by Hazel Parker
Elizabeth laughed, shoving one hand off of his arm. “You make it sound like we’re in high school.”
“So what if we’re not?” Rick said. “You make me feel….” His words broke off. To Elizabeth, he suddenly looked embarrassed.
“Well now you have to finish.” She propped herself up on one arm to face him. “What is it?”
“It’s just…” He rolled his eyes. “It’ll sound so cheesy.”
“Maybe I like cheesy.” She was just dying to know what he had to say.
“You make me feel like a high school boy.” His eyes finally met hers. “Being out with you has made me feel something that I haven’t felt in years. Not since my wife left.”
“I understand.” And she did. She understood all too well. When a spouse left, it made you feel horribly inadequate. She’d had a few dates since her marriage had failed, and a few casual flings, but nothing that had ever made her feel quite like this.
“It’s good to share that understanding with someone, as painful as it is.” He was looking into her eyes. “I hope that tonight doesn’t make anything uncomfortable between us. I’d love to see more of you.” Elizabeth leaned in, pressing her lips to his.
“Please,” she whispered. “I’d love that.”
“Good.” Rick kissed her again. “Me too.”
The following morning, Elizabeth found that she had slept better than she had ever dreamed she could in that house. With Rick beside her, she hadn’t noticed any bizarre creaks or groans. It had just been the two of them, and that was all that mattered.
They went about their normal routine as though nothing had happened the night before. And neither one of them breathed a word to Philip or Daniel. Elizabeth was sure that Philip did not need to hear the details of his son’s romantic life. As for Daniel, she didn’t want him to know the details of anything that went on in her life. She supposed if things ever got serious with Rick that she would have to get used to the brother, but they weren’t there yet. She’d cross that bridge if and when they got to it.
It was getting late in the day. She knew the men were packing up. She was in the middle of stripping off the last of the attic bedroom wallpaper when she heard footsteps on the stairs. Turning, anticipated RIck.
“Are you leaving?” She moved to stand at the head of the attic stairs. She frowned when she saw that the stairs were empty. “What the—”
Then it occurred to her. The servants’ stairs ran all the way up to the attic. That must have been the stairs she heard footsteps on. Crossing back to the other door, she reached for the doorknob. That was when she realized that the door was bolted from the outside.
Why had one of the men come up the stairs if the door was locked? And if they’d gotten this far, why hadn’t they called to her when they realized that it was locked? Was it worth going all the way back down?
“Elizabeth?” She jumped at the voice. Rick was now standing in the bedroom doorway. At her start, he looked concerned. “Are you ok?”
“Were you just on these stairs?” Elizabeth motioned to the closed door. Rick shook his head.
“Um, no. No one’s using those stairs. At least they’re not supposed to be. My dad wants to check them and make sure they’re sturdy. He doesn’t think they’ve really been used in years.”
“Right.” But Elizabeth suspected that she’d heard someone on those stairs recently. She shrugged. “Well, good idea. Are you guys leaving?”
“Yeah, well, Dad and Daniel are. They’re outside putting some stuff in the shed.” He moved across the room to her. His hands covered her forearms gently. “Are you ok? You seem a bit off.” Elizabeth gave him a firm smile.
“I’m fine. It’s just….” She shook off the feeling. Rick looked curious.
“Just what? Tell me.” Elizabeth hesitated. He pressed his thumbs harder into her arms. “Would you rather tell me over dinner? We don’t have to go to the bar. There’s a great pizza place down the street. I can pick up some beer, or soda. We can have a picnic here.”
He was so warm and convincing that Elizabeth had to smile. “That sounds great.”
“Ok.” Rick kissed her cheek. “You like pepperoni? How about mushrooms?” When she agreed to both, he released her. “I’ll be back in an hour.”
They ate pizza off of paper plates and drank beer in what would eventually be the downstairs parlor.
“I’ll be so glad to see my stuff.” Elizabeth told him as she wiped grease off of her fingers.
