The Devil's Demeanor (15 page)

Don didn’t know
what to do, but he did know he didn’t like standing in the driveway, looking
like an idiot. He slowly walked to the front door and unlocked it.

The house
seemed unnaturally quiet. Don wanted to call out to Ethan but was afraid he
would get a response from someone—something—other than his brother.
Something?
Where did that thought come from? Had the creature from Florida found him? Don
didn’t quite feel its presence the way he did in Dad’s backyard in Melbourne;
his imagination was just running wild on him. That was all.

He found
himself stepping into the foyer and looking over the banister and into the
living room. The only light came from the midday sun. He took a few more steps
until he reached the hallway on his left. The three bedroom doors were all
closed, as they had been when he left that morning.

The kitchen was
slightly to the right, and Don sidestepped in order to see the back-porch door.
It was closed, with the locking bar and wooden block still in their places. If
someone had snuck in, they had done so only through the living-room window.

It had to be
Ethan, though Don never told his brother about the time he’d done the same
thing with the window. Unless it just seemed like the obvious way to get into
the house....

But if that
were the case, anybody would come to the same conclusion after scooping out the
house and finding that window’s lock broken. Which meant Don could in fact be
dealing with a burglar. He backed away from the kitchen, intending to leave the
house and run to a neighbor’s.

Someone was
behind him.

Don bumped into
him.

He was about to
scream when the figure quickly said, “It’s Uncle Johnny.”

Don spun around
and saw his uncle standing there, dressed in black from head to toe. A black
ski mask was pulled up from his face. “What are you doing?” Don asked him,
breathless. “Are you robbing us?”

Uncle Johnny
laughed. “No, silly. I was waiting for your mom.”

“Why?”

That was when
Uncle Johnny lost his friendly demeanor. “I just wanted to talk to her. I was
hoping she’d come home before you boys.”

Don looked his
uncle over again, the way he was dressed, and knew he was lying about wanting
to just talk. “You were going to do something to her, weren’t you?”

“No! What?”
Don’s uncle was very nervous now.

“You were going
to make it so Ethan and I would
have to
live with Dad instead of her.”
He didn’t know how he knew this, but he was certain he was right.

“I was just
going to scare her, Don.”

“I don’t
believe you, but it doesn’t matter. I want to live with Dad anyway.”

Uncle Johnny
tilted his head. “You do?”

“Yes. I decided
today, at school.”

“Well, I’m glad
to hear that, but I doubt your mom will let you go that willingly.”

“I don’t care.
When my sophomore year ends, I’m moving in with Dad. No matter what.”

They were both
startled by the sound of an approaching car coming from the open window.

“Mom’s here,”
Don said as he grabbed his uncle’s arm and led him to the kitchen. Don removed
the locks and opened the sliding-glass door, and his uncle quickly left with,
“I’ll tell your dad what you told me.”

And then he was
gone.

*
 
*
 
*

Don didn’t know
how to feel about his seemingly rash decision to move; his life was about to
change and yet he felt nothing. He figured it was due to the fact nothing was
official yet. School records had to be transferred, belongings had to be
packed....

Mom had to be
told.

Don didn’t want
to be the one to tell her, nor did he want to be around when someone else did.
There was no doubt she wouldn’t take it well after the conversation between her
and Uncle Johnny, but back then Don had said he wanted to stay.

Well, Don
wanted to go now, but what about Ethan? Don had to talk to his little brother
to see how he
truly
felt about the situation. He knew Dad wouldn’t leave
either of them.

Don
contemplated all of this on the way to school one morning. His head was resting
against the window when he saw
him
walking along the road. “Is that
Nick?” he asked Sym, who was sitting next to him.

“I guess he
missed the bus,” Sym said. “Oh, I heard he and Monica broke up.”

Don perked up
at this news. “For real?”

“Yep. Looks
like you get another chance at her.”

Don wilted once
again. “I’m moving, though.”

“You’re
moving?” Sym practically yelled. “When?”

