The Collected Horrors of Tim Wellman Page 16

  "Huh?" the other three said at the same time.

  "Uh, guys," Anna looked up with a serious look on her face. "This entry is dated with today's date."

  Everyone was silent for several seconds as they processed the information.

  "Oh, ha ha," Jennifer finally said.

  Anna turned the book around and showed everyone the entry.

  "But... OK, then, I get it," she said. "Anna, you wrote that before we got up here. Very funny!"

  Jack shook his head. "Anna?"

  "Does that sound like something I'd do?" she said. "Besides, these pages are falling apart. There's no way anyone could have written on them today."

  "So, you're saying someone half a century ago knew we'd be here today?" Jack said. "That's just crazy. This isn't a horror story; this is real life."

  Jennifer dropped her arms and head again. "We're doomed! Doomed!"

  "Well, at least we're dry," Brice said. "I would have hated to be slaughtered in wet clothes."

  "A dress is better?" Jack said.

  "What if, and I'm just guessing, but, what if someone saw us coming up the driveway, quickly wrote the last entry in this old musty book, then got it wet again and left it here for us to find," Anna said. "That makes sense, right? Just some stupid-ass practical joke."

  Jack nodded. "And I think we know where the joker is hiding. Follow me."

  He marched out of the room and the others followed until he stopped in front of the locked door.

  "OK, buddy, pretty damned funny, but we figured ya out!" Brice yelled. There was no response from inside the room so he pounded on the door. "Come on, the jig is up!" He pounded again and he must have jarred the doorframe because a key that had apparently been laid on the top edge of the facing fell to the floor in front of them. "Well, that's convenient, huh?"

  Anna picked it up and pushed it into the keyhole of the old heavy oak door.

  "Uh, don't inside doors usually lock from the inside?" Jennifer said.

  Everyone shrugged, and then Anna turned the key and twisted the doorknob and pushed it forward. It opened with a very loud squeak and the musty smell of a long-closed room hit them all like a wave. Brice found the light switch and they all found themselves looking into the past. The room, just as left perhaps sixty-five years ago, was filled with things a young girl would cherish. Dolls lined the head of the bed, and there was a large lump under the covers that everyone assumed was a pillow or stuffed animal; toys still littered the floor, crayon drawings were pinned to the walls, and there was a large dollhouse on a corner table that was a replica of the actual farmhouse. A dresser still held a hair brush, bobby pins, and other personal items. Apart from the smell and layer of dust and cobwebs, it could have been abandoned only moments before they arrived. But, there was no one there. Jack walked to the closet door, paused, then opened it quickly, but it held only small dresses and other clothing for a little girl. There were shoes in the bottom and if anyone had been hiding in there, the dust on the old leather would have been disturbed. But, the dust remained as it had for decades.

  "Under the bed?" Jennifer said.

  Brice dropped down on his hands and knees, looked, and then shook his head. He then walked to the window but the dust had not been marred with finger marks. "Welp, beats the hell outa me," he said. "I was with ya on this one, Jack, but there hasn't been anyone in this room for ages."

  "Then I don't know," Jack said. "You explain the book."

  "Uh, guys?" Jennifer said. Everyone turned as she pointed to a spot on the floor near the bed. "Isn't that water?"

  Jack bent down and felt the wet spot on the floor, then looked up at the ceiling. There was no sign of a leak.

  Anna sat down on the edge of the bed and looked around. "Let's just go back downstairs and wait till morning," she said. "There might be some food in the kitchen if the realtors are planning an open house soon." She suddenly screamed and jumped up. "Shit! Fuck!"

  "What?!" Jack yelled. "What is it?!"

  "The lump in the bed!" she yelled. "It moved!"

  "A rats' nest?" Brice said. "Jen, with your hairdo, you're used to these things; check it out."

  "Oh ha fucking ha," she said. "Let's just leave and close the door." As she turned, the door slammed shut by itself. "Uh..." But she was interrupted by another scream from Anna.

