by Glenn Rolfe
“Don’t look away,” Alison said.
He opened his eyes and saw flames where her eyes should be.
He turned from the window, shaking the fog from his head, trying to make sense of what was happening. He nearly collapsed against the counter, sweating, breathing heavy, and making a mess in his underwear.
After a minute to collect himself, he dared another glance at the window.
Alison was gone. It was only his reflection, once again mimicking his every move, as it should be.
Man, am I losing it?
He left the doorway, with his legs feeling like noodles. He collapsed to the floor.
It was as if the life had been sucked out of him. He wanted to push himself up from the floor, but his body ignored him. He was breathing, but he as he tried to bring up his hands to push himself up, his eyes closed.
As he let go, falling toward slumber, he wasn’t wondering what had just happened in the kitchen, but rather when it would happen again. He hoped it would be soon
…..
The demons were satisfied. The plan was set into motion. Their mark would be back for more. They’d seen inside him. He wanted them, needed them.
“Let the fun begin, my dear,” Domineus said. “And with it, our next step toward freedom.”
Just as the last soul had succumbed to them, so to shall this one. Only this time, they would not fail.
They remembered the last time they’d come so close…
The pieces of the shattered mirror lie in a pile on the floor. Judah and Margret Anthony worked in tandem– one with the broom, the other holding the dust pan and trash bag. It was finally over. The years of torment. The trials and tribulations. The curse. They were free of their trappings. No more games. No more close calls.
Judah crouched down and held the dust pan. He smirked up at Margaret as she swept the pile of glass into the pan and swayed her hips. Ian took the metal pan and dumped its contents into the thick, black trash bag.
“Let’s bury it with the girl,” Margaret said.
“Yes,”
She followed him past the white refrigerator covered in blood splatter. Past the crimson trail that ended in a pool by the commode down the hall. The body of their daughter, Charlotte, lay in a crumpled heap upon the twisted up welcome mat. Blood-matted hair clung to her scarred face.
“I’ll get her. Here.” Judah handed over the trash bag. He bent down and cradled the body of the daughter he’d tormented over the last two weeks. She had been a lovely little thing. Her tears, her confusion, her death. A pity they couldn’t keep her. But they had succeeded in retrieving their boy. Deaf, mute, or both, the fair-haired boy was Kyrus.
“Take him up to his room, then come join me.”
Judah carried the girl to the hole he’d dug on the rainy, late spring morning. Without a hint of care, he flung the young women’s body into the pit. Moments later, his she-demon joined him. He nodded at the smiling blood-bathed beauty across from him. Margaret tossed the garbage bag – their last cage – into the hole. “Let’s do it right now,” Margaret said. Her ravenous eyes, ready to devour God’s gift of life.
Judah turned to the house. His gaze moved to the attic window. Kyrus was watching them. Judah waved. The boy stepped away from the small window leaving the reflection of the clear blue sky.
Judah reached his hand out toward her. “Come, Sanikus, my love. Let’s go collect our child and seal this gate for good.”
She draped her new body over her lover and slipped her tongue into his mouth. He ran his hands up and down her taught, milk-white flesh. How he loved the human form and all its subtle pleasures.
The rain began to pour, and they noticed their boy appear behind the attic window.
“There,” Domineus pointed to the attic window.
“What’s he doing?” Sanikus asked.
They hurried out of the rain, and were halfway up the stairs, when they heard the glass shatter.
“No!” Sanikus cried.
They rushed up the stairs, unlatched the skinny, red door that led up to the attic, and scrambled up the dusty, wood steps. Their small blond-haired boy, Kyrus, stood in the broken window, his hands gripping the shard filled window sill. Blood dribbled down his thin, white forearms and dripped to the floor below. His blue eyes smiled at them. The boy’s eyes narrowed as his lips curled upward.
They could do nothing but watch as the boy leaned backwards and let go.
Chapter Seven
“Boys, breakfast is ready.”
James awoke to the too high, screech-owl-like sound of Mrs. Dolman’s voice. His eyes tried their best not to open, but the sweet smell of sausage and peppers permeating Eric’s bedroom overpowered them.
His heavy eyelids peeled back before slamming shut again from the blazing sunlight burning brightly through the room. He opened them again as he sat up and stared at Eric’s goofy shaped head. He lay still, facing the wall, holding out against the new day. James reached out and slapped his friend in the back of the head.
Eric swatted at him. “Quit it. I’m still sleeping.”
“C’mon, man. Your mom’s got food for us.”
“Don’t care. I’m tired.” He waved James off again before pulling his arm in and cradling it against his chest.
“I’m not going down there by myself. You know how your mom flirts with me and touches me whenever she gets me alone.”
“Shut up, James”
“Maybe I will go down there. Maybe I’ll eat your mom’s sausage, and then she can eat mine.”
Eric spun around, his face beet red and all mushed up like a crinkle-cut French fry.
“Fuck you, James. Don’t talk about my mom like that. It’s…. it’s gross.”
James gave his wound-up friend a smile, garnering his first victory of the day.
“Got you up, didn’t I?”
“I gotta take a piss. I’ll meet you down there in a minute.”