“This summer,
maybe.”

Sym sighed.
“That sucks, man.”

As the bus
passed Nick, Don saw his ex-friend looked sad and defeated.

*
 
*
 
*

Don knew he had
to talk to Nick before he left for Texas; he couldn’t just leave things the way
they were. They were both eating lunch when Don decided to approach. The tables
were long and numerous and stretched clear across the cafeteria. Don never
liked these tables and missed the round ones from his elementary-school days.

Nick was
sitting in the middle of one table directly in the center of the cafeteria,
surrounded by friends but not talking to any of them. Don slid into a spot next
to him.

“Hey,” he
greeted Nick.

“Hey.”

“I’m sorry
about you and Monica.”

“No, you’re
not.”

“Yes, I am.”

Nick, who had
been looking down at his tray the whole time, finally looked up at Don. “You
mean it?”

“I do.”

“I thought
you’d be happy, since you’re in love with her.”

“I
was
in love with her, but that doesn’t matter. What did matter was you went after
her even though you knew I liked her.”

“You think I
did it to make you mad?”

Don nodded.

“Why would I do
that? You were my best friend.”

“I know. I was
just crazy back then.”

“You still
are.” Nick laughed.

“Maybe,” Don
agreed. “Anyway, I just wanted to make things cool between us again.”

“Because me and
Monica broke up?”

“No. Because
I’m moving to Texas.”

That took Nick
by surprise. “Why?”

“My dad wants
me to live with him for a while.”

“Man, that
sucks,” Nick said, echoing Sym’s sentiments.

Don grinned.
“You gonna miss me that much?”

“Not really. I
just realized with you gone, Clark is gonna want to hang out with
me
more.”

They both
laughed.

With Don and
Nick’s friendship renewed, Don felt he had to talk with Monica now. He had very
little time before he moved, and even less time to tie up loose ends. He had
spoken with Dad the day before, and he had told Don he would take care of Mom.
All Don had to do was finish his sophomore year.

He passed
Monica in the hall one day as she went through her locker, exchanging books. He
stared at her, wondering what to say, when he accidentally walked into another
girl. Her books spilled to the floor.

“I’m sorry,” he
said a split second before realizing who she was.

“Watch where
you’re going, you idiot!”

“Don’s face
reddened as everyone in the crowded hall, including Monica, stared at them. He
grew angry at the yeller; he wanted to call her the idiot, to remind her she
was the one who had tripped on a tree root in the courtyard outside on the
first day of school.

Instead, he
held his tongue and walked away.

He was in the
library, looking for a book to complete an assignment, when Monica approached
him.

“Hey,” he said,
surprised.

“Hey.” She
smiled at him. “Man, that chick was a major bitch to you.”

Don shrugged.
“I deserved it for walking into her.”

“Why did you do
that?”

“I wasn’t
looking where I was going.”

“What were you
looking at?” She asked it suggestively, as if she already knew the answer.

“Sorry to hear
about you and Nick,” Don said instead, changing the subject.

“Thanks,” she
said simply.

“What happened
between you two?” he asked, forgetting the book he’d been searching for.

She shrugged.
“We just grew apart. It happens.”

“Does it happen
to you a lot?”

She laughed.
“Only when I’m with guys I don’t like.”

“You didn’t
like Nick?”

“He was okay at
first. But then, after a while, I came to realize we didn’t connect the way we
should have. You know?”

Don nodded. “So
you broke up with him?”

Monica flashed
a curious smile. “Actually, he broke up with me.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

“You think he
noticed the lack of connection too?”

“Guys don’t
notice things like that.”

“I would.”

“I believe
you.” She nudged him with an elbow. “You know, I think he broke up with me for
you.”

“You think so,
huh?”

“He’s a good
friend.”

Don smiled and
nodded. “I’m just figuring that out myself.” He sighed. “Monica, I’m sorry I
lied to you about him, about what he said. I shouldn’t have done that.”

“Why did you do
that?”

