by Robert Brumm
Kelly leaned over and looked at the chaotic crayon mess covering the entire page. “Wow, buddy. That’s great. It’s the best…ah, picture I’ve seen all day.”
“It’s a cow eating on the grass. See?” Keegan jabbed his finger at the brown scribbles surrounded by green scribbles.
“Of course! That’s the best cow picture ever.”
Sue helped Keegan into his new high chair, an item she found at the second hand store in town that day, while Kelly went to the bathroom to wash her hands. She crossed the hall to the guest room and took off her jacket, causing the cell phone charger to fall to the floor.
She stared at the dead phone on the dresser for a moment and couldn’t take the suspense any longer. With the phone plugged into the power outlet, she held down the button and it vibrated to life in her hand.
“Supper’s ready!” Sue called from the kitchen.
“I’ll be right there, don’t wait for me!”
The phone’s LCD display lit up. MISSED CALLS: 49. NEW MESSAGES: 17. Kelly sighed, her appetite suddenly gone. She scrolled through the incoming calls and as she suspected, Don’s number dominated the list. After the initial ten or fifteen from him, her friend Tammy’s number came up.
Tammy. With all the excitement over the last couple of days she’d completely forgotten about her best friend back home. She must be worried sick.
Kelly almost shrieked as the phone vibrated in her hand and she practically dropped it. The display flashed. TAMMY. She hesitated for a second as her heart pounded before she finally flipped the phone open and held it to her ear.
“Hey.”
“Oh my God, where are you? Are you okay?” Kelly held the phone away from her ear. Tammy was a loud talker under normal circumstances and now she was practically screaming. “Where are you?”
“I’m fine, calm down. We’re someplace safe and everything is fine.”
“Are you kidding me? Everything is not fine! Do you know how worried I’ve been?”
Kelly sighed and pushed the bedroom door, leaving it open a crack. “I’m sorry, I should have called sooner. We took off so fast and my phone died. I just turned it back on, I swear.”
“Don came over last night. He was freaking the fuck out. He stood outside banging on the door for ten minutes, drunk off his ass. I didn’t know what to do! He practically woke up the whole street.”
Kelly’s grip on the phone tightened. “Are you okay? He didn’t hurt you did he?”
“No, nothing like that. He showed me the big gash on his head and said you attacked him. He wouldn’t go away until I finally let him in just to show him you weren’t hiding inside. What happened?”
“The usual. Only worse this time, a lot worse. I was scared Tammy, we had to leave.”
Kelly heard her friend sniffle and her voice cracked. “I’m just glad you’re okay. Where are you?” she asked again. “Are you coming home?”
The door opened a crack with a quiet knock. Sue peeked in. “Dinner’s ready, dear.”
Kelly covered the phone with her hand and turned around. “I’ll be just a sec.”
“Oh, sorry. I didn’t know you were on the phone.”
“Kell?” Tammy’s voice became frantic. “Are you still there?”
“I’m still here. Listen, I’ll call you later, okay? I promise everything is fine and we’re safe. What about you? Don didn’t threaten you or anything did he?”
“Not really, but he doesn’t believe that I don’t know where you are.”
“And I want to keep it that way,” Kelly said. “At least for now.”
“What do you mean?” Tammy didn’t hide the hurt in her voice.
“You know I trust you but I think the less you know right now is safer for the both of us. If Don thinks you know where I am, there’s no telling what he might do. If he hurt you I’d never forgive myself.”
Tammy sniffed. “I understand.”
“I gotta go, okay? If he tries anything call me right away. I’ll talk to you soon.”
They said goodbye and Kelly hung up the phone. She sat on the bed and cried for five minutes before she was finally able to get herself together and join the others for dinner.
Chapter 10
Kelly’s eyes shoot open in the dark and she fights the rising panic, almost feeling suffocated by the blanket over her face. A dozen clues bombard her at once, helping her realize she wasn’t in Ed and Sue’s guest bed. The panic returns.
