Regina (25 page)

Laughter escaped from my lips when I thought
about that summer we spent on the Jersey Shore. Dad was so crazy!
He dived head first into this small wave and hit his head on the
ocean floor. I don’t think he realized how shallow the water was!
Mom totally panicked and called 911. We spent the rest of that
vacation in our cabin with a large bandage wrapped around dad’s
head. Our little cabin was awesome. It was only one bedroom, but
that was ok. I took the living room because it was the only room
with a TV. The kitchen was small but had all the appliances to make
us happy. Besides, we fished during the day and cooked it up on the
beach at night. If I remember correctly, we camped outside many
times. The stars were amazing at night, no city lights to hide them
away.

Tears pushed themselves out my poor eyes.
Before I could change my mind, I put the picture back and started
for the door. As I opened the door I couldn’t help but look back at
the picture. I couldn’t leave it behind because I couldn’t leave us
behind. They were still my parents, they must love me! I
desperately thought. Maybe this is one big crazy mistake!

Shaking my head again, I knew the spell was
still working. I had to get out of this house, and this town before
it swallowed me whole. I quickly shoved the picture in my bag and
headed out my headroom door. Staggering down the stairs, I felt
dizzier than before. I had to make it out of the house. Sweat
started pouring out of my scalp with each step I took. As I reached
the bottom of the stairs, the front door opened.

I looked up and heard Mom come into the
house. Since the front door swung towards me, I managed to slide
behind it and shield myself just in time. She walked away,
whistling in the kitchen, and sorting out groceries. The thought of
her happiness about killing me pissed me off. Dad had to be with
her. After the crazy things that happened in the house, there was
no way she was here alone. Out of breath, with sweat now coming out
of every pore, I backed away from the door when I heard dad’s voice
outside. I slid into Grandpa’s room and collapsed onto his bed. No
one obviously saw me or thought I was home because my truck was not
out front. All I have to do is wait a few seconds, and I can take
mom’s car. No matter if she has the keys, I can hotwire it. Jeff
and his friends taught me how before I moved to Lee. The thought
brought a wide smile to my face.

Mom was coming for Grandpa’s room!

I tried to catch my breath and collect
myself. I had to get out of here now before anyone saw me. My eyes
ran over Grandpa’s closet. It was very large with lots of space.
Not remembering how I got there, I was quickly inside Grandpa’s
closet. I backed into the farthest corner I could find.

She came inside and put some laundry in his
drawer. Grandpa’s favorite snacks were on his bed while she put
those away too. A cute little melody came out of her mouth while
she did this. It made me sick. The events of today made my body
ache like never before. As I stretched my body, my mother left the
room. Stopping short of a wonderful stretch, I remembered my
escape. I waited a few seconds to open the doors. Guess this brings
a new meaning to coming out the closet! I began laughing at the
thought. My giggles escaped a little too loudly, reminding me of
the spell.

I cupped my hand over my mouth and got a
control over myself. I had to keep calm and focused if I wanted to
get out of here. The spell was going to prevent me from leaving at
all costs.

A little ball of light was coming from the
wall to my right. I peeked closer and saw a crack in the wall.
Where was the light coming from? Running my fingers over the crack,
I pushed it in. A door swung out at me.

OMG! I exclaimed inside my head. Where did
this lead to? And why did Grandpa build a secret room? Flashes of
tunnels and dark narrow passageways from Nancy Drew novels ran thru
my head. Excitement ran thru my veins as I pulled the door
open.

I felt so excited to be discovering this
secret, leaving this town escaped my agenda. I peered inside the
room to see a narrow set of stairs to the left, leading up, into
the attic. The room itself was very tiny without furniture or
light. I reached for my cell phone but stopped when I saw the light
coming from the landing above. I felt hypnotized as I climbed the
stairs.

At the top, I met my nightmare come to life.
Across the right side of the room was a wall of windows leading out
to a log deck, not viewable from outside. Two black leather sofas
and sitting chairs was positioned to my immediate left as I came up
the landing. A large bear rug was visible in front of the dark wood
coffee table. Faux wood paneling covered the walls, accenting the
white ceiling. Not one wall separated the rooms.

