Chapter 5: It's (Not) All In My Head

I awoke disoriented in a sweat. My room was pitch black and it didn’t take me long to realize that it had to have been over one hundred degrees in there. My television was still on displaying only static. For whatever reason, my TV wasn’t giving off any light, there was static, but it didn’t help to illuminate the room. I stood to go and switch it off and almost let loose a scream as my bare feet touched the white-hot floor. After a quick sizzle I fell backwards back onto my bed. I used the remote from my bed stand to switch off the TV and cautiously reached under my bed for my shoes, making sure not to touch the floor and also cursing at myself for not using the remote in the first place. I stood and went to try the light switch: no luck. I thought maybe the power had gone out again, but that wouldn’t explain why my television still worked, and why my alarm clock was still on. It struck me as strange that my alarm clock seemed to be stuck on 11:53, but I had bigger problems. The situation was becoming unbearable; the heat in my room was making me sick to my stomach and making it difficult to breathe. I cracked open my door and instantly felt refreshed as cool air rushed in to greet me. I stepped into the hallway to adjust the A.C. unit towards the far end of the hall. A few steps towards it, I began hearing loud footsteps above my head on the third floor again. My heart sank. My arm hair stood on end and I had horrible goose bumps. I quickly sunk back into my room and closed the door behind me. I went to lock it but soon realized that I had forgotten to install the lock I had purchased earlier. It was then that I noticed the footsteps were beginning to make their way down the staircase onto my floor. I thought quickly, I knew I had to; I grabbed my baseball bat from my closet and went to hide underneath my bed. I had to cover my mouth to keep from screaming as my bare knees sizzled when they touched the floor. I leapt up in anguish and motioned to hide in the corner behind my door. I could feel my blood pumping throughout my body and could hear my every heartbeat. My head was a mess, my vision was going blurry, and the rush of adrenaline was making it hard to stand still and keep my guard up.

As the footsteps crept closer and closer to my door, I knew that I was prepared this time, I was ready to act. My knees cried out in pain from touching the floor as did the bottoms of my feet, but that wasn’t going to stop me. The moment had come. The footsteps had just stopped directly outside my door. I heard loud breathing, with a slight wheeze, as if this person had been a heavy chain-smoker. Bat in hand, I was ready for anyth-

SLAM! The door flew open and hit me straight in the face. I felt my face already swelling as I lost my grip on the bat and fell to the floor. I cried out in agony as my bare skin made contact with the still-sizzling floor. Dazed, I scrambled for the baseball bat. As I managed to grab it, I felt a heavy boot stomp on my hand and kick the bat out of reach. I couldn’t help but to let out another yell in pain and looked up to see my attacker. Through blurry eyes I was able to make out the figure of a large man against the nearly pitch black backdrop of my room. Before I could catch any details, I received a steel-toed boot to the face. I fell backwards, my head colliding with the floor, and blacked out.

 

 

“G’morning, sleepy head. Rise and shine!” Ashley chimed. I awoke and sat straight up in bed. My face and hand were throbbing, and my knees and feet stung. The room was ice cold. “You okay?” she asked as she saw the look on my face.

“Y-yeah, I'm fine. It was…just a nightmare.” I replied, trying to reassure the both of us.

“O-okay.” She returned. I very cautiously placed my feet on the floor, the ice cold touch felt pleasant. I made my way to the bathroom and noticed that my face looked fine, as did my hand. There were no burns on my feet or knees, though they still stung as if there had been. I must’ve imagined the whole thing, just a vivid nightmare, how else would I have awoken in my bed? And wouldn’t Ashley have said something if she found me injured on the floor? It just didn’t add up. I walked back into my bedroom and threw on my clothes.

“About yesterday.” I started. She quickly turned and put her index finger to my lips and shushed me. I nodded and understood that she just wanted to let it go. I grabbed my backpack and we started to head out of my door when I noticed my baseball bat lying on the floor a few feet from my door. There was also a scuff mark on the wood where my head would’ve hit after I was kicked in the face.

