Something Happened

by Brandy Isaacs

  Kerry’s scream seemed to come from far away. It was as if Rion had fallen into a well and Kerry was screaming from somewhere above. She could hear Shep cursing and his voice was just as distant. She tried to take a deep breath but her lungs were weak and it took an enormous effort to fill them. “Oh, fuck—oh fuck,” Shep chanted.

  Kerry slammed the drawer shut and its contents rattled. Shep fell forward onto his knees and Kerry landed on her butt. “What—who—how?” she stuttered.

  Rion realized she was making a small moaning sound. “Ohhh,” the word whispered from between her lips. Some part of her pushed its way through to refute what she had seen in the bottom drawer. As the seconds ticked by, the surer she was that they had all imagined they what they found inside. The police had been here. They would have searched here. How could they have missed this drawer?

  Rion reached out for the drawer again. She needed to prove to herself that she wasn’t imagining things.

  “Don’t!” Kerry gasped.

  “I have to.”

  “No, you don’t.”

  Shep didn’t say anything. Rion only glanced at him before she reached for the drawer again. She slid it open and she felt like her brain was full of screaming voices. On a bed of a darkly colored velvet rested three skulls. Three very small—child-sized—skulls.

  Rion's whole body was numb. She could barely find the steps to the ladder as she climbed down. Once her feet found the floor, she stumbled from the closet, hardly noticing that he tried to wrap an arm around her shoulders. It was a mark of her shock that she didn't bat an eye before sitting on the bed. Shep turned back to the ladder to help Kerry down.

  Rion was convinced she could still hear the child-sized skulls clicking together, but a quick glance at Kerry and she realized it was her teeth chattering. "Holy shit," she hissed as her whole body shook. She plopped onto the bed next to Rion.

  "We need to call the police," Shep shut the closet door firmly.

  "What do we tell them?" Kerry wrapped her arms around herself.

  "What we found."

  "How do we even explain what we were looking for?" Rion finally broke her silence. Her voice was hollow.

  "I don't know," Shep grunted. "We could just tell them that we were snooping."

  "How did the cops not even find this stuff before?" Rion looked at the others helplessly.

  "I don't know," Kerry shuddered.

  "What could happen with the cops?" Rion wondered out loud. Her thoughts were cloudy and slow. She was afraid she would overlook something important.

  Shep shrugged. "They get new information about Frank and Lavinia's death?"

  "But, what if Beckett was the one who killed her parents?" Rion had never voiced her fear before.

  Shep and Kerry were both stunned silent. Eventually, Kerry spoke. "Do you think she's capable? I mean, yeah, I guess she is. But, capable as in physically capable. They were stabbed right?"

  "Yeah."

  "Would she have the strength to do that?"

  "I don't know."

  "Wait," Shep ran a hand over his face. "She was...I don't know. Traumatized? Before. But she wasn't...possessed or whatever. Not until recently, right? Something happened at school right? With the bird?"

  "Maybe," Rion muttered.

  "What do you mean?" Shep leaned against the closet door.

  "What if..." Rion took a deep breath. "What if there was something inside her the whole time? At least the whole time she's been with me. But, the bird incident was like the final straw, or something. That was when everything changed. Beckett changed."

  Shep raised a brow and Kerry shrugged. "It seems plausible," she agreed. "Maggie said it's darkness that attracts these things. If the other kids were bullying her, and she was upset by what happened with the bird, it could cause some kind of break. If it was traumatic enough."

  The three of them were silent for a long while. "We need to talk to Beckett again," Rion finally admitted.

  "She wasn't exactly helpful before," Kerry shook her head.

  "I know. But, I don't know what else to do. I don't want to call the cops without more information. Maybe now that we know a little more, she'll be more willing to talk. “At the very least," Rion shivered. "Maybe she will tell us about the others." Rion couldn't bring herself to say the other kids. The kids whose skulls were in the drawer upstairs.

  "How are there no records," Kerry wondered out loud. "Records of..." She trailed off.

