The Collected Horrors of Tim Wellman Page 12

  "I reckon most people felt the same, Charlie," the chief said. "We figured the worst we had ta fear is Mister Williams stealin' too much from his safe ta pay that whore a his over in Ashland."

  Everyone nodded.

  "Them girls b'long back up there on the hill," he said. "Ya shoulda never brung 'em down."

  Steve Junior shook his head. "I can't believe you people! I figured all of you were good folks, friends. We all look out for each other and their kids, for fuck's sake. How can any of you stand there and calmly talk about killing two children? That beats the shit out of me."

  "I'm sayin' to yer face, Stevie, ya messed up a bringin' them young'uns down here," Charlie said. "Ain't nothin' good in any a this."

  "And them girls done killed two of our own, sure as hell," Jake chimed in. "They was retributin'!" He looked down at the girls and pointed. "Devils!"

  Steve started to say something else, but then simply looked at Jake. "I swear to god you get stupider by the minute."

  "Are you going to kill us?" Tamara said. Both girls stepped from behind Steve and stood in front of him, holding hands. "The dress-up ladies tried to choke us so we pretended to die."

  Everyone was silent.

  Steve put his hands on their heads. "No, they're just full of shit."

  "The dress-up ladies were killed," Kimberly said.

  Steve bent down and put his head between them. "You girls didn't have anything to do with that. It was an accident."

  "Grampa killed them," Tamara said.

  Everyone stopped and came closer to the girls. "God dammit, I ain't walkin' back and forth here all day," the chief said. "Why don't ya all just go back home and let this alone fer today."

  "Them little devils said the old man killed the paramedics," Jake said. "Now that's shit worth comin' back ta listen to."

  "Your grampa's dead, sweetie," Steve said. "Did the women in the ambulance hurt you?"

  They both shook their heads. "When they knew we were pretending they tried again, but Grampa stopped them," Tamara said.

  "That's enough," the chief said. "Y'all git on home, now, and let this matter be till we can get them bodies off the hillside and let Williams sort out the details."

  Everyone started to walk away again. Many of them had been awake all night long fighting the fire. Everyone was slumped over, exhausted, scared. The sun had refused to rise even though it had had several hours to show itself, and the overcast and gloomy sky did nothing to brighten anyone's mood.

  "I'm taking the girls home with me," Steve said. "I'll call Susie over to get them cleaned up."

  "You shouldn't be draggin' your sister inta this," Jake said.

  "Come on, girls," Steve said and picked them up and walked toward the crowd. They reluctantly parted and let him pass. "Bad man!" Tamara said and pointed at Jake.

  "She cursed me!" he yelled. "Y'all heard her! The demon cursed me!"

  "She just said you was a bad man," Jerry said. "Maybe that applies ta all of y'all."

  "Oh now, you're goin' against us too?" Jake said.

  "I just think we all need ta calm down and take a break," he said. "Get some sleep and see how things look then."

  "All right," Mister Williams said. "If you all want to meet down at the bingo hall tonight I'll know more about what's going on. That will give me a few hours to go over the papers."

  "Can ya fix things?" Tom said.

  "Old man Perry sent a new will to me a couple of years ago, specifically mentioning the two girls as benefactors," he said. "I'm really afraid that everything belongs to them. But let me check closer, see what I can do. But I know he sent a copy out to the courthouse, too, so they'll get wind of this in a day or two."

  "We're a countin' on ya, Williams," Charlie said. "If'n we ain't got nothin', you don't get nothin' from us."

  "That's right," Jake said. "So, you better do somethin' 'cause you're in this as deep as we are."

  Steve could barely hear the conversation behind him as he stepped onto the sidewalk and started down Elm Street toward his house. The girls were still looking over his shoulder at the crowd of men as the conversation seemed to gain in volume again. "Don't mind them, girls," he said. "They're loud-mouthed idiots, but they don't mean most of what they say."

  "Do you think we're devils?" Tamara said. "The ugly police guy called us devils."

