The Appeal of Evil (The Road to Salvation) (11 page)

Leaning to her right, she plugged her phone into the charger before getting up to brush her teeth. It was quarter to nine—early—but she was tired. She contemplated watching TV with her mom, but pushed the thought out of her head. She’d fall asleep on the couch. Might as well just head straight to bed. She thought about reading a book, but her eyes probably wouldn’t stay open long enough. No. It was best to give in and close her eyes. When she finished brushing her teeth and washing her face, she headed back to her room. Mom was coming upstairs at the same time.

“I was wondering where you were. You wanna watch TV with me?”

Katie shook her head. “No. I want to go to bed.”

Mom wrapped Katie in a hug and kissed the top of her head. “Of course. You’ve been through a lot. You need to get some rest.” She released Katie so she could head into her room. “Randy tells me you’ve offered to go with him to pick up Wes tomorrow.”

Katie leaned against her door and nodded. “Yeah.” She yawned. “Is that all right with you?”

Mom brushed her fingers across Katie’s cheek. “That’s absolutely fine. I’ll call the school in the morning and let them know you won’t be there. But you’re responsible for making up any work you miss.”

Katie sighed. “I know. I will.”

Mom kissed her on the forehead. “All right. Good night. I’ll see you in the morning. Love you.”

“Night. Love you too.”

Katie closed her door and headed for her bed. She slid under the covers, the coolness inviting on her bare feet. She settled onto her pillow, the softness cradling her head, and instantly fell into a deep sleep.

A throbbing pain pulsed through Katie’s arm, pulling her out of her slumber. She raised her head wearily, trying to figure out what was going on. Why did her arm hurt? She blinked a few times to wake up further. At some point, she had rolled onto her injury. She pulled it out from under her and flopped onto her back. That wasn’t how she wanted to get woken up. She fidgeted for a while, trying to find a comfortable position, but the pain in her limb wouldn’t stop. She glanced at the clock: 3:33. Maybe she should get up and take some more ibuprofen. The thought of getting out of bed made her groan. Her arm may have been throbbing, but her bed was so warm, so comfortable, she didn’t really want to leave. Maybe if she closed her eyes and thought about something else, the pain would go away. She squeezed her eyelids shut and attempted to let her mind drift into unconsciousness.

“You never answered my text.”

The whisper sounded in Katie’s ear, causing her heart to stop beating for a moment and her breath to catch in her throat. She shot up, ready to leap out of bed to the door, her eyes wide with fear. She clutched her covers, ready to pull them over her head, like they would form a barrier between her and whoever was in her room. A dark figure sat next to her on the bed. Her eyes drifted toward the door. She wouldn’t make it before the person grabbed her, but if she screamed, her mom could be at her aid in a few seconds.

“I’m not going to hurt you.” The voice was louder and familiar.

Katie leaned over and grabbed her phone. She would have turned on the light, but she knew it would be too bright, temporarily blinding her. At that moment, the last thing she wanted to do was lose sight of who was in her room. Using the light from her screen, she illuminated the figure. The blue hue cast weird shadows across Josh’s face, making his features seem pointy and prominent. Shadows extended from the corner of his eyes onto his forehead, looking almost like eyebrows set at an angry angle. He smiled, but the gesture did nothing to hide the demonic look the light cast onto his face. Or was it from the light? Katie shuddered.

“What text?” It was all she could manage to squeak out. She wanted to ask how he had gotten in her room and why he was there, but her mouth wouldn’t obey her will.

Delicately, Josh reached for the phone, his fingers brushing against hers. Katie shied away from his touch, yet found it strangely alluring. His fingers were warm, soft. She remembered how they felt on her face days earlier, right before his lips connected with hers. When she believed he was human. Oh, how she wished he was still human. He unlocked her phone and pulled up the texts. He turned the display so she could read it.

Have you decided if you want to talk to me yet?

He’d sent it during the time she had been at Randy’s. Must have been around the same time Wes called her again. How did she miss that? Probably because she was so distressed Wes called again she didn’t even think about looking at her texts. Plus, she was tired. That explained everything. Her mind wasn’t working the way it was supposed to. She glanced from the phone to Josh’s face.