  "Right?" Rion agreed. "How can the cops not have reports of missing...kids? This is a part of why I want to wait a while before we call them. We don't know what they did. Or what Beckett did."

  "What would they do though?" Shep flopped his arms helplessly. "She's a kid. And if we can prove that she was abused, then it would pretty much be justified. She could even be a hero."

  "I-I just want to find out all we can. I'm not real comfortable calling in the cops until we know if they can help or make things worse for my sister." Shep didn't look convinced. "Please. Let's at least try to talk to her again."

  Rion could tell that Shep was struggling. She knew that she was making a bad decision. She knew they should call the cops. It was time to call in more help. They were in way over their heads. Especially if Beckett wasn't possessed—just mentally ill. But, she had never really encountered a situation where the cops didn't make things worse. They took you to foster homes that were worse than your own home. They arrested your mother or her boyfriend and made one of both of them madder than they were already.

  "Please?" She knew she wasn't being fair to Shep. She could tell by the look in his eyes he was going to give her what she wanted even though he knew it was the wrong thing to do.

  He sighed heavily. "Fine. We try to talk to her again. But, then we call the cops."

  Kerry gave Rion a knowing look but didn't say anything. Rion felt sick as she nodded. "I agree."

  "Let's do this now. Get it over with." Shep pushed away from the wall and heading for the door.

  In the living room, the three of them stopped in front of the closet. Shep sighed again before un-jamming the chair from under the knob. He eased the door open and Rion held her breath. The interior of the closet was dark. It was like staring in to a cavern—one with a monster waiting to lunge out of it. It took several moments for her eyes to adjust to the lack of light, but once she could make out the shapes of jackets hanging from the rods and boxes pushed into corners, Rion could also tell that Beckett was gone.

  "What the hell?" Shep gasped. Kerry made a sound like a balloon with a hole in it.

  Beckett had somehow escaped from the closet. Both Kerry and Shep were stunned into silence. Rion felt her blood run cold as if there were ice in her heart. “Where did she go?”

  “How did she get out?” Shep groaned.

  “She moved the table…before,” Kerry half whispered.

  “But barely…I mean, it was like an effort for her to do it.” Rion felt like screaming. “Shit!” she hissed. “She can’t have gone far.”

  “Becks?” Kerry called.

  “Beckett?” Rion tried. She worked hard at not sounding angry, but she didn’t think it mattered anymore. Her sister wasn’t afraid of her.

  “Let’s search the house,” Shep, always practical. “It will be faster if we split up.”

  “No!” Rion looked at him as if he had gone crazy. “That’s what all of this has been about. Staying together.”

  “I’ll go outside. You two take the house. One start in the front. The other in the back. Meet in the middle.”

  “No!” Rion shook her head.

  “Fine,” Shep wouldn’t look at her. “You two take outside. I’ll start in here. That makes more sense anyway. Circle the house. Meet in the back. I’ll go from the front to the back. We know she’s not in the attic. She would have had to walk right past us to get there.”

  “Are you listening to me?”

  Finally, Shep looked her in the face. “I am. I promise. But, we need to find her before s
omething happens. Something more than already has.”

  Rion looked at Kerry. “He’s right,” she said gently. “You and I can go outside. Get it over quick. If she’s not on the property, we’ll call the police. Let them find her. We’ll go from there. Play it by ear and do what we need to do. Turn this over to someone else.”

  “Goddammit!” Rion didn’t want to argue anymore and she was outnumbered with no time. “Fine. Hurry!”

  She and Kerry rushed out the front door. She felt like she was running into a sauna. The heat from the day had lingered and it made breathing even harder. Their footsteps thundered down the stairs. “OK,” Rion pointed to the right. “You go that way. I’ll go the other. Keep your light on. Yell if you see her. Do not try to stop her. Yell for me instead.” She pulled her phone out and switched on the flashlight.

  Kerry did the same. “OK. Same to you. Yell if you find her.”

