“Why do you hate her again?”
I shook my head. “How much time have you got?”
“We need to find out that address and pay the owner a visit,” Aunt Astrid said. “Perhaps they’re conjuring something they can’t control anymore.”
As I studied the map, I realized that the place we were looking for used to be on Davis Street. But after a couple of years of renovation and reconstruction, the street was changed to Butternut Drive. I knew that place. With all my heart, I knew it was the place with the long driveway and the For Sale and Keep Out signs posted along the way.
But how could I tell Bea and Aunt Astrid without letting them know I went snooping and that it led to time alone in the car with Detective Samberg? It was just too humiliating for me to say. And yet, it could be helpful. The lives of innocent people could be at stake.
“So I think that I know where…”
“Oh my gosh!” Bea cried out, slapping her forehead as if she had just dropped her keys down a manhole. “Butternut Drive. That is where that Shawn Eshelman said he lived when he had gotten off his meds. It was the six-hundred-dollar-a-month mansion for one bachelor to live in. I knew that looked familiar. Jake had said that was where Shawn said he lived.”
“He also said he was renting it from someone he never met, right?” I asked. “And now that house is condemned, right?”
Bea shrugged. “That’s what Jake said. We need to go check that place out.”
“All of us?” I asked.
“Well, what were you thinking, honey?” Aunt Astrid asked.
“Oh, well, I was just thinking that it might be better if we, you know, leave this investigating to the experts. I could tell Detective Samberg that it might be worth checking out, and I could go with him so you guys could…”
“Could what? Could wait and see if we never hear from you again? No way, girlie.” Bea folded her arms across her chest and shook her head. “You know how much stronger we are together. I have the feeling we are all going to need to stick together from now on if we’re going to get into this any deeper.”
I shrugged. “Sure. Yeah, you’re right. I was just thinking out loud.”
“Just thinking out loud?” Aunt Astrid eyeballed me as if she were a teacher who had caught a student passing a note.
Just then the bell over the door jingled, and I left my two relatives to talk amongst themselves.
The customer stepped around the corner, and my breath caught in my chest. It was none other than Detective Samberg. He looked very serious, and I realized there was no Jake with him.
“Hi. Is everything okay? Is Jake all right?” I asked, getting ready to scream for Bea.
“Yeah, he’s back at the station doing some paperwork.”
I let my breath out and put my hands on my hips. “Then what can I do for you? Would you like a hot tea or maybe a slice of Dutch apple pie?”
“No. I’m actually here to see you.”
“Me?” So yes, I was a little surprised and almost giggled. “What about?”
“Last night. Min Park was at your place, right?”
I blinked at him and tilted my head. “How do you know that?”
“His father, Mr. Park, had called the police station to say that his wife and son had seen someone trying to get into their house. Mrs. Park said Min had chased them off. But he didn’t stick around to give a statement. I just find that odd.”
“I don’t know what’s so odd about that?”
“Would you leave your aunt alone like that after witnessing someone trying to get into her house?”
Pal, you have no idea how my aunt could squeeze the stuffing right out of you before you could say “freeze, hands up.”
“If my aunt said she was okay and didn’t need me,” I said.
“And then Min shows up at your house and stays…”
“How do you know he was at my house?” My blood was starting to boil. I couldn’t believe I thought it would be a good idea to ride to Butternut Drive with this guy. What had I been thinking?
“I dropped Jake off after our shift at eleven o’clock. I saw Min’s car there.”
“And so what did you do?” I asked. “Just sit there and watch how long he hung out at my house?”
“I just observed something I thought was a little interesting. That’s all.”
I swore Blake was enjoying this. He loved to make people squirm. It was going to be one of those days that he put a gold star on his calendar. Made that smarty pants Cath Greenstone really uncomfortable. Yay for me! Gold star!
“Well, I was unaware that a grown woman my age had to clear it with the Wonder Falls P.D. if I wanted to have a friend come visit.”
“What did you and Mr. Park talk about?” he asked.
“Nothing. We’ve been friends since grade school. We talk about anything and everything, if you must know.”
“You mean he didn’t mention anything about being with his mother and some kids with black eyes trying to get into their house?”
“Well, I don’t really remember. I mean we talked about a lot of stuff and…” I was rambling, and I knew it. And I knew Blake knew it too. But how could I tell him that Min had told me this bizarre story and that I believed him one hundred p
ercent? Blake obviously didn’t know that his own partner saw these same things and practically took a bullet for Blake by answering his door.
