Something Happened

by Brandy Isaacs

  Both Rion and Kerry, who had rushed down behind her, froze. “Good morning, Bernie” Kerry half-shouted, nervously.

  “No school today?” he asked Beckett.

  “Nope.”

  Rion stared at the kid in shock. She had never heard her sound more childlike in the days she had known her. She kid was even smiling. On some level, this was more worrisome than the feral, violence she had been recently displaying. She was a wolf in sheep's clothing right now. Bright, innocence lit up her big brown eyes and like birthdays and balloons. But, behind the smile that stretched her face, Rion saw the sharp teeth that had sank into her arm and the wound throbbed with the memory.

  “What adventure are you off to?” the old man asked.

  Before Kerry or Rion could answer, Beckett piped up. “We are going to see my therapist so the case worker doesn’t take me away.”

  Silence descended over the foyer. “Uh…” Bernie glanced from the kid to the two women.

  “Ha, ha,” Kerry chuckled, at a loss for words.

  “Ah,” Rion tried. “She—uh—she has a doctor’s appointment,” she finished quickly. “We gotta go!” Beckett’s façade finally cracked when Rion put a hand on her shoulder to guide her from the building. The kid jerked away and gave her a look that sliced through the air. Rion didn’t try to touch her again. She just waved her out the door. “Let’s go.”

  Beckett must have remembered the way to the train because she walked ahead of Rion and Kerry. Rion didn’t care. It made it easier to keep an eye on her. The ice that had flooded her veins over the encounter with Bernie thawed in the summer heat. “What the hell was that?” Kerry hissed. Beckett could easily hear them, but Rion didn’t care.

  “I don’t know,” Rion shook her head.

  “Why did she go all nice to Bernie?”

  “I don’t know.” Jesus, I am so tired of saying ‘I don’t know.’

  “She seemed…almost normal.”

  “Yeah. More like a kid than I’ve seen her since I met her.” They walked in silence for a while. “Beckett?” Rion called. The kid didn’t even turn around. “Beckett!” she tried again, this time her voice was firmer. The kid slowed and turned. She didn’t speak, but she waited with narrowed eyes. “Why were you nice to Bernie?” The kid’s mouth twisted into a faint smirk, then she turned around and resumed her pace.

  Kerry and Rion glanced at each other again. Beckett’s performance had been incredibly convincing. The smile, the happy voice, all of it. It painted a picture of a normal kid. For the briefest of moments, Rion has seen her as most kids are. Big, haunted eyes became curious and lively and her smile innocent instead of vicious. Rion’s heart sank slowly. A whole new problem had just presented itself. If Beckett was able to pretend to be normal, what would happen if Rion ever decided to tell others about the violent behavior? Sure, Kerry and Shep had witnessed it. But, what if they found out about their nights of drinking? Found out about Shep’s past in the commune? Kerry’s wild life-style? Rion watched Beckett warily. She was good at performing, but now, Rion wasn’t sure who she was performing for.

  After Beckett followed Jennifer into her office, Kerry and Rion plopped down on a couch together. “How do you think Becks is going to act with the therapist?” Kerry asked.

  “I’m betting she’s going to be the same she was with Bernie.”

  “It’s…it’s…just so creepy,” Kerry shuddered.

  “I know,” Rion shook her head. “It’s like…she’s doing it on purpose.”

  “Just to fuck with us.”

  “I’m just glad you and Shep have seen it. I can’t imagine what it would be like if I was the only one.”

  Kerry put an arm around Rion’s shoulders. “We’re in this together chick.”

  “Thank you.”

  “You know…I still think we should go see the psychic.”

  Rion didn’t readily disagree. At this point, she would be willing to try anything. And, could she still argue that Beckett was just mentally ill. Do mentally ill people willfully choose to fool some people and not others? Sure, I suppose…Rion guessed. But, for a kid to do it. And so well. Rion rested her chin in her hands and her elbows on her knees.

  “Are you going to tell her? About Beckett.”

  “Who? Jennifer?”

  “Yeah.”

  “I don’t know. If Beckett is acting normal with her, what good would it do? Would she even believe me? Why would a kid do that? How could a kid pull that off?”

