Chapter Fifteen
Voice From Beyond

Lisa found herself plunging down. She could sense the two spirits traveling beside her.

In an instant the three of them were in the moonlit garden behind the house.

Lisa corrected herself. They were in what was left of the garden. Having seen the original in Myra Halston’s mind, she knew what a pitiful remnant this was.

But Lisa had no time to think about the garden. She had seen what was happening, and it was horrible.

Myra Halston, still controlling Lisa’s body, had taken Carrie into the garden. She stood in back of her now, with one arm wrapped around her and holding her tight. With her other hand she held the butcher knife against Carrie’s throat, ready to draw it across the tender flesh.

Brian was standing about ten feet in front of her, trying to reason with her.

As Lisa watched, Alice Miles came staggering around the corner of the house. She was clutching her right arm, which hung limp and useless at her side.

Lisa wanted to stop them somehow, to make them tell her what had been going on while she had been gone. She threw herself at her own body, trying to push her way back in. It was hopeless. Myra Halston was in complete control, and Lisa could only stand outside, watching helplessly

Myra’s madness had blossomed into its fullest. Lisa shivered as she heard the words that came out of her own mouth. Her voice was sweet and seductive. “It will only hurt for a moment and then we’ll be together again, Carrie. Forever and ever. Won’t that be nice?”

Carrie was held tight against Lisa’s body, unable to move. “Please,” she whimpered. “Please, let me go.”

“Lisa,” said Brian. “Or Myra, or whoever you are. Let go of her!” He took a step toward the two girls.

“Stand back!” screamed Myra. “Get away!”

Brian stopped in his tracks. Alice Miles staggered up beside him. “Don’t aggravate her,” she whispered. “There is no telling what she’ll do.”

Brian nodded grimly.

“It’s time to come to Mommy,” crooned Myra. “Oh, Carrie. Mommy has been waiting so long for this. Don’t you want to be with me again? You’ll feel just a little hurt, and then we’ll be together forever.”

Carrie was trembling violently. Myra pressed the knife more tightly against her throat. “I don’t want to do it until you’re ready,” she murmured. “It won’t be nearly so nice if I do. Haven’t you missed me, darling? Haven’t you missed your mother?”

Lisa read the terror in her sister’s eyes and ached for her.

“Isn’t there any way to stop her?” she cried, turning to the spirits who floated beside her.

Ellen McCormack was weeping. Harrison Halston’s face was hard as stone. “None,” he said bitterly.

“Don’t you remember?” asked Myra. “Listen!” A strange look crossed her face. “Mommy?” she called in a high-pitched voice. “Mommy, where are you?”

She dropped her voice to its normal tone. “Don’t you remember how you were looking for me?” she asked. “You looked and looked. And now, here I am. I’ve come for you at last. Oh, please, Carrie. Please say it’s all right. Then I can finish it, and we can be together.”

Listening to the words come from her own lips, seeing that madness shine in her own eyes, made Lisa ill.

Myra pressed the knife more tightly against Carrie’s neck. A thin red line appeared beneath the blade.

“Leave me alone!” cried Carrie. “Leave me alone!”

Myra’s eyes flashed with rage. “You ungrateful child!” she screamed. “You’re not Carrie. You’re not my Carrie at all! I’ll punish you for this!”

She raised the knife and was ready to plunge it downward when Brian cried, “Myra, stop!”

She hesitated, her hand in the air.

Because it wasn’t Brian.

Lisa let out a gasp. She could see Brian’s spirit floating outside his body, just as she was outside hers. He looked dazed, confused.

Clearly someone had taken over his body, just as Myra had taken over hers.

But who? She looked beside her. Ellen and her great-grandfather were still there.

What was going on?

“Myra, put down the knife.”

It wasn’t Brian’s voice. It was a voice Lisa had never heard before.

But Myra had.

“Andrew? Andrew, is that you?”

Brian took a step toward her. “Yes, Myra. It’s me.”

Andrew Long! The man who had murdered the first Carrie, all those years ago.

Myra twisted Lisa’s face in wrath. “What do you want? Why are you here?”

“I’ve been here all along,” replied Andrew. “Here in the garden, waiting to see you again, to tell you how sorry I am. Waiting to make up for what I did.” He moved Brian’s body another step in her direction. “Put down the knife, Myra.”

