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“Dawn!” I scrambled to my feet. Water continued to splash around me as I ran through the smoke in the direction of where I’d last seen her.
I found her lying still on the floor, dark, bloody lines across her back, clothing torn.
“Dawn?” I knelt next to her. Lump in my throat and tears running, I placed a gentle hand on her side.
The creature’s nails had torn through the back of her shirt and ripped into her skin. It didn’t look good. Her eyes were closed.
“Dawn,” I pleaded, sobbing. “Please. You’re okay. You’re okay.”
Packard walked over and stopped a few feet short. I brushed the hair back from her face. Her eyes fluttered open, her body trembled, and relief settled my fast-beating heart.
She opened her blue eyes, sat up, and fell against my chest to wrap her arms around me. I hugged her back, but she winced in pain, so I withdrew my hands.
“This was a strange first date,” she said.
I chuckled with relief.
“Wait ’til we go on our second,” I said.
Just then, someone called down from the upper floor, and I turned to see James and Gonzales gaping at us from the hole in the kitchen where the basement door used to be. The stairs had been demolished.
I helped Dawn to her feet, and my hand came back wet with blood. “We need to get Dawn help,” I said to Packard. “She can’t make it up there alone.”
Nodding, Packard looked around the basement and locked eyes on an old desk. “Stay with her. I’ll pull this desk over, and we can use that.”
He pushed the desk across the floor and placed it underneath the hole. Packard stood on top of it and helped hoist Dawn up to his deputies. The two top stairs were still intact. She grabbed onto those, and the deputies grabbed her from there and pulled her up.
“You okay?” I called to her, and she stuck a thumb up in the air for me.
“Paramedics just showed up!” Deputy Gonzales hollered.
“Good.” Packard nodded. “Get her to them fast. Make sure she’s taken care of.”
Packard turned and motioned for me to go next, but I wasn’t ready. Mathilda’s ghost sat in the corner, head down and eyes sullen.
“I’ll catch up,” I said, and I stopped Packard before he could disagree. “Really. There’s someone I need to say goodbye to.”
“Then I’m staying until you’re done. But hurry.” He stepped back and kept an eye on me.
I couldn’t argue with that. I walked over to Mathilda, who looked like a sad child, and sat down in front of her. She raised her dark eyes to me. They were full of despair, regret, and pain. An image of her child came to mind, a daughter, barely six years old. I looked at the pool. Her child had drowned, and I understood how. Images appeared in my head, revealing truths I couldn’t have known... and I realized I’d been given a gift.
When Beaumont pushed me into that pool, I’d felt my soul pull away from me, and for a moment, I’d hung between two worlds. Then my soul reunited with my body when I came back out of the water. I felt part of me still connected to the other side of elsewhere and part of me connected to the afterlife. I looked down at Mathilda as images and words filled my head, and I understood her story. She’d been a victim. The nightmares began the first night she moved into the house, then the voices came. Soft at first, they were persistent and coaxing. Her spirits were weak at the time. Moving halfway across the country away from her family had been hard, and it had filled her with anxiety and depression. The voices recognized her weakness and exploited it to their advantage.
They hadn’t broken her overnight. It had taken a long time for them to seduce, maybe even brainwash, her. She’d become a walking zombie and followed instructions like a soldier.
They’d wanted her child—the tree beneath the pool wanted her. The voices convinced her to take her child to the feeding pool. The tree was the life source of the other world, and it needed to be fed. It suddenly became clear to me that it was fueled by our souls, our weaknesses, and our fears.
Tears streaked the ghost’s face. She lived in constant torment in this house, reminded of the evil she’d committed, the worst sin that anyone could commit. The guilt kept her from moving on, and the Crooked House had become her hell.
I saw another image of her daughter. She was older than six, but still young, beautiful and glowing. Radiating warmth and forgiveness, she awaited her mother on the other side.
“She’s waiting,” I said. “On the other side. She needs her mother.”
Mathilda shook her head, fearing she wasn’t worthy of that role anymore.
