She Watches: A Horror Novel Page 14

  There was a scream from downstairs, and he immediately knew it was Crystal. Skipping half of the steps, he flew down to the first floor and into the living room with the crosses. Alexander was still attached to one, while Jill and Daniel were nowhere to be seen.

  Crystal was standing against one wall with her hands up over her face. Brandon was probably outside with the two they had rescued.

  “I thought that would get your attention,” the lady grinned, turning to face Michael with blood dripping from her mouth. “I assume she’ll have a scar now. Hopefully you like scars. I find them quite-”

  Michael held up the gun.

  “Ooh. Taking this little game of ours to a new level.” She half faced him, keeping a hand against Crystal’s throat, her long nails acting as knives. “You know, I thought there was a strict no-gun policy in this house. I’ve underestimated you.”

  “The game’s over!” Michael shouted. “Let them go, or I’ll kill you.”

  “You’ll kill me anyways, if you’re smart.” The lady sighed. “And besides, if you shoot… well, who’s to say you won’t hit your precious Crystal? That would be such a pity. Lovers reunited… and dead.”

  She grabbed Crystal and threw her across the living room, narrowly missing the flames that were consuming the couch. “Go!” she yelled angrily, and Crystal hurried across the conjoined rooms to Michael’s side.

  “Why?” he asked.

  “I didn’t want her anyways. What I’ve always wanted is this young boy right here: Alexander. We have a special history, although nobody knows it. You’ve been slacking off, Michael. The signs were all there. Yes, I left for a month, but they were all here before then. It started long ago. But you’ll never know. You’ll never understand.”

  “Why do you need him?” Michael yelled. “You’ve already taken everybody you need!”

  “That boy who was dating your policeman’s daughter? No, he wasn’t mine. That was somebody else. A normal, boring kidnapper. Nothing like me. Almost more terrible, if you think about it. Because he’s gone forever now! Actually, I heard he ran away. Isn’t that funny? That was merely coincidence. What I always wanted was this boy.” She reached up and untied Alexander’s knots, keeping the suspended boy in between her and Michael.

  “We will catch you,” Michael growled.

  “Michael, you know where to find me.” The lady hoisted Alexander over her shoulder and backed away towards a wall. “You know where we should meet. Come there, if you don’t mind. We can finish up our… business.”

  She reached up and pulled down on a string above her head. A portion of the wall collapsed behind her, and she grinned.

  “I amaze myself, you know.”

  “Get out.” Michael said. “Get out!”

  “I really missed this, you know.” She sighed. “Pure hatred is a beautiful thing.”

  She was gone, then, and Crystal led Michael out of the house as it fell to ruins behind them. Grabbing Daniel and Jill’s lifeless bodies, they sat them against the car, and all three of the friends sat together as they waited for the police to arrive, seemingly always a few steps behind.

  “You took Daniel instead of Alexander,” Michael said, glancing at Brandon.

  “I… I’m sorry.”

  “You let your personal feelings get in the way of stopping her plan.” Michael glared at him. “Do you agree?”

  Brandon looked down at the ground.

  “Don’t let it happen again.”

  “You need to go,” Crystal said nervously. “Michael, the police don’t know you’re alive, yet. They’ll ask too many questions.”

  “And what if I’m sick of running?” he asked. “I just want… peace.”

  She handed him the keycard to her hotel room. “Take this. Go get cleaned up.”

  Wearily, he picked himself up from the ground and started walking down the road, cutting through the cornfield that reached up over his head with its scratchy stalks.

  “It’s okay, Brandon.” Crystal patted him on the shoulder. “It’s all okay.”

  “Where did she tell us to meet her?” he asked. “I assume that’s what she did.”

  “We’ll have to talk to Michael about it later. I’m not sure. I have a guess. But I hope it’s wrong.”

  “I have a guess, too,” Brandon muttered. “And I’m certain it’s right.”