She reaches over to where Keegan should have been sleeping next to her but her hand only touches hard packed dirt. She quickly sits up, wincing at the pain in her back from lying on the unforgiving floor.
As her eyes slowly adjust to the dark surroundings, she realizes she isn’t in the Sheridan’s guest room at all. From the look of it, she isn’t even in their house. A dim ray of light comes through a slot in the door, illuminating the crumbling fieldstone and mortar walls surrounding her. The ceiling joists above, made from old logs and rough-cut planks, are filled with cobwebs.
The entire floor of the tiny room consists of dirt. The spot in the middle of the room she’s sitting on is slightly indented from sleeping in the same place. She was covered in a ratty and rough blanket when she woke up, no more comfortable than a burlap sack.
A scream from beyond the door rips through the quiet night, followed by hushed sobs of a woman. It’s barely audible but she thinks she’d heard the low rumblings of a man’s voice, as well.
Kelly gets to her feet, ignoring the aches and pains in what seems like her whole body. She wraps the thin blanket around her shoulders, trying to keep the cold and damp air from chilling her even further. By the dim light from the door slot she notices what she’s wearing for the first time— a filthy and tattered old nightgown.
She takes a step forward, tripping over something and tumbling back to the floor. Her nightgown is wet and her hand brushes up against a metal pail as the smell of stagnant piss envelopes her. Kelly rises to her feet again, goes to the door, and looks through the slot. She isn’t able to see much of anything except a similar door across the hall and an oil lamp hanging from the hallway ceiling.
The crying from down the corridor starts again, followed by increasingly frantic screaming from the same woman. Kelly calls out but her own voice is drown out by the shrill squeal of the woman.
The screaming stops as abruptly as it starts and the basement is suddenly quiet. Kelly stands motionless at the door, only hearing the pounding of her own heart in her ears.
“Hello?” Her voice is barely above a squeak due to her dry throat. When she opens her mouth, her dry lips split on both sides and she tastes blood. She notices for the first time her jaw is swollen and painful to the touch.
She speaks directly out the door slot and calls out again. “Hello?”
A door slams. Heavy footsteps grow louder on the wooden floor out in the hall. A sense of dread fills Kelly and she takes a step back away from the door as the footsteps pound toward her.
A man’s scowling face suddenly appears in the door slot. Kelly gasps. All she can see is his eyes but it’s enough to convey the pure hatred and evil radiating from the other side of the wooden planks.
Kelly’s skin breaks out in goose bumps and she take another step back. The door slot slams shut, sending her into total darkness.
*****
She sat up again, a scream caught in her throat as she thrashed at the blankets covering her. The bedding was soft, the room warm. Her pajamas were covered in sweat and Kelly practically cried in relief when she felt Keegan sleeping peacefully by her side.
Kelly peeled back the blanket to cool off and carefully laid back down. She’d never had a nightmare as vivid and real as that. She could still hear the screaming, still feel urine soaked clothing against her skin and the icy cold dirt under her feet.
She pulled Keegan close and stared at the ceiling until finally falling back into a restless sleep.
Chapter 11
“Come on, Monkey. We have a lot of wo
rk to do.” Kelly held the door open as Keegan rushed out into the chilly morning air.
“I’m not a monkey, you’re a monkey,” he proclaimed to his mother as he jumped off the back porch.
They crossed the back yard to the path leading to their new home by the river. It was Saturday morning, bright and early thanks to Keegan poking her in the ribs at dawn. Kelly couldn’t remember the last time she’d been able to sleep past seven since he was born.
“Don’t get too far ahead,” she called out after him. Keegan rarely walked anywhere, choosing to run instead. Another undesirable habit, especially in places like grocery stores or paths that lead to rivers. Kelly quickened her pace to keep up and regretted her decision not to take two trips instead of trying to haul all the cleaning supplies down to the cottage at once. The plastic bag handles dug painfully into her fingers and her arms burned from the weight.
