The Incubus, Succubus and Son of Perdition Box Set: The Len du Randt Bundle (13 page)

*    -    -   
-    *

‘What’s wrong,
Becky?’

From across the
room Simon looked up and raised an eyebrow.

‘Okay, honey,’
Justin said calmly. ‘Just take a deep breath and tell me what’s going on. Are
you all right?’

He listened for
a moment.

‘Maggots in the
food?’

He listened some
more at her frantic ramblings.

‘Television?
Honey, I can’t make out what you’re trying to tell me.’

More ramblings.

‘I can’t come
home today, baby,’ Justin said with an intentional snap in his voice. ‘I’ll be
there tomorrow.’

‘I could take
you back tonight if you’d like,’ Simon said.

Justin held his
hand over the receiver and shook his head. ‘Rebecca, listen to me.’

She kept quiet.
He never called her by her full name unless he really wanted her to hear what
he was saying.

‘Go to Tanya’s
place tonight. I’ll come through as early as possible tomorrow, okay?’

He then finished
his conversation as quickly as possible and hung up. ‘Women,’ he said and
chuckled.

‘What’s wrong?’
Simon asked.

Justin shrugged.
‘I don’t know, but she’s been seeing weird things lately.’ He did a little
twirl with his finger next to his head. ‘Frankly, I’m wondering if she’s still
all well “up there,” you know what I mean?’

Simon ignored
the comment. ‘What kind of things?’

‘You know,’
Justin said as if Simon should indeed know what he’s talking about. ‘The usual.
Ghosts and goblins. That kind of stuff.’

Simon didn’t say
anything. He merely remained in deep thought for a moment. ‘When did this start
happening?’

‘I don’t know,’
Justin said, irritated that they were still on the topic. ‘About a month or so
ago. Maybe longer.’

‘Before or after
you got the job at Cybernetics?’

‘I can’t
remember,’ Justin said. ‘Do you think that she’s doing this to get attention?’

‘I’m not
implying anything,’ Simon said. ‘I’m merely trying to open your mind to all
possibilities.’

‘Maybe she
is
looking for attention,’ Justin admitted. ‘But it could be the whole miscarriage
thing as well. She hasn’t been the same since the operation.’

‘Or maybe...’

‘Yes...?’

‘Maybe she
really
is
seeing things. Maybe the ghouls are real.’

‘Are you
serious?’ Justin asked and almost laughed. ‘You’re joking, right?’

Simon leaned
forward. ‘It could be a spiritual attack, you know.’

This time Justin
did laugh. ‘Are you listening to yourself?’

‘Like I said,’
Simon said and shrugged. ‘I’m just giving you all your options. The possibility
you choose to believe at the end of the day remains entirely up to you. Should
I take you home tonight?’

‘No,’ Justin
said. ‘Thanks, but I’m sure that she’ll be fine. Here’s what I believe though,’
Justin leaned forward as if to emphasize what he was about to say. ‘I believe
that Rebecca is making all this up. I believe that she is desperate for
attention after the loss of our baby, and until I see books floating around in
my house, I will refuse to believe anything else.’

*    -    -   
-    *

Despite Justin’s
suggestion to spend the night at Tanya’s place and against her own better
judgement, Rebecca stayed at home. She went straight to bed and got up earlier
than normal so that she could leave the apartment as quickly as possible.

Because it was
Friday, and the company was well ahead of the expected quota, their employer
gave all the ladies an early afternoon off. Without anything in particular to
do, Rebecca decided to spend the afternoon with a good book.

‘A few of us are
going to the mall for some window shopping and coffee,’ Tanya said. ‘Please say
you’ll join us. We’ll have a great time.’

‘Maybe next
time,’ Rebecca said. She did not have the energy to walk around in the huge
mall. When she got home she first made herself some tea and then kicked off her
shoes. Since everything electronic was unplugged, the only thing that Rebecca
could do for entertainment was read. She was almost done with a romance novel
and decided that today was the day that she would finish it. She scanned her
eyes across the room.

It was tidy
enough.

She’d just move
some things around and pack a few magazines away and the rest of the apartment
would appear to be tidy too. She slapped herself lightly against the forehead.
She still wanted to wash the dishes before Justin got home. She put the novel
down on the coffee table and headed for the kitchen. As she passed the hallway,
a shadow against the wall made her stop.

Now what?
Rebecca thought as she moved closer to the shadow. It stood out
like a sore thumb and she would have noticed this particular shadow if it had
been there before. But it hadn’t. She moved her arm, but the shadow didn’t
change shape. Her own shadow was cast a bit lower and more to the right.
Looking closely, Rebecca could clearly make out the shape. It was in the shape
of a person. She spun around, but there was no one there. Looking back at the
shadow she could clearly make out the arms, the head, the torso, waist, and
legs. She even noticed bony fingers that resembled claws. A chill tingled down
her spine as she reached her hand out to touch the wall. She brought her hand
closer still and just before she touched the wall the shadow moved.

