Ghost House Revenge (31 page)

Alicen could barely make out Kyle’s silhouette in the darkness of his room. She stood
near his bed, a pillow clutched in her hands, listening to the uneven sounds of his
breathing. The doctor had said he had caught pneumonia up on the roof, and they were
blaming her for it. As the other Alicen, she had believed in her innocence, but now
she remembered the incident on the roof. She smiled. Her mother had been pleased with
her.

Now it was time to finish the job . . . .

With her fingers tightening around the pillow, Alicen leaned closer to the sleeping
figure. Closer—

Kyle stirred in his sleep, mumbling something. Alicen backed away, her heart pounding.
Had she wakened him?

“Do it,” a voice commanded.

Alicen nodded. “Okay, mommy.”

And the pillow was pressed to Kyle’s freckled, angelic face.

Alicen pushed with all her might, hearing her mother’s voice. “Kill him, Alicen! Kill
the brat!”

Emotionless, Alicen stared down at the little figure. Mommy said kill. Mommy loved
her. Mommy made her do the right things—

“AAAUUUGGGHH!”

It was Alicen’s own cry. Something had struck her under the chin—a small, bare foot.
She regained herself and threw her body on top of Kyle’s. Somehow, she had pressed
the pillow at the wrong angle, leaving a channel in the folds for Kyle to breathe
through. He was fully awake, kicking and screaming.

“Mommy!”

“Shhhh!” Alicen hissed.

“Stop it! Stop!”
Kyle yelled hoarsely, his screams torturing his sore throat.

He was like a tiger under Alicen’s body, clawing and kicking and biting. Alicen couldn’t
handle him much longer. Why wasn’t her mother helping her?

At that moment Melanie burst into the room to find Alicen straddling Kyle, her fingers
around his small neck. Kyle’s face was crimson with rage and fear, and his arms and
legs seemed to be everywhere. Without a moment’s hesitation, Melanie ran to the bed,
grabbed Alicen by the hair, and threw her across the room. The girl cried out in pain
and ran out. Ignoring her, Melanie climbed onto the bed and took Kyle in her arms.

“Oh, God,” she whispered. “Oh, my God.”

Over Kyle’s blond curls, growing wet with her tears, she saw a blue-and-white-striped
pillow. A pillow that didn’t belong in Kyle’s room.

“Alicen tried to hurt me,” Kyle whimpered.

“Shh,” Melanie said. “Mommy’s here. It’s okay.”

“Make her go away!” Kyle cried.

“I’ll do that,” Melanie promised. “Alicen won’t hurt anyone again.”

She was furious. How could anyone hurt a little boy? Kyle had suffered so much. Alicen
had been cruel to lure him onto the roof through that trapdoor. And now the pillow—

Her thoughts skipped backward. Through the trapdoor? But how did Alicen know about
it? Melanie herself had only discovered it a few months earlier.

Was she the someone, that mysterious “she” that Lydia had warned about?

She wished Gary was there. Or even Derek. Where the hell was he? He’d been gone all
day long, leaving this mess to her. God damn him, Melanie thought. She’s his daughter.

“Mom, what’s going on?”

Gina was at the door, holding hands with her sister. Both girls were in pink nightgowns,
barefoot. Nancy had her thumb in her mouth. Her blue eyes seemed to fill her face.

“Did you see Alicen?” Melanie asked.

“She ran by me,” Gina said. “She was crying. What’s wrong?”

“She tried to kill your brother,” Melanie said, before she could stop herself. She
was too angered to smooth things for her children’s sake. Gina cried out, and Nancy’s
face contorted as if she would start crying.

“I hate Alicen!” Gina cried. “She’s mean and bad! I
hate
her!”

“Make her go away, mommy,” Nancy said.

“I will,” Melanie said. She opened her arms, and her daughters ran to her.

“Why is Alicen so mean?” Nancy asked, her round face pressed against Melanie’s stomach.

“Alicen’s sick,” Melanie said “She’s a sick little girl.”

Gina’s frown deepened, but she didn’t say anything. Melanie could almost feel the
child’s emotions. She crushed her children to her and said, “No one will hurt you.
Never again.”

She knew she should leave the house at once. If Lydia had been telling the truth,
then their unseen enemy could strike at any moment But how could she leave? How could
she move the children, when one was so very sick? More important, where would she
go at this hour of the night?

