Revenge of Cornelius (10 page)

The glow was much taller now and
taking obvious human form. The outer edges remained faintly light
as the inner cavity took on a solid blackness. The thought of what
would come was too much for Alex to bear, yet he was helpless,
alone, too frightened to make the slightest attempt to run out of
there. He squeezed his eyes shut and silently prayed the prayer he
had been taught to say every night: 'Now I lay me down to
sleep…'

Reluctantly, he opened his eyes again;
curiosity had taken hold of him. The shape was still there that was
now the height and perfect form of a very tall man—one he had
clearly seen wandering through the halls of that very house for
months.

Alex yanked the covers over his head
and squeezed his eyes shut again. The bold decision lasted only a
few seconds as curiosity prevailed a second time and he could not
stop himself from peeking. He could see the slight glow through the
thin sheets, but to his horror, found that it was now right above
him. He shivered with fear beneath the covers, hoping that his
parents would somehow know he's in trouble and come to his
rescue.

The whispers were louder now: Voices
of men and women—young and old. All the while, the unwelcomed
silhouette remained stationary, just inches away from him. The
boy's breathing became more strained; his chest heaved with fright
and at the very moment he felt himself about to black out into
utter nothingness, the light disappeared from the sheets and the
voices suddenly stopped. Alex shot up out of bed, swung open the
door and ran toward his parents' bedroom.

He darted through the open doorway and
found his mother sitting up in bed with the lamp on. She had an
inexplicable grimace on her face. His father was lying next to her,
snoring loudly.

"Baby, what's wrong?" Andrea welcomed
her son with open arms as he climbed up next to her.

"He was in my room again, Mama! They
were all there!" He sobbed.

"Who was in your room? The shadows?"
she probed.

"I heard voices; I think it was them,
but I didn't see them this time. He was there too and he was
mad."

"Who was, honey?"

"Mister Koney."

The burning on Andrea's back felt most
uncomfortable. A fresh one rendered again that night and Theo slept
right through her painful shriek. Sometimes, new ones were clawed
on top of old ones and the skin of the back was where their focus
mainly was. More than ever now, she was convinced the shadow people
were set to make her life miserable in that house and possibly
drive her out of her mind.

"Who is this Mister Koney?" she
questioned the boy.

"You know him, Mama. He's with you
everywhere you go, but only in the daytime and only when you're
here at home," Alex explained.

An ice-cold shiver went through her.
The very thought of what Alex had described was terrifying to the
core.

"Are you sure about this,
Son?"

"Yes, Mama. I'm sure. He really scares
me. He doesn't like me and I don't think he likes you
either."

Andrea held him closely.

Just then, Theo rolled over and peeled
open an eyelid. "Why is he in here?" he muttered between sleep and
wake.

"He's going back to bed now," Andrea
said as her husband turned over again—his back facing
them.

She looked at Alex. "You know your
father wants you to sleep in your own room. How about I stay in
there with you again tonight? Would you like that?"

"Yes, Mama," the boy
replied.

Andrea slipped out of bed and
accompanied Alex to his room. She found that the more she and her
son were terrorized by these ghastly forces, the more she was
despising her husband and wishing that somehow, these same forces
would drag him down to the pit they must have crawled out
of.

8

_________________

Saturday morning, bright and early, Bobby arrived at the Cullens'
house dressed in yard clothes and ready for the weekend routine.
Michael and Sara were in their bedroom when they heard the
lawnmower going.

"He didn't bother to check with you
first as he always does. Wise boy," Sara remarked.

"That's because Mira already laid down
the law to me and he obviously knows it." Michael shook his head.
"I'll be damned if I'm going to be treated like an invalid around
here. I'm going out there!" He put down his mug.

"You're certainly not!" Sara
protested. "Unless you're going to say hello to the young man who's
out there working for free, you have no reason to go out there
right now. There comes a time in life, honey, when we have to allow
other people to help us."

"What're you talking about? I always
allowed Bobby to help me."

"Yes, you did, but you hardly let him
lift a finger." She sighed. "Let him work in peace, Michael. Show
him that you don't think you always have to do it yourself in order
for it to get done."

Michael looked at her knowing she had
won the fight. "All right! I'm going outside."

Michael's movement across the front
yard was sort of slow, and Bobby immediately shut off the mower and
went over to him.

"Morning, Mister Cullen. How are you
this morning?" he asked in his usual upbeat voice.

"Doing good, Son. Thanks for coming by
again."

"Don't mention it, sir."

"Guess Mira spoke to you."

"She said you weren't feeling so well
and thought it would be best if I just went to work right away
instead of disturbing you. Sorry about the noise," Bobby
replied.

"I'm A-ok, Son. Nothing serious."
Michael thought to convince him. "By the way, the noise sounds
good—means the yard is getting done. Will let you handle things
today, but I'll be back out here next time right along with you as
always, all right?"

Bobby smiled and quickly nodded. "Yes,
sir."

Michael watched from the front porch
until the sun came out briskly, then he retreated inside the house.
Mira and Rosie helped Bobby in the yard until it was time for Rosie
to get dressed for her outing.

* * *

Andrea reached for her purse from the
couch and tossed the strap across her shoulder. Theo was sitting on
the sofa reading the newspaper.

"Tell your Daddy
bye
," she said to Alex
who had just trotted down the stairs.

