Bad Places Read online

  No answer.

  Brady reached behind him for the door knob.

  Billy was pounding on the door. “Can’t you say some kind of prayer and make this thing open up?”

  “It doesn’t work that way, Billy.”

  “BRADY!” Billy shouted. “Why doesn’t he answer?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Jenny, Melvin, and now Brady. We’re not doing too good here.”

  “The best thing we can do right now is wait outside for the others to arrive.”

  “Then what?”

  “We can only hope to find Jennifer and end this once and for all.”

  Brady found Jennifer standing in the middle of the room, glaring at Brady with a feral aura. “Jenny...” Brady flinched. “What happened to you?”

  Jennifer was on Brady with lightning speed, teeth bared, emitting a horrible screech.

  Billy and Patrick stepped out of the house, just in time to hear the sound of shattering glass, and looked up to see Brady flying out through a broken window. Brady and Billy locked eyes for a second. Brady did not utter a sound as he fell. Billy moved forward, but Patrick grabbed him by the arm, stopping him. Brady landed on the lawn with a sickening thud. Patrick let Billy go and both ran up to Brady.

  “Worse than getting sacked in a game, huh, buddy?” Billy said, grabbing Brady and rolling him over onto his back.

  Brady was dead.

  A large shard of broken window glass was embedded in Brady’s chest.

  Patrick quickly made the sign of the cross and muttered the Last Rites quietly over Brady.

  Bill stared in Brady’s open, dead eyes for a moment, and then followed the dead gaze up to the broken window.

  Red eyes were gazing out from the dark room.

  Billy ran back into the house.

  “Billy! No!”

  Patrick chased after him.

  Billy ran up the stairs quickly.

  The house lights were turning on and off rapidly.

  At the top of the stairs, Billy stopped for a moment, as all the doors were opening and slamming shut again, Jennifer seeming to appear in different doorways with each blinking of the lights.

  “Knock this shit off, Jenny!” Billy shouted.

  Patrick caught up to Billy. “It isn’t Jennifer.”

  “I don’t care who or what it is! I’ve lost two friends now and I don’t have that many to lose!”

  “We can not confront this right now! Not on its terms!”

  “Right now!” Billy growled. “Right fucking now!”

  The lights stopped blinking, the doors stopped slamming, and Billy and Patrick were in total darkness.

  A green glow cam from one of the rooms.

  “It’s too late,” Patrick said.

  Billy and Patrick walked toward the room with the glow.

  Billy and Patrick stepped into the room. It was an empty room, the bare walls seeming to give off the green glow. “Where is she?” Billy asked, looking around.

  Patrick did not respond, but was praying softly.

  Billy started to move forward, but Patrick grabbed him and made the sign of the cross over Billy, still praying.

  The room went dark.

  “It’s getting cold in here,” Billy said in the dark, his voice taking on a weird echo.

  A sound could be heard.

  Chanting.

  The language was unknown to Billy, who cocked his head in the darkness, frowning. “What is that?” Billy took a step forward and realized his footing was no longer on carpeted flooring. He stomped a foot.

  “It’s showing off,” Patrick said. “Trying to prove how powerful it is, but this is nothing but an illusion. We’re still standing in Jennifer’s house, no matter what our eyes tell us.”

  “You’re saying we’re in a dream while wide awake?”

  “Something like that.”

  Billy sighed in a tired manner.

  “Where are we in this wide-awake dream?”

  “I have an idea.”

  “Care to share?”

  “Acknowledging would only empower it.”

  Billy shook his head. “You know, this started off as such a decent weekend...”

  As their eyes grew accustomed to the dark, the two could see that they were in a large room with stone walls.

  “This is a heck of a big illusion,” Billy said.

  “Billy.... Mr. Sullivan. Is it really you?” Melvin stepped out into the open from his hiding spot behind a huge tapestry hanging on a far wall.

  “Melvin?”

