by N. P. Martin
I laughed and shook my head at her, but my laughter was cut short when I saw a woman crossing the road whose face was flickering constantly as I stared at her, like the area around her face was pixelating as might shitty digital streaming do, revealing the hideous reptilian-like horror that was her true face, one clearly not of this realm.
There’s the first one of the day…
Everywhere I went, I had these same encounters. Ordinary looking people who would suddenly transform into demons before my eyes. Or at least, their faces would. I couldn’t help but wonder if it was some sort of glamour that allowed the demons to hide in plain sight, and if it was this growing power in me that allowed me to see them when others couldn’t. If that was the case, then lucky me, eh?
A horn sounding behind me forced me to break my gaze from the demon, who had by now crossed the road and was heading down the street.
"Earth to Leia!" Kasey said. "You gonna drive, Princess?"
"Yeah," I said, taking off again. "I was in a world of my own then. Sorry."
Kasey turned the music down a little, then sat back in her seat, remaining quiet for a minute or so. Her silence was killing me. Kasey only went silent when she was about to hit you with a big question. Given her jokey demeanor, you’d be forgiven for thinking Kasey didn’t take much in, but that would be your mistake, for she took everything in. She hadn’t survived so long on her own without becoming keenly observant of her surroundings and of other people, including me. "So," she said eventually. "Now that we’re both all comfy in Josh’s car and shit, maybe you could tell me what your deal has been for months now?"
"My deal?" I shook my head, playing dumb. "I don’t know what you mean."
"Yes you do." She had folded her arms and turned in her seat to stare at me now. "Every time I ask you about it, you do this. You act like you don’t know what I’m talking about, or that I’m not thinking straight or something. We’re sisters, Leia. You shouldn’t be keeping shit from me."
Inwardly, I sighed. She was right, of course, but I was trying not to drag Kasey into my screwed up reality, even though she was probably already half way there. She had already been attacked by a demon, despite not knowing it, and now here I was dragging her along to the house where I grew up, to where my whole demon problem seemed to have started.
Maybe I should tell her everything.
Or maybe I shouldn’t, for her own sake.
I wanted to tell Kasey everything, but something was stopping me, and I wasn’t sure what. It just didn’t seem like I should be telling anyone, if only for their own protection.
"It’s nothing, Kase, honestly," I said. "I’ve just been thinking about my parents a lot lately, and about how they died."
Kasey nodded. "You said it was gruesome."
"It was." I checked the rearview mirror for the umpteenth time. No Dodge.
"So, you’re saying…what?"
"I’m saying I want to find out more about my parents, and about how they died." It wasn’t far from the truth.
"You said they were murdered by an intruder, right?"
I nodded. It was simpler to have her believe that both my parents were murdered, rather than to have to try and explain what happened to my mother. "Yeah, but no one was ever caught."
"So now you want to crack the case, is that it?"
"Why are you smiling?"
"Nothing, I just think it’s pretty cool that you’re doing this. Hell, if I knew who my parents were, maybe I’d do the same." She looked away for a second to stare out the window.
I reached over and put a hand on her leg, squeezing gently. "You’ll always have me, you know that, right?"
Kasey placed her hand over mine and smiled. "Thanks, Princess."
I gave a mock sigh. "Jeez, how may times, Kase? Stop calling me that. I’ve never even—"
"Yeah, yeah, I know. You’ve never fucking seen Star Wars. Maybe you should fucking see it then, huh? Then maybe you’d get the joke."
"I don’t need to see it. I get the joke already, I just hate it. There, I said it. I hate it when you call me fucking Princess."
Kasey nodded, still smiling. "Cool. All the more reason to keep calling you it then…Princess."
"Fuck you."
Kasey laughed, back to her usual jokey self. "So you still haven’t told me where we’re going."
"Didn’t I? We’re going back to where it all started, where I grew up, to visit my old house."
"So we’re on the job already are we?"
