Echoes of the Dead

by Aaron Polson

“Maybe he wanted a little security. Maybe he wanted to feel safe.”

  “But…” Ben turned the pistol over.

  “Jared’s still here, Ben.” Kelsey folded her arms. She imagined being strong. “Jared’s still here, somewhere in this house.”

  Ben’s mouth hung open. He blinked three times in succession. “I know. I’ve always known he was still here, even though he can’t be. We’ve been through every room. He’s been missing for five years. It’s just impossible for anyone to hide here for that long. The police—”

  “I don’t give a damn what the police said. Jared’s here—I don’t think he intended to hide. The house trapped him.”

  A moment passed. The house listened, waiting. Ben covered his face with his free hand. “My God, Kels. What have I done?”

  She shook her head, seeing the ruined Ben Wormsley for the first time. He was a broken man; his smile torn down and cast aside.

  “I brought us here because I wanted to find him. I wanted some closure. The show… Jesus, I don’t even have the money to pay anyone. I haven’t sold the rights. The venture capital was just enough to buy the house and get the crew. I needed to sell the show to pay the five of you.” Ben glanced at the gun. “I never intended anyone to get hurt—”

  “You don’t have the money?”

  Ben shook his head.

  It was all an act, from the first superficial smile he’d shared over a drink in Manhattan to the bullshit he spewed on the house tour. He’d tripped and fallen and now sat before her—broken but honest.

  “You never had the money?”

  “I’ve been having these dreams, Kelsey. Nightmares for months. I thought it was some kind of sign, some kind of message from—”

  “Jared,” Kelsey said. “Me, too. Sarah’s had them.”

  “Really?”

  “Yes. He’s still here, though. I’ve seen him.”

  “That’s impossible.” Ben’s eyes narrowed, and his tone became incredulous. “That’s not possible.”

  Kelsey dropped her arms to her sides. Ben had lied about the money. A piece of her wanted to lunge forward, grab the pistol, and whip him with the butt. Part of her wanted to slap him. She wanted to scream and shout and tear Ben Wormsley into several tiny pieces for bringing them to this hell. But Ben was as broken as anyone—he’d just done a better job at hiding.

  “He’s here, Ben. I’ve seen him—part of him, anyway. A ghost… I don’t know.” She frowned. “Whatever he-it was, I know the others are here, too. We still have time to save them. I think we need to find him, too.”

  Ben tilted his face toward her, questioning. “But you said you saw him?”

  “Yes… A ghost… A memory. His body has to be here.”

  “God…” Ben glanced at the gun. He rose from the bed, took the gun to Johnny’s suitcase and buried it under the t-shirts. “I-in the morning, we’re going to take this house apart. In the morning, we find the others.”

  Chapter 33: Lost and Found

  The morning sky hid behind a constant sheet of snow. The snow had been falling for nearly two days without respite. The blinds around the big dining room window were drawn, letting in as much light as possible from the white wasteland outside. Four sets of weary eyes studied each other. Daniel, Ben, Johnny, and Kelsey sat at the table, munching what they could find in the pantry—some cereal and dried fruit—from the cartons. The house was cold, far too cold for comfort, and each wore a coat. Sarah remained asleep on the parlor couch.

  “The owners of that diner—the Harvest House—will come or contact someone to find us, won’t they?” Daniel asked. “They were to bring us meals, and since they can’t, they will call the police. Some authority.”

  “Will they?” Johnny asked. He cast a glare toward Ben.

  “I’m sure they’ll try.” Ben sighed. “I’m sure they will.”

  “Try.” Johnny snorted. “Try. You said we needed to get to work this morning, hence this amazing breakfast. So talk.”

  Ben nodded. “Kelsey and I want to search—”

  “For Erin,” Kelsey finished his sentence. “We want to make one more search for Erin, scouring the house from top to bottom. We’ll all go together and start on the third floor.”

  Ben shot Kelsey a puzzled look. “What about—”

  “Sarah?” Kelsey returned an icy gaze, trying to signal Ben to be quiet about Jared, about what they’d discussed the night before. “She’ll be fine down here.”

  Johnny rose and stretched. His usual firm expression was drawn and soft. He moved to the window. “What about the others, though? The camera guys you sent out into the woods. What about them?”

