Author: Cyrus Borzak

About a 19-minute read

Featured Image: Shutterstock 2457917533 (925am)

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Read Part 1

Read Part 2

Weeks ticked by, then months, and before anyone could fathom the expeditious passage of time, the Hammersmiths found themselves celebrating six months in their new home. The first month proved hardest as the whole family wrestled with the Wilkes’ sudden disappearance. Genevieve felt certain they had been mixed up in criminal activity, possibly with the cartels, while Charlie and Sofia concocted scenarios where a serial killer, or possibly a satanic cult, whisked the family away to sate their dark pleasures. Thomas realized he needed to pay closer attention to the media his kids consumed to fuel such twisted fantasies. For his part, Thomas grieved the Wilkes’ disappearance with the rest of the neighborhood and expressed shock that something so surreal could happen right next door. When the neighborhood families got together, the disappearance started being connected to two similar events from years earlier. Husbands began exchanging uncomfortable glances and stating how the truth would come out eventually, reinforcing that they never felt unsafe living here. The words were for their families’ peace of mind but lacked confidence. All the while, the family now living in the Wilkes’ home, the Rileys, listened with rapt attention to the stories painting their new home as the possible site of bloodlust incarnate, except for the devoted husband and father of three, Brian Riley – he just stared into the space beyond, avoiding engagement and withering under the weight of secrecy.

Thomas only waved friendly good mornings to Brian and spoke cliched platitudes like, “Beautiful weather today.” The two families had gotten to know one another well enough, but Thomas always found a reason to avoid needing to socialize. He figured he could avoid spilling any secrets if he was never in the situation to do so. Naturally, this mindset led to stilted interactions with his own family, something they had noticed with growing concern. Thomas hoped that one day the secrecy and stress of survival would feel normal and require less effort so he could return to being a good husband and father. That future, however, felt eons away.

A year later, life was routine. Thomas did his chores to keep the property in shape. He did his rounds to ensure Gennie and the kids had not changed anything. Driving home from work on a Friday in April, he gave less thought to the stakes and just existed. His family welcomed Thomas’ recommitted nature and had more or less pushed the weirdness of the prior year into the recesses of memory. A cloud remained positioned over their lives, but Thomas now knew he could weather it.

As he walked into the house, Charlie was heading down the stairs to the basement.

“Hey, dad. How was your day?”

Thomas was always surprised at how thoughtful his kids could be at seemingly random times.

“Pretty good for a Friday. How was school?”

“Boring. Hey, I already cleared it with mom, but Liam is staying over.”

Liam Riley would be the first non-immediate family member to spend a night in the house. A tingle on the back of his neck alerted Thomas to the potential wrinkle to his routine, but he quickly dismissed the risk to allow his kids to live normal teenage lives.

“Sounds good. Tell him, ‘hi’. See you at dinner, then?”

Charlie responded on his way down the stairs, “Yep. Pizza tonight.”

Few things managed to consistently bring a smile to his face, but the promise of pizza always elevated Thomas to a better place. Charlie had already vanished downstairs before he could respond, so Thomas went off to find the rest of the household and see if anything needed his attention ahead of what should be a laid back Friday night.

After dinner, Thomas helped Gennie clean up around the kitchen while Sofia skipped off to her room, already on a video call with her friends. With chores done, Thomas and Gennie collapsed onto the lush living room couch and turned on the next episode of their show du jour. This particular show centered around a man raised in the woods by a survivalist father who now helped normal people navigate extreme circumstances, like unknowingly running afoul of a cult or tripping over the previously undiscovered remains of a long-missing ecologist who was combatting a property development poised to eliminate dozens of acres of green space. The main character happened to always have the necessary information for every situation and had a solution for every predicament. Thomas did not particularly like the show, but it allowed him to share something with Gennie, who could not get enough of it. Despite actually being interested in this week’s plot, where three women had a retirement community believe they were witches, the week’s, or actually months’, stressors caught up with Thomas and sent him into a deep sleep.