  “Good point,” Kerry sighed.

  Kerry and Rion sat side by side in the waiting room while Jennifer spoke to Beckett. Before the appointment was over, Rion’s phone rang. It was a number she didn’t recognize but she decided to answer it anyway. “Hello?”

  “Ms. Webster?”

  “Yes.”

  “This is Jeff. With Triple A Industrial Cleaning…”

  “Oh. Oh! Sorry.” Rion had forgotten all about the house cleaners. “Yes?”

  “We-We need you to come out and take a look at something.”

  “What?”

  “There’s…well…there’s some weird stuff here. Under the blood. We don’t know if we should call the cops or not.”

  “Shit! Wait. Not yet. Let me take a look at it. I’ll be there…as soon as I can.”

  “OK. I’ll meet you here.”

  When she hung up the phone, Kerry was staring at her. “What?”

  “The cleaners found something weird at Beckett’s house.”

  “Weird? What?”

  “He didn’t say.” She looked at the time on her phone. Beckett’s appointment would be over soon. “Dammit. I don’t want to take Beckett back there…but I can’t leave her either.”

  “I can stay with her,” Kerry offered.

  “I-I don’t think it’s a good idea.”

  “Why?”

  “Honestly, I don’t think anyone should be alone with her.”

  Kerry didn’t disagree. “Well, I can go with you. Try to keep her outside or something while you go in?”

  Rion mulled it over. She didn’t want to involve Kerry more than she had too. But, she didn’t see any other choice. Before she could make a final decision, Jennifer’s door opened and she and Beckett appeared. Jennifer had a big smile on her face. “All done!”

  “How did it go?” Rion asked standing quickly.

  “Great!” Jennifer assured her.

  “Really?’ Rion tilted her head and studied the doctor then Beckett. The kid looked pleased with herself. Rion swallowed her fear and tried to smile at the therapist. “That’s wonderful.”

  “Yeah. Beckett really opened up today.”

  “Did she?”

  “Yep.”

  “About what?”

  “Well,” Jennifer laughed. “I can’t go into details, but, I can tell you, you’re doing wonders with her.”

  “Huh?”

  “Yeah. I think being with you is really helping her settle with all that has happened. She has a homework assignment.”

  “Yeah?” Rion’s voice felt hollow.

  “Yeah. I think it would be a good idea for her to keep a journal. She can bring it back next week.”

  “OK.” Rion couldn’t stop staring at Beckett and the kid held her gaze. “Sure. You don’t need to see her sooner?”

  “No. We talked about the incident with the bird. She feels bad about it, but she understands now. It was all an accident.”

  “OK.”

  “I’ve given her some tips on how to deal with bullies. But, considering the circumstances, I don’t think she’ll have too much trouble with them.”

  Rion caught the wink, Jennifer gave her and she tried to keep the scowl from her face. “Yeah.”

  Rion struggled to catch her breath. How is any of this real? She struggled to figure out how to react. If she insisted something was wrong with the kid, everyone—except Shep and Kerry—would think she was the crazy one. She realized, too late, she should have said something to someone earlier. Maybe she shoul
d have been more forthcoming with Chambers. But, now, she was in too deep. She had to play this out if she wanted to help Beckett…and herself.

  ***

  The entire train ride to the suburbs, Kerry and Rion watched Beckett like she was going to suddenly explode. Between worry over her sister and worry about what the cleaners had found at their father’s house, Rion’s stomach rolled. She realized, much too late, that they hadn’t had lunch.

  “Are you hungry?” she asked Kerry and Beckett. Both of them shook their heads. “Me either,” she agreed.

  The train rumbled to a stop and commuters pushed towards the exit. It was still too early for rush hour, but the train was busy nonetheless. It was summer and the weather was nice. Plenty of tourists to keep the rails busy. Beckett was sitting in the seats facing her and Kerry, staring out the window. She seemed totally unconcerned with the reaction she was causing. She also didn’t seem to care that Kerry and Rion were staring at her. It was almost as if she found it amusing.

