Divine Vices (15 page)

I
awoke to find my body in the fetal position, trying desperately to keep any bit
of heat locked inside my tightly bound cocoon of a comforter. The air was
bitter cold, worse than it felt outside when I came home. Had I left the
windows open? I forcedly pulled myself out of the covers and took a look around
the room. Nope. Everything was sealed shut, yet I could still see my breath!
How cold was it in here? I climbed out of bed and threw on my jacket before
heading downstairs.

“Dad?
You home?” I called aloud.

Nothing.

The
kitchen was even worse. The windows had a thin film of fog over them, which
worryingly meant that the outside was that much warmer to cause such an effect.
I headed over to the thermostat and wiped off the sheet of vapor from the
screen.

Twenty-eight
degrees?! That couldn’t be right.

I
turned on the light switch for the chandelier above the island, and sure
enough, with a second look at the monitor, it read twenty-eight degrees. All
the lights began flickering, and I saw the temperature suddenly begin to drop
even further. There was nothing wrong with the heating because I could feel the
warm air pushing out of the vents. What was this?

Snap!
Snap! Snap!

I
instinctively dropped to the floor, throwing my arms up over my head for
protection. After a few seconds, I slowly rose up and peered over the counter.
Every light bulb in the room had burst! The raging storm outside sent a
deafening roar of thunder that shook the house. I retracted to the stairwell
just as a strike of lightning pierced the sky, and I screamed at the sight of a
daunting shadowed figure hovering directly on the other side of the window by
the door. A large black hood concealed their features, but there was absolutely
nothing welcoming about their presence.

It
was hard to tell if it was the thunder that pounded behind me or something
worse as I raced back up the stairs, but I wasn’t sticking around to find out.
I bolted into my bedroom and desperately heaved my dresser as far as I could
move it in front of the door. My fingers barely managed to dial 9-1-1 into the
keypad as my whole body shook with dread.

“911
operator. State your emergency,” said a calm voice on the other end.

“Hello?!
There’s someone outside my house!” I screamed. “I think they’re trying to break
in!”

“Where
are you?”

“Locked
in my bedroom. I live at 427 Avery Lane,” I said, inching toward the closest
window. “Oh my God...”

“What
is it?”

I
peeked through the blinds with only the streetlights outside providing
visibility, seeing the looming stranger standing right in the middle of the
yard in a large, long trench coat and hoodie. Even under the hood it was obvious
that this individual was staring back up at me, because as soon as the next
strike of lightning hit they raised their hand, cocking it to the side and
slowly dropping each of their digits from pinky to thumb as if counting down to
an impending doom.

As
the last descended, my vision suddenly clouded over with a gray haze.

“Ma’am,
what’s wrong?”

The
weight of my body caved under me, and I fell to the floor.

Pound!
Pound! Pound!

The
back of my head began to throb as I came to, peeling myself off the hardwood.
The hammering started up again from downstairs, and I realized it was the front
door. I pulled the shade away from the window, seeing flashing lights mounted
on top of a squad car.

“Police,
open up!” I heard as I trampled down the steps.

It
was my dad’s friend, Officer Benson, and the one rookie cop from last night. I
unlocked and pried the door open.

“We
received a call about a possible intruder. Is that right?” asked Benson,
looking over my shoulder alarmingly.

“He
didn’t come inside as far as I know, but he was lurking around the windows by
the kitchen and he was standing out in the middle of the lawn,” I explained,
motioning them inside.

“It
was a
he
? So you saw his face?” asked the rookie.

“...Well,
no. Not exactly. He was wearing a hood so I couldn’t see what he looked like,
but he seemed rather masculine.”

“So
this someone was tall?”

“Around
six feet or so, yes,” I said, looking out at the side window where I had seen
this person standing and estimating the loftiness to appear at that elevation.

“Was
this person muscular?”

“Um,
no... Well, I don’t know. It was kind of hard to tell. He was also wearing a
big trench coat, so it was difficult to make out his build.”

