Something Happened
Page 26
Rion zoned out for most of the ride. Stuck somewhere between the fire and what was to come, she couldn’t get her brain to pick a direction or linear thought. She wrapped her arms around herself and was surprised to find a zippered hoodie that was much too large for her. She recognized the smell of the cologne as Shep's. When did he give me this?
The car stopped, and she looked up, surprised to see Beckett's house so soon. Did I fall asleep? Beckett tried to open the door but was thwarted by the child locks. She glared at Shep as she jerked on the handle. "Hang on," he told her firmly. He slid from the car and hurried to Rion's side to help her out. Kerry joined them after securing the cat in the blanket. Beckett gave them a death look from inside.
"We need to come up with a plan," he told them.
"For sure," Kerry hoisted the cat higher in her arms.
"For what?" Rion asked, she felt like her brain was moving through mud.
"To keep an eye on the kid. She nearly murdered a building full of people to get here. Maybe actually did kill one person. It's clearly important to her. We need to make sure someone is watching her at all times," Shep said firmly.
"Right!" Kerry agreed.
"Right?" Shep asked Rion.
It took a moment for her to process the question. "Y-yes," she finally answered slowly.
"I'm not going to be able to sleep for a while," he offered. "I'll take the first shift. You," he told Rion. "Need to try to sleep."
Rion didn't argue. She was surprised to find that she was so tired she could fall asleep on her feet. Kerry didn't argue either. They nodded at each other, satisfied with the immediate plan. Kerry and Rion stepped back from the car as Shep opened the door for Beckett. The kid slid quickly out, glaring at them all as she led the way inside. Rion followed, with Kerry, then Shep bringing up the rear.
Beckett's footsteps echoed off the wood of the stairs leading to the porch and it thumped in Rion's chest. "Beckett!" Shep called from the back. The kid stopped and looked over her shoulder, clearly annoyed at the delay. "We need to unlock the door. Plus," he added as he joined them on the porch. "We have to get one thing straight." Beckett's eyes narrowed. "You are not to leave our sides for any reason. If you do, or if you cause any trouble...We'll tie you to a chair. Or lock you in the bathroom." Beckett only snorted in derision. "I'm serious," Shep lowered his voice. "The games are over. You might have killed people…more people."
Rion's stomach soured at the self-satisfied smile that spread across Beckett's face.
Beckett tried to head to her bedroom as soon as they entered the house. “No,” Shep called after her. Simple, direct, and clear.
Beckett gave him a look that meant death. “I want to get stuff out of my room.”
“I don’t care. I told you. This isn’t fun time.”
Rion felt guilty that Shep was the one disciplining her sister, but she didn’t have the energy or focus to do it. Instead, she made her way to the couch and plopped down. Kerry sat the cat down and he immediately ran for the sofa. Rion felt him bump into the underside as he dived for cover. Kerry gave her the blanket the cat had been wrapped in and she grunted a thank you before rolling over and facing the back of the couch. She could hear Shep moving around the house but she didn’t bother finding out what he was doing. As her body shut down and she passed out she heard Kerry settle onto the loveseat.
Rion’s dreams were full of fire and of strange entities chasing her into the flames. When she jerked awake the sun was shining into to the windows, doing its best to brighten the interior of the house. She sensed movement in the room, but otherwise, the house was silent. She rolled over and saw Shep sitting in a recliner staring into the kitchen. Beckett was sitting at the dining room table smiling back at him. The table had been returned its original spot and was stood over the marks on the floor.
She sat up, rubbing the sleep out of her face. She had been too exhausted to notice it when they first arrived, but the house seemed to carry even more dark chills than before. The shadows swallowed up the sun’s best efforts like a cold, hungry beast. Shep noticed she was awake and lifted a brow as a greeting and a question.
“How are you feeling?”
“Like I was hit by a train.”
“I’m sure.”
“I’m sorry,” she muttered, swinging her feet to the floor.