Blake Samberg was never going to know that he might have died that night had it not been for Jake. He would never know that Min was telling the truth and so was his mother.
But I’d promised. I’d promised not to tell Min’s story, and I’d also said I would keep a lid on it for Jake too.
“You don’t remember him saying anything about children with black eyes showing up to peek in their windows?” Blake asked, looking down at his pocket notebook.
“I remember him saying some kids were playing a joke. Halloween is right around the corner. He did say it scared his mom, and he was a little nervous.” I watched Blake’s face and thought I had pulled off. I thought he wouldn’t ask me anything else.
But I couldn’t stop talking. “If I could make one suggestion? The next time you decide it’s necessary to spy on my house, just come knock on the door. Don’t stand out there lurking around like some transient.”
He looked as if I had just told him to shut up and get out. For a second, I felt guilty. But it passed.
“Hello, Blake,” Aunt Astrid said as if he were her long-lost son. “Can we help you with anything?”
“No, ma’am. I’ve got what I came for.” And yes, he looked at me with a smirk when he said that.
“You look a little pale. Let me give you something for the drive back to the station.” Aunt Astrid turned around and not only gave him a huge slice of Dutch apple pie, but also a gourmet salad filled with all kinds of healthy, crunchy greens, dried berries, and stuff I’d never eat but that looked delicious. She dropped it all in a bag and handed to him.
“Thanks, ma’am. I appreciate it.” Then, he did the unthinkable. He looked me up and down. As if that weren’t embarrassing enough, my aunt saw it and giggled. Then he turned and walked out as if he hadn’t even spoken to me.
I felt eyes on me, and for a split second, I hoped it was some black-eyed children, but it wasn’t. It was my aunt, smiling.
“What?” I asked.
She shook her head back and forth but said nothing as she went back to the table around the counter where Bea was still studying all the maps and notes.
Butternut
I was a bit relieved that Bea knew where the strange house in Prestwick was. After we piled into Bea’s car that evening after work, we took a nice drive to Prestwick. Thankfully, the café had been slow, and we were able to close up a little early, leaving the sun hanging in the sky for at least another good two hours.
After some Google Maps searches that yielded three different routes and a few complicated turns down the serpentine roads, I couldn’t help but feel a slight case of déjà vu. The fall leaves were still in colorful canopies overhead, and the houses looked even more beautiful this time since I had a chance to really look at them.
When we passed by Darla’s house, I tried to look away, but I caught sight of her standing outside. She was chatting up some guy in a van that had J&J Plumbing stenciled on the side. He was practically falling out of the driver’s side window as she talked and flipped her hair. I kept my mouth shut, but I looked away in disgust, rolling my eyes and wondering how so many guys fell for her babe-in-the-woods act. When I looked in the rearview mirror, I saw Bea looking at me. She smiled and winked at me, and I smiled back.
“Okay, we need to take a left up ahead, then a quick right, and we should be just about there,” Aunt Astrid said, navigating between two maps and a set of handwritten directions she had made for herself.
After a few more minutes, Bea pointed out her window.
“Is that it?” she asked. “I don’t see any numbers, but that looks like a driveway. At least, I think it is. It isn’t a road, right?”
“Well, let’s see. The house next door was 3490 Butternut. We’re looking for what?” Aunt Astrid looked at her notes. “This says 3494.”
“Let’s give it a try,” I said, knowing it was the right place.
Bea turned and headed down the cobblestone driveway, past the For Sale and No Trespassing signs, only to have the journey end at the wrought iron gate I had come to just a few days earlier. From that point on, I was as clueless as the other two Greenstone women. We had no idea what was up ahead.
“You feel that?” I asked as I opened the car door.
“Yeah.” Bea nodded as she climbed out from behind the wheel. “Like someone blasting a boom box or subwoofers on their car.”
“Something is here,” Aunt Astrid said.
I stretched my legs and my back as I looked around.
“Everyone smile. We’re on camera,” I said as casually as possible, motioning in the general direction of a camera at the far corner of the fence and then at one pointed down on the driveway from a tall tree.
“Well, at least we know someone is watching the place,” Aunt Astrid said, looking not only at the camera but past it and through it, trying to see the person who had installed them.
“Maybe,” Bea said. “They look pretty old and neglected. Big, bulky things from the seventies or something.”
They did look pretty old, but I wasn’t sure they were inoperable. They might have looked that way on purpose.