  Melvin let out a relieved sigh and joined Billy and Patrick. “Thank God! I’ve been dodging and hiding from hooded creeps for days!”

  “Days? You’ve only been gone for a few minutes, Melvin.”

  “Minutes?” Melvin frowned. “I’ve been here for easily three days!”

  “Hold up! Melvin isn’t speaking in the third person anymore?”

  “Not after being here for three days!” Melvin responded. He looked around. “Where’s Brady?”

  “Brady didn’t... make it.”

  “What?” The realization hit Melvin and he slumped a little. “Oh, man...”

  “Do you know where we are, Melvin? The commando ex-priest here won’t tell me.”

  “Castle Wickershire.”

  “Why?”

  “Returning to the scene of the crime?”

  “Have you seen Mrs. Sterling?”

  “No. But I was spending most of the time hiding. I didn’t like the looks of those hooded people.”

  Billy turned to Patrick. “If this is all just an illusion, how do we get back to reality?”

  “It wouldn’t take much to shatter the illusion. We might get lucky.”

  “Might?”

  Melvin turned his head sharply, hearing something. “Here they come again!” he hissed. “Come on, we gotta get out of sight!”

  Without question, Billy and Patrick followed Melvin to the large tapestry and hid behind it. They did not talk until Melvin motioned for them to move out from behind the tapestry.

  “Who was that?” Billy asked.

  “I don’t know, but they’ve showed up like clockwork for the past three days.”

  “Where do they go?”

  “Sounds like somewhere down below.”

  “The dungeon?”

  Patrick nodded. “Makes sense. Even back then, they hid in the dark like cowards.”

  “Now you’re saying we’ve gone back in time?”

  “Think of it like a big hologram.”

  “That can kill you,” Melvin added.

  “Killer holographic illusions.” Billy took a deep breath. “High school seems downright pleasant right now.”

  “Well, except maybe gym class.”

  Billy nodded. “Yeah, you’re right.” He looked around and then at Melvin, a look of concern spreading across his face. “Melvin thinks he’s been here for three days, when we know he’s been gone for minutes. Your team doesn’t show up for hours yet, which could mean weeks here!”

  “You’re right. We’re going to have to do something ourselves.”

  “Like what?”

  “Kill the tiger with our bare hands.”

  Torch light illuminated the dungeon, revealing hooded and robed figures gathered together. Chanting was heard, although no faces could be seen within the deep hoods. One figure appeared and Billy immediately recognized it as the Man in Black. He pulled Patrick and Melvin back up the stone steps. “That’s the creep I’ve been seeing since Friday!”

  “That’s Lord Barry Wickershire,” Melvin said.

  “How do you know?”

  “I’ve been hanging around for three days, Billy. There wasn’t much else to do but look and listen. The guy must love himself something fierce, because he has paintings of himself all over the joint!”

  “I think I’ll click my heels and try going home now.”

  “This is no time to lose it, Billy.”

  Billy looked at Patrick. “Tell me wh
en it is time, okay?”

  Screams startled Patrick, Billy, and Melvin, coming from the gathered hooded figures.

  “This happen before?” Billy asked Melvin.

  “No.”

  “What ever is happening, doesn’t sound good.”

  “Be careful what you ask for, because you might get it,” Patrick murmured to himself.

  “What do you mean?” Billy asked.

  “That chanting. They were calling forth a demon.”

  The screaming grew, underscored by an animalistic growling.

  “I need to see,” Melvin said.

  “Why?”

  “I don’t know, but I need to see!”

  “You’re going to let him?” Billy asked Patrick as Melvin moved down the steps.

  “Someone has to witness truth to tell it.”

  Melvin moved forward, peering down into the dungeon. He covered his mouth with both hands at what he saw, eyes wide in horror. He turned away. Suddenly, all the torch light illumination went out, although the screaming continued.

  “It’s come through...” Patrick whispered.

  “What?”

  “Take a guess.”

  “Now what do we do?”