I nodded. "We are, you can consider Josh's buds as payment plenty."
"Awesome. This calls for a joint then."
Greenmount was a fairly modest housing development that was built on the edge of the eastern part of Blackhall. My parents weren’t exactly loaded, so it suited them at the time. I liked the place growing up. It was quiet, with a forest nearby that I enjoyed exploring, sometimes doing rubbings of trees with charcoal or playing hide and seek with some of the other kids form the neighborhood.
Simpler times…
Greenmount didn’t seem to have changed much since I was last here eleven years ago. I had wanted to come back on a few occasions over the years, but I could never bring myself to. It just felt too painful to do so. Now I was here less out of nostalgia, and more out of necessity. My need to find out about myself, about who and what I really am, had now become a quest in my mind. It was all I was beginning to think about, and I was determined not to rest until I found the answers I needed.
If only I knew what questions to ask to get those answers.
I was hoping the past would shed some light on the present. It had to, otherwise I would just be dredging up painful memories for nothing.
The house wasn’t too hard to find once I drove into the estate, although my initial impression of the place remaining unchanged now appeared slightly off. In reality, Greenmount had changed quite a bit. The houses no longer looked as pristine as they once did, which was to be expected after eleven years, I suppose. Although many looked to have fallen into disrepair, as if their owners couldn’t be bothered with upkeep. Obviously a different sort of resident had moved in, I thought, as I drove slowly down a street that contained more derelict houses than occupied ones.
Maybe things went downhill here after the incident…
I had visions of an evil presence seeping into the estate, corrupting it, and spreading decay and degradation.
Let’s not get carried away. The place is just a bit rundown, that’s all.
"What a shithole," Kasey announced after staring out the window. "You grew up here? I feel sorry for you. It’s like a nightmare suburb with no escape."
I shook my head at her. "It wasn’t like this when I lived here, believe me. It was a nice place."
"Not so nice anymore. What the hell happened?"
The more I considered it, the more my idea of evil seeping into the place seemed plausible. My instincts were backing me up on this as well, my newfound power and senses tingling throughout my body as if to alert me to evil nearby. Not that I was about to tell Kasey any of that, so I just said, "Who knows?"
Needless to say, the house in which I grew up was derelict also, which I fully expected. Who would want to live in a house where a man was found brutally murdered, and his wife had disappeared under very mysterious circumstances? No one I knew, that’s for damn sure.
I pulled the Mustang up outside the house, then turned off the ignition and sat staring for a moment, hardly able to believe that I was back in the place where I grew up. The little detached house was at the end of the row, most of the other houses now derelict as well. Even though it was the middle of the day, there didn’t seem to be anyone around, giving the place even more of a ghost town feel. My concern at the lack of people was soon forgotten, right about the time my mind became flooded with memories, as I continued to stare at the house on the corner. Memories of growing up around the house, of playing in the garden with my dad, and chasing around after Josh, usually with something disgusting in m
y hand, like a worm or a dead mouse that I’d found in the woods. They were happy times; the happiest I’ve ever known.
My mother didn’t seem to feature in any of those memories, though. That’s because she was hardly ever around. She was always working, and often gone for days or even weeks at a time. It was my father who raised Josh and me for the most part, not my mother. I realized this more when I looked back after they had gone. At the time, it didn’t bother me much that she was always away. It seemed normal because we had never known any different.
Even when she was there she wasn’t…
It was a painful thought, and one which made me turn away from the house to stare hard at the steering wheel.
"Are you all right?" Kasey asked quietly. "This is probably a lot for you to handle."
I took a deep breath and straightened up. "I’m fine, that’s why I have my BFF with me" I said, giving her a quick smile. "Let’s do this."
Getting out of the car, we moved toward the house with a heavy sense of foreboding.
Or at least I did.