  “They are frozen by now,” Daniel said. “They are frozen and dead.”

  “They might have—”

  “Don’t kid yourself, Wormsley. They never made it back to the house in this mess. It’s well below freezing out there and it’s been blowing all night. Those guys are people-sicles. People-sicles killed by Benjamin Wormsley.”

  “We have to look for Erin,” Kelsey said. “We can’t do anything outside. We should focus on her.”

  Ben hesitated, but nodded.

  Johnny kneaded his face. “Sure. Whatever you say. But I did look for her. We all looked for Howard—this whole thing stinks.” His bloodshot eyes fell on Ben. “It’s rotten.”

  Kelsey laid both hands in front of her on the table. “We start on the third floor and we pry back the walls until we find her. A house doesn’t—”

  The noise startled her, three thumps followed by a crash.

  “The living room,” Johnny said. “Someone fell… Sarah was all alone.” He dashed under the archway, and the others followed.

  Sarah was sitting upright, her back to the others.

  “What happened?” Ben asked.

  “Erin.” Sarah turned her head. “It’s Erin.”

  On the hardwood floor near the foyer, a blonde woman lay face down. The tips of her fingers were marred and near-black. Kelsey caught her stomach with one hand. Blood. Erin’s fingers were smeared with blood.

  “Fuck,” Johnny said, rushing to the fallen woman. “What happened?”

  Erin pushed from the floor, rolling to one side. Her eyes were open, pupils wide and lost. Her fine, platinum hair matted to her forehead with another dark smudge. She opened her mouth. Her lips shook; she was trying to speak.

  “Help me get her to the couch,” Johnny said.

  Ben and Daniel joined him, and together they lifted Erin. She blinked. Closer now, Kelsey understood the blood on Erin’s fingertips—a few of her nails were missing, and where present, they were broken in jagged lines. The men laid her on the couch across from Sarah, propping her head on the armrest.

  “D-dead…” Erin’s voice trembled.

  Kelsey dropped next to Sarah. She put her arm around Sarah’s shoulders and pulled her close, wanting the touch of another human, someone real and tangible and alive. A strange, ethereal otherness floated with the word “dead” from Erin’s mouth. Her eyes watered. A ragged cut was just visible under her hairline with a crust of dried blood at the edge.

  Johnny crouched at her side. “Who Erin?”

  Her head shook. “Old dead… Been there a long time.”

  A bolt of ice shot into Kelsey’s stomach. “It’s Jared.”

  Johnny scowled. “Impossible.”

  “She found Jared.” Kelsey shook her head. “I know it sounds impossible. I know it shouldn’t be possible. But she found Jared’s body.”

  A sickly pallor fell over Johnny’s sharp features, softening them. “Jared…”

  “Where Erin?” Ben asked. “Where did you find the body?”

  “T-third floor. In the wall. I was in the wall.” Her eyes rolled back into her head; her shoulders shook with convulsions. “I was in the wall.”

  Kelsey pulled her arm away from Sarah and leaned forward. “How did you get in the wall, sweetie?” She patted Erin’s knee.

  Erin’s black pupils fell on Kelsey and then pointe
d to her own fingers. “Just was. One minute, I was l-looking in a room… then the wall. I couldn’t see. I couldn’t breathe. Too much dust and stench. I groped in the dark, pressed in from both sides. I f-felt it. Soft and dry and brittle. I touched his—its—face…” Her voice broke off in sobs.

  Johnny leaned away from Erin. “Jesus.”

  Ben shook his head. “Do you think she found a door? Maybe a trick panel?”

  Erin glared at him, her eyes flashing like black fire. “I was in the fucking wall, you prick. I didn’t open any fucking doors.” She lifted her torn fingers. “I had to claw my way out. Buried alive with that—thing.”

  Chapter 34: The Body

  Johnny, Ben and Daniel had been gone less than five minutes before Erin collapsed to sleep. Sarah and Kelsey sat on the opposite couch, watching the younger woman’s labored breath. Kelsey had wiped Erin’s hands and face with a damp cloth. She’d scrubbed away as much blood as possible without causing Erin any pain. The poor thing’s eyes had been lost and wandering the room before she slipped away.