“She’ll understand now. You should go. There’s nothing left for you here. I’m glad you were here because you saved my life. You saved Dawn’s life. And I know you did everything you could to save Andrea. Your daughter will understand that too.”
Her face shook with fear and tears.
“It’s time. She’s waiting. Pass through the light, and she’ll be there. It’s okay... really.”
Her body unclenched, and her shoulders sank as a large weight was lifted. Mathilda broke and fell into my arms and sobbed. I didn’t feel her, not physically. I wrapped my arms around her anyway, feeling the tingles of her energy.
A bright light illuminated us. It was warm, comforting, and inviting. She wiped her eyes and looked up. A shadow of a smile crept in the corner of her mouth, and she rose and disappeared into the light, and then the light was gone.
As I walked over to Packard, I had to step over Lester’s body. I looked down at the dead man, the terror and pain frozen on his face.
I walked back to Packard, who was cautiously looking into the pool, perhaps afraid something else might jump out of it. He turned to me with a perplexed look on his face.
“I don’t get it, Ret.” He wiped sweat from his brow and scratched the back of his head while looking around the room. “I’m not sure what happened here, or who you were talking to over in the corner, or what the hell that thing was that came out of that well. I’m not sure I’ll ever know.”
I shrugged my shoulders. “I told you there was some crazy stuff going on.”
“This is beyond crazy, and I don’t know whether to thank you or kick your butt.”
“Sheriff!” Deputy Gonzales called down. “You two need some help up?”
“Hold on a minute.” Packard motioned for him to wait. He looked at me and said, “I need to fill out a report about all this.”
“How are you going to explain all of it?”
“I’ll need your help with that.” He placed a hand on my shoulder, and a smile crept up his face. “You’re something else, Ret. Take care of yourself.”
***
I SAT IN THE BACK OF an ambulance as the paramedics finished bandaging the wound on my throat. Fortunately, it was a minor cut, which they smeared with ointment then taped a square piece of gauze over it. They also checked me for a concussion since I’d taken a big bang to the head, but I’d suffered nothing more than some aches and bruises. My parents came around the corner of the van, and my mom let out a breath of relief, putting a hand over her chest.
I glanced at the paramedic, who said, “You’re good to go.” He smiled and patted my back.
I jumped down and embraced my mom and dad. I wasted no time in convincing them to take me to the hospital to see Dawn right away. To my surprise, they hadn’t even argued with me, and they let me buy a small flower arrangement in the gift shop.
Dawn was in a private room in the emergency room, and my parents helped me find it.
“We’ll be in the waiting room when you’re done. Don’t be too long,” my mom said before she and Dad walked away.
The door was open, and I lightly rapped on it with my knuckles. Dawn’s mom turned with a welcoming smile and gestured me in. She glanced at my flowers, gave me a wink, and stepped back to let me by. Dawn was sitting up on the edge of the bed and talking to her dad while placing a hand on her side, and her face was wrinkled with discomfort.
“You’re going to be in pain for a long while, and every time you take a breath, you’ll feel it,” her dad was saying with a comforting hand on her shoulder.
The expression of discomfort turned to a smile when she saw me. “Ret,” she said with excitement, and I smiled back.
“Hey, Dawn. How are you doing?”
Jim, her dad, turned his eyes to the ground with a frown and stepped back.
“A little banged up, but not bad.”
“She has two cracked ribs,” her mom added. “And six-inch scratches on her back that will probably scar, and she has to take an antibiotic for the infection.” She raised her brows to emphasize the situation was more dire than Dawn had let on.
“Right. Like I said, a little banged up is all.” She grinned in spite of her mom.
“Wow, cracked ribs has to hurt,” I exclaimed.
“Only when I laugh,” she said.
“There go all my jokes.” I shrugged, and she belted out a laugh that quickly turned into squinting her eyes in pain and gritting her teeth.
“Oh, I’m sorry.” I winced then stretched out my flowers. “I brought these for you.”
“That’s very sweet.” Her mom took them from me and handed them to Dawn.
