Fallen Stones

by Thomas M. Malafarina

  On several occasions, Stephanie had confronted Jason, and each interaction had ended badly.

  Now Stephanie sat at her desk tapping her pencil irritably at the recollection of those encounters. Recounting the various arguments she and Jason had, Stephanie realized he really didn't care at all about her project. All this time he had been humoring her, acting as if he was interested when in fact he was not.

  And now that she thought more about it, she began to wonder about Jason's doctor friend again. Had he really been a friend or had Jason brought him around to study her? She could tell by the way Jason looked at her he sometimes thought she was a bit off. Maybe it was more than that. Maybe he was thinking about accusing her of being mentally unstable. Then she began to wonder if he might be gathering witnesses to testify against her. Could he be trying to find a way to have her declared insane? Could he be working a scheme to have her deemed incompetent and then have her institutionalized so he could take control of her fortune?

  In the back of the loft, the presence of Marie Livingston inside the mirror was smiling a rotten-toothed grin of pleasure. Yes, the plan was almost complete. Stephanie was ripe for exploitation. She was starting to believe exactly what they wanted her to believe. And today was the day it all had to come to its inevitable climax. It was the ninetieth anniversary of that terrible night. And if things went according to plan, as she and Dwight would make sure they would, then before midnight, they would be free of their Purgatory and Jason and Stephanie Wright would take their places among the damned for eternity.

  Chapter 36

  Stephanie sat stewing in frustration at her memories, growing angrier and more irrational by the second. She recalled how Jason had tried to convince her they were almost cash broke, but she knew that was impossible. She was sure they were really wealthy, and she was certain they had more money in the bank then what Jason had told her; perhaps more than they could ever possibly spend. After all, they lived in a mansion and had Mrs. Franks to cook and clean as well as her husband Wilbur to do yard work. Common people couldn't afford such a luxury so they most certainly had to be rich. She didn't understand why Jason would lie to her about it.

  She tried to recall exactly how much money the lawyer H. Mason Armstrong said she had inherited. The estate document was somewhere in the loft, but the area was so disorganized and such a mess, she had no idea how or it she would ever be able to locate it. Jason had said the cash in the estate was only about three-quarters of a million dollars but she was certain the figure was much, much higher than that. She was not sure of the exact amount but she believed it had to be at least several million in cash. Yes. That made perfect sense to her. She even thought she could recall the lawyer telling her there was at least ten million dollars in cash available to her. And now the more she thought about it, that figure was probably more like twenty million dollars, maybe more.

  In the mirror across the room the image of the deceased, H. Mason Armstrong appeared in the pulsating liquefied glass. Stephanie couldn't see his visage in the shadows and as such had no notion of his presence. Had she seen him standing and looking out at her from his world, she would have been stricken with horror at the gaping hole in his chest cavity from which Dwight Livingston had plucked his heart. Wormlike creatures crawled freely from the massive wound, dribbling down the front of his suit coat and creeping up his chest and onto his gray mottled face where they burrowed deep into the thin flesh of his cheeks. He had once been a prestigious lawyer, a respected pillar of the community of Ashton. Now he was just a walking buffet for foul creatures of the netherworld. But he also had an assignment to carry out for the Livingstons.

  The ghost of Armstrong was focusing and sending thoughts from his world out into Stephanie's already confused mind. He was giving her false memories of their meeting, convincing her she had inherited great sums of money, and Jason was trying to steal it from her, lying to her for his own selfish gains.

  "Yes, that explains it!" she suddenly said aloud. That was what Jason was up to. If he could get enough people, especially those with credentials, to say she had lost her mind he might be able to take control of her twenty-five million dollars. But she couldn't understand why he would do such a thing. They had joint bank accounts, so Jason already had access to all of her money to spend as he chose. So what could be the reason for his treachery? Didn't he love her anymore? Would he do such a horrible thing just to control her money?

  Stephanie had always heard how coming into money often changed people. Maybe the idea of getting his hands on her thirty million dollars was enough to make Jason betray her. Then she realized he actually might be inclined to do so if the amount of money was as high as she somehow knew it had to be. Yes, he might do it for thirty-five million dollars.

  In the mirror all of the specters of the homestead now stood together; both Dwight and Marie Livingston, the lawyer H. Mason Armstrong, Emerson Washburn and the charred remains of Jack Moran. They were all apparently connected now and as such, all had something to gain from what would occur this night and each of them was doing their best to help control Stephanie's delusion so she would do what they needed her to do.

  Suddenly another realization hit Stephanie. It was instantly all too clear to her. She knew why Jason wanted to have her declared insane and wanted her money. It wasn't just for the money alone but it was for another woman. She suddenly understood Jason was obviously having an affair just like his illegitimate grandfather Dwight Livingston had done. Perhaps it was with someone at work; most likely that woman from the accounting group who had been practically throwing herself at Jason all the time. Stephanie couldn't recall her name but didn't care. Yes. That had to be it.