  Chapter 22

  Explain

  Daniel, Michael, Brandon, and Crystal sat in the living room of Brandon’s house. All of them were holding ice packs, covered in bandages, or squirming uncomfortably in their seats as bruises pressed against cushions. Crystal was leaning on Michael’s shoulder, falling asleep.

  “I should never have taken him there,” Daniel moaned, sitting with his elbows on his knees. He lowered his head. “I should’ve waited.”

  “There’s no use regretting it,” Michael snapped. “We need to make a plan. She clearly wants us to go to the bridge.”

  “There is no bridge. It collapsed.” Brandon shook his head. “Where the heck are we gonna go?”

  “There’s something there, still,” Michael said. “A pile of stones, or something. I’m sure of it. She’s clearly been there. I say we meet her. Tonight.”

  “I can’t go anywhere yet,” Daniel muttered. “It’s too late, anyways. It’s a day’s journey into the woods. Let’s leave tomorrow morning, and we’ll get there the day after.”

  “And what about Jill?” Crystal spoke up, half asleep.

  “I’ll talk to her,” Daniel said. “I don’t know if she can go, even if she wants to. Her parents won’t let her, and even if she sneaks out I don’t really want her to go. I already got Alexander in trouble. I don’t need her to get hurt, too.”

  “She won’t stay here.” Crystal rubbed her eyes and laid her head on Michael’s lap. “She’ll want to go. Just like I did.”

  Michael nodded. “She’s right. We’ll have to bring her.”

  Brandon was silent, but Daniel shot him a warning glance.

  “I shouldn’t be alive,” Michael mumbled to himself. “I shouldn’t. Do you all realize that?”

  “What are you talking about?” Brandon asked, turning towards him.

  “Last time, everybody died that was supposed to. Except for me. I survived. I broke the pattern. And so it’s because of me that all of this has been worse, and that so many people have been hurt. More than normal.”

  Brandon held up a hand to stop him. “You did the right thing, Michael. You made progress and tracked her down. We know more than before.”

  “You came back,” Crystal reminded him. “You came back to stop her. The pattern has to break for it to fall apart completely.”

  “It’s my fault that my kids were taken so suddenly, and that I wasn’t prepared,” Daniel said. “I wasn’t watching them. I didn’t see the signs.”

  “Don’t blame this on yourself.” Michael stared the former detective squarely in the eyes. “You have dealt with more than any of us can understand. You lost more than any of us. And I didn’t see the signs either. I was watching your kids. I was protecting them.”

  Daniel raised an eyebrow. “Protecting? Watching? When?”

  “Since you got into town,” Michael answered. “I’ve been there the whole time, in the shadows, trying to protect them. You weren’t supposed to see me. That was the point. But the instant you arrived in Marcy, I knew it was you she was going after.”

  “The kids, you mean.”

  Michael shook his head. “It isn’t about the kids this time. It’s about you, Daniel. She wants you. Dead.”

  “You and me both dead.” Daniel sighed. “You think I’d be used to it, the death threats. But I never got those as a policeman. Not here, anyways.”

  “What do we do if she loses control?” Brandon asked warily. “If she goes crazy and starts killing us all? When there’s nothing to contain her?”

  “There’s four of us here,” Daniel said. “Only one of her. It’s not about surviving. It’s not about comfort
. If we kill her, if we end her, then it’s all worth it. Whoever survives… Good for them. And whoever dies, may they rest in peace. But this is the end, one way or another. This is it. We fight together, and we die together.”

  “How long have you known it would end like this?” Brandon asked, turning to Michael.

  “Since the day I buried Christian’s body,” Michael answered. “I knew it would end like this. I was kidding myself thinking otherwise.”

  Daniel stood up from his chair, groaning. “I need to go see Jill.”

  Brandon got up as well and wandered out of the living room. “There’s an empty room upstairs for you, Crystal. If you wanna sleep. You seem tired.”

