Finding the Way Back (33 page)

I squealed and turned, the cup slipping from
my hands, spattering juice all over the floor and the person who
had grabbed me. Emmett quickly let go of me and stepped back.

“What do you think you’re doing?” I asked,
rubbing my arms. I would have bruises on top of bruises. “Trying to
scare me to death?”

He turned on the overhead light while I found
paper towels to wipe up the mess. I handed him a dish towel to wipe
himself off.

“Sorry about that. I saw this willowy figure
moving softly through the house in old-looking clothes and I
thought you were the ghost.”

“Seriously? A ghost getting orange juice?” I
said, annoyed, getting up to throw away the sopping paper
towels.

“I couldn’t see you very well—all I saw was
that nightgown flowing behind you. I didn’t think women wore that
sort of thing anymore. Don’t get me wrong, I approve of your
choice,” he said with half a grin.

“This was my grandmother’s nightgown. My
mother didn’t approve of my pajamas so she insisted I wear this.
Actually, she would be quite pleased to know you caught me in this
outfit, she’s been talking about grandchildren for years,” I said,
wrapping my robe more tightly around me.

“I’ll be sure to thank her in the morning for
the outfit, but I don’t think we’re quite ready to provide her with
grandchildren.”

“Ha-ha, very funny. Let’s go back to
bed.”

“Is that an invitation?”

I felt my face get warm as he laughed and I
tried unsuccessfully to hold back a smile.

“Say, didn’t you come down here for
something?’

“That’s right, I was thirsty.” I went back
into the fridge for another glass of orange juice and finished it
at the sink. I followed Emmett as he ambled back into the living
room, my feet sticking to the floor on my way out of the kitchen. I
would have to wash it in the morning since I couldn’t face it right
now.

I sat down on the recliner while he turned on
the television. It would take me a little while to settle down
enough to go to sleep. I was reminded how I loved the early morning
hours when old shows like Bewitched played on TV. I pulled a throw
that was on the back of the recliner over myself and leaned back to
enjoy the exploits of Samantha and Darren.

My eyes were closing and I was almost asleep
in the chair when I felt someone standing over me. “Emmett cut it
out, stop checking on me,” I whispered.

“Cut what out?” I heard him answer from
across the room on the sofa.

Opening my eyes I saw a dark shape hovering
over me. I could feel a miasma of anger, pain and frustration
seeping from the dark pall. It descended on me like a heavy
blanket, sucking the breath from my lungs. I flailed out with my
hands and arms, trying to strike at the unknown attacker, but my
blows passed through the air without landing. How could it be
touching me, hurting me, yet I couldn’t inflict any damage on it?
Panic set in as I couldn’t scream and could hardly breathe. I felt
like I was going to die.

The next thing I knew, I was staring up into
Emmett’s eyes that were open wide with fear. “Are you okay,
Laney?”

“I think so,” I gasped, trying to catch my
breath and push myself up.

“What was that? All I saw was a shadow. Could
you see anything more? Was it the same as what you saw in the
basement?”

“I saw a black shape but I couldn’t see any
distinct features.”

He pulled me up and held me, folding me in
his arms protectively. “We need to get out of here.”

“Connie—we need to get Connie too.”

“I’ll come back for her but I want to get you
out first.”

“Don’t you watch scary movies? There is no
way we are splitting up. I’m coming with you,” I said, pushing
myself away from him so I could look into his eyes.

He must have known I meant business because
without another word he grabbed my hand and pulled me after him
towards the stairway, yelling for Connie. “Connie, get up, come on,
we have to go.” There was no sound of movement upstairs and I began
to worry.

Emmett pulled me halfway up the stairs, still
holding my hand and keeping the front door in sight. “Connie! Wake
up! We gotta go!”

“What?” I heard Connie’s muffled voice,
groggy from sleep. She appeared in the hallway in her pajamas and
bare feet wiping the sleep from her eyes. “What’s going on?”

“Something attacked Laney again. We’re
leaving. Come on.”

“The house will be left wide open with the
back door broken,” I said hesitantly.

“You and Connie are worth a lot more than the
contents of this house,” Emmett answered impatiently.