“Something wrong?” Ashley asked as she whirled around to find out why I had stopped walking.

“W-was I in my bed this morning when you got here?” I nervously asked. I knew it sounded ridiculous, but I had to ask it.

“No actually, you were sprawled out on the floor. Tyson and I put you back into bed this morning; you're a really heavy sleeper! Did you fall asleep with Bear or something?”

“Y-yeah. I was lying with Bear on the floor and must’ve fallen asleep that way.” I lied. My heart was racing as my eyes scanned the rest of my room; that was no nightmare.

I couldn’t seem to focus at school at all. All I could think about was the beating I had received the night before and who and where my assailant could be. It didn’t help that Brandon, Lauren, and Tyler wouldn’t even make eye contact with me, but I didn’t care. If they didn’t want to be friends with Ashley, then they were no friends of mine either. My mind kept going back to the previous night, could there be someone living in our house? I still haven’t had the courage to go up to the third floor, maybe the man I had seen in the hallway the day we moved in had stuck around. Maybe he had been staying in the house while it was abandoned and didn’t like that we moved into the place. Maybe he was the one who had cranked the heat in my room and messed with the fuse box. Maybe he was the one I who was pacing back and forth. Now I was determined, it wasn’t only me at risk but everyone I cared about. That night, I was going to get him before he got me.

My day at school couldn’t have gone any slower, each and every class seemed to drag on forever and it was pointless for me to be there anyway; how could I focus on school at a time like this? I was in my last class of the day, Art with Mrs. Lee. As I sat drawing doodles in my notebook, Mrs. Lee presented the class  an announcement,

“Class, today we have another new student.” This peaked my attention as I figured I was one of the only people to ever transfer here. In walked a skinny Asian girl who avoided all eye contact and stood directly next to Mrs. Lee’s desk. “This is Akiko, my daughter. She had been on a business trip with her father, but now she’s here and ready to embrace Dreary Oaks just as I have.” Mrs. Lee said in an ecstatic voice as Akiko sat down at the empty drawing table beside me. I didn’t realize that the Palmers weren’t the only new addition to Dreary Oaks; Mrs. Lee had also just moved here a month or so before I did. Her husband traveled a lot for business and so she had moved in alone.

“Hi, I’m Isaac.” I said, leaning over and outstretching my hand.

“Akiko.” She said without looking in my direction.

“I-I'm new too, I just started yesterday.” I stated. She didn’t reply, so I lowered my hand and figured it would be best to leave her alone. After a few minutes, however, she spoke,

“My mother said you moved here from Chicago?” Akiko quietly asked.

“Y-yeah.” I replied, caught a little off guard.

“We are as well. Dreary Oaks is only a couple of hours from my father’s company’s headquarters, so he can come home more often now that we are moved closer…hopefully. ” She added.

“It sounds like the move will be good for all of you then.” I responded, instantly disappointed in myself for the boring words I had chosen. Akiko nodded and returned to her drawing. I considered asking her if she’d like Ashley and I to show her around town, but I remembered that I had promised Ashley we’d go pick out our Halloween costumes. The final bell rang and I met Ashley outside the school. “Ready to get scary?” I asked her.

“Always.” She replied. We walked a block or two to Mr. and Mrs. Jenkin’s Tailory, chit-chatting about our day.

“What are we doing here?” I asked.

“We don’t buy costumes from a store here in Dreary Oaks, only decorations. Here, we show Mrs. Jenkins what costumes we like from a catalog and she hand makes them for us.” She answered, cupping her hands around her face and peering inside through the glass. Mrs. Jenkins met as at the door and handed us a catalog. The sweet old lady I had met the other day was not present here at the moment. The entire time Ashley and I went through the catalogs, Mrs. Jenkins was sitting behind the counter glaring at me through her oversized glasses. I tried to ignore her gaze as we continued looking at costumes, but I couldn’t focus. I had thought that I had made a positive impression on Mrs. Jenkins, but the tension in the room was very uncomfortable. “Here we go! Bingo!” Ashley exclaimed as she pointed to a sexy vampiress costume. I began to blush just thinking about her in it. “What do you think?”

