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  “Every time you make that sound,” he told her, “I'll have to hurt you some more. Do you understand?” Sighing, he looked away for a moment, before turning back to her. “I met another little girl yesterday. She was much more friendly, much more willing to listen. I think you know her, actually. I saw you with her down by the river. She's your sister, isn't she? Such a sweet girl, and pretty too. It must run in your family. Tell me, is your other sister Elizabeth pretty too? I heard you talking about her. I guess I'll have to find out for myself some time.”

  Staring up at him with wide, panicked eyes, Kari realized that her only hope was that somehow the whole situation was a dream.

  “I told little Sara where I'm staying,” the man continued, “but I made her swear not to tell anyone else, and...” Frowning, he paused for a moment. “No, she wouldn't have broken her word, would she? You must have just found this place by accident. The thing is, I'm really only passing through. I'm waiting to get a few memories back, see? They took them away, but I know they'll come back, and then I'll remember what I'm supposed to be doing here. Whatever it is, I know it's important. That's what it's like being Death these days. There are a lot of positives, but you don't get to put down roots anywhere, you know? Just waiting and waiting and waiting.”

  He smiled at her, before looking down at the top of her dress. With his one free hand, he began to tug on the fabric, before finding one of the buttons and fumbling for a moment, finally managing to get it open.

  “Sometimes,” he told her, “what's on the outside of people isn't like what's on the inside. Don't you think that's odd? Then again, I don't suppose normal people would notice something like that.” Giving up with the second button, he tore at the fabric of her dress until it began to rip. “Being Death, I have a unique perspective. I see the world in different ways. That's how I ended up knowing so many secrets. I was told by -”

  He stopped suddenly, as if he could almost remember something.

  “It's so close,” he whispered. “I feel like I'm going to get it back at any moment. There was a dark space, something calling me... I was just a boy...”

  Turning her head, Kari managed to get her mouth free for a moment. She screamed, only for a fraction of a second before he got her back under control, but she hoped it might be enough for someone to hear her, even though the barn was out in the middle of nowhere, far from town.

  “Why do you have to be like that?” he hissed, leaning closer as he continued to tear at her dress. “I think I was about to make a breakthrough before you distracted me! I'm only trying to do good things for you, do you understand? What you need is to change your perspective so you can recognize the true good in the world. Trust me, there's no end of people who'll tell you they're trying to help, when really they're just trying to hurt you. That's what you've got to get into your head. Good things hurt, and bad things make it better. Do you know how I know that?”

  Closing her eyes, she started to beg God for mercy:

  Please get me out of here. I'll be a good person forever, just -

  “Look at me!” the man shouted suddenly, digging his fingers into her eyes and forcing the lids open, scratching her eyeballs in the process with his dirty, bitten fingernails. “You close them again, I'll have to find a way to keep them open permanently, do you understand?”

  Tears ran down her face as she tried to keep from sobbing.

  Please God, if you let me live, I'll devote my life to you.

  “They said they were helping me,” the man continued, staring into her eyes. “They asked me why I killed those people, and I told them, I said it was the voices in my head. They asked where exactly in my head the voices came from, so I told them, kind of. I pointed to the side of my head and they said, well, we'll just try a little experiment here and we'll cut that part out. Maybe it'll work, maybe it won't, but it's worth a shot, right?”

  He paused for a moment, as if he was reliving some awful moment from his past.

  “When I woke up, the voices were gone. It was a miracle. They told me I'd changed, that I wouldn't hurt anyone anymore, but also that maybe I couldn't do so much. It was hard talking, even thinking, but I was just so grateful that the voices were gone, I sat and I sat and I thought over it, and I was relieved. But then...” Reaching up, he brushed his dirty fingers against the stitches on the flat side of his head. “But then the bad parts of my brain started to grow back. I can feel them now, pushing against the inside of my skull, and as they grow back, the voices are starting to talk to me again. They're giving me secrets this time, and one of the biggest secrets, well, I'm going to share that with you.” He leaned even closer to her face, as he tugged at her dress and finally pulled the front open. “The voices told me I'm Death itself. That's why they're in my head. I have a duty, a duty to mankind. Can you imagine life without death? I'm so important!”

  Staring up into his eyes, Kari realized she had to find a way to fight back. Wincing as she felt his hands touching her bare flesh, she tried to focus and work out what to do. She figured she'd only get one shot, only once chance, that if she made a mistake she'd end up being punished. With most of her body being held down, she realized there was only one thing she could try.

  Despite the man's hand clamped over her mouth, she tried to speak. She knew he wouldn't be able to understand, but she focused on trying to make it sound like she had something specific to say.

  “What's that?” he asked, as he squeezed her so hard with his other hand, it began to hurt.

  She tried again, and this time she felt his hand loosening just slightly over her mouth.

  “I can't...” He paused, frowning, as if he wasn't sure what to do. “I can't damn well make out a word of that,” he continued finally, sounding annoyed. “How do you expect me to know what you're saying?” After a moment, he lifted his hand away from her mouth and stared down at her. “Say it again.”