  When the train screeched into their stop, Beckett rose without being asked, and lead the way from the train. Rion and Kerry followed. Even if she had some kind of multiple personality disorder, or PTSD, she had retained her memories at least. For whatever good that does, Rion mumbled to herself.

  They silently followed the little girl to her childhood home. The sun was brutal and in no time Rion could feel sweat dripping down her back. Beckett was dressed in jeans and a tee-shit but she didn’t seem concerned with the temperature. She glanced at Kerry who had bunched her long hair into one hand and was wiping the back of her neck with the other.

  “This is a bad idea,” she told Kerry.

  “Probably.”

  When they finally arrived at the house, Rion and Kerry rushed to catch up with Beckett who was stomping up the stairs. The house was the same as before. It sucked all the light out of its surroundings like a bad horror movie. “Wait!” she told her sister.

  Beckett turned to her, clearly annoyed at being stopped. “I need to get some stuff.”

  “Like what?” Rion knew her voice was too harsh for speaking to a child, but she didn’t feel like she was talking to a kid.

  “It doesn’t matter,” Beckett’s tone matched Rion’s.

  “Yes. It does.” Rion could feel Kerry stiffen beside her.

  Before Beckett could respond, the front door of the house opened. “Oh! Good!” a man called stepping out of the dark interior.

  Rion looked at Beckett sharply, but the kid had already painted on her fake smile. “Hi!” she chirped.

  “Eh,” the man closed the door behind him. “I don’t think you want to come in here little lady.”

  “But—”

  Rion interrupted Beckett. “He’s right sweetheart! Besides! You promised Kerry you would show her your backyard.”

  Beckett stared at her for a long moment. One foot planted on the porch, the other on the last step. Her eyes were daggers as she held Rion’s gaze. Rion was playing a game that ran the risk of blowing up in her face. For some reason, Beckett was suddenly concerned with strangers thinking she was a normal kid. Rion put her in a position that she either had to go along with it, or challenge it and blow her cover. She swallowed as she waited to see what the kid would do. Her heart raced, but she felt like she was being pranked.

  Slowly, Beckett smiled again and turned away from the man, “OK. Come on Kerry!” She spun on her heel and tromped back down the stairs. Rion watched as she grabbed Kerry’s hand, rougher than she should have, and pulled her towards the driveway that ran alongside the house. When they were out of eyesight, Rion finally took a deep breath.

  “Good kid!”

  Rion jumped, having almost forgotten the man was there. “What? Oh! Yeah. She’s great.” The cleaner, Jeff she assumed, met her at the foot of the stairs and held out a hand. It was rough and calloused, but his shake was gentle.

  “Thanks for coming out.”

  “Of course. What did you find?”

  “Well…” he took off his blue baseball cap and scratched his head before returning it. “I don’t really know what to even call it.” Rion raised a brow. “We found it after we got the blood up off the kitchen floor.” He spoke matter of fact, someone who was used to unpleasantries and didn’t have time for euphemisms or sugar coating anything. He was no nonsense, but not abrasive or callous. “It’s writing of some kind.”

  “Writing?”

  “Yeah. Symbols and stuff…”

  “Oh…”

  “What exactly happened here?”

  Rion hesitated. He could easily find out by googling it. She was surprised he hadn’t already. If she were to guess she would put him in his mid to late forties. He wasn’t too old to have a smart phone. “Well, my father and his wife—Beckett’s mom—died here.”

  “Oh-Oh sh—I mean…” he sputtered.

  “Don’t worry about it,” Rion brushed him off. “My father and I were…estranged.”

  “Ah…” Jeff clearly still didn’t know what to say.

  “What kind of writing?” Rion asked, trying to let him off the hook.

  “Well, it’s nothing I’ve seen before.”

  “Not English?”

  “No. Come look for yourself. The blood is gone.”

  Rion nodded and followed Jeff into the house. The interior was still dark, and it still smelled like sour decay, but there was a chemical, hospital-like, smell over the top of it. “We’ve already got the blood out of the bedroom. The carpet and padding had to come up. That’s unavoidable. But, the floor beneath was salvageable. It was the kitchen where we found the writing.”

