The House of Wood (24 page)

He swung the car door open. The
birds ripped at his skin, taking huge strips of flesh with them. He
aimed the car. Then floored it.

***

Rachel sat at the base of the
tree outside the house. The swing didn’t move. She didn’t see the
explosion just below the hill. But she heard it. Her last hope of
surviving. Gone. She heard the maniacal laugh coming towards her,
but she didn’t look towards him. She just stared at the black,
lifeless windows.

“I’m afraid your friend won’t
be joining us this evening.”

Justin’s sick laughter almost
deafened her, as he lifted her against the dead tree. His putrid
breath filled her nostrils, his bloated tongue running the length
of her neck. She felt sick.

“Mmmm, maybe I’ll have some fun
before I give you to my children,” Justin sneered, his hand
exploring under her top. “Then your soul will join them.”

Rachel’s eyes burned with
hatred. “I stopped you before.”

“You poor misguided creature. I
could feel Justin screaming inside me as I tortured you. He loved
you and you burnt him alive thinking he was evil. Now he’s urging
me on like the rest of them.” He slid the knife up her arm. “They
all succumb in the end.”

Something in her snapped.
Rachel’s eyes looked straight at the abomination leering over her.
She was getting angry now. “You’ve taken half my life away. You
sick, evil bastard.”

Justin laughed at her. “What’re
you going to do, bitch? Kill me?”

Rachel's own sadistic smile
crawled across her face. “The living can't kill the dead.” She
said, her voice deep, more like a growl. “But I'm not so sure about
the dead having a go.”

Lilly had been standing behind
the tree the whole time, listening. She launched herself straight
at him.

The two of them flew backwards.
This was her chance, Rachel realised. She sprang into action.

Sprinting towards the door, she
ignored the two fighting on the floor. It was wide open. She had to
get David out. He must have lost a lot of blood by now, she
thought. Maybe too much? She didn't know how much blood a person
could lose before it was too late. She moved faster.

The house had the last laugh.
An unseen force slammed the front door shut. She tugged and slammed
herself against it. Nothing budged. She was locked out.

A hand yanked her around. Half
of Justin’s face had been caved in. Shards of his skull protruded
through the skin. His single eye leered at her.

“Did you really think that
little bitch could stop me?”

***

David didn’t know how much time
had passed. All he could hear was agonising screams. He kept
blinking in and out of consciousness. His body felt cold, despite
the heat coming from the fireplace. It didn’t matter anymore. He
wouldn’t want to live after tonight.

He started to lift up and
opened his eyes.

“Get away from me,” he choked.
“Get away.”

Lilly pointed a finger at him.
He felt the ropes behind him loosen. He blinked.

“W-w-what? I-I don’t
understand.”

“The house won’t let me see my
Mommy.”

He shook his head, even more
confused.

She looked at the blood seeping
out between his fingers, then towards the exposed gas pipes.

Their eyes locked. David
finally understood.

***

“You dumb bitch,” Justin spat.
“When’re you going to learn, you can’t kill me. Evil permeates this
place. It will
always
survive.”

Rachel had lost her burst of
courage. There was nothing left to do, but die and be done with it.
She had waited for the end to come countless times in the last few
years. Now it was here. Let the endless silence take me, she
thought. No more suffering.

Justin finished tying her to
the tree like a sacrificial lamb. The blackbirds cawed louder in
thanks. Rachel closed her eyes.

“Come and feast,” Justin
shouted in to the air. “Come my-”

The words were cut short.
Rachel waited for the sensation of birds eating her alive. Nothing
came. She opened her eyes.

Nathan was on the floor,
wrestling with the grisly spectre.

Her spirit soared, as the rain
still poured down on her. Lightning lit up the scene in front of
her.

“Who’re you?” Justin growled,
as he broke free. The flashes of light reflecting off his eye.

“I’m the one that should’ve
been here last time. I don’t have a clue what’s going on, but I do
know you’re one ugly son of a bitch.”

Justin twisted the stained
blade in his hand. “Son-of-a-bitch. I’m going to gut you like a
fish.”

