The Grasp of Nighttide (23 page)

"No, but I let him know that he could come back to you."

“He abandoned me like you did.”

“He was in the hospital for several months, after he tried to save you, and I was the one who restricted him from seeing you.”

“He saved me from what? You what?” The only point she held against Lance was gone. He hadn’t been away from her out of his choice. But he could’ve tried at least. Did he?

Veronica decided to skip answering the first question. “I had to. It was for your safety and Lance knew that too. By the way I have let him know your address now, he will contact you soon. He says he knows someone who can help you, who can make things alright. And I trust him.” When Alice didn’t say anything she continued. “How has life been for you these past months?”

“Miserable, thanks.”

“Freedom was what you wanted all your life, away from your fears, threats, to have a real life. When I got the lead that it could be possible after all, I kept you away.”

“What do you mean?” Alice stared at her.

“Etsy will meet you tomorrow and go through more details that I haven’t written down.”

Alice looked at the wooden floor. “I do not know yet why you sent me away but I am so glad to see you. I love you.”

“I love you and Ray did too. It is both of our last wishes that you take care of yourself, be safe.”

“Last wishes? Your last wish?” Alice swallowed a lump in her throat. “Why you saying that?”

“Promise first that whatever may happen, you will be safe. And you will sort this problem out.”

“Okay, I promise. Now answer me, what is wrong?”

“I am tired of this life Rave. I want to go to Ray.” Veronica stood up, saying no more. It was as though she had fallen into a trance. “I’m sorry Rave, but this is what I want. It is not your fault.”

Before Alice could make any sense of her words, she was out of the door to the little house and strode farther away.

“Mom, Mom, stop!!” Alice was shouting, trying to run after her. But it seemed as though her feet were hardly moving.

Just as suddenly, Alice’s vision clouded, her head flung back and she felt as though she was falling. Moments later, she came to, and felt sharp pain in her knees and palms of her hands. She looked up in time to see the same black car that tried to kill her, ghost-like now, speed and hit Veronica, throwing her over the hood and onto the road.

Alice looked around. She was fuming with rage. She tried to stand, limping, just in time to see the figure behind the car look back at her. It was the girl covered in black. Alice vowed to herself that she would make her pay for what she did to her mom. As Alice started to run, she felt strangely light and different all at once.

Stephanie ran for her life. If not for her car running off on its own, she wouldn’t have been here, so unprepared. Now, she was making way through the dark woods, her breathe coming in ragged gasps. This was not how it was supposed to happen. Steph knew that she could run for long distances without tiring, she knew that she could effortlessly climb the trees, but this time she was scared. The terror made her clumsy, stumbling slightly in the darkness as she panted her way through the trees, and one slip could ruin her pace. The loud chuckles were deafening. Alice, demon, whatever she was, was closing in on Steph, but Steph wasn’t going to just give up. As she ran, the reasons why she was there, why she had burned for vengeance all those months flashed through her mind... 

Two years ago, Rosalie had stopped the car on the way back from a late night at Jane’s place. A card had fallen out of Stephanie’s hand. Both of them knew it was nothing more important than an old invitation card, but Steph was grumpy and wanted it back. Rosalie, who was well acquainted with Steph’s behavior, threw up her hands in surrender. It was going to be another fight, another pointless butting of stubborn heads over what amounted to nothing more than fighting for fighting’s sake, so Rosalie simply agreed to go out and get the stupid card back. 

When she heard Rosalie shout, she turned back and a car was driving fast towards her. Rosalie didn’t move her eyes wide and paralyzed with fear. 

“Help,” Rosalie had given one last cry just before the van impacted with a sickening thud, sending Rosalie’s body flying. 

