The Wedding Gift (33 page)

I nodded and reminded her
of her solemn promise, and she hesitated, but seeing the look in my
eyes, she just said yeah, okay, and then she told me she loved me
which, more than anything else, made me think this was probably the
end. I climbed onto the bed and laid on my back and closed my
eyes.

I knew this would never
work in one billion years. Scared as I was, I would never fall
asleep. But Jessie was there and she was so strong that, in a
second, I was asleep and same, as before, felt myself rising up and
drifting towards the door.

Chapter
49

It was all changed now,
though. The house was bright with daylight. I looked back to see
myself on the bed, but I wasn’t there and Jessie wasn’t in the room
either. The body on the bed was Robina, a young living, beautiful
Robina. She was curled up on her side, sleeping.

There were pill bottles by
the bed and I realized then that I wasn’t in my time, but somehow
back in hers. I wasn’t drifting anymore either. I found I could
move my limbs freely, so I walked back further into the bedroom and
looked down at her sleeping. You would never have guessed in a
billion years looking at that sweet sleeping face what she would
become.

I turned and walked out
into the hall because I knew I was supposed to. The house was the
same, and it wasn’t. There were worn spots in the hallway carpet
and, just up ahead at the landing, was a Barbie doll lying on its
side, as though a little girl had dropped it on her way downstairs.
I shuddered, and went over and picked it up myself and walked
downstairs carrying it … I don’t know why. When I got to the bottom
of the stairs, I heard the TV coming from the living room and I
turned towards it.

Just as I was moving away
from the foyer, the front door opened real quiet and a rush of cold
air blew in and a woman walked hurriedly by me. She was young,
maybe my age. She was beautiful too. The woman had long blond hair
and was wearing a retro fur and leather jacket. She didn’t appear
to see me, but when she looked through me and up the stairs, as if
to check on whether anyone had heard her come in, I saw that I knew
her.

It was Miz Willets, only a
young beautiful Miz Willets and, scared as I was, I couldn’t help
but notice that some things hadn’t changed. Her eyes were still as
hard as woodchips. I watched her take in a deep breath and nod to
herself, like Jessie had done earlier, steeling herself. And then
she did this weird thing; she stripped off all her clothes and left
them in a little pile by the door, then, naked, she walked to the
back of the house towards the kitchen.

I followed her. When she
got there, she took her time going through the drawers, until she
pulled out a long serrated bread knife and then, putting her arm
behind her back, she walked naked back towards the sound of the TV.
I found I could not force myself to walk all the way into the
lounge, I leaned my head around the doorway, and glimpsed a
Christmas tree, and an old-fashioned cabinet TV set. Lying in front
of it, surrounded by toys, were four children - an older boy and
girl lying flat on their stomachs watching a show, and behind them
two little ones. They were all beautiful dark-haired
children.

I knew somehow that I
needed to close my eyes now and keep them squeezed tight unless I
wanted to be hopelessly insane forever onward. I did hear them
though. I heard the littlest girl, say “
Aunt Bethany, what are you doing here all
naked
?” I heard her giggle and I heard the
screaming begin. I think …I’m pretty sure … that they tried to run,
but …well, they were just little kids and they …oh they must have
been so scared and so shocked. What with them being so little and
thinking they were in their own house and by their very own
Christmas tree … well it must not have seemed real to them, not
till it was way too late. I knew those babies never had a chance at
all.

I was on my knees outside
the room, crying and moaning, wanting to help the little ones and
knowing I couldn’t, that they had been killed long before I was
even born. She came out of the room.

I opened my eyes when I
felt her pass me. She was drenched in blood, shiny with it and she
was smiling. Her eyes were wild; they were the eyes of hell. Miz
Bethany paused to wipe her feet off on the carpet and then began
heading to the stairs. I was puzzled. I knew now who had killed the
children, but I also knew that Robina had not been killed in her
bedroom. Why was she going upstairs?

Oh, then I knew, the little
white nursery “
Our baby
George
”. No, I could not let her kill that
baby again. I tried to touch her, to stop her, but my hands, like
me, were invisible and she just kept on climbing the stairs. I ran
after her. I don’t know what I thought I could have done, but I had
to try. I followed her into the pretty white room.

He was just a tiny baby, a
little boy with his mama’s dark hair. This time I didn’t see it
happen either, but that was because I was facing her, keeping my
body (or whatever I was) in between her and the crib. It didn’t
matter; I watched, detached now, while the knife went right through
me and into the baby behind me. He just made a tiny sound, a squeak
like a little mouse, and then no more sound.

She turned and I followed
her back down the hall. I was so sad and all leaden inside that I
didn’t even feel afraid any more. I’m sorry for posterity’s sake
and all, but what I felt, well it isn’t describable.

She walked into the master
bedroom and, laughing silently to herself, laid the knife down on
the floor, right underneath where Robina’s sleeping hand dangled.
Then she went on back down to the kitchen. Still following her, I
watched as she gave herself an elaborate spit bath at the kitchen
sink, then watched as she re-entered the foyer and dressed herself
again. She looked perfect, not a hair out of place. She glanced
around once more and, giggling, slipped into the front closet,
leaving the door just a tiny bit ajar.

I was sick, I was
terrified, and I was also confused. Why had she done these horrible
things? I mean I could tell she had just murdered Robina’s children
and set her up for the crime, but why? And why in the name of all
that was holy was she now hiding in the closet? Before I had time
to think about it, I heard the door open again behind me. I spun
around, and there he was, Uncle Roger.