“This wasn’t your fault.” Shep stood and crossed the room to sit next to her.
Rion could feel Beckett watching them. “But, I should have…been more…in—I don’t know. Control? I basically shut down.”
“Well,” he shrugged. “You’ve been through a lot.”
“That’s no excuse.”
“Of course it is. And that’s what we are here for. To help you.”
The shame coated her skin along with the residual soot and ash from the apartment. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” He wrapped an arm around her and she let him. “Are you going to be OK for a while if I run to get some supplies?”
“Sure. I have a little money.”
“Me too.”
The three of them were broke. It was the main reason they had decided to come to Beckett’s house. None of them, even if they pooled their money, had enough to stay in a hotel for long. The care money from Beckett’s trust hadn’t started yet and the three of them only had what little was in their checking accounts. “How’s Kerry?”
“She’s not woken up yet,” he answered. “But, before she fell asleep she gave me the cash she had. She had more than me,” he snorted.
“Tips from the bar.”
“Yep.” They were both silent for a while. “I’m going to get some food. Stuff for the cat. Some toiletries. Do you have any particular requests?”
“No.”
“Will you be OK here for a while,” he asked again.
“Yeah. Go on.”
Rion stood when Shep did. “It’s going to be OK,” he told her. “I promise.”
“Don’t make promises you can’t keep.”
Shep looked like he wanted to argue. But, instead he raised his hands, stopped, raised them again, and cupped her face. “We’re going to get through this.”
When he kissed her, she gasped for air and her whole body lit up. “What—?” she started to ask when he pulled away.
He put a hand over her mouth. “Don’t. Just don’t worry about it or over think it. I just—just needed to do that…I hope…I hope it was OK? To do, I mean.”
Rion considered for a long moment. “Yes. I think…I think I’m glad you did it.”
Shep smiled and kissed her forehead. “I’ll be back soon.”
When he was gone, she sat down again. She shouldn’t have been glad he kissed her. She should have been annoyed by the distraction and additional complication. But, she wasn’t. It was comfort food. A soothing gesture she needed at the moment.
“About time,” Kerry chuckled from the loveseat. Her skinny legs hung over the arm, but she was turned watching Rion.
Rion didn’t know what to say about the kiss. “Are you OK?” she asked, instead.
“I guess so.” Kerry sat up, found Beckett at the table and narrowed her eyes. “Has she done anything?”
“Like what?”
“Like anything at all?”
“Not that I know of.”
“I know. It’s terrible being here.” She looked around warily. “It’s creepy, but, I think it’s good too.”
“I guess.”
“We can try to figure out what happened.”
“The cops would have taken anything important.”
“But, maybe they didn’t know what they were looking for!”
Rion finally conceded. “I guess.” She watched Beckett for a long while. The kid watched her back. Finally, she decided to go with the most obvious. “What happened here Beckett?”
The kid’s smile grew wider. “Oh, do you think you are you ready?” she cooed.
“Yes,” Rion answered, sounding more confident than she felt.
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Beckett narrowed her eyes. “I doubt it,” she chuckled.
“Why is that?”
Beckett was silent for a while. “You still want the world to be black and white.”
“Doesn’t everyone?” Rion could feel Kerry watching the exchange, but she was glad the other woman kept quiet.
“Sure. Everyone wants it to be. But it’s not.”
“Tell me about it.”
Beckett sighed, sounding fifty years older than her actual age. “This world is thin.”
“What does that mean?”
“I mean,” Beckett’s voice grew harder with exasperation. “That the walls, the veil, separating this world from the others, it’s thin. Weak.”
“And that’s how you got here?” Beckett’s grin was sly and she tilted her head. It was the first time they really acknowledged that Beckett was no longer Beckett. When the kid didn’t speak, Rion felt like she had gained a small victory. “What do you want?”
Beckett considered the question. “What everyone wants. Just to live.”
