Never Look Back. Robert Ross
think I’m crazy, don’t you?” Her voice sounded defeated, and she seemed to literally shrink in front of him. “Everyone thinks I’m crazy. Even my shrink did.” She looked out the window and sipped her coffee. “But I’m not, Chris, you have to believe me—I’m not crazy! Strange things are happening, weird things, and I don’t know what to do. You’ve got to help me!”
“You think you’re possessed, I know.” He looked at her. She was pretty, he thought. If she wore makeup and did something about that wild tangle of hair, she’d be beautiful. He reached across the table and took her hand. “But there’s no such thing as possession, Jessie.”
“I thought I was crazy, too.” She got up, removing her hand from his and walking across the kitchen. She refilled her coffee. “Do you believe in ghosts?”
“There’s no such thing as ghosts either.” He crossed his arms.
“And how do you know that? For sure?”
“I—” He stopped. “I guess I don’t know. Everyone says that.” She’s crazy. I need to get her out of here. I should maybe call the police or something….
“Two years ago, my mother committed suicide.” Jessie sat back down, sipping her coffee while keeping her dark eyes trained on Chris. “It was on a day like this. I was in my room, reading. I heard something—a noise that didn’t make any sense, you know? I got up and went to see what it was—and she was hanging from the ceiling. Her eyes—” Jessie shivered. “Her eyes were open and her tongue was sticking out.”
“Jessie, look—”
“I just started screaming and screaming—I guess one of the neighbors heard me and called the police.” She shrugged. “Dad was gone—he’s always gone, you know—and he had to fly right back home.” She laughed bitterly. “He acted like it was this huge inconvenience to him, you know? He had to cancel some appearances. Like his wife dying might lose him some book sales.”
“You don’t really think that.”
“He’s an asshole,” Jessie said vehemently. “He doesn’t care about me, he never cared about Mom…he won’t admit it now, but I think he was going to divorce her. I think that’s why she did it.” She shuddered and wiped at her eyes. “It was so fucking weird, Chris, I mean, she made me lunch that day like nothing was wrong. Two hours later she was dead. Everything was fine…and then—” She closed her eyes again and took a deep breath. “And then of course dear Daddy decided I needed therapy.”
Chris couldn’t think of anything to say. He just kept staring at her.
“And that’s, you know, when the dreams started.”
“The dreams?”
“I thought they were dreams, anyway.” The girl took a deep breath. “I kept seeing my mom. She was trying to tell me something, to warn me…” She finished her coffee. “And I made the mistake of telling my shrink about it. She thought I was crazy. And she told my dad…I was this close to being committed.” She held her index finger and thumb about a centimeter apart. “And that’s when I knew I couldn’t tell them anything. So I started lying to them both. Dad pulled me out of school and hired Alice to homeschool me. Which is fine.” She laughed. “School sucked, anyway. You know how well I get along with other kids.”
He was softening toward her. Maybe she wasn’t crazy. Just lonely. Weird, but harmless…
“Look, I don’t get along with other kids my age any better. They call me Ichabod Crane.” And Beanpole, he thought. And Jolly Green Giant. And…
“I don’t care about them,” Jessie said. “They’re all idiots anyway.”
“Jessie, why are you here?”
“You don’t believe me, do you?” She stood up. “I don’t know why I thought you would. You’re just like everyone else.”
There was so much despair in her voice, such sadness and defeat that he couldn’t help himself. “Okay.” He stood, looking up at her. “I believe you.” He wasn’t sure that he did, but it was the right thing to say.
She sat back down. “You have no clue how awful it is….”
He stood, walking around her and placing his hand awkwardly on her shoulder. Her narrow shoulders shook. She stood once more, turning into him, placing her cold face against his bare chest. He slid his arms around her.
“It’s okay,” he heard himself saying.
You are so lame, Chris Muir. Here’s a pretty girl crying in your arms, and all you can do is hold her and say stupid things. No wonder you’re still a virgin. Lame, lame, lame.
She pulled out of his embrace, wiping her face. “Sorry.” She gave him a weak smile. “You still want to help me?”
“Sure.” If it means I get to put my arms around you again.
“Well, I should warn you. It’s worse now.”
“What do you mean?”
“I know they aren’t dreams, Chris.” Jessie sighed. “It’s the house. There’s something living in that house. And I don’t mean people.”
“Then what do you mean?”
“Do you promise to help me?”
“Jessie, I don’t know what you’re talking about!”
“Unless you help me, I won’t be able to stop them.”
“Stop them from what?”
She put her fists up to her ears in frustration, scrunching up her face. She turned away, then looked back at Chris. “Have you ever heard of Lettie Hatch?” she asked.
Lettie Hatchet took a butcher knife, and with it took her father’s life….
“Yeah,” Chris said. “Everyone has. She killed her parents.”
“I live in her house, Chris. Lettie Hatch’s mother killed herself. And two years later her father got remarried to this young bitch and then Lettie killed her father and her stepmother.” She walked over to the window where the rain was still pounding the earth. “And my dad just got married again…to a girl way younger than he is. Are you starting to follow my line of reasoning?”
“Uh, yeah…”
“It’s going to all happen again, Chris, I know it is. I dream about it. I dream about the knife and the blood. And last night—”
Gooseflesh crawled up Chris’s arms. “What happened last night?”
“Last night I dreamed about killing her.” Jessie laughed. Almost a funny ha-ha kind of laugh, but Chris knew she wasn’t joking. “I dreamed I went into the kitchen and got the knife and went into her bedroom and started stabbing…and it felt so good!”
She looked over at him with wild dark eyes.
“It’s Lettie, Chris. She’s still in the house, somehow. She’s in my mind. Unless I stop her, unless I can do something, she’s going to do it again. She’s going to make me do it.”
“Whoa.” Chris’s mind raced. “Let’s just take a breather here, okay?”
She’s nuts, she has to be, she’s telling you she’s going to kill her parents, this is all so fucking crazy, get her out of here, she’s not stable, Lois and Joe are going to come home and find me carved up…
“You have to believe me, Chris.”
Something about her eyes, wild as they were, made Chris keep looking into them.
“I don’t want to do this. That’s why you’ve got to help me.”
Humor her, Chris, tell her what she wants to hear, but get her out of here.
“Okay.