Read I Don't Want To Kill You Online
Authors: Dan Wells
I Don't Want To Kill You (34 page)
I froze. Marci had said the same thing just hours ago, before she died: ‘I wish I could be . . .’
She’d been talking about Brooke.
Chapter 24
I ran for the door.
‘John!’
‘I have to go.’
‘Look at yourself!’
I looked down – my finger was still covered in sludge, my gloves and apron pink with blood. I stripped everything off and threw it in the trash.
‘Where are you going?’ Mom asked, but I ignored her and bolted out the door in a sprint to Brooke’s house.
Marci had been talking about Brooke ever since the dance: how brave she was, how strong she was, how close she was to me. When we’d seen her at Friendly Burger she’d almost fumed with jealousy; when I called her this morning and warned her about the demon, the first thing she’d thought of was Brooke.
How does it travel without being seen? How fast can it move? It’s been four hours, maybe five, since Marci died. Am I too late?
I leaped up the steps to Brooke’s porch and hammered on the door. ‘Open up!’ I heard footsteps inside, and banged again. Brooke’s mom opened the door.
‘Hello, John—’
‘Did Brooke go to school this morning?’
‘I . . .’ She stopped in surprise. ‘Um, no, no; she said she felt sick—’
I shoved her out of the way and ran through the door, charging down the hall and up the stairs to the first floor. The layout was different from the Crowleys’ house, but it was easy enough to guess which door led to the back corner room. I swung around the edge of the banister, Brooke’s mom shouting after me, and slammed my fist on the bedroom door. ‘Brooke! Brooke, open up, it’s John.’
‘I don’t want to see anybody today.’ Her voice was weak.
No, please no.
I jiggled the knob, but it was locked. ‘This is important, you have to let me in.’
I don’t know how to save you if it’s already inside.
I jiggled the knob, but it was locked. ‘This is important, you have to let me in.’
I don’t know how to save you if it’s already inside.
‘John Cleaver!’ shouted her mother, pounding up the stairs after me. ‘What do you think you’re doing!’
‘Please, Brooke, there might still be time – you’ve got to open the door.’ I slammed my hand on it, nearly breaking it. ‘Open the door!’
Brooke’s mom grabbed me from behind, pulling me back, and I fought to push her away. ‘You don’t understand,’ I shouted. ‘She’s in danger!’
The lock clicked, and the door cracked open. I lunged forward, dragging her mom with me. Brooke’s voice leaked through the open gap. ‘It’s okay, Mom.’ The door swung wide, and there she was; the skin under her eyes was dark, like she hadn’t slept in days, and she moved slowly, stiffly, like a zombie back from the dead. I stopped struggling and stared, mouth hanging open.
‘No.’
I’m too late.
I’m too late.
‘You look horrible,’ said her mom, letting go and pushing past me to Brooke. ‘Are you okay? I should call the doctor.’
‘It’s nothing, Mom, I’m just tired. I’ll be fine in a few hours.’
‘No,’ I said again, stumbling against the banister. ‘Please, no.’
‘What’s going on?’ asked her mother.
‘It’s nothing, Mom,’ said Brooke. ‘He just heard I was sick and came to check on me. I must look pretty terrible to get this kind of reaction out of him.’ She smiled, stiff and weak.
Her mom frowned. ‘Whatever his problem is, I want him out of the house right now. I don’t know what you think you’re doing, John, but I have half a mind to call the police, the way you barged in here like that.’
I stared at Brooke, my mind numb.
What do I do? How can I stop her? If it’s already inside, there’s nothing I can do at all.
What do I do? How can I stop her? If it’s already inside, there’s nothing I can do at all.
‘I’ll go,’ I said. Her mom let go of me, and I took a step back towards the stairs. ‘I’m sorry.’
‘I’m fine, John,’ said Brooke. ‘Really. Things were bad before, but now I feel . . . perfect.’
It’s over.
I locked my bedroom door and flopped onto my bed, covering my eyes and gritting my teeth until my jaw hurt with the pain.
Nobody’s inside Brooke now. Nobody
is
Brooke. I can’t kill one without killing the other.
is
Brooke. I can’t kill one without killing the other.
The phone rang, but I ignored it; Mom could check the messages when she came upstairs later. I worked backwards through my memory, tracing Nobody’s path from girl to girl.
There’s got to be something I’m missing; some key piece that will unlock it and make it all work.
