by Alexie Aaron
“I don’t like where this is going,” Glenda said. “Audrey, grab my purse. I think I need a drink.”
Audrey handed Glenda her bag, and Glenda produced a pint of whiskey. She nodded to Mike who collected five coffee cups. She divided the amber between them.
December 5, 1891
Renee met me at the door. She had her finger to her lips. She pointed upstairs. I took the stairs two at a time and walked boldly to Mr. Simons’s bedchamber. I burst in to find it empty. I left the room and went to Rebecca’s room. There I found her alone, changing the linens on our bed. She looked surprised to see me. “Dear, what a pleasant surprise. I have news for you. I went to see Doctor Schneider today, and I am carrying another child!”
I picked her up. I kissed her tenderly and brushed a tear of happiness from my eye. I left her there to complete making the bed. I promised her a dinner out and went down to instruct the cook that there would only be two to dine this evening. I stopped on the stairs, baffled by the sound of a door opening and closing quickly. I turned to see if my wife had followed me, but there was no one there.
Renee was waiting for me in the library. “What was all that all about?” I asked her.
“Nothing,” she said, disappointed. “You didn’t catch them then?” she asked.
“Catch Mother and Mr. Simons?” I asked her.
She replied, “They have been sharing secrets.”
“Perhaps she told him our good news. You’re going to have a baby brother!”
Renee didn’t look pleased.
“Don’t you want a brother or a sister?”
“Not really,” she admitted.
“You will have to get used to it, because your mother is expecting a child. Do you have any questions?” I asked her.
“Who’s the father?” Renee asked before she got up and left the library.
I’m outraged by this. The more I thought about it, the more I was less outraged with Renee and more suspicious about the so-called secrets that Renee said were shared between my wife and Mr. Simons.
December 10, 1981
It’s cook’s and the maid’s day off. I pretended to leave for school but instead hid in the library. I waited until Renee went outside to play and snuck up the stairs. I stood in the darkness of the hall and waited. I heard heavy footsteps approaching and pushed back into the dark corner. I heard a knock on my wife’s bedroom door, and she opened it.
“Mr. Simons, what are you doing here?”
“The child said you needed wood and…”
The door shut. I waited a moment and steeled myself for what I would find. I inched the door open and found my wife in the arms of Mr. Simons! “Unhand my wife!” I cried.
Mr. Simon’s seemed puzzled. “She just fainted. I caught her before she hit the floor,” he explained.
“Get out of this house!” I ordered.
Rebecca pulled on my arm, and I backhanded the adulterous bitch! She fell on the bed.
“You, sir, have no right to hit your wife!” Mr. Simons bellowed.
“She is my wife. I’ll beat her if I want to. Get out of my house!” I ordered.
I was in such a rage. I left Rebecca’s room and followed Mr. Simons to his. He set about packing his things, so I went down into the kitchen to get myself something to drink. There was a fresh pile of firewood at the door. Mr. Simons had left the axe he had used to chop the kindling leaning against the wall of the pantry. The rest is a blur.
I think I carried the axe upstairs to Rebecca’s room. She screamed when she saw me. Mr. Simons ran up from his room to her aid, but he was too late and was rewarded with me planting the axe into his chest. I lay him down beside my dead wife. The more I looked at them, the more I became enraged. I raised the axe, and by the time I was finished, I was soaked in their blood. I dropped the axe and went to my room to clean up. I would surrender myself to the police after I had put on a clean set of clothes.
I walked back to Rebecca’s room to see once more what I had done. I opened the door. Horrors of horrors. There in the middle of their mangled bodies sat Renee. She was covered in blood and laughing. “No more baby, no more baby,” she said over and over again.
“What have you done?” I asked, pulling her off the bed.
“Made sure there will be no more babies in this house!” she screamed.
“Was your mother unfaithful?”
“No!”
I looked at the satisfied look on Renee’s face and wanted it gone. I shook her.
“No more baby, no more baby!” she chanted.