5
As I walked alongside Kasey up the front drive, I happened to glance over at the house to my left, and I noticed a curtain twitching behind the living room window, as if someone in the house had been watching us. The house didn’t look as shabby as most of the others. At least the windows weren’t boarded up like the house I used to live in.
"How are we getting inside?" Kasey asked as we paused by the boarded up front door, long buried memories and feelings still coming thick and fast, bringing a deep scowl to my face. "Assuming you want to go inside that is."
"That’s why we’re here," I said. "Let’s go around the back."
The back garden was a jungle of weeds and course grass, surrounded by a rotten wooden fence that looked like it would fall down if you touched it. A far cry from the pristine state my father used to keep the yard in. It saddened me just to look at it.
"The back door is boarded shut as well," Kasey said, and I turned to see her pulling at the edge of the thick board covering it. After some exertion, she stopped pulling and stepped back, shaking her head. "It’s not budging. We should’ve brought a crowbar."
"We don’t need a crowbar." I stepped past her and gripped the edge of the board with both hands. Before I pulled, I willed some of my newfound strength into my muscles. It was the first time I had ever tried to consciously direct what so far had been completely instinctual and automatic. I was therefore surprised and thrilled to feel a warming sensation flood my muscles, bringing with it a feeling of increased mental and physical strength. When I finally pulled on the board, it ripped loose from the nails as easily as parting velcro.
Kasey exclaimed loudly as the board flew away from the door with a speed I didn’t intend, the board slamming into her and almost laying her out.
"Oh shit!" I exclaimed. "Kase, are you all right?" In a bumbling sort of fashion, I pulled the board off Kasey and tossed it aside.
Kasey lay for a minute, groaning and disorientated. "What the fuck?" she said as she finally sat up.
I casually shook my head as I tried to contain my own surprise, not to mention my urge to start giggling. "You must’ve loosened it for me."
Kasey snorted and drew back as if to say I was bullshitting. "Uh-uh…no I didn’t."
I stood there for a moment, then shrugged as I held up my hands. "What do you want me to say? I don’t know my own strength."
Not yet anyway.
"Clearly," Kasey said. "First you manage to knock out that guy the other night, and now you’re ripping off boards like they’re made of cardboard or something. What gives, Leia? Tell me, are you doing some drug I don’t know about? Josh’s steroids maybe?"
"Fuck off, will you? It’s just an old board. It was ready to fall off anyway."
Kasey nodded. "And the guy in the alley? Was he just ready to get knocked out anyway?"
"I told you, it was a lucky shot. Now can we just go inside." I turned and tried the back door, which was locked. Without thinking, I pushed hard on the door and it opened with a crack. "Door was open."
"Didn’t sound like it."
"Rusty hinges."
I stepped inside before Kasey could say anything else. The kitchen was just as I remembered it, small and compact, but now smelling of damp and rodent piss, every surface thick with grim and dust. I felt my claustrophobia come on, tightening my chest and making the room seem smaller than it already was. I wasn’t sure why my claustrophobia should be triggered in a room that size, not at first anyway. Not until I realized that it wasn’t the room, so much as the oppressive atmosphere inside the house itself. Once again, I felt alarm bells go off, and whatever power I had seemed to rush to the surface, as if to ready me for some sort of action. When I felt Kasey grab my arm from behind, I turned around and raised my fist without even thinking.
"Fuck!" Kasey shouted as she flinched and held her hands up. "What the fuck, Leia!"
I looked at my fist as if it didn’t belong to me. "Sorry. I’m just a little tense." Lowering my arm, I gave her a weak smile.
Kasey shook her head. "I’ll put your actions down to being in this place."
I nodded. "This is harder than I thought."
"Well, I’m here for you. Just don’t go all fucking Jessica Jones on me again."
I looked through the kitchen door into the hallway, and realized it was too dark to see anything. "We need a flashlight. There’s one in the car. I’ll go and get it. Wait here."
"Wait, you’re leaving me here alone?"
I shook my head at her. "I’ll just be a minute. I thought you’d be used to derelict buildings anyway, no offense."