  She turned toward the bed and watched with everyone else as the shape slowly rose up to a sitting position. As the covers fell, a young girl turned her head toward them, but didn't speak. She was perhaps five years old with shoulder-length blonde hair with a large yellow flower on her left side, tucked into her locks, and chocolate-brown eyes, a perfect and beautiful child, draped loosely with a white cotton dressing gown.

  "Little girl!" Anna yelled. "How?! Why are you here? You shouldn't be here alone!"

  "I was sleeping," she said in a soft voice.

  "Who brought you here?" Jennifer said. "Where is your family?"

  "In the cellar," the girl said calmly.

  "Cellar?" Jack said. "What are they doing there? Why didn't they hear us come in and come out to see who we were?"

  She draped her legs over the edge of the bed then hopped down. "Why are you all wearing my sister's clothes?"

  "Sister?" Anna said. "Oh god."

  "What's happening?" Brice said. "Hey, little girl, who put you up to this? Was it Steve? Gerald?"

  She moved toward Brice, but didn't seem to be walking. "Take me to the cellar." She looked up at him and smiled, but it was not a joyful smile, it was threatening, menacing, evil.

  "Jen, you're good with brats, you take over," he said.

  Anna pointed at the little girl. "Stay away from us!"

  "Anna?" Jack said.

  "She's Judith!"

  "Oh, come on," Jack said. "You're just panicking and falling back into goth mode. She's just some kid one of our friends got to come here and scare us."

  "Uh, who knew we were coming here?" Jennifer said. "We didn't even know we were coming here."

  "I knew you were coming here," the little girl said.

  "You left us the note?" Anna said. "In the diary?"

  The little girl simply stared. "Take me to the cellar!" As she spoke, she held out her hands and some unseen but amazingly powerful force literally lifted Brice off his feet and shoved him backwards and against the wall.

  "Shit!" he said, then lost his balance and fell to the floor.

  Jennifer ran over to him and knelt down. "Sweetie? You okay?"

  "Yeah, yeah, fine," he said. "Dandy." He looked at Jack and blinked several times and nodded toward the door, and then stood up and grabbed Jennifer's hand. He waited until he saw Jack grab Anna's hand, and then yelled, "Run!"

  He managed to turn the knob and yank the door open and they all headed through it and as Anna made it out, he grabbed the edge and pulled it shut. He could feel something trying to wrench the handle out of his hands, some powerful force pulling against his grip. But Anna quickly put the key in the lock and turned it. Immediately, the power from behind the door seemed to release its grip.

  "How is this possible?" Jack said. "Are you guys okay?"

  "Fine," Brice said. "Peachy for just being attacked by a demon."

  "She's not a demon," Anna said. "She's just a frightened little girl."

  "Right, all little girls float around and throw full-grown men across rooms," Jennifer said.

  "Do you think she'll stay locked in there?" Jack said.

  Anna thought for a moment. "She wrote in the diary, didn't she? The wet spot on the floor... I think the diary was in there until she moved it to Linda's room as she saw us coming in." She walked close to the door and listened for a moment. "Judith?"

  "Yes?"

  "Can we help you?" she said. "Can we help you move on?"

  There was silence. "Unlock the door."

  "No way, mini-bitch!" Brice said. "I don't know what's going on, but I know you're staying in there and we're staying out here." He looked at the others. "What is going on?"


  "Judith is evil," Jennifer said. "She killed her family and is cursed to stay here at the scene of the crime. I don't know how I know that, but it's true."

  "She's a ghost?" he said.

  Everyone shrugged.

  "Come on," Jack said. "I'm ready to face redneck rapists on the road instead of staying here."

  "Me too," Jennifer said.

  "Not to put too much stress on it, but we are wearing dresses," Brice said. "How about we just go back to Linda's room and get our clothes first?"

  "Uh..." Jennifer pointed to the floor in front of Judith's door. Water was running out from underneath the door. "That can't be good."

  "Shit!" Jack said. "This is crazy! Does she use water to do magic or something?"

  "Judith?" Anna said. "Please tell me what you want? I want to help you."

  "Linda is fighting against the restraints," she said. "In the cellar. Momma and Papa are trying to save her, but they can't fight me."

