Fallen Stones (51 page)

Stephanie began to think of Jason as not so much Jason but as a modern incarnation of Dwight Livingston. She also began to see herself as a later day version of Marie Livingston. Stephanie now was convinced Jason had wronged her. He had cheated on her with his harlot and had sired his own bastard child. And like Dwight before him, Jason was going to have to pay for his sins. She knew what Marie had done to get her revenge and now she too had been wronged. So now, she suddenly knew exactly what she had to do.

She looked over at Sammy sitting on the floor in his soiled diaper, watching the blank television screen. She suddenly realized why she had sent the two older kids away with her brother Chuck. The glass in the mirror began to pulsate more rapidly than ever as the specters began to press hard against the surface of the mirror, preparing to make their way out into the world of the living. They continued to send their vile force of thoughts out from their world toward Stephanie.

As Stephanie looked down at little Sammy, she couldn't help but notice how much he looked like Jason. She also realized just how much he looked similar to the portrait of Dwight Livingston not to mention the photo she had seen of Charles and Matthew Livingston, the two murdered boys. He looked more like them then he looked like his own half-brother, Jeremy. Sammy definitely had the Livingston family features, which meant he had the Livingston family blood, the blood of adulterous whoremongers. Why hadn't she noticed it before?  

"He looks just like his father," Stephanie said with a flat monotones voice, which no longer sounded like her own. This was because she was speaking in the voice of Marie Livingston who had been slowly feeding poisonous ideas into Marie's consciousness in tiny installments over the past several months. She had not taken over Stephanie, but enough of her thoughts were present so that she could begin to control Stephanie's will.

Stephanie looked down at Sammy and said in Marie's voice, "He loves his father. He idolizes him. Someday he will probably grow up to be just like Jason; and just like Dwight. Yes, I suppose someday he will likely find a whore of his own to impregnate and will break his loving wife's heart. It is the Livingston way; the Livingston destiny."

Suddenly Stephanie knew exactly how she would get even with Jason. It became clear and she knew what she had to do. She looked at the calendar hanging on the far wall, then looked down at the hypnotized form of her son and with an ironic smile, said, "Happy Birthday Sammy." Her voice was the voice of a mad woman.

Across the loft, the mirror on the wall was now vibrating wildly and practically rattling off its hooks. Soon a long slender grey withered hand with yellowed split fingernails eased from the glass. Next, another followed and soon the hideous head of Marie Livingston with its wild greasy hair slid out from the liquefied glass.

The fluid surface of the mirror began to slowly ooze from the confines of its frame, and cling to the surfaces around it; walls, floor and ceiling. It formed a thin translucent film of mercurial liquid, which flowed outward like a hand with many wide splayed fingers spreading in every direction.

Then the unspeakable creatures of the netherworld began to crawl forth from their land of the damned along the silvery surface always careful not to touch any objects of the world of the living. Soon they would be able to do so, but not yet. First came Marie Livingston, who crept out of the rippling glass and onto the left side of the mirror. She still was dressed the blood-splattered dressing gown she had worn the night she died. Her gray-filmed eyes still held the same look of insanity. As she clung to the sidewall on the glistening pool of mercury, her movements appeared jerky and erratic. Stephanie didn't notice her as she was still in a trance, staring out into space.

A moment later, the charred remains of Jack Moran likewise crawled from the pulsating glass, moving upward and clinging to the ceiling like a giant blackened, fleshless spider. Following him was H. Mason Armstrong and Emerson Washburn, both creeping out of portal and taking their positions along the wall, clinging like insects while staring with hatred at Stephanie. It was clear they were all focusing their attentions in her direction assisting Marie, as they were able.

Finally, two gnarled hands emerged from the mirror, one gripping each side. A moment later the form of Dwight Livingston, master of the cadre of the damned leapt out of the darkness and stood upright in front of the mirror, floating inches above the surface of the floor. Then likewise, the remaining specters flew from their perches and hovered behind their master. Marie and Washburn stood directly behind Dwight while Armstrong and Moran took their place in the rear. They said nothing but remained standing and looking at Stephanie, who seemed to be lost in her own world and who was apparently getting angrier and more agitated by the second. Stephanie's ravings were also becoming louder as she paced wildly back and forth, waving her arms and screaming epithets about Jason and his many women.

