Page 120 of Eldritch

Oh, Sybil. You see. You always were weak. Weak. Weak.

Sybil said, “Okay. Let’s go.”

Taggert gestured at everyone with the gun. “Everyone line up in this order. First…Clarice. Then Maria, Pauline and Letisha.” He threw Doug a smirk. “And you military cop man…you after that. Then Sybil. I’ll bring up the rear. Anyone gets out of line, I’ll shoot.”

Everyone lined up. Sybil caught Doug’s expression before he lined up in front of her and saw the determination there. Confidence returned in a small way. She knew Doug would try to help them at some point, but for now, he played it safe.

When they came to the cellar, the door was open.

No one else said a thing, including Clarice. The lights flicked on without Clarice reaching for the switch.

Clarice eased down each step with a difficulty Sybil instinctively didn’t believe. Clarice hadn’t seemed that decrepit earlier. She thumped down the steps one by one. Each thud echoed inside Sybil like the drumbeat of someone being led to their execution. Her heart banged in her chest, her breath coming shorter. She recognized the panic and fear and wanted to calm it. She tried one deep breath after another, but the breathlessness refused to ease.

Clarice reached the bottom of the steps and kept moving. Sybil hoped like hell the lights didn’t fail, but she didn’t suggest they turn on the extra solar powered lights either. Clarice continued her trek and turned the corner.

She’s going to the box, isn’t she?

A closed box with treasure? With some unimaginably large monetary value? The box wasn’t large enough to contain much money.

A few moments later, Clarice stopped in front of the box.

“Here we are.” Clarice’s voice seemed almost jubilant they’d arrived in this cold underground. “I thank you ladies for taking care of it for me down here. I recognize how intimidating this space must be. After all, you saw the footprints. Those alone are scary enough.”

Sybil leaned out far enough to see around the others. Clarice’s eyes sparkled with satisfaction as she continued with, “You see, my past isn’t crystal clean either. I figure this is as good a time as any for you to all know. Especially you, Sybil. Because I understand your feeling of being different. I certainly am.”

“What?” Taggert said with a smirk. “You can make chandeliers fall off ceilings, too?”

Clarice chuckled. “Oh, no. That talent is uniquely hers. My talent comes from a family legacy. You see everyone in my family has always been a freak. Fortunately we’ve been extremely good at hiding it. I didn’t realize it at first, but when I was a little kid my father used to conduct rituals down here.”

“Rituals?” Maria whispered the question, sounding horrified. “Are you…are you saying you’re a witch?”

Clarice’s eyebrows went up, but then she laughed yet again. “Oh, no. In fact, I’ve never met a witch capable of doing what my father could do. Or what I can do. You see most witches follow the ideal of do no harm, do what you will. My father had no compunction about doing harm. He told my mother and I that we were less worthy than men. That we should do and say whatever men commanded.”

“Sounds like my kind of man,” Taggert said.

“Most assured.” Clarice threw a frown his way. “One night I heard this heinous shrieking coming from this cellar. The fact I could hear it that far away in my bedroom upstairs in this house and through so many thick walls…well, even at my young age I understood it was a scream of the utmost suffering. It was a man suffering for a change, so that pleased me.”

“For a change?” Pauline asked.

“Yes. My father used to torture women in the basement,” Clarice said.

“Oh, my God,” Letisha said in a shocked whisper.

Sybil’s shock made her silent. She placed her right hand over her stomach as nausea suddenly roiled within her.

“What?” Taggert said. “You are lying, you crazy old bitch.”

Clarice’s composure remained. “I most clearly am not, young man.”

Taggert started to laugh. “Are you kidding me right now? So you picked Sybil to clean this house because her father was a serial killer?”

“Not at first. But when I did my due diligence and dove into some obscure articles, I realized who she was,” Clarice said. “When Doug did the background check on her then I knew for sure who Sybil was and that she had to come here. You see, I believe her experiences…perhaps even her DNA might allow her to my successor here.”

Shock multiplied for Sybil. “Why?”

Clarice shook her head. “Because it is so poetic. Such an opportunity for justice. And I love justice, Sybil. It’s the sweetest sensation in the world to me. I remember the first time I saw this box. I was only a little girl. When my daddy insisted I help with his transformation. That same night I heard the man screaming, I was drawn to the horrible pain I heard in his deep male voice. I came down into this cellar to see what was happening. It was the best decision I ever made. You see, the man who was screaming had tried to touch me sexually. My father didn’t take kindly to that. So he decided to unleash the thing that was required to extract revenge on the man. After seeing what happened to the man, I knew I must do it for every woman…perhaps anyone who had suffered as I had.”

Sybil’s insides seemed to tremble, her muscles shaking as if she had contracted a fever.

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