Something Happened

by Brandy Isaacs

  Bernie dragged a ladder in with him and surveyed the apartment as if he would be able to see the noise happening. "This should just take a moment," he began setting the ladder up under the old smoke detector.

  Rion watched him for a while as he struggled up the ladder and began unscrewing the old detector. He made lots of noise as he worked. Loud mouth breathing and grunts and each sound grated at her nerves. Finally, she couldn't stand it anymore and had to leave the room. "I'll be right back," she told him, hurrying into the bathroom.

  Once she saw herself in the mirror, she was surprised Bernie didn't ask her what was wrong. She was pale with dark circles under her eyes and she clearly had a hangover. Her eyes were bloodshot and her whole face was puffy. Attempting to make herself more presentable, she washed her face in cold water and brushed away the sour taste in mouth. A brush through her hair and a messy ponytail improved her looks enough she hoped her condition could be explained away as normal sickness.

  A crash and shout stopped her blood cold. She ran from the bathroom with no idea what she would find, but fearing the worst. The first thing she saw was the old man sprawled on the floor with the ladder on his legs. "Oh god!" Rion rushed to his side. "Are you OK?"

  "Oh," Bernie moaned. "Oh."

  "Should I call an ambulance? What happened?'

  "I'm-I'm not sure..." He was holding his head.

  "I'm going to call an ambulance," Rion started to stand and caught sight of Beckett's room. The door was open and even though she couldn't see beyond the darkness, she knew the kid was watching them. Beckett did this? If she tried to hurt Bernie, they would send her to some kind of mental hospital-prison. Rion knelt next to her landlord again and spoke around the heart beat in her throat. "Are you OK? Do you need an ambulance?"

  "Oh," Bernie sat up. "I think--I think I'll be alright."

  Disgusted at herself, Rion nodded. "OK. But, are you sure?"

  "Yes. Yes. I just banged myself up."

  Rion helped him sit up the rest of the way. "What...happened?" She held her breath. Can I tell him she has a disability? Will he feel bad enough for her to not call the police?

  "I'm not really sure," Bernie sounded as confused as he looked. "I was trying to get off the ladder, and I think I tripped over your cat."

  "Link?" Rion looked around for the cat before she realized there was no way he was here, he had been at Shep's for days. "It was my cat?"

  "I think so," Bernie rolled onto his knees and climbed to his feet.

  Rion gave him an arm to steady himself with. I think it was much larger than a cat. But, she didn't argue with him. If he didn't get a good look at Beckett, that was probably for the best. "Can I help you with your stuff?" She picked up the old detector and his screwdriver. "I can carry the ladder down for you."

  "Oh, that won't be necessary," Bernie looked around, clearly still confused.

  "Are you sure?"

  "Oh, yes, quite sure."

  "OK. Let me know if I can help with anything."

  "OK."

  "Thank you for the new detector." Rion watched Bernie shuffle out of the apartment. Once he was gone, she slowly turned to Beckett's room. "What did you do?" The anger burned through her voice. The kid's only answer was a giggle.

  Rion's heart slammed against her ribs and she could feel her pulse in her ears. I have to keep everyone away from Beckett. The vomit she had been holding back all morning finally won. She rushed to the bathroom, barely making it. What little she had in her stomach tore its way back up. Even once her stomach was empty, her body kept trying to rid itself of the poison in her system. She dry heaved until she moaned and her abs ached. When she was finally done, she washed her face and brushed her teeth again.

  She looked at herself in the mirror for a long moment. This has to stop. Shutting Beckett up inside the apartment wasn't the answer. She would have to go outside eventually. Sooner or later, Chambers was going to wonder why she hadn't returned to school. If Rion kept her out permanently, she could go to jail. And even if she tried to homeschool the kid, what did that solve? She still had to leave the apartment at some point. Eventually, she would be reported for child abuse. Rion gripped the sides of the sink until her fingers hurt. As her hangover abated, her resolve returned.