  Michael helped her up and followed her out of the room. Daniel was left alone, staring at the black television screen that hadn’t been used for ages. He grabbed the remote and turned it on. Static filled the picture. He left the remote on the chair’s arm and left the house. The static continued.

  The rest of that day passed quietly. Crystal and Michael slept, enjoying their time together with a wary eye to the future. Brandon took precautions with his company, and set in place a plan that would give the entire organization over to his second-hand man. Even if he were to drop dead that night, the company and the assets would be fine, placed on a silver platter. His ex-wife was to get any of the profit he made for the rest of her life.

  Daniel went to Jill’s house, and after some arguing he agreed to let her come. That next morning, she would sneak out of her house and meet them in her driveway at 6 A.M. He left her house with a solemn goodbye, dreading tomorrow.

  Michael got up that night and threw up in the bathroom, reading the clock as 10:30. He went to the window of the room where he was sleeping with Crystal, and on the street outside he saw her.

  He wasn’t surprised to see the lady watching. Quite the opposite, it would’ve been a shock if she was absent. Michael stared down at her, and she lifted her head towards him. They made eye contact, and she grinned, raising one finger and placing it over her lips.

  Every night, she was out there at 10:30. Every night, no matter where he stayed, she showed up. It became a constant thing, and even when Michael didn’t check he knew she was there.

  “No more,” Michael growled. “After tomorrow, no more. This is the end. For you, for me. We finish now.”

  Almost as if reading his lips, she turned her back and began walking away up the street, passing under lights as she faded into the distance. A white light flashed in front of Michael’s eyes, and he grasped his head in pain. He fell onto the floor, writhing. Years worth of injuries, of pain, of sadness, of struggle. It was almost over.

  <><><><><><>

  There was no plan for going into the forest. Daniel drove the minivan down the highway, outside of Hardy. Michael sat in the passenger’s seat, watching in the rearview mirror as everything he had known faded into the distance.

  When he and the other three friends had come this way before, they had thought it was the last time. There was a sense of dread, both then and now. Twenty years ago, they went to recapture their sisters and to defeat the evil none of them had felt before.

  They expected it to be the end of their problems. But it was the end of their friendship. It was the beginning of a new life, a terrible one. Everything changed that day.

  “What are we going towards?” Michael asked, not caring which of the passengers answered his question.

  “The end,” Brandon said. “One or way another, I promise this is the end.”

  Michael nodded. He tried to think of something funny to say, something to lighten the mood. He opened his mouth, but then shut it. Twenty years ago, he would’ve spoken. Not now. Not right now.

  Hardy was gone. They drove for miles, until pulling over on the side of the road and clambered out of the minivan. The trees were taller now. If last time they’d been frightening, this time they were terrible creatures that lived and breathed for no purpose other than to kill.

  Everybody had filled their own backpack with whatever they thought was needed. Each person had different things, ranging from food to weapons to family keepsakes to First Aid kits. Between the five of them, they had everything necessary.

  “I guess we broke our pattern, too,” Brandon mumbled as they prepared to step into the trees. “We brought five this time, not four.”

  “Everything’s different. There’s no use thinking about it.” Crystal took a deep, shuddering breath. She stepped closer to Michael, and noticed Jill was staring around nervously, away from the others.

  “Let’s go,” Daniel said with a firm voice.

  He and Brandon led the way into the trees. Michael walked over to Jill and grabbed her backpack. Carrying his own, the girl’s, and Crystal’s, he was the third one to enter.

  “Are you okay?” Crystal asked, looking at the teenage girl she was left with.

  Jill turned to her and shook her head. “I want to go for Alex. But it’s really hard. I’ve never done anything… like this. I don’t know what to expect, what to think, what to…” She lowered her head and Crystal could hear her gasping breaths.

  She walked over and put an arm around the girl, leading her towards the woods. “I’m here for you. We’re all gonna protect you, no matter what happens. Trust me. Just keep your eyes closed until we get in there. Watch your step. There you go.” She led her past the initial roots and low-hanging branches until they were a good ten feet in. “You can look, now.”