The demon started in . . . I didn’t know. A body no one had found yet. From there she took over Jenny Zeller, spent some time in there, then in June she killed her and jumped to Allison Hill. She stayed in Allison for two months before jumping over to Rachel.
What had Rachel said the morning Allison died? ‘She called me five times last night.’
Then it was the same with Rachel, obsessing over Marci all night at the dance; now Marci had grown obsessed with Brooke. I pulled a notebook from my backpack and wrote it down:
There’s got to be something I’m missing; some key piece that will unlock it and make it all work.
The demon started in . . . I didn’t know. A body no one had found yet. From there she took over Jenny Zeller, spent some time in there, then in June she killed her and jumped to Allison Hill. She stayed in Allison for two months before jumping over to Rachel.
What had Rachel said the morning Allison died? ‘She called me five times last night.’
Then it was the same with Rachel, obsessing over Marci all night at the dance; now Marci had grown obsessed with Brooke. I pulled a notebook from my backpack and wrote it down:
Intense focus on a new host right before killing the current one.
What prompted the obsession? Was it simply a slow hunt, with me as the prey? But that didn’t make sense; if the demon knew who I was, it didn’t have to spend months jumping from one girl to the next – it could have just come straight for me. And in the morning, when I’d told Marci about the demons, I was really talking to Nobody: I was telling the demon herself that I was the one she was looking for. The hunt was over, and all she had to do was kill me, but instead she killed her host and jumped into Brooke. If I wasn’t her target, it had to be something else.
The phone rang again, loud and insistent. I let it ring.
What did I say to Marci this morning?
I thought.
What happened in our conversation that made Nobody want to leave Marci and take over Brooke?
I’d warned Marci about the killer; I’d told her I’d come over; I’d told her she’d be safe if she wasn’t alone. Was that it? Maybe Nobody got spooked, and thought that if she didn’t leave Marci right then, that she’d never get the chance, since Marci would never be alone again. Now that I’d visited Brooke, did Nobody know that I’d figured her out? Had I just put Brooke into danger?
What did I say to Marci this morning?
I thought.
What happened in our conversation that made Nobody want to leave Marci and take over Brooke?
I’d warned Marci about the killer; I’d told her I’d come over; I’d told her she’d be safe if she wasn’t alone. Was that it? Maybe Nobody got spooked, and thought that if she didn’t leave Marci right then, that she’d never get the chance, since Marci would never be alone again. Now that I’d visited Brooke, did Nobody know that I’d figured her out? Had I just put Brooke into danger?
Who am I kidding? Brooke will never leave this alive.
Maybe it was something else. Maybe it was the specific mention of the demons that had prompted Nobody to kill Marci and take Brooke. I’d told her about the demons, and her first response was something about Brooke. She’d asked me if I had been in Agent Forman’s house. I’d said yes, and she’d said, ‘Brooke was in there too.’ Maybe she wanted to be Brooke because of Brooke’s experience with Forman.
Or maybe it was our shared experience with Forman, Brooke and I together, that made it important. Even if she wasn’t trying to kill me, she was definitely drawing closer and closer to me. Did she have some other plan, completely unrelated to killing?
She told me she loved me – those were her final words. Was that Marci, breaking through for one last message?
Or was it Nobody?
The phone rang again. I felt a sudden pit in my stomach, a swerve and plunge of vertigo.
Ring!
I crawled off of my bed and opened my bedroom door.
Ring!
I walked down the hall, step by step, and looked at the phone. The caller ID said Watson – Brooke’s family. I picked it up.
Ring!
I hit the button.
Ring!
I crawled off of my bed and opened my bedroom door.
Ring!
I walked down the hall, step by step, and looked at the phone. The caller ID said Watson – Brooke’s family. I picked it up.
Ring!
I hit the button.
‘Hello?’
‘Hey, John.’ It was Brooke, her voice still soft and frail. ‘How’s it going?’
‘Fine.’
Why was she calling? Did she know I’d figured her out? What was she doing?
Why was she calling? Did she know I’d figured her out? What was she doing?
‘Sorry about my mom,’ said Brooke. ‘You know how parents can be sometimes. So, what you doing?’
I had no idea how to answer.
I’m talking to a demon!
I looked at the walls, the windows, anything to spark some kind of active thought, but my brain wouldn’t work.
This is the thing that killed Marci.
I’m talking to a demon!
