The Death of Addie Gray Read online

  Stopping, I realize that I can just about make out the wall at the far end of the barn. There's more equipment up there, and plenty of dark little places for a girl to hide, but as I shine the flashlight's beam around I can't help noticing that the only sound is the rain as it continues to crash down against the barn's roof. I listen, hoping to hear a hint of my daughter inside the barn with me, but there's nothing. What if we're wasting our time out here? Then again, Officer Murphy was -

  Suddenly I hear a faint bump from the farthest corner.

  “Addie?”

  I wait, watching the shadows, hoping and praying that I might see her. After a moment there's another bump, and I spot a hint of movement. I shine the flashlight over, but all I see are more pieces of equipment and various shadows.

  It takes a few seconds before I realize that one of the shadows is shivering.

  “Addie?”

  Running over, I step around an old rusty threshing machine and shine the torch down. Finally, with a sense of relief, I see Addie curled into a ball, trembling with her arms covering her face.

  “It's okay,” I tell her, climbing over the machine. “I'm here now, it's all going to be -”

  Before I can finish, there's a loud bang from above, and I hear the sound of splintering wood as I shine the torch up toward the beams and rafters. I wait for a few seconds, hearing only the rain and wind again, and then I climb over the rest of the machine and crouch next to Addie.

  “It's okay,” I say again, reaching out and putting a hand on her arm. She's shaking like crazy, and although I can't see her face, I can hear regular teary gulps.

  Suddenly something hits the other side of the wall right next to us, and I turn just in time to see a faint crack break through the wood.

  “What the hell is that?” I whisper, shining the torch at the wall. For a few seconds, I hear a scrabbling sound out there, but it quickly moves on.

  “He hates me,” Addie whimpers. “I don't know what I did wrong, but Jesophat hates me.”

  All around us, the barn creaks and groans in the storm.

  “Honey, Jesophat is...” I pause, wondering how much I should acknowledge. “Jesophat O'Reilly...”

  “His ghost is mad at me,” she continues. “I led him back, I did everything I could, but now he's really angry! I think it's because I haven't found a way for him to get through yet. He's desperate, he even tried to get into the body I'm in now, but he wasn't strong enough!”

  “That's not Jesophat,” I tell her.

  She sniffs back more tears and as she stares at me with sore, reddened eyes. “You don't know what you're talking about,” she sneers. “I searched for him in the other place, I spent years trying to find him and -”

  “Jesophat O'Reilly is still alive!”

  She pauses, staring at me with an expression of pure shock.

  “I saw him,” I continue. “Earlier today, I was taken to visit him in the jail where he's serving life sentences for murder. He's a big, tattooed old man now, sitting and rotting in cell forty-eight at the local jail.”

  “No,” she stammers, shaking her head, “you're lying.”

  “Honey -”

  “You're lying!” she screams, launching herself at me and pushing me back against the wall. “Stop lying!” she screeches, as she digs her fingernails into my face.

  “Addie!”

  “You're a liar!” she hisses, kicking and punching me with fury. “You're a dirty, stinking, foul-mouthed whore!”

  “Marringham!” I gasp.

  “Jesophat died with me!” she shouts, as she grabs my hair and yanks my head back. “He died, and then I died too, and then I went and found him in the other place! It took me years and years, I almost gave up so many times, but eventually I found him and I brought him to the wall, so we could come back together and -”

  “Marringham!”

  “And now we -”

  She stops suddenly, staring down at me.

  “What did you say?” she asks finally.

  “Marringham,” I continue breathlessly, feeling trickles of blood running down my face. “He said to tell you... to tell Serriah... Marringham.”

  She pauses, before slumping back as the barn continues to creak all around us.

  “Marringham,” I tell her again. “He said that only he and Serriah would know what -”

  “Our farm,” she replies, interrupting me.

  I stare at her, shocked by the fear and sorrow in her eyes.