Rebecca screamed
and ran for the door. She jerked it open and her legs almost buckled when she
saw someone standing there.

*    -    -   
-    *

‘What’s wrong?’
Justin asked. He could see from Rebecca’s facial expression that she was
terrified.

Rebecca merely
cried and slid down with her back against the wall.

Justin dropped
his bag and knelt down beside her. ‘What’s wrong, Becky?’ he insisted.

‘The shadow,’
Rebecca said. She felt faint and her head was spinning. ‘The shadow moved.’

‘What shadow?’
he asked.

She pointed in
the direction of the living room.

‘Wait here,’ He
said and made his way to the living room. Justin scanned his eyes around the
room, but couldn’t find what he thought she’d classify as a ‘shadow.’

‘Where exactly
is this shadow?’

‘Next to
the...wall unit,’ she sobbed. She got up and joined Justin.

No shadow.

‘Take a seat,’
he said. ‘I’m going to get you something to drink.’ She sat down as Justin went
out to collect his bag and closed the front door. He then entered the kitchen
where he filled a plastic cup with tap water and stirred in some sugar. Once
she finished the water, Justin took the cup from her and placed it down on the
coffee table. ‘Okay,’ he said. ‘Now tell me what happened; but slowly.’

Rebecca told him
about the shadow against the wall as well as the radio and television that kept
switching on by itself.

‘You mean
there’s someone in the house?’ Justin asked.

‘I...I don’t
know,’ she said, unsure herself as to what was going on.

‘Wait right
here,’ Justin said. ‘Don’t move until I get back.’

She nodded.

He went back to
the kitchen and took a carving knife from the drawer. He then headed for the
study, where after a quick sweep, he found no one. Justin then checked the
bathroom, and finally their bedroom. Still he found no one. He returned to the
living room, feeling foolish and relieved at the same time.

Rebecca looked
up expectantly, but Justin’s facial expression made her heart sink.

‘I’m not sure
what you think you saw,’ Justin said, ‘but there’s no one in this apartment.’

Rebecca didn’t
say anything.

Justin sunk into
the couch next to her and sighed intentionally loud. He picked up the
television’s remote control and pressed the power button.

Nothing
happened.

‘What’s this?’
he asked and slapped the remote against the palm of his hand.

‘That’s what
I’ve been trying to tell you,’ Rebecca said. ‘I unplugged it.’

Justin looked at
her. ‘Unplugged what?’

‘Everything.’

Justin put down
the remote and walked to the television. He worked his way to the back and saw
that she had indeed unplugged it. He then scanned his eyes across the room.
Sure enough, everything electrical had been unplugged. The radio, DVD player,
and even the lamp in the corner of the room.

‘Why did you do
this?’ he asked.

‘It goes on by
itself,’ she said. She rocked back and forth on the couch and a realization
struck Justin. A thought occurred to him that Rebecca might not be doing this
for attention at all. It suddenly dawned on him that his wife might indeed be
losing her mind.

‘Good morning, Simon,’ the nurse at
the reception desk greeted with a friendly smile. ‘We haven’t seen you around
for a while.’

Simon nodded and
returned the smile. ‘I was working at a site,’ he said and handed her a small
hand-picked flower. ‘This is for you, of course.’

The nurse took
the flower and blushed. ‘Why, thank you.’

‘Can I see him?’

‘He’s waiting
for you,’ she said and winked. ‘As usual.’

Simon thanked
her and made his way down the long, cold hallway; his footsteps echoing in the
hollow passageway. Finally he reached room 218.

He took a deep
breath before entering and took a minute to look around first observe the minor
changes since his last visit. There were new cards and flowers, but aside from
that, everything was still the same. It was the same blue curtains, the same
white and blue bed linen, the same cold chill in the air, and the same constant
beep, beep, beep
coming from the cardio monitor. Little Timmy still lay
in the same position he had been in since Simon first went to visit him. His
head and arms were wrapped in bandages, leaving only large enough holes for his
eyes and one for the plastic pipe protruding from his mouth.

‘Good morning,
Tim,’ Simon said and placed fresh flowers in an already-full vase. ‘How are you
today?’

The only
response from Timmy was the steady rhythm of his inhaling and exhaling and the
constant soft beeping.

‘Got you some
flowers and a card,’ Simon said and placed his card next to the ever growing
stack from people all over South Africa. There was a card from almost everyone
in the small town of Kelwick. A self-made multi-millionaire created the Timmy
Evans Trust Fund and donated six figures into the fund to get the ball rolling.
Since then the trust fund has grown considerably, gaining support from schools,
churches, corporations, and even international well-meaning folk. World
renowned pastors and priests have swept up churches globally to pray for the
boy.