“You shouldn’t have.” Dawn shook her head.
“Ret, I hate to break this up,” Jim grumbled. “But we gotta get Dawn home. She needs to get some rest.” He moved to usher me out.
“Yes, of course. Dawn, take care of yourself, okay?”
She nodded. “You too. Call me later, okay?”
“Will do.”
I turned and walked out of the room, and Jim followed me into the hall. He stepped next to me and placed his arm around my shoulder, but not in a comforting way. “Ret, can I speak with you?”
I nodded.
“My daughter’s been through a lot—more than many adults will ever have to—and she is my pride and joy. Understand?”
I nodded again.
“I’m not saying you’re a bad kid. I barely know you. You may not be, but one thing’s for certain. There’s a lot of talk in the town, there’s been a lot of trouble, and your name keeps popping up. I’m not one to believe in gossip, and I don’t make my judgements until I have proof. But this is my daughter, and she was taken from me. She was nearly killed, and God knows what else. I believe they took her because of something you did.”
I couldn’t deny any of the things he’d said.
“I’m not going to allow that to ever happen again. Got it?”
I nodded, keeping silent.
“That means I can’t have you seeing my daughter anymore. You can’t come over, you can’t hang around her, and you can’t even speak to her.” He let out a sigh and shook his head. “Now, Dawn is a stubborn girl, just like her mother. She’s going to want to see you, God knows why. You can’t allow it. You have to cut it off with her and ignore her. Is that clear?”
I didn’t nod or speak.
“I asked you a question, son.”
“I’m not your son. Your daughter can make her own choices, and I can make mine.” After all I’d faced, Jim didn’t scare me.
“I’m not asking, Ret. I’m telling you, and you will listen, or there will be hell to pay. Mark my words. I’ll make sure of it, even if I have to ground Dawn until the day we move.”
“Move?”
“Yes. In a little over a month, we’re moving back to Portland.”
My heart sank, and all the energy drained from my body. I was sad for Dawn and pissed at her dad for making them move again. I was most disappointed about losing a good friend—perhaps my best friend. I wasn’t sure about romantic love. I didn’t know what that meant, but I did know friendship. And losing that hurt like hell.
“You take care, Ret.” He tightened his lips and walked back into Dawn’s room.
Feeling empty, I walked out into the waiting room, where my dad was transfixed with a game show on the TV and my mom was thumbing through a magazine. We got into the car, and I fell asleep before we got home.
***
THE NEXT DAY, MY MOM and dad took me into the sheriff’s office to fill out a formal report of what had happened, and Packard said he would have to do the same with Dawn. I told him the truth about everything, but he left out certain supernatural elements when he filled out the report. Afterward, he turned to my parents and said he was going to tell the reporters a different story—something about how he suspected a gas leak explosion was likely the cause of Lester and Beaumont’s deaths, and upon his arrival, he’d found us miraculously alive but tied up, along with remains from the missing bodies from the cemetery. There were no reports of the dead walking around or anything to corroborate the several sightings of Todd Harrison’s life after death, and Lester and Beaumont’s motives were unknown, but rumors flew about them being a part of a cult.
I understood Packard’s reason for omitting the supernatural elements. He was a man of the law, and not only would no one believe him, he’d be crucified for stating it. Secretly, he knew it was all real, and that was all I needed.
Revisiting all those events was traumatic, and I think my parents recognized the amount of energy it sucked out of me, but the process was also cathartic. I’d told my story, held nothing back, and left it all at the police station, where it could remain behind me. For the first time, I felt the evil that had plagued the town that summer was gone. Safety had returned to Riverton.
That night, as if I’d suffered a painful day at the doctor’s office, my mom made sloppy joes and let me invite my friends over. She even convinced Gary’s mom to let him come.
We sat in the living room and talked forever, then halfway through dinner, a knock came at my door. When I answered the door, I was as surprised as I was elated to see Dawn standing there. I stepped out onto the porch, closed the door behind me, and wrapped her in my arms. We hugged tightly for a long time before releasing.