When he awoke, the house was dark. Gennie had obviously gone to bed and buttoned up the house for the night. Thomas appreciated she had draped a soft and heavy blanket over him to combat the chill that still crept into the house in the early spring. The house was quiet aside from the typical tick of the mantle clock and refrigerator hum in the kitchen. The familiar sounds only distracted Thomas for a few second before his back barked at him for falling asleep on the couch. As nice as it was, his bed remained king. He stood from the couch and gave a big stretch to try loosen the angry knot reminding him of his age. While his vertebrae crackled and popped, Thomas caught a flash in the corner of his eye – the patio light detected motion and turned on.

Out of curiosity and assuming a rabbit, squirrel, or some other lawn critter was being sneaky, Thomas shuffled over to the patio door and pushed aside the blind slat so he had a clear view outside. He did not expect to see anything, figuring any animal had quickly scurried into the shadows, and he certainly did not expect to see what he saw. Thomas did a double-take as brain translated the sight as a ripple rolling across the backyard. The grass rose and sunk as concentric pulses emanated from a source hidden beyond the patio light’s reach. Thomas blinked and blinked again, but the ripples persisted. He shook his head to clear the disbelief, and as his attention returned to the window, he noticed a shovel lying next a small mound of freshly dug earth.

The upturned dirt surrounded a post that rose about five feet tall. Perched atop the post was a bird feeder with a camera sitting at its center. Flashes of understanding bombarded his conscience. For his February birthday, Thomas was promised another gift that would have to wait until the weather improved. This camera-enabled bird feeder was his gift, and Charlie had invited Liam over to help with its surprise installation. He was impressed they completed the deed with him just inside conked out on the couch.

While a moment of appreciative warmth flowed through him, Thomas quickly shifted gears to the horrible realization of what this meant. Digging in the yard, disturbing its natural state, broke a rule. Thomas quickly enacted a plan he practiced in his head every day. He leapt onto the couch, reached toward the ceiling, and jammed a thumb into the test button on the smoke detector. The alarm’s jarring screech filled the room and triggered warnings from the other connected alarms throughout the house.

Confident everyone was already awake and juiced on adrenaline from the unexpected wake-up, Thomas ran to his office, reached behind the family portrait on the wall, and grabbed a key. Then, he paced over to a large, ceiling-tall hutch and removed a black metal case. The key slid into the case’s lock with his, and with a twist, the lid popped open to reveal a pistol. Thomas removed the pistol and two loaded clips, loading one into the gun. Ensuring the safety was on and chamber remained clear, he ran back to the living room where his family and Liam had congregated, wearing wide-eyed looks and annoyance.

Before questions could fly, Thomas shouted above the screeching alarms, “Everyone to the garage and get in the car! You too, Liam! We’ve got to move fast!”

Confused looks were the only immediate responses. Then, Gennie noticed the handgun.

“Thomas, why do you have that? What is going on? Is there a fire?”

Thomas rehearsed hundreds of times what he could say to avoid looking like a madman in this moment, but now, all the calm, calculated words vanished from his mind.

“We’re under attack! This is to protect us! Now come on, we can’t stay here!”

The incredulous looks continued as Liam spoke up.

“Um, Mr. Hammersmith, I think I’m just gonna go home.”

“No, you can’t! I don’t know if you’re part of it now!” Thomas knew he had crossed into lunatic territory, and the confused looks across everyone’s faces became scared and unsure.

Thankfully, Thomas did not need to explain any further, because at that moment, a jolting rumble shook the entire house, accompanied by what sounded like a bellowing growl coming from below the foundation. With the smoke alarms still belching, the congregated group passed looks from one to the other until Thomas repeated his plea.

“Garage. Now!”

This incited activity, and the group booked it to the garage, piling into the minivan. Thomas had the garage door opening and the vehicle waiting in reverse as Charlie leapt in behind Sofia and slid the rear door shut. As the house shook a second time, Thomas slammed down on the gas and the van lurched out of the garage, down the short driveway, and swung onto the street. As he shifted to drive and accelerated with equal vigor, the passengers watched as lights flickered from within the house and the lawn looked as if it boiled.

Liam was appropriately freaked, “Please, Mr. Hammersmith, can I just go home? Maybe we should get my parents!”

Thomas kept his eyes glued to the illuminated section of road directly in front of them and a strong grip on the steering wheel as he continued accelerating.