By the time Steph got out of the car, it was too late. She rushed to Rosalie’s blood shattered body, but it was too late. The car had stopped a distance away. Steph felt a presence, lurking and seeping evil into the air nearby. Through the tears, there was a smile, a sense of malevolent joy not far away. Steph sensed a girl, surrounded in a kind of black mist standing yards away, trying to hide in the darkness. But it clearly wasn’t a mere girl, it was evil. Steph had always a sixth sense to detect evil things like the other Grasp members, and this presence took her breath away. The figure moved in a flash, its pace was so quick that at times Steph wasn’t able to see it. But losing track was impossible for Steph. White-hot fury burned through the grief and shock of seeing Rosalie die and she ignored the consequences, giving chase to the evil that seemed to laugh at her as it ran away. For five minutes of running, the presence did not seem to be running to escape, but laughing at Steph, taunting her. 

When Steph finally caught sight of the girl again, she was with an older lady, and her appearance had changed. The girl looked perfectly normal, her chestnut hair pulled back in a ponytail. She stared, memorizing the girl’s face with the intensity that unforgiving vengeance brings. She would come back for the girl. She would not let her get away. 

Two days passed before came back to extract her vengeance, but the girl and her mother had vanished. They had moved suddenly, and their neighbors had no clue of where they had gone. As Steph asked around, she discovered that the neighbors knew little about the girl or her mother, only that they claimed to be bakers and mostly kept to themselves. She enquired at bakeries in the area, but no one had ever seen or heard of them. The complete lack of any way to vent her frustrations and need for revenge made Steph even more violent than before, causing her to lash out at everyone. She didn’t know where she was supposed to look, what she was supposed to be doing. She wanted to pick up dad’s Grasp book which was still hidden in Jane’s house and follow it. Things would be easier if she had been involved in Grasp; she’d have all info on the demon that had killed Rosalie. She sometimes blamed herself because if she hadn’t let Rosalie out of the car, if she had sensed Alice beforehand, she could’ve prevented everything- but still Alice was the murderer.

Steph had kept the top priority promise to her mom- to not use dark magic or join dad’s evil group- no matter how much she wanted to deep inside and how much easier finding Alice would’ve been. It was only by the strangest coincidence that she had seen the pictures of Anna and the girl with Derek. She found out the girl’s name was Alice, or at least that is what all called her. The name engraved itself into her mind. At last the hatred had a name. 

Steph would pursue this Alice, she would save people and gain vengeance her own way. As time moved on, her single-mindedness caused her to justify the means with the ends. She kidnapped the little boy, but had let Howie go when it became clear that Alice would not be lured into weakness and would rather kill him the little boy than lose any advantage. Jenny had died because Steph sensed Alice around and decided to throw Jenny to the demon instead of getting her hands dirty… 

Steph’s eyes were blurry as she kept on running. Her breathing was becoming ragged, and her legs were giving out underneath her. She turned around and threw the knife desperately through the layer of black mist, but it was of no use. The demon laughed and caught her by the hair. With a sudden and sickening yank, Steph was tossed backwards into a tree. A deafening crack and Steph saw flashes of light as she slid to the ground. Frantically, she realized that she could hardly feel her legs or arms. Her head hung at a strange angle, and Steph knew that her neck was broken. Terror seeped into her mind; she tried desperately to think of a way out.

She knew that she might heal, an ability she had known from a long time. She needed to push herself away from the evil approaching fast. With the only option she could think that would save her, she began to roll over expecting to get cover. After the third roll she realized the danger, as she involuntarily rolled faster down the slope she hadn’t expected to be there. Her vision was spinning. Her aching back and shoulder hit the ground again and again. As she fell on the road, the gravel hit the back of her head pretty hard. If she was a normal human, she’d already be dead, but she was not. Willingly or not, she did belong to the Grasp and had inherited most of their common abilities. And with that, she’d get away from the demon who was now peering from the higher ground. 

 “You think you have me cornered?” Steph’s laughter escaped through bleeding lips. “It’s what you think, you…” 

John had taught her that demons couldn’t control Grasp. It didn’t matter if she was on the road or not, if it was this demon or any other demon that Grasp possessed. Demons couldn’t control the Grasp- this demon couldn’t pin her. 

“You can’t get me,” Steph pointed her finger to Alice. But she just thought that she did. Her hand was lifeless on the ground. Thinking that it was only her hand that had stopped working, she tried to turn her head, but was unable to. An invisible force had gotten her. 