He was the handsomest man I
have ever seen in my life. My precious Donny is so beautiful to me,
but this man, he looked made up he was so perfect. Tall, with black
hair all tousled like he did it on purpose, and these huge blue
eyes, surrounded by black lashes. I guess he was about the most
incredible specimen I had ever seen, but he had a hard sulky
mouth.

I knew a few things about
men and this one was one of those that you could just tell would
always be looking for something or someone else to see if they
could please him better.

I had to guess that, just
by looking at him, about every female he had ever come across had
spent her life doing just that. He dropped his keys on the hall
table, and called out in this deep voice “
Robina, kids, I’m home
.” Then he just
stood there for a second like he was waiting for them to all come
running.

When no one did, he frowned
and headed toward the living room, hearing the TV no doubt. He
started to speak. “
Hey kids, didn’t you
hear me come in?
” And then he screamed. Oh
it’s a terrible sound when a man screams.

He didn’t even pause; he
started running, up the steps into the nursery, gasping after what
he saw. He staggered on down the hall to the master bedroom. Miz
Willets had closed the door and I watched him stand there gathering
himself. I had no doubt he expected to see his wife butchered
beyond that door but then, just like everyone else that day, he
took a deep breath and walked in.

Now, I was only watching
and, when you watch, you cannot truly know what someone is
thinking, but I could imagine pretty well. Roger had come home and
found all five of his babies butchered, and there she was; his
beautiful drugged up wife, just laying there sleeping, with a
bloody knife under her hand. He screamed her name and fell down
onto his knees. You really did have to feel pity for him
then.

She sat up, startled like.
“
Roger, Honey, oh you’re home. I’m so
glad. What is it, Roger, what’s wrong?
”

He was on her quick and he
dragged her by the hair, right through me standing there. I ran
after them as he pulled her down the hallway to the
nursery.

“
You
see
.”

He dragged her down those
stairs, her body making this horrible sound every time it hit and
she was screaming now. When they got to the living room, he threw
her in amongst the children, and began punching and kicking her.
She wasn’t trying to defend herself, just screaming
“
no
” over and over
again … it was horrible. Then I saw him drop the knife down on top
of her and fall again to his knees, rocking back and
forth.

“
Why, Robina … in the name
of God, why?
”

I watched her stand up and
she looked like a woman whose mind had been blasted clean out of
her which, considering what she had woken up to, I could
understand. She shook her head.

“
No, Roger, not me. Her. I
heard her. I thought I was dreaming. Not me Roger, not me! No, you
… you Roger, you and your whore, you did this, you killed my babies
and now, Roger, I am going to kill you
.”

And that is just what she
did. Robina reached down and picked up the bloody knife and plunged
it into his throat. I couldn’t watch anymore. I backed out to the
hallway and then went to the foyer, and sat down on the stairs and
began rocking myself. She was in there awhile, I guess, stabbing
him some more, and then writing on the walls. I heard her come out
and she walked past me, unseeing, back up the stairs.

At the top, I heard her
scream once when she plunged the knife into herself. I turned my
head, not really caring anymore, just watching, while she wrote her
babies’ names and their birthdates in her own blood, and I saw her
fall down. Then, to my surprise … not shock, I was way far beyond
shock by then, I heard her call my name in this real faint voice:
“
Leeann. Please, Leeann, come
here
.” I didn’t want to go, but I knew all
choices were beyond me now. I walked up the stairs and kneeled
beside her where she lay. She smiled up at me and it wasn’t a
terrible smile at all - it was sad and sweet. “
Leeann, did you see, see my pictures - do you know
now?
” I just nodded, I was crying again.
“
Leeann, I’m sorry I had to bring you
here. I’m sorry about your brother too. It was wrong of me, so
wrong. My anger, my terrible endless rage … do you understand what
I want now?
“

I just nodded again. I
knew. I heard a noise from downstairs and I looked. Miz Willets was
coming out of the closet and running to the hall. I ran back down
the stairs after her. I watched her fall on Roger’s body, cradling
him and screaming. “
Roger, oh God no,
Roger, she killed you. No! No! No! Roger I love you. I’m having our
baby, Roger … I did it for us, for us so you could come to me. Oh,
my darling, I am so sorry
.” Then she got up
and ran for the back doors and I watched her disappear out into the
garden.

So Roger was George’s real
daddy, and that was what Robina had meant when she said
“
her child
”. I
understood everything perfectly now.

Chapter
50

I was standing alone at the
bottom of the stairs and it was dark again and hot. I was back in
my own time. I started to walk up the stairs but, before I got to
the bedroom, I was back in my own body, sitting up in the bed,
staring at my Jessie’s little white face. Her hair! There was a
white streak at her temple and I reached out wonderingly as I
touched it. She looked at me like she didn’t know me and then said
in this real distant voice “
Oh good,
you’re awake. Listen, listen, Leeann, they’ve stopped.”

“
What’s stopped
Jess?
”

“
The children, Leeann…
they have finally stopped screaming, Oh God,
Leeann
.”

At that she threw her
little body against me and I held her, and we both cried for a
long, long time. It fell on me to remind her that we had to leave
or Mark would come for us and then the poop would hit the fan. She
looked at me calm now “
Can we leave,
Leeann?
”

I nodded and helped her up
off the bed and pulled her towards the door. “
Yeah, Jess, we can go home now. I know what I have to
do
.”

By the time we got back
outside, Jess had collected herself a little and, before we got to
the back fence, she grabbed my wrist hard, and whispered
“
Oh shit, Leeann, the jewelry! We got to
go back in there and get it
.”

I shook my head.

“
No, Jess, we got to leave
it here for a while now. I’ll explain when we get back
home
.”