I knew I was looking into the face of pure evil. I wrapped my hands around her throat and choked the life out of her.
After, I cleaned up the room. I disposed of their remains and washed down the walls with bleach water. I flipped the torn mattress and remade the bed. I took Mr. Simons’s things and hid them along with a valise full of Rebecca’s and Renee’s clothes.
December 11, 1891
This morning I told the cook and the maid that my wife and daughter had run away with Mr. Simons last evening. I wouldn’t be able to keep them on. I paid their wages and closed up the house.
January 30, 1892
I sometimes hear Renee on the stairs, but when I get up to look, I am faced with an empty staircase. No longer will my wife walk down smiling at me. No longer will my daughter be the innocent child I thought she was. In time, I removed all the damaged bedding and furniture from Rebecca’s room. Aside from the entombed bodies, there is no record of anything ever happening here. I cannot get the image of my daughter on the bed between their corpses covered in their blood out of my mind. I am leaving this record of my crime before I leave for places out west. They need good teachers out there. The house will go to another Roustan, probably Rebecca’s cousin Roland, since I was unable to give it an heir.
God forgive me.
Albert Roustan.
“That was horrible,” Audrey said. “Those poor people.”
“I’m surprised Grace allowed you to read this,” Mike said. “It doesn’t put her relative in such a good light.”
“I suspect the old broad is more concerned for the living than the reputations of the Roustans.”
“I guess we know now why the house had to be untouched,” Cid said. “I imagine the remains of the three are secreted somewhere in this building. Dividing it up into apartments could have opened up a few walls…”
Audrey looked over at Ted. He was very pale. Her heart went out to him. “Ted, I know it may seem overwhelming, but if we find the bodies, perhaps the ghost will release the others…” her voice fell off because she could tell he wasn’t listening. Ted seemed to be caught up in his own private hell.
“Ted, what do you think?” Mike asked. “Ted, do you hear me?”
“I’m sorry. I just figured out why the ghost took those three for her sick game,” Ted said.
“Go on,” Mike encouraged.
“Mia lost a child when she was younger. She would believe the tale as she would instinctively feel the loss,” he said softly. “Burt is a kind man and would do anything to help Mia out. And Murphy’s wife cheated on him. She had her lover kill him, and to top things off, Murphy comes with his own axe.”
“Murphy wouldn’t harm Mia,” Cid said quickly.
“He would if he thought he was someone else,” Ted pointed out.
“No, it’s not in his makeup,” Cid protested.
“What about Albert? Do you think that teacher would ever have thought that he would dice up his wife? No. The evil child produced a convincing false tableau that turned that man into a murderer. What do you think she’s doing right now?” Ted asked them.
No one had an answer for him.
“Why? Why is this happening?” Audrey asked the group.
“I don’t think it matters anymore, Audrey,” Mike said. “Why isn’t going to save our friends. We have to find those bodies. We need to go down our checklists for getting rid of ghosts until we do exactly that.”
“W
hy couldn’t Mia sense the ghost?” Glenda asked.
“I think it’s because of all the previous attempts to get rid of the thing. The house probably has been salted, sage-smoked, and exorcised to the point where all the things a sensitive picks up on are basically gone. Somehow, some kind of noise exists now that makes Mia’s natural communication with Murphy null and void,” Mike surmised.
~
Burt found Mia strapped to the bed by a folded sheet tucked into the mattress on either side.
The woman couldn’t move. He pulled the restraint off of her and gently touched her cheek. “Mrs. Roustan?”
Mia turned her head and opened her eyes. “Burt?” she asked. “What’s going on?”
Burt lifted Mia’s head up and put a few pillows under it. “You lost a child.”
“Years ago. Where am I?” she asked.
“In your bed.”
“Then where’s Ted?” she asked, looking around.
Burt looked back at her blankly.
Mia pushed the covers down. “What the hell am I wearing?” She started to pull at the high neck of the gown. The more the buttons held, the more frantic she became.