  "Yeah, well, the ugly police guy was just being mean," he said. "Don't pay him no mind; you're smarter than he is." He stopped and re-adjusted the girls on his hips. "Don't reckon you girls could walk for a while?" They both nodded and he sat them down and then the three of them continued to walk toward his house.

  "We need to return to our room soon," Kimberly said. Tamara nodded.

  "But your house is completely destroyed," he said.

  "It's in the basement," Tamara said. "We got out because of the fire."

  "Got out?"

  "They kept us locked up," Kimberly said. "Since we were born."

  Steve stopped and grabbed the girls by the shoulders and turned them to face him as he knelt down. "What are saying, sweethearts? You were locked in the basement?"

  They both nodded. "But they let us out because of the fire," Tamara said.

  "My god," he said. "Why... why would they do that?"

  "Because they didn't want us to hurt people."

  "Who? Your parents? The old man?"

  They both nodded. "Since we were born."

  "But it makes no sense," he said. "The old man even changed his will to include you. How could he keep you locked in the basement?"

  "Can you take us there?" Tamara said. "Please, we need our things."

  He nodded. "Let's get you cleaned up and dressed in clean dresses, okay?" He stood up and they started walking again. "After we get a little sleep we'll go back up. We'll need to wait till that bunch back there clears out, anyway."

  "Steve! Steve!" Someone was yelling from behind them. "Hey, wait up!" It was Jerry and there was something wrong, terribly wrong. Steve could hear it in his voice even before he turned around to watch him running toward him.

  "Jerry? What is it?"

  He stopped quickly in front of Steve and the girls, and then had to lean over with his hands on his knees to catch his breath. "It's... it's Jake."

  "Slow down, Jer, catch your breath," he said. "Tell me slow."

  "Jake is dead," he said. "Damnest thing, he seemed to just step right in front of the coroner's car, like he was trying to commit suicide or something!"

  "What?!" When?! Just now?"

  Jerry nodded. "Smashed 'im all up," he said through heavy breaths. "Throwed 'im like fifty feet and pinned him to a tree, limb went right through 'im! Stuck like a bug." He looked up with tears in his eyes. "God, it was horrible."

  Steve shook his head. Yet another death, it seemed to be a chain reaction. "Well, they can't blame this on the girls," he said. "They weren't there." He sniffed and shook his head again. "Poor ol' Jake. We been through a hell of a lot together."

  "Your daddy said ta run ya down and tell ya b'fore ya heard it from a stranger," he said. "I gotta get back there, they's waitin' fer a chainsaw to get his body down."

  "Okay, thanks Jerry," Steve said. "Go on back." He watched Jerry as he ran away. "Just doesn't make sense." He looked down at the girls who seemed totally uninterested in his conversation with Jerry. "Sorry you girls had to hear that."

  "We can still go home to get our things?" Tamara said.

  He nodded. "Yep, sooner we get you away from that place, the better. So, we'll go this evening."

  ****

  "You got 'em dressed yet, Susie?" Steve was standing outside his bedroom door waiting for the girls and his sister to come out.

  "Yeah, just a sec," she said. She opened the door and then closed it behind her. "Don't say anything about the way they're dressed," she said. "They're very self-conscious about it... I don't think flowery short dresses was the perfect choice."

  "I thought they looked cute," he said.

 
"I think they were meant for younger girls," she said. "I bought those because you told me they were like three."

  "They are about three," he said.

  She shook her head. "No way," she said. "I'm a girl, I know about these things. They're closer to six or seven."

  "How can that be?" he said. He shrugged and narrowed his eyes and held his hand out. "They're like three feet tall."

  "I guess they're just really stunted or something, but they're already starting to develop," she said. She cracked open the door. Okay girls, come on out."

  They looked like perfectly normal three year olds, childish faces, chubby cheeks, but after he knew what to look for, he could tell they were older, too. Instead of embarrassing the girls, he felt really stupid because of the way he was talking to them. He also realized that being locked in the basement of the old house was probably the reason they were still so small.