  She left the bathroom to find that Beckett had closed her door again. The adrenaline of Bernie's fall had snapped her out of her self-pitying funk. She stared at the closed bedroom door for a long while. Finally, she picked up her laptop and sat at the counter. Shep had already researched Frank and Lavinia Webster and had, virtually, no luck. But, Rion refused to keep sitting around doing nothing. She was going to do all she could to save her sister and stop her from hurting anyone else.

  Rion searched through the internet for all she could find on the Websters. She didn't have any more luck than Shep. She stopped for dinner—soup that she spilled sliding a bowl into Becket's room, but resumed her research as soon as she was done eating. After giving up on finding anything interesting about her father and his family, she turned to the mental illness. She had to admit it could be any number of disorders. Schizophrenia, multiple personalities—she looked for all the worst. But, none of them fit totally and even if they did, most doctors refused to apply them to children.

  Eventually, she turned to the supernatural, googling exorcisms, demon possessions, and any other incarnation she could think of. Her heart sank when she realized how much easier it was to apply many of these to Beckett's condition. She sighed and let her head rest in her hands. Her headache was pounding harder than ever and her eyes burned. She supposed it was entirely possible Beckett was experiencing a psychosis stemming from whatever abuse her father had subjected her too. For that matter, maybe Rion was too. But, Rion had to reassure herself she wasn't crazy, or Kerry and Shep wouldn't have also witnessed the same things she had.

  Exhausted, Rion gave up and returned to bed, feeling like she had only taken a break from sleeping. Anger at her father, and especially at her mother, burned in her belly. She tried not to go over all the things she had lived through, but her brain was determined she needed to examine everything that had happened to her—just on the chance that she could find some logic in Beckett's situation. She wasn't her sister, but she tried to imagine what it could take to propel a kid into an inhuman state such as this one.

  Rion wasn’t sure how long she lay on the futon trying to not remember her childhood, but eventually, her mind got tired of the effort and it shut down, allowing her to finally sleep. Unsurprisingly, she dreamed of fighting off small dolls. They kept coming at her with blunt fingers and plastic teeth and no matter how much she kicked and punched, they kept coming back. The whole time there was a child crying in the background.

  As the sharp teeth and nails dug into her skin the background sound changed into a roaring crackle. Rion stopped fighting and the dolls stopped as well. They stood watching her with dead eyes as she tried to figure out what the sound was. Sweat dripped down her back as she jerked awake coughing. Heat pressed against her skin and she struggled to breath. A cloudy light from the kitchen illuminated the bitter smoke. It took too many precious seconds for her to realize what was happening. But, finally, the heat and crackling made sense. Her vision cleared enough for her to see the flames eating away at the walls above the stove. The entire appliance was ablaze and she bolted from the futon, only to lose her balance and fall heavily to the floor. Her jaw slammed into the hard wood and rattled her brain. She heard laughing, but couldn’t tell where it was coming from.

  Rion was woozy, but struggled to her feet, pulling her shirt over her face. Coughs racked her whole body and her lungs seized, collapsing against the smoke.. The laughter crept through the smoke again but ended in a small, childish cough. Rion finally located the source of the sound. Beckett was sitting in the doorway of the bedroom and coughed again, her little body shaking as she fought to breathe against the smoke. Rion stared at the kid in shock as her brain processed what happened. Beckett stopped coughing and me
t her eyes and laughed again.

  “What did you do?” Rion wheezed against the noxious smoke.

  Rion didn’t know what she would have done if she'd had to fight Beckett to get her out of the apartment. Luckily, she didn't have to make the choice. Once the kid saw she was awake and aware of what was going on, she began to make her own way to the door. A loud shrill beeping erupted and Rion stole a second to be dismayed and exasperated by the late smoke detector alarm. Goddammit Bernie!

  Beckett calmly opened the door and stepped into the hallway. Rion, still coughing, stumbled after her. By the time she made it out of the apartment, Shep had thrown open his door and was gaping at them in shock. He didn't look he had been asleep. Only surprised by the smoke, noise, and appearance of Rion and Beckett.

  "What's happening?"

  Rion tried to answer but her voice was cut off in a cough. She tried again. "Fire," she croaked. Rion could hear other doors opening and even Bernie shouting in alarm.

  "Get Link," Shep commanded and he hurried across the hall to Kerry's door.