“Mrs. Roustan, you have to settle down,” Burt said, trying to catch hold of her hands. He fell forward into the bed. Mia started laughing.
The door opened, and she saw Murph standing there. His face told her that he was not the Murph she knew anymore.
“Unhand my wife, you cad!” he said and pulled Burt away by his clothing. Mia heard a tearing of material and winced as a few popped buttons hit her in the face.
“You’ve got this all wrong,” Mia said, getting out of the bed. “He was trying to stop me from harming myself. What the fuck do you care anyway, Murphy?”
Murphy grabbed Mia and tossed her hard against the wall. “Language! You are not some harlot. You are my wife, and my wife does not speak gutter talk!” he roared.
“You son of a bitch!” Mia said, running at him, punching him with her fists.
Stephen managed to get control of her hands. He sat in the chair and pulled her over his lap and pulled up the nightgown. He landed a couple of hard smacks on her bottom before Burt managed to intervene.
“I must insist that you treat your wife with dignity, sir!” he said.
Murphy pushed Mia off his lap and onto the floor. “You’ll pay. You’ll both pay,” he said, leaving the room. He slammed the door and locked them in.
Mia looked up from the floor. Her nightgown was torn at the shoulder. Burt looked at what he first thought was a bruise on her breast. It turned out to be a tattoo. There was another one on her neck. “What kind of nonsense is this? Did your husband brand you? The monster!”
Mia didn’t talk. She looked up at Burt, staring at his exposed shoulder. “I almost expected to see something here,” she said. Mia stood up and ripped the rest of the fabric away from his destroyed shirt. Burt had something written on his arm. She read, “Your name is Burt Hicks. You are a ghost hunter. Bring Mia and Murphy with you to the attic now!”
“Shit!” Mia exclaimed. “How long have I been gone this time?”
“Almost a day,” Burt said as reality hit him.
“Do you know who you are, Burt?”
“It’s coming to me.”
“We need to get out of here. That man isn’t any Murphy I know.”
“He calls himself Stephen Roustan. I thought I was your boarder. Your daughter sent me to check on you.”
“We’ve been set up. Fuck.” Mia looked out the window and saw Murphy headed for the carriage house. “I think he’s gone for his axe. We have to get out of here now!”
Mia pulled on the door, but it wouldn’t budge. She picked up the chamber pot and smashed it on the knob. The handle on the bedroom side fell off. Mia stuck her slender fingers into the mechanism and pushed out the knob on the other side, freeing them. She grabbed Burt’s hand and pulled him after her.
“We have to get to the attic!”
She and Burt made the staircase to the fourth floor just before Stephen arrived at Mia’s bedroom with Renee behind him.
Renee was disappointed to see the couple missing. “They are hiding, Father. The adulterers need to be punished!”
They heard footfalls on the steps. Murphy took off running, holding his axe high.
Renee followed him laughing and chanting, “No more babies, no more babies!”
Mia twisted the knob and found the door to the attic room locked. She ran and threw her shoulder against the door and bounced off into Burt’s steadying hands.
“Let me.” Burt kicked at the door a few times, weakening it. He let go of Mia and rammed his shoulder into the solid door, and it gave. Mia pulled him into the room just as Murphy started to run down the hall towards them.
Murphy could see the vortex pulling them in. He lifted his axe and jumped, bringing it down just as the couple disappeared.
Chapter Eight
The Rem-Pod went off. The shrill whine reached the PEEPs ears as did Jake’s warning of activity in the attic room. Ted bounded up the stairs. Cid scanned the attic feed, taking a moment to look at what was happening before grabbing Mia’s go bag and chasing after Ted.
Mia pushed a plasma-covered Burt to the ground as Murphy came through the vortex swinging his axe.
Murphy caught Mia in the midriff with the business end of the axe. It rebounded off her as if it had struck solid rock.
“Son of a bitch, Murphy, are you trying to kill me?” Mia asked, placing a hand on the open wound.