“So you thought you’d just make your way into my bedroom in the middle of the night to see what I was up to?” The fear she felt initially drained from her body, replaced with irritation. This was the second time a boy had climbed into her room unannounced, and look how that had turned out. What was going to happen now with Josh?

He shrugged one shoulder. “Something like that.” He leaned forward, resting on his elbow. His head was level with her chest.

The citrusy scent of his soap drifted into her nostrils. She closed her eyes and inhaled a deep breath. She opened them quickly and mentally chastised herself for the small indulgence. Josh was the enemy. No matter how wonderful he smelled or how warm his touch was, he had tried to kill her. He couldn’t be trusted. She cleared her throat and clicked on the reading light next to her bed. It wasn’t overly bright, but better than her phone. She squinted against the brightness. Josh held up his hand to shield his eyes.

“I’m trying to figure out how to convince you that you can trust me. That the other day in the warehouse was a misunderstanding.”

“A misunderstanding?” Katie fought to keep her voice quiet.

Josh held up his hand to silence her. “If I could do it over again, I would do it differently. I can’t, so now I’ll have to make it up to you in other ways. What can I do? Tell me. I’ll do anything.”

Katie folded her arms across her chest. “The first thing you can do is get the hell out of my room and let me get back to sleep.”

Josh smiled, and Katie’s resolve faltered slightly. “I can definitely do that. I’m sorry for bothering you at such a late hour, but I wanted to see you. Make sure you were all right.” He stood from the bed. “We’ll continue our discussion at a more regular hour.” He stared down at her for a moment, then headed for the window.

As soon as he was gone, Katie got up and flipped the lock. She didn’t even check to see if he was in the yard. She didn’t care. Throwing herself back into bed, she pulled the covers up to her chin. Thankfully, her arm had stopped throbbing, but now her mind was racing. Maybe she should have gotten those precautions from Randy to keep Josh out of her room.

Katie punched and squished her pillow, trying to make it as comfortable as it was before. Why weren’t boys climbing through her window when she wanted them to? And why couldn’t they be normal boys? Did she do something in a past life to deserve this torment? She threw her head onto the pillow with a huff.

The only bright side was she didn’t have school tomorrow. She could be tired around Wes. It might give her a good excuse to leave. She frowned. She was still unsure how she felt about seeing Wes. She should have been excited to be with him, thrilled that he was alive. Instead, she felt an emptiness, an indifference. Where had that come from? Would it ever go away? She sighed and stared into the darkness toward the ceiling. What she really needed was someone to talk to. An impartial observer who knew what was going on but had no stakes in either side. Where would she find someone like that?

Her eyes felt heavy and she let them drift closed. Somewhere in the back of her brain, she was surprised she could sleep after all the excitement, but she wasn’t going to fight it.

***

“You should probably get up and shower.”

Her mom’s voice broke through her dreams, the remnants of which vanished the further she drifted into consciousness. She tried to grasp the fading image of a woman with brown hair surround by an ethereal glow. She faded into piercingly bright lights as her mom threw open the shades. Squinting, Katie turned to look at the clock. 7:50. Mom would be leaving soon for work. Katie lay on her back and rubbed her eyes.

“You call me if you need anything today.”

“I will, Mom.”

“And let me know how Wes is doing.”

“Okay.” Was there anything else she needed Katie to do?

“I hope you have a wonderful day.” Mom kissed her on the forehead.

Katie forced a smile. “You too. Love you.”

“Love you too.” Her voice faded as she headed down the hall.

Katie stretched her arms over her head and stared out the window. The day looked so normal—like the world wasn’t full of demons and boys who couldn’t keep promises. Might as well get the day over with. She threw off the covers and headed for the shower.

At quarter to nine, she sat on her couch, waiting for Randy to show up while texting Deb to pass the time. Her friend sent a text wondering where she was, and Katie told her she was taking a mental health day. Deb was jealous. Katie wanted to make plans for the weekend, and Deb was happy to comply. She was in homeroom with nothing to do.

Katie was a little surprised Josh hadn’t texted her again. After the late night visit and the need for her to answer his texts, she thought for sure he would have sent her a message. An apology at least. Hopefully, that didn’t mean he was going to show up in her room again that night.