  Rion climbed to her feet, barely glancing at Beckett as she did so. It took her several long seconds to find the cat hiding under Shep's bed. She had to pull him out by his tail and back leg, and she would have felt guilty if it wasn't life or death. She managed to wrap a blanket around the cat as she sprinted out. Smoke was seeping into Shep's apartment and the cries of other tenants grew louder.

  Shep was guiding a half asleep Kerry down the stairs when Rion kicked the door shut behind her. Some residual memory from fire safety lessons told her that was the right thing to do. That and stop-drop-and roll. Rion didn't know where Beckett was and even though she was currently terrified of the child, she had to find her. "Beckett!" she called, fighting not to choke on the smoke.

  "She's already outside," Shep called over his shoulder.

  Rion hurried after them, her arms wrapped tightly around the panicked cat. Crowds of people were already starting to form on the sidewalk. Mostly evacuating tenants, but some passersby as well. Bernie hurried to her side. His white hair stood on end and his glasses were askew.

  "What happened?"

  "I-I don't know," Rion panted, fighting the urge to look at Beckett. She could see the kid standing near the street looking completely calm.

  "Where is the fire?"

  "In-in my kitchen."

  "Oh," the old man fretted and rushed back towards the apartment.

  "Are you OK?" Shep grabbed Rion's arm.

  "No," she shook her head, trying to ignore Beckett watching the commotion. A small smile twisted her mouth.

  "Are you burned?"

  "No."

  "What's wrong?" he asked.

  Kerry slowly moved closer to Beckett, cutting the distance between them all. Rion watched her and wanted to warn her. Yet, she realized, Kerry wasn't getting closer to the kid out of concern—at least not for Beckett. She was moving closer to keep watch on her. Kerry knew. She had seen the twisted monster. She had seen the horror in Maggie's eyes. "Beckett set fire to the apartment," Rion whispered.

  Shep heard her anyway. "Jesus..." Link began to struggle against Rion's grip and she fought to keep him from running away. "Here," Shep put a hand against the small of her back. "Kerry, we'll be right back." The young woman nodded without taking her eyes off Becket, who continued to watch the crowd as they marveled at the smoke billowing from the building.

  Rion was in a daze as he guided her away from the building. The only thing she could concentrate on was making sure that Link didn't get away. She clung to his struggling body as if he were her lifeline. Her last remaining vestiges of normalcy. She kept seeing Beckett's calm face in the midst of the chaos of the fire. Rion's mind raced. Logically, she knew that Beckett set the fire somehow. She had caught the kid trying to burn Link already. Beckett must have found a way to start a fire. Paper. A towel. Anything could have done it. Rion felt the crushing guilt of letting Beckett have the chance to start a fire settle into her stomach. Isn't that rule number one of taking care of kids? Making sure they don't set themselves on fire?

  And the neighbors! Rion felt like she was going to vomit again. All of those people were going to be without a home. Even if they saved most of the building, they wouldn't be able to get back inside for probably days. And what if someone dies? The pressure began to build in her throat until it felt like she couldn't breathe again. She didn't realize she was making any sounds until Shep stopped and turned to her.

  "Hey! Breathe, OK. Just breathe."

  Rion realized she was been making a low moaning keening sound. She gasped for air. "Where are we going?"

  "Putting Link in my car. The fire department and police will have questions. We need to get out of here as soon as we can."

  "OK."

  Before they could get off the block, a gasp from the crowd, and the sounds of glass exploding made them turn back. Through the people, Rion could see the flames reaching out of the second story window. The screaming voices finally became clear enough for Rion to understand them. "Bernie!" they were shouting. Did he go back inside?

  Rion followed Shep to a small car parked along the curb several blocks away. He opened the door, took the cat from her arms, and slid him inside, blanket and all. After locking the door, he turned to her and without speaking, pulled her against his chest. It felt good to lean against him. His arms, wrapped around her shoulders, were solid and comforting. For just one moment, it felt good to share the weight. "OK," he said a moment later. He leaned away and held her arms. "What happened?" Rion told him about waking up to smoke and an eerily calm Beckett. "And you're sure she set the fire?"

