Chapter 8
Jane woke up. She had fallen asleep in the armchair, her head resting near the window. She looked outside. The sun had almost set.
She sat up and turned from the window. She saw Charles lying on the bed. He had fallen asleep too.
But Robert wasn't there.
She stood up quickly and looked beside the bed. The little boy wasn't there either. She didn't know where he had gone.
She turned to face the door. It was open.
Jane rushed to it and went out into the hall. Her feet hurried along the carpeted hallway until she came to a stop at the little girl's room
.
Elsie. The one she had killed
.
Robert was there, looking at the body.
She rushed up behind him. "You shouldn't be in here," she said. She hadn't meant to sound so strict, but she didn't want the little boy to see this. "What are you doing?"
Robert turned to look at her. "This is Elsie." His voice wasn't more than a whisper.
Jane knelt down beside him and placed her hand on his shoulder. "I know."
"What happened to her?"
Jane didn't want to answer. She wanted to take the little boy out of the room and close the door behind him. She wanted to protect him from these things. She didn't want him to have to deal with them. But she also knew that that wouldn't do. He had seen the young girl. He knew that she was dead. And, with all that had happened, all that he had seen, he needed to know the truth.
"She died," she said. It wasn't th
e
whol
e
truth, but it was all she felt somewhat comfortable with.
Robert frowned. It was obvious that he knew that much. "How?"
This was where things became difficult. She didn't want to tell him. He was a five year old boy. He couldn't know about these things.
Then again, maybe she just didn't want to admit to it…
"I killed her." She hadn't planned to say that, but there it was.
Robert looked at her for a moment, the frown stretching downward. Then he turned back to the dead body. "Because she had become one o
f
the
m
?"
"Yes, because she had become one o
f
the
m
."
"And she would have killed us if you let her go?"
"Yes."
Robert nodded his head and turned back to Jane. "It's okay," he said. "You didn't have a choice."
Jane was stunned. She couldn't believe that this little child was comforting her, trying to absolve her of her guilt. She didn't know what to say. Luckily, she didn't need to.
"I had a dog once," Robert continued. "He got sick. My father said that we had t
o
put him dow
n
. That meant kill him. It was better that way. He wasn't going to survive."
Jane still couldn't say anything. She grabbed Robert into her arms and hugged him instead. "I love you," she managed to get out after a moment.
The little boy looked up at her. "I love you too."
*
Charles walked into the room a few minutes later. He was surprised to see Jane and Robert in there. He looked over at the dead girl. "Is everything all right?"
Jane turned to him. "It's fine."
Charles wasn't so sure, but he chose not to say anything more about it. "Should head downstairs and get something to eat?"
Jane smiled. It was a good idea. She was hungry. And she knew that Robert must be as well. She also didn't want him to be in the room with the dead girl anymore.
"Are we going to leave tonight?" Robert asked.
Jane shook her head. "I don't think so. It's getting too dark. We'll have to stay here one night. But we can change houses, if you'd like. So long as it's somewhere close."
Robert shook his head. "It's okay. I don't want to leave her alone right now."
Jane knew that Robert was talking about the young girl, Elsie. He didn't want to leav
e
he
r
. And something about that frightened her.
"Come on," Charles said, interrupting her thoughts. "I'm starving!"
He held his hand out and Robert ran to it. Jane felt an absence within her when the boy pulled away. She felt comforted by him, felt a sense of being complete. She had come to think of him as part of her family. As she had with Charles.
"I'm coming," Jane said.
She followed the two out of the room and closed the door behind her. She hoped that she would never have to open it again.
Chapter 9
Jane woke in the middle of the night. She had heard a noise. She looked over at Robert and Charles. They were both sleeping on the bed. Once more, she had fallen asleep in the armchair.
She heard the noise again.
Jane didn't know what it was, but she didn't like the sound of it. Something about it scared her. She thought of waking Charles. The problem was that she knew that it would wake the little boy too, and she didn't want to do that.
The noise…
She got up and walked to the bedroom door. It was closed, so she placed her ear against it and listened. She could still hear the sound, but couldn't figure out what it was. It sounded like wind. Or more like scratching. It was the best she could come up with. And that wasn't good enough.
She opened the door. It creaked. Not enough to wake Charles and Robert. And went into the hall.
*
Jane closed the door behind her. Not completely. She didn't want to be fumbling with the door handle if one of thos
e
thing
s
was out there. She also didn't want to be cut off from Charles and Robert. She took a few steps in the hall and stopped to listen again.
What could it be
?
she wondered.
She followed the sound down the hall. It led her to the young girl's room
.
The one she had kille
d
. It sounded like crying.
Jane immediately wanted to run back into the room with Charles and Robert. She was sure that it was Elsie, that she had come back to life
.