Theo lowered the paper. "Come give
Daddy a kiss before you go." He smiled.

The boy hurried over and smooched his
father on the cheek.

"Why aren't you coming with us,
Daddy?" he asked.

"Daddy's a bit tired today. I'll come
next time okay?"

Alex nodded affirmatively.

"We'll be back before four," Andrea
told Theo.

"So I don't get a kiss from my wife?"
He stood up. Andrea failed to answer, but went over and kissed him.
He held her hand.

"I love you, darling. It'll be all
right. I promise."

She slipped her hand away from his and
headed to the door with Alex.

The child gave his father one last
look before they walked out.

12:36pm

The green Buick pulled up in front of
the house. Bobby was shirtless and pouring sweat as he raked up the
scattered grass leaves into a heap.

"Good day," Andrea hailed as she
headed for the front door.

"Hi!" Bobby replied, wiping sweat from
his forehead with the back of his hand.

Alex was waiting in the car with the
windows rolled down, looking on.

As Andrea approached the door, Mira
and Rosie came out to meet her. Sara was standing in the
entranceway, waving cheerfully.

The women exchanged pleasantries and
Rosie turned back and gave her grandmother a great, big hug. She
then hugged Mira.

"I'll see you a bit later,
sweetheart," Mira said.

The child skipped toward the car and
Alex beamed with excitement that his little friend was joining
them.

Sara and Mira stood on the porch as
the three drove off into the distance.

"Does she seem all right to you?" Sara
wondered.

"Who? Mrs. Benjamin?"

"Uh huh."

"Why do you ask?"

"Looks a little stressed to me," Sara
responded.

"The way she looks today was how she
looked the first time I saw her," Mira stated.

"I don't suppose it's easy being the
wife of a politician."

"I suppose not," Mira agreed. "On
another note: That little girl of mine never seems to get enough
action."

"And neither did her mother when she
was her age." Sara turned to leave.

"Bobby, dear, would you like a cold
drink of water?" Sara cried out to him.

"Yes, Ma'am. I could use a little."
Mira's eyes met Bobby's. He winked at her and she abruptly followed
her mother inside the house.

Mira spent the majority of the
afternoon catering to her father's every need. She sort of took
over from her mother, wanting to do as much as she possibly could
for him. However, the fact of the matter was that Michael did not
appear to need much of anything and the constant 'checking up' was
beginning to aggravate him. That's when Mira gave it a rest and
decided to retreat to her room, if only for a while.

3:13pm

The phone rang and Mira picked up
right away.

"We just got back, Mom!" Rosie said
happily. She went on and on about the fun they had at McKerry's and
how Mrs. Benjamin was getting ready to mix the cupcake batter
now.

"That's wonderful, honey. Glad you had
such an awesome time. Are you behaving yourself nicely?" Mira
asked.

"Yes, Mom. Alex's mom says that I'm a
nice, little girl with good manners."

"Yes, you are." Mira
smiled.

"How's Pops?"

"He's fine. Watching TV, as
usual."

"Well, tell him I'll be back soon and
we'll watch TV together for the rest of the night since I had to go
out, okay?" Rosie instructed.

"Okay, honey. I'll tell
him."

After speaking with her mother, Rosie
joined Andrea and Alex in the kitchen. Andrea had the mixing bowl,
eggs, flour, sugar and several other ingredients lined off on the
kitchen counter. Theo was in the adjacent family room near the back
patio watching a ball game on television.

The children thoroughly enjoyed their
time helping out in the kitchen and their absolute, favorite part
was licking the large spoons and bowl—dirtying their fingers and
faces with what remained of the creamy batter. On Andrea's
prompting, they soon headed off to the bathroom to wash up while
Andrea placed two, long trays of their handiwork into the
oven.

"I'll be upstairs getting the toys
ready!" Alex exclaimed before racing upstairs. Rosie was still
washing her face and hands in the bathroom.

4:25pm

"Mama, where's Rosie?" Alex had dashed
downstairs into the living room where his mother was
resting.

Andrea leaned forward. "I thought she
was with you."

"No, Mama. She was in the bathroom
washing up and I was waiting for her in my room, but she never came
up."

"Did you check the
bathroom?"

"She's not there. I looked everywhere
and I don't see her," the boy replied.

Andrea immediately got up and went
through the house in search of the child, checking every room.
Rosie was nowhere to be found. She called out to her repeatedly,
but there was no response.

"Where's your Daddy?" she asked Alex,
who was trailing behind her.

"I don't know," he
answered.

"Theo!" she cried. "Rosie!"

No answer from anyone.

"That's strange. Where could they have
gone?" Andrea muttered.

The two went outside to check around
the house. Alex instantly spotted a dark shadow figure making its
way around the side of the building.

"Mama…"

"What, honey?"

The boy froze and stared at the area
in question.

"Someone's back there." He
pointed.

Deciding to ensure Alex's safety,
Andrea took him back inside, turned off the oven, then returned
outside to further investigate. Jogging around to the side of the
house, she didn't see anyone, but called out to Theo and Rosie
again numerous times. Again—there was no answer.

The yard had a sickening silence
around it—one that she had felt inside the house many times,
especially at night. There was a light mist in the air as well,
which was hugely unusual for that time of day. Then approximately,
seventy-five feet near the edge of the property that led into an
area of land densely populated by fruit-bearing trees and overgrown
brush, she saw Theo advancing.