My aunt was gently waving her hands as if she were performing some kind of exercise or pushing invisible curtains aside, which she probably was.
“Maybe we should make an appointment like we’re interested in the property,” Bea said. “That way, we wouldn’t have to trespass in order to get a look around. We’re just a couple of ladies looking to invest in a bigger house where we could all take care of the frail and ailing Astrid Greenstone.” Bea looked playfully at her mom. “Besides, if those cameras do work and we sneak in, how would it look if Detective Jake Williams had to not only bail his wife out of the clink, but his mother-in-law and cousin-in-law too?”
“Yeah, that would look pretty bad,” I chuckled. “Good call, Bumble Bea. I’ll make the appointment.”
Aunt Astrid didn’t reply. She didn’t laugh. She just stood there, looking through the fence bars, and I could only imagine what other layers of reality.
Her face was firm and set in a stare far off down the driveway past the gate. “We’re being watched.”
Bea stepped closer to her mother. “What do you see?”
“Black eyes,” Aunt Astrid said, her voice low and firm. “Maybe four sets. Six at the most.” She squinted and stepped up to the metal gate, wrapping her hands around the bars and looking in. “They don’t like us being here. Not one bit.”
“Can they tell we’re witches?” I asked. I wasn’t sure if we gave off some kind of paranormal aroma or glowed like a road flare because of our connection with the magical.
“I don’t know,” my aunt said. “I don’t think it matters. They don’t look like they’d be happy with anyone showing up. Equal-opportunity haters.”
Bea squinted, looking behind us, back the way we had come down the driveway.
“We need to get into the house.” She walked to her car and opened the door. She came back with a wrinkled receipt and a pen and wrote down the number on the faded For Sale sign.
“That’s going to take time,” I said. “We have to be fit into the agent’s schedule. They have to meet us here and walk through the place with us. It’s going to be a big hassle. But look.” I walked up to the gate and pushed hard, stretching the chain. “We could squeeze through here and make our way down to the—”
Something screamed.
“Okay! I heard that! Did you guys hear that? Tell me you heard that,” I said to the ladies as I slowly let go and backed away from the gate. “You did hear that, right?”
“I heard it,” Bea said, taking her mother’s hand and pulling her away from the rusted gate.
“No,” Aunt Astrid whispered as she pointed. “They aren’t happy we’re here at all.”
“Okay, then I think it’s time to go,” I said. “We can come back with permission an
d be a little better prepared, with pepper spray and weapons and a couple of layers of protection spells, along with a few surprises like lightning bolts and binding incantations.”
“Yes, hurry.” My aunt backed up. “Something is coming.”
It didn’t take much for all of us to pile back into Bea’s car like a bunch of circus clowns. Just as we shut the doors, the wind whipped up something fierce.
They hadn’t been there a second ago. But they were just a couple of yards in front of us now. Three pale-faced children. Staring. I didn’t just see hatred in those jet-black eyes, but a hunger that terrified me. Smiles loaded with some kind of feral insanity spread across their faces. I was beginning to doubt the distance between us and wondered if the barrier of the glass and steel of the car was enough to protect us.
“I see them,” I said without moving my lips. “Three creepy kids over there. Yeah, I see them.”
“I do too,” Bea said while turning the key in the ignition.
I was never so happy to hear a car roar to life as I was at that minute. Before I could say anything, Bea hit the gas and peeled out of the driveway backwards. As fast as we moved, the creepy children were a little quicker. Within a blink, they were at the gate with their pale hands wrapped around the bars and their eyes glaring at us.
With some quick maneuvers, Bea got us down the driveway and back onto Butternut Drive, heading away from that house.
“If we’re going to go into that house, we’ll need protection, and that will take a few days to prepare,” my aunt said.
Hearing those words, I snapped my head in her direction. “We’re still going in there? Really?” I laughed nervously.
“Cath, who knows who they might come after next?” Bea asked. “They might try and finish what they started with Jake or Detective Samberg. Who knows? We’ve got to stop them.”
“Bea is right,” Aunt Astrid said. “They can’t be reasoned with. They can’t feel compassion. They are evil things.”
I knew they were right. But something in my gut was trying to tell me this was more than a couple of pesky entities. Maybe I found the whole thing so upsetting because they were children. But they weren’t children. They were taking the form of children. Little kids didn’t make a person kill themselves. Maybe children were brats sometimes, but they weren’t deadly.