“How are you feeling?” I asked.
“Much better. My wounds still sting, and we have to keep ointment on them. My ribs still hurt, but other than that, I’m fine.”
I sighed relief. “Hey, the whole gang is here! You should join us. We’re eating sloppy joes and—”
“I can’t. I’m going to get in trouble as it is for sneaking out, but I had to.”
“Yeah, your dad had a talk with me. He warned me to stay away, but we don’t have to.”
She shook her head in disgust. “I can’t believe he did that. I was so upset when I heard. But it doesn’t matter. We’re moving. Again,” she said with revulsion. “This time, it’s so far away that I won’t...” She choked on her words.
“Your best friend, Sadie,” I said, knowing the pain of loss she was going through. I’d gone through it so many times myself.
She nodded, holding back sobs. “And you. And them.” She pointed at my house, referring to our friends.
“There’s something my old Scout leader taught me once. He said, ‘Experiences, both bad and good, make us who we are.’ And you’re an amazing person, Dawn.”
“You are too, Ret. I wasn’t kidding about your writing. You really are talented. Don’t give it up.”
“I won’t. I’ll send you my first published copy and sign it ‘Best wishes.’”
She laughed, then cringed, holding her ribs. I was saddened about her aches, but more so to know it was the last time I would hear her laugh.
We hugged again. She told me to say goodbye to the gang, and I told her I would, then she surprised me with a kiss. It was a quick peck on the lips, but it was warm and stayed with me for a long time.
I waved and watched as she hurried down the street to her house. With a lump in my throat, I stepped back into the house, and my friends turned to me.
“Was that Dawn?” Jax asked.
“Yes.”
“Tell her to get her butt in here,” Rosco said.
“Yeah, it wouldn’t be the same without her,” Gary chimed in.
“No, it wouldn’t, but her parents won’t allow it. She’s going to be moving in a few days anyway, and she wanted to say goodbye.”
There was silence for a moment.
“She’s one of us,” Rosco said. “So is Morgan.”
“Always will be,” Gary said.
“Damn right,” Jax confirmed. “Black Widows forever.”
I agreed. “I wouldn’t be here without Dawn.”
We talked for only a small moment about the events at the Crooked House, then we moved on as if it didn’t deserve another moment of our time.
“We need to rebuild the fort,” Rosco said.
“Damn straight!” Jax said, and I stabbed him with a glare.
“Don’t swear. My mom can hear us,” I whispered urgently.
“Bigger and better than the one b’fore,” Rosco said. “I got it all laid out. Been scopin’ out some of them new moguls on the other side and found a perfect one. My dad said he can get a lot of wood and two-by-fours we could use.”
“Cool!” Gary exclaimed. “We should start working on it when we get back from camp.”
“When’s Scout camp again?” Jax asked.
Scout camp wouldn’t be the same without Todd Harrison, but Rosco’s dad was appointed the new Scout leader, and Gary’s dad was his new assistant. Knowing the Scouts were in good hands helped to heal some.
“Next week. All week,” I answered.
“Shit,” Jax said.
“Jax!” I scolded.
“Sorry, man. I’m not even ready for camp. I gotta get a new mess kit and canteen. My little brother lost ’em.”
“You going, Rosco?”
“Hell yes, I’m goin’!”
“Please, guys. Not in my mom’s house,” I pleaded, and we couldn’t help but bust out in belly laughs. It wasn’t even very funny, but our laughter was loud, and we held our bellies and laughed for a good five minutes. It was a release of all the tension and fear. The nightmare that had kept the town up at night and held us all hostage was lifted, and we finally felt free to laugh long and hard, and it felt good.
Gary wiped tears from his eyes. Curled up on the couch, Jax was caught in a silent laugh, mouth wide open, eyes squinted shut, holding his gut. We all stared at him, and finally as he took in a breath, the laughter burst and filled the room again. We were all caught up again in a chain of laughs.
It was the last night I ever saw or spoke to my friends.