Protector (61 page)
Authors: Laurel Dewey
Tags: #Police Procedural, #Denver (Colo.), #Mystery & Detective, #Psychic ability, #Women detectives, #Crime, #Suspense, #Women Sleuths, #Children of murder victims, #Fiction, #Occult & Supernatural, #Espionage
Mary looked shocked. “Heather. I can’t—”
“Do it!” Heather ordered. Mary reluctantly brought her arm to her lips. “Wait!” Heather interrupted. “Instead of using your own arm, you have to use Patty’s.” The girls, save for Emily and Mary, nervously giggled. Emily looked over at Mary, not quite knowing what to think. The whole thing seemed odd to Emily and yet she tried her best to block out the feeling. She held out her arm to Mary who reluctantly held it between her hands. Pausing briefly, Mary leaned down and kissed Emily’s arm as best she could. After a few seconds, she quickly let go of Emily’s arm. The girls let out a cacophony of laughter. Heather shook her head in dissatisfaction. “Gosh, Mary. I feel sorry for your first boyfriend!” Mary shrunk down in embarrassment as the other girls laughed even louder. “You know, Mary,” Heather said, “if you now agree to a double dare, you can sit out the next round and give out two truth or dares.”
“Do it, Mary,” one of the girls urged.
Mary looked helplessly around the room. Emily was drawn toward the ceiling as the lilting melody of “Nessun Dorma” from the Starlight Starbright pulled her away from the group. Mary tugged on Emily’s pajama sleeve, bringing Emily back into the moment.
“What should I do?” Mary whispered to Emily.
“Um, it sounds like a good deal, I guess” Emily said, not quite sure.
Mary hesitated. “Double dare it is.”
Heather leaned forward, speaking in a confidential tone. “You have to kiss Patty on the lips.”
Emily’s eyes widened in surprise. Mary matched Emily’s reaction. The rest of the girls broke into fits of giddy laughter.
“Heather!” Mary said in shock.
“You agreed to a double dare, Mary!” Heather haughtily said over the cackle of giggles. “Are you going to take back your promise?”
Mary looked at Emily between the eerie shadows that clutched the room. Emily suddenly felt trapped and anxious. “Okay,” Mary said. “I’ll kiss her but it won’t be like a boyfriend.” Mary leaned closer to Emily, who directed her attention toward the ceiling of floating stars.
Part of Emily was in that room and part of her was someplace far away. She focused on the star-filled ceiling and the familiar sound of “Nessun Dorma” rising above the sound of the crashing waves and wind. She felt Mary’s warm lips touch hers but she didn’t react. Her body was lifting out of her physical skin and drifting behind the thin veil of reality.
Heather watched Emily with great interest, not sure what to make of her unusual reaction. She expected something else. She wanted to see a jolting reflex or disgust for the kiss and she wasn’t getting it. Mary pulled back as Emily kept focusing on the ceiling. “So, Patty,” Heather said, “is Mary a good kisser?” Emily remained faraway, not moving a muscle or blinking an eye. “Patty!” Heather said loudly. Emily still didn’t react. “My, my!” Heather smugly said. “I think Patty’s in love!”
The girls, save for Mary, erupted into a rowdy chorus of laughter. The raucous sound brought Emily partly back into reality.
“Heather!” Mary said. “That’s mean!”
“I’m just kidding!” Heather said offhandedly. “She knows I’m kidding! Right, Patty?”
Emily was still not completely back inside her body. “Yeah . . . Sure . . .”
Heather nonchalantly sat back on her sleeping bag and stole a glance toward the kitchen. In the glow of the kitchen night-light, she saw Jane lighting a cigarette and opening the sliding door. Jane stepped outside and closed the door behind her. Heather turned back to the group with a devilish grin. “Okay, Mary. It’s your turn. Remember though, that you have to ask the question to the person on your right-hand side.”
Mary looked to her right where Emily sat. “Can’t I go to the left for a change.”
“No! We always go counterclockwise, which is to the right!” Heather said impatiently. “Go!”
Mary turned to Emily and reluctantly asked, “Truth or dare?”