Connie’s eyes opened wide, fully awake.
Moving more quickly now she went back to her room briefly and
returned wearing a robe and slippers. When she got halfway down the
steps, Emmett took her hand also and hauled us both downstairs
towards the front door, the three of us nearly tumbling over each
other in the process. The next thing I knew I was standing on the
grass in front of the house.

“What happened?” Connie snapped. “I should
get to know why I’m being dragged out of the house in the middle of
the night.”

“Something attacked Laney in the living
room,” Emmett answered more calmly now that he was out of the
house. He’d closed the door behind us but I knew that wouldn’t keep
anyone in any more than it had kept Saundra out. “I don’t think
it’s safe to stay in the house at night anymore, it’s probably not
even safe during the day.”

I sat down then lay back on the lawn and
looked up at the sky. I could feel the cool earth beneath my back
and the dew seeping through my pajamas, such as they were. I didn’t
want to move. My body had been battered so much lately I scarcely
wanted to breathe.

“Laney, get up, are you okay?” Connie asked.
Then hesitantly she continued, “What are you wearing?” She started
to laugh.

Suddenly I realized how crazy I must look
with my fifties gauzy nightgown, my hair wild, lying on the ground
like a lunatic. I just didn’t want to get up, but I knew I couldn’t
lie there all night.

I smiled and held out my hand to Emmett. He
tugged me to my feet and led me to his truck. “Where are we going?
I don’t even have shoes on.”

“I’ll take you to your mother’s,” he
answered, looking at my bare feet. “We’ll find you some there.”

He pulled his cell phone out of his pocket
and handed it to me. “Go ahead and call your mom so she knows we’re
coming.”

“I would but your phone’s dead,” I said as I
looked at the face. “Apparently our uninvited guest sucked the
juice out of it.”

“Don’t look at me,” Connie said. “You dragged
me out so fast my phone is still in my bedroom. If Ruth and Louise
are up they are going to get a good story tonight. Here we are in
our jammies being escorted out by a man. I’d love to hear the
stories that get started by the neighbors.”

The night was cool and I was shivering by the
time we got in the truck. “Not to worry, I’m sure we will hear some
version from someone who knows our moms.” I grimaced. My nightgown
was damp from lying on the grass and my feet hurt from the
concrete. I reached over to turn on the heat full blast and then
wrapped my arms around myself to try to get warm. Emmett reached
into his back seat, grabbed a sweatshirt and threw it in my
lap.

“So what happened?” Connie asked from the
back seat.

I slipped the sweatshirt over my head,
drinking in Emmett’s aftershave, then took a deep breath and began,
“I’d gotten up for a drink. I sat down to watch TV and was almost
falling asleep when I felt someone standing over me. It felt like
it was trying to smother me. Whatever it was it was mad.”

“I saw it too,” Emmett said. “To me it was a
black blob but you could see through it. The weird thing was that
you could feel its anger, just like Laney said. She’s right—it’s
pissed and it was scarier than Laney’s new pajamas.”

“Shut up,” I said, smacking him on the
shoulder.

“Those pajamas seem to have gotten you all
kinds of attention,” Connie teased.

I was surprised when Emmett just laughed.

We arrived in front of my mother’s house and
then just sat there looking at it. None of us knew exactly what to
say or do so we didn’t do anything.

The outside lights came on and my mother was
standing in the doorway waving us inside.

“How does she do that?” I asked amazed. “It’s
like magic.”

“Maybe she has the gift too, or some form of
it. Maybe it’s just not as strong or comes out differently,” Emmett
answered. I was only kidding when I mentioned it, but he was
serious. “Or maybe you just really have a strong connection to one
another.”

“Or maybe she’s just a light sleeper and
heard your truck pull up,” I said. We got out of the truck and
walked in the direction of the door. As I got closer my mother
opened her arms and I went right into them. Just the smell of her
comforted me. We did have a strong connection. I had pushed against
it for a while, thinking I was too old for such behavior, but maybe
I was never too old to feel my mother’s protection. Maybe I just
had to grow up to realize it didn’t make me weak to want my
mom.

“Come in, I’ll make tea,” she said. My aunt
strolled up behind us as we entered. She was dressed in polka-dot
pajamas with large furry slippers.