“No, this can’t happen,” she struggled trying harder. “You can’t hold me like this. I order you. I’m the Grasp.” 

Steph shouted but it didn’t have any effect. The demon girl slowly crept towards her, smiling and laughing evilly. She knew that she was going to die, that this demon was toying with her, allowing her last moments to be filled with dread and despair. 

“Let me go,” Steph struggled. She tried concentrating on the demon’s presence as she had the other day to suppress it somehow. But it was very very strong, and Steph wasn’t in a position to suppress the demon- either mentally or physically.

Steph closed her eyes. She had decided that she’d leave her life and start afresh elsewhere after killing Alice, but it wasn’t going to happen. She wasn’t scared of losing her life now. All that she regretted in her last moments was that she couldn’t finish Alice. She was different from Grasp- she loved her family. But Kim, Kate, Jane and Jacob were still vulnerable to this evil, and especially Derek. 

Can’t believe you actually got caught.
 She could almost see a translucent John before her saying those words. 

“This is the last time,” Steph said to the image of her dad, accepting her end.

A light blinded her and Steph squinted hard to see what was coming. A dump truck speeded down in her direction, it wasn’t hard for Steph to calculate its path- It would first crush her left leg and then stop her heart, and then perhaps even go over her skull. She thought of Derek one last time before her thoughts snapped in momentary pain and then to nothing but
darkness.
 

As Alice awoke, she heard whimpering. Her head hurt like hell, causing her to blink a number of times before she could register where she was. She was looking at tall trees, to her left was a dead end to the trees-like a slope- and then she turned to the right… A hand! A red hand with broken wires like veins sticking out of it.

“Aaaagh!” Alice screamed, stumbling to her feet.

Some stray dogs started barking and she turned in the direction. At the foot of the slope was a narrow road, and two big dogs- one slightly muddy and one black- were near a shattered body. The skull had exploded- its contents scattered, one arm detached, the body unusually flattened and pulled apart- with one arm still in contact whose hand most probably lay by Alice. Remains spread across the road until there was the dump truck whose back tire had a lock of golden hair caught in its wheel.

Foul odor crashed her senses, and the look of dogs tugging at the body caused Alice shake uncontrollably. She slipped on the slope but by a miracle her hands firmly held on to the land to help her back up.

“Who would…” She stuttered,”…do this..?”

It all came back to her; she was running behind the woman she thought who was the demon. Then… she felt different and began to laugh. There was no denial to the fact that she was the road demon all along. She killed her mother; she killed all the people these days. How was she… the demon?

Alice picked up her bag, avoiding touching the dead hand even though she was faintly aware that she was the one who had ripped it off.

Clutching her bag close to her chest in an effort to cover the blood stains on the front of her shirt, she ran in a panic. Afraid that someone would catch her, afraid that someone would see her and recognize her for what she was, what she had hidden inside of her, afraid that someone would question her of what she didn’t know herself. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed a girl standing by the side of road, half hidden in the trees. The girl was alone and calm, and was staring intently. Alice thought her to be sixteen or maybe seventeen. Her eyes twinkled through the darkness. Alice noticed a phone being held between her different colored gloves. She looked up to Alice and there was cold anger in those eyes. Alice rushed past her quickly, not knowing if the stranger had a clue of what she might be capable of doing.

Her breath was ragged and hands were trembling. The wind charged through her hair. Her mind was reeling from everything, trying to make sense of what was wrong with her. Alice's eyes had adjusted to the darkness, and as bright headlights came up ahead, it caused her to shade her eyes with her bag still covering up the blood. After the lights were off, Alice peered to see who it was and she couldn't be more relieved. Derek. 

He was about to get out of the car. As stupid as it sounded, the demon story was true. And she was behind it, though she still was clueless of why she turned into such a demon, or how she killed people. She didn't want to believe it, but not believing did not solve the problem. She had to be careful.

“Don’t get out,” Alice shouted, letting herself in Cloud.

“What?” Derek said, alarmed. “Is that blood? Are you alright?”

"Yeah," Alice said and took a deep breath to calm herself. 

"What happened?" 