“I’ve got morning wood.”
Eric put up his hand and turned away, “Dude,” he said, stepping over him and stumbling into the hallway.
James lay back down on his sleeping bag on the floor, locking his fingers behind his head on top of his flat pillow. He stared up at the beige, stucco ceiling and smiled as he thought about last night.
He practically spent the entire evening next to Carrie. Her berry-scented shampoo had been intoxicating. The scent had remained with him as he drifted off to sleep last night thinking of her soft, gloss-covered lips and her irresistible laugh. Kevin and Eric went on and on about the movie, comic books, and video games. They hadn’t even noticed the two of them holding hands from time to time, or if they did, they hadn’t said a word which, knowing them as he did, wasn’t likely.
They sat side by side and threw glances at one another throughout the movie. They followed up the flick with a walk over to Denny’s where they sat nestled closely together on one side of the booth across from Kevin and Eric. Carrie even let him put his hand on her leg, which had been smooth and warm. His face flushed with heat at the fresh memory.
Eric kicked his pillow, and said, “Let’s go hard on. I’m starving.”
After scarfing down breakfast, he led Eric toward the door, eager to head out to meet Kevin and Carrie at Grove’s Brook.
“Did you guys become best butt buddies last night?” Kevin’s wit was on par with that of your average rock.
“Eat a slug.” Eric’s comebacks were even worse.
Kevin was standing in the center of the stream poking a stick at something in the flowing water. James scanned the banks for the better-looking sibling, but she was nowhere to be seen. A part of him felt let down, and he briefly considered making up a reason to go home just so he could call her.
“What’s up, James. What do you wanna do today?”
Eric joined Kevin in the brook, poorly balancing upon one of the larger rocks protruding from the water, looking like a drunken monkey on a ball. “We could see if my mom would take us to the lake?”<
br />
“I wasn’t asking you, dorko. It’s Jamey Boy’s call. He’s been gone half the summer. What do you say, Jamie Boy?”
James didn’t even know why he expected Carrie to be here. His heart plummeted. She had her own friends and had spent more than enough time with the three of them last night. The guys were his best friends though and they deserved his full attention. Besides, he had missed the hell out of them locked away in Evergreen. He took a minute to consider the day’s possibilities. The lake wasn’t that bad of an idea.
And if we could get Carrie to go…
“I don’t know,” he said, “I think Eric’s right. The lake sounds pretty good.”
“Well there you go,” Kevin said. “First things first; we have to go back to my house, so I can get some shorts.” Kevin looked at Eric. “You can call your mom from there and ask her if she’ll bring us. Sound like a plan?”
They both nodded in agreement.
“All right then, boys,” Kevin said. “Let’s go.”
James couldn’t have planned it any better. If Carrie was home, she wouldn’t want to miss out on a day at the lake, especially on a hot day like this. She’d probably even want to lie out in the sun. Girls tended to like doing that for some reason. He felt giddy enough at the thought to laugh aloud but managed to keep his excitement to himself.
They reached Kevin’s house in less than ten minutes; Carrie was nowhere to be found. Eric phoned his mom and got the green light on the day’s adventure. Kevin changed into shorts, grabbed a backpack and towel, and met them on the porch.
James felt like opting out of the trip as they set off. That is, until Carrie rolled up to the curb riding shotgun with her and Kevin’s older brother, Ian, in his vintage Gran Torino.
With his slicked-back, jet-black hair, blue jeans, and plain white tee, the guy looked and acted like someone out of a greaser movie. Ian was a throwback to another time and place. He appeared to slink in and out of the house at his leisure, hardly ever interacting with Kevin and his friends, and saying even less. They couldn’t help but be enamored with his enigmatic persona.
Carrie rolled down the window as Ian pulled the classic mean machine up to the curb.
“Where are you guys going?” she said.
Kevin beat him to the punch. “To the lake. Why?”
“The lake? How are you getting there?”
Eric stepped forward, squeezing past Kevin. “My mom’s giving us a ride. You wanna come? There’s plenty of room in her car.”
God bless you, Eric Dolman.
Kevin didn’t quite share James’s sentiment.
“Don’t you have any friends of your own?” At that precise moment, Kevin’s brain must have tuned into his fourteen-year-old sexual frequency. “Actually, why don’t you see if Kylie or Denise want to come too?”
“Even though I think I know where your head is at, that’s not a bad idea. Do you guys have to leave right now, or can you give me a few minutes?”
They waited on the porch steps as Carrie went inside and made her phone calls. Ian’s Gran Torino sped away down Heller Street.
“You ever wonder where he drives that thing all the time?” Eric said. He sat on his hands gazing after the classic car.
“He never tells me nothin’,” Kevin said. “He’s probably got a girlfriend over in Jefferson or Winslow.”
James pondered the possibilities a car like Ian’s would afford him. Or hell, any car. He could live in Evergreen and still come down to see Carrie. He was only sixteen months away from being old enough to get his license. He could see it now, getting dressed up in some cool new Chucks and new jeans. Throwing on his Children of the Corn t-shirt, a hoodie, and maybe steal some of Garrett’s cologne. He’d cruise down to Caleb, and Carrie would meet him at the curb all dolled up and ready to run away beneath the stars.