The room looked like something out of a
popular 1970’s décor magazine. A bar and small kitchenette was to
the far right corner, behind the large living room. Hidden beside
the kitchen, out of view, was a large dining room complete with
dark orange wall paper and brown shaggy carpet. I couldn’t’ see it
yet, but I knew it was there. Though it was empty of a dining room
set, a tall buffet was against the far wall. I stepped inside the
room, gazing around in awe.

I was living in the house of my nightmares! I
shouted in my head. All this time, I thought the other house was
the one from my nightmares, never this one! Shivers ran down my
back as I felt the creepiness sneak up on me. I had to hold my
vomit as I saw a little trap door to the far left side of the room.
It was the little door from my bathroom.

I hid in here that night! I screamed inside
my brain. I hid in here! All I had to do was look once more or
bring a light with me and I would’ve known. Everything was clicking
in my brain now, making me sick with the realizations.

While I was taking in the details of the room
I missed in my dreams, footsteps came up the stairs behind me. I
spun around to see my father’s shocked face. He didn’t expect me up
here, it was obvious on his face.

“Regina? What are you doing up here?” He
asked innocently.

Too shocked to think of a good cover story, I
decided on the truth.

“I found the door by accident. Dad? What is
this room?” I asked just as innocently.

“Oh, your mother and Rachel use to play up
here when they were kids. They don’t like this room since your
grandmother died. No one uses it.” He replied.

He looked around the room as he said this. It
did make sense.

“Why didn’t anyone show it to me? It’s a nice
room. A little outdated.” I said with a giggle. I was desperately
trying to hide my fear.

“Yes.” He smirked. “I think Lydia probably
kept this room shut once the girls moved out.” He seemed to be
looking around the room too, as if looking for something.

He wasn’t going thru the couch cushions, but
his face was looking for something. Or someone?

My lie emerged so easily. I turned from him
and started to leave. “Dad, I gotta go. The truck is stuck in town
and Officer Ramirez threatened to tow me if I didn’t come right
back.”

“I didn’t expect you to find this room,
Regina.” He said, stepping right in front of me. “But now that you
have, I guess now is as good of time as any.”

I think my heart literally stopped when he
said this. My emotions didn’t have time to explode because my dad
reached out and hit me across the face with a closed fist.

Pain exploded in my face and mouth as I fell
onto the floor with a hard thump. Before I could look up or react,
I was hit again on the back of my head.

Everything went black.

Chapter
Thirty-one

My vision came back slowly. I laid on a hard,
flat surface while I waited for my body to return to me. My body
seemed to be trying to connect with my mind. I felt very different.
I turned my head slowly to the right by sheer instinct.

They were there, watching me.

“Oh good, she’s awake.” Came a female voice.
It was full of joy.

“We should’ve done this while she was out!” A
male voice said is a furious whisper.

My eyes were focusing on them while they
talked in low voices among each other. I was tied up horizontally
on some sort of hard surface, possibly a table. My hands were bound
separately and tightly above me. My legs were secured at the end of
the surface as well. The horrible orange wallpaper with brown and
pink flowers coating dining room stared down at me like a monster,
ready to devour me with its terrible color. I knew exactly where I
was.

Katie approached me. I could see her hands
and knees visibly shaking as she walked to me. She kept looking
over her shoulder in fear. My mother and father were wearing black
silk robes with hoods. It shimmered in the light beautifully. Mom’s
blonde hair looked radiant against the material.

I didn’t say anything. There wasn’t anything
to say to her. If I truly believed Sarah, it was now. Not because
of my parent’s obvious betrayal, but my feelings and intuition
seemed to come together in this moment. I felt like a train
conductor before he collides head on with an oncoming train.
Everything was moving in slow motion, I couldn’t stop the collision
that was about to happen. I was grossly fascinated with my
impending death.

“Get away from me.” I hissed in a low voice.
I gotta say I surprised myself as well as Katie with my venom.