“Okay,
we’ll take a look around,” said Benson. “Make sure things are all clear.”

“Thank
you,” I said, watching the two span out across the property.

They
ran a sweep of the house, both inside and out. My breathing had finally
regulated when we all reconvened in the kitchen. Benson and the rookie finished
up their private conversation before addressing me once more.

“Everything’s
clear,” said Benson, casting me the most peculiar look. “Miss Foster, I’m going
to be blunt with you.”

“...Okay,”
I replied, noticing the rookie giving me the same stare.

“There’s
no evidence that so much as suggests that anyone else was even here-”

“He
didn’t try at the locks or anything as far as I know, but he was here,” I said
firmly. I could see by both their expressions that they thought I wasn’t right
in the head, but why? “He was standing right out there.”

“We
looked at the yard. There’s not so much as a shoeprint.”

“Yeah,
but it’s raining-”

“Exactly,
the ground is sopping. It would make it next to impossible to be out there and
leave no evidence. The lawn is perfectly intact.”

“I
know what I saw-” I blurted out, but neither of them would hear it.

“Cassie-”
started Benson.

“No,
I already know what you’re going to say,” I interrupted. “I’m not crazy!”

“Nobody
said that.”

“Explain
what happened in here,” I said, pointing to the thermostat and broken bulbs.
“Right before this person appeared, the whole house was freezing! It was
twenty-eight in here. And when I turned the lights on, they all burst!”

“It’s
storming outside,” said the rookie. “You know how common power surges are,
especially in older houses? This place has to be at least fifty years old.”

“All
the bulbs burst, not just the ones I had on,” I explained.

“Manufacturing
faults in the glass can do that,” replied the rookie. “And if it really was as
cold in here as you say it was, that could very easily cause this. It makes the
glass contract, and then break. I’ve seen it happen when bulbs get wet with
cold water.”

“Okay,
then tell me how it wound up being that cold in the first place,” I challenged.

“Feels
fine to me now,” the rookie remarked.

“Oh,
really? Wow, I couldn’t figure that one out for myself. Thank you,” I scoffed,
pointing at the screen of the thermostat that read seventy-one degrees. “I said
it was cold. Freezing actually.”

“The
temperature miraculously shot up forty-four degrees in a matter of a few
minutes it took us to get here?” cracked the rookie. “Yeah, I believe it.”

I
took notice to the long-stemmed flashlight in his hand, and consider the
possibility of me beating him up with it!

“Talbot,
why don’t you do another search of the perimeter?” asked Benson politely.

“What
am I looking for this time?” remarked his partner. “Little green men?”

I
actually made a lunge towards him before Benson took hold of me.

“Back
off, alright,” he warned the rookie.

Talbot
straightened himself up and headed to the foyer, eyeing me from afar.

“Look,
Cassie, I don’t know what to tell you here. Everything seems fine now,” said
Benson. “Whether it really was as cold in here as you say it was-”

“It
was.”

“It
still doesn’t explain how the mere presence of someone not even in the house
could do that.”

I
wasn’t sure if I was about to start crying or screaming, but I knew for certain
that I was still about to lose it.

Benson
laid his hand on my shoulder. “I know you’ve been through a lot, and with
everything that happened last night, no one can blame you for being on edge.”

I
opened my mouth in protest, but he cut me off.

“My
suggestion to you would be to keep this between the three of us. You and your
dad are both still recovering, and the last thing either of you needs is
unwarranted scares.”

“I’m
not making this up, and I’m not seeing things-”

“So
you’ve seen nothing out of the ordinary lately?”

My
mind immediately went to the Ouija board, and that minor glint in my eyes sold
him his argument.

“Good
night, Cassie.”

He
headed to the foyer and Talbot stepped out the front door, holding it open in
the hopes to hurry him out.

“If
you need anything, don’t hesitate to call,” said Benson, handing me his card.

“Don’t
give her any ideas,” cracked the rookie.

Benson
cast him a stern glare before returning his attention to me. “Just keep in mind
what I said, please.”