“Y-yeah. That’ll look great on you.” I answered, clearing my throat.

“You should be this one so we can match!” She suggested as she pointed to a male vampire costume.

“Sure, I'll tell Mrs. Jenkins.” I said as I took the catalog from her and walked up to the counter.

“Not here. Come in back.” Mrs. Jenkins commanded as she pulled a curtain to the side and waited for me to walk through. I glanced at Ashley who shrugged, not knowing what was going on either. I entered and Mrs. Jenkins closed the curtain behind me.

“I'll just wait outside then!” I heard Ashley yell from the other room.

“M-Mrs. Jenkins?” I asked after a few moments of silence. She was just standing on the other side of the room, staring at me. We were in her sewing room. Hundreds of different fabrics lined the walls as well as several collages of Mr. and Mrs. Jenkins posing for photos with assorted townspeople. After a few more moments of uncomfortable tension, I started again, “Mrs. Jenk-“

“Is she gone?” Mrs. Jenkins asked.

“Who? Ashley?” I asked. She nodded. “Yeah, I just heard the front door close. Now what is going on, Mrs. Jenkins?” I demanded.

“You must be careful, Isaac. Ashley is a lovely girl; her father on the other hand is a different story. “’

“Wha-what do you mean? He doesn’t seem too friendly, but-“

“Listen to me, Isaac! You haven’t lived here long enough to know!” she yelled, changing the atmosphere from tense to terrifying.

“Long enough to know what?” I asked, concerned and dumbfounded. Mrs. Jenkins sighed and replied,

“The truth about Ashley’s parents. Most people will tell you that Ashley’s mother was a little too high maintenance. She grew tired of being married to Ashley’s father, the town’s grave digger. Most people will tell you that Ashley’s mother packed her bags and left in the middle of the night and never came back.”

“Okay, so what won’t most people tell me?”

“The truth, Isaac!” She said as she lunged forward and grabbed the sleeves of my hoodie. “The truth about what has happened! Ashley’s father used to be a sweet man, he used to wave at his neighbors and help elderly women such as myself with our groceries, but that was before he found out that his wife was planning to take Ashley and leave him. Most people will tell you that she left town, but only to cover up the fact that John Miller, Ashley’s father, killed her mother and buried her somewhere in the woods. “

“What?!? No way. T-that can’t be. There’s no way Ashley would still be living with him if he had done that.” I protested, looking away in disbelief.

“She doesn’t know, Isaac.” She softly interjected as she pulled me closer, “That’s what makes her so dangerous. She doesn’t realize that her father is a murderer.”

“I-I don’t know.” I replied.

“Just watch out for yourself, Isaac. John has always been over protective and he isn’t likely going to be fond of the idea of a new boy getting close to his daughter. She’s all he has left. Just something for you to think about.” She released her grip on my shirt and quietly led me out. I couldn’t believe what I had just heard. I knew Mrs. Jenkins was only looking out for me, there was no way she would intentionally deceive me, but rumors are just rumors, maybe she was mistaken. Either way, I wasn’t going to let anything come between me and Ashley.

“What was that all about?” Ashley asked as I walked out.

“Oh, she just wanted to get some measurements since she’s never made me a costume before.” I replied, impressed at my own quick thinking.

“Oh, okay. That makes sense. I've never seen her act so weird though.”

“Yeah, she was awkwardly silent the entire time.” I lied again.

“Oh well, no harm no foul. Let’s get home.” She said as she pushed me forward. “March, city-boy.”