A knock sounded at the door, and Katie stood from the couch, texting Deb about how she wanted to do a little shopping on Saturday and then maybe go for a hike. Anything to get her out of the house and away from people. She barely looked up as she opened the front door.

“I really appreciate you coming with me to get Wes,” Randy said quietly. “I know he’ll be very happy to see you.”

Katie responded with a grunt, finished her text, then placed her phone in her pocket. She stepped off the porch and glanced toward the street. “Where’s your car?”

Randy pointed across the street. “In the garage. I’m not really in any shape to drive. I hope you don’t mind.” He smiled.

Katie was confused. “If you wanted me to drive, why didn’t you tell me to meet you at your house? It would have saved you a walk across the street.”

“I don’t mind walking. I need to do it more often. Helps loosen me up.” He proceeded down the walk and toward the street. His hand plunged into his pocket. Pulling out the keys, he handed them to Katie.

She took them and followed behind him. He barely walked faster than a snail; why would he want to make the trip twice? Maybe it was some kind of chivalrous act. She didn’t know. She really didn’t care, either. She wasn’t in school. She had all day.

The pair slowly hobbled across the street. Randy seemed to be moving a little easier than he had the day before, but it definitely wasn’t faster. Should Katie get the car and pick him up in the middle of the street? It might alleviate some of his discomfort. She shifted from one foot to the other as she tried to slow her pace to keep up with Randy. Her hands drummed on her thighs. She wasn’t trying to be impatient or pushy, she was just trying to pass the time while she waited for Randy to catch up. Again, she wasn’t in school. And with Randy, there was no chance Josh would stop her on the street. Or would he? Randy was injured. He couldn’t fight back. He’d be easy pickings for Josh, should he decide to attack. They weren’t protected out in the open, were they? A knot developed in her stomach and she glanced up and down the street, expecting to see Josh’s car come flying toward them at a high rate of speed. The neighborhood was quiet. Like it had always been.

Suddenly, Randy stopped in the middle of the street and turned his head to the left. Katie’s stomach twisted, her heart leapt into her throat. Did he sense something she couldn’t see? Did he hear something she didn’t? She stopped next to him, within a few inches, as if he could protect her from whatever was coming, her gaze directed the same way as his. A few hundred yards away from them was a dog standing right in the middle of the street. Katie let out the breath she held. It looked like a German shepherd, the ears alert and turned toward them. It lowered its head, studying them, then turned and trotted away. Randy waited until it disappeared before starting his painfully slow walk back toward the garage.

“Have to be wary of the stray population. Don’t want an epidemic on our hands.”

Katie stared at him for a moment, one eyebrow raised. There was one dog. One. And there was nothing to indicate that it was a stray. How did he know it didn’t belong to someone? It was too far away to see a collar. And just because she’d never seen it around the neighborhood before didn’t mean it hadn’t been there before. She figured the comment was made in passing, sounds to break the silence between the pair. She shrugged it off.

THE SMILE ON RANDY’S FACE
as they pulled up to the hospital was so wide, Katie thought for sure it was going to pop the stitches in the side of his face. Luckily, they were able to pull right up to the hospital, as opposed to parking in the lot and making the excruciatingly long walk to the door. Wes sat in a wheelchair with a nurse behind him, waiting for them to stop. He also had an overly large grin on his face. Katie didn’t think he looked too worse for the wear. He was a little pale, with dark circles under his eyes, but that was about it. She saw the bandages on his wrists and knew he had some on his ankles and around his stomach, but otherwise he looked like Wes. He definitely didn’t get beat up as bad as his dad had.

As soon as Katie put the car in park, Randy clambered out of the car. Katie attempted to get around and help him, but by the time she got there, he was on his feet. The nurse helped Wes out of the chair, and father and son embraced. They wanted to squeeze each other tight, hold one another like they’d never let go, but they couldn’t. Their bodies wouldn’t allow it. Katie hung back by the car, not wanting to get in the way of the family reunion. When they finally pulled away, Katie saw the moisture in both of their eyes. Randy clapped his son’s shoulder.