“Jamey Boy,” Kevin said.
James shook free of his daydream. Eric and Kevin were looking at him like he was from Mars.
“Where’d you go just now?”
“I…I was imagining driving your brother’s car.”
Within minutes Carrie stuck her head out the door.
She was tying the strings from the bikini top behind her neck. The rest was hidden under the loose white t-shirt she wore. He could only imagine what the top beneath must look like.
“Kylie’s not home, but Denise told us to meet her at her house. She lives on Gilman—it’s on the way.”
By the time the motley-looking crew reached Eric’s house, (the three boys, and now Carrie and her friend, Denise) Mrs. Dolman was waiting for them with a large, red cooler filled with ice, Mountain Dews, and sandwiches. And as if that didn’t win the woman enough points, both Kevin and he couldn’t help but take notice of the woman in her cut-offs and deep-diving V-neck that gave them more cleavage than a PG-13 movie.
Brad Dolman had left Eric and his mom this past spring, telling Eric he needed to sort through his own personal issues and that he would just need some time and space. He had since left the state all together, moving somewhere in Vermont with a woman he’d met online. It was no wonder Mrs. Dolman was leaning toward desperation and doing her best rendition of Mrs. Robinson.
James excused himself to call and check-in with his father. His dad didn’t answer, so he left a message telling him about their trip to the lake.
Eric and Kevin rode up front, while he sat in the back with Carrie and Denise. Eric was seated next to his mother no doubt thwarting Kevin’s plans of squeezing as close to Mrs. Dolman as he could. Denise had tried the same trick in the back, but to his delight, Carrie had pulled her aside, whispering something in her ear that made her change her mind, and placed her next to him.
Their bare knees were touching as she turned to him and asked, “Did you get a hold of your dad okay?”
“No, it’s a little weird. He didn’t pick up. I got his voicemail instead. He should be home. He always answers when I call him.”
And it was weird. Especially with him staying there. Unless Alison was over and they were getting busy, but he doubted that was the case. He couldn’t say why, but something felt off.
Carrie reached over and took his hand.
“You left him a message about going to the lake though, right?”
He had, but it didn’t seem like enough. Her hand felt perfect in his. He decided he was being a worry wart, and without a second thought, leaned over and gave her a kiss on the cheek.
Eric, Kevin, and Denise were all busy staring out the windows at the passing scenery, but he and Carrie both saw Mrs. Dolman beaming in the rearview mirror at the two of them. They both smiled at each other, and then back at her.
Their luck of hiding their budding romance in front of everyone had to be running on fumes, and it was only a matter of time before one of them caught wind of it. Right now, they were like a young couple in some coming-of-age novel— free to stretch out and go with the flow at their leisure without any sort of consequence in sight.
…..
“So,” Denise said, nudging Carrie with her elbow.
The beach was hot as hell. Carrie, reapplying her sun block, knew she was blushing, but played coy anyway. “What?” she said.
“What? What’s up with you and James?”
“Oh, that.”
“Yeah, that,” Denise said. “Spill.”
“We…” she started, not noticing that she’d stopped rubbing the lotion into her arm. Her gaze drifted to James, splashing around in the water with Kevin and Eric.
“Yeah,” Denise said.
“I don’t know. I think there’s something there, but he’s moving, or moved…. or whatever.”
It was true. She did like him. She liked him a lot, but he’d moved to Evergreen. They wouldn’t be going to the same school. That didn’t work with teenagers, right? He’d meet some cute blonde and fall in love. She’d pine, give up, and wind up saying yes to one of the other guys in class. It sucked. That’s what it did.
“Yeah,” Denise said, �
��but he’s here for the rest of the summer. That’s what you said, right?”
She nodded.
“So, go for it,” Denise said. “YOLO.”
“But….,” she knew the but. But what if I fall in love. Hell, who was she kidding? She was already crazy about him. She always had been.
“But nothing, Carrie. James is cute and he’s super nice. You guys are perfect for each other. Unless, Kevin finds out, of course.”
Carrie knew Kevin would get over it. At least, she thought he would. He was her brother, and of course he’d freak out, but he and James were best friends. They’d be fine, she hoped.
“I give Kevin a lot of shit, but he’s actually a really cool brother. I think he’d get over it.”
“You hope so,” Denise said.
“Kevin’s pretty predictable. Ian, on the other hand…”
Her older brother was a mystery. One the girls of their town had been trying to solve for years. He was different, but Carrie wouldn’t have him any other way. It’s what made him so cool.
“My brother got into a fist fight with Devin Riles when he found out I thought Devin had nice abs.”
They both laughed.
“Well,” Carrie said, getting herself together. “James is a year older than us, not three like Devin. Kevin will be cool. You’ll see.”
“So, it is happening. Oh, you guys are so sweet. I can’t wait.”
“Oh my God, Denise. Don’t act like that, you’re gonna make me sick.”
“Sure, sure,” she said. “Did you invite him to Denise’s pool party yet?”
“No…not yet.”