Unfortunately
there were those who wanted to exploit the accident for their own fame and
fortune by claiming publicly that they could ‘heal’ little Timmy for
extravagant amounts of money. Timmy’s parents didn’t take too kindly to them
and promptly sent them on their way.

‘I have another
story for you today,’ Simon said and pulled a chair next to the bed. ‘It’s the
story of a man that died and came back to life a little over two thousand years
ago.’

Beep. Beep.
Beep.

Simon smiled.
‘Not Jesus, no,’ he said. ‘I told you that one already, remember?’

Beep. Beep.
Beep.

‘It’s about a
man called Lazarus. Do you know about him?’

Beep. Beep.
Beep.

‘Well, he
actually knew Jesus. They were good friends, in fact.’ Simon sat back and made
himself comfortable. ‘Anyway,’ he said. ‘When Lazarus died, Jesus waited a few days
before going to his friend’s grave. The people weren’t happy that Jesus came so
late, because they believed that He could have healed Lazarus.’

Simon stood up
and walked to the basin where he poured some water into a glass. He then
returned to the boy’s side. ‘Now this is where the good part comes in,’ Simon
said after drinking some of the water. ‘Jesus had healed so many people already
that he wanted them to experience the glory of God by doing something different
this time. He wanted to show the people that God’s power wasn’t just limited to
healing only, but that it was more powerful than even death itself. Not only
did Jesus restore his friend to full health, but he raised him from the dead as
well. Isn’t that just super?’

Beep. Beep.
Beep.

‘Yeah,’ Simon
said. ‘I think so too.’ He looked up at the monitor and then took the boy’s
bandaged hands in his own. Simon then lowered his head and softly began to pray
until late into the afternoon.

*    -    -   
-    *

Justin’s focus
slipped. After re-reading the same paragraph for the fourth time he slammed the
novel shut. He sighed deeply and ran his hands through his hair. Rebecca’s
strange behaviour occupied his mind as he lay on his back, staring blankly at
the ceiling.

It goes on by
itself. Justin chuckled at Rebecca’s words, although he realized that his wife
losing her mind was no laughing matter. For a moment he considered sending her
to an institution for a week or so to get some much needed sleep therapy, but
decided against it due to financial reasons.

Maybe she
needs space
, he thought.
Maybe I should move out
for a while and give her a few days to sort herself out.
Justin was still
contemplating when he fell asleep.

*    -    -   
-    *

Rebecca opened
the shower taps and closed the door to allow some heat to build up first.
Although Justin hadn’t been very supportive of her situation regarding the
strange happenings, his presence in the apartment made her feel more secure.
She knew that when he was home, the strange things didn’t happen as blatantly
as when she was alone. Rebecca realized that she would have to speak to someone
other than Justin about her experiences.

A Pastor?
Rebecca wondered but shook her head. She figured that the only
person she could trust enough to get an honest and un-biased opinion from was
Tanya. Knowing her best friend, Rebecca knew that Tanya never had a qualm to
speak her mind when it came to Justin. She didn’t like him at all and would not
choose his side by saying that it was all in her head.

It’s that good-for-nothing
husband of yours,
she pictured Tanya saying.
He’s
secretly making you crazy so that he can feel better about leaving you for
someone younger.
She smiled. Tanya never was one for tact. She always spoke
her mind before her brain could process any damage her words could cause. A
slam on the door made Rebecca jump.

‘How long are
you going to be?’ Justin’s muffled voice came from the other side of the door.

‘I’m just about
to get in the shower,’ Rebecca said loud enough for him to hear her over the
spray of water.
She hated conversations from the
bathroom. Too much echo.

‘Are you trying
to make me angry?’ Justin shouted and slammed his fist against the door again.
‘What are you doing in there?’

‘I’m about to
take a shower,’ she said, trying to hide the quiver in her voice, but failing
miserably.
What’s gotten into you?

‘You’re crazy!’
Justin shouted. Rebecca could hear tension building in his voice. ‘You’re
crazy, and I hate you!
I hate you!
’

‘What are you
talking about?’ Rebecca asked and chuckled to show that she took his “joke” in
good spirit. She didn’t know what Justin was ranting about, but she felt a
sudden relief that she had locked the door.

Justin now
pounded the door with his fists. ‘Come out here so I can teach you a lesson!’

‘Stop it!’ Rebecca
shouted, her voice bordering on a scream. ‘You’re scaring me, Justin.’

The banging
intensified. ‘Come out!’ Justin shouted. ‘Come out and let me show you what I
do to crazy people!’

‘Justin,’
Rebecca pleaded. A sob escaped her lips. ‘
Stop it!
You’re...’