  “Marringham was gonna be our farm,” she continues, her body trembling more than ever now as fresh tears start running down her cheeks. “We were gonna unite the two farms and make them one, we were gonna put the war between our families in the past and then we were gonna call them...”

  Her voice trails off.

  “Marringham,” I whisper, feeling a cold sweat starting to break out all over my body. “I know.”

  Burying her face in her hands, Addie starts sobbing wildly.

  “Addie,” I say after a moment, still not wanting to believe that this person in front of me could be anyone other than my daughter. “Please, you can't be...”

  “I'm not Addie!” she screams, lunging at me again and pushing me against the wall. “If you ever call me that again, I will kill you! Addie Gray is dead!”

  “No, you're -”

  “She died and left her body empty!” she sneers. “Are you so stupid and deluded that you can't recognize what's right in front of your face? Addie's gone, she'd been dead for months and she can't come back, not ever! I'm here now, I've taken her body and I'm not giving it up, and I'm going to get Jesophat back too! You can't stop us!”

  “Jesophat's alive,” I stammer, trembling with shock.

  She shakes her head.

  “I can take you to him,” I continue. “We have to get out of here first, but I can take you to see him. He said he wants to see you, he said he wants you to forgive him.”

  “You're lying,” she sobs, sniffing back tears. “He died... He died in this barn, with me...”

  “No,” I reply, terrified in case she starts hitting me again. I pause for a moment, before realizing that I can't deny what's right in front of me, not any longer. “You died in this barn, Serriah,” I continue, “but... Jesophat survived. And he's still alive right now.”

  “We were gonna be together forever!” she weeps breathlessly. “When I got to the other side, I thought I'd wake up right next to him, but he wasn't there.” She gulps back more tears as she stares at me. “I figured I had to go searching for him. I walked for days and days, weeks, I don't know how long, calling out his name. I saw the strangest, darkest things in that place, with twisted and warped faces, and I was scared but I didn't let myself stop 'cause I knew I had to find my Jesophat. That's all I could think about!”

  “He wasn't there,” I tell her.

  “He was!” she hisses, but a moment later I see a hint of doubt in her eyes. “Eventually I found this figure sitting on a rock,” she continues. “He was all blurry, I couldn't make out his face, but from the shape of his body... When I kept calling out Jesophat, he got up and started following me. I wasn't sure it was him at first, it didn't really look completely like him, but after a while I figured he must've just changed a little while he was waiting for me. He even took my hand when I reached out to him. He felt cold, but I told him we'd find a way out, and we did! I led him to the wall and I told him we'd climb up together! There were so many other people there, trying to climb up to the openings that lead back to this world, but they just fell every time. Me and Jesophat, though, we were tougher. We climbed and climbed, and I knew we'd make it. He never said a word to me at the time, but I could tell he was just as desperate as me to get back. We wanted to be together again!”

  “Jesophat O'Reilly didn't die with you all those years ago,” I reply. “They saved him, and they put him on trial, and he's been in jail ever since.”

  She shakes her head.

  “Jesophat is alive,” I continue. “You'
ve been asking where he is ever since you woke up. Now I can finally give you the answer. He's in cell forty-eight at the jail about ten miles from here. He's been there all this time.”

  She pauses. “Then -”

  Before she can finish, there's a loud crashing sound and I feel the ground shuddering beneath us. Turning, I shine the flashlight back across the barn as the wind and rain howl all around the rickety old building. After a few seconds, I feel Addie's hand grabbing my arm.

  I turn and look toward the doorway at the barn's farthest end, and for a moment I feel a shudder of fear as I see a figure silhouetted against the rain.

  “If Jesophat's alive,” Addie says cautiously, “then... Who did I bring back from the other place?”

  The dark, silhouetted figure remains in place in the doorway, with rain still crashing down outside.