  "Oh my God no!" Stephanie said aloud with the realization. Sammy still sat silently staring at the blank TV screen, lost in the fabricated world of illusion; sitting in his urine-soaked, waste-filled, foul-smelling diaper. Sammy couldn't hear what his mother was saying, not while he was busy in his special place. Stephanie was now certain Jason was probably screwing that home-wrecking slut from the office, maybe right now in fact. Stephanie imagined them going at it like two rutting beasts on the top of his office desk. She knew now why he was plotting to have her declared insane. He and his bimbo would steal her forty million dollars. Jason must have been planning this for months, slowly putting his list of witnesses together. He had probably been banging that bimbo since back when he first took the job. Brainless tramps like that always go after the bosses who seem to be on the fast track to success, hoping no doubt to be the trophy wife. Stephanie had suspected as much earlier, but now she was certain.

  Inside the mirror, all the hideous specters were concentrating, pooling their thoughts and projecting them out at Stephanie. She was theirs now, and with the thoughts they were planting in her mind, she would do whatever they wished.

  Then as if experiencing an epiphany, Stephanie suddenly realized something else. "Oh my, Lord, no. She must be pregnant." Stephanie was overcome with panic as she paced manically back and forth in the loft, trying to determine what she would do next. Nothing seemed to make sense to her yet at the same time everything made perfect sense. She understood now how Marie Livingston felt when she learned about Dwight's bastard daughter. Jason was Dwight's illegitimate descendant and like his great-grandfather Dwight before him, Jason had apparently found his own cheap little whore to impregnate.

  Behind her in darkness, the specters continued to send volley after volley of thoughts out to Stephanie. Tonight was the night when it all had to happen as it had happened before so many years ago.

  Stephanie began to think of Jason as not so much Jason but as a modern incarnation of Dwight Livingston. She also began to see herself as a later day version of Marie Livingston. Stephanie now was convinced Jason had wronged her. He had cheated on her with his harlot and had sired his own bastard child. And like Dwight before him, Jason was going to have to pay for his sins. She knew what Marie had done to get her revenge and now she too had been wronged. So
now, she suddenly knew exactly what she had to do.

  She looked over at Sammy sitting on the floor in his soiled diaper, watching the blank television screen. She suddenly realized why she had sent the two older kids away with her brother Chuck. The glass in the mirror began to pulsate more rapidly than ever as the specters began to press hard against the surface of the mirror, preparing to make their way out into the world of the living. They continued to send their vile force of thoughts out from their world toward Stephanie.

  As Stephanie looked down at little Sammy, she couldn't help but notice how much he looked like Jason. She also realized just how much he looked similar to the portrait of Dwight Livingston not to mention the photo she had seen of Charles and Matthew Livingston, the two murdered boys. He looked more like them then he looked like his own half-brother, Jeremy. Sammy definitely had the Livingston family features, which meant he had the Livingston family blood, the blood of adulterous whoremongers. Why hadn't she noticed it before?

  "He looks just like his father," Stephanie said with a flat monotones voice, which no longer sounded like her own. This was because she was speaking in the voice of Marie Livingston who had been slowly feeding poisonous ideas into Marie's consciousness in tiny installments over the past several months. She had not taken over Stephanie, but enough of her thoughts were present so that she could begin to control Stephanie's will.

  Stephanie looked down at Sammy and said in Marie’s voice, "He loves his father. He idolizes him. Someday he will probably grow up to be just like Jason; and just like Dwight. Yes, I suppose someday he will likely find a whore of his own to impregnate and will break his loving wife's heart. It is the Livingston way; the Livingston destiny."

  Suddenly Stephanie knew exactly how she would get even with Jason. It became clear and she knew what she had to do. She looked at the calendar hanging on the far wall, then looked down at the hypnotized form of her son and with an ironic smile, said, "Happy Birthday Sammy." Her voice was the voice of a mad woman.

  Across the loft, the mirror on the wall was now vibrating wildly and practically rattling off its hooks. Soon a long slender grey withered hand with yellowed split fingernails eased from the glass. Next, another followed and soon the hideous head of Marie Livingston with its wild greasy hair slid out from the liquefied glass.

  The fluid surface of the mirror began to slowly ooze from the confines of its frame, and cling to the surfaces around it; walls, floor and ceiling. It formed a thin translucent film of mercurial liquid, which flowed outward like a hand with many wide splayed fingers spreading in every direction.

  Then the unspeakable creatures of the netherworld began to crawl forth from their land of the damned along the silvery surface always careful not to touch any objects of the world of the living. Soon they would be able to do so, but not yet. First came Marie Livingston, who crept out of the rippling glass and onto the left side of the mirror. She still was dressed the blood-splattered dressing gown she had worn the night she died. Her gray-filmed eyes still held the same look of insanity. As she clung to the sidewall on the glistening pool of mercury, her movements appeared jerky and erratic. Stephanie didn't notice her as she was still in a trance, staring out into space.

  A moment later, the charred remains of Jack Moran likewise crawled from the pulsating glass, moving upward and clinging to the ceiling like a giant blackened, fleshless spider. Following him was H. Mason Armstrong and Emerson Washburn, both creeping out of portal and taking their positions along the wall, clinging like insects while staring with hatred at Stephanie. It was clear they were all focusing their attentions in her direction assisting Marie, as they were able.