  Rion didn’t know if she would keep that promise. She would have preferred to deal with Beckett on her own. If she had become strong enough to move the chair away from the door, she could be even more dangerous than before.

  She turned to run around the house but slipped in the grass. “Oof!” She landed on her hands and knees and it took a lot of effort not to make a sound. She shook her hands and brushed off her knees before trying again. She hurried around the corner shining her flashlight left and right. The beam was weak, but it at least lessened the shadows. “Beckett?” she didn’t raise her voice louder than a normal speaking volume. The neighbor’s houses were close and there was no sense in giving them a reason to call the police yet.

  She slowed to a fast walk as she progressed down the side of the house. She didn’t want to run right past the kid. There were more places to hide on the south side of the house, where Kerry was searching. Rion could kick herself when she realized the bushes along the driveway were the perfect place to hide. On the north side, where she searched, was mostly clear. A couple of small, struggling trees attempted to grow along the fence line, but otherwise, was wide open.

  As she rounded the back corner a figure ran at her and her voice caught in a strangled cry. The person slammed into her head on and she didn’t even have time to register that they were nearly as big as she was. Her breath was knocked out of her in a whoosh as she hit the ground. The figure fell with her then rolled to the side. Rion raised her hands to fight for her life when the figure spoke.

  “Shit! Are you OK?”

  “Kerry?” Rion shined the light in her friend’s face.

  “Yes! Stop that! What took you so long?”

  “Sorry. I fell. When I first started.”

  “Are you OK?” Kerry asked, climbing to her feet. She held out a hand and Rion took it. Once she was on her feet, Kerry let go. Her face, the angles sharpened by shadows, twisted. “Are you bleeding?”

  “Oh…” Rion looked at her hands. “Maybe.”

  “Are you OK?” she asked again.

  “Yeah, I think so. You?”

  “Yeah. Did you find anything?”

  “No,” Rion shook her head. “You?”

  “No. Let’s—”

  She was interrupted by the sound of glass breaking from inside the house. “What was that?” Rion gasped.

  “I…”

  “Come on!” Rion ran towards the back stairs. She nearly leapt up the three steps to the porch. She slammed into the door as she twisted the knob. “Shit. It’s locked.”

  “Front!” Kerry yelled.

  Rion followed her around the north side of the house. Kerry was tiny, but fast. Rion could barely keep up with her as the sprinted to the front. They both pounded up the stairs together and rushed inside, Rion only slightly behind Kerry.

  “Shep!?” Kerry yelled as the burst through the door.

  They slid to a stop and Rion slammed the door shut behind them. “Shep?” she echoed.

  It didn’t take long to find the source of the breaking sound. The glass coffee table was shattered. The pieces rested on the floor and inside the gold frame in glittering shards. “Shep?” Rion tried again.

  “Run!”

  The sound of Shep’s voice breaking the eerie silence caused both girls to jump. Rion could feel the adrenaline sizzle along her skin. His voice sounded strained, panicked, and worse—cut off in a grunt.

  Instead of heeding Shep's warning, Rion ran towards the sound of his voice. She didn't think of anything except getting to him and Beckett. As soon as she entered the hallway she knew where they were. Frank and Lavinia's bedroom. She slid to a stop at the closed door. Kerry was only slightly behind her.

  "Are they in there?"

  Rion wasn't able to answer right away. She shook her head, panting. She held onto the door frame, seeking support and risking precious seconds. She had to go inside. She had to find out what Beckett was doing. Not just for Beckett's sake, but for Shep's as well. Her hands shook as she reached for the door knob. Her sweaty palms had trouble opening the door and she moaned and tried again. The heavy silence had descended on the house once again. And it was the most pressing from behind the bedroom door.

  She finally found a grip and the knob turned. She eased the door open but it was so dark inside she couldn't see anything at first. Eventually, her eyes adjusted enough to make out the shape of a familiar twisted figure. Just like before, it stood on the far side of the bed and the curve of its back looked both painful and rigid. Rion was terrified to turn on the light—convinced that this time, the shadowed form would take shape and they would be forced to confront the thing that was in Beckett. A sinister giggle broke the silence.