Don was a long
time in answering, but finally he said, “A voice in my head told me to.”

Monica
chuckled. I have that same problem sometimes.” She suddenly grew serious. “So,
you’re moving to Texas?”

Don started at
that. “How did you know?”

“Nick told me
earlier. It’s nice in Texas; I’ve been there a bunch of times.”

They were
silent for a while. The large library was practically empty at that time, so
Don and Monica had a fair amount of privacy. Don still felt like whispering,
however.

“If I weren’t
moving, would you...”

“Would I have
gone out with you?” she finished for him. He nodded. “I guess we’ll never
know,” she said with a sly smile.

*
 
*
 
*

Don would miss
his bowling league greatly once he left. He didn’t know if he would join
another one in Texas, but even if he did, he doubted he’d find teammates as
cool as his current ones. They were great bowlers and really nice guys, though
both were a decade older than Don.

The bowling
alley held the lock-in during spring break, and Mom let Don and Ethan attend,
surprisingly enough. Don figured being locked in a building, surrounded by
people, was safer than anything else.

He was happier
than he’d been in a while with the prospect of all-night bowling and videogames
to look forward to. Earlier in the day, Dad had called to say he was going to
talk to Mom “very soon,” which Don took to mean that very day. Dad hadn’t
talked to her before they left for the lock-in, though.

And now Don was
ready to bowl, the lanes lit with blue, green and pink neon lights. It was
eleven at night, and everyone was wide awake with excitement. Don wished he
could attribute all of his energy to the atmosphere, but he knew it was really
his nerves. Would Dad really manage to get Don and Ethan to Texas?

And besides
that, would Mom be okay by herself? Well, she wouldn’t be alone if she hadn’t
killed Adrian—

Don told
himself to stop thinking like that. There was a chance Adrian wasn’t dead. Don
hoped to solve that mystery before he moved.

Deciding to
take a break before the next game, he walked from one end of the bowling alley
to the other. The place was packed and noisy, with a Mariah Carey song playing through
the large speakers placed throughout. Don truly would miss this place. Once he
got to the other end, he noticed a large group of kids forming a circle on the
floor near the very last lane. When he got closer, he saw a balanced assortment
of boys and girls. One of the girls was Monica.

He also noticed
the kids were playing Spin the Bottle.

“Hey, Don,”
Monica greeted. “Get down here and play with us.”

He gulped. He’d
never played before, but he knew the rules perfectly well. A gap opened in
front of him and he squatted down to join the circle. Monica was directly
across from him. The boy to his right spun the empty soda bottle, and after a
few seconds, it landed on a pretty girl next to him. He didn’t have to go far
to plant a kiss on her lips.

And then it was
Don’s turn. He grabbed the bottle and spun it as hard as he could. The other
kids laughed as it spun at the speed of light. After
more
than a few
seconds, it slowed. Don’s heart stuttered as the bottle finally landed on...

Monica.

She leaned
forward, over the bottle, so close to Don he could smell her shampoo. The scent
was indescribable and pleasant. He grinned like a fool.

And then he
leaned forward as well.

Time seemed to
stop, and the music became mute. No one existed except Don and Monica. He wasn’t
sure why he was reacting his way; he’d kissed a girl before on the playground
of Woodcrest. But they had been children, before he had known what love was.

And now he was
moving to another state, right when Monica had become single. It wasn’t fair.

But at least
there was this moment. If he couldn’t see Monica again for a long time, if he
couldn’t be with her, at least they would always have this kiss.

“Break it up,
people!” a voice shouted.

Before his lips
could even meet Monica’s, Don was snatched from the moment by a nosy
chaperone—someone’s mother. She stood over the circle, hands on her significant
hips.

“I’ll be damned
if one of you gets sick on my watch from swapping spit.”

Don was so
angry as the circle dispersed. He’d had his moment. And now it was gone.