I looked at the walls, the windows, anything to spark some kind of active thought, but my brain wouldn’t work.
This is the thing that killed Marci.
‘You there?’ she asked.
I closed my eyes. ‘It’s you, isn’t it?’
She coughed. ‘Sorry about my voice, I’m kind of hoarse; it’s Brooke.’
‘No, it’s not. It’s Nobody, isn’t it? You’re Forman’s friend.’
Silence. The phone crackled, slightly static; the clock ticked. She inhaled, a tiny intake of breath, so soft I could barely hear it. I shifted my feet.
Her voice was the shadow of a whisper. ‘How did you know?’
‘You killed Marci,’ I said. ‘You killed all of them.’
‘No . . .’
‘You’re going to kill Brooke too. How long does she have?’
‘No,’ she whispered, ‘never again.’
‘What are you doing? Why are you killing these girls?’
‘I didn’t mean to. I never wanted to hurt anybody, but I couldn’t take it any more. But it’s okay now – that’s all behind me.’
‘What’s behind you – killing? Why do you keep saying that?’
‘I thought Marci would be the last one, I really did. She was prettier than Rachel, and smarter, and she had a boyfriend, and she looked so happy – but that wasn’t real at all. She was a slob. She was fat. She was dumb—’
‘She was brilliant,’ I cut in, ‘and she wasn’t remotely fat.’
‘Oh come on,’ she hissed. It was Brooke’s voice, but harsher and colder than Brooke had ever been. ‘Marci was a cow. Rachel was a loser, but at least she was skinny. Now, Brooke, on the other hand, is perfect. She’s tall, she’s thin, it’s like being a tree maybe, or a breeze. Her hair is long and flowing, not like Marci’s tangled rat hair. She’s clean, and her room is bright.’
‘You’re insane.’
‘You were the final piece,’ she said. ‘I could tell, as soon as you saw Brooke in the Friendly Burger, that you loved her. I could—’
‘I don’t love anyone.’
‘I could see it in your eyes,’ she said, ‘watching her, and in the things you’d shared together that Marci never had. I thought I could keep you, but it got worse and worse, and then this morning when you called to warn me, and you talked about her instead—’
‘
You
talked about her, not me.’
You
talked about her, not me.’
‘You talked about the demons,’ said Brooke. ‘I’d started to wonder if it might be you, with all of Marci’s memories, but I wasn’t sure until you said it this morning. You’re the hunter, and that’s what I wanted more than anything – that’s why I came here.’
‘To kill me?’
‘No!’ she insisted. ‘I came to join you. That’s why I knew it had to be Brooke, because she’d shared it all with you. They’re horrible, John; they’re evil, and awful, and we have to destroy them. I can help you, John. I can lead you to them, and you can kill them, and we can be together.’
‘But you’re one of them.’
‘No, I’m not!’ she rasped, as loud as her weakened voice would let her. ‘I am
not
one of Kanta’s gods, or angels, or whatever he wants to call them. I am Brooke Watson. I am a regular, beautiful, perfect human girl.’
not
one of Kanta’s gods, or angels, or whatever he wants to call them. I am Brooke Watson. I am a regular, beautiful, perfect human girl.’
Kanta.
It was Forman’s other name, the one he used with his fellow demons. No one else knew it. If there was any doubt left that Brooke was Nobody, she’d abolished it with that single word.
It was Forman’s other name, the one he used with his fellow demons. No one else knew it. If there was any doubt left that Brooke was Nobody, she’d abolished it with that single word.
‘Don’t you see how perfect this is?’ she pleaded. ‘I can help you, and we can stay together, and we can destroy them all. We can wipe them out, and get rid of them for good. You can have the girl you’ve always wanted, and I can have you. Forever.’
Someone to hunt with,
I thought.
Someone to talk with.
It hit me like a brick, more tempting than I’d ever imagined: someone to be with forever, who would never leave me, who would always stay with me and always do the things I wanted to do. To be able to know that no matter what I did, no matter where I went, Brooke would always be there, always watching, always helping, always smiling and happy to see me . . .
I thought.
Someone to talk with.
It hit me like a brick, more tempting than I’d ever imagined: someone to be with forever, who would never leave me, who would always stay with me and always do the things I wanted to do. To be able to know that no matter what I did, no matter where I went, Brooke would always be there, always watching, always helping, always smiling and happy to see me . . .
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