The Collected Horrors of Tim Wellman (21 page)

"Wait, all dresses?" Brice said. "Where are the
boy clothes?"

"Wet pants or a dry dress," Jennifer said. "Your
choice, sissy-boy."

"You know, like how you used to sneak into my
bedroom when we were little and put on my dresses?" Anna said.

"Shit, put on a dress one time, just one time,
and you're branded for life," he said.

"Mom's still got the pictures."

"Well, let's check some other rooms, there
should be some clothes for men around here somewhere," Jack said.
"If we're going to change, let's make an effort."

"There are," Anna said. "Room next door has
oil-soaked and smelly coveralls covered in mold and fungus, big
bedroom down at the end of the other hall has pants that both of
you could wear at the same time and still have room for a third
person. I couldn't get the door to the room at the top of the
stairs open."

"Shit," Brice said and started to unbutton his
pants.

"Hey, take it outside," Anna said. She grabbed a
couple of dresses and tossed them at the boys. "Jennifer might be
comfortable seeing your private parts, but not me."

"I've always thought of mine as
Major
parts," Brice said.

"Second Lieutenant, at best," Jennifer said as
she shoved them out and shut the door.

"Won't be a sec!" Brice yelled.

"Honestly, Anna, you need to lighten up. Jack's
a great guy but if you don't learn to enjoy life he's gonna get
tired of it take off on ya."

"I enjoy life," she said. "I don't have to act
stupid about it." She paused and smiled. "Yeah, I know. I'm trying
to change. It's just tough, I spent most of my younger teens trying
to be the perfect
goth
girl. I don't do
normal
very
well."

"You've just sent your brother and your
boyfriend outside to
change
into dresses," Anna said as she
slid her wet pants down and stepped out of them. She then pulled
her t-shirt over her head and pulled her panties off. "So, think
about how stupid
that
is.
No
one is normal. Shoot for
happier stupidity."

They both laughed.

Anna tossed her a dress. "Dry off with that
one."

"Hey, is there anything sexy in there?"

"I think these are all the latest fashions...
from nineteen forty-five," Anna said.

Jennifer pushed through a few things and then
pulled out a simple white cotton dress, straight cut, almost like a
slip and quickly held it over her head and let it fall over her
body. "Ooh, scary."

"Scary?"

"Yeah, all the spooky girls in those Japanese
horror movies wear these, right?" she said and let her arms fall
down by her side and dropped her head so that her wet and stringy
long, dark hair was covering her face. "Like I just crawled out of
a well or something."

"Hey, let us back in!" Brice yelled.

Anna unlocked the door and opened it. "Oh, real
cute,
Sally
," she said.

"Thanks," Brice said. "I think it matches my
eyes. Does this make me a lesbian?"

"It makes us both idiots," Jack said.

"Look!" Jennifer said and posed like a horror
movie character again. "I'm gonna get cha!"

"Hey, who dripped water all over the place,"
Jack said. He pointed to the floor where an old book was soaked,
literally
sitting
in a puddle of water. "God, let's
try
to show a little care."

"I didn't do that," Anna said.

"'Twern't me, pardner," Jennifer said. "I ain't
been no wheres near no books."

They all took a closer look at the floor. It was
an old book, its leather cover mostly indiscernible because of the
heavy layer of white mold and it appeared to have been very wet for
a very long time.

"Ugg, it smells like old shoes," Anna said as
she reluctantly picked it up using just the tips of her fingers.
"It's really soaked, but I swear, I didn't do it."

"Maybe it's a book about water falls or
something," Brice said.

"
Maybe
you should just shut the fuck up,"
Anna said. She opened the cover and the pages reluctantly came
unstuck. "It's an old diary." She turned a page, then another.
"Weird." She turned a few more pages. "It's written by a girl named
Linda, but all the entries are about a girl named Judith."

"Ah, the sweet bloom of girl-on-girl love,"
Brice said. "Are there any photos?"

"Don't think that's it," Anna said. She began
reading. "Today Judith smiled. It was the first time in weeks that
I was scared. The rain started again, so terrible, rain. I hate it.
But Judith wants rain. I think she..." She looked up. "It's smudged
after that. I think this must be Linda's room. Judith is young, a
little girl, I guess her sister, maybe?"