"None taken. This place gives me extra creeps, though. This whole fucking neighborhood does."
You and me both.
"I won’t stay here long, I promise. Just a quick look around, and then we’re outta here."
Kasey shook her head. "Fine. Go and get the flashlight then."
I walked quickly to the car so as not to keep Kasey waiting too long. The flashlight was in the trunk, and I found it after a moment of searching. As I slammed the lid back down, my eyes happened to look down the street, and there, parked on the corner, was the black Dodge Charger that was behind me earlier.
"Son of a bitch," I said, gripping the flashlight tight. My anger at seeing the car was accompanied by a flood of electrifying power in my body, like my instincts wanted me to sprint toward the car and confront the person inside, whom I still couldn’t see because they were too far away. My mind even went as far as running me through the whole scenario, right down to gripping the person inside the car and dragging them out onto the street, so I could demand that they tell me why they were following me. It was no coincidence the black Dodge was there. I had seen too much of late to believe in mere coincidence anymore.
But before I could enact the scenario that was in my mind, the Dodge was started up and turned quickly on the road before speeding off. I stood staring until the car disappeared around a corner.
Now totally convinced that I was being watched by someone, my mind went into overdrive as I tried in vain to come up with an answer to the question of who it was. The only thing I was reasonably sure of was that this had something to do with everything else that had happened recently. It appeared that the awakening of my preternatural abilities had attracted a lot of unwanted attention. It could’ve been a demon driving the Dodge, but it didn’t feel that way to me. I’d been in close proximity to enough demons by now that I knew what they felt like, and the effect their presence had on me. I wasn’t really getting those vibes this time. I was getting some sort of vibe, but it was unfamiliar, and I had difficulty placing it.
So instead, I asked myself a different question. Why was I being followed? Surely, if demons wanted to follow me, they didn’t need a damn Dodge to do it in? No doubt, those fuckers could appear wherever they wanted to, which meant it was a person driving the car. Trouble was, I couldn’t think of anyone who would go to t
he trouble of following me around. For now, I was in the dark on that one.
But not for too long, I’ll make sure of that.
"You coming or what?" It was Kasey shouting from the side of the house that made me forget about the black Dodge for the time being.
Walking up the drive again, something made me glance at the house next door again. This time I saw a face behind the glass; the face of a woman that quickly disappeared when I looked. Then I remembered Mrs. Jones. She lived next door to us, along with her husband. My father was friendly with them both, and spent a lot of time with Mr. Jones. Could the face in the window belong to Mrs. Jones? Possibly. Maybe I could go and see her before we leave here, I thought. She might know something that would help me, though I doubted it.
"Take your time why don’t you," Kasey said as she waited around the back.
"Sorry," I said. "I’m coming."
Kasey grabbed my arm again, even before we went inside. "FYI, this is not a place I would ever sleep in. I’m only going back in here because I don’t want you going in alone."
"Did something happen while I was gone?"
"I just had time to get a feel for the place, and I don’t like it."
"I’ll be fine on my own if you want to wait in the car."
She gave me a look. "What the fuck do you take me for? I already told you, I’m not letting you do this shit alone. Just lead the way."
Jesus, I thought as the guilt rushed into me. She’s by my side no matter what, and I can’t even bring myself to tell her the truth about what’s going on.
Switching on the flashlight, I stepped into the kitchen and directed the beam toward the door, before making my way into the dark hallway with Kasey still hanging off my arm. She remained uncharacteristically quiet as we made our way toward the living room. I didn’t feel like speaking either. The heavy, dreaded silence in the house seemed to suppress the will to speak, lest we get distracted from the unnerving ambiance for even a second. It was difficult, for me at least, not to think that some entity existed in the house, smothering us with its evil presence. At one point, Kasey and I looked at each other with frightened eyes as if to say, This was a bad idea…let’s get the fuck out of here, like right now!
