Ghost House Revenge (16 page)

There was silence for a while. Derek considered all this, wanting not to believe it,
and yet unable to think of a reason why they would be telling him such a fantastic
yarn. Were they hiding something behind the fantasy? A thought came into his head.

“Those murders Alicen mentioned,” he said quietly. “They really happened, didn’t they?
Is that what you meant by his taking another life?”

“Yes,” Gary said. “In his pursuit of Melanie, he murdered three people. The first
was an old woman named Helen Jennings, who used to own that house down the road. Then
there was a young cop, Tony DiMagi. And last of all, Melanie’s best—”

“Gary, please,” Melanie begged. “Don’t talk about her.”

“It’s okay,” Derek said. “I know about your friend Janice. Gary told me the day you
got so upset when I mentioned that name.”

Melanie looked at him through tears. “He told you what happened to her?”

“Not that Jacob Armand murdered her,” Derek said.

“Well, he did,” Melanie answered. “He hit her across the head and killed her.”

She said that in the tormented way of someone who wants the truth to be known. It
was as if she were afraid he wouldn’t believe her. In truth, he wasn’t quite sure
what to believe. His loyalty to Gary made him want to buy the story, and yet his own
common sense told him it couldn’t be true. Ghosts! But Melanie looked so upset and
Gary so solemn that he figured it was best to humor them right now.

“So Gina was reliving that night?” he asked. “Just because of the bus accident? I
know it was a horrible experience, but Gina seemed so calm at dinner tonight.”

“Well, it was more than the accident,” Melanie said, sniffling back the last of her
tears. “Bryan Davis—the police chief—came to talk to her tonight. He’d been here the
night of Gary’s accident.”

“Why did he come here at night?” Derek asked. “Didn’t he spend enough time questioning
the kids at school? At least that’s the impression I got from talking to Alicen.”

“Actually, your daughter was his reason for coming,” Gary said. “He said she’d been
down at the station telling him she’d seen the driver jump from the bus.”

“I don’t see how it was possible,” Melanie put in. “He said she was in his office
at twelve-thirty, but I only left her here at noon. It takes longer than half an hour
to get into town. So Bryan hinks she might have hitchhiked.”

“Oh, brother,” Derek said, recalling the woman who had hidden in his car. What if
Alicen had met with that evil woman named Janice? He shook the thought from his mind.

“I find the fact that Alicen went at all even more unbelievable,” he said. “Funny
she didn’t tell me about the driver. She didn’t seem to know anything at all.”

“Maybe Bryan mistook her for another child,” Melanie said.

“There isn’t anyone like Alicen,” Derek answered. He clapped his hands together. “Well,
if she did go, I’m glad. It just means she’s starting to come out of that shell of
hers. It’s about time she started taking things into her own hands.”

“Thirteen seems a little early to start taking things into your own hands,” Melanie
said softly.

“What did you say?”

“Nothing, Derek,” Melanie said in a clearer voice. ‘I didn’t say a thing. Gary, finish
the story for him.”

“Just tell me how you finally got rid of your ghost,” Derek said, running a finger
under his lip.

“We weren’t the ones who did it,” Gary said. “It seems he’d been tormenting other
families who had lived in this house. All their spirits came to fight him, and they
sent him to hell. In the process Lydia herself showed up. Now that Jacob had her again,
his spirit was put to rest.”

“Where was Lydia before this?”

“Waiting for him to come to her,” Melanie said. “Remember, in her day women would
wait for months, even years, for their men to return from the sea. I—uh—suppose that
in the afterlife, two hundred years is like six months.”

“It sounds interesting,” Derek said.

Gary eyed him. “But you don’t believe it.”

“How can I!” Derek asked. “I hardly believe there’s a God, and I’m not quite sure
there’s an afterlife. I never believed in supernatural powers, and I’m not about to
start.”

“Then you must think we’re a pair of fools,” Melanie said bitterly.

“Not at all,” Derek said. “I’m sure you have your reasons for telling me this story.
Hey, look, what do I know, right? Just because I don’t believe it doesn’t make it
untrue.”

He stood up. “I’m very tired. Sorry to run out on you, but I’d like to hit the sack.”

“We didn’t lie to you,” Melanie said darkly.

Derek didn’t answer her. He opened the door, then turned and said, “My daughter’s
a hysterical type. Make sure she doesn’t hear about this, okay? Her nightmares are
frequent enough.”