Rion knew it wasn’t that simple. “Then why are you trying to hurt people?”
The kid’s eyes widened in innocence. Rion could almost believe she was simply denying breaking a vase or something. “Who have I hurt?”
“You tried to hurt my cat. You killed a bird. You set fire to an apartment building! You killed—” the word sucked the air out of her lungs. "You killed Bernie."
Beckett giggled. “The cat doesn’t like me. I just put the bird out of its misery. And no one told the old man to go back inside.”
Rion could feel herself losing control. Her breath grew shallow and she struggled to maintain her composure. “People have lost their homes and lives!”
Beckett shrugged.
“Why did you do it?”
The kid’s eyes narrowed again. “I didn’t like that place.”
Rion was having a hard time reconciling the words coming from the kid’s body. She spoke like a convicted felon with the voice of a seven-year-old. “No.” She wasn’t sure if she was speaking more to Beckett or the thing inside her. “Is Beckett still there?”
“Of course I’m here,” the kid chuckled.
“You know what I mean.” Beckett didn’t answer, so Rion continued. “What happened here?”
“When?” the kid teased.
“You know what I’m asking. The night Frank and Lavinia died. What happened?”
“They invited me in.”
“Frank and Lavinia? Both of them?”
Beckett watched her for a long moment. “Sure.”
Rion could feel the frustration growing. “What do you mean ‘sure?’”
“I am here because I was invited.”
“How?”
“You open the door. And make an offering.”
“How?”
“Oh, there are lots of ways.”
“What are they?”
“Ah, I don’t really remember.”
“Bullshit!”
Beckett smiled and shrugged. “I’d like to go to my room now.”
She slid from her chair at the table, but before she could get far, Rion slammed her hand on the coffee table and jumped to her feet. Kerry jumped from the unexpected noise. “No! You were told!” Rion growled. “You will not be left alone.”
Beckett raised a brow. “You think you can watch me constantly? I’ll have to go potty sometime, you know,” she teased.
“We aren’t done talking.” Rion was both surprised and relieved by her reaction. She had worked so hard to be perfect. Weeks ago, when Beckett first arrived, she would have rather died than yell at the kid. But, now, she only held onto her control through her anger. Fuck perfect, she snarled to herself. “What do you want? Really?”
“I told you—just to live,” Beckett sat down again. The kid’s eyes seemed to grow darker still. The angrier Rion got, the more her sister apparently enjoyed it.
“And what does that mean for everyone else?”
“Depends on if they get in my way or not,” Beckett’s words were cold and sharp.
Rion her hair stand on end. “What will you do to the ones who do? What are you going to do to me?”
“I don’t want to do anything to you. Unless you make me.”
“What will you do?”
“I can be very nasty,” the kid’s lip curled.
“I don’t doubt that,” Rion accepted the challenge.
“There is too much you don’t know for you to act like you are in charge,” Beckett stood again. Her eyes were nearly black and the shadows from the kitchen seemed to bleed onto her face making her look more sinister than ever.
“Oh, I am in charge, alright. You’ll see. You aren’t going to win this.” The heat of Rion’s anger burned in her chest. “I’m going to save my sister.”
“Good luck with that,” Beckett snarled.
At the same time, the kid pressed her palms onto the table and an unsettling vibration shook the air causing Rion to become disoriented for a moment. Her vision blurred, but once it cleared she had to blink at the sight in front of her because she didn’t trust her eyes. When Kerry gasped, she knew it wasn’t just a hallucination. The table was hovering nearly a foot off the ground. The surface was nearly level with Beckett’s head. Her face split into a wide grin as she slammed the table down. A loud crack caused both Rion and Kerry to jump as a leg snapped off the table and clattered to the floor.
Both Rion and Kerry stared at Beckett in shock. The kid paused for a moment before her eyes went wide, then the look was replaced by a smug smile. "You don't know who you're messing with."
