Page 15 of Safe in Shadow
Chapter Six
“Bubbe? Tell me I’m not crazy.” Grace scrolled through the “free” section of an online classifieds website, writing to anyone in the area who had decent-looking furniture. It was going to be the mattresses that would kill her.
Or the thing in the shadows. The thing in her dream.
“You callmeto ask ifyou’recrazy?Mameleh, I’m older than the hills,” Mrs. Yerchenko chuckled, her smoke-roughened, raspy voice making Grace homesick.
“You and Nana are sharp as tacks. Were. You’re still my bestie, especially now that—” Thick tears suddenly choked her.
“Aww, Gracie. Sweetie, why do you think you’re crazy?”
“I don’t know. When I’m alone in this place, sometimes I feel like someone is watching me. And there are places in the house that stay dark, even in the sunshine. I try arranging the curtains and lamps to see if it helps, but it doesn’t. I know it’s probably some weird shadow cast by the eaves and nooks and crannies of this old house. I’m being silly. But...” Grace laughed and tried to shrug off her fear.
Three days alone in the house. Three nights of dreaming that a dark blanket was hovering over her. One incredibly vivid self-pleasure session that left her reeling—and thinking that it felt off.
Like someone orsomethinghad taken theselfout of self-pleasure.
Each time Grace thought about it, she ended with “That’s crazy talk.” And after saying it again as she woke on the fourth morning alone in Hilltop—she decided maybe it was true.
“Old houses can be spooky, sure. But you’re a smart woman, a brave woman, like your nana! If you think something is off—something is off.” Mrs. Yerkchenko gave a sudden gasp that led to a long coughing fit caused by decades of cigarettes. Even though she’d stopped a few years ago, the cough remained, full of phlegm and rattles.
“Bubbe?” Grace used the nickname with affection—and now worry.
“I’m sorry, I suddenly remembered something! I saw it on the television, a talk show. This contractor, may he rot in jail, put secret cameras into the houses he was working on! He was putting nudie pictures of girls in their bedrooms and bathrooms on one of those adult voyeur sites!”
“Oh, God.”
“Yeah, yeah! And these women started getting suspicious, feeling like they were being watched. You could maybe have had the same thing happen. You had contractors. Roofers and whatnot?”
Grace was already up, running through the house, eyes scanning the ceilings and corners. “I don’t think any of them were ever here alone, and they were from a state grant. Would they do that?”
“They’d have to be sneaky. You should call the police. Have them check.”
Grace paused in her bedroom. The sensation of being watched was so strong that it made her back away from the doorway, lips parted in a silent cry, almost as if she needed to ask permission to enter.
The darkness was deep and heavy, like a fog that sunlight couldn’t penetrate. “I think you’re right.”
“I want a call tonight. I want to know you’re safe and if those little hicktown cops can do anything right.”
“I’ll call,” Grace promised. She hung up and went outside to sit on the freshly swept wraparound porch to call the Pine Ridge Police Department.
NYX WATCHED HER DIALwith growing concern. He could take the phone from her hand. He could smash it on the wooden boards, make the little plastic and glass box break into a million pieces. He could take Grace, too, push her against the boards, turn solid, and smash into her—over and over, making her splinter like rotted wood.
The tricky thought assailed him, lured him.She’d like it after a while, Nyx. She had such a good time with you the other morning. You saw every single piece of her. You touched her arm, why not other parts?
Come on. Take her. Taste her. She’ll learn to love it. You could have a pretty little plaything to keep you company. And if you can control her, you can prevent her from fixing the house anymore. You can use her to destroy it. You’ll be free so much sooner.
He didn’t need air, but he was panting and gulping like a horse that had been galloping for miles.
No! I’m not... I’m not a monster.
Not completely.
Nyx went inside and plunged himself into the chilling pool of half-death, half-life under the bed.
