The Meridians(89)

Somewhere in this house, evil was awake, sliding from room to room like a snake in human flesh.

He would have to leave Tina here. For now.

A noise sounded from upstairs.

Scott looked above him and saw a ceiling fan wavering. Something had slammed against the floor hard enough to shake the appliance from above.

Tina let forth a small cry.

Time had run out. Whatever was going to happen in this house, was happening now.





***





41.

***

He still sensed that it was not safe to simply take Tina out of the house, as though to do so would be to seal her fate.

Another thud sounded, and again the ceiling fan shook. Tina looked at him with pleading eyes. "Please, sir," she whispered. "Save my family."

Scott nodded and said, "You scream if you see anyone down here other than me, okay?"

She nodded. He left. He felt like he was tearing his soul in half, every part of his rational mind screaming at him to stay with her, but every part of his subconscious - his sixth cop sense - shrieking at him to go, to move, to get upstairs before all chance at hope was gone.

He went with his cop sense. It had been right too many times to easily discount, and he knew from experience that in this type of heightened situation, instinct often spoke more rationally than "rational" thought. So he went back into the kitchen. Still no one there.

He looked for a door to a basement, but saw none. Perhaps this house didn't have a basement; many did not. He would have to keep his eyes open, though.

He left the kitchen through a doorway in the back that led into the hall he had seen from the front room. Holding the knife in front of him, he saw he had been correct in his earlier assessment of the house's layout. There were two rooms off the hall, and a curving staircase that led to the second floor: the location of the mysterious and ominous thuds.

He wanted to rush up the staircase, but that would be tantamount to suicide if he left his back open. He had to check the two downstairs rooms first.

He went to the first door. Sweat was oozing down his neck and pooling in the small of his back, chilling him. He shivered as he touched the doorknob, half expecting the door to burst open in his hands, and some axe-wielding maniac to come charging out.

Neither occurred. He swung the door wide, and looked in.

A sewing room. Homey and comfortable, with the exception of the corpse that was staring at him from its place behind the sewing machine.

He instantly saw the resemblance between Tina and the woman who was in this place. She was propped up in the seat, her mouth open in a rictus of horror that would last forever. Apparently Tina's mother, Scott suspected that the woman had been in here sewing, unable to sleep, when the assailants - the killers - had come in the house. They had stabbed her to death, and cut her throat. There was no point in checking to see if she was alive; it was clear at a glance that she would never put a hand to needle and thread again.

The doors to the closet in the room had been removed, undoubtedly to allow easier access to the many sewing supplies that he could see inside the space, which also let him instantly see that he was alone in the room. Just him and the dead.

He moved back out into the hall, his eyes flicking to glance at the staircase.

Nothing.

He moved to the next door.

Opened it.

Bathroom. No shower or bath, just a toilet and sink. Nowhere to hide.

Scott turned. Time to go upstairs.

The first step on the stairs was electrifying, and Scott realized that the last time he had taken a step like this was when he followed Mr. Gray in the Garment District shop, going up the steps and getting shot in the chest.

This was a bit different, at least: he could see that there were three doors at the top of the stairs. Two rooms and a bathroom, probably. He could see most of the hall even from the bottom of the stairs, so was less worried about getting shot this time. Still, he took the stairs as quickly as he could while still remaining silent, going two at a time until he stood on top.

One door to his right.

Two to his left.

The right would be the master bedroom, probably. It was also the location of the thumps Scott had heard while speaking to Tina downstairs. And as much as it made his skin crawl, he knew that he would - again - have to check the other two rooms before he went into that haven of fear and ill-doings. Though he still sensed that he would be wasting precious time, in this instance intellect was too strong to be ignored. He had to clear his back before taking on whatever wickedness had invaded this home.

He opened the first door, trying as best he could to keep an eye on the door to the master bedroom behind him.

Like all the doors in the house, this one was well-oiled, and swung open silently. The doorknob rattled slightly in its housing as he twisted it, however, and Scott froze in his paces as it did so. Certainly someone must have heard that noise.

But, again, no one jumped out at him from any side. His imagination coupled with the grim circumstances was making him overly jumpy. But he didn't mind. Overly jumpy was preferable in this circumstance to underprepared...and dead.

He swung the door open. And saw instantly that this was Tina's bedroom. A little girl's room, complete with a tiny vanity with a variety of hair care products suitable for a young girl who was just learning to take care of herself. Posters of kittens and ponies adorned the walls, as well as a complete collection of posters featuring all the Disney princesses. It was the space of a little girl who was well taken care of and well loved.