"So we're all wearing Linda's clothes," Jack
said.

"I heard that noise again coming from the
cellar." Anna began reading again. "I think Judith is restless."
She turned a few pages ahead. "Judith's fourth birthday..." A few
more pages turned and she sighed. "Judith's last tortured
breath..."

Everyone was listening intently. They all seemed
to fall into the narrative of the farm girls' lives.

"So, Judith died as a kid?" Jennifer said.

Anna nodded. "Apparently. That's probably her
room at the top of the stairs."

"The locked room?" Jack said.

"I guess they just sealed it off when she died,"
Anna said. "People do that when they can't deal with the loss. Good
Christian folks wouldn't call it a
shrine
, but that's pretty
much what it is."

"Still," Jack said. He pointed to the diary.
"Why did that get wet?"

"Probably a leak in the roof," Brice said.
"There was a stain on the floor where it leaked before, so the
realtor put the book there to cover it up. Then, more rain... it
makes sense."

"So, why isn't it still leaking now, Sherlock?"
Jennifer said.

He shrugged. "Elementary, my dear
see-thru
dress wearing
Watson," he said. "The heavy flow of water
dislodged parts of the rusty metal roof, and sealed the hole."

Anna was still paging through the musty memoirs.
"Most all are dated from the late forties. After Judith died there
are no more entries." She flicked through the blank pages. "Wait,
here's another. Different handwriting. 'Everyone is dead but
me.'"

"Huh?" the other three said at the same
time.

"Uh, guys," Anna looked up with a serious look
on her face. "This entry is dated with today's date."

Everyone was silent for several seconds as they
processed the information.

"Oh, ha ha," Jennifer finally said.

Anna turned the book around and showed everyone
the entry.

"But... OK, then,
I
get it," she said.
"Anna,
you
wrote that before we got up here. Very
funny!"

Jack shook his head. "Anna?"

"Does that
sound
like something I'd do?"
she said. "Besides, these pages are falling apart. There's no way
anyone could have written on them today."

"So, you're saying someone half a century ago
knew we'd be here today?" Jack said. "That's just crazy. This isn't
a horror story; this is real life."

Jennifer dropped her arms and head again. "We're
doomed! Doomed!"

"Well, at least we're dry," Brice said. "I would
have hated to be slaughtered in wet clothes."

"A dress is better?" Jack said.

"What if, and I'm just guessing, but, what if
someone saw us coming up the driveway, quickly wrote the last entry
in this old musty book, then got it wet again and left it here for
us to find," Anna said. "That makes sense, right? Just some
stupid-ass practical joke."

Jack nodded. "And I think we know where the
joker is hiding. Follow me."

He marched out of the room and the others
followed until he stopped in front of the locked door.

"OK, buddy, pretty damned funny, but we figured
ya out!" Brice yelled. There was no response from inside the room
so he pounded on the door. "Come on, the jig is up!" He pounded
again and he must have jarred the doorframe because a key that had
apparently been laid on the top edge of the facing fell to the
floor in front of them. "Well, that's convenient, huh?"

Anna picked it up and pushed it into the keyhole
of the old heavy oak door.

"Uh, don't inside doors usually lock from the
inside
?" Jennifer said.

Everyone shrugged, and then Anna turned the key
and twisted the doorknob and pushed it forward. It opened with a
very loud squeak and the musty smell of a long-closed room hit them
all like a wave. Brice found the light switch and they all found
themselves looking into the past. The room, just as left perhaps
sixty-five years ago, was filled with things a young girl would
cherish. Dolls lined the head of the bed, and there was a large
lump under the covers that everyone assumed was a pillow or stuffed
animal; toys still littered the floor, crayon drawings were pinned
to the walls, and there was a large dollhouse on a corner table
that was a replica of the actual farmhouse. A dresser still held a
hair brush, bobby pins, and other personal items. Apart from the
smell and layer of dust and cobwebs, it could have been abandoned
only moments before they arrived. But, there was no one there. Jack
walked to the closet door, paused, then opened it quickly, but it
held only small dresses and other clothing for a little girl. There
were shoes in the bottom and if anyone had been hiding in there,
the dust on the old leather would have been disturbed. But, the
dust remained as it had for decades.

