Black Water Tales: The Secret Keepers (39 page)

“Eden,” she called the girl who was sleeping on her back with her legs crossed at the ankles.

The eyes of each doll moved with Regina, watching her closely. Eden’s body seemed lifted from the mattress and a barrage of dolls encircled her on the bed, guarding her. Still Eden had not stirred and as Regina got closer lightening flashed brilliantly, snapping a morbid photo that allowed Regina to see the girl in her entirety and she immediately understood why the girl had not responded to any of her calls. Regina was unable to get her hand to her mouth before the shrill scream filled the room. She collapsed against one of the shelves, which broke allowing a platoon of dolls to dive on her. She dropped the knife in her struggle to keep the little demons from overwhelming her completely. The rest of the soulless figures watched her and laughed at her weak sensitivity to the concept of life as she found her breath being taken away again at the sight of Eden’s body. Eden’s wrists were settled upon her belly with one hand slightly griping the wrist of the other; she had not been sleeping at all. Regina could now see the dark droplets of blood that were spattered against the regal headboard. Her eyes followed the blood splatter up the wall and she was disgusted to see that some of it had traveled far enough to make its mark high up on the canopy.

“Oh, Eden,” Regina whispered.

Regina had never seen someone wounded by a shotgun before, but she was sure that this is what it looked like. Eden’s body was undisturbed by the blast, but it was the bloody and flesh covered stump at the top of the torso that revealed her fate. Again, Regina noticed how high Eden’s body sat and against her repulsion she crept closer to see what appeared to be hair flowing from underneath the corpse. Under Eden’s body were more dolls. Regina reached out her hand to pull away one of the many uncaring toys and she winced as her hand accidently touched the headless
corpse disturbing the body that suddenly came to life grabbing her around her neck in a choke hold.

Regina screamed as she tried to pull away from the monster that was pulling at her, grabbing and yanking her body. Regina reeled with terror as she heard screams besides her own; it was impossible. In the midst of the struggle, Regina opened her eyes and was face-to-face with live, wild eyes. Regina’s face was inches away from the blood-soaked, almost unidentifiable face of Nikki Valentine.

“Nikki?” Regina screamed as she finally jerked free from the bloody grasp of her friend. Regina stumbled back to see that Eden’s headless body had fallen to the side and Nikki Valentine had been buried under the massacred body. Nikki was still screaming as she raised from the bed with hands outstretched toward her friend, covered in the blood of Eden DeFrank. Regina had to fight to shake off the shocking paralysis. Nikki’s words were garbles of nothingness and Regina reached out and pulled her friend from the dolls’ deathbed and laid her limp body on the floor.

“Nikki,” Regina spoke, but received only incoherent gurgling in response.

“Nikki? What is wrong with you?” Regina asked and she used the sleeve of her sweatshirt to wipe blood from her face. Her eyes were glassy as they stared vacantly up into the darkness of the ceiling.

“Nikki? Nikki, can you hear me?” Regina asked. She held up two fingers and waved them in front of Nikki. “How many fingers am I holding up?” she asked, but the eyes of the barely conscious girl just rolled lazily up into her head. Regina slapped the girl with a light hand. She moved Nikki’s body away from her so that she could ensure that none of the blood that covered Nikki was her own. The dazed girl was not wounded. Regina moved her face close to Nikki’s again and her eyes focused momentarily, but soon began rolling again. Regina slapped the girl as hard as she could, causing Nikki to begin blinking rapidly and soon her eyes were trained on Regina. She pulled down the soft skin under Nikki’s eyes to see that her pupils were dilated.

“Nikki, can you hear me?” Regina asked almost in a scream, trying to revive the drugged Nikki.

“Re…Reg …” Nikki struggled to put the syllables together to make her friend’s name, but was unsuccessful.

“OK. We’re going to get out of here, but you gotta help me, Nikki, you gotta help me.” Regina assured her as she searched the floor for the butcher knife, launching dolls left and right until she found it and returned it to her bag. Regina got to her feet and gathered Nikki’s limp body and lifted.