Sammy sat staring and the blank TV screen. After a few moments, his glassy eyes began to flitter in a sign of his waking. It was not yet time for him to awaken, however. Perhaps the energy required to maintain the intensity of Stephanie's mania caused the creatures to no longer be able to support the boy's illusion. Whatever the cause, Sammy soon found himself awake and sitting in front of a black television screen.

He could hear his mother yelling and sounding very angry. Sammy didn't like when Mommy was mad. Lately, Sammy noticed his Mommy and Daddy were mad at each other lots of times. He didn't know why they yelled so much but it didn't like it. When they did that, it made his tummy hurt. He liked how it was when Mommy and Daddy hugged and kissed. That was better than mad and yelling.

Sammy turned to look at his Mommy to see what might be wrong and stopped suddenly. He saw something bad; something really bad. Sammy knew bad stuff for sure. He was two and knew lots of words now. He could say a lot of them but could understand even more words than he could say. He knew them in his head but couldn't always say them with his mouth.

He looked and saw people, bad people, standing near the kitchen in the room; Mommy's special room that she called “the loff”. He could tell these were bad people as soon as he saw them. They were really, really scary. They were scarier than any scary thing he had ever seen. The scary man in the front looked sort of like Daddy but not just like Daddy. He remembered that scary man from the picture Mommy kept up there in the loff. The man had really scary eyes with dark rings around them. It made Sammy feel like the man's eyes were looking out from black holes. And the scary man had a big cut across his neck that Sammy thought looked really yucky.

There was a lady behind him who Sammy didn't like either. He remembered her from the first day they came to the new house. She was the scary lady in the glass who had made him cry by looking at him with her spooky eyes. And right next to her he saw that other man he didn't like. Sammy remembered his name was Armsong or something like that. Sammy didn't like Armsong before, and he didn't like him even more now. He was really scary and yucky now and Sammy didn't like that one bit. Sammy didn't want Armsong to see him so he closed his eyes, but when he opened them again, Armsong was still there.

The men in the back row scared Sammy the most. He didn't know them, but the one man looked like the burned up guy he saw in the fire car a long time ago when they came to see the house. He looked all burned and his face was like a skull face. Sammy knew what a skull face was. He used to think a skull face was called a skulk face, but now that he was two, he knew the right word. And that word was skull.

The bunch of bad scary people made Sammy's belly hurt worse than hearing Mommy yelling really loud. Why was she yelling so loud? Sammy didn't like it one bit. He wanted to cry and he felt like he was going to cry really bad when he saw something that made him forget about crying.

Between Sammy and the scary people, he saw two shapes start to become real where there wasn't anybody before. It was like a magic show; one time nobody was there, then two shapes started to be there. Sammy knew what two meant. He could count to two in his head and say it with his mouth. His mommy liked when he said, "one, two". It would make her smile instead of yelling and being mad. She would call him her "little geen-us"; whatever that meant. Sammy was pretty sure it meant he was good and was smart. Mommy liked when he was smart. Sammy wondered if saying "one, two" would make Mommy smile now. He didn't think so. He didn't think anything he did would make Mommy smile today.

When the two shapes stopped doing the magic thing and became people that he could see, Sammy recognized them. "Boys," he thought. Then he moved his mouth and silently said "boys" with his mouth. These were the same boys Sammy saw in the field that day a long time ago. Sammy forgot about the boys because he never saw them after that one time; but now the boys were back and maybe they came back to play with him.

Sammy liked these boys; they weren't scary like those bad people back behind the boys. They didn't even look as scary as they did when Sammy saw them before. They didn't look sick or tired anymore. Something was different. Now they looked very nice and clean and they had a bright light all around them. It was bright yellow and Sammy couldn't look right at it or it hurt his eyes. Sammy knew all about bright stuff and he knew some of his colors too. He had crayons and markers. He liked to draw stuff with his markers but most of the time he got lots of marker juice colors on his hands and face. But none of his colors were as bright like the yellow light around the boys. The light made Sammy feel good in his tummy and made him not want to cry. The boys were wearing suits like Daddy wore to church but they were all white and shiny with the bright light.