The banging
stopped.

‘...scaring me…’

Rebecca moved
closer to the door. ‘Justin?’

No one answered.

Rebecca closed
the taps. She pressed her ear against the door. ‘Justin...?’

Still no answer.

Reluctantly she
unlocked the door and opened it a crack. She peered out, but no one was there.
‘Justin?’ she asked, but yet again there was no reply. She opened the door
completely and stepped out into the hallway. The apartment was empty and quiet.
She moved to the bedroom where she found Justin on the bed, pretending to be
asleep with a novel on his chest.

‘That wasn’t
funny,’ she scolded. Tears welled in her eyes and she had to fight them back.
‘You really scared me!’

Justin slowly
opened his eyes and rubbed his face with the palm of his hand. He used his
elbows to push himself into an upright position. ‘Huh?’ he asked as he tried to
focus his eyes. ‘You finished your shower already?’

Rebecca clenched
down on her teeth and balled her fists. ‘
Why did you do that?
’ she
shrieked.

Justin sat up
all the way. He looked around the room. ‘What are you talking about, Becky?’

‘Don’t pretend
that you don’t know what I’m talking about, Justin Greene! Just tell me why you
did it!’

‘Becky,’ Justin
said and rubbed his face again. ‘What the hell is going on?’

Rebecca stared
at Justin for what felt like an eternity. She finally couldn’t keep it in
anymore and broke down and cried.

‘What’s going
on?’ Justin asked and moved toward her. ‘What happened?’

‘
Nothing!
’
Rebecca snapped. ‘Just leave me alone, okay?’ With that she got up and ran back
to the bathroom where she slammed the door closed and locked it again, leaving
a dumb-struck Justin standing in the room, wondering what on earth he had done
wrong.

*    -    -   
-    *

In her dream,
Rebecca was in a hospital ward. She saw screaming babies everywhere she looked;
babies on the counters, on the chairs, and even lying on the floor. All of them
screaming.

‘Poor babies,’
Rebecca said and picked one up from the cold tiles. The baby continued
screaming. She tried to sing to the little girl, but still the baby kept
crying. So did the others.

‘What’s wrong?’
Rebecca asked.

The babies kept
crying.

Rebecca put the
girl down on a chair and left her to get some of the other babies that had to
lie on the cold floor. ‘I’ll be right back for you,’ she said over her
shoulder.

The screaming of
the babies intensified.

‘Why are you all
crying?’ she asked. ‘Where are all your mommies?’ She looked around, trying to
see if she could spot anyone that could help her. All that she saw were more
screaming babies. ‘Stop,’ she tried to shout, but her voice sounded faint and
far. ‘Stop screaming.’

The crying
continued.

‘Stop it!’
Rebecca shouted even louder, but again yielded no results.

‘
Stop!
’

She sat upright
in bed. Justin moaned and rolled onto his side with his back turned against
her. The cries of the screaming babies still echoed in her ears. It took her a
moment to realize that the cries of the baby she heard was real, and coming
from the study.

‘Justin,’ she
whispered, but he didn’t respond. ‘Love,’ she said and touched his shoulder
lightly. He turned a bit more and let out a soft snore. She slid out the bed
and slowly walked to the door. It sounded indeed as if the cries were coming
from within their own apartment. She looked back at Justin through the
darkness, but could see his silhouette in the same position it had been in when
she tried to wake him. She then walked through the hallway toward the study,
softly trailing her fingers along the wall as she went. A moment later she
stood in front of the open study door.

She listened.

Yes!

There
was
a baby crying, and it was in the study. Rebecca instinctively flipped the light
switch. The crying stopped as fast as light lit up the room.

There was
nothing.

‘Hello?’ she
asked and walked deeper into the study. ‘Is anyone here?’

No answer.

A cold chill
swept over her and she switched off the light and closed the door before
hurrying back to the room. She turned on the bed lamp and shook Justin gently.
‘Honey,’ she said and shook him some more.

Justin moaned
and finally opened his eyes. ‘What?’ he asked. ‘What’s going on?’

‘Did you hear
the baby crying?’

‘What time is
it?’

Rebecca glanced
at the digital clock. ‘It’s three o’ clock.’

Justin moaned
again. ‘Why aren’t you sleeping?’ he asked irritated. ‘We both have to get up
early for work.’

‘Didn’t you hear
the baby?’

Justin sighed
and sat up. ‘What baby, Becky?’

‘There was a
baby crying in the study.’

He tilted his
head to listen. After a moment he looked at his wife and asked, ‘Can you
still…hear…the baby crying?’

‘Of course I
can’t,’ Rebecca snapped. ‘I’m not talking about now. There
was
a baby
crying in the study. When I went to go and check, it stopped.’