“They’ll be fine, Liam. You need to come with us so I can make sure you’re safe. I’m not sure how it works since you were in the house too.”

Gennie stared at Thomas from the passenger seat, still trying, and failing, to process the last few minutes. She barely recognized the crazed man spouting gibberish behind the wheel as her husband.

“Thomas, please, what is going on? Are you okay? You’re scaring us.”

“I know. I’m sorry. We just have to get out of here and to a hotel and I’ll be able to figure it out in the morning.”

“Figure what out?!”

“The house, it’s not safe to be in right now. We were all in danger, so I got us out of there.”

“In danger from what? Why only our house? Did something happen on the news?”

“No, it would never make the news. It’s just our house. Didn’t you hear it? Didn’t you see all the lights and what was happening to the yard?!”

Gennie’s mouth moved without making a sound. She just continued staring at Thomas.

“I can’t explain. Now, just let me focus. We’re almost in the clear.”

Charlie yelled from the backseat, “Dad, something’s happening to the road!”

Thomas glanced at the rearview mirror and saw the same ripples from the backyard coursing along the asphalt, gaining on the van. His brief check in the mirror flagged the observation that the asphalt showed no disrepair after the ripple passed, which was odd, but Thomas did not have the processing power to give it anymore thought. He pushed harder on the accelerator trying to put distance between his family (and Liam, of course) and whatever pursued them.

The rippling asphalt was too fast and now sounded like a roar as it approached the minivan’s rear. Suddenly it ended.

“Dad, it stopped!”

Thomas let a small relieved exhale escape before he bit his own tongue as the van’s rear-end was launched into the air. Screams filled the cabin as all four wheels landed back on the road and Thomas wrenched the steering wheel to straighten the vehicle out from its perpendicular landing. The vehicle swerved left and right as the combination of speed and violent interruption of momentum created a haywire missile hurtling down a suburban street. A jolt from the driver side sent the van into a complete spin. Thomas tried keeping the wheel aligned with the spin to prevent it from flipping. Tires screeched, harmonizing with the screams of those inside the van. He could not get the vehicle under control as he felt shudders from the van receiving one hit after another. The world spun and the screams continued until they crossed over.

The engine clicked in an angry idle as the van sat in the middle of the intersection leading into the development. Streetlights lit the road away from the neighborhood, which somehow seemed darker than it had before. Thomas took several deep breaths to try calm his racing heart, and then he looked around at the others in the vehicle.

“I think we’re safe. Everyone okay?”

He only received nods in response — the silence sat in stark contrast to the chaos from moments earlier.

“Okay. We’re going to find a hotel to spend the night, and then we’ll figure this out in the morning.”

There were no objections, only stunned exhaustion.

Thomas coaxed the damaged van onward. As they pulled away, he looked in the mirror and swore he saw a figure standing at the neighborhood’s entrance, but after he checked the road and glanced back, he saw nothing and chalked it up to exhaustion. After driving for about ten minutes, he found a chain hotel with a fairly open parking lot and pulled in. After a quick check-in with a tired and surprised clerk, Thomas ushered the family, and Liam, to two adjoining rooms and sent Charlier and Liam to one while convincing a protesting Sofia that sharing a room with her parents for one night would not affect her long-term development. Once doors closed, everyone was asleep within minutes.

The morning sun snuck through the edges of the blackout curtains and perfectly hit Thomas in the eyes. His brain immediately began running through the day’s challenges that lie ahead. He did not know how to explain what they experienced last night. He had no idea if they could ever return home. Thomas thought, maybe, since they survived the night, they could return home with a fresh slate after repairing the backyard. That meant, however, that if the prior night’s transgressions were forgiven, he could not truthfully share the secret with his family. One thing he was certain of, however, was that none of these problems could be solved without coffee. Seeing how he was still dressed from yesterday, he left the room and headed down to the continental breakfast lounge.

Thomas went straight for the “House Blend” coffee urn and filled a mug that he knew was too small to adequately sate his caffeinated desires. The first sip was far too hot, but the dark liquid immediately sent a welcome jolt through his system. As Thomas turned around from the coffee bar, he received another jolt from the unexpected sight of Liam sitting at one of the lounge tables. He was clearly upset as he stared at his phone.

