The Appeal of Evil (The Road to Salvation) (8 page)

By the time the day was over, Katie was exhausted. Her only desire was to crawl into bed and take a long nap. Maybe she’d wake up to discover the whole thing was a horrible nightmare. She barely had the energy to raise her feet to get upstairs, but she made it and flopped into bed, her eyes closed before she hit the pillow.

A buzzing woke her later. She sat up and stared around the room. Where was that coming from? Her phone! She climbed out of bed and searched for her backpack. It lay in the middle of the floor. It took her a while to find the phone, and when she did, it had stopped ringing. She looked at the caller ID and frowned. She didn’t recognize the number. Oh, well. If it was important, they’d leave a message.

Yawning, she stretched her arms over her head. Her muscles pulled and popped, and when she was done, she brought her arm down. A glimmer of hope that the bandage was gone tingled through her. It dissipated quickly when she noticed the wrap. Her stomach growled. She glanced at her phone to check the time: 4:30. Mom would be home soon to make dinner, but a small snack wouldn’t hurt. She made her way downstairs into the kitchen. The phone buzzed in her hand. The caller left a message. She dialed the number for her voicemail and typed in the code.

“Hey, Katie. It’s Wes. Just calling to see how you’re doing. I thought you were going to visit, but I guess you’re busy. Call when you get the chance.”

Crap! She forgot she told Wes she’d be at the hospital. She hung up and leaned against the counter. Should she still go? Did she want to? If she didn’t show up, it would be payback for all the times he made her promises and never fulfilled them. Part of her thought that was poetic justice; it was what he deserved. The other part of her was too tired and confused to have an opinion.

“He misses you.”

The voice was sudden and unexpected, causing Katie’s heart to leap into her throat. Her breath caught. No one was supposed to be in the house. She spun toward the table, her hand feeling the counter for a weapon. She expected to see Josh. Instead, a middle-aged man sat at the kitchen table. Katie’s fingers brushed against the cool, hard handle of a knife. She scooped it up and held it in front of her. It became evident she held a butter knife, but it was better than nothing. Her breathing came in rasps; her palms started to sweat. She cautiously glanced toward the kitchen door with her eyes. With a little luck, she could make it before the man had a chance to grab her. She took a slow step closer to the opening. She didn’t want to alert the man to her plan. Her phone was still in her hand. Could she dial 9-1-1 without him attacking her?

The man held up his hands. “I’m not going to hurt you. I’m sorry to scare you. I’m Wes’s dad. Randy.”

THE MAN TRIED TO BE NONTHREATENING
by keeping his voice low, soft. It didn’t comfort Katie. How was she supposed to know if the man was telling the truth? She’d only seen Wes’s dad once. And that was a long time ago. Visions of her childhood fears ran through her mind, and she pictured the person in front of her killing someone. Maybe this guy was another demon in disguise. She didn’t know. She had no idea what they were capable of doing. She hadn’t even known they existed until the day before. And she still wasn’t convinced what happened was real. Even the fact that his face was covered in purple bruises and stitches lined his forehead and right cheek didn’t help. She tightened her grip on the knife and took another step closer to the door.

“My mom is going to be home any minute,” Katie squeaked. She tried to sound brave, tough, but it didn’t work. She took another step.

The man nodded. “I know. I told her I would be here. To check on you.” He placed his hands in his lap and took a deep breath. “I don’t blame you for not relaxing. I can only imagine what’s going through your mind. But, please, trust me. I don’t want to harm you.”

Despite everything, Katie couldn’t help but feel comforted by the man’s last words. There was something about him, something familiar and safe feeling. It reminded her of Wes. No matter how upset she was with him, no matter how much he hurt her, she always felt safe with him. Randy—if that was really his name—made her feel the same. That unnerved her.

“What do you want?”

He shook his head. “Just to talk. Maybe answer any questions you might have about what happened yesterday.”

She huffed. “Yeah. Like you would have those. You weren’t even there. You don’t know what happened.”

“That’s true. But Wes told me what happened. And I’ve been in similar situations. I’ve been around demons for a long time, Katie.”