  “It’s cold in here,” Jill said. “Colder, anyways.”

  “Just wait until we keep going.” Crystal pulled her hair back and held it there with a band. “It gets colder as you go, colder at night, and colder when you sleep. I would never come in here without Michael.”

  “So you trust him?”

  Crystal sighed to herself. “I do. I trust him, and I trust the others, too. It’s all we have in times like these. Trust. You know I refused to come back the first time Daniel asked me?”

  “What made you change your mind?”

  “Daniel mentioned you and Alexander. Just barely, but it was enough. I started to think, and I started to relate to you. Just two kids caught up in everything, through no fault of your own. I know how you feel. I don’t want you to go through what I did.”

  <><><><><><>

  “By this time tomorrow, our lives will be completely different.” Brandon hummed to himself, some song by Johnny Cash. “Did you know he released some album last year? Another collection of songs. He also released something in ‘94, right before this all went down then. That’s pretty ironic.”

  Crystal, Michael, and Brandon were sitting around the campfire, staring at each other and then into the flames. It was past midnight, but none of them felt like sleeping. If this was the last night of their lives, rest was pointless. The saying about resting when you’re dead had never been more true.

  “He’s released something every year for like 40 years, Brandon.” Crystal shook her head. “You’re nuts.”

  “If I could start again,” Brandon began to sing in a low, gravely voice, “a million miles away…”

  “Shut up!” Michael laughed.

  It was eerily quiet. Daniel and Jill were already asleep, in two different tents. Daniel had brought one for all the men, and Crystal managed to buy one for herself and Jill. She yawned, but her brain was still wide awake. Climbing into a cramped, inflatable bag wasn’t her idea of peaceful sleep, anyways.

  Brandon continued, “Everyone I know goes away in the-”

  “I’m gonna cut your tongue out,” Crystal threatened with a grin.

  “I thought I was supposed to be the troublemaker in this group,” Brandon chuckled. “And yet you’re threatening to torture me. That’s illegal, miss.”

  “Johnny Cash should be illegal,” Michael retorted.

  “He could sing better at 71 then you could ever.” Brandon crossed his arms. “You won’t even try.”

  “None of us should be trying,” Crystal muttered.
She glanced up at Brandon and smirked, then reached her hand out to Michael’s.

  “So I take it you two are real chummy?” Brandon asked. “That’s a quote from a book, by the way. Cole Meyer, 2004, When Destinies Collide. Read it on Google Books online.”

  “You read a book?” Michael asked, dumbfounded.

  “How do you think I became rich, stupid?”

  “That sounds like some kind of chick-flick book, Brandon.” Crystal chuckled. “Did your wife make you read it?”

  “I lost a bet.”

  There was silence for awhile, the kind that only true friends can have and not feel awkward. Each person was wrapped in their own thoughts, oblivious to the others and yet completely entwined.

  It went on until somebody broke the quiet, asking the question few wanted to hear. Only this time, instead of Michael blazing the path, it was Crystal.

  “And if we win? Then what?”

  Michael and Brandon glanced at each other.

  “I think…” Michael sighed. “I don’t know, Crystal. If we win, things will be much different. There will be peace, and quiet, and it will all be over. But if we don’t win…”

  “Either we live good lives, or we die,” Crystal said. “Is that what you’re telling me?”

  Michael avoided both of their glances, focusing on the fire. It was dying in the circle of stones, trying to reach back up for one last attempt. One last night.

  “I’ve said everything possible. I’ve planned every move. But there’s never a real answer, and never a definite chance for us to win. We could be walking into a disaster, a trap that none of us survive. At this point, our lives aren’t what matter. It’s those around us. It’s the one’s we’re fighting for. It’s always been that way.”

  “I think you need to work on your speeches,” Brandon mumbled half-heartedly. “They’re getting depressing.”

  “Life’s depressing.”