 

 

-Tyson:

“Bear, c’mon, give it up!” I yelled as I played tug-of-war with Bear’s favorite chew toy. “C’mon, you always let go for Isaac!” But Bear wouldn’t loosen his grip. I stopped and thought for a moment, and then I hatched a plan. “Speak, boy!” I yelled excitedly. Bear quickly sat down and barked loudly. As he did, I yanked the toy out from his mouth. He snarled for a second and then rolled over onto his back when he realized my deception. The old grandfather clock in the front foyer chimed four o’clock. “C’mon, Bear, our cartoons are on!” I yelled as I began to run towards the living room. Bear yapped and then chased behind me. I clicked the power button on the remote, but nothing happened. I walked over to the TV to do it the old fashioned way. As I clicked the power button, the TV turned on for a second and then the whole house’s power went out.

“Damn it. Now I have to go fix the fuse, which…I have no idea how to do.” I cursed. I hopped off of the couch and started for the basement. As I reached for the handle, Bear began to whimper and nudge at my leg. “Relax, boy. Isaac told us the wiring in this old house might be buggy, remember? And besides, nothing scares Tyson! If you want to stay here and be a big chicken then fine, but I'm going down there to get our cartoons back.” I grabbed the flashlight off of the hall table and closed the door behind me, which Bear immediately started scratching at. I pushed the button and the flashlight flickered on. “Be brave, Tyson, you can do it.” I reassured myself. I took the steps slow, step-by-step they creaked loudly as I stepped on each one. I reached the bottom and began to look around for the fuse box. We had a small and mostly empty basement, but it was scary nonetheless. Just enough light from the sunset shined in through the windows to cause the shadows to dance around the room as well as illuminating the multitude of cob webs hanging from nearly everywhere. I finally found the fuse box across the room with the flashlight when Bear started to bark loudly. “Cut it out, Bear!” I yelled as I pointed the flashlight back up the stairs at the door which shook violently as Bear desperately clawed away at it. He was snarling and barking worse than I'd ever heard him before and it was beginning to freak me out. “Gosh, what’s gotten into hi-“

I stopped mid-sentence. As I turned back towards the fuse box, a few feet in front of me was a big scary man I had never seen before. I stood motionless for a moment and we just stared at each other, I was too paralyzed with fear to move. The man’s loud breathing echoed through my ears. Suddenly, he took a step towards me; my flashlight dying simultaneously. I screamed like never before and ran as fast as I could back up the long staircase. It was dark without my flashlight; the only light I could see in front of me was the bit of light shining under the door passed bear. I nearly fell on the way up, but thankfully I made it all the way and reached for the door knob. It was locked. “Help!” I yelled. I had no idea how the door could’ve gotten locked, it’s on the outside of the door and too high for Bear to have bumped it. As I struggled against the door, I could hear over Bear’s barking the sound of loud footsteps coming one-by-one up the stairs behind me. I was getting desperate, slamming my fists into the door as hard as I could but I just couldn’t seem to get it open. “Somebody, help me! Please!” I cried out as the steps got closer and closer.

 

 

-Isaac:

“Are you sure that you don’t mind being a vampire? I guess I didn’t really ask you what you wanted to be.” Ashley asked remorsefully as we approached my house.

“Not at all. I'll be honored to be out Trick-or Treating as your partner in crime.” I joked.

“Trick-or-Treating? Aren’t we a little bit old for that?” she scoffed, acting all high and mighty.

“Age is just a number. I never got to go back in Chicago; no way am I passing up all of that free candy now.” I replied, determined.

“Haha, okay, city-boy. Whatever you say.” She replied with a smile. We arrived in front of our houses and Ashley gave me a hug goodbye. “Text me later, okay?”

“Will do.” I replied.

I skipped up the steps to my porch and trifled through my pocket for the key. Bear was barking on the other side, which was pretty unusual. It startled me a little at first, but I found my key at last. I unlocked the door and flung it open; little did I know I was walking into chaos. Bear wasn’t just barking because he needed to go out to chase some squirrels, he was desperately trying to get into the basement. At first I thought maybe he had knocked his toy underneath the door, but then I saw it bulging and bowing outwards and I realized that someone was trapped down there desperately trying to escape.