  Finally, two gnarled hands emerged from the mirror, one gripping each side. A moment later the form of Dwight Livingston, master of the cadre of the damned leapt out of the darkness and stood upright in front of the mirror, floating inches above the surface of the floor. Then likewise, the remaining specters flew from their perches and hovered behind their master. Marie and Washburn stood directly behind Dwight while Armstrong and Moran took their place in the rear. They said nothing but remained standing and looking at Stephanie, who seemed to be lost in her own world and who was apparently getting angrier and more agitated by the second. Stephanie’s ravings were also becoming louder as she paced wildly back and forth, waving her arms and screaming epithets about Jason and his many women.

  Sammy sat staring and the blank TV screen. After a few moments, his glassy eyes began to flitter in a sign of his waking. It was not yet time for him to awaken, however. Perhaps the energy required to maintain the intensity of Stephanie's mania caused the creatures to no longer be able to support the boy's illusion. Whatever the cause, Sammy soon found himself awake and sitting in front of a black television screen.

  He could hear his mother yelling and sounding very angry. Sammy didn't like when Mommy was mad. Lately, Sammy noticed his Mommy and Daddy were mad at each other lots of times. He didn't know why they yelled so much but it didn't like it. When they did that, it made his tummy hurt. He liked how it was when Mommy and Daddy hugged and kissed. That was better than mad and yelling.

  Sammy turned to look at his Mommy to see what might be wrong and stopped suddenly. He saw something bad; something really bad. Sammy knew bad stuff for sure. He was two and knew lots of words now. He could say a lot of them but could understand even more words than he could say. He knew them in his head but couldn't always say them with his mouth.

  He looked and saw people, bad people, standing near the kitchen in the room; Mommy's special room that she called “the loff”. He could tell these were bad people as soon as he saw them. They were really, really scary. They were scarier than any scary thing he had ever seen. The scary man in the front looked sort of like Daddy but not just like Daddy. He remembered that scary man from the picture Mommy kept up there in the loff. The man had really scary eyes with dark rings around them. It made Sammy feel like the man's eyes were looking out from black holes. And the scary man had a big cut across his neck that Sammy thought looked really yucky.

  There was a lady behind him who Sammy didn't like either. He remembered her from the first day they came to the new house. She was the scary lady in the glass who had made him cry by looking at him with her spooky eyes. And right next to her he saw that other man he didn't like. Sammy remembered his name was Armsong or something like that. Sammy didn't like Armsong before, and he didn't like him even more now. He was really scary and yucky now and Sammy didn't like that one bit. Sammy didn't want Armsong to see him so he closed his eyes, but when he opened them again, Armsong was still there.

  The men in the back row scared Sammy the most. He didn't know them, but the one man looked like the burned up guy he saw in the fire car a long time ago when they came to see the house. He looked all burned and his face was like a skull face. Sammy knew what a skull face was. He used to think a skull face was called a skulk face, but now that he was two, he knew the right word. And that word was skull.

  The bunch of bad scary people made Sammy's belly hurt worse than hearing Mommy yelling really loud. Why was she yelling so loud? Sammy didn't like it one bit. He wanted to cry and he felt like he was going to cry really bad when he saw something that made him forget about crying.

  Between Sammy and the scary people, he saw two shapes start to become real where there wasn't anybody before. It was like a magic show; one time nobody was there, then two shapes started to be there. Sammy knew what two meant. He could count to two in his head and say it with his mouth. His mommy liked when he said, "one, two". It would make her smile instead of yelling and being mad. She would call him her "little geen-us"; whatever that meant. Sammy was pretty sure it meant he was good and was smart. Mommy liked when he was smart. Sammy wondered if saying "one, two" would make Mommy smile now. He didn't think so. He didn’t think anything he did would make Mommy smile today.

  When the two shapes stopped doing the magic thing and became people that he could see, Sammy recognized them. "Boys,"
he thought. Then he moved his mouth and silently said "boys" with his mouth. These were the same boys Sammy saw in the field that day a long time ago. Sammy forgot about the boys because he never saw them after that one time; but now the boys were back and maybe they came back to play with him.

  Sammy liked these boys; they weren't scary like those bad people back behind the boys. They didn't even look as scary as they did when Sammy saw them before. They didn't look sick or tired anymore. Something was different. Now they looked very nice and clean and they had a bright light all around them. It was bright yellow and Sammy couldn't look right at it or it hurt his eyes. Sammy knew all about bright stuff and he knew some of his colors too. He had crayons and markers. He liked to draw stuff with his markers but most of the time he got lots of marker juice colors on his hands and face. But none of his colors were as bright like the yellow light around the boys. The light made Sammy feel good in his tummy and made him not want to cry. The boys were wearing suits like Daddy wore to church but they were all white and shiny with the bright light.

  Then Sammy was surprised to hear some words inside his head. He was pretty sure the boys were saying the words because it sounded like two boys talking together and saying the same words. But the boys' mouths were not moving. Sammy never knew people could say words inside his head without making their mouths move or without saying the words. But that was what the boys were doing. They were putting words in his head without talking. Sammy thought that was pretty cool. He liked this game, and he tried to see if he could make words in their heads too.