It was during
the first week of May 1998 when Don realized he truly was moving to Texas. He
heard the confirmation not from his parents but from Mr. Clifford. His
least-favorite teacher had asked him if he thought Texas high schools were
better than those in Georgia. When Don only gave him a quizzical look, Mr.
Clifford explained how “Mr. Scott” had visited the school, asking for his son’s
records. Don didn’t even know Dad was in town and was shocked by this news.

When he got
home after school, things seemed normal. Mom seemed resigned, like she had
finally accepted an undeniable truth.

Don thought
about asking her if she knew about the move, but decided to trust Dad would
handle everything like he said he would. At some point during the day, Don woke
from a nap to find himself halfway off his bed. The sun was still up, and he
heard a Bonnie Raitt song playing. He’d left his TV on, and a movie’s end
credits were playing.

Before he could
turn off the TV, someone who looked a lot like Denzel Washington stared
directly at him and said, “Save them. Don’t let the monsters win.”

Don turned off
the TV and got up from the bed. He wasn’t sure if he’d still been half asleep
when he saw that, but decided to shake it off. Mom and Ethan were in the living
room, just sitting there in silence. They were staring at the TV, which was
turned off.

“Mom?” Don
called uncertainly.

She and Ethan
looked at him together. Mom said, “Good, you’re up. I was waiting so I can tell
you boys something.”

She’d sounded
so monotonous, neither happy nor sad. Don couldn’t tell if she knew or not
about the move. She had to have known by now, with only a couple of weeks of
school left.

Don sat down on
the couch next to Ethan; Mom was on the recliner across from them. She said, “I
know you boys are wondering about a lot of things after Uncle Johnny came
over.”

She looked at
Ethan for a moment, as if hoping he’d say something in her defense. Something
along the lines of: “You’re a great mommy and I don’t want to leave you.” He apparently
did not, so she continued: “There’s only one person I know who could possibly
help us get back to a normal life.” She looked at Don and said, “Your birth
father.”

Don said
nothing, but his heart beat faster.

“I’ve been
contacting all our mutual friends, looking for him,” she added.

“Did you find
him?” Don asked.

“No, honey. I
tried, but.… He’s dead, honey.”

Don gasped so
hard he began to choke on the air. He coughed for a few seconds, and then
settled down and looked at Mom with watery eyes. “Dead?”

“ ‘Birth
father’?” Ethan asked.

“You and your
brother have different daddies,” Mom said to Ethan.

“How do you
know he’s dead?” Don asked after a brief silence.

Mom looked at
him for a while. “I talked to one of his old friends the other day. He said your
father...killed himself a long time ago.”

Don didn’t know
how to respond to the news. He’d never known his real father, so he couldn’t
very well be sad about his death. “What was his name?” he asked Mom.

“Stephen. Your
father’s name was Stephen.”

And then Mom
did the unthinkable. She laughed.

Don stared at
her with shock and disgust, but she shook her head and wiped away tears that
managed to fall down her cheeks.

*
 
*
 
*

Don found it
impossible to sleep later that night. He kept replaying the conversation with
Mom over and over in his head. Worse yet, he still wasn’t sure whether Mom knew
he and (possibly) Ethan were moving in with Dad. She hadn’t mentioned a thing.

School was
almost over. The deadline was drawing near. If she didn’t know yet, someone had
to tell her. Don looked to his window and started at the sight of a silhouette
standing there.

He heard a
tapping at the window. Once he got over his fear, he realized the silhouette
was of a man, and that man was trying to get his attention. Don got up from the
bed and slowly looked through the blinds. He saw not one man but two, one
standing behind the other.

“Open the
window,” Dad whispered.

Don did, and
Dad and Uncle Johnny climbed into the room. They were wearing all black, just
like Uncle Johnny had the day he broke in.

“Hey, son,”
said Dad with a grin. “Ready to move to Texas?”

“Tonight?” Don
was incredulous.

“Yep. You and
your brother.”

“So, you talked
to Mom?”

Dad’s grin
vanished. “I tried to, but she wouldn’t listen. I had to take matters into my
own hands.”