  Staring up at him, with tears in her eyes, she tried to keep from trembling too much. She had to time her move just right. Finally, she whispered something.

  “Huh?” He leaned even closer. “I can't hear you.”

  Staring at his neck, she knew she had to try.

  Dear God, help me...

  She lunged at him, biting down as hard as possible on his neck, taking as much as possible into her mouth and hoping she could cut something vital. As he cried out in pain, she felt hot blood rushing into her mouth but she knew she couldn't stop, not yet. He tried to pull away, but she just bit down even harder and moved with him, quickly knocking him to one said and then rolling on top of him, all the while keeping her teeth buried in the flesh of his neck, biting through and feeling blood bubbling up against her tongue.

  Please God, just let him die.

  She closed her eyes, wondering how long it would take before he passed out, but after a moment she realized that his scream had become a laugh, and his whole body was shuddering now, as if he was amused by her effort.

  “My,” he said finally, “you're a feisty one, aren't you? I've got to admit, I never saw that coming, and I should since I pulled a similar trick on a guy not long ago. Why, you really got into me a good chunk, didn't you? But not enough, obviously.”

  Letting go of his neck briefly, she tried to bite again, forcing her teeth through his thick, leathery skin, ignoring the stubble that was prickling her face and instead focusing on trying to cause as much damage as possible. Realizing that she needed to try something else, however, she began to tear at the man's flesh, hoping to sever an artery, but all she heard was the sound of his laughter getting louder.

  “So,” he said finally, grinning at her as she opened her eyes, “how am I going to punish you? I mean, I did tell you not to close your eyes again, didn't I? Eyes...” He paused for a moment, as if he was once again on the verge of remembering something. “Eyes are so beautiful. I remember her eyes...”

  “Please don't kill me,” Kari whimpered. “I'll do anything you want, just please don't kill me!”

 
He stared to one side for a moment, before looking down at her. “I was about to remember something,” he said firmly, “and yet again, you interrupted me. For that, I think I have to punish you real good.”

  “Wait -”

  Before she could finish, he dug his fingers into her eyes, pushing down harder and harder as she screamed. Finally, blood began to burst from her sockets.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Today

  The cold light of morning made everything seem calmer, less terrifying. It was almost as if the events of the past night had taken place in some kind of warped parody of the real world, one where ghosts were real and little girls really could climb out of holes in the ground and claw at people's faces.

  As soon as she reached the covered area around the back of the barn, Paula saw the hole in the wall. In the light of day, she saw that the hole was even smaller than she's remembered, which made it even harder to believe that an actual person could ever have managed to get down there. Still, she crouched next to the hole and took a look, wondering whether something was staring back up at her.

  “Hello?” she whispered.

  Silence.

  “Are you...” She took a deep breath, before reminding herself that she should be a little braver. “Are you in there?”

  She waited.

  “Where you ever there?” she asked finally, as the doubts returned. Reaching up to her face, she felt the cuts. They were real, and she sure as hell hadn't done them to herself. Glancing along the side of the barn, she remembered the sense of a presence down by the door that led into the lower level. She turned, heading that way, figuring that she might as well go and take a look.

  “Paula!” her father shouted from the yard. “Come on! We're going to be late!”

  Sighing, she realized the barn would have to wait.

  ***

  “Paula?”

  “Huh?” Turning to him, she suddenly realized she hadn't been listening to a word her father had been saying on the walk back from the local school. Now they'd reached the farmhouse, and he was bending down to pick up a package that had been left on the step along with some mail.

  “I just asked what you thought of the place,” he continued, with a faint smile. “I mean, I thought it looked quite nice. Beats an inner-city London comprehensive any day.”

  “Yeah,” she replied non-committally, still unable to take her mind off the memory of the little girl. “Sure. Whatever.”

  “And you won't kick up a fuss when you start next week?”

  “Next week?”

  “We signed you up to join a class, remember?” He stared at her. “Jesus Christ, Paula, have you been paying attention to anything this morning?”

  Lost in her own thoughts for a moment, she didn't immediately register the question. “Um, yeah,” she muttered finally. “I mean, no, I mean... Sure, I'll go. Whatever.”

  “Looks like I'm making friends, at least,” he replied, opening one of the letters. “Seems a bit formal, but I've been invited to the diner to meet some of the locals. I guess they want to suss me out.”

  “Have a blast.”

  “Aha,” he said, opening the package and then turning it around so she could see the logo on the side of the box. “Well, never accuse me of not keeping my promises. You came to the meeting at the school, and now here's the router we need to get the internet up and running. Your lifeline to the rest of the world is restored.”

  ***

  Clicking through to the first link in the search results, Paula waited for the page to load and then began to read the wiki entry:

  “The Olesun sisters,” she whispered as she read, “were three young girls, aged eight, thirteen and sixteen, who were murdered near their home at the Bondalen farm, seventy kilometers north of Oslo, Norway. The girls were killed during the night between May 16th and May 17th, although the precise time is not known and their remains were only found by their father at sunrise on the 17th. He'd gone to find them, to get them ready for the national holiday.”