But she couldn't be calm. No, not now. "Mom's dead." She tried to pass the news without crying, but it was impossible. Tears streamed down her cheeks. 

"I'm sorry," he said. He put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer. She rested her head against his shoulder, clutched his sleeve and sobbed. 

      The past had shattered her life. She had had her options open that there was a slight possibility that she was a bad person- though she never felt like one. But it turned out that she was
 someone
, or a better way to put it was - 
something
 worse than she had ever imagined. Everything had changed tonight. She was endangering people's lives. 

Derek. 
She thought and pulled away from him. Her mind screamed for her to get out of the car and run far away from him to keep him safe. But then Alice was afraid that he would come out behind her and if she again felt demonic, there was no stopping her.

"Alice... I don't know what I could say to you right now. I know it must be so hard for you,” he said. Alice wished for a moment that he’d ask about what happened, so that she could tell him. But he didn’t. He didn’t ask a single question. 

“My name isn’t even Alice.” He waited quietly for her to continue. “I know..."Alice stopped. 

"Know what?" 

Alice had to tell him the truth. He deserved to know. She'd deserve it if he hated her. In fact that wouldn't even count as a punishment for all she was responsible for.

"I know who the demon is.” 

Derek shifted in his seat “You know?" 

"Yeah, and..." Alice thought it was better to not think about it much and just go ahead and tell him. She couldn't think about the consequences of that now. 

“We’ll talk later." He cut her off. “Let’s get out of here first.” He was focused on her eyes with an intensity that surprised Alice. 

"But..." 

"Please do me a favor and call Stephanie," he gave her his phone. 

"Didn't you just meet her?" 

"I wish I had," he muttered and shook his head. "She wasn't there. When she picks up, give it to me." 

Alice tried several times but the call didn't get through.

*****

They got to a small hotel, and managed to get through the lobby without any curious onlookers. There were only two people, which given it was almost dawn wasn’t a surprise. Alice wrapped her jacket around closely to hide the blood. Derek opened her room for her and then got a call. 

After speaking to whoever had called him for a minute, he handed Alice the keys to his room in a hurry, saying that he'd be back soon. 

Alice shed her clothes and got into the hot shower. The water started to grow thicker and gradually it was changing color. Alice looked on in terror as the water turned red. And it looked more like... blood. Alice screamed, frantically rubbing it off her body. But it just poured down on her in a never-ending stream. Alice turned the shower off but it kept on coming, like she was supposed to account for all the blood she had spilled, all the lives she had taken
.
 

Alice fumbled outside, and casting a frightened look back, she saw there was no blood and the shower wasn't running anymore. Looking down at herself, her body was soaked with just water, dripping on the carpet. Alice locked the bathroom with her blood stained clothes inside. She pulled on her change of clothes from her bag. Now all that she felt was left to do was to curl up and die. 

Alice sat on the cold floor, her knees tucked into her chest. She looked at the hands that had taken the lives of two people earlier.

"No," she imagined the blood and rubbed her hands together. "No!" 

She was shivering now. She looked around the room, scared. She was afraid more than she’d ever been before. She was afraid because she couldn't run; she couldn't hide, when what she was scared of was herself. She dozed off, but all she dreamt of was people pointing at her. Anna pointing at her, Franny pointing at her, Rashi and even Derek. They pushed her in the fire chanting 'the devil must die’. Then the flames started to rise around her. Dozens of people emerged from the fire-the first ones, her mom and Jenny. They were pulling her inside- to take revenge. And her body began to burn... 

Alice gasped and awoke all sweaty. She reached for her bag on the side of the bed and pulled it to her. When the bag fell on the ground in front of her, the first thing to come out of it was the book Veronica had given her, saying it had everything she wanted to know.

On the cover was written just a few words.
Rave. Your memory is with me.

Her hands trembled as she touched the only thing that she had left of her mother. She slowly opened the cover and read.