Emily remembered Jane’s words regarding not letting anything slip out of her mouth by mistake. As much as she didn’t want to kiss another girl, she had only one response for Mary. “Dare?”
Heather looked both relieved and brimming with sinister intent. She snuck another quick glance toward the kitchen and saw that Jane had moved farther into the darkness of the backyard. “Go on, Mary! Make up a dare!”
Mary hemmed and hawed, which irritated Heather. “I don’t know. I’m not good at making up dares.”
“I’ll help you out if you want,” Heather quickly said.
“Okay.”
“How ’bout ‘Blind Man’s Hide and Seek’?”
“Yeah, that’s a good one,” Mary agreed.
“What’s that?” Emily asked.
“We put a blindfold over your eyes, spin you around and then we hide and you try to find us without taking off the blindfold,” Heather explained.
The whole thing sounded fine to Emily. “Okay,” she said, standing up. “What are we gonna use for a blindfold?”
“How about a dish towel?” Heather forcefully suggested. The girls agreed. “I’ll get it!” Heather announced, popping to her feet and creeping into the darkened kitchen. Taking a quick look around the room, she grabbed a dish towel. Heather then hunkered near the floor and saw Jane standing outside in the center of the backyard with her back to the closed sliding door. Reaching to the side of the wall, Heather took the wooden dowel and inconspicuously placed it in the track of the glass door to prevent the door from opening. She slowly backed up out of the kitchen and returned to the living room. “Here’s the towel!” she said, tossing it to another girl who affixed the blindfold to Emily. Heather sidled up to Mary. “You know,” she said confidentially, “I think she can see through it.”
“Naw,” Mary said. “Spin her around!” Mary announced to the other girls.
The girls twirled Emily in circles. Emily could see nothing as she felt her head becoming lighter. The mesmerizing “Nessun Dorma,” along with the soothing sound of crashing waves and blowing wind joined together to pull Emily into another realm. Gradually, the music and smooth sound effects captured her senses, leaving the girls’ voices far in the distance.
Heather turned to Mary, speaking in a hushed, anxious voice. “I’m telling you, she can see and it’s not fair!”
“Okay, what do you want to do?”
“Let’s put her in the hall closet and then go hide.”
“Whatever,” Mary said, beginning to tire of the game.
Heather crossed over to Emily’s side and started to spin her around as she guided her toward the hallway. “You’re spinning . . . you’re spinning . . .” Heather said in a melodious tone. The other girls followed, with Mary lagging behind the group. Emily didn’t say a word. All the girls, except for Mary, were giddy with anticipation as Heather moved Emily closer to the closet door. Heather opened the closet door. “Okay, one more spin and then we go hide.” Heather gently spun Emily into the closet before quietly closing the door. “Shh!” she said in a hushed tone to all the girls. “Wait here.” Heather disappeared down the hall, returning seconds later with a chair. After securely wedging the chair underneath the door handle, she turned to the girls. “Okay,” she whispered, “everybody except for Mary go hide.” The girls scattered down the hall and into the living room.
“What are you doing?” Mary said uneasily. “How’s she gonna get out to find us?”
“Stop worrying about that!” Heather said in an angry hushed tone. “I want you to go into her bedroom over there, get the line dancing trophy sitting next to her bed and hide it in my duffel bag!”
“What?”
“Do it!” Heather commanded with angry bile.
“Why?”
“Because! It belongs to me! I’ve won that trophy for three years straight. I should have got it this year but she had to go and ruin everything! Go get it!”
“Is that why you wanted to come here? To steal her trophy?”
“Mary, I’ve got to stay here and watch the door. Go get my trophy!”
Mary stood her ground. “No. I won’t. She won it fair and square.”
Heather moved closer to Mary in an intimidating stance. “If you don’t get my trophy, I’m gonna tell everybody here that you’re a bed wetter!”
The blood drained from Mary’s face. “How . . . how did you know that?”
A wicked grin crept across Heather’s face. “I didn’t. You just told me! Go get my trophy or I’m telling everyone that you’re a little baby who still wets her pants. When they find out, you will have no friends and you will be all alone!”