So, Melanie did the next best thing. That night she took the room next to Alicen’s,
leaving the door open. There was no way she could get past Melanie’s room without
her knowing. Melanie’s eyes didn’t close once that night, and her ears were tuned
for any unusual noise. The house was deadly silent, except for an occasional mumble
from Alicen’s room. What was she saying, over and over?
Mommy?

She thought about the trapdoor, meaning to ask Derek about it when she saw him tomorrow.
She prayed he would say he had told Alicen it was up there.

At four in the morning, Melanie heard the front door open. Derek had returned home
at last.

Melanie had gotten her daughters off to school the next morning and had gone upstairs
to paint. But how could she concentrate? An hour’s work had produced a hideous piece
of garbage. It was the work of an amateur, not the professional she was supposed to
be. The colors were all wrong, the buildings out of proportion. Angrily, Melanie picked
it up and threw it across the room.

“Hey!”

It had struck Derek. Well fine, Melanie thought. He deserves it.

“It’s about time you’re up,” she snapped.

Derek bent to pick up the painting without answering her. He propped it on the sofa.

“I was in late last night,” he said.

“I know,” Melanie said. “Where the hell were you?”

Derek backed away a little. He couldn’t tell her where he had been. After leaving
Janice, he had driven for miles and miles, clear out to Montauk. He’d driven until
he was ready to drop from exhaustion, and then had fallen asleep at a rest stop. He
hadn’t wanted to come home to that woman or to Alicen. And now Melanie was giving
him this.

“I don’t think that’s any of your business,” he said quietly.

Melanie lifted a small can of turpentine and slammed it down on a table.

“It damn well is my business!” she screamed. “That brat of yours tried to murder my
son last night!”

Derek fell down to the couch as if Melanie had punched him. His mouth hung open, and
he stared up at Melanie in disbelief. Alicen had tried to kill Kyle?

But why was he so surprised? He had known this was coming.

“Oh, don’t sit there like an idiot,” Melanie growled. “Don’t you have anything to
say?”

Derek breathed deeply. “Tell me what happened,” he said with forced calm.

“I heard Kyle screaming and ran to his room,” Melanie said. “I found Alicen in his
bed, with her hands around his neck. And there was a pillow on the floor that didn’t
belong in his room. She had tried to smother him, Derek.”

Derek rubbed at his eyes. “Dear God.”

He looked up at Melanie. “Where is my daughter?”

“She locked herself in her room,” Melanie said. “Derek, I want her out of this house.
No later than Monday, even if she has to go without you.”

“I’ll do what I can,” Derek said, knowing he would never be able to get away from
the house. “Let me talk to my daughter.”

A few moments later, he knocked at Alicen’s locked door, but there was no answer.

“What should I do, mommy?” Alicen whispered.

“Let him in.”

“Alicen!” Derek called.

Alicen walked across the room and opened the door. Derek entered the room, saw a filmy
cloud by the window, and frowned. He knew what that cloud was, even if Alicen didn’t.
And it was about time Alicen
did
know.

“That isn’t your mother,” he said abruptly.

In the silence that followed, Derek waited for the consequences. But Alicen merely
gave her head a shake, and disembodied laughter filled the room.

“Derek, she’s as much in my power as you are,” a voice said. “She thinks I’m her mother,
the little fool!”

“You bitch!” Derek roared, pushing Alicen aside to lunge at the filmy mass hovering
over the floor. His hands slammed hard against the window. The laughter continued.

“Derek!”

Melanie had entered the room just as he fell against the window. She looked at him,
then at Alicen. Derek straightened himself, rubbing his wrists.

“Please leave this to me, Melanie,” he said, approaching Alicen. “She’s my daughter.”

“I heard someone yell, and—”

She turned back to Alicen when she heard her speaking. The girl was rocking back and
forth on the bed, glaring at Melanie.

“I want you to die,” she sneered. “I want
all
of you to die.”

It wasn’t Alicen’s voice at all. Melanie stared wide-eyed at her, terror filling her.
Why did she recognize that voice? Where had she heard it before?

“Go away!” Derek yelled, not at Melanie, but at the spirit in Alicen’s body.

“Derek, what’s wrong with her?” Melanie demanded.

“Die!” Alicen screeched. “Die! Die! Die!”