The book started with the night Rave killed her dad. Since then, Veronica and Alice had detached themselves from society, no friends, and no school. Alice had made it through education with private tutoring. There were a few pages that told a story about what their life had become. A few incidents where Veronica behaved rudely to her family. Veronica told of how they were often on the move. Then there were a few pages stating it wasn’t her fault that she was in this situation. She explained how she had no control over the situation. Veronica told her that her death last night was her own choice, something she had planned. 

Veronica apologized for having abandoned her when she lost her memory, but it was supposed to be a new life to her- the free life she had never had because of the demon inside her. There were some happy events from life too- the fun they had together, even though it was only the two of them.

There was a section about Lance. At the mention of that name, Alice had felt a chill travel up her spine. Veronica had underlined his name. That night before she lost her memory, she had been fighting with Veronica over her choice of staying with Lance. Veronica tried to convince her that she had no right to be in love with him and risk his life. When they had turned towards the door that time, Lance was standing there. That was when she had run outside with the intention of killing herself. She could not bear to be without her love, but she could not hurt him either. Lance pushed her, threw himself in front of the speeding van and was admitted in the hospital on account of his multiple injuries.

Veronica mentioned that Etsy Monroe would help understand who was responsible for her condition- “The Grasp”, and Alice could feel the whispers in the very words. She could tell her how to get rid of this problem and let her be normal again.

Alice was about to look into the last page when the door opened without a knock. Alice hadn't remembered to lock it. Alice left the book on the floor and got up to see Derek step in. He was on the phone. Alice glanced at the window and realized that the sun was coming up.

“Jane, I had been to the scene, you do not want to see her like this” he paused, covering his mouth. He fell to the ground on all fours and gasped. “She is gone.”

“What’s wrong?” Alice asked, scared of his reaction.

“Steph is dead!” Derek’s voice was in such shock that his face grew paler. He stared at the wall, a numb look on his face.

“What? How?”

“Accident,” he seemed to be talking to the air. “Truck.”

Stephanie? She had killed Derek’s sister? It was his sister who was trying to kill her. She wished Steph had killed her now that she knew the truth. While he sat down, crying, and holding his head, Alice sat next to him and placed a hand on his shoulder.

“Leave me alone,” he shrugged her off suddenly, in an angry voice that she had never heard before.

“I have something to tell you,” Alice said, hesitating.

“I don’t want to listen!” Derek shouted through his sobs.

“I am the demon. I killed Steph.” She waited for his reaction.

“I know,” he said, stern and still not looking at her.

“Sorry. I…What? You knew?” Alice had never expected that reaction, and it jolted her.

“You would’ve killed me last night near that gas station if not for Steph.” he replied, through tears.

“Why didn’t you tell me? Why didn’t you run away? Or better kill me?” Alice blurted.

He abruptly got up and started packing his bag. “You need to attend your Mother’s funeral. I will drop you off and go to dad’s place. I will book you a flight back this afternoon. I will have someone there to drop you home, don’t worry.” The tears were gone now, and he suddenly was all cold business.

“That is not the answer,” Alice said.

“I love you dammit,” he said grabbing Alice’s shoulders so hard that it hurt. “Do you get that?” He looked at her pained expression and let go. “I know that this thing… this demon is not you but this... I need some time alone. I’ll be downstairs, meet me there in another hour then we’ll leave.”

Before Alice could open her mouth Derek had stormed out, closing the door loudly behind him.

Alice searched the room for something she could use and found a pair of scissors. Alice opened the book her mom had given and ripped half of the front pages. As she carefully cut them to bits, she turned to check the last page.

There was an envelope stuck to the back page. Inside, slightly yellowed, was a picture of a group of people. Alice recognized her mother, but needed the names written on the back to realize that it was an old family portrait. Then, below the stuck envelope, were Veronica’s last words to her daughter.

Please be safe. I Love you.

She pocketed the photo and started tearing the remaining pages too. Her mom had done so much to keep her safe and alive, even though she killed her own dad and was so evil. She couldn’t give up on her life which her mom had sacrificed so much to protect.

She threw some of the paper pieces in the trash can and left the rest scattered about the floor. Later she picked all the remaining bits and her stained shirt and put it in a plastic bag, and threw it in the lobby bin near the entrance.