Page 68 of The Whisper Place
I launched myself at him, springing out of the crouch to hit him squarely in the chest. He fell back, hitting the floor, and I drove an elbow into his throat. He gagged, his eyes bulging white and round, and I rolled off him, sprinting as fast as I could to the stairs and the open doorway at the top.
My heart thundered in my ears. My eyes watered. I didn’t know where Theo was and I didn’t look back to check. I ran up the concrete steps, stumbling into the wall. A hand grabbed my ankle and I screamed, falling and cracking my shoulder on the steps. The light from the doorway faded as I was dragged backwards.
“No.” It was a guttural shriek, an animal rising and snarling to life. There was nothing except the doorway above and darkness behind, no world outside of those two things. I would murder Theo;I would eat him; I would claw my way out of my own skin before I went back into the dark. My body thudded down the steps, my hands scrambling for purchase, but there was nothing to hold on to. I hit the bottom and saw the crowbar lying next to the bottom step. Grabbing it with both hands, I scissored up and swung it behind me in a vicious backhand. Theo had both hands on my leg and couldn’t block it in time. It cracked into his temple. He grunted and let me go. Gasping, I bear-crawled back up the stairs and slammed the door closed, clicking the deadbolt into place. Theo raced upstairs, throwing his weight against the door, but it was solid. He wasn’t getting out.
I froze against the door, shocked and panting. Adrenaline flooded my body. My heart felt like it was trying to break out of my chest. The door to the basement was in a hallway off the kitchen, and even though there were no direct windows, it was still brighter up here than anything my eyes were used to. The hallway was a watery blur. I scrubbed furiously at my eye sockets, trying to clear my vision. Another thump from the other side of the door—this one sharper and higher. He’d found the crowbar.
The door was solid wood and Theo was no athlete, but he’d break it down sooner or later. The thumps came steady and fast.
I stumbled up, trying to remember if there was any furniture I could push in front of the door. I felt along the walls toward the kitchen, finding nothing. It didn’t matter. As long as I could see, I could grab Theo’s keys and drive away. I could take his phone and call 911. I could run into the woods if I had to. They’d already saved me twice. They would do it again.
The kitchen was even brighter, but my eyes were adjusting. I could see the counters, the island. I ran my hands over everything,looking for car keys, begging any God that would listen to help me, to deliver me from this nightmare. My breath hitched, tightening in my chest in smaller and smaller gasps that felt in time with the whacks of the crowbar against the door. He was coming. He was going to get out.
I couldn’t find any keys. There was nothing in the kitchen but papers and dirty dishes and moldy food cartons. I swore and begged and cried. A sharp pain in my side felt like it was stabbing me with every breath. Then, something splintered in the hallway.
“No. No, no, no, no.” I backed up, facing the direction of the sound. It would have to be the woods. I could still make it to the woods.
I turned, ready to run, and screamed at the sight of a man standing in the front doorway. He took a single step toward me and smiled.
Ted.
My heart stopped. My lungs froze. My vision contracted to a single face surrounded by black.
“No. No.” I stumbled against the kitchen island and backed around it, trying to put as much distance as I could between me and the man I’d killed.
This wasn’t possible. I was hallucinating. The time-out room had drained the last of my sanity and now I was being haunted by a ghost. It was the only explanation.
Ted walked calmly into the room like he’d stepped through a rip in time. He wore boots, khakis, and a pullover sweater. His hair was combed in the same side-slicked style, but a tennis-ball-shaped line above his temple had the shiny, puffed appearance ofskin stitched back together. His nose was different, too—larger and crooked. One eye sunk down further than the other as his black gaze lit on me, watching me like a cat stalking a caged bird.
“Not leaving so soon, are you, Kate?” His voice was the same rolling tenor, the same precise inflections called up from the depths of my nightmares. It eclipsed the sounds of splintering wood coming from the hallway.
“Not real,” I chanted, shaking my head. My back hit another counter and I felt along the top of it, searching for a weapon without taking my eyes off the distorted ghost. “You’re not here. You’re not real.”
“Why would you think that?” He closed the space between the island and the stove. “Just because you tried to kill me and bury my body doesn’t mean I’m not real. I’m the most real, the most alive person in this house.”
I shoved a stack of papers off the counter, knocking over a cup of pens and sending a cereal bowl to the floor with a crash. Shards of blue ceramic scattered across the tile. There were two ways out of the kitchen: through the door to the dining room that he was blocking; or the hallway leading back to the basement door. I tried to ignore what the ghost was saying and focus on the dining room door behind him. If he was really a ghost, I could walk right through him. If he wasn’t . . .
I leaned down and grabbed a shard of the ceramic bowl, holding it in front of me. The blue porcelain shook and dug into my hand, covered instantly in sweat.
“Get out of my way.”
The ghost stopped talking. His eyes flashed and I remembered—Ted didn’t like to be interrupted.
“There’s only one way out of my house, Kate. I think you’ll enjoy the lesson in it. I’ve worked hard to make it an experience neither you or your mother will forget.”
I took a deep breath, filling my lungs until they almost burst from the pressure, and ran.
I charged the ghost—ready to run right through it—and met Ted’s closed fist with the side of my head. His punch sent me reeling across the island, the burst of pain making the lights fade in and out. Ringing filled my ears.
“Oh my god.”
I swung wildly with the porcelain shard until my arm was shoved behind my back. The edge of it dug into my own skin and I screamed.
“That’s better.”
I was hauled up to face Ted, which is when I realized Theo had escaped the basement. He was holding me in place.
Ted stepped closer, his damaged face leering over me, and my heart beat as though it could take flight and leave the rest of me behind.
