The Death of Addie Gray Read online

  “That's just nonsense, though,” Murphy tells him. “I mean... It just is.”

  “Maybe,” he replies, “but if it is Serriah in that little girl's body, and if you catch up to her, tell her to come see me some time. Tell her I owe her an apology for...” His voice trails off for a moment. “Tell her I would like to ask for her forgiveness. And that I humbly beg for hers in return.”

  Serriah

  I was worried the barn might be gone, but it's still here. Stopping at the end of the dirt road, I stare at the dark, gaping door and realize that after forty years away, I've finally come back to the place where I died.

  Where we died.

  Where Jesophat and I bled to death on the dusty ground, slipping away before the police could get to us.

  “This is where we'll find the answer,” I tell him, as I scratch an itch on the back of my neck. “This is where we'll figure out how to get you back through into the world.”

  Erica

  “It looks like no-one's been here for years,” I point out as Brabham and I wander toward the abandoned, burned-out farmhouse. “Was the place just left to rot?”

  “The land was bought up after Serriah Sansome's father was killed,” he replies, “but I guess no-one wanted to touch this place with a ten-foot pole. I mean, people did die here, and not in a very pleasant manner. Besides, apparently the few contractors who were sent out here...”

  Her voice trails off.

  “What?” I ask, glancing at him.

  “There were reports of strange noises,” he continues. “Bumps. A couple of people even thought they saw something.”

  The farmhouse's windows are dirty and smeared, and it's hard to see inside. Looking up at the roof, I suddenly feel as if someone is watching me from one of the nearby windows, but of course there's no-one there when I turn and look. The yard is overgrown, and as I get closer to the building I can't shake the feeling that I'm somehow intruding, that this place has been left still and quiet for so long that it's wrong to break that veil. Still, reaching the front door, I try the handle and find that it's been left unlocked.

  “So much for security,” I mutter as I pull the door open to reveal the farmhouse's dark interior.

  “Officer Murphy said kids from the local town like to come up and dare each other to spend the night here,” Brabham explains. “I'd love to do that some time. Maybe bring some recording equipment, infra-red cameras...”

  I take a step into the house, and immediately I notice how cold the air feels. The floorboard creaks beneath my left foot, as if to announce our arrival, and the only source of light is the dusty windows caked in four decades' worth of grime. Behind me, Brabham tries a light-switch, but of course there's no electricity connected to the place, not anymore.

  “Here,” he says, handing me a flashlight and then switching on his own. “Watch yourself.”

  “Addie?” I call out, stepping across the hallway and shining the light into a room with counters at the far end. Figuring it must be the kitchen, I feel a shudder as I remember reading that Serriah's brother was found dead in this room.

  “I don't see why Addie would have come here,” Brabham calls through from the next room. “It's just an empty house. Then again, if she thinks this is home, and if she thinks there might be ghosts here -”

  Before he can finish, there's a faint creaking sound from above. I look up, already trying to convince myself that I imagined the whole thing, but a moment later Brabham comes through and I see that he too is looking at the ceiling.

  “Rats?” I suggest.

  Turning, he heads to the stairs, and I follow. As we make our way up, I once again feel as if we're intruding, but I also know that we have to check everywhere if we're going to have any hope of finding Addie. She's smart, and I wouldn't put it past her to squirrel her way into a tight spot so that no-one can see her. Reaching the top of the stairs, I shine the flashlight around and see several closed doors, but once again there's no sign of life.

  “Addie?” I say cautiously.

  No reply.

  “I think the creaking sound came from that room,” Brabham says, heading to the door at the farthest end of the corridor.

  Making my way to a different door, I try the handle and find that it opens. Pushing the door open, I shine the flashlight inside and see a small, bare room. I look around for a moment, but there's clearly no sign of anyone so I turn and head along the corridor, to the open door that Brabham went through just a moment ago.

  And then I realize I can hear someone breathing.