His words rang through Katie and instantly made her mad. If he knew so much about demons, why hadn’t he done something to protect her and Wes? Why did he let them get hurt? He could have at least warned them. He could have saved them!

She snarled. “Why didn’t you stop him?”

A questioning look wrinkled his forehead. “What?”

“Why didn’t you stop him before he took me and lured Wes into a trap? If you know demons so well, why didn’t you save us?”

Randy’s eyes flicked to the ground for a moment. When they came back up and met her gaze, tears glazed his eyes. “Fair enough question. You might not like the answer, though. I stayed out of it because Wes said he had it handled. He told me he could take care of it. Plus, I was busy with my own situation.” He gestured toward his face and body. “But that’s no excuse. It’s blatantly obvious I should have been there. Wes’s feelings clouded his judgment. Caused him to make stupid decisions.”

So was it stupid for Wes to want to make sure Katie was safe? What exactly was Randy inferring? Was it stupid to get her involved? Or was the way he handled it stupid? Randy kind of left his words open to interpretation. Katie was already sensitive, so she took his statement as a personal attack. Katie opened her mouth to tell him what an awful father he was for putting Wes into such horrible situations, but the words never came out of her mouth. A door opened and closed, and her mom entered through the garage. She stared from Katie to Randy, then stepped in and gave Katie a kiss on the forehead.

“You doing all right?”

Katie nodded curtly.

Her mom turned to Randy. “Thanks for coming by. I appreciate you worrying about my daughter. How’s Wes doing?”

He smiled. “Much better. He should be getting out tomorrow.”

“Oh, that’s wonderful,” Mom responded. “And you’re looking stronger today. Is there anything we can do to help out?”

Randy pushed himself up from the table with effort. He grimaced as his straightened up. “If you wouldn’t mind, I could use Katie’s help later tonight moving some stuff into Wes’s room. I got some presents for his welcome home.”

Katie’s mom smiled and glanced at her daughter. “She’d be glad to help. I’ll have her over there at seven.”

Katie wanted to protest, to say she had other plans, but she knew it would fall on deaf ears. Even if she had plans, Mom would make her change them. It was best not to argue. She shuddered at the thought of being alone with Randy in his house. God only knew what she’d find in there.

Mom stepped forward to help Randy, but he waved her off. She followed him to the door and showed him out. Katie watched them from the kitchen, her eyes narrowed to slits. She attempted to project her thoughts into the air, to get Randy to change his mind and tell her she didn’t have to help, but it didn’t work. He waved from the door before stepping out. Her mom told him goodbye, then turned back into the house and headed upstairs to change out of her work clothes. Katie followed her.

“You know, Mom, I have a lot of homework to do tonight. Maybe I should help Mr. Akers another time.”

Mom turned, a smirk on her face. “I’m sure you can spend an hour to help Randy get Wes’s room ready. If you start your homework now, then you’ll have plenty of time.” She raised her eyebrows.

Nuts! Katie thought. It was just as she suspected. Mom would have a rebuttal for any argument she threw at her.

“What happened to him? How did he get hurt?”

Mom changed into a pair of sweats. “Car accident. Pretty nasty one from what I hear. He’s lucky to be alive.”

Katie raised an eyebrow. “And you believe that?”

Mom stared at her, confusion covering her face. “Of course I do. Why wouldn’t I?”

Katie shrugged and sat down on the bed. “I don’t know.”

“It was in the paper. Third page. The car was all mangled. Looked horrible.”

“How well do you know Mr. Akers?”

Mom’s confusion deepened. “What do you mean?”

Katie huffed. “What I mean is, we’ve lived her for eleven years, and this is the first instance I remember him entering our house. How often do you talk to the man?”

Mom pressed her lips into a thin line and headed out of her bedroom. Katie followed her down to the kitchen. Mom pulled meat and vegetables out of the fridge and started preparing them for dinner.

“Randy, your father, and I used to be really good friends. When his wife was still around, we had dinner all the time. You wouldn’t remember, you were pretty little. We’ve known the family since we’ve lived here. Since you were eighteen months old. You and Wes have grown up together.”

“What happened to his wife?” The question came out softly. Katie wasn’t sure she wanted to know the answer. Visions of demons ripping a woman apart drifted through her mind, causing her to shudder.

