Unknown (19 page)

chapter twenty-eight

I stumbled away from them as they came forward.
 
The door slammed shut, followed by the sound of it being locked.
 
I didn’t do it.
 
They did.

I ran back into the kitchen and watched them stop in the center of the living room, their heads cocked in such a way that said they didn’t understand my retreat.
 

The flames were roaring off their bodies, but in spite of the fire twisting around them and billowing up to the ceiling, there was no heat associated with it and they didn’t appear to be burning.
 
If was as if the fire was just resting on top of them.
 
More curious, nothing in the apartment was catching on fire.
 
It was as if the fire didn’t exist, regardless of what I saw.

I couldn’t make sense of it.
 
The amulet was growing so hot against my skin, it was becoming uncomfortable.
 
I shifted it beneath my shirt.
 
I looked at each of them and wanted to run to them and help.

And then it occurred to me that I could put out the fire.

I imagined the flames going out but they didn’t.
 
You work it with your heart and with your head
.
 
I tried again, but nothing happened.
 
They just stood there in the room, burning.
 
They were dressed exactly as they were the night they died.
 
I was looking at my parents again, something I never thought I’d have the chance to do.
 
They were ghosts, but I didn’t care.
 
My parents were here.
 

But why the fire?

“Why didn’t you save us, Seth?”
 
It was my mother and there was no question it was her voice.
 
“Why didn’t you help us?”

My father took a step forward and held out his hands to me.
 
“You saw me trying to put out the fire.
 
I looked up and saw you looking at me.
 
But you left us.
 
Why did you leave us?
 
Why didn’t you help us?”

I tried to speak but nothing came.

“We had a good time that night,” my mother said.
 
“It was your birthday.
 
You and your father played your new game.
 
I made spaghetti.”

“You’re dead,” I said.
 
“This isn’t happening.”

My mother walked beside my father.
 
The flames were all over her, dancing off her, reflecting in her eyes.
 
But through the fire, she looked exactly as I remembered her.
 
“We’re in hell,” she said.
 
“We don’t know why but we were sent to hell.
 
They said we’ll burn like this forever.
 
They said it’s for eternity.”

I started to shake.
 
“Why are you here?”

“To bring you with us,” my father said.
 
And the way he said it suggested he was surprised by the question.
 
Hurt by it.
 
“We’re a family.
 
We want you with us.”

“It’s not right that you’re not with us.”

They took a step closer.

“Come with us,” my mother said.
 
“It’s worse without you with us.
 
We need you with us.
 
We were becoming close again.”

Another step forward.
 
Now they were in the kitchen, which in the absence of electricity and the growing darkness outside, appeared to twist and alter in the presence of the shifting flames.
 
I took several steps away from them.
 
I wasn’t sure what was happening.
 
With each step they took toward me, the amulet grew so hot that it began to burn me.

“We need you with us, Seth.”

“Come to hell with us.
 
Please.
 
Join us in hell.”

I pulled out the amulet and let it rest on the outside of my shirt.
 
Each looked at it and then they looked back at me.
 
They were studying me.
 
Something in them shifted.
 
The energy in the room changed.

My father took a step forward, his eyes on the amulet.

And then I knew.
 
I remembered what creepy Jim told me yesterday.
 
The amulet would know if I was in danger.
 
He said I needed to pay attention to it.
 
He said it would warn me if I was in trouble.
 
As much as these people looked like my parents, they weren’t my parents and the amulet knew it.
 
It was becoming scalding hot in an effort to reach me.

These people were something else.

“Let me hold you,” the thing that was my father said.
 
“Come to me.
 
Tell me that you forgive me.”

“Stop,” I said.
 
“Don’t come closer.”

“He’s your father, Seth.
 
Go to him.
 
Come with us.
 
We belong together.”

“You’re not my parents!”

They said it in unison, like a chant:
 
“We are your parents.”

I tried to transport myself to the other side of the room, but I couldn’t.
 
I tried to become invisible, but I couldn’t.
 
You work it with your heart and with your head
.
 
But nothing was working.
 
I wasn’t able to focus.
 
I was more frightened than I’d ever been and the amulet wasn’t working because I couldn’t tap into it.

My mother’s clone took a step closer.
 
“Don’t be afraid of us.”

There was a door behind me, the only other way out.
 
But what was I dealing with here?
 
How fast were they?
 
If they could make themselves burn, what else could they do?
 
Certainly, they would take me down if I ran.
 

“Just let me hold you.”

They wanted the amulet.
 
These were the people Jim warned me about—or at least it was part of them.
 
They were here for the amulet.
 
They disguised themselves as my parents to distract me.
 
I took another step back and reached behind me for the door.
 
They came here like this to throw me off, knowing I wouldn’t be able to focus.
 
I suddenly felt angry.
 
The amulet was mine.
 
I wasn’t letting go of it.

Another step closer.
 
Now they were upon me.

“What’s that around your neck?”

The thing that was my father started to reach out his hand.

You work it with your heart and with your head.

And when he did, I dug down deeper than I ever had and tapped so completely into the amulet that I felt it hum against my chest.
 
I felt it beat as if it was in tune with my heart.
 
I felt its power the way I had the first time I put it on.

I dropped it inside my shirt so it couldn’t be snatched away from me.
 
I looked each of them in the eyes and with everything I had inside of me, every ounce of concentration I could muster, I shoved out my hands in front of me, turned on the electricity and imagined them flying into the living room.