“C’mon, Nikki, I need your help. You have to stand up, I can’t carry you; you have to stand up.” She continued to tell her friend. The clumsy pair limped unsteadily out into the hall. Out of any corner or dark bedroom, Regina was sure that the same culprit who had fired the fatal shot blowing Eden’s head away would emerge and shoot both of them. Regina could feel the beads of sweat forming on her forehead. She was forced to stop several times before Nikki was finally able to coordinate her feet enough to keep from tumbling to the ground. Regina held one arm around Nikki’s waist and used the other to keep Nikki’s arm securely around her own neck. On the journey down the stairs, the pathetic pair collapsed twice. At the bottom of the staircase Regina rested, her arm ached, and Nikki was of absolutely no help carrying her body weight. Regina shook out her arms and prepared to lift Nikki again. Before boosting Nikki, she tried again to speak to her. Regina grasped Nikki’s chin in her fingers, she could tell that Nikki recognized her more now, but was still having trouble forming words.

“Nikki, who brought you here?” Nikki’s eyes flickered with horror before glazing with a thick film of tears. She tried hard to speak but could not get anything coherent to come from her mouth and her communication consisted of a series of spits and groans. There was no more time to waste and Regina hoisted her friend from the stairs again. The grand double doors were only a few precious feet in front of them when Regina noticed that the tall fireplace was roaring with robust flames that had not been there when she entered the house. Regina pushed her body harder in her attempt to get herself and Nikki to the front door knowing
that the person who knew their secret would show him or herself soon, but a glimmer of fantastic green light distracted her. Above the fireplace hung an object that reflected light off the walls in every direction. Immediately, she knew the piece and whoever placed it there had known that she would not resist it and as she stood there between the exit, only feet in front of her, and the sparkling crystal that hung deep in the belly of the room she knew that she should flee, but she knew that if she left the house without it, she would never see it again and that would be unbearable. With Nikki attached to her side she limped away from the front door and into the wide open living room where she let Nikki’s flimsy body collapse unto the tattered couch that had been left in the abandoned room. Regina got close to the fireplace and reached up, stretching her fingers as far as they would go but still not able to fully grasp the sparkling thing. Closer, she pressed to the fireplace so that she could reach farther up the wall. Tireless groans escaped her as she stretched her body to its limit. The fire burned fiercely close to her stomach and perspiration dripped from her, but abandoning the feat was not an option. Regina made a mental note of the exact position of the object that teased the tips of her fingers, she bent down and jumped grasping the air in the exact spot that she had plotted in her memory and she reveled in joy when she realized that she was back on the ground and not empty-handed. She opened her eyes to see the green crystal that hung innocently at the end of the thin silver chain and she grasped the amulet close to her.

“Regina,” a voice that she recognized, called to her and she turned to face the person that she suspected was guilty all along.

N
atalie sauntered into the room and their eyes locked.

“Regina,” Natalie spoke softly.

“Natalie, why?” she asked as the tears began streaming down her face.

“Why what?” Natalie responded as her eyes fell to the figure slumped over on the couch. “Oh my God, Nikki,” she gasped, hastily making her way to the incoherent girl. Regina wrenched the clean blade from her bag and held the weapon out in front of her as she stepped in front of Nikki who was still trying to mentally claw her way out of a distant existence. Natalie withdrew at the sight of the blade.

“Regina, what the hell are you doing?” She began shouting.

Both girls were startled by unexpected movement when Barron entered the room and took another corner.

“Barron?” Regina was awed at the sight of him here.

“What are you doing here?” Natalie asked him.

Barron held up a sheet of paper familiar in color. “I found this letter from
you
, Regina, after you left asking me to meet you here.” Barron spoke as his eyes darted from one girl to the next. “What is going on?” He asked.

Regina opened her mouth to speak and her lips quivered as she spoke. “I didn’t write you a letter,” Regina told him, timidly switching the direction of her weapon to face Barron directly. “Yes, you did,” he countered.

“You wrote me one too, Regina.” Natalie finally spoke.

“What?” Regina raged, her weapon-wielding hand shaking thunderously. “I didn’t. I got a letter saying that someone had Nikki here.”