“And, I imagine, to stop eating greasy bar food and pizza with the help.” Rick winked at her.
“Hardly. That’s actually one of my favorite parts.” She paused for a quick kiss. “But I’m sure the gentleman that you speak of would be highly entertained if I could actually cook real food for him.”
“I’m sure your cholesterol will agree,” Rick remarked. They ate in silence for a few more moments. “So,” he looked at her, “do you want to tell me what had you upset earlier?”
“I wasn’t upset—not really.” Elizabeth blew a strand of hair out of her eyes with a heavy breath. “It’s just….”
“What?” Rick’s hand was on her arm. “Tell me.” She met his eyes for a moment, gathering the courage to give voice to her thoughts.
“Ever since I spent my first night in this house it’s been…weird.”
“Well, any new house would be right?”
“I stayed here when I was a kid and never had an issue.” She didn’t remember any of these oddities from when she was a child. She figured that her overactive imagination would be gone by this age.
“So how do you mean then?” Rick put down his beer, giving her his full attention. The full story began to pour out of her. She told him about the strange sounds, the ugly monkey. When she finished, Rick looked uncomfortable.
“All this on top of what happened that night we were going out.” Elizabeth nodded wearily.
“The only night that something didn’t happen was when you stayed over.” She shrugged. They were both silent. Rick’s face folded into a frown.
“Elizabeth, if someone really is doing something—”
“It’s not serious, right?” She didn’t want it to be true. She didn’t want to believe that someone was intentionally messing with her. “I mean, I barely know anyone in town. No one would intentionally try to bother me or my house, right?”
“I like to think not.” Rick took one of her hands. “But there are some sick people in this world. And that dead rabbit didn’t splatter himself onto the door.”
That was the one part that she truly couldn’t explain. Someone had taken the time to smear a dead animal on a door.
“Who is that sick?” she finally murmured. Rick shook his head.
“I don’t know. Lizzie, it might be time to call the police.”
“And tell them I’m weirded out to be alone in a big, old house? They’ll laugh me out of town.” She realized exactly what he’d said. “Your brother asked me if anyone called me Lizzie.”
“Oh. I didn’t even realize I’d said that.” Rick gave her a half smile. “You don’t shorten it, do you?”
“Well, I mean, I guess. But Daniel brought up Lizzie Borden.” She waited for a reaction from him. “Don’t you think that’s a little odd?”
“Not really. Lizzie Borden’s a historical figure, especially in New England. It’s not really that big of a thing.” She felt bad for bringing it up. She was paranoid and she didn’t want to start bringing his brother into her paranoia, even if he did creep her out.
“Yeah. I’m sure it’s just—”
“You don’t want to be called Lizzie?” Rick’s gentle smile had returned. “That’s ok. You look more like an Elizabeth anyway.”
“Do you think I should call the police?”
“It might not hurt to talk to them. Just tell them. At least about the rabbit. Tell them you thought it was a simple prank, but now things aren’t calming down.” Rick patted her hand. “It’ll at least make you feel better.”
“You’re right.” She leaned up for another kiss. He did not hesitate. The kiss began to deepen. Elizabeth let the worries ease off for the moment. There would be plenty of time for that in the morning.
*****
She had been fully prepared to call the police, but suddenly there appeared to be no need to. The sounds in the house stopped. There were no longer strange shadows out in the yard, or anywhere else. Elizabeth suddenly felt better.
The house work was coming along nicely. Her things finally arrived, and with Rick and Daniel’s help, she loaded it into the guest house. She thought she would have too much, but her things filled it up nicely. For the first time, she felt like she was home.
They had just begun the process of sanding the floors. As soon as the floors were finished, she could begin the process of buying furniture and designing the rooms. She’d painted them all in different colors. She thought someday that she would give them different names, but for now they would simply be the Blue Room, the Green Room, the Lavender Room, and the Attic Room. She would charge the least for the attic room.