Then Sammy was surprised to hear some words inside his head. He was pretty sure the boys were saying the words because it sounded like two boys talking together and saying the same words. But the boys' mouths were not moving. Sammy never knew people could say words inside his head without making their mouths move or without saying the words. But that was what the boys were doing. They were putting words in his head without talking. Sammy thought that was pretty cool. He liked this game, and he tried to see if he could make words in their heads too.

Sammy thought the words "Hi, boys," in his head. The two boys smiled at Sammy, and then he heard two voices say, "Hello, Samuel."

"Samuel?" the little boy thought. Who was Samuel? Then he realized “Samuel” sounded like it might be fancy way to say Sammy. "I'm Sammy," he thought, "not Samuel."

The boys did not reply to his correction but instead said together, "Sammy. You have to listen carefully to us. Do not be afraid."

Sammy wasn't afraid any more at all, especially of these boys; not even a little. They were nice boys. Sammy knew nice stuff. He had been afraid of the scary people, but now he couldn't see them because of the bright light and that was ok with him. In fact, he had just about forgotten about the scary people. He thought, "I not scared... you good boys."

"Yes, Sammy," the boys replied. "We are good boys. And we are here to help you. Those bad people want to hurt you and your mommy and daddy. They are making your mommy think bad things, and they are going to make her do something really bad to you."

Sammy thought this was silly. His mommy loved him and would never do anything bad to him. The boys must be mixed up. Mommies were good not bad. Sammy loved his mommy so much it sometimes made him feel like crying. She would never do anything bad to him.

"You are right, Sammy," he heard the boys say. Your mommy is good. But those bad people are making her not be good. We cannot stop the bad people. We can see them, but they cannot see us. But we cannot hurt them or stop them. Only your daddy and mommy can make the bad people go away. You have to get your Daddy to come home right away."

"Daddy, help," Sammy thought as he silently formed the words with his mouth. "Daddy, help," he mouthed and thought again.

"Yes. That's right, Sammy. Can you say the words 'Daddy help'?" the boys asked. Sammy knew he could say those words and many more. He was two. He knew lots of words now. "Daddy help," Sammy said quietly.

The boys said in Sammy's head. "That's really good Sammy. Do you know how to say 'please'?"

Sammy thought for a moment and mouthed the word please, but it came out sounding like "peaze".

"Good, Sammy," the boys said. The turned and looked toward the place on the floor where Stephanie's purse lay. It was overturned on its side, and her smart phone was visible.

Sammy heard a scraping sound and saw the boys moving their hands as they made more magic happen. Mommy's phone started sliding across the floor and soon stopped right in front of him. The front of the phone lit up, and Sammy could see all the little pictures on the screen. Sammy knew a lot about Mommy's phone because she sometimes let him play with it. She had some fun stuff on her phone. Sammy liked the cat that said stuff back to him. He could say a word and the cat would say it back in his silly cat voice. And sometime the cat farted. Sammy loved that. The cat farts always made him laugh.

Sometimes he pushed the picture of Daddy by mistake and then he heard his Daddy talking on the phone. When he did that, Mommy took the phone away and said "No". Sammy didn't like to hear "no". He liked to say "no" lots of times but didn't like to hear it. He was thinking now about that time he pushed his daddy's picture on Mommy's phone.

"You must call your daddy, Sammy. You must say 'Daddy help please' until your Daddy comes home. Can you do that, Sammy? Can you do that?"

"No," Sammy thought. "Mommy said 'no touch.' Sammy no touch Mommy's phone. Sammy no call Daddy. Sammy no push Daddy's picture."

Then the boys said, "But, Sammy, it is alright this time to call Daddy. Only Daddy can help you and Mommy. Only Daddy can make the bad people go away. Daddy must come home. You must call Daddy, Sammy. It's alright to do it this one time. You're two years old today. You're a big boy, Sammy. And big boys are allowed to call daddies."