“Somebody, help me! Please!” I heard coming from behind the door.

“Tyson! Hold on!” I called out. I sprinted over to the door and ripped it open. It wasn’t locked, but now wasn’t the time to question why Tyson couldn’t open it himself. Tyson came scrambling out onto the floor hysterically in tears. I turned and knelt down to comfort him, but noticed that Bear was still snarling towards the basement.

“Isaac! Behind you!” Tyson shrieked as he pointed back towards the door. I turned towards the basement and saw the last thing I wanted to see. There he was. The man I had seen in the hallway the day we moved in. The same man that I knew had to be the one who assaulted me last night was now half way up the stairs.

“Hey! Get the hell out of our house!” I commanded as I started down the stairs.

“No! Isaac, don’t leave me!” Tyson yelled as he pulled my shirt back. As the man turned and disappeared back into the shadowy basement, I obliged to Tyson. I slammed the door shut and locked it. Tyson and I quickly pushed the hall table in front of it and attempted to wedge it closed. It was probably for the best, the man had easily overpowered me the night before, I’m not sure what I had planned on doing if I had chased him into the dark basement.

“Bear, stay with Tyson!” I yelled. Bear led Tyson over to the corner near the front door and stood ready to protect him. I quickly ran upstairs to my room. There I grabbed the case for the 9mm pistol my father had given me for my eighteenth birthday, the one nice thing the man had ever done for me. It was on the top shelf of my closet, out of the reach of Tyson. In my haste, I also pulled down a heavy box of video games which struck me in the head and then spilled loudly onto the floor. I stumbled a little, but quickly regained my composure. I tore open the gun’s case, popped the clip in and cocked one in the chamber. I ran back down the stairs where Tyson and Bear were still right where I had left them. I inspected to see if all of the doors and windows were locked...they were. Tyson didn’t even have to explain, I knew what had happened; what I didn’t know is how the man got down into our basement without Tyson or Bear knowing about it. He had flipped the fuse so I'd have to go down there and fix it, he must’ve thought Tyson walking around the house was me. If it was Tyson he was after, he easily could’ve gotten him; it was clear that it was me he was targeting. I kept going over scenarios in my head of the man kicking in the door or shattering a window to get in. Most of all, I wanted to know how he had been in our house all this time without anyone catching on, besides me hearing him at night of course. Then I realized that he must have been getting up into the third floor from a window up there, that’s why I had never heard him walking around until after he was up there. I had to go check. Thankfully Tyson was being quiet; he knew I was handling the situation as well as I could. I took Tyson and Bear and sat them in mom’s truck. Mom had decided to walk to work for exercise and it’s a good thing she did. I locked the truck and began inspecting my house with the gun. To my surprise, after patrolling the entire perimeter I hadn’t found a single window broken. This meant I must have the man trapped down in the basement; the windows to the basement were hardly large enough for Tyson to squeeze through, let alone this heavy set man. I quickly devised a plan. First, I drove Tyson and Bear to Mr. Wilson’s diner where mom was working.

“Mom! Mom! There’s a big scary man in our house!” Tyson yelled as he scrambled into the diner and collapsed crying into her apron.

“I-Isaac, what’s going on?” Mom asked as she bent down to comfort Tyson, not breaking eye-contact with me. Thankfully there were no customers in the diner at the time.

“Tyson thought there was a man in the basement, but I checked and everything’s fine. He insisted on coming here though. Sorry to bother you at work.” I hated lying to my mom, but I didn’t want to stress her out any more than she already was. Not to mention the fact that I had a score to settle, this was personal. I was going to handle this myself, I had a family to protect. Thankfully Tyson was sobbing too loudly to hear me lie to my mother.

“Okay, well I'll keep him here until I get off. That isn’t until midnight though, I just started my shift a couple of hours ago.” Mom reassured me.

“Okay, mom. Love you.”

“Love you too, honey.” She replied. I handed her the truck keys and pointed out that Bear was in there, and then I was off to reclaim our home.