Katie dropped to her knees beside me. “Anna,
I’m so sorry!” She whispered in my ear. “I tried to help you, but I
couldn’t warn you or they would kill my mother. They already killed
my father when I tried to help you before. Please forgive me. I
love you and I’m so sorry.”

“Wait!” I shouted when she started to back
away. “At least answer a few questions for me, please?”

“What is it you want to know?” The crowd was
still preparing for my execution so Katie was getting distracted
with their actions while trying to listen to me. Her attention
wasn’t fully on me, but the tears in her eyes weren’t hard to
miss.

“My parents brought me here, to Lee, in order
to kill me, right?”

“Yes.” Her eyes refused to meet mine and keep
watching my Grandfather shift thru pages of a book. Aunt Rachel was
helping him locate a certain page.

“Are they even my real parents?” This
question definitely got his her attention.

“No.” I waited for a longer response. My
wrists itched against the ropes and I moved them to make it
bearable, it didn’t work. She came closer to me, making sure no one
heard what she said to me. “Your mother’s sister, Rachel was your
real mother. Rachel was pregnant at eighteen and her father stole
her baby so it could be used to transfer your soul into. You see,
the citizens of Lee are cursed. We can’t grow old, and are forever
locked in limbo. There’s so much more to it, but every sixteen
years Rachel gives birth to you, until Slider killed her fifteen
years ago. It was horrible. He drowned her in the lake in front of
your house.”

“So, who are they?” I gasped, and nodded to
Aunt Rachel and her children.

“I honestly don’t know, but Lynda’s mother
wasn’t the same after Rachel died. Rachel must’ve felt her mother’s
love for she never left this house after she died.” Her voice
drifted off as she looked around the room.

“She didn’t leave the house?” I asked in
confusion.

“I thought you would’ve guessed by now.
Rachel’s spirit still lives and haunts this house. It was her that
drove you and your mother from the porch that day.”

Now it made sense to me. Rachel was my real
mother and never meant to scare me, only advised me to flee. Well,
hell! Why didn’t she just say it instead of scaring the holy hell
out of me! I was most surprised at the fact that she was my real
mother. Who was my real father? And why the hell wasn’t my real
mother’s ghost saving my hide right now?

Out of the corner of my eye, I couldn’t help
but notice my fake mother. She was shaking terribly, where my
father was calm and looked very full of himself. Her hands were in
her mouth, biting her fingernails as if it would make the people in
the room go faster. Fear was in her face, pure fear. It was quiet.
Since I didn’t speak, Katie walked away, and sat down at a chair in
the little kitchen beside me. I still had questions that I needed
answers to but I was in shock from the information I just heard.
Sarah’s legend was true, I was powerful. I could feel it in their
fear. I was way more powerful than any of them. Distraction caught
me when I heard Jane. Her voice was so bright to me in a room full
of voices. I turned my head again and with better vision, scanned
the room.

My parents were there along with my Grandpa.
Aunt Rachel was here too with MeKayla and Michael. I knew he was
evil! I had to work back the tears when I saw Jane, Steven, Jeff,
and Renee. Even Nat was here with Sabrina, Rebecca, Joe, Rodney,
and Billy, all in tow with their parents. They were chatting as if
this were some cocktail party. All that was missing was drinks and
the appetizers. Seeing them here felt like a stab thru the chest. I
truly felt as if I had been bred for this moment. For their kill.
They surrounded me every second of my life to keep my memories from
resurfacing and prevented my people from finding me. People were
chanting under me. The whole town must be in the house or on the
property. They were all here for this.

“How could you?” I whispered to no one in
particular but it was Jane who answered me.

“Our families are greatly rewarded after you
die. It is considered a great honor to be included in the plans to
kill you, Regina.” Jane said and smiled a cruel smile. “But don’t
worry. We’ll see each other again, one day.”

“Let’s get this over with! It’s Friday night
and I was hoping to get laid tonight!” Steven exclaimed. The rest
of the group laughed with him.