  I turn, shining the flashlight back the way I came, and the sound immediately stops.

  A moment later, Brabham comes out from the nearest room.

  “There's nothing in there,” he mutters. “I really don't -”

  “Did you hear that just now?” I ask, my heart pounding as I wait for the breathing sound to return.

  “Hear what?” he replies. “Another creak?”

  “Quiet! Listen!”

  “But is -”

  “Stop breathing!” I hiss. “Let me listen for a moment!”

  I wait, but I'm already starting to doubt myself. “Nothing,” I tell him, “I think I just... I just thought I heard someone for a moment.”

  “What do you -”

  “It's really nothing,” I continue. “Ignore me. I was wrong.”

  “A place like this can play tricks on you,” he continues, shining his flashlight around at the dark, bare walls. “I'd sure like to set up a test rig here and leave it running for a few nights, though. Given the history of the farm, I wouldn't be surprised to pick up some readings. Serriah's mother died here during childbirth, and then her father and brother were gunned down by Jesophat, so there have been plenty of traumatic deaths.” He turns toward me, shining the flashlight straight at my face.

  I turn away, momentarily blinded.

  “Oh, I'm sorry!” he stammers. “Damn, I didn't think about that!”

  Turning back to him, I barely see anything other than a few large blotches of light. After blinking a couple of times, however, I can just about make out Brabham's silhouette, as well as -

  Suddenly I realize I can see a figure standing right behind him. My vision is still bad, but I can make out what looks like the silhouette of a man with half his face missing.

  “Behind you,” I whisper.

  He turns, but as I blink again, my vision improves and the figure is gone.

  “What did you see?” Brabham asks, turning back to me.

  I stare at the spot where the man was standing, but there's definitely no sign of him now.

  “This house is...” I take a deep breath, trying to remind myself that I've never believed in ghosts or the paranormal. At the same time, I can't shake the feeling that there's a presence in here with us, and I'm struggling to remain completely rational. “Is it me,” I continue, “or is it a little airless in here?”

  “You can wait outside if you want,” he replies. “It's kinda dusty, but I want to check all the rooms.”

  “I just need some air,” I tell him, heading to the stairs. With each step, I feel more and more certain that I have to get out of the house.

  By the time I get outside, I'm increasingly breathless, and I lean against one of the windows as I take a series of long, deep gulps of air.

  I can hear Brabham bumping about inside the house, but I'm pretty sure he won't find anything in there. If Addie was close, we'd have found her by now. After a moment, however, I spot footprints in the mud, and I realize that although some of them are from when Brabham and I arrived a few minutes ago, there's another set of smaller prints that seems to have been left a little earlier. These particular prints lead up to the front door and then away, over toward the broken gate.

  Following them, I feel a flash of hope as I see that the prints go all the way to the edge of the field.

  “Erica?” Brabham calls out from the house.

  “Over here!” I shout, stepping into the field as I try in va
in to spot the prints among the grass.

  “I don't think anyone's been in the house,” he tells me as he comes over. “There's no sign of -”

  “Look at the prints,” I reply, turning and pointing at the marks in the mud. “She was here!”

  He stops and stares down for a moment, before glancing at me. “They don't look large enough for an adult.”

  “She went this way,” I continue, turning and looking across the vast field that stretches as far as the horizon, “but after that...” Pausing, I try to imagine Addie trudging alone across such a desolate landscape. There are trees in the distance, although other fields roll away to the east and west, and I quickly realize that it's impossible to guess which way she might have gone after leaving the house. “She was here,” I say again, “but she left. That means she's moving north.”

  “She might have doubled back,” he points out. “The only place to the north is the old ridge, and Murphy said that whole area has been checked a couple of times already.”

  “It's getting colder,” I mutter, looking up at the darkening gray sky. “It'll be dark in a few hours, and I think there's going to be rain.” I turn to him. “She'll need to shelter somewhere, and obviously she isn't able or willing to stick around here. She must have started thinking about where she's going to spend the night. The land will have changed a lot since Serriah's day, but she still might know a few places.”