“From who?” Natalie asked. Regina jumped to speak, but was unsuccessful. Every time she positioned her lips to voice the
thought that she had formed she could not speak because the thoughts changed continuously.

“I…I don’t know.” Regina suddenly felt very confused; her mind was quickly becoming as weak as her trembling body. The look of pathetic sympathy from Barron served for more frustration. Her mind reeled and she tried to think back. Had she left a letter for both of them and somehow not known what she was doing, which led to the even more frightening question that she was forced to ask herself.

Am I crazy?
The room was spinning.

Regina was gripping the handle of the blade so tightly that her fingernails began to break the skin of her palm. Natalie could see her friend falling apart.

“Regina, just give me the knife,” Natalie demanded in an airy whisper.

Barron’s eyes flashed at Natalie’s request. “No, Regina. Give the knife to me.” Barron eyed Natalie closely to make sure that she made no sudden moves, he trusted none of them. Natalie sneered at him nastily.

“Regina, I don’t know what’s going on here. I really don’t, but I just want us all to leave here safe tonight, OK? Please give me the knife. I promise I won’t hurt you.” Natalie focused her attention on Regina while still casting watchful glances at Barron.

Regina eyed them both.

“Regina, Nikki needs help, damn it! We have to get her help; we can’t let this happen again, Regina. I won’t let it happen again!” Natalie spoke. Regina had forgotten that Nikki lay barely conscious on the couch; begging for clarity in guttural moans.

“Don’t give her the knife, Regina. She has done this before. She killed Lola. Just give me the knife and we can call Sheriff Handow like I said from the beginning and this will all be over.” He guided.

Regina lowered the weapon slightly as she contemplated his words.

Surprise sparked Natalie’s features. “I…I …” Natalie wanted to deny it; to deny everything, but she could not deny the truth,
she had hurt Lola and probably killed her and she could no longer hold her tears either.

“I don’t want to hurt you, Regina. Please just give me the knife.” Natalie begged.

“Don’t do it, Regina. Don’t let her fool you, not again. I love you.” Barron told her. Natalie looked at Barron with, first, a strange disgust on her face, then revelation. Regina could feel her knees buckling and she wanted nothing more than to hand over the knife and be done with this entire event.

“It was you, wasn’t it?” Natalie accused the man.

Regina strengthened and her eyes darted back and forth between the two equally viable suspects. Regina mentally tried to review several days of happenings in seconds, searching for something, any detail or conversation that could help her determine the guilty one. Growing more nervous by the moment, Regina had to make a decision because out of the three someone would make a move soon and it needed to be her if she was going to survive.

“Barron” Nikki’s tiny whisper crawled out of her wracked body. Nikki’s weak finger pointed at the man accusingly before she dipped back into her partially anesthetized state. Before the look of sheer disappointment had fully shown itself upon Regina’s face, Barron roared and was upon her with the rage of a rabid dog. He punched her hard across the face, but before she could fall to the floor he grabbed her under her arms, grappled the knife from her hand and held the point at her neck.

“Let her go, Barron.” Natalie spoke to him calmly.

“No, I don’t think so.” He fumed, spitting and hissing; his transformation from man to monster seamless. “Not this time.”

Regina’s face ached and she rotated her jaw, praying that it was still in place.

“What do you want?” Regina barely managed to whisper.

“Nothing has changed, Regina. I want the same thing I always wanted, you. When you poured your heart out to me about how Lola really died, I thought we were building something again. Of course I already knew most everything you told me, but it was the fact that you opened up to me.” Barron explained.

“How did you know?” Natalie asked.

The blazing fire crackled and spit, rising and falling at Barron’s back as he held tightly to an unsteady Regina.

“I was there when it happened.” He chirped casually.

“What?” Natalie asked breathlessly.

“I guess stalking runs in the family.” He laughed to himself. “When you left the party early that night, I followed you, like I liked to do sometimes. I didn’t know what was happening inside at Nikki’s house, but I waited. Then the three of you came out carrying the blanket and, call me stupid, but I never thought in a million years that your precious Lola was wrapped in that thing, but when I went into the park to see what you all had thrown away I was relieved quite honestly,” Barron explained lightheartedly.