With that, he was gone. Melanie stared at the closed door for a long time without
speaking. And then she said, in a quiet voice, “You didn’t have to tell him about
Janice.”

“Honey, he was bound to find out,” Gary said. “Why let it bother you so much?”

“My best friend is dead,” Melanie snapped, “and I’m not supposed to let it bother
me?”

Gary waved his hand at her. “Of course you are. But why do you single Janice’s death
out in particular? Why didn’t you stop me from mentioning Helen Jennings and Tony
DiMagi?”

“That’s different,” Melanie said.

She stood up and headed for the door, not waiting for her husband. The hallway was
dark, in spite of the light pouring into it from the study. Melanie’s nerves were
on edge, as if anticipating that cold fingers would reach out through the blackness
to grab her. But whose fingers?

At the end of the hallway, the small stained-glass window burst open, crashing against
the wall.

“What?” Melanie cried out, turning around. She saw Gary in the doorway of his office.

“Just the wind, Melanie,” he said, hobbling to the window to shut it. When he looked
out, he noticed the trees were perfectly still.

“Wait for me,” he said as he latched the window. ‘I’ll walk back to our room with
you.”

He thought he heard someone laughing in the distance. But he blocked the sound from
his ears and went to his wife. He wasn’t about to join her in thinking every little
noise was the herald of something evil.

* * *

The next day Gary called his family together. After what had happened last night,
he knew it was very important to talk to his children. He and Melanie shared a loveseat,
while the children sat on the couch. Nancy bounced up and down playfully, until Gina
stopped her. Gary noticed the dark circles under his oldest daughter’s eyes.

“I have to ask you kids something,” Gary said. “Kyle, Gina, Nancy—do any of you ever
have dreams like Gina had?”

Kyle looked at the fireplace, as if in deep thought. Nancy brought her thumbs to her
mouth. Melanie frowned as she noted Nancy’s gesture. It had been two months since
Nancy had sucked her thumbs, and all it took was this suggestion of Gary’s to start
her again. Maybe the children had the incident with Jacob Armand more deeply rooted
in their minds than she thought?

“I had a lots of dreams right after the accident,” Kyle said. “But you knew about
them, ’cause I came into your room a couple of times, remember?”

“I remember,” Gary said. “And that was to be expected so soon after what happened.
But I’m asking if you’ve been having dreams lately?”

“No, dad,” Kyle said. “You told us not to think about those things.”

“How about you, Nancy?”

The little girl shrugged.

Melanie looked out the window and saw the bus coming. “Hey, you’d better get going,”
she said.

Gary hoisted himself up from the chair and said, “Now, listen. If you ever want to
discuss what happened that night, you just come to your mother or me, okay? Don’t
bottle your feelings inside.”

“We won’t, dad,” Kyle said, heading out into the hall.

“They’ll be okay,” he said, putting his arm around Melanie. “I just wanted to let
them know we won’t make fun of them if they’re still afraid. Now listen,” he said,
abruptly changing the subject, “I’ve got news for you that’ll take your mind off of
all this.”

“What’s that?”

“Guess where I’m going tomorrow?”

Melanie shrugged.

“To the medical center for tests. Melanie, if I do okay, I may be able to go back
to work.”

Melanie’s smile broadened and became genuine. “Gary, that’s wonderful! It’ll be just
like it was when we first moved
here! The way it was supposed to be—with you going to work and me doing my painting.”

She threw her arms around him. She wanted so much to be happy, to believe that nothing
but good could happen to her family from now on.

“Hey, Alicen, wait up!”

Alicen recognized Jamie Hutchinson’s voice and quickened her pace toward home. She
had been made to stay after school that day. The accident had been heavy on her mind,
and she had been caught daydreaming—
again
. This new teacher was worse than Mr. Percy had ever been.
She
had yelled at Alicen, humiliating her in front of the whole class. Oh, God, the girl
thought, isn’t this day bad enough? All I need now is Jamie Hutchinson teasing me.

“Alicen, I know you can hear me,” Jamie said, his voice right behind her. “Why don’t
you stop?”

“Why don’t you go away?” Alicen replied.

“You want a ride home?” Jamie asked, ignoring her remark. He came up alongside her
on a bicycle.

“No,” Alicen said plainly.

