Echoes (Whisper Trilogy Book 2) (19 page)

Emma walked towards the tired-looking house, the overgrown grass which spilled onto the path grasped at her legs as she passed. Opening the creaking screen door she knocked on the faded red wood behind.

The woman who opened the door had a deeply lined face, and a mouth which looked at its most comfortable twisted into a disgusted sneer. Her wiry hair sat in a scruffy nest on top of her head, and the look was completed by a cigarette dangling out of the corner of her mouth.

“Yeah?” she barked as she leaned on the door frame

“I’m here to see Alex. Is he home?”

“Upstairs, end of the hall,” the woman said, retreating back into the darkened bowels of the house.

Emma crossed the threshold and headed upstairs. Trying to ignore the slightly musky odor of the house, she reached Alex’s room and knocked on the door.

“Who is it?”

“It’s Emma.”

Silence.

“You’d better come in.”

She opened the door, somehow managing not to recoil at the teenage pheromone smell assaulting her. Clothes and dirty dishes covered every available surface. The curtains were closed against the day, bathing the room in a murky, diffused light. Alex lay on the bed, sipping a beer and staring at the TV. The bruises on his neck were visible even in the gloom.

“Does your mother know you’re drinking?” she asked.

“She doesn’t care. Besides, she’s not my mother, just my dad’s latest conquest. What do you want?” he snapped.

“We were worried about you. We’ve been trying to reach you.”

“I know. I just didn’t feel like talking.”

“We’re worried,” she repeated, unsure what else to say.

“Bull. You all made your feelings clear enough at the clearing last week.”

She lowered her eyes to the clothes-littered floor.

“Has he said anything about what he did?” Alex asked.

“No, he said he can’t remember any of it. He’s embarrassed.”

Alex shook his head, draining his can before dropping the empty unceremoniously on the floor.

“How’s the neck?” she asked.

“Hurts.”

“Alex, I’m just here to check on you. You can drop the tough guy act, you really don’t need it.”

She half-expected him to argue, and was surprised to see him relax, as if someone had opened a valve somewhere and let some air out of him. He shrank back against the headboard, and it was only then she noticed just how exhausted he looked.

“Sorry,” he said, grabbing another beer from the pack and snapping it open. “Thanks for dropping by.”

She ventured further into the room and perched on the end of the bed.

“Talk to me, Alex. What’s wrong?”

He looked at her, and it was as if she were seeing the real Alex for the first time. Gone was the cocky, arrogant joker. She was looking at someone who was older, more aware and altogether more grounded in reality.

“Can I give you some advice?” he said, holding her gaze.

She nodded, aware how charged the atmosphere had become.

“Stay away from there. Cody too.”

“What do you mean?”

“Please, just do as I ask. It’s not safe.”

“What do you know? Why isn’t it safe?” she said, recalling her vivid dream from the night they’d camped at the circle.

“I’m not sure how to really explain it. When Cody attacked me, when he was strangling me… it wasn’t him.”

Alex squirmed on the bed and took a long drink, before training sleep-deprived eyes on her again.

“It was evil. That’s the best way I can describe it. A pure, relentless evil. I could feel it all around me.”

“Like a presence? Ghosts?” Emma said, heart thundering in her chest.

“No, I mean Cody. Something’s happened to him. Whoever he used to be, the person we all knew has gone now. The Cody who did this,” he said, pulling the collar of his T-shirt down to fully show the bruises on his neck, “isn’t the one we know. Whatever is there now is something else. It might look like Cody, and it might sound like him, but it’s not.”

“This doesn’t make any sense. I don’t know what you expect me to do.”

“You think I don’t know? Why do you think I’ve been holed up here since it happened? I keep trying to make sense of it. Every time I try to figure it out, all I see are those fucking pictures in my head.”

“What pictures?”

Alex grinned, a nervous, humorless expression.

“When he… when it grabbed me and was choking me out, I saw things. I heard their voices.”

“Whose voices?”

“The things in the woods. I heard them. I could feel them. I saw what they intended to do. To me, you Scott and Carrie. Others too.”

