The Nightmare Game (9 page)

“Thousand?” I gulped. My odds of survival were
getting lower by the minute. “Who were they? How did she kill them, how did
they die?”

“All sorts of people tried to help. All sorts. We
get people from all walks of life come to help. A few of us got real far in
what the boy likes to call ‘the game’. I never seen it like a game, but it
helps him to look at it that way an’ it might help you, too. Mos’ don’ get that
far. So many don’ start at all. Some die before they get this far, before they
even make it to this house. Too many get here, find out what you’re findin’ out
now an’ jus’ pack up an’ leave, go someplace else in the city to stay or go
home altogether. Don’ matter. They all die anyway, one way or the other. Only
chance anybody has is to stay and try to win.”

“How do the ones that leave die?”

“Different ways. Depends on what’s wrong with
them. She sucks the life outta people. If they got a heart condition, the heart
goes; whatever else they got wrong, it just gives up an’ goes out on them. Some
people have a stroke. If they young an’ healthy, they just get weaker and
weaker. Folks always blame it on some kinda sickness or somethin’ the people
was born with, but that ain’t it. She the one that kills ‘em, sure as if she
shot ‘em.”

“Is that what happened to me in her office? Do you
know what I mean?”

Virginia nodded. “That was real enough. Only
difference is that she was tryin’ to kill you real fast, not slow. When she can
get hold o’ people before they have the protection,” she pointed to my
necklace, “she’ll kill ‘em fast so she don’ have to deal with ‘em much.”

“But how was it real? Was it an illusion? Mind
control? I mean, the furniture didn’t actually come to life, did it? It
couldn’t have”

“She got powers to make you see an’ feel things
that ain’t there an’ she can kill you with them. But she can make real stuff
happen with her mind, too.”

“What do mean, powers, like telekinesis? Can she
move and change things with her mind?”

“Hon, I don’ know ‘xactly how she do what she do.
But she got powers. Strong powers. With her, you never know what’s real an’
what ain’t. But it don’ matter anyway, you wind up jus’ as dead either way.
With her, real, unreal, it just all one an’ the same.”

“If she’s so powerful, why hasn’t she killed me
yet?”

“Whatchu think happened at her office? You think she
was just playin’ wit you? She almost had you. Good thing for you that young man
walked in when he did. God was lookin’ out for you. You was nearly dead.”

“How did you know about Troy?”

“If it’s in the ‘game’,” she said the word
distastefully, “I know ‘bout it. Why you think you was so weak when you lef’
there? Course, she wasn’t gonna kill you dead on the spot, she don’ want you
dead in her office. She not gonna have to explain that to the police. She was
gettin’ you ready for somethin’ like a heart attack or a stroke, somethin’
that’d look real natural when you gave way on the street on the walk over to
here. She especially wanted you dead fast.”

“Why?”

“Cause you one of the strongest ones come through
here in a long time.”

“Me, strong? I’ve never been accused of that
before.”

“It ain’t about you all by yourself. You strong
with him,” she said, pointing up toward the room with the portrait. “That
connection’s strong. He can help you a lot more than most of those he calls an’
she know it. She want you dead.”

I shuddered. “When I was in her office, I didn’t
stand a chance, did I?”

She shook her head no.

“Can she still get me that easy?”

“She can still get you, but it ain’t that easy
now. Not while you keep wearin’ that necklace. Helps keep her from findin’ you
easy, helps hide you. Keeps her from killin’ you without puttin’ a whole lotta
work into it. You take that off an’ she can get you easy an’ quick. It’s the
only thing that protects you from her an’ from the grave.”

“What if I leave and refuse to play this game?”

“You just die, like all the rest of ‘em.” It was
the same answer Marcus had given me.

“But I’ve got the necklace now. What if I just
take it with me? “

She laughed a tired laugh as if she had heard that
idea a million times.

“You can’ take it with you. It won’ let you get
too far before it disappears right off you. It just go back into the box if you
try that. Lots of people took it with them, you ain’t the first that’s thought
of that! You don’ get too far an’ you look for it an’ it just be gone.”

“I’ll go upstairs and take the box with me.”

“Can’t. It ain’t there anymore.”

“Where is it?”

“It jus’ shows up ‘fore I get here an’ jus’
disappears once that necklace be put on a helper. I don’ know where it come
from an’ I don’ know where it go. I ain’t supposed to know either. It’s a
secret.”