  “Do you think it was Jared?” Sarah asked. Her voice sounded soft and bruised. She hadn’t moved from the couch since the night before. “Do you think… I mean, is that even possible?”

  Kelsey shook her head. “I don’t know. Last night I thought—I suppose it was a dream, but—”

  “Jared?”

  Kelsey nodded. “And my father. After I left you, I went upstairs. Something pulled me toward the bathroom on the second floor. I went through the door, and the house sort of disappeared.”

  Sarah closed her eyes.

  “I know it sounds nuts. But I was in the cave again, like when I was a kid. I felt the stone, Sarah.” She held out her hands. “I rubbed the back of my knuckles on the stone.”

  “A dream.”

  “No. I spoke with Jared this time. I’ve never spoken with him in a dream before. I’ve never been able to communicate. He told me Erin was still in the house.”

  Sarah coughed.

  “Sorry. I know it’s impossible to believe. I can’t wrap my head around it, either.”

  Kelsey shifted on the couch. Her eyes fell to the bloodied rag in her hand. Erin’s blood. She glanced at Sarah’s face and found her friend’s eyes still closed. Was there something she should say? Was there anything she could say? Three days in the house and the whole world started to come apart, piece by piece, and make a puzzle they would never be able to solve.

  Sarah sighed and slumped against the arm rest. “So tired.”

  “Sleep then.” Kelsey leaned against the opposite rest. “We should all get some sleep.”

  Kelsey closed her eyes, but she wouldn’t sleep. The cold, for one, worked against her. Her nose chilled and fingers began to numb. She dropped the damp rag on the carpet and examined her red fingers. How cold was it in the house? How cold would it get before they’d be found or someone fixed the generator? Damn them! Somebody needed to do something or the whole lot of them would freeze.

  She rose from the couch and rubbed her hands together. She tilted her head, listening for a sound from the men upstairs. Nothing. A few steps and she stood in the hallway. She held her breath and pushed the door open to the maid’s quarters. A metal rack and several studio monitors with tape players had been installed against one wall. Several spools of orange extension cord lay on the floor as well as one big shoulder mounted camera. Three silver equipment cases were shoved in one corner. On a folding plastic table near the monitor rack, Kelsey found a cup of coffee, half full and nearly frozen. They were all nearly frozen. So much for Ben’s Hollywood dreams.

  She picked up a hand radio and worked the switch. Static.

  A noise came from the living room, and Kelsey’s heart jumped. She groped through the darkened hallway.

  Ben paced the floor near the foyer. Daniel had collapsed in a chair. Johnny stood at the window, staring into the white wasteland.

  “There’s a body. She wasn’t lying about that,” Johnny said. “It’s been up there for a number of years, too.”

  “Is it Jared?” Kelsey asked. “Can you t-tell?”

  Ben shook his head. “It’s pretty messed up. Rats I guess. Rats and age and maggots and—”

  “Stop,” Kelsey said. She pressed one hand against her stomach. “I could do without the gory details.”

  Ben nodded.

  “He—it didn’t have a jacket on… Just what looked like it might have been a grey sweatshirt and jeans. Can you remember what Jared was wearing, Kelsey? When we lost him, what was he wearing?”

  He was cold that day—no jacket. A grey sweatshirt and blue jeans. Kelsey pressed the heels of each hand over her eyes. Five years melted away until she found another snowy day, another cold dark snowy day in the house. What was he wearing? No jacket. A grey sweatshirt and blue jeans.

  “Yes,” she said. “I think that’s him… But there’s no way of know, for sure, is there?”

  Johnny hung his head. “No. Not in his state. Like Ben said, rats and—”

  “Enough.” Ben slammed his fist against the wall. “Enough.”

  “How could it happen?” Daniel asked. As he spoke, he edged forward on his chair. “How could this friend of yours be in the wall of the house?”

  “Lath and plaster up there. Poor Erin forced her way out—she must have, just like she said.” Johnny rubbed his hand over the wall next to the window. “The plaster was broken and a few boards pushed out from the inside. No sign of how she got in there. No doors or hallways or secret dumbwaiters…”

  “Jared,” Kelsey said. The mystery was solved.