Elizabeth was finally excited about her new business. She felt like she was on a great adventure. The fun part of house design had just begun and she’d be in business in no time.
And Rick seemed to be very excited about the prospect of being close to her. The two spent as much time together as possible. They had dinners together during the week, and on weekends. He slept over regularly. She often wondered if that was because he was worried about what she had told him; he seemed protective.
Elizabeth had given up sleeping in the main house. She felt safer this way, and she slept far better in the guest house. She still worked late in the house some evenings. This Wednesday night was no exception. She’d been working on a closet in the Green Room, the one directly over the parlor. She’d just stepped back to admire her work when she heard the strange scratching sound downstairs.
It was the same scratching that she remembered from a few weeks back. Frowning, Elizabeth trekked downstairs.
She spun around the corner into the parlor. She looked in the direction of the scratching sound.
A face was staring back at her.
Elizabeth thought she was hallucinating. It wasn’t really a face. Was. Wasn’t. No, it was. But it was different. She sucked her breath in hard when she realized that it had what appeared to be a pillow case over its head. Two eye holes were cut in the fabric, through which two familiar eyes were staring back at her. A rope was loosely knotted around its throat to hold the white fabric in place.
Elizabeth screamed. She heard the sound long and loud in the echoing silence of the house. Her hand fumbled frantically for the back pocket of her jeans. She struggled to get the phone out. Her hands trembled as she pulled up the emergency number.
It didn’t fully occur to her that she had dialed 911 until the police were in the house. She was stammering over her words as she told them exactly what had happened. One officer sat in the house with her as another roamed the exterior of the house.
But there was no one there. There wasn’t even anyone in Philip’s house. There wasn’t even a trace of someone. She’d seen him. She knew that.
“Elizabeth?” A voice was suddenly calling from the front door. Elizabeth looked up, surprised.
“Rick? What are you doing here?” She was confused, as hadn’t called him. At least she didn’t think so. Was it possible that she had called or texted him in a fit of panic and not realized it? No, she was sure that she hadn’t.
“I was on my way to check on my dad and I saw the police.” Elizabeth merely stared at him.
“But your father isn’t home.” She motioned to the police officer. “They checked. There’s no one in his place.”
They all saw the look on Rick’s face. It was surprise, followed immediately by fear. His eyes widened and he sighed.
“Well, maybe he went out for a beer.” He was suddenly smiling. Elizabeth arched a brow. She had never heard Rick mention that his father drank. And, from what she had observed, Philip was always in at night.
“I…oh. Ok.” She nodded. Her lips tried to form a believable smile. But it wasn’t quite happening.
Just a half hour earlier, she had seen an unidentifiable masked man standing outside of her window. Then there were those eyes….those eyes, which were so familiar. Now Rick had appeared out of nowhere. On the nights when Rick slept over, there were no mysterious sounds. Rick had avoided telling her any real stories of the house’s supposed hauntings. Was that because there were none? Did Rick know more than he was letting on? Elizabeth was suddenly horribly uncomfortable. And she didn’t like the reason why.
*****
She was not in a good mood as she hung curtains the next morning. She’d been up most of the night listening. But of course, no sound had come. She had figured that was what would happen.
Maybe she was being paranoid, but it felt valid to her. If it was Rick, if he was involved in all of this, had he decided not to risk his exposure a second time? She hoped not. She truly hoped not. She wanted to believe in Rick. She wanted to think that he was the good man she had come to know over the last few weeks. But too many oddities were adding up.
There was a soft knock on the door. Elizabeth looked up to see Rick standing in the doorway. She immediately felt herself tense.
“Hey,” he smiled at her. “How are you today?”
There wasn’t as much work to do lately, so the men were only coming when a specific task needed to be performed. The electrician was coming tomorrow, so she wasn’t entirely sure why Rick had come today.