I
nodded, still unsure if I was sold on his pitch, but I thanked them for their
time anyway and let them leave.

Going
back into the kitchen, I grabbed a few different packages of light bulbs from
the top kitchen cabinets and changed some of them out after cleaning up the
mess of shattered glass.

The
phone rang. It was my dad.

“Hey,
how’re you doing?” he said.

“Been
better,” I replied, without thinking. I could have smacked myself!

“Why?
What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,
it’s nothing. It’s just-” Tell him, tell him not...? “There was someone hanging
around the house. I couldn’t see who, but I called the police.”

“What?!
Is everything okay?! I’m coming back home!”

“No,
dad, it’s fine. Benson was kind enough to stop by. He checked everything out.
It’s okay,” I assured, though I didn’t really buy the argument myself.

“You
want me to come home?”

“No,
it’s okay. I’m probably not gonna be here when you get in anyways. I was going
to hang out with Ian and Gwen.” That wasn’t a total lie. I initially wanted to
catch up on my workload, but now I couldn’t think of anything but wanting to
get the hell out of the house.

“Well,
I’ve got a lot of work to get done here, and some buddies of mine are gonna be
lending me a hand tonight, so I’m not sure what time I’ll even be in.”

“That’s
fine,” I said. “I know you need to do your thing.”

“Just
pray to God that those other permits come through. Otherwise this will have all
been a waste,” he said, exhaustedly.

“Don’t
worry. It’ll work out.”

“You
sure you don’t want me to come back?”

“Positive.
I’m good.”

“Alright,
if you need anything-”

“I
know,” I interjected. “Love you.”

“Love
you, too.”

Immediately
after hanging up, I dialed Ian. “You free?”

“As
a bird,” he replied.

“Can
you pick me up? I need to get out of here.”

I’ve
never been one for big group outings, but given my circumstances, I was more than
happy to join up with Gwen and all of Jeff’s friends after Ian swung by my
house to get me. Grabbing a bite to eat at Chili’s, playing at the arcade, and
taking a walk along the beach proved to be exactly what the doctor ordered. My
mind had finally unwound itself around my paranoia, and the only thing I was
now was worn out.

Gwen
practically bounced over to us as we reentered the parking lot just off the
coast. “Hey, Jeff and the other guys are thinking about going up to Laurent
Overlook. You in?”

“I
don’t know. I’m kinda beat,” I replied, looking at the time on my phone.

“I
second that,” said Ian.

“Well,
how about you give Cassie a ride and I’ll get one from Jeff?” she suggested all
too merrily. “Although, the overlook can be a little cool. Cass, could I borrow
your jacket?”

“Why
don’t you get Jeff to lend you his? Isn’t that some sort of method of
flirtation? Chilly girl, considerate guy?”

“Yeah,
but I’m saving that one for later. At this stage, it would be more of a
gentlemanly gesture than obvious flirtation. So?”

I
slid the leather off my shoulders and tossed her the jacket. “Just make sure I
get it back tomorrow, okay?”

“Will
do.”

Jeff
tapped his car horn, and Gwen jumped to its signal.

“Be
safe,” I called out to her as she climbed in the Mustang.

“I
still don’t get what she sees in him,” said Ian upon their departure. “He’s not
exactly the sharpest tool in the shed.”

“Yeah,
but he’s hot,” I imitated whiningly as I flipped my hair.

“That’s
frighteningly good,” he laughed.

“Thank
you, thank you.” I bowed and waved. “I’d like to thank the Academy.”

“Ready
to be escorted home in luxury wheels?” he asked smilingly as he unlocked the
doors to the beater truck.

“Oh,
absolutely.”

“Then
you’re gonna have to catch a ride from someone else,” he chuckled, motioning to
the rust stains on the side paneling.

“Well,
I prefer to think that the luxury of the car can be found in the person sitting
behind the wheel versus the model, so as far as I see it, this is the best ride
in town,” I said, taking my place at shotgun.