  "But, Linda died a long time ago," Anna said. "You too. Sixty-five years ago. Are you just reliving the tragedy?"

  "The people came," Judith said. "They came and disturbed our slumber. They found my secret. I had forgotten until they came."

  "What people? Us?" Anna said.

  "She means the realtors, probably, cleaning up the old place so they could put it on the market," Brice said. "One of them must have found the diary."

  "Yes, and you, now," she said.

  "You have to move on, Judith," Anna said. "No matter what happened, you were too young to know better. You have to forgive yourself."

  The water was flowing heavier now from under the door as if the entire room behind it were filling with water. But there was no sound of water except for the rain outside.

  "I can be saved if I can go to the cellar," Judith said, almost whispering.

  "Yeah, right," Brice said. "Like we'd let you out of there."

  "I think she's way more than just a lost little girl ghost," Jennifer said.

  "Come on," Jack said, "let's get out of here. We can figure out what has happened later."

  Suddenly there was a voice behind them. "But I'm already out."

  "Judith!" Anna said. The child was standing in the hallway in a large puddle of water but she didn't seem to be wet at all.

  "So, she could move from her room to Linda's?" Jennifer said. "We shoulda closed that door back, huh?"

  Judith looked around, as if seeing a place long forgotten but somehow familiar. She turned, graceful and slowly, floating still, and looked up and down. "It has changed," she said. "But I have not. My plans have not."

  "We're not changing either," Brice said. "Run!"

  They all headed down the stairway but before they got to the bottom, Judith was waiting there.

  "What do you want from us?!" Jack yelled.

  "Take me to the cellar," she said.

  "Why can't you go yourself?" Anna said.

  "Great, let's just stand around chatting with a ghost-demon-witch-thing," Jennifer said.

  Judith glared, and then smiled, or perhaps she was just showing her teeth. She held out her hand, pointed, and Jennifer rose off the floor and several feet into the air, then suddenly a powerful downfall of water slammed her body down, and against the balled end of one of the staircase finials. The water stopped and there was a grotesque sound of breaking bones and as Brice ran toward her, the balled end of the post came through her chest, spraying blood all over him. She died instantly, still draped over the post.

  Brice stood motionless. "Babe? Jen? Sweetie?" He grabbed her face and tried to rub the little bit of blood from her lips, but his fingers opened them which caused blood to literally pour out of her mouth. "Oh god." He turned and pointed at Judith with his bloody hand but there were no words he could speak, nothing to describe how he felt or what he felt. It was simply a silent gesture of defiance.

  "Fuck!" Jack yelled as he backed away.

  "Oh god, no," Anna said as she reached out for Jennifer but couldn't make herself move toward the lifeless mess. "Jen!"

  But Judith wasn't finished. She pointed at Brice and he also rose into the air.

  "No!" Anna screamed. "Please, Judith, he's my brother! I'll help you!"

  Judith seemed to pause for a moment, and then lowered Brice back to the stairs.

  Jack grabbed him by the shoulders. "I..." he cleared his throat. "I'm sorry." He looked at Brice and nodded, an attempt to show his sorrow, but Brice was emotionless. Shock, probably, or some sort of spell Judith had cast, but he simply stared past Jack, as if focused on something in the far distance.

  "Take me to the cellar," Judith said again.

  "I'll take you," Anna said as she wiped tears from her eyes with the backs of her hands. "Just please, no more killing."

  "I'm not letting you go alone," Jack said. He shrugged. "Should we just die, now? I... nothing makes sense, now."

  Anna held his face in her hands. "It's okay," she whispered. "No matter what happens, it's okay. Right? In the next world, we'll meet again, okay?" She looked over his shoulder. "Right Brice?"

  They both walked the rest of the way down the stairs and Judith pointed through the house. "The entrance is in the kitchen."

  Anna looked back. "Will Brice be okay?"

  He had sat down on a step beside Jennifer and was holding her hand and seemed to be talking to her.

  "I don't think any of us will be okay," Jack said. "I just..."

  "Here's the door," Judith said. "Open it."

  It was an ordinary wooden interior door, painted white to match the country kitchen, and had an old brass knob. There was no lock.