“What did you see? What did they show you?” she asked, fighting to stop her voice from cracking.

The tree.

The nail in the flesh.

Blood.

Screaming.

Suffering.

“It’s hard to explain. It was snatches of things. Ideas. Emotions. I was myself down there on the floor choking for breath, yet somehow at the same time I was in other places too. I was Cody, I was the things in the trees, all at the same time. It’s so difficult to explain it in words.”

Emma put a hand on his. It was cold and rough. She forced herself not to recoil away.

“How do you expect me to tell them this? How can I make them believe me?” she said, not even sure if she believed it herself.

“You don’t have to tell them the truth. Lie if you have to. Just make sure they don’t go up there. They’ll listen to you. You’re a bigger influence than you think.”

“What about Cody? If what you say is true, we owe it to him to help.”

Alex grimaced as more images flashed into his mind’s eye.

The blood.

Choking in open air.

Pain.

Betrayal.

Can’t breathe.

Can’t breathe.

“That’s what I’m trying to tell you,” he said, his eyes full of anguish. “I know what they want to do. You can’t save Cody now. Nobody can. They have him now.”

“What do you mean?”

“They found a way to merge, them and us. They know how to become part of us and change us. Cody isn’t the first. They know what’s coming. Good god, they showed me what they plan to do.”

“You can’t expect them to believe this. It’s pretty out there. I don’t even understand what you’re saying to me.”

“I don’t care what you have to do, or what you have to tell them. Just don’t let them go up there.”

“I need time, I need to think about this and put it into some kind of order. This isn’t what I need right now.”

“I understand. I had to do the same. Just don’t take too long. The ones they want – the things in the woods – are coming, and they want to finish what they started.”

“Don’t you think you should maybe see a doctor?” she said.

“Why? For him to tell me I’m crazy? Or that I imagined the whole thing?” he shook his head. “No. I know what I saw. I know what I heard. I know it’s hard for you to believe me because I’m always trying so hard to be the funny one. Please, if you never believe anything I say ever again, you have to believe this. You have to.”

“The things you’re saying… I don’t know what to think. You don’t even sound like the Alex I know anymore.”

“That’s because I’m not. I’m different. When people talked about a life-changing event, I never really got it, not until now. This is mine. For me, everything is different. All those things which seemed so important to me before don’t mean anything now.”

“I’m sorry, I really don’t understand.”

“It’s okay, I didn’t expect you to. Have you ever heard about people who suffer a near death experience and it completely flips their lives upside down?”

“Yeah,” she replied, struggling to take everything in.

“It’s like that. I know you don’t understand, and I don’t hold it against you. Until you have your own experience, an epiphany or whatever you want to call it, I don’t think you can understand. All I can do is make sure you know the dangers involved if you go up there.”

“I really don’t know what to do,” she mumbled.

“I can’t force you to do anything. All I can do is offer some advice. If you want to keep them safe, you have to keep them away from that place.”

“And Cody, What about him?”

Alex hesitated, his cheek twitching as he looked at her.

“It’s not so bad if you keep him away from them. They still have a grip on him, although it seems weaker the further away you keep him from the woods. You need to keep a close eye on him. More than anyone, don’t let him go up there.”

“Are you saying he’s possessed?”

“It’s not like that,” he said, shaking his head. “I really wish I could explain it to you in a way you would understand.”

“I’m sorry, I’m just trying to figure this out.”

“Forget possession as you know it. All the Exorcist crap. It’s not how it works. For Cody, something from the woods, call it a spirit, call it dark energy, whatever you want, it’s bonded to him. He’s its host.”

“I still don’t get it.”

He held two fingers up to her, flashing the peace sign. “Imagine one finger represents Cody, the other this… energy from the woods.”

He crossed his fingers, and flashed a humorless, yellow grin. “They are one and the same now. Entwined, bonded together, whatever you want to call it.”

“Let’s say this is true. We have to do something to help him.”

