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"No," I said quickly. "I thought I heard someone at the front door, that's all. There was no one," I added before she could ask.
"Oh. Were you finished with your bath already?"
"Just about," I lied. "It was as wonderful as you described. Thank you."
"Okay," she said, still not sounding convinced. "Good night."
"Night"
I returned to the bathroom and wiped up the trail I had dripped. Then I emptied and cleaned the tub before getting into my nightgown and going to my bedroom. I was still shivering a little. For a while I stood by the windows and looked out at the woods and field, wondering if he was still somewhere out there or if he had returned home. I felt certain I had seen him in the window and heard his scooter on the road. I thought I heard it again, but the sound died.
It was very disturbing.
I sat thinking about it for a while, and then I decided to call him to ask him if he'd been here and why he had done that. The phone rang and rang, and I was about to hang up when I realized someone had picked
up the receiver.
"Hello?"
I waited but heard no one.
"Is Duncan at home, please?" I asked.
There was a long pause, and then in a voice that put daggers of ice in my chest, I heard someone in a coarse, raspy voice, a voice that sounded like someone struggling to breathe, say, "Get thee behind me, Satan."
The connection then went dead.
If I was on my way to enter a nightmare before, I was charging into it now. For a long moment, I couldn't move; I couldn't hang up. My fingers were locked around the receiver, as if I was holding onto it for dear life. After I did hang up, I stepped away from the phone so quickly that anyone watching would have thought I expected it to explode. Catching my breath, I retreated to my bedroom and sat, dazed and confused and still quite frightened. That had to be his mother, I thought. She had spoken in such a chilling, hateful voice. How did she know I was calling? I guessed I was the only girl who had ever called him.
I heard Tyler come home, and I went to my bedroom doorway. Just as he started for the stairway, he saw me.
"Hey, still up?"
It was on the tip of my tongue to pour everything out of me, accompanied by my sobs, but I swallowed it back and forced a smile.
"I'm just going to sleep now," I said.
"Me too. Sweet dreams," he said and went up the stairs.
I closed my door softly and, despite my effort not to, listened to my memory. Once again I heard the raspy whisper of Duncan's mother calling me the very thing I had feared all my life . . . evil.
Falling asleep was nearly impossible. Every time I did drift off, I woke with a start, expecting to see Duncan's face in one of the windows. I even dreamed I saw his mother's face in one as well. I had no idea what she looked like. When I thought about it, I realized the face I was imagining was that of Craig's mother, Mrs. Harrison.
After all, who else's face belonged in that nightmare? Who could possibly hate me more?
Had I found someone who could?
Despite my miserable night, I rose just about the same time Tyler did.
"Hey," he said when I entered the kitchen. He laughed when he looked up at me. "You sure you're not sleepwalking?"
"I couldn't sleep anymore," I said.
He nodded, concerned.
"Yeah, I know where you're coming from. You've got too much laying on your mind, Alice. I should give you some lessons in meditation."
"Maybe," I said, pouring myself a cup of coffee.