He lunged, but Nathan managed
to twist his body out of the path of the knife. He lost his footing
on the slippery, wet gravel. Justin was on top of him in a flash.
He lifted Nathan’s body in the air and tossed him against the beams
holding up the porch.

Rachel heard the bones crack.
But she didn’t stop. She had been tugging at the ropes and she
could feel them loosening. She was almost free.

A gust of wind howled past her.
She turned her head away to shield her face from the pelting
rain.

She stopped struggling.

David was standing in the
window.

***

He didn’t know why he went to
the window first. David could feel the life draining from him. But
he wanted to see her one more time. The woman that had changed his
fate. If only he’d have been honest, he thought. If only he hadn’t
heard her soft, sweet sobs that day. Things could’ve been so
different. He took one last look. It didn’t matter now.

He thought about running.
Leaving everyone and everything behind. Then he realised there was
one fundamental flaw in his plan; the house would never let him go.
Even if he did manage to get out, it wouldn’t let him be. It would
follow him, haunt him, until one day he would buy a gun and a
bottle of liquor. His mind was already fractured with his
schizophrenia. It was under control, but it had already started to
spiral out of control since being back in town. It would only get
worse. Well, Doctor David Cochrane, formerly Langrishe, would not
live in fear.

He took one final look out of
the window. The grim impersonation of his brother was wreathed in
blackbirds. Rachel wasn’t the only person to have suffered from the
evil that infected the house. His own family had been torn apart,
their reputation ripped asunder. It had gotten so bad, that he had
changed his surname, not wanting to be associated with his brother.
He felt ashamed. His brother had died horrifically. David missed
him so much. His fooling around, his love of life, his kind heart.
Everything.

His numb limbs shuffled him
towards the kitchen. The only sounds were his faint heartbeat and
dripping droplets of blood on the hardwood floor. That’ll stain, he
thought with grim glee.

It didn’t take long to find the
heavy hammer and blow torch. He looked at the exposed pipes. He
knew it wouldn’t be easy. He knew the house would fight back. But
he would do the job. By Christ, he would do the job.

“I’ll be seeing you soon, bro,”
he whispered, bringing the hammer up above his head.

***

“No,” Rachel said, as she saw
where the birds were heading. She had pushed the image of David out
of her mind, knowing he had to be dead already. It was delirium,
she told herself. Just another ghost.

She watched the blackbirds
swoop down and curve in an arc towards the house and then Justin.
She knew where they were heading next.

“NATHAN, RUN!”

He had to of heard the words,
but he just didn’t move. Rachel’s heart was racing. She pulled
harder and harder at the ropes. The birds were everywhere pecking
at her, their wings beating her.

Suffocating.

She had to get free. She could
feel the birds tearing her apart. The ropes were biting in to her
skin. The window shutters were going wild. She could hear them
banging and crashing against the house.

There was black everywhere. She
had no idea where Nathan was. Her energy was depleted. Any minute
she would pass out.

Justin was on her in a second.
Like Moses parting the Red Sea, he walked through them, not a
single one touching him. His face was twisted out of shape. He no
longer resembled her first love.

“So, sugar pie,” he said, the
words coming out in a hiss. “Ready to join me forever?”

“Screw you.”

He laughed in her face, as he
pulled the knife above his head. Lightening flashed.

Rachel prayed.

Justin stopped and spun to face
the house. To face itself.

***

David could see them all.
Justin, Chelsea, Tim. The McCain family was there. And of course
Lilly. They all smiled encouragement. The smell of gas spewing from
the newly broken pipe, filled the room.

He smiled back.

His lifeless hand fell on the
blowtorch.

It felt good.

Chapter
Twenty-Three

The explosion shook the
hillside like an angry god. Citizens of Willows Peak claimed the
ball of fire that erupted into the night sky could be seen from all
the way over the other side of town. It was the dreary eyed patrons
of Logan’s Bar, those that were always drunk and there until
closing, that felt the blast. Whisky bottles and beer glasses
chinked together behind the bar. According to Gloria Bennett, owner
and barmaid, the building shook so hard that a framed picture of
Elvis jumped right off the wall and smashed on the floor. It was
her favourite one.