“Don’t you think I’ve thought of that?” he said, nodding to a mountain of books and reams of printed internet pages on his desk. “I’ve read up on this stuff, it happens all over the world. They call it different things in different places. No matter what they call it, everywhere from Haiti to the Deep South, there are reports of this kind of thing. Hell, even the Vatican in Rome have acknowledged this.”

“I didn’t know,” she said, finally starting to think he might be right.

“It’s all out there on the internet. Read up on it, maybe you might believe me.”

“We can both help him, do it together, if we sit him down we can—”

Alex shook his head. “I’m not getting involved.”

“You can’t just put this on me. It’s not fair. It’s obvious you know all about this stuff.”

“I’m sorry.”

“I need you.”

“I’m sorry. I wish it were different. We both know I’m no hero. I’m not about to put my life at risk over this. I might live in a shithole of a house with an alcoholic son of a bitch father, and yeah, maybe I even act like a complete dick myself sometimes, but I like living. And I like my life. I’m warning you because I don’t want to see you get hurt, any of you. Either way, I’m staying right here, as far away from the hotel, those woods and the clearing as possible. I advise you to do the same”

“I can’t do this alone. They won’t believe me.”

“You’ll have to convince them. As I said, you can find the info online. The more you read, the more you’ll know I’m right.”

“What if I can’t talk them out of it? You know how stubborn they are, you also know how obsessed they are with finding out about the place. What if they refuse to listen to me?”

“They’ll all die.”

She drew breath. The way he’d said it was cold, and he held her gaze for long enough to prove he genuinely believed it.

“I have to go,” she said, standing and backing towards the door.

“Remember what I said. Do whatever it takes to keep them alive.”

She barely heard him. She was already striding down the hallway. The house felt oppressive, making her long for fresh air. Her mind raced with the information and, as she finally pushed her way outside and staggered down the path, she was crying and shaking. Alex watched her from his bedroom window, hoping she could stop the things he’d been shown from happening. The alternative didn’t bear thinking about.

II

“Thanks for doing this Becca,” Melody said, forcing a smile which was anything but natural.

“Are you kidding? Anything to spend more time with this little monster,” she replied, tickling Isaac’s belly.

He squealed, then charged off into the garden, leaving the two sisters alone.

“Seriously though, thanks for agreeing to have him. We appreciate it.”

“More than happy to look after the little man. Anyway, I’m worried about you. I’m not convinced this is a good idea, Mel. In fact, I can’t even believe you’re considering it.”

“Believe me, it’s not through choice.”

“I don’t want you going back there. Do you need me to remind you how it was in those first weeks after the fire? The nightmares? The panic attacks? And what about Steve? Do you really think he can handle going back?”

“I know – we know. As much as the idea terrifies me, we have no choice. I keep hoping it won’t be so bad, especially now the house is gone.”

“We both know you don’t believe that. Those memories will come back the second you reach Oakwell.”

“We need the money.”

“Isn’t your health and well being more important? So what if you owe medical bills. It’s just stuff. Let them take it.”

“It’s not the only reason,” Melody said as she watched Isaac play with Steve out by the car. “It was the look on Isaac’s face. When they came and took his stuff. When we had to sit there and try to explain…”

The tears came, hot and fierce, as she began to sob. Rebecca hugged her sister, stroking her hair.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to push. I just worry about you both,” Rebecca soothed.

“I know, I know,” Melody replied between sniffles. “We just have no choice. This can get us back on an even keel so we can finally move on. I don’t think either of us has ever really got over what happened up there. Maybe this will give us some closure.”

“I hope it does,” Rebecca whispered. “You need to stop existing and start living your life. We only get one shot at it. Just promise me one thing. If anything odd should happen, please… please get the hell out of there, money or no money. Deal?”

Melody nodded while wiping her eyes.

“Look at me, I’m a mess,” she said, half managing a smile.

“It’s good to cry sometimes. It gets the tension out in the open.”

“Well, tension or no tension, we’d better make a move.”

Melody cleaned herself up and a few minutes later strode outside with Rebecca, grinning, acting as if she didn’t have a care in the world. As good as her act was, Steve noticed, frowning as the sisters headed towards the car.