  Patrick appeared to mull the question over for a moment. “RUN!” He then called out to Melvin. “Let’s move, Melvin!”

  “That’s all you got? Run? What about fighting the tiger?”

  “I said fight the tiger, not a T. Rex!”

  The three ran up the stairs as the sound of something huge moving up behind them was heard.

  Teddy was walking up the street and saw the lights of police cars parked in front of Jennifer’s house. People were gathered, as close as they could get. Teddy found Billy’s mother and father in the crowd.

  “What happened?”

  “Teddy, it’s awful!” Billy’s mother said, a hand covering her mouth.

  “What?”

  “Do you know Brady Quinn?”

  “Yes.”

  Billy’s mother pointed toward a large black tarp that covered Brady’s body, still on the lawn.

  “No...” Teddy looked around. “Where’s Billy?”

  “We thought he was with you,” Billy’s father said.

  “Not since last night.”

  “What have you boys gotten into? First Gary and now this!”

  “I’m not sure, but I’m going to find out.” Teddy took out his phone and dialed a number.

  “Who are you calling?” Billy’s mother asked.

  “Billy.”

  “But he doesn’t have a cell phone.”

  “He still has Gary’s.”

  Billy was hiding, alone, in a room when Gary’s phone chimed. Billy fumbled for the phone to silence the ring tone. “Damn, that’s some serious coverage!” He answered the phone. “Teddy?”

  “Billy, where are you?”

  “You wouldn’t believe me.”

  “Do you know what happened to Brady Quinn?”

  “Yes.”

  “Heard the cops are looking for you now.”

  “It just keeps getting better and better.”

  “Does this have something to do with what happened to Gary?”

  “What do you think, Einstein?”

  “Are you going to turn yourself in?”

  Believe me, I would if I could!”

  Teddy was about to respond to Billy when a loud noise caused him to take the phone away from his ear, something like a roar. “Billy?”

  Up the street, an SUV slowed and parked.

  Patrick’s crew looked at the police action ahead. The driver, Paul, double-checked their destination address. “Uh-oh. This doesn’t look good.”

  The EMT, Marco, was in the passenger seat. “What do we do, Paul?”

  “You have your EMT uniform on, Marco. Go up there and see what happened. Say you were just coming off shift and saw the commotion.”

  Marco nodded. “You got it.” Marco opened the door and walked up the street to the scene, those in the SUV watching as Marco talked to a policeman and then walked into the house.

  “Yes!” Paul said. “He’s in!”

  Tony, one of the three large men crowded together in the back, spoke up. “In a small town, when you see this much police, that usually means one thing.”

  Paul nodded. “A fatality.”

  Billy was hiding in a wardrobe, listening to something moving in the room. Billy squeezed his eyes shut as the door to the wardrobe opened slightly with a loud creak.

  Marco was walking upstairs, looking around, when he spotted Patrick and Melvin standing at the top of the stairs, looking slightly bewildered. “Sir!” Marco whispered. “Mr. Sullivan!”

  When Patrick looked down, Marco put a finger to his lips, and moved quickly upstairs. “We have to get out of here, sir! The police are everywhere!”

  “Let’s go.”

  “Where’s Billy?” Melvin asked, looking around.

  Billy stepped out of the wardrobe at seeing a bright light and found himself in an empty room. Mary Sterling was standing in the middle of the room. Billy let out a sigh of relief at seeing her. “Mrs. Sterling! I thought you were dead!”

  “I am.”

  Billy was startled by this plainly said statement. “What?” He shook his head, as if trying to clear it. “Enough of this weird shit!”

  “Don’t worry, Billy. It’s almost over.” Mary Sterling walked past Billy and entered the wardrobe. Billy turned and peered into the wardrobe, but Mary was nowhere to be seen. When he turned around, he was startled to see Jennifer standing in the middle of the room.

  “Hello, Billy.” Jennifer’s voice was partially her own and yet had a definite masculine undertone, as if two voices spoke exactly at the same time.