  "Hey, you're clean!" he said. "Oh... yeah... sorry for talking to you like you were babies."

  "We just thought you were retarded," Tamara said.

  "Ha!" Susie said. "I been sayin' that since he was born!"

  "Yeah, okay," he said. "But you girls didn't say much so I didn't think you could talk very well yet. I guess it was just being in shock?"

  "Is it time to go home, yet?" Kimberly said.

  "Hey, you gonna be okay, bro?" Susie said. "I got a hot date tonight and need ta get cleaned up before I head to Ashland."

  "Yep, we'll be fine," he said. "We'll hang here till the weirdos all go down to the bingo, then head up the hill so the girls can get their stuff."

  "Oh, dad said they were gonna plan a police funeral for Jake 'cause he was killed in the line a duty," she said.

  "Didn't he run out in front of a car?" Steve said.

  "Well, dad said he was yelling about chasing something," she said. "No one could make it out, but something like 'It's the old fucker'."

  Steve shook his head. "Still, it's tragic," he said. "He had some faults, but..."

  "He called us devils," Tamara said.

  Susie smiled and rubbed Tamara on the head. "Be good!" She waved at the girls, and they could hear the front door open and shut as she left.

  Steve shuffled around nervously, wanting to talk to the girls, but he had to shift his mindset now, and it was difficult to see the girls in another light. They were kids, old enough to think and speak intelligently. "Uh... I guess you understood all of that they were talking about earlier in the field, huh?"

  They both nodded. "They hate us because grampa left everything to us."

  "Hate... I don't know if it's hate, really," he said. "I think they were mostly acting out of real disappointment."

  "Disappointed that we didn't die?" Kimberly said.

  "Oh... uh... no, no, just disappointed about the will your grampa left. They all thought they were going to get the businesses and property they worked hard to maintain for so many years." He smiled. "You might have noticed, they're not terribly bright people. They wouldn't have talked like that if they'd known you were older girls who could understand what they were saying."

  The girls nodded again. "You are the first stranger we've ever talked to," Tamara said.

  "Oh, really?" he said. "You girls know it was a terrible thing that your family kept you locked up, right? That's not how the world works. You should have been free to run around the yard and play and go to school, and, well, just be normal kids."

  Tamara looked around the room. "Is it time to go, yet?"

  "No, not yet. It will be a couple of hours, yet."

  "How long is that?" Kimberly said.

  "You can't tell time?" Steve said. "Can you read?"

  Both girls shook their heads.

  "Well, it will be a while, so let's make something to eat," he said. "What do you like?"

  "Chicken," Tamara said.

  "Chicken," he said. "I don't have any chicken to cook... oh wait, I have some canned chicken."

  "Doesn't all chicken come from a can?" Kimberly said.

  "Ah, no, you actually buy the raw meat and cook it," he said. "I have some instant rice, too, so I'll open a can of green beans and we'll make a meal of it!"

  "We would like to eat," Tamara said.

  "You got it! Hey, have you ever watched TV?" He motioned the girls through his house. "Come on, you can pass the time watching cartoons while I fix dinner."

  ****

  Steve put his hands on the girls' backs and pushed them along quickly on the sidewalk. They were passing Charlie Watts' house and Steve wasn't sure if he had gone to the meeting or not. He had a tendency to drink scotch whiskey on his front porch until he passed out and if they made too much noise, they might rouse him. But they made it safely past and stepped off the paved surface and into the field at the foot of the Perry hill. He had waited until eight o'clock, overly cautious, but he didn't want another scene with the rest of the people in town. But in August, with an unfettered sun finally blazing, he still had an hour or more of good daylight left.

  "You need to watch your step," he said as they started up the old driveway. "You can turn your ankle in these old gully ditches." He had decided the girls could walk but still realized their small size would pose some problems on the rough surface.

