Page 87 of Call Off the Dark

Isaac reacted, in rising degrees, as he tried to process it. He let go of her wrist, then stepped back and brought a hand to his head.

“He thinks you’re back from the dead,” Helen said. “That’s why he’s been so strange.”

“So he’s very sick then?”

“It’s obviously not an official diagnosis, but I’d say it’s a pretty significant delusion, wouldn’t you?”

“Yeah, yeah, I would.” Isaac shook his head, trying to wrap his mind around it.

“I have some medicine I think will help. He refuses to take it, so I’m slipping it into his food. I mean, I started tonight at dinner.”

She braced herself for a reproach. She’d just admitted to drugging her husband, and saying the words out loud made her wonder if it was the wrong course of action. But Isaac just said, “Okay. Good. That’s good.”

“Maybe that’s the wrong thing to do though.”

“No, I don’t think so,” Isaac said. “He should see a doctor, I guess, but Wade’s stubborn, so good luck getting him there.”

“True.”

“You probably need to drug him in order to convince him to see a doctor.” He spoke slowly, half of his mind seemingly in the conversation with Helen, the other half far away. He walked to the couch and sat down. “I think I just need a minute.”

“Of course,” Helen said, and she went outside to give him space.

Her shoulders felt lighter as she gazed up at the moon. The night sky was made of velvet now, and only a few crickets were chirping, a reminder of the summer that had passed her by. Those crickets had to be the last survivors of the season, the ones that wouldn’t give up the mating call even though, soon, the October frost would kill them off.

She closed her eyes and breathed in deeply. She’d been trying to reach out to Tyler for so long to no avail, and in her grief, she’d almost given up. But maybe Tyler was reaching back to her in his own way now. Maybe he’d sent Isaac to visit them, to break up her intense loneliness of these last months. People often spoke of guardian angels having influence over events in their lives. It wasn’t such a crazy idea. Maybe Tyler couldn’t come back to her in any perceivable form, but he could help her from afar in small ways.

When Helen opened her eyes again, a movement near the garden grabbed her attention. She squinted against the darkness.

Good God. Someone was trying to crawl out of the grave Isaac had dug. This time it wasn’t a phantom. From here, she couldn’t see the details of his face, but she could see his hands—fleshy and clearly human—reaching out of the hole, burrowing into the grass above for leverage. This time she was sure it was a real man, and he was about to hoist himself out of the grave.

Helen stumbled backward against a rusty wheelbarrow. The hollow thud of the impact echoed as she fell to the ground, and the pain jolted through her leg. She climbed to her feet, pieces of grass clinging to her hands, and looked out at the grave.

The man was gone.

When Helen walked into the living room, she tried her best to appear calm, but Isaac recognized her distress and stood.

“What is it?”

“Nothing. It’s nothing.”

“Your face isn’t saying nothing.”

Helen wasn’t sure if she was grateful or embarrassed that Isaac could read her so easily. A little bit of both. “I thought I saw something, but I didn’t. Outside.”

“Show me.”

She nodded. Breathless, she led him through the kitchen and out the front door, stopping on the porch, not wanting to venture into the yard. Isaac wasn’t touching her, but she felt him hovering so close over her shoulder that it was almost like he was.

“In the grave,” Helen whispered.

“The grave?”

“I thought I saw someone climbing out of it.”

Isaac stepped beside her and looked at her for a long beat. At first, she thought he was going to tell her it sounded like a silly ghost story, but after a moment he said, “Let’s take a look.”

They crept down the two front porch steps. As soon as she felt the grass and dirt beneath her feet, she wanted to run back onto the safety of the porch and lock herself inside the farmhouse. But she had Isaac by her side, so she slowly approached the grave. As they got close to it, they exchanged a look. His expression told her it would be okay. She didn’t know what hers conveyed. Hopefully not insanity.