Suddenly Derek burst into tears. His macho, self-assured image was shattered, and
he felt no shame when he ran to Melanie’s arms.

“Please help me,” he sobbed.

“Derek, she’ll be okay,” Melanie soothed, as much to reassure herself as him. She
felt terror creeping inside her. Alicen’s voice stayed in her mind, taunting her.
She knew that voice. But how? From where?

“Derek, come out of the room,” she said. “There’s so much to discuss. Alicen will
be okay for a while.”

And then, as she had done so many times when comforting her children, she kissed him
gently.

There was a scream, and suddenly Alicen was on her father’s back, pummeling him. “You’re
mine! You’re mine!”

Derek fought her, gathering his strength back together. He knew it wasn’t his daughter
who reacted so jealously to that simple kiss. And it wasn’t his daughter he struck
so violently. As Melanie watched in horror, he threw her on the bed and slapped her
again and again. Melanie grabbed his arms and tried to pull him away.

“She’s out, Derek! Stop it!”

He ignored her, seeing Janice’s face.

“Derek, let it go!”

At last she managed to jerk him away from the child before he killed her. Derek stared
down at Alicen, his mouth open in shock. What had he done? She was innocent Alicen
again, her round face covered with ugly red marks. A bruise grew under one eye.

Ashamed of himself, that he had let himself give in to his emotions, Derek let out
a wail. He turned and ran from the room, wanting to get as far away as possible.

“Derek, come back!” Melanie cried, chasing after him.

She caught him just as he reached the front door and raced around him to block his
path. Breathing heavily, she pointed to the living room and said, “Please come inside
and talk to me. There’s something going on here, and I want to know what it is.”

“My daughter—”

“I think it’s more than your daughter, Derek,” Melanie said. “I don’t know why, but
I do. Please sit down and talk to me!”

Derek nodded slowly, not knowing what he’d say to her. The two entered the living
room together and sat on the burgundy sofa. Melanie brushed her hair out of her face
and said, “Derek, some things have happened lately that make me
wonder if your daughter is simply disturbed, or if she’s somehow—say, possessed.”

“There’s no such thing as possession,” Derek said, though no one believed in it more
strongly than he.

“Derek, you don’t really know the history of this house,” Melanie said. “What we told
you of Jacob Armand was only the beginning. But there’s much more. This is an evil
house, Derek. And a young girl like Alicen could easily fall victim to it”

And a full-grown man like me
, Derek thought bitterly.

“What—uh—what makes you say this?” he asked.

“Two things,” Melanie said, “although I’m sure I could think of a few more. Firstly,
the fact that Alicen knew there was a trapdoor to the roof. I never told her that,
and as far as I know, neither did Gary. Why would he? And secondly, that voice I heard.
I know that voice, Derek! I can’t place it, but I’ve heard it before.”

Derek said nothing. He turned and stared into the cold fireplace, trying to come up
with an answer. Then he beard a voice in Ids head, telling him exactly what to say.
He turned back to Melanie, his expression serene.

“There are simple answers to those things,” he said, repeating the words in his mind.
“Gary told me of the trapdoor, and I mentioned it to Alicen, not realizing she’d be
foolish enough to investigate it.”

“That makes sense,” Melanie said. “But the voice?”

“Liza’s voice,” Derek said very quickly. “Alicen is tremendously jealous of my relationship
with Liza. She was tormenting me, using that voice. That’s what you recognized.”

“Derek, I never met Liza,” Melanie said.

“But you did speak to her on the phone once or twice,” Derek said. “Which would explain
why you didn’t recognize the voice right away.”

Melanie thought a moment. It made so much sense, and she desperately wanted to believe
in Derek’s explanations. Why then, did she still feel so uneasy?

“Derek, that child should be put in a hospital,” she said. “Not only for her sake,
but for my children’s safety.”

Derek, who on the outside appeared very calm, was being torn apart by guilt and shame.
The mention of a hospital for Alicen made him want to scream with rage. He’d beaten
his daughter. He’d beaten a little girl.

“No!” he cried. “No, she stays until I leave. Monday—I promise you.”

“Derek, she needs a doctor
now,”
Melanie insisted.

“No!” Derek jumped to his feet and ran from the room. Before Melanie could stop him,
he was out to his car and climbing behind the wheel. He ignored Melanie’s calls and
sped down the hill.