“It’s a long walk,” Jamie coaxed. “Come on, will you? I rode all the way back to school
just ‘cause I thought you’d want a ride home.”

Alicen stopped, considering this. “Really?” she asked. “You really came back for me?”

“Sure,” Jamie said. “Now, hop on, will you?”

He stopped the bicycle and patted the fender behind him. Alicen studied it doubtfully.

“I think I’m too heavy for that,” she said.

“It’s stronger than it looks,” Jamie said. “And besides, I already told you, you aren’t
that fat. Get on.”

Alicen sighed with defeat and climbed behind him. She hoped none of her classmates
would see them riding together.

They rode on in silence, until they reached the bottom of the hill that led to the
VanBuren property. Alicen jumped off
the bike, knowing it wouldn’t make it up the hill under their combined weight. She
adjusted her skirt and books.

“Thanks, Jamie,” she said. “I’m sorry I acted so stuck-up before.”

But Jamie wasn’t listening. Straddling his bike, his sneakers toeing the asphalt,
he was staring at the big gray house. It fascinated him, with its boarded-up windows
and brown, overgrown grass. He turned back to Alicen.

“I want to look inside there,” he said.

“You can’t,” Alicen replied. “It’s private property. And besides, how would you get
in?”

“I’ll find a way,” Jamie said.

He jumped off his bike and walked it toward the house, dried weeds and crab grass
crunching beneath his feet. Alicen ran after him.

“Jamie, you can’t go in there!” she cried. “You’ll get in trouble.”

Jamie stopped and turned to her. “If no one tells on me,” he said, a warning tone
in his voice, “I won’t get in trouble. Besides, I’m just looking.”

He found a place to hide his bicycle in the bushes that surrounded the house. To his
dismay all the windows and doors were tightly boarded over. Alicen hoped it would
discourage him.

“Ah-ha!” Jamie cried. He had discovered an entrance to the basement. An empty, rusted
milk can rested against the slanted doors.

“Help me tear some of this up,” he said, pulling at the weeds. Alicen joined him,
somewhat reluctantly. “See? They forgot to secure this lock.”

Jamie removed it and set it on top of the milk can. With a heave, he jerked one big
door open. The basement below was a black pit, silent and frightening. But this only
sharpened Jamie’s curiosity. He hurried down the stone steps. Alicen hesitated but
decided she didn’t want to be alone out here and ran after him.

“Brr!” she mumbled. “It’s so cold!”

“Shh,” Jamie said, as if the house had ears. “Help me find the stairs.”

They groped through the darkness, Alicen holding fast to Jamie’s belt. She was struck
by a mixture of smells. Cats, rusting metal, old wood. Her hands felt the stucco of
a wall, then pulled back when cobwebs brushed her fingers.

“I don’t like this,” she said.

“Here’re the stairs,” Jamie said. “Follow me up.”

Unused for months, the wooden stairs creaked in protest under this new weight. Alicen
felt the banister wobbling and tightened her grip on Jamie’s belt. At last he opened
the door. They were in the kitchen. A beam of light shining through a crack in the
window illuminated the empty floor. Jamie and Alicen stepped further inside.

“I’ll bet she’s watching us,” Jamie said.

“Who?”

“The old lady,” Jamie said. “Helen Jennings. You know she died out on that hill last
year?”

“Mrs. VanBuren said she had a heart attack.”

“Uh-uh,” Jamie said. In the half-light, Alicen saw his head shake back and forth.
“I’ll bet she was one of the murder victims I told you about.”

“That was a lie!” Alicen cried.

Jamie didn’t reply. He opened a door and walked out of the kitchen. His sneakers made
squeaking noises as he moved across the bare wooden floors, investigating each empty
room. Their barrenness made them very cold, and Alicen wished she hadn’t come in here
after all. Jamie poked around a fireplace in the living room, hoping to discover some
treasure the movers had left behind. Alicen looked around the big room but didn’t
move from Jamie’s side.

Suddenly something moved in the entranceway to the dining room. Alicen took a step
toward it but quickly found herself unable to move. A woman was staring at her. She
pointed at Alicen, her long arm glowingly white.

“Leave this place!” she cried. “There is danger, child!”

Alicen was frozen to the floor. The vision continued to point at her, a frothy light
in the darkness of the dining room. Alicen wondered what was hidden in that darkness.