Kelly fought back a yawn. Between her shifts at the store all week and trying to spend as much time with Keegan as possible, she was worn out. Not to mention, she hadn’t been sleeping well. Ever since the nightmare earlier in the week, it felt like she kept waking up a dozen times a night.
She also felt terrible about missing a call from one of her aunt’s church friends. Kelly decided to stop avoiding her phone so she had turned it on that morning. She was welcomed by a voicemail left three days ago by her aunt’s friend, telling her about Sarah’s funeral. It was yesterday and she’d missed it. Kelly tried to convince herself it was okay since she barely knew the woman, but she still felt guilty as hell.
In the meantime, she hadn’t done a thing in days to get the cottage ready. Since it was Saturday and she had the whole day free, her mission was to clean the place up, top to bottom. Ed and Sue were beyond nice and hospitable but she knew the sooner her and Keegan got out of their hair the better. The last thing she wanted to do was overstay her welcome after all they’d done to help.
She finally reached the front door and plopped the heavy bags down on the front step. Keegan busied himself by kicking the leaves blanketing the ground around the house as Kelly fished the keys out of her pocket.
It almost seemed colder inside than it was outside. She started up the propane heater in the living room like Ed had showed her earlier. It was a big, noisy metal box sticking out from the wall that didn’t exactly add to the ambiance of the room, but when she heard the whoosh of the flames kick in she instantly felt warmer. Until then, she was ready to work up a sweat with a little hard work.
The cell phone in her pocket started vibrating almost as loud as a regular ringtone in the quiet house. She checked the display and recognized the number from the diner where she had worked before leaving town. Why would they be calling? She let a couple of rings pass before finally flipping it open.
“Hello?”
“Kelly? It’s Nancy down at Barry’s.”
“Oh, hi.”
“I haven’t seen you. Last time we spoke, you agreed you’d drop off your uniforms. I’ve still got your last check, too.”
“I’m so sorry, I totally forgot about it. I’m not in town anymore, actually. I had to move away suddenly. It was…sort of an emergency.”
“You didn’t take the uniforms with you, did you?”
“They’re still at my old place.” Kelly took a chance, hoping for some woman to woman sympathy from her old boss. “With my ex-boyfriend.” Nancy was silent for a moment before answering.
“Okay, I understand.” Her voice took on a softer tone. “They were getting pretty old anyway. One of these days I suppose we’ll have to get new ones and bring the girls into this century. I’ve still got your last check, though. Want me to just pop it in the mail?”
“That would be great, Nancy. Thanks.”
“No problem. Hold on while I grab a pen and you can give me your new address.”
Kelly bit her lip. It was a stretch, but what if Don knew she had a last check coming? What if he’d stop by the diner and ask where they sent it?
“Okay, ready.”
“Uh…it’s 815 Washington Street.” She continued to give Nancy the address to The Electric Connection. “That’s where I work now.”
“No problem, I’ll send it in the mail.”
“Thanks again, Nancy.” Kelly hung up, glad to have some extra money on the way but still feeling uneasy. What were the chances Don would ask around at the diner?
*****
A few hours later, Kelly was up to her elbows in Comet, scrubbing every inch of the bathroom. The kitchen was already spotless and the bathroom was getting there. Hopefully after the cleaning marathon she’d be able to move in with a few simple pieces of furniture. Maybe they would camp out on the living room floor and try out the fireplace.
Keegan appeared at the bathroom door with a sour look on his face. “I’m bored.”
“Did you get done cleaning the windows like I asked?”
He nodded his head. “I wanna watch TV.”
Kelly got up from the bathroom floor and held onto her sore lower back. “Let’s take a look at those windows first, mister.” He’d gotten bored running around the house so she’d given him a broom and let him push it around for a while. When that grew dull she filled an empty spray bottle with water and gave him a rag, asking him to “clean” the windows. She smirked at the dripping wet and streaked panes of the glass in the living room.
“Not too bad. Just give mom a few minutes and we’ll go up to the big house for lunch, okay? You need a nap pretty soon anyway.”
