The House of Wood (22 page)

“Please, I love you.”

“Screw you.”

I kicked him in the head,
knocking him unconscious. He had fooled us all. I wasn’t about to
let him do it to me twice. I knew that within minutes, the building
would crumple like a house of cards. Then I saw it. The window at
the end of the hallway.

Taking a deep breath, I prayed
my idea would work. I covered my face with my arms and charged
forward. Straight at the window…

***

Nathan took a long drag on his
cigarette before tossing it to the floor. He couldn’t believe the
weather, so uncharacteristically stormy for the time of year. He
could feel the electricity in the air. It made the hairs on his
neck stand on edge. It was as if something was building, an ominous
portent. He only hoped it was his imagination.

High heeled footsteps behind
him drew his attention.

“Hey, I wondered where you got
to,” Becky said, her blonde hair billowing out behind her in the
wind. “Are you coming back inside? It’s getting wild out here.”

“Yeah I guess we should be
going back in. We don’t want you catching pneumonia.”

She smiled, a cheeky twinkle in
her eyes. “Well I’m sure you could nurse me back to health.”

He grabbed her around the
waist, pulling her in close to him. The rain tapped on the tin roof
of the shelter. “Could I now?”

Before she could answer, their
lips locked together. His tongue explored the velvet softness of
her mouth. It felt good. All his doubts and fears evaporated in
that moment. Everything would be fine, he thought. Maybe it was
possible to get his life back on track, to forget the past and move
forward.

They parted, Becky’s face a
slight pink.

“Wow,” she said,
breathless.

“Good?”

“Definitely good.”

They both laughed. Something
coming along the road caught Nathan’s attention. He stepped forward
from under the tin cover.

“What is it, Nate?”

He didn’t answer, just stared
at the speeding car. His fear rose like bile in his throat.

“Talk to me, Nathan. What’s
wrong?”

He spun towards her and grabbed
her roughly by the shoulders. “Did Rachel take her car on the
date?”

“I-I don’t-“

“Did she or didn’t she?”

“Ow, Nathan you’re hurting
me.”

“TELL ME!”

“No I don’t think she did.
David was driving. What the hell is wrong with you?”

He let go of her and stalked
off towards his own car. Becky followed him in to the rain. She
grabbed him by the wrist.

“What’s wrong? Why do you need
to know?”

“We’ve got to get to the
sheriff’s office,” Nathan replied, his words strained. “He’s taking
her to the house.”

“Why? Why would he take her to
the house?”

“He owns it. He isn’t
interested in helping her.”

“But why? What are you talking
about?”

Nathan’s fear was growing. He
had to hurry.

“Don’t you see,” he said. “He
wants to recreate the past.” His eyes looked towards the house. The
final piece of the puzzle slotted in to place. “He’s Justin’s
brother.”

***

“It felt like I was falling
forever,” Rachel said. Her eyes were still shut tight, picturing
the memories. She sounded as though she was in some kind of trance.
“When I finally hit the ground, my mind was blank. The fall
sprained my ankle, but thankfully the bones were still intact.
Behind me I could hear the beams of the house falling. To me it
sounded as if it was screaming, but that was more likely my
imagination. It was over. Justin was dead. Somehow, I’d
survived.”

She took a deep breath as she
finished. The engine of the Prius hummed through the car. She could
feel it was moving along at a speed, but she didn’t open her eyes.
Something in her had changed. It was as if the shackles of her past
had been taken off of her. She hadn’t felt this way since before
that night.

“So, you left Justin in there
to die?” David asked.

The heat in the car was making
Rachel feel drowsy. “After what he had done, I wasn’t about to save
him.”

“Don’t you think it was up to
the law to decide what happened to him? Do you not feel
guilty?”

The locket around her neck
suddenly burned, it felt heavy.

“I didn’t want to be there. I
didn’t ask him to murder my friends. I didn’t ask him to try and
kill me.”

David said nothing. They sat in
silence. Then Rachel heard a familiar sound. Gravel crunching
beneath the tyres, as the car ground to a halt. Terror gripped her
like a rope around her throat.