  “Brabham,” I whisper suddenly, remembering that Detective Brabham went out to check the perimeter. “It's okay, Addie,” I continue, taking her hand as I get to my feet. “He's with me. He came to help you.”

  Addie hesitates, but finally she stands.

  “Someone came back with me,” she stammers, squeezing my hand tight. “He was trying to get into your body, and when that failed he tried to get into mine. And now...”

  “We're going to get out of here,” I tell her, helping her get over the machinery. “We can figure everything else out later, but right now we have to focus on getting somewhere safe.”

  “Mrs. Gray?” Brabham calls out. “Are you in here?”

  “We're at the back!” I shout, waving at him through the darkness. “I found Addie! We're coming out!”

  “We should get out of here,” he replies, putting her hands on her hips. “Our priority must be to take Addie somewhere safe. Then in the morning I can come back out here and take a better look at the place. I'm sure I felt another presence outside just now, as if something was -”

  “Stop!” I shout suddenly, seeing something moving behind him in the doorway. Staring in horror, I watch as another figure limps toward him. Silhouetted against the rain, the figure is just a few meters behind Brabham and seems to be watching him intently. All I can make out of its features is a hint of its dark, charred flesh with rain pounding down all around.

  “That's him,” Addie sobs, still holding my hand but pulling back now, trying to get away. “That's the thing that followed me from the other place! If it's not Jesophat, who is it?”

  “Detective Brabham,” I say cautiously, “I think you should come over here.”

  “Is everything okay?” he asks.

  “Get over here,” I continue, watching as the dark figure slips through the open doorway and takes a step toward him. “Brabham!” I shout. “There's someone behind you!”

  He turns, just as the figure takes another limping step toward him. I watch as he reaches for his gun, but his hands are suddenly trembling and I can hear him muttering something under his breath.

  “I don't wanna see its face,” Addie whimpers, trying to pull me further back into the shadows. “Please, it was blurry in the other place, I don't wanna see it now!”

  “Brabham!” I shout, taking a step back as he remains rooted to the spot. After a moment, I notice that he's clutching his left arm. “Get over here! Why are you -”

  I watch as Brabham doubles over, as if he's in pain. He's still clutching his left arm, and after a moment the figure reaches down and puts a hand under his chin, tilting his head up.

  “I think he's having a heart attack,” I stammer, tilting the flashlight just a little until I can make out the figure's charred face. There are no eyes and no mouth, just faint dents where they should be, and I watch as it places a burned hand on the side of Brabham's neck. It tilts its head slightly, almost as if it's studying him, and now I can see that a whole section of its forehead has been torn away.

  “What are you?” Brabham gasps breathlessly, clearly in pain. “I can help you, but first you need to identify your -”

  Suddenly the creature pulls him up, leaning closer toward his face as he lets out a pained gasp. After a moment, the creature tosses him aside with force, sending him slamming into the wall. As Brabham crumples down to the floor, the creature stands completely still for a moment before slowly turning toward us.

  “Please,” Addie whimpers, pulling on my arm, “I don't want to see it!”

  Stunned by the horrific sight, I tilt the flashlight a little more. Still silhouetted by the barn door and the rain outside, the creature seems to be struggling with something, twisting its face as it continues to stare at us. After a moment, however, I see that some of the charred flesh around its mouth area is starting to split apart, and finally with a roar the creature rips its mouth wide open and lets out a pained, angry gasp.

  “This way!” I shout, pulling Addie back into the rear of the barn. As we reach some old machinery, I realize that the flashlight is giving us away, so I switch it off and then push Addie down behind some kind of large metal case. Ducking down next to her, I look back and see that the creature has barely moved.

  “We have to get out of here,” Addie whimpers.

  “What did you bring back with you?” I ask, turning to her.

  “I brought Jesophat with me!”

  “No,” I say firmly, “you didn't. Assuming for one moment that everything you've told me is true, that thing that followed you is not Jesophat!”