  "Everyone from this morning is in one place, now?" Tamara said. "Together?"

  "Yep, they're all trying to figure out how to cheat you out of your property," Steve said with a chuckle. "Luckily they're all too stupid to be dangerous."

  "If there was a fire, they would all die," Kimberly said.

  The words struck Steve with a feeling of fear, though he instantly realized she was simply responding to the fire at the old house. Fire equaled destruction for them both right now. "Guess so," he said. "But think how all their families would feel about losing them."

  "Families are evil," Tamara said.

  "Most aren't," Steve said. "Girls, you have to understand, the way you were treated was wrong and not ordinary. Most families are good. You liked Susie, right? She's part of my family."

  The girls suddenly stopped and turned to face Steve, but they were looking past him. "No fire," Kimberly said.

  Steve searched every bit of his being to assure himself she was simply making a statement and not stopping an evil spell. "Oh, I just thought of something," he said. "I don't think they've come up to get the bodies, yet."

  "The bodies are gone," Tamara said.

  Kimberly nodded. "Taken away."

  "How could you possibly know that?" he said and then paused. "Oh, Susie must have told you." He smiled as they continued up the hill. "That's good, then. I know you girls are a bit more mature than I thought but still, you shouldn't be seeing that sort of stuff. It will give you nightmares!" He pointed down. "Watch out, that's where dad's truck tore out a hole this morning."

  The girls each hopped over it and continued their journey. "Are we smaller than other girls our age?" Kimberly asked.

  He nodded and then noticed the girls hadn't seen him. "Yeah, a bit," he said. "That just makes you cuter, right?"

  "Careful."

  He suddenly stumbled and fell, barely catching himself with his hands before his face hit a large, jagged stone. "Shit!" He quickly hopped to his feet and pretended it was nothing of importance, but it had actually scared him. "Do y'all know where the door is? Can you find it in this rubble?"

  They had made it up the hill and were walking across the flatter lawn, well manicured and looked after by one of the town's lawn care professionals, Mark Smitters, who couldn't get a real job because he was a reformed child molester on parole. But the old man, or at least someone on the hill, seemed to like him and kept him in steady employment for years.

  "We imagined this yard," Tamara said. "As a magical place full of wonder and adventure."

  "Have you never been out of the basement?" Steve said.

  "Not until last night," Tamara said. "They used to show us pictures, though, and video."

  "The town has a park, you know, with a
large lawn like this and swings and teeter-totters and stuff for kids to play on," he said. "We can go there once all this blows over. Hey, watch your step, now, some of the floor is probably weak even though it looks okay."

  The two girls were already stepping into the rubble, looking around as if they were completely lost. "We've never seen it from the outside," Kimberly said.

  He stepped across a few burnt two-by-fours and bounced a bit on the floor to test its strength. "We found you over there in the little block room thing," he said. "That was just off the kitchen." He walked over to the kitchen area and coughed. "Uh.... your... someone... was on the floor here, coming from that direction." He lined his body up with the room and pointed across where the bodies were found.

  The girls followed his arm and walked in the imagined direction, stomping their little feet on the floor as if they were doing soundings. "Our room is under here," Tamara said as she stomped several more times.

  "The door is under here," Kimberly said. She was pointing at a fallen wall, mostly consumed but still substantial enough that Steve wasn't sure if he could move it.

  He bent down and lifted and was surprised how light it felt. He easily moved the wall out of the way and revealed the steps leading down to a door. "Oh, there it is."

  The girls nodded and started down the steps. They looked solid enough; in fact the entire floor of the house and presumably everything below it seemed nearly untouched by the fire. He followed the girls down, gingerly testing each old wooden step as he went. "The door," Tamara said. "You have to open it for us."

  "What? Oh, okay," he said and then realized what they were talking about. It was a massive steel door, not unlike the door of a bank safe right down to the huge circular crank to open it. "Gez, they really wanted to keep you girls locked up, didn't they?"

  "They loved us," Tamara said.