“I haven’t
packed anything.” Don couldn’t adjust to this crazy situation.

“Don’t worry
about it; we’ll get your stuff later. Just go wait in the car while I get
Ethan.”

Don didn’t
move. This just didn’t feel right.

“Please, son,”
Dad said urgently.

“Okay,” Don
said, and then he crawled through his window and was outside.

Instead of
Dad’s van, there was a small black four-door sedan—Uncle Johnny’s. Don was cold
as he waited in the back seat. He had no idea what was going on inside the
house. Everything seemed so quiet and peaceful from where he sat.

Minutes ticked
by and still he waited. Don caught himself holding his breath a few times, as
if doing so would alleviate the terrible sense of dread he felt. When would
this end? What was going on in there?

A moment later,
his questions were answered.

The front door
opened and Uncle Johnny stumbled out. He was clutching his throat! Blood
spilled from between his fingers.

Don sat there,
horrified. He couldn’t move, he could only watch. Even with the windows up, he
could hear his uncle’s pained groans. A second later, Ethan came running out of
the house and went straight up the hill to the right.

“Ethan!” Don
called, but his brother didn’t look back. It took a moment for Don to realize
all of the windows were still up. He grasped the door handle, but before he
could even open the door, someone else came out of the house.

No—some
thing
.
It ran on all fours and was wearing a white nightgown. It charged up the hill,
in Ethan’s direction. Don managed to get the car door open and before he knew
it, he was going up the hill as well.

He ran down the
long stretch of road that followed. The moon was far away, looking as if it
rested on the end of the street. He didn’t see Ethan or the thing that was
chasing him. They must’ve cut through someone’s yard.

But what was
that thing? In the back of Don’s mind, he already knew. He just wanted to
delude himself a little longer.

He started down
the long street, cursing himself for not going into his house to search for
Dad. He was the only one who hadn’t come out, and Don didn’t know if he was
alive or dead.

Don kept to the
street, the one he took every day to get to the first bus stop, not knowing
where else to go. His heart pounded painfully when he thought of his uncle
dying on the front porch. Don felt sick to his stomach thinking about how he
left his uncle to die there, alone, his throat ripped out.

Or had that
been Dad?

Don had just
assumed it was his uncle, but the Scott brothers all looked so very much alike.
Oh, God! Was that Dad dying on the front porch? Don stopped in his tracks, in
the middle of the moonlit street. He had to go back and help whoever was on the
porch.

Just as he
turned to head back home, he heard a scream come from the direction he’d been
going. It was Ethan. Don started toward his brother’s scream. It had been
high-pitched and far away. How had Ethan gone so far in so little time?

The
neighborhood seemed completely empty, like it would in a nightmare. Don didn’t
know how late it was, but he found it odd he saw not a single person standing
outside—not even a dog barking in a backyard.

Finally, he
reached the end of the street. He studied the intersection, noting he could
only go straight or right. Another scream called into the night. It had come
from the right, from the direction of Chainsaw House. Don knew the neighbors
with the best haunted house had as much to do with this as the Candy Lady, but
Don’s mind was processing things strangely. He ran down that street, which was
just as long as the previous, but with more curves.

Where was
Ethan? Had Mom gotten to him yet? Is that why he kept screaming? Don almost
felt like he was being led somewhere. Soon, he found himself standing at the
top of the steep hill with the cul-de-sac below—the same place where Ethan had
wandered off that one Halloween night. Had he gone there again?

Don stood
there, looking down into the tiny dark circle, wondering where to go next, when
he heard another scream. It came from the bottom of the hill. Don carefully
made his way down the steep hill, noting for the first time he didn’t have any
shoes.

For the second
time in his life, he was walking through a creepy wooded area at night, looking
for his little brother. Again Don felt like he was being watched as he pushed
through the scratchy, invisible bushes that tore at his eyes and face. Only
this time, he was alone. He would’ve done anything to have Nick and Monica with
him.

“Ethan!” he
called into the night air. “Where are you?”

No reply.