"Under the bed?" Jennifer said.

Brice dropped down on his hands and knees,
looked, and then shook his head. He then walked to the window but
the dust had not been marred with finger marks. "Welp, beats the
hell outa me," he said. "I was with ya on this one, Jack, but there
hasn't been anyone in this room for ages."

"Then I don't know," Jack said. "You explain the
book."

"Uh, guys?" Jennifer said. Everyone turned as
she pointed to a spot on the floor near the bed. "Isn't that
water?"

Jack bent down and felt the wet spot on the
floor, then looked up at the ceiling. There was no sign of a
leak.

Anna sat down on the edge of the bed and looked
around. "Let's just go back downstairs and wait till morning," she
said. "There might be some food in the kitchen if the realtors are
planning an open house soon." She suddenly screamed and jumped up.
"Shit! Fuck!"

"What?!" Jack yelled. "What is it?!"

"The lump in the bed!" she yelled. "It
moved!"

"A rats' nest?" Brice said. "Jen, with your
hairdo, you're used to these things; check it out."

"Oh ha fucking ha," she said. "Let's just leave
and close the door." As she turned, the door slammed shut by
itself. "Uh..." But she was interrupted by another scream from
Anna.

She turned toward the bed and watched with
everyone else as the shape slowly rose up to a sitting position. As
the covers fell, a young girl turned her head toward them, but
didn't speak. She was perhaps five years old with shoulder-length
blonde hair with a large yellow flower on her left side, tucked
into her locks, and chocolate-brown eyes, a perfect and beautiful
child, draped loosely with a white cotton dressing gown.

"Little girl!" Anna yelled. "How?! Why are you
here? You shouldn't be here alone!"

"I was sleeping," she said in a soft voice.

"Who brought you here?" Jennifer said. "Where is
your family?"

"In the cellar," the girl said calmly.

"Cellar?" Jack said. "What are they doing there?
Why didn't they hear us come in and come out to see who we
were?"

She draped her legs over the edge of the bed
then hopped down. "Why are you all wearing my sister's
clothes?"

"Sister?" Anna said. "Oh god."

"What's happening?" Brice said. "Hey, little
girl, who put you up to this? Was it Steve? Gerald?"

She moved toward Brice, but didn't seem to be
walking. "Take me to the cellar." She looked up at him and smiled,
but it was not a joyful smile, it was threatening, menacing,
evil.

"Jen, you're good with brats, you take over," he
said.

Anna pointed at the little girl. "Stay away from
us!"

"Anna?" Jack said.

"She's Judith!"

"Oh, come on," Jack said. "You're just panicking
and falling back into
goth
mode. She's just some kid one of
our friends got to come here and scare us."

"Uh, who knew we were coming here?" Jennifer
said. "
We
didn't even know we were coming here."

"I knew you were coming here," the little girl
said.

"You left us the note?" Anna said. "In the
diary?"

The little girl simply stared. "Take me to the
cellar!" As she spoke, she held out her hands and some unseen but
amazingly powerful force literally lifted Brice off his feet and
shoved him backwards and against the wall.

"Shit!" he said, then lost his balance and fell
to the floor.

Jennifer ran over to him and knelt down.
"Sweetie? You okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, fine," he said. "Dandy." He looked
at Jack and blinked several times and nodded toward the door, and
then stood up and grabbed Jennifer's hand. He waited until he saw
Jack grab Anna's hand, and then yelled, "Run!"

He managed to turn the knob and yank the door
open and they all headed through it and as Anna made it out, he
grabbed the edge and pulled it shut. He could feel something trying
to wrench the handle out of his hands, some powerful force pulling
against his grip. But Anna quickly put the key in the lock and
turned it. Immediately, the power from behind the door seemed to
release its grip.

"How is this possible?" Jack said. "Are you guys
okay?"

"Fine," Brice said. "Peachy for just being
attacked by a demon."