The House

by Eden Darry

  He shook his head. “No, not the deal. He’s got other plans for you. I get the bitch and he gets you.”

  “Who gets me?”

  Lance grinned and shook his head. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”

  Fin had an idea she already knew who he meant. It shouldn’t be possible, and she had no idea how it was. She couldn’t worry about that now. All she knew was she had to disable him if she could. He couldn’t get Sadie.

  She began to move around the table, hoping to get closer to the basement door where she’d left her ball-peen hammer when she’d knocked down the furnace wall.

  “Why don’t you just get out of here? It’s not you I’m interested in,” Sherry said, moving towards her.

  “You must be fucking joking,” she said, then launched herself at him.

  True to his word, he didn’t try to hurt her. He attempted to move out of the way, but she was quick and he wasn’t quick enough.

  Fin hit him hard and they both went down. He was bigger and stronger and managed to manoeuvre himself on top of her, pinning her down with his body weight.

  “What the fuck is your problem?” He wheezed. “I’m giving you a pass, you stupid bitch.”

  Rather than answer, Fin spat in his face, hoping to goad him into doing something.

  His face darkened, and he wiped the spit away with the heel of his hand. The hand which held the knife.

  “What he wants with you, I’ll never know.”

  Sherry drew back the hand not holding the knife and made a fist. Fin tried to prepare her body in anticipation of the blow.

  It never came. Instead, Sadie appeared behind him, and Fin had just a second to register the hammer she held before it smashed down onto his head.

  Sherry cried out, and Fin kicked him hard and he toppled sideways.

  Fin jumped up and they ran for the stairs. Sadie pushed against the door at the top.

  “It’s locked.”

  The smell of gas was getting stronger, and Fin was worried it would reach the furnace and blow the whole place up.

  Sherry groaned from where he lay on the floor, and Fin made a decision.

  “Come on,” she said to Sadie.

  Fin led her back down the stairs and carefully around Sherry, who didn’t seem to be going anywhere.

  Sadie went to where Rachel lay under the sheet.

  “Don’t,” Fin said. “It’s Rachel.”

  Sadie seemed to sway on her feet, then got herself together. She nodded. “How are we going to get out?”

  “This way,” Fin said and began pulling boxes and bits of furniture away from the tunnel she’d found weeks before.

  “When we get out of here,” Sadie said, “I’m going to want to know how you knew all about these tunnels and passages and didn’t tell me.”

  Fin didn’t answer but she did smile.

  Once she’d cleared the way, she turned to Sadie. “Go in. Just follow it all the way along.”

  “What are you going to be doing?”

  “Dragging the ladder. Sadie, go! I’ll be right behind you.”

  Fin got the ladder from against the wall and crawled into the tunnel. She followed Sadie through.

  * * *

  At the other end, Sadie looked up and saw a trapdoor. She almost sobbed in relief. Her head was pounding and she could still feel the impact of the hammer to Sherry’s head. She shivered.

  Fin came up alongside her, leaned the ladder against the edge of the dirt wall, and began to climb. She waited as Fin pushed up the door and daylight flooded in. She squinted against it.

  Fin climbed up and over the side.

  “Come on, Sadie,” she said.

  Sadie began to climb. As she neared the top something grabbed her ankle. She screamed. She held on with her arms and tried to use the other leg to kick, but it was no good. Whoever had her leg was strong.

  Fin saw what was happening and reached down towards her.

  Sadie was being dragged down. One hand lost its grip on the ladder. “Fin!” she cried.

  Fin grabbed her other arm and began to pull. It felt like she was being torn apart. She would have to let go of Fin in a second.

  Her hand, greasy with sweat, slipped out of Fin’s, and she was dragged down and back into the tunnel. She heard Fin scream as she was pulled back at a frightening speed.

  * * *

  Fin froze for a second. She couldn’t believe what just happened. Sadie was dragged down like she weighed nothing. What the fuck got hold of her? Not Sherry, that was for sure.

  Fin quickly descended the ladder and began to crawl forward. Unmindful of her hands, she practically tore at the earth, trying to move as fast as she could.

  She could hear Sadie screaming and panic clenched her chest. No, no, no. This couldn’t be happening.

  As she turned a corner, she saw Sadie had managed to grab on to a tree root and was clinging to it for dear life.

  Behind her was Nathaniel Cushion. Fin’s mind rebelled. This was not possible. He had hold of her legs and was pulling.

  Fin shuffled forward. “Let her go.”

  The man looked up and smiled grimly. “She’s mine.”

  Fin grasped Sadie’s arm. “Let her go.”

  “She holds you back. You’re better off without her.”

  “Let her go.” Except…except he was sort of right, wasn’t he?

  He nodded as if he’d heard her thoughts. “Yes, she holds you back.”

  Sadie wasn’t happy here, so they were having to move. The kids hated it here because she’d poisoned their minds against it. The whole Lance Sherry fiasco was a result of Sadie’s all-important career. Fin felt the tiredness seep in again, right to her bones.

  He nodded again. “Yes, yes, yes. See? She holds you back. Let me have her, and you can stay here.”

  “Fin.” Sadie’s voice was quiet. “Fin, don’t listen to him.”