  “Cut the shit, Jenny!”

  “Oh, Jennifer left quite a while ago.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “I believe you understand.”

  “You’re the one who called me on Gary’s phone?”

  “Yes.”

  “You’re sick in the head!”

  “In the end, that’s the whole point.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “All in good time.” Jennifer looked around. “I like this house. Let me tell you something that makes me smile every time I think about it, Billy. Before Mary Sterling met her unfortunate demise, she begged for mercy. Not to her... god... but to ME!”

  Billy made a face. “Bullshit.”

  Jennifer looked surprised by the response. “What?”

  “If you are who you think you are, I can’t believe a damn thing you say. You’re starting to bore me, Jenny. I’m about six seconds away from popping you in the head and calling the police.”

  “Just give me a few more minutes before calling in the authorities.”

  “Why?”

  “Because there’s still doubt in the back of your mind.”

  “No, there isn’t. You’re insane. Case closed.”

  “Let’s move down to the living room.”

  “Why?”

  “I need the space.”

  Billy followed Jennifer out of the room, although the entire house seemed aglow with the strange white illumination. Jennifer sat down on the sofa, while Billy remained standing in the middle of the living room, his arms crossed. “What do you want?”

  “I want you to prove my existence.”

  “I thought people already believed in your existence.”

  “Oh, sure, the nuts, the crazies, the lunatic fringe, but do you know how tiring it is listening to these pathetic freaks? Give me money... kill this person for me...” Jennifer sighed. “Whatever happened to initiative? It gives me a headache sometimes.”

  “What can I do?”

  Jennifer stood and Billy took a quick step backward.

  “I can give you everything you need to convince even the most hardened skeptic. Audiotape, videotape, reams of paper. Evidence that would stand up in any court in the word.” Jennifer pointed. “Look for
yourself.”

  Billy turned and saw a stack of boxes. He walked up and opened one of the boxes. Jennifer stood beside him.

  “You will be the most famous person in the history of mankind! You will be wealthy beyond your imagination! People will worship you!”

  “What if I say no?”

  Jennifer produced a large knife and held it up to Billy’s throat. “You’ll die.”

  “We all die.”

  Jennifer put the knife down on one of the boxes and smiled. “You’re keeping me on my toes. I like that. I’ve grown accustomed to people who would jump at such an offer.” Jennifer began to pace, rubbing her chin with a hand.

  Billy stepped away from the boxes.

  The knife was gone.

  Jennifer stopped pacing and snapped her fingers. “Compassion!”

  “What do you mean?”

  “You have known Jennifer your entire life.”

  “So?”

  “You’re in love with her. It’s too bad she went insane and killed poor Brady and her own mother...”

  “Hold it.”

  “She will confess to everything, all the while stating that she’s the devil on earth! They will put her away in an asylum, where she will spend the rest of her life a drooling, screaming lunatic.” Jennifer nodded. “Yes, I like that.”

  “What if I agree? What happens to Jennifer?”

  “I will let her die with dignity.”

  “I’m damned if I do and she’s damned if I don’t.”

  “Nicely put.” Jennifer held up a phone. “Make the call. I know of several network executives who will jump at this opportunity.”

  “I’m sorry, Jennifer.”

  Jennifer frowns.

  Billy took out the knife and stabbed Jennifer.

  “That was... unexpected,” Jennifer said with a surprised tone.

  “911?” Billy said into the phone, after taking it from Jennifer’s hand.

  “What are you doing?”

  “I killed them,” Billy said into the phone. “I killed them all!” Billy looked down at Jennifer. “You lose.”

  Billy was dragged out of the house in handcuffs. He did not look at his mother or father, but made sure to seek out Patrick and Melvin, nodding slightly at them. Patrick stepped in front of Billy and made the sign of the cross.

  “Out of the way, padre!” one of the policemen growled.

  Billy was put into a police car.