  Rion gave him a long look. "Aren't you?"

  "Jesus," he said again. "We need to just be simple when we talk to the cops. Beckett's traumatized. You don't know what happened. You just woke up to flames. By the time they figure out it was arson, we will hopefully...I don't know...hopefully have fixed this. We just need to get out of here."

  "What about Bernie?" Rion asked, her voice hollow.

  "We don't know he went back inside," but Shep's voice told her he suspected the same thing she did.

  "Where are we going?" Even as Rion asked the question, she knew. They had one place left to go. And it was exactly where Beckett wanted to go.

  Eighteen

  By the time Kerry, Rion, Shep, and Beckett piled into Shep's car it was nearing dawn. As soon as Beckett slid into the car, Link bolted to the front seat. The smug look on the kid's face never faltered. Shep fought to get Link out from under his feet and handed the cat off to Kerry. Rion sat, stunned in the back seat. Every so often she glanced at Beckett warily.

  The conversation with the police and the fire department had gone better than she expected. They gave her a disapproving glare that, clearly, indicated they thought she was a bad guardian. And can I blame them? Rion knew, no matter what was going on with her sister, she should be doing a better job. She shouldn't have let Beckett have the opportunity to set their apartment on fire. She didn't tell anyone what Beckett had done to Bernie. Not even Shep and Kerry. She would tell them later, she promised herself, but there was too much going on at the moment.

  The entire apartment building had sustained massive damage. Her neighbors glared at her as she gave her statement to the officer. She tried her best not to make eye contact but she could feel their hatred and resentment against her skin like a fire of its own. All the displaced tenants—except for Shep and Kerry—gave her evil looks as if she knew. Just to even be functional she had to block them all out and focus on the man writing down her story. She tried asking about Bernie, but the officers told her they couldn't comment on any injuries yet. But, she had heard enough whispers in the crowd to know he had been seen going back inside.

  When the officer tried to talk to Beckett, the little girl went back into incognito mode. She moved closer to Rion, and it took a lot of effort for her to not move or push the kid away. Beckett kept her head down shyly, and refused to look at the man tryin
g to talk to her. Rion watched the little girl's performance with a mix of fascination and horror. Finally, when the she wouldn't talk, the officer looked back to Rion.

  "Is she OK? Was she hurt?"

  Rion wasn't sure how to answer for a long moment. Eventually, Shep saved her. "Beckett has been through a lot. Her parents died recently. She has a hard time talking to strangers."

  The cop, a grizzled man who looked "I'm a week from retirement" age, grimaced, then softened his face. "I'm sorry," he said to Beckett. Back to Rion, he continued. "Was she asleep when the fire broke out?"

  Rion blinked a few times. A part of her considered telling the truth—or some variation of it. That Beckett was mentally unbalanced. Dangerous. That she had set the fire. But, Rion knew if she did—if the cop believed her—Beckett would end up in a mental institution at best. At worst, a lab of some kind. Rion couldn't bring herself to do it. The small, stubborn voice of hope spoke for her. "She was in her room." It was a lie within the truth. "When the fire woke me up, she was in the doorway. In shock—I think." The officer nodded, apparently appeased.

  After confirming her contact information, the officer let Rion and Beckett leave with Kerry and Shep. "Where are we going to go?" Kerry asked, her voice small and tired. Beckett lead the way, as if she knew exactly where they were going and where Shep's car was parked.

  "We'll have to go to Beckett's house." Rion muttered. She didn't bother to look at Kerry. She knew that the woman would have mixed feelings. Relieved that they were going where she wanted to go anyway and dismayed for the reason they had to go.

  "Oh," Kerry muttered. If she had put the pieces together yet, she didn't acknowledge it.

  Now, in the car, Rion was trying to process the events of the night. Kerry struggled with the terrified cat. Shep guided them away from the curb and towards the Eisenhower Expressway. Beckett watched the passing houses with subdued excitement. A child on the way to a carnival or a show but trying not to show her enthusiasm. Why is she even bothering hiding it? It’s not like anyone would believe she was evil. Rion took a deep breath. Her lungs burned from inhaling smoke, but the paramedics said she didn't need to go to the hospital.