“What if I stay in the city and don’t go far and
continue to wear it?”

“He’ll call it back. The man in the picture
upstairs. He’ll call it back if you won’ help. He won’ want to, but he’ll have
to. He needs it. He can’t let you keep it. The box won’t let you keep it
neither.”

“So there’s no other way?”

“No.”

“Okay, then, lets just say, for argument’s sake,
that I stay and continue to play the game or whatever you people call it. I
need to know what I’m up against. I know you say my odds aren’t good, but just
exactly how many people have been in my shoes before me? Not the thousands you
say were called, but the ones that stayed and played.”

 Virginia sighed. “I done lost track of all of
‘em. Been so many over the years. But I guess it’s up into the hunnerts now
that I know about.”

“Hundreds?” I gulped. “Did they all have the
dreams before they came here?”

“Yes, that’s how he calls ‘em to help.”

“Were they all women?”

 Virginia looked surprised at this question. “Why
no, hon, it was men, too. What on earth would make you think they was all
women?”

“It’s just that the dreams are so romantic. Well,
so far not so much in what actually happens, because until today I kept waking
up pretty much at the same spot early on in them; but they just feel really,
really romantic. I can’t imagine most men having dreams like that about him.”

“The dreams, they always different for everybody.
It’s like he makes a friendship with the people he reaches out to. You connect
with different people in different ways. That’s how he draws ‘em here. They
don’ see it, though. One way or another, they all think it was their own idea
to come to this house. The romance, that’s good, that’s what makes you
different. That poor man’s so worn out that it ain’t happened in a long time.
It’s what makes your connection so strong that the witch to kill you real
quick. Sure, she want to kill everybody the gentleman call, but I sensed in her
a real panic with you that I ain’t sensed in a long, long time. You threaten
her like not many people do.”

“
I
threaten
her
?” I found this concept more than a little
ludicrous.

“You got more power than you know. Remember that.
Tell me, hon, how long you been dreamin’ about him, about a couple of months
now?”

“Yes. How did you know? Please don’t laugh when I
tell you this, but I could swear that his personality feels exactly like a guy
that I’ve been sensing on and off for over twenty years now, a fantasy man I’ve
been longing to meet since I was about eighteen but never did. I know that
can’t be, though, can it? I mean, it’s silly, isn’t it? In my dreams he’s so
much younger than I am. It like I aged and he stayed the same. It couldn’t be
possible, I know, but,” I trailed off as I looked down, starting to feel very
foolish, realizing too late how much I sounded like a giddy, overaged
schoolgirl. All the same it was worth asking. I realized that if she couldn’t
shed some light upon the matter, no one could. “I was wondering if maybe, well,
could it possibly be the man in the portrait? Could it possibly be that he and
the man that I’ve been longing for all of these years are, well, maybe the same
guy?” I’d never revealed my fantasy lover to anyone before, not even to
Carolyne because it was both incredibly silly and intensely personal. No sooner
had the words bubbled out of my mouth than I felt extremely embarrassed, as if
I’d just shown up at a party in nothing but my underwear.

It became very quiet for a few seconds. Had I said
something wrong? I looked up again at Virginia but I couldn’t read her
expression.

“Sorry,” I said, feeling a little ridiculous,
regretting now that I’d even brought it up. “It’s nothing, probably just my
imagination. Just thought I’d ask. I guess that was kind of a silly question.”

“No, no, it ain’t. Not at all.” It was as if she
had been deeply lost in thought and I’d just reminded her of where she was. “To
be truthful, there ain’t no way for me to know for sure if it was him or not.
But that’s not sayin’ that it wasn’t. It’s possible, it’s very possible.”

“But the years, they’re wrong, aren’t they?”

“No, they’re not. The age he seems, it’s how he
remembers himself. What he’s showin’ you is what he was, not what he is now,
though truth be tol’, he ain’t changed so very much.”

“How old is he now?” I asked.

“It’s hard to explain, hon. In years, he’s real
old, almos’ two hunnert.

I was shocked. “Nobody can live to be that old!”

“That’s cause in the flesh, he ain’t much older
than when she took him.”

“Who took him?”

“That witch, who you think?”

“But how, I don’t understand.”

“You don’ need to right now. I need to ask you
somethin’ personal.”

“Okay.”

“Your bond with him, the romance, is it of an
amorous nature?”