“Hey, Liam, you’re up early. Everything okay?” Thomas knew this was a stupid question, because no, obviously nothing was going to feel “okay” right now.

“Hi, Mr. Hammersmith. No, I really want to go home. None of this feels right, and my parents won’t respond.”

It hit Thomas then that in the chaos of the evening, he had never considered any communication going outside the family, which led him to wonder, with growing concern, what Liam had shared with his parents.

“Are your messages getting through?”

“Yeah, and a few of them show “Read”, but I don’t think they’ve seen any of them since we got to the hotel. I was so tired that I fell asleep anyway, but even this morning, nothing’s changed. And I was pretty distraught in my messages. Why would they just ignore me?!”

As much as Thomas wanted to assess the ripple effect from last night’s actions, here was a kid sitting in front of him who was clearly in an emotionally fragile state. He needed to go into “dad mode”.

“Hey, while everything may not have a good explanation, it has an explanation, and I’m sure your parents have a reason for not getting back to you. I can’t imagine how I’ll ever make it up to them, and you for that matter, for whisking away everyone in the middle of the night. But I too had my reasons with the aim to keep you all safe.”

“But if we were in danger, weren’t they in danger too? They’re right next door!”

“I’m going to take the cowardly approach and say, ‘it’s complicated’, because it is, but this was a very targeted threat to our house and our family. You just happened to be spending the night at the wrong time.”

“None of this makes sense. Can you please just take me home?”

“Absolutely. Let’s head back to our rooms and wake everyone up. Get freshened up if you want, and then we’ll all head back. First stop is your house. And please, don’t hold this against Charlie. He’s a good kid and not his crazy dad.”

This brought a small smile to Liam’s face and he gave a slight nod. “Sure, Mr. Hammersmith. Okay.”

Thomas followed Liam up to the rooms and hung at his own door for an extra second making sure Liam went inside. He roused Genevieve and Sofia and shared the plan to head home, or at least return Liam. They set about getting ready. Sofia wanted to shower quick after eloquently explaining she felt like a “turd”. Thomas wondered what that felt like but assumed he had experienced it at least a handful of times during college. While it was clear Gennie and Sofia were still shocked by last night, everyone’s mood appeared to be improved.

While the family took care of their needs, Thomas looked out the room’s broad picture window and saw their minivan for the first time in the light since the prior night. The van’s alignment was definitely shot with the front driver-side tire angled slightly out compared to its perfectly straight counterpart. There were significant dents along and around the body as well as on the roof. The most alarming damage, however, was the severely cracked driver-side window and windshield. Thomas did not remember that happening nor did he feel any of his visibility was impaired on the way to the hotel. This confused him, but he took his own advice and assumed the explanation must be vandals adding their signature to an already heavily damage vehicle. He smiled sardonically at the thought of totaling an already totaled vehicle, but he also cursed the hassle of needing to find transportation since the van was definitely no longer road worthy.

Thomas looked around the room and realized his phone was missing, likely either left at home or still in the vehicle.

He turned to Gennie, “Hey, the van’s in rough shape, so I’ve got to get us some wheels. My phone’s missing though. I’m going to run down to the car and check if it’s in there.”

“You know you can just use the room phone.”

Thomas gave her a look like she had just insulted him with such an idea.

“Please, when was the last time you used a room phone? Why would I do that when I can spend the next thirty minutes searching for a phone that’s probably dead or broken?”

The shared laugh lightened his mood further and helped Thomas believe everything was going to be okay. He continued to the door and was in the motion of opening it when a knock thundered through from the other side. He unthinkingly swung open and came face to face with Harlan, looking just as he had that last time they were together. Thomas heard Genevieve gasp behind him, which mirrored his own expression.

They had moved into a demon house governed by some unseen entity requiring residents to live by an inane list of rules or face death. They had experienced a night of confusion and chaos racing through residential streets trying to escape said entity. They had moved past the unexplained disappearance of their neighbors after meeting them for the first time. And after all that, it was Harlan’s reappearance at the hotel he could not possibly know they were at that felt otherworldly and sent Thomas’ head into a spin.

“Har…Harlan?”

Harlan just smiled. “Hey neighbor, you made it!”

The End…