  Brabham stares at me. “Does that mean you're starting to come around to the idea that...”

  His voice trails off.

  Looking past him, I watch the abandoned farmhouse for a moment.

  “I saw something in there,” I tell him finally, “and I heard...”

  “Someone breathing close to you, even though there was no-one there?”

  I turn to him.

  “I heard it too,” he continues. “Before and after you came back outside. And I thought I saw a figure, too, just for a moment. A man, an older man with...” He reaches up and touches the side of the face, indicating the spot where the man seemed to have been shot. “I didn't say anything while we were in there, because I didn't want to scare you, and also I sensed that it wasn't threatening us. But the breathing, in particular, I most definitely heard. Almost all the time we were in there.” He pauses. “Serriah's father and brother were both shot before the farmhouse was set alight. The police couldn't tell if there were any other wounds, since their bodies were so badly burned, but...”

  Looking at the house, I feel a shiver run through my body. A moment later, cold rain starts to fall.

  “We have to find Addie,” I say finally, turning to Brabham again. “Forget everything else, it's secondary. We can't let Addie spend the night outside in this weather. She'll freeze.”

  Serriah

  “This is where we died,” I whisper, staring down at the barn's concrete floor. “It's where I...”

  For a moment, I think back to the sensation of that rusty knife slicing through my wrist. A shudder pass up my spine, but I quickly tell myself that I have to stay focused.

  “There has to be a way to bring you back into this world,” I continue, turning and looking around the barn as I scratch the sort patch on the back of my neck. It's getting dark outside and rain has begun to fall. “We've gotten this far, Jesophat, so now -”

  Before I can finish, I feel a sudden, scratching pain at the base of my skull. Gasping, I step forward and then drop to my knees as the pain builds. It's as if something is trying to dig through into my head, and I quickly realize what it must mean. I remember having to force my way through into Addie's body when she was in that hospital bed, but the coma made it easy. Getting through into the body of someone who's conscious and awake is much more difficult.

  “Stop!” I hiss, as I feel the scratching sensation building. “Jesophat, what are you doing? You can't come into this body, it's already mine! We're going to find another way to -”

  I gasp again as I feel him pushing harder and harder. Dropping onto my side, I start screaming as I realize he's determined to enter this body.

  “Stop!” I shout desperately. “Jesophat, why are you doing this? Be patient, you can't take this body! Jesophat, wait! Jesophat -”

  Crying out even louder, I realize I can't stop him. In his panic, he's trying to take Addie's body, even if that means sending my soul back to the other place.

  Erica

  Pulling open the motel room's door, I stare out at the dark, rain-lashed parking lot and watch as the car's headlights are switched off. A moment later, a figure hurries out of the vehicle and runs over, and I step out of the way just in time to let Detective Brabham inside.

  “Now that's a storm!” he says with a hint of delight, stopping on the mat as rivers of water dribble down his coat and onto the floor. “I honestly haven't been caught up in weather like that since -”

  “Where's my daughter?” I ask, interrupting him.

  As soon as the words leave my lips, I can tell that there's no news.

  “She can't be out there in this weather,” I continue. “Please, tell me she's not out there all alone in the dark and the rain.”

  “Mrs. Gray,” he replies, with the tone of someone who's hoping to calm me down a little, “I'm sure Addie has found somewhere to take refuge for the night.”

  “We need to check the farmhouse again.”

  “Officer Murphy is swinging by to take a look every half hour,” he continues. “She and her colleagues have a little patrol set up, checking all the most likely locations. If Addie is at any of them, they'll find her, and when they do I need you to be right here so we can get you to her as quickly as possible. Meanwhile, I have some other ideas to try, ideas that might be considered a little unconventional.”