Mom stopped chopping carrots and faced her daughter. Sadness covered her face. “She died in childbirth. The baby didn’t make it either. It was a girl. Wes would have had a little sister. It all happened right before you guys started kindergarten. Randy took it real hard. Stopped coming over for dinner, despite our constant invitations. We respected his desire for privacy, though it broke both of our hearts. I still talk to him occasionally when I see him in the neighborhood, but those moments are few and far between.” She took a deep breath and wiped at her eyes. “This is the first time in a very long time that he’s been in the house. I think Wes’s accident with that dog really shook him up.” She turned back to the vegetables and the cutting board.

“What does he do for a living?”

Mom set the knife down and faced Katie. “What’s with all the questions? Why are you interrogating me about Randy?”

Katie threw her hands into the air and became indignant. “Uh, maybe because you told him I would help him out in his house. I don’t know the guy. How do I know he’s not a creep or pervert? I would like to have some idea of what you got me into before being alone with a guy in his house.”

Mom gave her a sideways look. “You have nothing to worry about from Randy. I wouldn’t have volunteered your services if he was a creep. What kind of mother do you think I am?”

One who has no idea what their neighbors really do, she thought.

“You’d better get upstairs and get your homework done. You’re helping Randy no matter what.”

Katie rolled her eyes and headed up to her room.

In reality, she had no idea if she had homework or not. She had no recollection of what happened at school. Maybe she should call Deb and ask. They didn’t have any classes together, but Deb always knew what was going on. She plopped down at her desk and pulled out her phone. She sighed. Was she really in the mood to talk to anyone? No doubt, Deb would ask how she was doing and ask a bunch of questions about what had happened. Katie wasn’t sure how to answer. More than likely Deb would also give her a lecture about hanging out with Wes. Deb wasn’t a fan of the guy, especially since she had to hear all about it after he broke Katie’s heart. Katie wasn’t in the mood to hear about what an awful person Wes was and how she was an idiot to keep falling for his tricks. She could send a text. It was easier to lie that way. She nodded. That’s what she would do. Just as she was about to send the message, her phone buzzed. Another text from Josh.

How was your day?

Katie shook her head in disgust. He was relentless and infuriating. Why couldn’t he just leave her alone? What did he want from her? She knew she shouldn’t respond, but the question seemed so harmless, so mundane. Almost normal. It seemed as natural as if Deb had sent the text. Again she wondered if Josh was as bad as he was made out to be. She replied.

Horrible. But you would know that. You’re the reason.

I’m not trying to make life difficult for you. Meet with me. Let’s talk.

Can’t. I have prior engagements I have to take care of tonight. Thanks to my mom.

Sorry to hear that. I want to see you.

Try going to school.

Maybe tomorrow. I hope to talk to you soon.

Katie sighed and set the phone on the desk. Rubbing her hands over her face, she wondered what was going on. She couldn’t keep doing this to herself. She needed to cut herself off completely from Josh. But it wasn’t that simple. She knew so little about him, and she wanted to find out more. He was dangerous, there was no denying that, but he swore that violence wasn’t directed at her. Still, she didn’t like being used. But was he still using her? After all, Wes was laid up in the hospital. If Josh really wanted to finish the job, he could walk in there and Wes wouldn’t be able to fight back. Maybe that was too easy. Maybe Josh wanted to toy with Wes for a while. Make him squirm. Hadn’t he mentioned in the warehouse that he wanted to hurt Wes deeply? Wouldn’t he do that if he tortured Katie? She shuddered at the thought. She really needed to cut off all communications with Josh. 

As much as she wanted to believe he wasn’t as evil as he probably was, there was no sense taking unnecessary risks. With effort, she picked up her phone and went to delete and block Josh’s number. Right before hitting the button, it vibrated, causing her to drop the phone onto the desk. She glanced at the number. The same one that had called earlier. The one Wes called from when he left the message. Must have been his hospital phone. She picked up the phone and stared at the screen. She should answer it. Let Wes know she was all right. But she couldn’t bring herself to push the button. Eventually, the phone stopped ringing. Would he leave another message? She placed it down and stared at it, waiting for the indicator that he left a voicemail. It never came.