hung in the air, and I could sense its frustration and anger writhing in the air around us. A shudder moved down my spine. Mom stood for a few more seconds, then blinked at me and smiled faintly.
“Sorry. I get so distracted sometimes. This house makes me feel, I don’t know…more alive somehow. Like I’ve come home to a place I didn’t even know I missed.”
When she finally moved close, I reached out and slid my arm through hers. “That’s great, but you need to eat.”
She laughed and patted my hand. I flinched, but she didn’t notice. She also didn’t seem aware her flesh was cold as ice. We walked closer to the slice of light that warmed the floor of the hall outside the kitchen, and Mom jerked. Her head turned as though she’d heard footsteps behind us.
“You know, the two of you can get started without me. It’ll only take me a minute to finish reading through those papers.”
She started to pull away, but I held fast. “No way. You’ll go in there and you won’t come out for hours.” If you come out at all, I wanted to say.
The atmosphere changed for a moment, and Mom turned back to me, her smile gone. Instead, she studied me like a scientist studies a bug. “Why the hurry? You’ve never been so concerned about my eating before.”
“You’ve never been so obsessed before. You’ll have plenty of time to sit in the middle of the boxes of junk, read, and organize to your heart’s content. But before you get into it, Grant and I would like to have dinner with you. After all, if you’re working night shift, we won’t get to see much of you during the week.”
Her face immediately lost the cool, calculating look and guilt moved across her features. Maybe I should have felt guilty, but as long as it got her away from whatever wanted her in the room, I didn’t care. The longer I postponed it, the more time I had to think of a way to keep her away permanently.
Mom shuffled into the kitchen ahead of me, and I paused, then stared back down the dim hallway. The figure stood in the doorway of the back room, anger seething around it like a tangible thing.
She’s not a plaything. Whatever it is you’re trying to do, stop. I thought the words, willing the thing back there to hear me as my anger rose.
The figure stepped back, the shadowy form dissolving again into the darkness of the room. Yet the anger didn’t leave. I pushed a hand through my hair. Anger I could deal with. Between the three of us, we had plenty of practice handling that.
***
Everyone was asleep by midnight. Mom had gone to bed early, holding her head and complaining of a headache. While I didn’t want her to hurt, I was glad she didn’t go back to the room downstairs.
I slid my feet into slippers and crossed my arms, as if doing so gave me some sort of extra protection. Taking each step carefully, I eased my way downstairs, then moved to stand in the center of the hallway facing the back room.
“I said this before, but apparently you need to hear it again. We aren’t going anywhere. Getting pissy about it isn’t going to change anything. Leave my family alone. All we’ve done is come in and clean up this wreck. It’s a home now.”
As I stood there, the temperature dropped and a breeze ruffled my hair. It stopped, and a low, menacing growl rumbled the floorboards under my feet. My heart leapt to my throat, but I tried to keep my bravado going and stomped one foot.
“Stop it. You’ve seen what we’ve done already. This place was in bad repair. We’ve fixed it. Is that really so bad?”
The sound stopped; the temperature warmed a few degrees. The silence became thick and heavy. I nodded once. “All right, then.”
Turning around, I made my way upstairs only to find Grant sitting on the top step.
“What the hell are you doing?”
I looked away. “Nothing.”
“I don’t think it liked whatever you said.” Dark circles ringed his eyes, and his hair stuck out in all directions.
Taking a seat next
“Sorry. I get so distracted sometimes. This house makes me feel, I don’t know…more alive somehow. Like I’ve come home to a place I didn’t even know I missed.”
When she finally moved close, I reached out and slid my arm through hers. “That’s great, but you need to eat.”
She laughed and patted my hand. I flinched, but she didn’t notice. She also didn’t seem aware her flesh was cold as ice. We walked closer to the slice of light that warmed the floor of the hall outside the kitchen, and Mom jerked. Her head turned as though she’d heard footsteps behind us.
“You know, the two of you can get started without me. It’ll only take me a minute to finish reading through those papers.”
She started to pull away, but I held fast. “No way. You’ll go in there and you won’t come out for hours.” If you come out at all, I wanted to say.
The atmosphere changed for a moment, and Mom turned back to me, her smile gone. Instead, she studied me like a scientist studies a bug. “Why the hurry? You’ve never been so concerned about my eating before.”
“You’ve never been so obsessed before. You’ll have plenty of time to sit in the middle of the boxes of junk, read, and organize to your heart’s content. But before you get into it, Grant and I would like to have dinner with you. After all, if you’re working night shift, we won’t get to see much of you during the week.”
Her face immediately lost the cool, calculating look and guilt moved across her features. Maybe I should have felt guilty, but as long as it got her away from whatever wanted her in the room, I didn’t care. The longer I postponed it, the more time I had to think of a way to keep her away permanently.
Mom shuffled into the kitchen ahead of me, and I paused, then stared back down the dim hallway. The figure stood in the doorway of the back room, anger seething around it like a tangible thing.
She’s not a plaything. Whatever it is you’re trying to do, stop. I thought the words, willing the thing back there to hear me as my anger rose.
The figure stepped back, the shadowy form dissolving again into the darkness of the room. Yet the anger didn’t leave. I pushed a hand through my hair. Anger I could deal with. Between the three of us, we had plenty of practice handling that.
***
Everyone was asleep by midnight. Mom had gone to bed early, holding her head and complaining of a headache. While I didn’t want her to hurt, I was glad she didn’t go back to the room downstairs.
I slid my feet into slippers and crossed my arms, as if doing so gave me some sort of extra protection. Taking each step carefully, I eased my way downstairs, then moved to stand in the center of the hallway facing the back room.
“I said this before, but apparently you need to hear it again. We aren’t going anywhere. Getting pissy about it isn’t going to change anything. Leave my family alone. All we’ve done is come in and clean up this wreck. It’s a home now.”
As I stood there, the temperature dropped and a breeze ruffled my hair. It stopped, and a low, menacing growl rumbled the floorboards under my feet. My heart leapt to my throat, but I tried to keep my bravado going and stomped one foot.
“Stop it. You’ve seen what we’ve done already. This place was in bad repair. We’ve fixed it. Is that really so bad?”
The sound stopped; the temperature warmed a few degrees. The silence became thick and heavy. I nodded once. “All right, then.”
Turning around, I made my way upstairs only to find Grant sitting on the top step.
“What the hell are you doing?”
I looked away. “Nothing.”
“I don’t think it liked whatever you said.” Dark circles ringed his eyes, and his hair stuck out in all directions.
Taking a seat next
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