  She knew Shep's life was on the line. That was the only thing that finally gave her the courage to reach for the light switch. In the initial flare of the light, Rion could see the dark shape that lurked in the girl. It wasn't dispelled as quickly as the darkness from the rest of the room. Her breath caught in her throat, but she didn't have time to understand what she saw. In the next instant, the twisted shadow was replaced by her giggling seven-year old sister. She tried to speak, but the words wouldn't form.

  Finally, Kerry found her voice first. "Where's Shep?"

  Rion was impressed she was brave enough to talk. But, her voice wasn't brave. It wavered and shook. Rion tried again to speak. "What d—? but her voice cracked.

  Beckett turned to her sharply. "What's the matter with you?" she snarled in an unnaturally deep voice. "You too stupid to speak?"

  Rion's heart seemed to stop beating in her chest. Her mother had said similar things to her over the years she lived with her. Her heart began beating again with a painful lurch. Along with the thudding in her chest, her lungs gasped in a breath. "Where is Shep?" she bit the words out with more strength than she would have expected.

  "Waiting."

  "Waiting on what?"

  "You," Beckett snarled the words.

  "To do what?"

  "You need to perform the ritual."

  "What ritual?"

  "To open the door."

  "What door?" Rion was desperate to stall Beckett. Whatever she had planned, Rion wanted to make her wait as long as possible. "What did you do to him?"

  "He's waiting for you."

  "Where?" Beckett looked at the ceiling, then smiled at both her and Kerry. Rion didn't bother asking how she got him up there. "What did you do to him?"

  "Nothing. Yet."

  "What will you do?" Having to talk to this creature caused Rion's anger to grow with every word.

  "I will kill him."

  Rion, somehow, forced herself to chuckle. Her throat was dry but a laugh that almost sounded amusing rumbled out. "No, you won't. You can't."

  Beckett's smile grew into a twisted grin as she raised one hand. Rion felt time slow as the kid clenched her small fist. As her fingers closed, Shep screamed from upstairs. His voice was sharp and full of pain. It reverberated through the floor and into Rion's bones. Kerry grabbed her arm in a vice grip. "Stop it!" she snarled at her sister. "What are you doing to him?
<
br />   “Whatever I want.”

  "What do you want?" Rion glared at the kid. The weight of every poor decision she had made was crushing. She should never have let them come to this house. She should have been able to prevent things from escalating this far.

  "I want you to open the door."

  "No."

  Beckett giggled again. "You will help me."

  "I could just call the cops."

  Beckett's eyes narrowed. Rion wasn't sure how much power she had. She might be able to hurt the three of them. Or maybe only one of them at a time. But, it was unlikely that she could hurt a team of cops. "If you do, he dies."

  "How?"

  Beckett tilted her head. "We all have invisible threads of life. If you can find them. You can pull them. You can sever them."

  "Why do you need my help?"

  "The ritual takes more than one person."

  "How many does it take?"

  Beckett smiled. "Four."

  Rion didn't like Beckett's smile, or the unlikely coincidence that they had exactly the right number of people needed for the ritual.

  "Is this the same ritual our dad performed?" Rion asked

  "Mostly."

  "Why only mostly?"

  "Frank only half knew what he was doing."

  "Is that why they died?'

  Beckett smiled. "More or less."

  "What does that mean?"

  "It means he knew just enough to be dangerous."

  "To who?" Rion held her breath for the answer, but the kid only smiled. "What do we need to do?' Her blood was cold and she fought the urge to shiver.

  "Move into the kitchen. We need the circle."

  Rion finally looked at Kerry. She had nearly forgotten she was there too. It was only then that she realized her hand had gone numb in her friend's grip. Kerry's face was white and her hand was cold. But she was still standing with her. Their eyes met and Rion could see the terror and uncertainty, but she was able to breathe again when Kerry nodded.