But that couldn't be. It didn't make any sense
.
There was no way that she had come back to life. And even if she had, she wouldn't be crying. She'd be screaming. She'd be thrashing around on the bed.
Jane thought about it a little more. And the more that she did, the more she wanted to see who was in there. Besides, if i
t
wa
s
the young girl, she would still be tied to the bed. She couldn't attack her
.
Everything would be okay.
Jane took a deep breath and placed her hand on the door knob. It felt cold and sent a shiver running through her. She tried to ignore it as she opened the door.
She looked into the room.
As soon as she did, Jane didn't know what to think. The young girl was in the room, and she was crying. But she wasn't tied to the bed. She was sitting at the foot of it. Her knees curled up into her chest. Hiding her eyes behind them. The young girl's body shook up and down with each sob.
This isn't right
,
Jane thought.
With that, she felt the need return to run out of the room and get back to the others. She spun around. The floorboards creaked underneath her. And the young girl grew silent.
Slowly, Jane looked back at her. The young girl's eyes were locked on her own.
"Mommy?" the young girl asked. "Why?"
It was hard for Jane to make out the young girl's face, but the more she looked at her the less she thought it was the same person
.
It wasn't the girl that she had killed.
"Mommy, why did you do this to me?"
Jane couldn't answer. She could barely breathe. She knew now that this was the girl she had seen in the forest, the one who had said that she was her daughter
.
Her silly goose. Becky.
"Mommy, why?"
Jane fought her emotions, knowing that this couldn't be real. Her daughter had been killed. She hadn't been this old. She had just been a baby.
But the eyes. There was something about them. Something similar.
"Becky?"
"Mommy." The girl stood up.
Jane watched her get off of the bed. And, at that, everything in her screamed for her to run
.
Get back into the room with Charles and Robert
!
Yet, she couldn't get herself to do it.
Becky came toward her. She took little steps that dragged along the wooden floor. They made a soft whisking sound. "Mommy, why?" Her daughter's eyes looked tired. They also looked confused and hurt.
"Becky?" To her surprise, Jane felt the need to console her daughter, to reach out and hug her. She didn't want to run away anymore. Not now. Jane bent down onto her knees and raised out her arms. "I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry."
The young girl walked into Jane's grasp. They both squeezed each other tightly. Jane felt her daughter nestle into her neck. It felt warm, good.
"I'm sorry," Jane said again.
The young girl started to cry as she squeezed her arms harder around Jane's neck. "Why, mommy? Why? Why? Why?"
Jane felt her daughter's strength grow with eac
h
wh
y
. To the point where it began to hurt. She tried to push her away, but couldn't.
"Why, why, why, mommy? Whyyyy?"
Finally, Becky let go. Though only to ball her hands into fists and start hitting her.
Jane tried to grab her wrists to stop her, but her daughter was too frantic. She couldn't catch hold.
She stood as Becky continued to hit her and was forced into the hallway. She ran her back into the wall. A few picture frames fell to the floor.
"Why, why, why?" The fists came harder and faster.
Jane moved away from the little girl, but didn't take her eyes from her. "Stop it!" she screamed.
The girl didn't listen.
Jane moved to her side and started to edge away, then tripped and fell to the floor. The little girl stood above her. Behind her was another figure. She knew that it was her husband. She could hear him laughing.
It didn't take long for him to speak. "Oh, Jane," he said. "Poor little Jane."
Jane had never heard her husband speak to her in such a way before. It sounded threatening
.
Evi
l
.
The little girl took a few more steps forward and looked down at her. She could see new tears in her eyes. There was also anger
.
So much anger
.
Her daughter balled her fists again. "Why, mommy, why?"
"Wh
y
wha
t
?" It took everything Jane had to utter the words.
Her daughter looked unimpressed. "Oh, mommy," she said. "Why did you kill me?"
Jane stared at her daughter. The words hit her hard.
Then she woke up.
*
Jane was in the chair. Charles and Robert were still in the bed. She could see them in the moonlight.
She thought about rushing over to them and getting in the bed. She didn't want to be alone. But she didn't want to wake them, either.
Part of her told herself that she was being silly anyway
.
It had just been a dream.
She closed her eyes and tried to wish away the image of her husband and daughter. It didn't work. They stared at her out from behind her closed eyelids, taunting her.
She opened her eyes and looked out the window. Aside from the death, the street was empty. No creatures.
She took a deep breath. And another.
Then she closed her eyes again. This time, her family was gone. There was nothing but darkness.
Within a few minutes she fell back to sleep and there were no more dreams for that night.
Day 11
Chapter 1
Jane opened her eyes. She could see Charles looking at her. Robert was still asleep.
The old man smiled. Unfortunately, she couldn't return the gesture. As soon as she had awaken, she remembered her dream. Her daughter crying in Elsie's room. Her husband standing there, laughing.