  “Hey!” her father called up from the hallway downstairs. “You got it working up there?”

  “Yeah!”

  “What do you want for lunch?”

  “Anything!”

  “I'm going to the shop, so -”

  “Anything, Dad!” she replied, trying not to sound too dismissive. “Sorry, I'm just reading about something really important.”

  As she heard her father heading out, she scrolled down to the next section of text:

  “It's believed,” she read out loud, “that the Olesun girls were killed by an escaped convict named Jonah Lund, who had a history of psychiatric problems and who had previously been convicted of a number of other murders. Lund was never located following the Olesun girls' deaths, but is believed to have fled into the hills near the farm, where he most likely died of exposure when winter set in. However, police were heavily criticized by the local community for failing to spend more time tracking him down, and for allowing him to be on the run in the first place. Local police chief Inspector Dennis Dybendal faced a great deal of pressure, but resisted calls for him to resign. Nevertheless, many locals expressed their displeasure with his handling of the case.”

  “No shit,” she muttered, scrolling down and finding a faded photo of the three girls on the page. “If they -”

  Freezing suddenly, she realized that she recognized the youngest of the girls. She told herself that she was just imagining things, that one eight-year-old looked much like any other, but as she stared at the image she felt a shiver pass through her chest as she realized it was the frozen little girl who'd scratched her face.

  “Sara Olesun,” she whispered, reading the text under the photo. “The only child whose body was never recovered.” She paused. “Wait, what?”

  Scrolling down the page, she reached the section on the discovery of the children.

  “On the morning of May 11th,” she read out loud, “the girls' father Henning Olesun went out at around eight in the morning to check on the girls after he found their bedrooms empty.” She paused, as another shiver passed through her body, before continuing to read: “He discovered the bodies of Elizabeth (16) and Kari (13) around the rear of the barn. They'd been attacked with an ax and there was a considerable amount of blood in and around the tent. A subsequent police examination determined that Elizabeth and Kari died from massive trauma and blood loss. Although the body of Sara (8) was not found, investigators believe she was abducted by the killer. For reasons that remain unclear, it appears that he took Sara from the scene, and he is assumed to have dumped her remains somewhere away from the farm.”

  Taking a deep breath, Paula tried to stay calm. She scrolled back up to the photo and stared at it for a moment, trying to convince herself that she was imagining the resemblance between the little girl Sara Olesun and the girl who'd scratched her face in the night. Deep down, however, she knew that it was the same girl.

  “I saw you,” she whispered, reaching up and touching the scratches on her face. “And you saw me.”

  In fact, she was so taken with the sight of Sara Olesun, that it took a moment longer before she realized that she recognized the middle of the three sisters as well. Although there were definitely some differences, she could tell that Kari – the girl with the white bandage over her face – was the girl she'd seen through the window the other night, the girl who seemed to have no eyes and who'd put her hand against the glass.

  Hearing a faint creaking sound on the stairs, she turned and looked out her bedroom door. There was no-one out there, of course, and she knew her father was at the supermarket.

  She waited.

  Another creak.

  A different step.

  Rushing up from the bed, she raced to the door and looked out.

  Nothing.

  She waited again.

  Silence.

  “Kari Olesun?” she called out, taking a step forward. “Elizabeth?”

  No reply.

  “Sara Oles
un, are -”

  Before she could even finish, she heard a creak right over her shoulder. She spun around, but there was no sign of anyone. Still, she felt certain she was being watched, and now she was sure the frozen little girl hadn't been a figment of her imagination.

  Glancing at the mirror at the top of the stairs, she saw the scratches on her own face.

  “What do you want?” she whispered, looking back around in the hope of spotting something. “Why are you haunting this place?”

  Chapter Fifteen

  1979

  “Sara!” Elizabeth shouted as she ran across the yard. “Where have you been?”

  “I was -” Pausing, the little girl looked back toward the barn. Although she remembered going into the lower level, and coming out again a little while later, she couldn't quite remember what had happened while she was inside. It was as if a kind of fog had entered her mind, but she told herself it must be unimportant if she'd forgotten already.

  “Have you seen Kari?” Elizabeth asked. “Sara, this is important. Where is Kari?”

  ***

  “Kari!” the voices called out, as a group of men walked across the fields, searching for the missing girl. “Kari Olesun! Kari!”

  “What are they doing?” Sara asked, as she and Elizabeth walked hand-in-hand along the edge of one of the fields. “They're never going to find her that way. Don't they know anything?”

  “We have to try this,” Elizabeth replied, as they reached a line of trees and picked their way through until they got to the next field and stopped for a moment. “She's been gone too long. It's one thing to be a few hours late, but she missed dinner. Kari's often late, but she never misses dinner.”

  Watching the distant figures for a moment, Sara finally narrowed her eyes slightly.

  “I know where she is,” she said calmly.

  “Where?” Looking down at her, Elizabeth frowned, before crouching in front of her sister. “Sara, if you know something, you have to tell me now, do you understand?”