  “He was sitting on a rock,” she sobs, “and he took my hand. He seemed to recognize me, so I thought it had to be Jesophat! You can't really see anyone's faces in the other place, they're all blurred. I told him I'd bring him back to this world and find him a body! I think he was trying to break through into yours, but he couldn't manage it because you weren't sleeping properly. Now he's...” She stares past me with wild, staring eyes. “Now he's found another way, and he's mad at me!”

  I turn just as the creature lets out another roar. A panel crashes down from the farthest wall, and a moment later a piece of machinery is ripped away and sent skittering across the barn, hitting the ground just a few meters from us.

  Addie screams, gripping my arm tighter and tighter.

  Slowly, the creature takes a step forward.

  “What's it doing?” I whisper, before it roars again and one of the beams comes crashing down from above. “Why doesn't it just attack us?”

  “We have to find another way out,” Addie whimpers.

  “It'll just keep coming after you,” I tell her, watching as the creature stops in the center of the barn. When it lets out another roar, the whole barn shudders for a moment and more sections of the roof come crashing down.

  “I'm scared,” Addie sobs. “Please, we have to run!”

  “But running...” I watch the creature for a moment longer, before realizing that its furious show of power can only mean one thing. “Running makes us look weak,” I continue, turning to Addie. “Why is this thing screaming so much and smashing parts of the barn?”

  “Because it wants to kill us!”

  “So why doesn't it just do that?” I ask. “What's stopping it?”

  Behind me, the creature roars again and I hear more wood being smashed, but I keep my eyes fixed on Addie.

  “Because it's trying to scare us,” she says breathlessly, with tears streaming down her face.

  “I don't think it's as strong as it wants to be,” I continue. “It's trying to big itself up, to make itself seem more formidable so that we..” I pause, trying to make sense of everything, and then I turn and look toward Brabham's body slumped by the far wall. “It barely even touched him,” I point out. “He had a heart attack, but that was just due to pure fear, the creature barely laid a hand on him.”

  “Is he dead?” Addie asks.

  “I don't know, honey, but...” I pause again, before turning back to her. “We're going to have to be really brave.”

  “I don't want to be brave,” she sobs. “I want to run away!”

  “What does it want?” I ask. “Thi
nk, Addie. What does this creature want from you?”

  “It wants a body.”

  “So why didn't it take mine? You said it was trying.”

  “It was trying to crawl into your head from the other place,” she continues, “the way I crawled into your daughter's body. That's why you felt the itching on the back of your neck. But it couldn't do it.”

  “Because it's weak!”

  “Because you weren't sleeping properly.”

  I turn and see that the creature really hasn't moved much. As terrifying as it appears, it seems strangely impotent, and after a moment – as if to prove that point – it lets out another loud roar that shakes the walls of the barn but doesn't really achieve very much else.

  “What are we going to do?” Addie sobs.

  “We're going to walk out of here.”

  She grips my hand tighter than ever. “I don't want to go near that thing!”

  “We're going to walk right past it,” I tell her. “We're going to show it that we're not scared of it, and then it's going to realize it can't hurt us.”

  “No, please...”

  “You said it yourself,” I continue, turning to her, “when you found it in that other place, it was just sitting there, doing nothing, like it had given up. Whatever this thing is, it's not some kind of all-powerful monster. All we have to do is make it see that we're not scared, and it'll leave you alone.”

  She shakes her head.

  Despite the fear in my chest, I get to my feet, still holding Addie's hand.

  “Please,” she sobs, “get down! It'll kill you!”

  “It might,” I reply, “but you have to trust me, it won't. Not if it thinks we're not scared of it. If we can do that, I promise you, it'll back away.” I wait for her to stand, but so far she still seems terrified. I don't know what else I can do to give her courage, but I hold her hand until, finally, she gets up. Her whole body is trembling, but when I take a step out from behind the machine, she follows. “Trust me,” I continue. “We'll be fine.”