The wind
suddenly picked up. Don looked up through the canopy of trees to see the
midnight-blue sky had taken on stormy clouds. Thunder rumbled in the distance.

And then
something else sounded from not too far away. It sounded like a pig squealing,
but Don knew it wasn’t a pig.

What was wrong
with Mom? Did she change into some kind of creature after confronting Dad at
the house? The way she had come running out the front door suggested as much.
Don suddenly felt more alone and afraid than ever.

“Don?” a young
voice called from somewhere up ahead. It was Ethan.

Don gasped and
charged forward. “I’m here! I’m right here!”

A moment later
he found himself in a familiar clearing, and Ethan was standing in the center
of it. Alone. Don looked around warily before stepping closer to his brother.

“It’s okay,” he
said to Ethan.

“No, it’s not,”
said Ethan.

“What do you
mean?”

“The curse has
Mom now. She can’t come back.”

Don stopped in
his tracks. “I don’t get what you mean.”

“Yes, you do.”

A rustle of
leaves to Don’s right startled him. He heard rough breathing and knew something
was standing there in the shadows, watching, waiting.

Ethan
continued: “Mom has killed, and now she’ll never be free of the curse.”

“What do you
know about the curse?” Don asked.

“Only what
it
told me.”

Don laughed. “
‘It’ started the curse; you can’t trust it.”

“It said the
curse stays with us but doesn’t hurt us. But when we kill someone, we change.”

“That doesn’t
make sense,” said Don. “If that’s true, then Mom should’ve changed a long time
ago. She killed Agatha when we were younger.”

“That’s right,”
said a hoarse voice from the shadows. “She did.”

Don snapped his
gaze toward something crawling out of the woods on all fours, like an animal.
This animal was wearing a blood-covered nightgown and had scratches all over
its pale arms.

“She killed
that whore, and she doesn’t regret it,” said Mom as she crawled toward Ethan.
The young boy, in turn, simply stared at her without emotion.

Don was
paralyzed. He didn’t understand what he was looking at. The thing in front of
him looked like his mother, but it didn’t sound anything like her. Don couldn’t
believe it was her. Her skin was tight all over, and her eyes were much too
shiny.

This was some
kind of imposter.

The imposter
placed its hands on Ethan’s shoulders and peeked at Don from behind the young
boy’s head. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” it said to Don.

That voice—it
sounded like it belonged to a witch. Don couldn’t stand the sound of it.

“You don’t like
looking at me, do you?” the imposter asked. Its eyes were wide and insanely bright.
It had a grin that stretched from ear to ear. “You’ll look like this too. You
just wait.”

Don was saved
from responding by another thunderclap. The thing squealed again as it looked
to the sky, which was clouding over.

“Your father
thought he could take you away from me,” said Mom-thing. “I showed him he was
wrong.” It laughed a witch’s laugh.

“You killed
Dad?” Don asked, his heart skipping in his chest.

Instead of
replying, the thing took its hands off of Ethan’s shoulders and crawled to a
spot a few feet away. “Soon, he’ll join my little garden.” It dug at a spot
like a dog in a yard.

Don was
horrified when he saw rigid fingers poke through the loose soil. Against his
better judgment, he took a few steps forward. To his surprise, even Ethan
seemed terrified by the sight.

After a moment
of digging, an arm was revealed. The dirt flew through Mom-thing’s nightgown,
making it even dirtier. More and more of the victim became visible, and Don
almost screamed when he finally saw the face.

It was Adrian.

“My garden,”
Mom-thing croaked again, spreading its arms as if showing off proudly.

“It’s a
goddamned graveyard,” Don whispered, completely in shock. A sharp pain touched
his right cheek before he could even blink.

“Watch your
mouth,” the thing said as it lowered its slapping hand. “Before you end up in
my garden.”

He rubbed his
cheek. To Mom-thing, he said, “You would kill your own son?”

“If pushed far
enough, I’ll kill anybody.” There was no joy in the monster’s words now.