  "I don't understand," Jack said. "Why do you need us to open the door?"

  Judith held her hand toward the door and a blue wall of light appeared, apparently a barrier of some sort. "Because god hates me."

  Anna touched the knob and nothing happened. She grabbed it. "What are we unleashing on the world?" She turned the knob and the door swung open and she and Jack passed through with Judith following closely behind. There were several rickety wooden steps leading down to the dirt floor of the cellar. The walls were lined with old tools, farming equipment, and canned goods, broken furniture, crates and boxes. There was a naked light bulb hanging from a wire which provided the only illumination. It was an ordinary cellar apart from three impressions in the ground, all grave-like, as if the areas had been dug up a long time ago, and then filled, and the filled dirt had settled, leaving the shapes.

  "Anna," Jack said. "I wish... and poor Jennifer, I just don't..."

  "The story should have ended better," she said. "I'm sorry for not trying harder to be someone you could love. I really was trying to re-write my character."

  "Touching," Judith said. "Now, move those boxes. There are things I need from back there. Things I hid a long time ago." She pointed over the boxes to a wall full of old shelves and cabinets.

  "Can't you just fly over there and get them?" Jack said.

  "My powers are slightly limited down here, at least for the moment," she said. "This body is imperfect and not suited to someone with my powers. But, that will change. Soon, you will see the birth of a new god. Feel privileged!"

  They started lifting the boxes, mostly filled with other boxes or old and broken toys and household items. Judith was supervising every move, occasionally pointing to the exact spot she wanted things to be placed.

  "That okay, demon?" Jack said.

  "Jack, be careful," Anna said.

  "She's going to kill us anyway," he said. "Why not call the evil little bitch what she really is?" He winced, expecting the worst to happen. But it didn't. Judith seemed to be busy stepping out measurements and placing odd objects around on the ground. "Is she in a trace?"

  "No, I hear you," she said. "Just don't give a shit about you, now. I'll have your souls soon enough. I'm almost ready to begin the ritual."

  On the ground she had scratched out a circle with a pentagram inside. In three of the star sections she ha
d placed objects, a cross in one, an old rag doll in another, and another held what seemed to be salt. She stood so that each foot was in one of the other sections. For a moment her entire body sort of flickered, disappeared, then re-appeared, surrounded by a dark purple aura.

  "What's going to happen?" Jack said.

  "So long I've waited," Judith said, her arms out-stretched. Blood from Jennifer's body on the floor above had began seeping through the ceiling and was dripping down on her face. She opened her mouth and drank it. "The perfect night, the perfect fools. Yes, Linda, yes, you are right. There's something wrong with little Judith, but soon now there will be something wrong with the entire world!"

  Water started coming from the walls and floor, not a flood, but enough so that in only seconds it was up to their ankles and in a few more, it was calf-high and nearly waist-high on Judith. A dark stain started to drift out of the places that looked like graves, and then what appeared to be air bubbles. Then suddenly, three perfectly preserved bodies floated out of the holes, a man, a woman, and a teen-aged girl. They remained floating just under the surface, but their eyes opened and blinked.

  "Shit!" Jack said.

  "Jack?"

  "Yes!" Judith said with a loud laugh. "Arise, my stupid family! Give me the power of your sacrificed souls!" The purple glow around her began to pulsate, and small bolts of lightning began to strike the top of her head. She waved her arms around as if gathering energy. But then, suddenly, Judith's expression changed. Her face became twisted. "What?! What's happening?!" Another bolt of lightning hit her head and she began to smoke, then her entire body coursed with arcs of electricity, and as she floated up in the air, she exploded in a plume of dust.

  "What happened?" Jack said. "Was that part of the ritual?"

  "I don't know," Anna said.

  "I do," Brice said as he walked down the stairs. He held up the diary. "I made a new entry." They both ran to the stairs and read the page, scrawled in blood, the only thing that would have marked on the wet, fragile paper. "Judith died at 8:35 today, forever!"

  "Brice!" Anna said. She grabbed him and hugged him.

  "Come on," he said. "Let's get out of here."