“Very,” I replied a little sheepishly. That really
was a personal a question.

“Good. You got a real strong bond with him then.
It’s been a long time since the bond has been a sexual love bond.” In her
accent she pronounced the word with the accent on the last syllable, drawing it
out as “sexuaal”, making it sound even more primal, “that makes for the strongest
bond possible between two grown people, the strongest he could make with
anybody. That’s good, very, very powerful. The stronger the bond, the more he
can protect you, the more of himself he can give you.”

“So I won’t be in this all by myself after all?” I
asked hopefully.

“Yes and no. He can be with you to help you, here
on the outside, but only in your dreams.”

“The outside?”

“Here, in the real world. He can’t help you when
you in her domain.”

“And by her, you mean…”

She nodded.

“What is her domain?”

“It’s a place she got control of. She make it, she
rule it. More’n that, I don’ know. He can’t help you there, but he can help you
out here, in what you might call the real world.

“His help to you’ll be powerful if your bond with
him is what you say it is. He can give you real strength and some guidance. Me
and the boy Marcus, along with Zachary, a helper you ain’t met yet, can only
point the way, to let you know as much as we can while she’s busy doin’ other
things. No way you can do it all alone, and I wish we could help you more,
cause she’s real powerful, that one. But you’ll be on your own most of the
time, I’m sad to say.”

“But how can I win if she’s so powerful?”

“That witch, she got her weaknesses. She be
wantin’ you to think that she got none, but she real full of herself and that’s
her biggest weakness. Makes her sloppy in her work sometimes, her arrogance
does. Remember that. With the strength of the bond the man’s got with you,
well, who know, you might just be the one to make it to the end. Nobody’s won
yet, but somebody needs to and you’ve got a better chance than most. If you
don’ win, you might at least make it to the end and be around to help the ones
that come after you.”

“Has anyone else ever made it to ‘the end’?” I
asked, fearful she would say no.

“Only three in all these years come close. Me,
Marcus and Zachary. It’s how we died.”

I felt the nerve endings along my entire body
stand up and shiver as I looked at her in horror. “What? You… you’re dead? He’s
dead?” My voice came out sounding shriller than I’d ever heard it. “What are
you? A ghost?”

“Now, child, just calm down,” I heard her say as
if far away. I could feel my heart pounding hard in my chest. “I ain’t no
ghost, at least I don’ think I am.”

“What are you then?” I was backing away from her.

“Don’ rightly know. Ain’t a ghost, ain’t alive,
either. Guess I’m somewhere in between. I’m solid, I can touch things, so can
the boy and Zachary, but I can’t be nowhere for too long and neither can they.
I come in here an’ do what I’m supposed to do but I can’t stay and I can’t be
nowhere else, can’t do nothin’ else. I’m stuck where I’m stuck. Marcus be stuck
where he’s stuck and Zachary be stuck where he’s stuck.” She reached over to
touch my arm to comfort me but I was afraid of her now and pulled away.

“Honey, don’ be ‘fraid of me. I’d never hurt you.
I’m only here to help you. You can’t scare that easy; you won’t ever make it
through this ordeal if you do. You gotta be brave now. The evil one is out to
get you an’ you gotta know what to be scared of and what not to be scared of.
An’ you gotta figure out how to keep goin’ even when you’re real scared.
There’s bad things, evil things that are gonna happen aroun’ you and prob’ly
even to you. But you gotta stay brave, you gotta be strong. You can’t let that
witch with her bag o’ evil overcome you.”

“I can’t do this,” I said. “I... I just can’t do
this.”

She came up next to me and put her arm around my
shoulder. It wasn’t cold, it wasn’t scary, it just felt like a caring friend
comforting me. I could actually feel my fear subside as she touched me.

“Don’ think too much about it right now. You can’t
let it get to you. The time’ll come to face these things but don’ dwell on ‘em
ahead of time. Don’ borrow trouble. You gotta take it all one thing at a time
or you won’t get through it, it’ll overwhelm you. An’ trust me, you’ll get
stronger an’ stronger the further into the game that you go. Follow your
instincts an’ stick with your guts and do like I’m tellin’ you. Stay alert an’
do your best to think on your feet. Things are gonna get real bad, that’s true
enough, but if you don’ take it as it comes, one thing at a time, you’ll get
paralyzed with fear and then you won’t stand any chance at all.”