  Daniel stood and began wringing his hands. “What now? What do we do now?”

  Kelsey touched her nose. It was cold and rubbery. “We can’t stay here indefinitely. Without any heat or sign or rescue, we’ll freeze.”

  “Jesus… Just like Wayne and Nick. They couldn’t have made it all night, could they?” Ben crossed to the window and peered outside. “The wind looks brutal, blowing snow all over the place. I can’t tell if it’s still coming down.”

  Johnny nodded. “We’ll need to try and get the generator working. We can fire up one of those space heaters at least.”

  “What if you get lost out there?” Ben asked. “What if the house doesn’t let you find it again—like what happened to the crew?”

  “I’m not sure I believe the house hid itself. That’s fucking crazy.” Johnny shook his head. “But where’s the generator?”

  “In the shed out back. It was going to be too noisy for the microphones. Too much interference.” Ben rubbed his neck.

  “We could use the extension cords in the spare room—your crew’s cords, Ben. We could make a tether for Johnny and keep him tied to the house.” Kelsey moved to the hallway door. “There’s at least a hundred yards of line. That way he’d be attached to the house in case—”

  “I don’t believe the house disappeared for those guys.” Johnny shook his head.

  “What happened to Erin, then?” Kelsey asked, glaring at Ben. “What about Jared.”

  Johnny’s lips stretched in a firm line across his face.

  “You’ll use the tether?” Kelsey asked.

  Johnny nodded.

  “What if you cannot start the generator?” Daniel asked. “What happens to us?”

  Ben dragged a finger across the cold window pane. “We make a big fire to keep us warm and hope somebody sees the smoke. Either that or wait for them to dig us out.” A small, nervous laugh slipped from his mouth. “I’m kidding, of course.”

  Chapter 35: The Plan

  Johnny, wrapped in his heavy coat and tied at the waist with orange extension cord, opened the back door leading from the kitchen to the snowy yard. He gripped the cord with one gloved hand and gave it a slight tug.

  “I feel like an astronaut going for a space walk” he joked. “Is it tied off?”

  Kelsey yanked the extension cord’s opposite end, the end knotted to a cabinet post inside the house. “Best knot I could t
ie. I was a girl scout, you know.”

  “And I thought you just sold cookies.”

  “Don’t be stupid.” Kelsey frowned. “And hurry, okay? It’s cold in here. I’ll keep an eye on this end just in case.”

  “You sure you can get the generator going?” Ben asked.

  Johnny flipped his lined hood over his head. “Two years in the motor pool. If anyone is going to make this thing work, it’s me.”

  He slipped through the door and pushed it mostly shut, leaving only enough space for the end of his tether. Kelsey watched from the kitchen window. Johnny’s dark form faded from black to grey to a just visible smudge in the blowing snow. The shed was a ghost. A good amount of slack remained. She leaned back from the counter.

  “I think he’s going to make it with plenty of cord to spare.”

  No one answered. Kelsey spun around. The kitchen was empty—moments before Ben and Daniel had both been with her.

  “Ben?”

  No answer.

  Kelsey glanced to the window. Johnny was gone. She traced the orange line until it vanished a few feet from the house. The knot held firm. Extra cord lay looped on the floor.

  “Ben? Daniel?” She called again.

  Nothing.

  The cord gave a slight tug.

  A sharp, quick bang echoed through the house. A gunshot, followed by a second. Kelsey choked on her heart. Her eyes flicked to the window. Nothing. The knot held. She ran from the kitchen, through the unused sitting room, and into the foyer.

  Sarah sat up. “Kelsey—shit. I heard a gun. Was that a gun?”

  Kelsey looked up the stairs. Darkness.

  “Kelsey?”

  She took the stairs two at a time, pausing for a moment on the second floor before hurtling up to the third, the attic. The lone gun in the house was Johnny’s…

  She almost tripped over the body in the mid-morning gloom. One door was open down the hallway to the right. Bluish light spilled against the wall. She knelt. Ben was still alive, breathing raggedly.

  “Daniel,” he said, and then broke into a fit of coughing. Dark flecks marred his lips. “He’s got… He’s got J-Johnny’s gun.”