“I…didn’t realize you were stopping over.” She folded her arms over her chest. Rick looked taken back.
“I thought I’d stop by to check on you.” He took a step forward. His fingertips came to rest on her arm. “I was worried about you after what happened last night. Are you ok?”
“I’m fine.” Elizabeth pushed a handful of hair out of her eyes. The conversation wasn’t making her feel much better. She wanted him to leave so that she could keep thinking. “Rick, I….”
“What?” His fingertips were rubbing up and down her arm. “Talk to me. Tell me what you’re thinking?”
“It’s just….” She shrugged, not quite knowing how to say it. “Where were you last night?”
“Where was I?” he echoed. “Why do you ask?”
“Well, it’s just that….” She didn’t finish.
“Elizabeth, I told you I was on my way over to check on my dad.” The look on his face told her that he knew why she was asking. “Why? Where did you think I was?”
“Nothing ever happens when you’re here,” she answered meekly. Rick’s eyes flashed in understanding as his hand moved from her arm.
“I see.” He gave her a firm nod. “If that’s the case, I’ll be heading off. I…I guess I’ll see you tomorrow when the electrician shows up.”
“Yeah,” she nodded. She felt terrible for suspecting him. But this had gone on long enough, and she was more frightened than ever.
“By the way,” Rick turned to face her, “do you really think I’d show up and out myself if I’d been lurking outside of your window last night?”
Elizabeth lowered her head. Rick set his jaw.
“As I thought. Bye, Elizabeth.”
She tried to go back to her own house and relax. But after her conversation, she was too on edge. She tried to fix tea, but decided that she was simply too keyed up. Sighing, she trudged back over to the house for some more work.
She hadn’t been there long when her phone rang. The screen clearly declared that it was Rick. Frowning, she swiped it open.
“Rick, I—”
“No, Elizabeth, listen to me.” He sounded upset. Well, not so much upset as worried. “Elizabeth, I’m coming over. There’s something that I need to tell you.”
“Rick, I don’t think that’s such a good—” The line went dead. Elizabeth sighed. She didn’t realize that he would take her wor
ds so hard. She would do everything she could to let him down gently.
It had not been long when Elizabeth clearly heard footsteps on the stairs. Sighing, she turned.
“Ok, Rick, let’s talk—” Her words broke off when she saw who stood in the doorway: The masked man from the window stared back at her. Elizabeth took a step backwards. A lamp clattered to the floor. She didn’t exactly know where she was going—there was nowhere to run. But she had to get away from him.
“Rick…please,” she whispered frantically. “I’m sorry.”
He ignored her. He was moving slowly across the floor to her. Elizabeth backed up as far as she could go. Suddenly, she realized she could go no further. Her back was literally against the wall.
Rick was in front of her. His body pressed hers into the wall. She whimpered softly. There wasn’t much else that she could do. His hand moved up, closing around her throat. Elizabeth felt the long fingers dig into her skin. She could do nothing but make a weak squeaking sound. She watched as her hands came up. They tried to ply his fingers away, but it was no use.
I’m going to die here, she thought. Had she come all this way to die?
Suddenly there was a flash behind Rick. Another Rick was behind him. Wait, no…that was Rick. Her Rick. He was grabbing the man holding her, throwing him to the floor. Elizabeth shrank into a corner. Her hand raised to her throat. It was already sore and she was certain that she had bruises.
Rick was holding the masked man down on the floor.
“Elizabeth! Call the police!” She did not hesitate.
Rick held the man down on the floor until the officers arrived, allowing them to do the unmasking. Elizabeth gasped as her attacker was revealed.
“Philip?” she whispered. Sure enough, it was Rick’s father, whom the two officers were pulling to his feet. “But why?”
“That’s what I was on my way over to tell you.” Rick got up. “Something has been going on with my dad. I just found out tonight.”
He reached into his back pocket. He held out a folded piece of paper. Still trembling, Elizabeth took it. She opened it and read the words.