Her eyes opened.

She wanted to scream, but
nothing would come.

There was the house in front of
the car, its white washed wooden panels, standing out clear in the
black sky. The black lifeless windows looking out over the
countryside. It was exactly the same as she remembered it in her
dreams.

“Don’t be frightened, Rachel,”
David said, reaching out towards her.

“Why have you brought me here?”
She growled. “You sick bastard.”

She swung the car door open and
jumped out.

“Rachel, come back.” He
followed her out of the car. “It’s not-“

The sentence was cut short. She
wasn’t there. He spun around, searching for her. But she was
nowhere to be seen.

“Rachel, please come back. We
can talk. You need to confront your fears. This’ll be good
for-“

He never finished the sentence.
His body was out cold before he hit the floor. A puddle of blood
was beginning to form on the gravel drive way.

Rachel stood over him, a sharp
stone in her hand. Spittle hung from one corner of her mouth. Her
eyes were wild. Blackbirds were beginning to gather on the roof of
the porch. Lightening flashed.

“Rachel’s not here right now.
Can I take a message?”

Chapter
Twenty-One

“Rachel,” David said, his face
smeared with his own blood. “If you just let me go, we can work
this out.”

“Nope. I can't do that, sugar
pie. If I let you go, you’ll runaway and we don't want that.”

He couldn't believe this was
happening to him. Only a short while ago he was having a pleasant
meal with a kind, but troubled young girl. It had been stupid to
agree to this. When he met her, he had sensed that she may be
deeply disturbed, but he hadn't seen her as a textbook
schizophrenic. A part of him still wasn't convinced she was. There
was something not right.

“You can't keep me locked up,
Rachel. You know that.”

“This is my land, I can do what
the fuck I like.”

Her land? David thought. Surely
she didn't think that she owned this house.

“This is my house now. My
father owns the place. Mr Langrishe.”

She lunged at him with the
knife, placing it firmly against his throat. Her tongue whipped
back and forth along her bottom lip. Her eyes were wild. “How dare
you speak to me in that manner? I made this place what it is. No
one is going to take it away from me. All these loved up teenagers
come strolling in here thinking they can turn it into a house of
ill repute. Well I showed them what love is. Love is coming home
and seeing your wife dead, her body hanging from the ceiling like a
piñata at a child’s party. She was my world. Then she was gone. We
were meant to be together forever. Me and my sugar pie. We’ll damn
you. Damn every one of you.”

She pulled the knife away. A
thin trickle of blood ran down beneath David’s shirt collar. His
mind raced. Three years ago when this happened, the official
reports claimed Rachel had insisted Justin went insane all of a
sudden, spouting similar statements. He had also used the term
‘sugar pie it claimed’. Now it seemed as though Rachel was
experiencing the same demented thoughts. It was impossible for two
people to have the same psychosis. Wasn't it? Never in all his life
had he heard of two separate events taking the same, twisted
turns.

He watched her, as she sat down
on the edge of the table. The knife turned in her hand. She didn't
once take her eyes off of it.

Being a professional
psychologist, the supernatural had always been something to sneer
at. Pure hokum. But now, David wondered if it was all true. There
was certainly something amiss. Something that wasn't psychological.
It was in her eyes, her manner, her speech. It was everything about
her. She had changed almost completely since the beginning of the
evening. But how, he wondered. Had she been possessed? With his
current predicament, he realised it may be fatal to rule out any
possibility.

The room had started to grow
cold, despite the fire, which was beginning to die. The old house
seemed to be settling for the long night ahead. The torrential rain
lashed against the windows, the tapping, rising and falling with
the wind. Without moving his head, he looked around the kitchen.
There were only two ways out; through a window, or the door. With
his wrists and ankles bound to the chair, there was no escape. For
a split second, he could have sworn there was somebody standing
outside the window. He blinked. There was nothing there. Nobody
knew they were up here. The smell of burnt flesh drifted up to his
nostrils, as pain seared across his chest. Tears mingled with the
blood on his cheeks. He silently prayed to God that it would be
over soon. That the end would be quick.