“Adulterers!” he screamed and charged Mia and Burt again.
Mia picked up the tripod and used it to block Murphy’s axe. The metal bent under the pressure but managed to keep the blade away from Mia.
“Come out of it, damn it,” Mia said fiercely. “Burt, we have to get the hell out of here!” she warned as she swept Murphy’s leg with hers, sending him to the ground. She ran out the door, down the hall, and almost collided with Ted on the stairs.
“Mia!” he picked her up.
“Put me down,” she ordered. “Murph’s swinging his axe, and it’s very solid and very real in this house!”
Ted watched as Mia spun around and confronted an axe-mad Murphy. “You don’t want to do this. Stephen, you’re not yourself,” she pleaded.
“Is this your other lover? The one that marked you?” Stephen asked.
“This is my husband. Come on, Murph. Don’t make me hurt you,” she pleaded, backing down the stairs. She got to the landing with Ted behind her.
“Salt!” warned Cid.
Burt, Ted and Mia dropped to the floor as Cid shot both barrels of rock salt into Murphy.
He screamed in pain, but he didn’t disappear.
“Get to the first floor!” Mia ordered the others.
“Mia, your weapons!” Cid shouted, tossing her the bag. She pulled out the shield and the sword and backed away from an advancing Murphy. Behind him was Renee looking pretty proud of herself.
Murphy charged Mia. He raised his axe and jumped to bring the full force of his weapon down on her.
She got the shield over her head just in time. She reached around and got a hold of the axe handle and flipped it and Murphy over her head and down the remaining flights of stairs.
Cid pulled Ted back against the wall. “Give her room, dude,” he said.
Mia charged down the stairs after Murphy.
“She could kill him with that sword,” Ted said, worried.
“He’s already dead,” Cid pointed out.
“If she stabs him with angel steel, he will be permanently dead,” Ted said. “If she does that, I doubt she’ll be able to live with herself.”
Mia squared off with Murphy. She used her shield, fearing what damage she could do if her blade connected with her friend. Mia used the shield and pushed Murphy back with every strike. Murphy was a potent ghost being fueled by a more powerful entity. She doubted that, in her human form, she could last much longer. She had been bleeding steadily from
her chest. That combined with not having eaten or even drunk water in over twenty-four hours was making her dizzy.
“Snap out of it, Murph!” she yelled as he connected with her shield again and again with his axe.
Mia looked around her. She saw the girl ghost getting set up to take someone else.
“Do not look at the girl!” she warned the others. “Put your hands over your ears. What you can’t see or hear can’t hurt you here.”
Mia backed up, produced her wings and ran at Murphy, screaming. The startled farmer didn’t have a chance to dodge the missile that was Mia. She picked him up and flew him past Renee slicing the girl’s head off as she went. Glenda and PEEPs watched as the momentum took Mia and Murphy through the library doors and crashing outside through the large window.
Mia landed on the snow-covered lawn. She tossed Murphy on the ground, put her foot on his chest, and took away his axe. “I promised you that if you went rogue on me, I would dispatch you myself. Look at me, Stephen. Tell me who I am.”
It took a few moments for the influence of the entity to leave him. He looked up at the woman who, but for one difficult day, was his wife. He would have killed her and Burt for naught but lies generated by that evil little girl.
“Please, Murphy, don’t make me do this,” she said, her voice breaking but determination still showing on her face. Mia was going to cease his existence unless he could get himself together. “Who am I to you?”
“Crazy Cooper,” he said, lifting an eyebrow.
Mia bent over him and gave him a hand up. “Get the fuck away from here. Whatever gave her that much power could still be in this house. Take the ley line and go home to the farm and heal,” she demanded. Mia handed him his axe, took a long look at her friend, turned, and flew back in through the broken window.
When she arrived, the PEEPs were looking at something on the floor of the reception room. Mia strode over. Mike and Burt stepped away. Mia looked down and saw the girl’s body reaching for her head.