She shot a look at the door. Charles followed her gaze and then looked back at her.
"Is everything okay?" he asked.
"Not really," she said. Then she thought better of it
.
It hadn't been real.
"What's wrong?"
"No…nothing. Just a bit of a restless sleep."
Charles seemed to think that there was more to it than that. "Are you sure?"
"I'm fine," Jane tried to assure him. "But I don't want to stay here anymore. I want to leave as soon as we can." The comment came out sounding more serious than she had intended.
Charles continued to look at her. She could see thoughts going through his mind, worry in his eyes. Regardless, he simply agreed with her. "We'll have to get something to eat first. Then we can go."
Jane nodded.
It was then that Robert stirred awake. He looked up at Charles. "What time is it?" the little boy asked.
"I don't know," Charles admitted. "Morning. Time to get up."
Robert stretched. He yawned in the process. "Okay. I'll get up. What are we going to do today?"
"We're going to leave."
"Where?"
"I don't know," Charles admitted again. He glanced at Jane, but she didn't know where they were headed, either.
Jane stood up and walked to the bedroom door. Her hand rested on the knob. She couldn't get herself to open it
.
Not yet
.
She looked over her shoulder and saw Charles and Robert getting out of the bed. Charles helped the little boy get dressed.
She looked back at the door and took a deep breath.
Then pulled.
*
The door came open and she looked down the hallway. It was somewhat dark, but she could see enough to know that there was nothing - n
o
on
e
- in it.
Jane let out her held breath, but didn't move any farther. She couldn't get herself to go into the hallway.
Charles came up behind her. "Are you sure you're all right?" He placed his hand on her shoulder.
She jumped a little at it, then turned to look at him. "Just feeling a little strange," she said. "That's all."
Charles had that worried look back on his face.
"I'm sorry," she said. The words reminded her of what she had said to Elsie before she had killed her
.
I'm sorry
.
She pushed the thought aside. Dwelling on these things wouldn't help. It would only make everyone all the more worried. "I'm really sorry."
Charles squeezed her shoulder. "It's okay."
She tried to believe him.
*
Jane walked out into the hall. Charles and Robert followed, but they quickly passed her. She couldn't get herself to move beyond Elsie's room.
"I'll meet you downstairs," she said to Charles, pretending that she had forgotten something in the master bedroom. The truth was that she couldn't get by the young girl's door without knowing what was inside. She needed to make sure that the Elsie was dead.
Charles smiled, though he still looked worried. "We'll meet you downstairs," he said. "Don't be too long."
Jane watched them walk down the stairs. Then she turned back to the young girl's door. A wave of emotions and thoughts ran through her.
How could she have killed her?
No, she couldn't have let her live. If she had untied her, the young girl would have tried to kill them. If she had kept her tied up, she would have died like that.
Jane put her hand on the door knob and took a few deep breaths to try to silence her thoughts. Then she squeezed the door knob and started to turn it.
Before it clicked open, she stopped.
It wouldn't do any good to see what was on the other side
.
She knew that the girl was dead. She had covered her face with a pillow. Had killed her.
She took her hand off of the door knob and turned away from it. She looked down the hall. She saw the picture frames on the wall. They were still there. Hanging. She hadn't knocked them down. That had been in her dream. It wasn't real.
She turned back to the little girl's door. She no longer had any intention of opening it.
*
Charles and Robert were waiting for her downstairs. They had put together a little breakfast. She sat down and joined them.
After that, they didn't take long to get ready. They had gone through the house and picked up a few things that they thought they could use. That was all.
They walked to the front door. Jane opened it and looked outside. None of thos
e
thing
s
were around.
She could see the wagon still on the street. No one had touched it.
She turned around. "Ready?"
Both Charles and Robert were.
*
The little boy got into the little red wagon and she started to pull it. Charles walked beside her.
As they approached the bridge, Jane couldn't help but worry about crossing it. If thos
e
thing
s
came, there would be nowhere to run.
She looked at Charles. He nodded his head, telling her that it was okay. Or maybe he was just saying that they didn't have much of a choice.
They walked out onto the bridge. The wagon rumbled along as they walked.
None of them made a sound. None of them could speak.
They looked around. Looked behind them. Looked ahead.
There was nothing.
*
Jane stopped halfway. She looked at Charles. She was starting to feel better. They had almost made it out of the town. They were almost safe.
*
They continued to walk.
Nothing bad happened. No one came out to attack them.
They made it to the end of the bridge.
Once there, Jane turned around to look back where they had come from. She could see the house where they had stayed. The house with the young girl she had killed. It was far behind them now.
She turned back around. "Ready?"
"Ready," Charles replied.
Robert shouted out that he was ready too.
And, again, they were on their way.