“Are you going to kill me,
Hiram? It is Hiram I'm speaking to, isn't it?”

Rachel's face looks puzzled.
“Oh no, my love. And yes I'm going to gut you like a fish. How can
we be together if I don't?”

If not Hiram, David thought,
then who? “Tell me something, do you remember my brother?”

There was silence for a moment.
It was as if the words had hit a chord in her.

“His name was Justin,” David
added.

“So many kids come through
here. He could’ve been any one of the dirty pigs.”

“Who are you?”

Rachel sneered. “Haven’t you
worked it out yet?” She stood up, her arms stretching outwards.
“Don’t you see? I'm all of them. Every damn one. I'm the windows,
doors, every brick and floorboard. I'm the house of wood.”

David shook his head. “N-N-No,
that's not possible. How can that be?”

“Hiram was stupid to build
here. He wasn't the first. I've been here longer than people
realise. Oh yes, I sent him mad. It wasn't hard. Booze is the
perfect thing to send a man crazy. Crazy enough to kill his own
family.”

“It’s not possible. Houses
aren't alive. How is it possible? How can you possess people?”

“Aren’t we a curious little
one? Curiosity killed the cat, you know. It's what got those brats
up there killed.” Rachel strolled over to the kitchen window. “If
enough bad is committed in one place, it leaves a mark. Like
cancer, it eats through the very soul of a place. A clever boy like
you must know that.”

“You’re evil.”

Again, Rachel flew at him. This
time the chair bowled over backwards with the two of them. David's
head smashed down hard on the wooden floor. Bright sparks covered
his vision. She was so close, he could smell her on top of him.

“You fucking son of a bitch,”
she spat in to his face. Thunder roared outside. “How dare you
judge me? You don't know what it’s like. Time and time again they
come, but still they don't leave me alone. So, I thought I would
have some fun. Jacob thought his father had killed his mother. When
he saw her dead body lying on the bed, he thought Hiram could’ve
done that. He was a sentimental sap. Jacob went for him like a wild
beast. The knife was in Hiram's hand. It just came up before he
realised. The blood. The blood was everywhere. I enjoyed toying
with them. Their souls are still here. I’ve collected so many more
since then. The more people fear me, the stronger I get. And
now…”

There was a glint in the eyes.
Her lips were drawn back into a snarl, spittle dripped down onto
David’s forehead.

“You’re going to be our newest
member.”

A piercing scream filled the
night air, integrating with the sound of thunder. The deadly blade
made a sucking sound, as it was extracted from between his ribs.
David could've sworn there was someone else in the room, as the
edges of his vision closed in on him.

***

“But Pa, I know there's
something going on up there. You've got to believe me.” Nathan was
practically screaming the words. He was beginning to wish that he
hadn't drunk anything tonight. His eyes kept blurring in and out of
focus. “Just give me a handful of guys to go and check it out.”

“I can’t do that, Nate. Not on
a hunch.” Sheriff Ross sat back in his brown, wood and leather
office chair. He brought his hands together under his chin. He
looked bored, as though he would rather be anywhere else than in
his office late at night. “I’m sorry. I can't do it.”

Nathan was pacing around the
room. He slammed his fist down hard on the desk. “You have to do
something. Rachel could be in danger.”

“The James girl? Trouble seems
to follow her like a lost puppy wherever she goes.” The sheriff
leant forward. “But that don't change a thing. If you wanna go
charging out there like some lunatic at this hour, then that's your
business.”

“But Pa, you know what happened
last time. I came to you and you did nothing until it was too late.
Can’t you see, it’s happening again.”

“Sorry Nathan, but I think you
should leave. Now.”

“But -“

“Nathan!”

“Fine.”

It was useless to argue. He
spun around to leave, the white fluorescent light blinding him as
he turned.

“Nate, if I were you I’d stay
away. You’ve wasted enough damn time, pining after her. Trust me
son, no woman is worth it.”

Nathan stopped, his head low.
“I’ve got to help her.”

“But why? She’ll never look at
you the way you want her to. You’re a dreamer wasting your time.
Just like your mother.”