“Nooooo!” Keegan collapsed on the floor and writhed in pain at the thought of enduring a boring nap instead of staring at cartoons for hours.
Kelly heard a knock at the door over Keegan’s wailing. She pushed the curtain aside and saw the woman from Ed’s shop from the night her car broke down. She smiled and gave Kelly a little wave as Kelly opened the door.
“Hey there, remember me? Cheryl from the shop.”
“Of course I do. Come on in.”
“Hope I’m not coming at a bad time.” Cheryl stepped into the kitchen holding two large paper cups. “Thought maybe you could use a little coffee break.” She set one of the cups down on the kitchen counter and waved at her face. “Hoo-wee, it’s like an oven in here.”
“Really?” Kelly crossed her arms and glanced at the heater. “I’m still freezing. Just can’t seem to shake these chills.” She took the coffee from Cheryl and wrapped her cold fingers around the warm cup.
“Maybe you’re coming down with something.” Cheryl took a sip off her own cup and took her jacket off. “I had to work this morning and Ed was telling me all about your little place here. Thought I’d stop in quick and see how you’re getting on.”
Kelly sighed and looked around the room. “Well, you wouldn’t think it, but it’s way better than it was the first time I saw it. I’ve been cleaning all morning and I feel like I haven’t scratched the surface. Thanks for the coffee.”
“Don’t mention it.”
Keegan sat up and looked suspiciously at Cheryl.
“Hey, little guy!” She reached into her purse and pulled out a large toy car. “I’ve got something here for you, too.”
Keegan’s eyes lit up and he scrambled to his feet.
“Some other little boy left that at the shop a while ago. I held onto it until I could find a new owner. I’d say you’re the perfect candidate.”
“Thank you.” He took it from her hand and crouched between the two women, pushing the car across the floor and making a motor noise.
Cheryl walked over to the picture window in the living room. “What an awesome view. Our condo faces the old tire plant. Not quite as nice as the river, here.”
“Isn’t it great?”
“So, I heard you’re working for Paul Horton at his shop?”
“Yep. I’ve been there for almost a week now. I feel like a fish out of water most of the time but it’s not too bad.”
“He’s…okay? Treats you well?”
“We got off to
a rough start, but yeah, he’s a fine boss if that’s what you mean. Why do you ask?”
Cheryl glanced at Keegan. “Well, I never met him personally but he sort of has a reputation around town.”
“What do you mean?”
“He had a rough stretch when he moved back here. Got arrested after beating up a few rednecks down at Clancy’s Bar. I heard he was pretty liquored up that night, who knows what started it all, but he took on all three in the parking lot. One of the guys ended up in ICU with a collapsed lung and another had a broken jaw.”
“Oh my God.”
Cheryl nodded. “He didn’t do any serious jail time. I heard the Sheriff convinced those guys not to press charges on account of him being a wounded war hero and all. Most of the folks in the bar said they started it anyway.”
“I can’t even imagine Paul getting violent like that. He seems pretty laid back.”
“I saw one of those shows about the soldiers that come back from over there all messed up with that post traumatic sickness. Some of those guys have really done some bad stuff.” Cheryl touched Kelly’s arm. “Just be careful, okay? I’m not trying to spread gossip, I just wanted you to know what he’s capable of.”
Kelly wasn’t sure what to say. Even though she knew Paul had been a soldier she couldn’t imagine him hurting anybody.
Cheryl watched Keegan as he pushed the toy car around the living room floor. “It’s sad, really. They train them to be killers and when it’s all over everybody expects them to turn it off like a switch.”
“Like I said, Paul’s been pretty laid back since I’ve met him. Do you think he’s going to snap and go on a shooting spree or something?”
“Oh no, nothing like that. It’s just…well, Ed sort of told me you had some problems back home with your ex.” Cheryl shook her head. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t be sticking my nose is your business. Paul hasn’t gotten into any trouble since then and I’m sure there’s nothing to worry about.”