“You too?” Emmett said to Aunt Shelly. “You
two scare me just a little bit,” he said when we got inside.

“Son, we should all scare you a little bit,”
my aunt said as she lightly patted him on the cheek.

My mother and aunt went to put the tea on as
I led the rest of us into the living room. The modern furniture
with its straight lines and gray wool material was more suited for
looks than comfort but at this point no one cared. Connie and I sat
on the hard, straight backed couch and Emmett took an equally hard
leather chair.

The women came in with a tray of teacups and
the sugar cookies my mother always had on hand.

“Aren’t you glad I made you wear the
nightgown now?” my mother whispered to me as she bent down to serve
me the tea.

Embarrassed, I ignored her, and began telling
her of the night’s events as she gave Emmett and Connie their cups.
I spoke quickly so as not to be interrupted. By the end of my story
everyone was quiet. My mother stood staring at me with the tray
forgotten in her hand.

“From now on, Laney MacKenzie, you are not to
be alone anywhere in that house,” my mother said flatly.

“Yes, ma’am,” I replied.

“Don’t get smart with me. I’ve put up with a
lot, and gracefully too I might add. It’s too much to have you in
danger for a piece of property no one cares about.” I could tell
she was ready to cry so I softened my stance a bit.

“Okay, Mom, I won’t. I promise. I do think we
have to figure this out though. We can’t sell the house with these
things happening. There has to be some reason, but I don’t think
it’s me. There might be some reason it associates with me, but I
don’t think it’s me personally. The entity from tonight exuded
anger, pain and frustration. I could feel it. Maybe if we can
decipher what it wants we can find a way to make it stop. Besides,
there’s Teoline. We can’t just forget about her.”

My mother didn’t move. The room was quiet
waiting for her assent or not as the case would be. “Only if I am
allowed to be a part of this. I won’t be left out anymore,” my mom
said after a long consideration.

“Me neither,” my aunt added.

“Me too, me too,” I mumbled to myself.
Everyone had to be involved.

Chapter
Thirty-Five

The next morning we all arrived at the
neighborhood breakfast restaurant to work out a war plan. I had
slept until the last possible minute when my mother threatened to
leave without me, so I had to forego a shower for the time being.
For days I had been meaning to pick up the clothing I had left at
my mother’s so it was nice to actually have something of mine to
choose from when I got dressed. I found a pair of old jeans, a
black t-shirt and a loose black sweater. My mother was not happy
with my choice and kept at me until I finally changed into a jean
skirt and red t-shirt she pulled out of her own closet. I made it
out of the house without the pearl necklace she wanted me to wear
but wore shiny silver flats as a compromise. I wasn’t sure who’d
come out on the better side of the deal but suspected it wasn’t me.
I didn’t want to make too many waves since she was okay with me
going back into the house after all the trouble we had recently
had.

We were escorted to a group of tables pushed
together to accommodate our group. Dean and Glen were already
seated when we arrived so we situated ourselves across from
them.

I was good and cranky, having hardly slept
the night before. My mother had found places for all of us to try
to get some rest, but I couldn’t seem to fall into anything except
the lightest sleep. I dreamed of monsters chasing me and trying to
run away but not able to do so, and I awoke exhausted, both
mentally and physically. Now I was sitting right in line with the
restrooms where everyone walking past would probably bump my
chair.

The waitress was a plump, middle-aged woman,
her graying hair pulled back in a ponytail and covered by a hair
net. She was wearing khakis and a blue polo with the restaurant’s
logo on the front which brought me back to high school when I’d
bussed these very tables. She came over to the table and plunked
down a coffee thermos as she passed around the menus.

“Good morning, everyone, would you like to
hear about our specials?” Her bright eyes didn’t dim as we all
mumbled our assent. “My, we are in a good mood this morning, aren’t
we?”

I harrumphed my reply then made a pass at the
thermos but missed as Connie grabbed it from the other end of the
table. We placed our orders and everyone seemed to withdraw into
their own thoughts as Connie passed the coffee to the next person.
By the time it got to me I started to pour but only a few drops
dribbled out. “Great, empty,” I groused loudly, just to look up at
the waitress bringing another container. “Thanks,” I said, a little
shamefaced, remembering from my own experience how hard it was to
waitress.