  Fin glanced down at Sadie. Should she just let him have her? It would be easier. Fin could stay in the house then. Be happy. Be free to do what she wanted to do. Her grip on Sadie’s arm weakened.

  Then an imagine of Liam came into her mind.

  * * *

  Sadie looked up into Fin’s eyes. In this darkness, it was hard to tell what she was thinking, but Sadie could feel it. “Please, don’t let him do it, Fin. Fin.”

  “She’s a thorn in your side. She’ll never be happy. Nothing you do will ever be good enough,” came the voice behind her. It was a cruel voice.

  “Fin.” Sadie felt hopelessness setting in.

  Fin raised her head as if waking from a dream.

  “I said, let her go, you evil piece of fucking shit!” she screamed, and the man—the thing—recoiled as if he’d been slapped. “You can’t have her. And you can’t have me.”

  Fin’s arms came towards her, and Sadie felt his grip loosen on her legs. She kicked out and connected with…nothing. Sadie turned around and he was gone.

  “Come on, quick. The smell of gas is getting stronger.”

  Sadie began to crawl forward while Fin scuttled backward and turned.

  Before too long they came to the end of the tunnel and within minutes were up and over the top.

  Sadie took Fin’s hand, and they ran towards the front of the house.

  Fin started shouting as soon as she saw the police officers about to break into the house. Sadie realized fleetingly that he must have locked all the doors once they were inside.

  “No, no! Run!” She joined Fin in shouting at them.

  They paused from what they were doing and looked at her and Fin like they were mad.

  “Gas, there’s a gas leak.” Sadie panted. “We have to go.”

  Fin pulled her away and they started running down the lane. She didn’t look back to see if the police officers were following them.

  Suddenly, it seemed as though all the air had been sucked out in a vacuum. Then Sadie was lifted off her feet and thrown forward from the force of the explosion.

  It seemed li
ke everything happened in slow motion. She hurtled through the air like a rag doll Lucy might throw. She didn’t feel the impact when she hit the ground.

  Epilogue

  Fin sat in the garden chair and squinted into the sun. This summer was a heatwave, and the kids were splashing about in the paddling pool she’d gotten for them. It was much safer than a playset.

  For a while afterwards, they both had nightmares. Terrible ones where they would wake up screaming and crying. Liam still got them now and again, but things were better. Things were getting better every day.

  When the house exploded, Treven told her later, Liam had begun to scream and wouldn’t stop. They’d called an ambulance and he’d had to be sedated. Treven said he kept saying My Mummy is dead over and over.

  Fin closed her eyes and leaned back in the chair. She still remembered how his face came into her mind back in the tunnel. Had he managed to reach her somehow and stop her giving in to Nathaniel Cushion?

  The insurance covered the loss of the house, but it couldn’t bring back what mattered most. Photos, Sadie’s grandmother’s jewellery, Liam’s first pair of shoes. All the little things you collected and put away and hoped to hand down one day.

  They were making a new start, and day by day things were getting better. Her relationship with Treven had even improved to the point where they could go for a few hours without being rude to one another.

  The police identified Lance Sherry by the bottom half of his face which had been found, conveniently, complete with teeth.

  They’d found enough of Rachel to identify her too. Fin didn’t know why she’d come to the house that day. She knew Sadie and Rachel had fought, but Rose refused to give her the details even though she was supposed to be Fin’s best friend. Maybe Rachel came to apologize. Still didn’t explain how she got in. Though Fin knew the house was capable of a lot of things and letting Rachel in—inviting her inside—wouldn’t be beyond its ability. Or his.

  Fin still wasn’t sure she believed everything that happened. Sometimes she’d catch herself and wonder if it had been some awful dream. None of it seemed real. She sighed. She needed to stop rehashing it all the time.

  She felt a cool kiss on her hot temple and smiled.

  “You’re going to burn.” Sadie sat down beside her.

  “I’m all right for a minute longer.” She reached out and took her hand. She’d been doing that a lot since the explosion. It was like she needed to keep touching Sadie to make sure she was real.

  The explosion had fired her into a tree, and she’d sustained serious fractures to her head. An angry red scar on her temple marked the place. She’d died in the ambulance before they managed to restart her heart. The doctors said it was a miracle she’d survived at all.

  Fin lifted Sadie’s hand and placed a kiss to the palm. “I love you.” She’d been saying that a lot as well, but Sadie didn’t seem to mind.

  “And I love you. But if you don’t get out of this sun, you’re going to fry.”

  “Okay, okay. I was going to start dinner anyway.”

  Fin stood.

  Liam screamed from the end of the garden.

  Both she and Sadie were running towards him before they realized it was just Lucy taunting him with a big fat slug.

  “Lucy, put it down. Seriously, that’s gross.” Fin shivered and Sadie laughed.

  “You two are such babies,” Sadie mocked them.

  Lucy jabbed it at Fin, who yelped. “Lucy, I mean it.” Lucy laughed and started to advance on her with the slug held out. “Lucy. Lucy! Sadie, tell her.”

  But Sadie just laughed. And now Liam was laughing too, and Fin thought that anything that made him laugh was a good thing. She took off running towards the house as Lucy chased her with the slug.

  About the Author

  Eden Darry lives in London with her rescue cat. When she’s not working or writing, she can be found among the weeds in her allotment, trying to make vegetables grow. The House is her debut novel.

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