Mary was panic-stricken. She hated the idea of stealing Emily’s trophy but couldn’t bear to have her dreaded secret revealed. Reluctantly, she walked down the hall and went into Emily’s bedroom. Within seconds, she emerged, trophy in hand and dutifully placed it into Heather’s bag without any of the girls seeing a thing.
Heather smiled, a sense of victory engulfing her. She turned around and spoke with her lips close to the door. “Hey, Patty? Time to come out.”
Emily sat inside the closet in the pitch-black, the blindfold still covering her eyes. For several minutes, all she heard was the sound of her beating heart. Gradually, her heart beat faster. Her respiration increased until she was gasping for breath. In the distance, she could hear the muffled sounds of her father yelling and her mother screaming out into the echoing darkness. Instinctively, she sunk farther back into the closet until her back was flat against the wall. She suddenly heard the distinctive thump of footsteps climbing the stairs to her bedroom. Her heart pounded and her breathing became more frightened. The blindfold irritated her face. She grabbed at it and tore it off her head.
Emily looked up and gasped. She was back in her bedroom closet, buried underneath her pile of pillows. The scene captivated Emily, and, at the same time, she was completely unsure of what was happening. Her Starlight Starbright was aglow and playing the haunting refrain from “Nessun Dorma,” along with the crashing waves and gentle wind. Sensing that something wasn’t right, she quickly grabbed the switch and shut off the projector, leaving herself in total darkness. Suddenly, she saw the light in her bedroom quickly flash on and reflect underneath the closed closet door. There was the sound of heavy breathing coming from just outside the door. Emily held her breath. With a abrupt jerk, the closet door swung open. A male figure stood less than five feet from where she hid. She was able to make out the individual perfectly. He was dressed all in black, including black gloves. His shoes were tightly protected with sturdy red cloth covers. Emily was drawn to his left, gloved hand. In it, he held a glimmering knife that dripped with fresh blood. She followed a single crimson droplet as it drifted down the metal surface and fell onto the pink carpeting.
Emily looked closely at the masked man. He appeared highly agitated. Emily watched as he peered into the closet, let out an aggravated grunt, spun around and checked under the bed. Realizing no one was hiding there, he struggled to his feet. In doing so, he knocked over a box of colored pencils that sat on the bedside table. Emily watched as the pencils bounced to the ground and spread out on the carpet. The man got to his feet, slammed his gloved hand against the side of the bed and mumbled under his breath, “Goddamn fucking kid! Where the fuck are you?” Emily listened carefully, realizing she had never heard his voice before that moment. “Shit!” the man said, pulling at the nylon mask around his face.
Emily, eyes wide open and heart racing, focused on the distorted face underneath the black, nylon disguise.
“Fuck!” the man said tearing at the mask, approaching a panic state. Emily never took her eyes off the man. In one fell swoop, he grabbed at the mask and rapidly peeled it off his head. He turned toward the closet, standing in full view of Emily and rubbing his cheek frantically with his gloved hand. Emily etched every inch of his face into her memory. “Goddamnit!” he said loudly, plunging the bloodstained knife into the sheath on his belt buckle.
At that point, Emily stared at the man’s sturdy cloth shoe coverings. She instantly realized that they were not naturally dyed red. The original beige color could be seen underneath the moist scarlet top layer. She watched as the man’s feet turned toward the open bedroom door and walked out of the room. Emily listened intently as his footsteps creaked and then pounded down the stairs toward the front door. She waited to hear the front door slam but heard nothing. So she waited, still silent and not moving a muscle. A branch from the sycamore tree outside her bedroom window tapped against the glass. Another strong gust of wind swooped across the yard. Emily watched as her closet door gradually swung back and forth. She sat silent and motionless. Waiting . . . Waiting. The wind roared outside and her closet door creaked open several more inches. Sitting there between the bright light of her bedroom and the dark recesses of her closet, Emily realized that the front door was wide open and funneling a draft of air up the stairs and into her bedroom.
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