According to the later reports,
the quiet streets filled with people just standing and watching.
Mrs Ryan, bed and breakfast proprietor, described how people came
out of their homes, some fully clothed, others in nothing more than
pyjamas and slippers. They exchanged glances with each other. At
first it was fear and bewilderment, but then it felt like somebody
slapped them, as a deep, easy sensation went through them. The
faces turned to smiles. Everything was going to be okay. It felt
good.

Mr Krupp, local businessman,
was sitting in his car at the time. He had only just arrived home
after being with his mistress. He was contemplating whether to
leave his shrill bitch of a wife for good, when he saw the yellow
tips of the flames burst skywards. It reminded him of the nuclear
bomb test footage; the black mushroom cloud spiralling ever
upwards.

Similar events happened all
across town. The emergency service switchboard was jammed, as
panicked voices shrieked down the lines wanting answers. Some
believed the damn commies had finally struck. Others thought aliens
from distant planets were invading to enslave the populace. None
would ever guess the truth…

Rachel wasn’t aware of any of
it until much later when she read it in the news. She had managed
to free herself, just as the explosion hit. The force of it sent
her reeling backwards, end over end like a Fourth of July Catherine
Wheel flying through the air. She thought the heat would sear her
skin off. She landed in a heap several feet away from the tree.

For several moments she just
lay there, the rain hitting her face. Was she dead, she wondered?
No, she was alive. Her heart thundered and her dislocated shoulder
throbbed. If she was dead, she wouldn’t feel a thing, she was sure
of it.

Once the ringing in her ears
had subsided, all she could hear was the distant rumbling of the
storm fading away. There were no screams, no blackbirds and no
maniacal laughter coming at her. There was nothing. Only peace. For
the first time in as long as she could remember, the silence wasn’t
awkward, or oppressive. It was bliss.

She slowly sat up, her battered
and bleeding body groaned under the exertion. Pushing the pain
away, she opened her eyes.

The front corner of the house,
what would have been the living room, was gone. It had been
completely obliterated in the explosion. Flames leapt from the
gaping hole, billowing black smoke in to the sky. The smell of ash
filled her nose. The house was quietly being consumed by fire. It
was funny how often history repeats itself, she thought with grim
amusement, remembering the first time she had witnessed the same
sight. But what had caused it this time? She mused, unable to
understand. Explosions like that didn’t just happen. Something had
to have caused it.

She rubbed her eyes, not
trusting what she saw.

Lilly was standing in the
upstairs window, looking down at her. The young girl smiled and
raised her hand in a gesture of goodbye. Behind her were more faces
from the past. Chelsea had her arm around Tim, the familiar longing
on her face as she smiled at him. Justin was there too, goofing
around with his brother. They all looked out at her, a faint
glimmer of approval filling the dark window. Rachel nodded back at
them. She understood.

The vision of David in the
living room window hadn’t been caused by delirium at all. It had
been real. He had caused the explosion. Rachel didn’t know how, but
she knew it was him. A tear slid down her cheek. He had died saving
them.

Faint groaning to her left
caught her attention. Nathan. She had totally forgotten that he was
there with her.

She scrambled along the gravel
towards him, on her hands and knees, not ready to try standing
yet.

“Nathan, can you hear me?” she
asked, cradling his head in her lap.

He was in a state. His clothes
were torn, his skin ripped to shreds in places, a huge gash above
his left eye. But he was breathing.

“Come on, Nate. You’ve got to
wake up.”

Nothing.

“Please Nathan, I need you.”
Tears began to fall more rapidly, splashing down on his forehead.
“I can’t lose you too.”

His eyes flickered open. “Hey
pretty lady. I ain’t going anywhere.”

Rachel didn’t know whether to
laugh, or continue crying. She decided she could do both, as she
bent over and hugged him. They embraced for several minutes before
she let go.