  Feeling a gust of wind battering my side, I turn and look out once again at the storm. We're at a motel on the edge of town, and I can see driving rain crashing through the light of a nearby streetlamp. The whole place seems deserted, and I'm not surprised. Only a fool would go out in this kind of weather, but at the same time I feel completely impotent here in this boxy little room, when I could be out there helping with the search for Addie.

  “I can't just sit here,” I mutter, turning and grabbing my coat. “I rented a car earlier. I'm going to -”

  “I would strongly advise against driving,” he replies. “There's only -”

  “I can't sit around in this motel room while my daughter's out in the storm!” I hiss. “What kind of mother do you think I am?”

  “One who's very worried,” he says, putting a hand on my shoulder, “but hopefully also one who -”

  “And where's Murphy, anyway?” I ask, checking I have my keys before stepping out into the rain and hurrying to the car. “She was supposed to call every half hour!”

  “Mrs. Gray!”

  “Tell her to call when she gets back from her latest search!” I yell, opening the car door and climbing into the driver's seat. I'm already soaked, but I quickly slip the key into the ignition and get the engine running. Before I can reverse out of the parking spot, however, the other door clicks open and Brabham climbs in, even more soaked.

  “I can't let you go out there alone,” he mutters, pulling the door shut again.

  Grabbing the map from the back seat, I take a look at the red crosses we've marked off. I've already studied this damn thing a hundred times, but I feel as if I have to be missing something.

  “Someone's checking every one of those,” Brabham tells me. “All the places we identified, plus everywhere Jesophat O'Reilly suggested. If she's at any of them, we'll get word soon. Even if she's trying to hide, there's only so much a little girl can endure before she wants to be warm again, and tucked in with her mother, right? I know I wouldn't have lasted long by myself on a night like this, not when I was her age.”

  “Where are you?” I whisper, leaning back and closing my eyes for a moment as rain continues to pound against the car's roof. “Addie, what are you doing right now? Where are you hiding?”


  I wait, but of course there's no reply. Still, I was desperate enough to give it a shot. Looking back down at the map, I try to come up with a plan, before finally shoving the map into Brabham's hands.

  “We'll just drive around,” I tell him, reversing the car out of the spot. “We'll find something that way. We have to.”

  ***

  “She's still not picking up,” Brabham mutters a short while later, looking down at his phone. “I've checked with all the other officers involved in the search, but Officer Murphy seems to have gone silent.”

  “There's nothing out here,” I reply, driving as fast as I dare along a dark, treacherously wet road far from town. The headlights are picking out the turns ahead and the wipers are just about managing to clear most of the rain, but apart from that it's impossible to see anything for miles around.

  “This is farm country,” Brabham tells me. “It's just fields and a few dabs of forest as far as the eye can see. Well, it would be in daylight, if we could see anything at all. If the circumstances were different, I'd very much like to spend a few days in the area, soaking up the sights.” He pauses. “I've spoken to a few of the locals today, Mrs. Gray. The story of Jesophat and Serriah would appear to be rather well-known around here, a little like Romeo and Juliet. It seems to be the only well-known event that ever took place within a hundred miles of Hedderburgh.”

  Coming to a crossroads, I look both ways, but it's impossible to know which direction to choose.

  “Take a left,” Brabham says suddenly.

  “Why?” I ask. “What's up there? Is there some kind of -”

  Stopping suddenly, I realize I can see a flashing red light in the distance.

  “Take a left,” Brabham says again. “It would appear that someone has pulled over at the side of the road.”

  Turning left, I keep my speed well under thirty as we approach what turns out to be a police patrol car parked next to a wooden fence. The rear warning light is flashing repeatedly, and as we drive past I see that the driver's side door has been left wide open. I pull up just in front of the vehicle, and Brabham immediately gets out and goes back to take a look. Figuring that he's just doing his duty and that we can soon get on our way again, I stay in the driver's seat and grab the map. There has to be somewhere else we can check, but so far it's as if Addie has simply vanished into a fold in the land.