Lisa could see Myra’s hand tremble as she wavered under Andrew Long’s gaze. Her fingers played back and forth on the hilt of the knife.

Brian’s body took another step toward Lisa’s body; Andrew Long moved in on Myra Halston.

“Put the knife down,” he said again, his voice gentle but firm.

Myra began to lower the shining blade.

“That’s right,” said Andrew Long. “That’s right, Myra.” He took another step in her direction.

Lisa could see Myra struggling with herself. The body she had stolen was trembling with the effort. Brian’s body took another step forward. He reached out and grabbed the arm that held the knife.

“Now, Carrie!” he cried. “Run!”

Carrie twisted out of Myra’s grasp and raced to her grandmother. Lisa watched with horror as her own face was distorted by the wrath of the person in her body.

“You beast!” she cried. “You’ve robbed me again! You’ve taken my baby!”

She wrenched her hand free from his grasp. Lisa screamed as the butcher knife sliced across Brian’s face, opening a wound that splattered blood in all directions.

“No!” she cried. “No! No! No!”

Myra’s hand flew back. The knife was poised for another strike.

And then she heard it.

They all heard it, spirits and fleshbound alike. Every one of them looked up, straining to see where it was coming from.

It was the high, piping voice of a child. “Mommy? Mommy, where are you?”

Lisa cried out in joy as she saw a light above her, a beautiful light. The voice came from somewhere within it.

One by one Myra Halston’s fingers opened. She dropped the knife. “Carrie? Carrie, is that you?”

“Mommy, where are you? I’ve been waiting for you!”

A look of rapture transformed Myra Halston’s face. She threw out her arms and cried in joy, “I’m coming, Carrie! I’m coming!”

There was a flash of light.

And then she was gone.

Lisa looked up into a pair of remarkably blue eyes.

“Brian!”

He had his hand on the side of his face. Blood trickled between his fingers. “I’m glad you’re all right,” he said. “I was worried—”

That was as far as he got. His legs buckled, and he collapsed. Lisa sat up and looked around. Carrie and her grandmother stood a few feet away, looking dazed.

“Help me!” cried Lisa. “We’ve got to get him to the hospital.”

As if waking from a trance, they walked slowly toward Lisa.

“Lisa?” asked Carrie tentatively. “Is it really you?”

“Of course it’s me!” she snapped in exasperation. Then she realized why Carrie might well wonder, and said more softly. “Yes, it’s really me. Myra is gone for good now, sweetie. Now come on. I need your help.”

They walked hesitantly forward. Lisa felt a piercing sorrow. How long would it be before her sister trusted her again? She looked at her grandmother. “What’s wrong with your arm, Gramma?”

Dr. Miles scowled. “It’s broken, I think. You threw me against Brian’s car.”

“It wasn’t me!” cried Lisa. “Can’t you see that?”

Dr. Miles frowned. “Yes. I’m sorry. that was a terrible thing to say.” She looked around, as if noticing where they were for the first time. “Carrie, give your sister a hand! We’ve got to help Brian.”

Carrie took Brian’s feet. Lisa put her hands under his arms. Working together, they dragged him around the corner of the house. Brian’s car was blocking theirs, so rather than move his car and then have to hunt for the keys to their own car, Lisa decided to use his. She searched in his pants pockets and found the keys. Then they managed to get Brian into the back seat.

They squeezed Dr. Miles in back, too. She clutched her useless arm, pain glazing her eyes. Lisa closed the door for her. “It’ll be all right, Gramma,” she whispered. “We’ll get it taken care of soon.”

Lisa walked around the car and closed the other door. It turned her stomach to see the gaping wound on Brian’s handsome face. Myra’s knife had done its work well. Lisa shuddered. She wondered how many stitches he would require.

She glanced across at her grandmother. Dr. Miles nodded weakly.

Lisa went to the front of the car and slid in behind the steering wheel. She only had a learner’s permit. But she had a feeling there would be no problem with the police if they should stop her. She had plenty of reason to be heading for the hospital.

She looked beside her and felt tears spring out in her eyes. Carrie was cowering against the passenger door, her face twisted by a look of terror.

“Hey, Carrie, it’s all over,” she said, reaching out to her sister.

Carrie began to scream. “Don’t touch me!” she cried. “Don’t touch me! Don’t touch me! Don’t touch me!”

Tears streaming down her face, Lisa headed for the hospital.