  She followed him into the kitchen. The table had been moved, and Rion could tell the dark, red-black stain was gone, but black lines cut into the floor like cracks. When she was over them she could finally make out what she was seeing. A large circle had been painted on the floor in what appeared to be spray paint. The chemical cleaners had damaged the drawing in some places. But it was still mostly intact as if the paint had burned into the floor. Around the perimeter of the circle was symbols. Rion had no trouble remembering what the room looked like before the clean-up. A large pool of blood had covered the entire circle. This was where Lavinia Webster—Beckett’s mother—had been found. Dead. On top of this circle.

  It took a lot of self-control for Rion not to throw up when she realized what she was seeing. This was some kind of ritual. Some kind of sacrificial symbol. And Lavinia had died in the middle of it. She clenched her fists to stop her hands from shaking.

  "See what I mean? This is...weird right?" Jeff was standing next to her gesturing towards the marks on the floor.

  "How-how would the police have not seen this?"

  "Do you know they didn't?"

  "Uh, I don't know."

  "Have you seen the police report?"

  Rion was annoyed at the know-it-all tone. "No. I spoke to the detective..."

  "What?"

  Rion remembered the detective asking about her if she knew anything about Frank Webster's hobbies or friends. "Nothing," she said after a moment. "I think the police do know about this."

  "You'd think they would have said something..."

  "Yeah..."

  "Well, we have the biohazards cleaned up. I can't repair the flooring, but, if you need a referral, here. Call my brother-in-law."

  Rion took the worn card he held out. It was warm from being in his pocket. She slid it into her purse without looking at it. "Thanks." She couldn't stop staring at the symbols on the floor. The circle was almost perfect. There were four figures around the edges. One near the top left, another near the top right, and two in the same positions at the bottom. One symbol was a set of four vertical lines, one was four wavy lines, one was four lines crisscrossed, and the last was four lines bent into arcs that swirled around themselves.

  She was barely aware of Jeff saying goodbye and heading out the front door. She knelt down to get a better look. This close, she was confident the lines were spray paint. She low
ered a fingertip to the floor and but hesitated before touching it. When she did, she pulled back quickly. It was warm. She scowled and touched it again. The wood of the floor wasn't hot enough to be alarming, it was merely warm to the touch. She flattened her palm over the black paint and forced herself to hold it there. After a moment, she was sure it was emitting a slight heat. Could it be from the chemicals, she wondered. She dismissed that idea. The whole floor would be warm, not just these lines.

  Before she could figure it out, a shout brought her out of her stupor. "Beckett!" It was Kerry.

  Rion stood quickly, turning, convinced she would see the kid behind her, waiting to attack. She was relieved to find herself alone, but the relief turned to paranoia. She was all alone in a house with creepy symbols drawn on the floor where two people had been murdered. The hair on her arms stood on end. "Kerry?" she called. The front door opened flooding the house in sudden light. She squinted against the glare. "What's going on?" A silhouette of a person rushed inside and her breath seized in her lungs.

  As her eyes adjusted, she realized it was Kerry. "What?" she asked again.

  "Is Beckett in here?"

  "Why would she be in here? She was with you?" Panic pushed against Rion's throat.

  "She-she was with me one second. And the next...she was gone."

  Rion stared at her, fighting both anger and fear. "She didn't come in here." The only two doors to the house were the front door and the back. The door leading from the kitchen was five feet away. There was no way Beckett would have been able to enter through it without Rion seeing her. The front door let in so much light, Rion couldn't have missed it opening either. "She has to be outside somewhere!"

  Rion crossed the living room, but before she made it to the door a sound from down the hall made her freeze. She and Kerry looked at each other—both wide eyed. She turned slowly and Kerry grabbed ahold of her arm. "Beckett?" she asked.

  "It can't be..." Rion trailed off. She supposed, theoretically, Beckett could have climbed in through a window. But, all the windows were at least five feet off the ground. Maybe a water meter alongside the house...She didn't have time to finish the thought before thumps on the ceiling caused both women to jump closer together. What was, unmistakably, footsteps raced across the ceiling.