"Wh-who—" Rion's voice cracked and she gritted her teeth before trying again. "Who are you then?"
"You'll know me." Beckett sat back down. "Can I at least have the bear?"
Rion's head twitched. It was the one thing Beckett had carried from the burning apartment. She knew the stuffed animal wasn't simply a child's toy. She stared at it, lying on its side in a chair next to the door. She fought the urge to cut it open and pull all the stuffing out until she figured out what was so special about it. She knew, without needing to test it, that it would set the kid off. After the trick with the table, Rion was reluctant to give her sister cause to be more upset than she was.
"What was the deal with the table?" she asked.
Beckett smiled. "Just a show."
"Of?"
"What I can do."
"So you have telekinesis, or whatever?" Kerry asked. She sounded much calmer and more intrigued than Rion.
The kid's head swiveled towards the other woman. "I can do many things."
"Then why haven't you before now?" Beckett narrowed her eyes but didn't answer. "You couldn't, could you?"
"Can I have the bear?"
"No."
Beckett continued to glare at her. "Are you going to expect me to sit here? Permanently?"
Rion knew that wasn't an option. But, she didn't have a plan beyond the immediate, so she refused to answer. She glanced at Kerry and from the look she gave her, she knew Kerry didn't have a plan either. She slid back, pulling her feet off the floor. She needed a plan. They needed to figure out what happened the night Frank and Lavinia died. Kerry and Shep had been right about that. Then, maybe, they would be in a better position to help Beckett. "Tell me what happened the night your parents died. Then, I'll give you the bear."
Beckett sighed. "There was a sacrifice. A door opened."
"Lavinia was the sacrifice?' Rion felt sick to her stomach. Annie could have been Lavinia.
"Sure," Beckett smirked.
"What does that mean?"
The kid contemplated the question. "A sacrifice can be a lot of things."
"What was Frank's?"
"Now you are asking the right question," Beckett giggled.
"Well? What's the answer?"
"I answered your question," Beckett sighed. "Now. Give me the bear."
"No."
"You said you would!" Beckett yelled,
sounding like a child for the first time in days.
"You didn’t answer the question. You know you didn't."
"Everyone made a choice that night. Frank. Lavinia. Even Beckett."
Rion shuddered over the kid referring to herself in third person. "Who chose what?"
Beckett stared at her for a long moment. "That...I can't answer."
"Well, I guess you don't want the toy very badly. Do you?"
Beckett slapped the table and shrieked. "Stop being a stupid bitch and give me the bear."
Kerry jumped, but Rion was proud of herself for not reacting. "I don't believe a word you are saying." Rion worked hard at not shuddering. It would have been so much easier if Beckett was a raving monster. This calm, sadistic demon-child was so unearthly, she didn't even know how to respond to her. She could, in theory, defend herself from a vicious, animal-like attack. What do I do with an intelligent monster?
Beckett chuckled—deeply. Too deeply for a child. The sound slithered from the darkness. "That's the smartest thing you've said since I met you."
Rion sighed and didn't speak for a long moment. "You cannot have the bear. If you try to take it, I'll rip it to shreds." She knew both she and the kid were on shaky ground. The safest bet was for them to hold mutually assured destruction.
Rion got up and moved closer to Kerry. The other woman was shaking, but doing a remarkable job of looking calm. She leaned close and whispered in the other woman's ear. "We need to be able to search the house. Without Beckett watching."
"How do we do that?" she whispered back, her breath tickling Rion's ear.
"What if we take everything out of one of the closets? Lock her in there." Kerry looked torn and Rion knew why. The idea of locking a kid in the closet was appalling. But, what else are we supposed to do?
"I don't like that idea."
"I don't either. But, we need to search the house. Especially the attic."
Kerry sighed. "OK. Let's wait until Shep gets back though."
"Fine."
Kerry looked at her for a long moment. "I think Beckett—or whatever is inside her—is feeding off your anger."