Intercepts: a horror novel Read online

  Her dad stepped around Tyler and turned to stare at his house.

  Riley looked too. There was a lot of movement, a lot of lights, and a lot of guns. And yet, the urgency seemed to have subsided in the actions of all the guards. At this point, it looked as though they were just going through the motions.

  “What exactly did you see, sir?” Tyler asked.

  Her dad let out a sigh.

  He turned toward the pickup and motioned for Riley to come join him.

  With a gulp, she slowly opened the door and stepped out.

  It felt as though all the men ceased their movement, and everyone glued their eyes to her — the crazy girl who called the false alarm.

  “My daughter’s the one who saw it,” he said.

  She tried to walk up to his side, but he angled his body away to face her. Everyone was now facing her.

  “Riley, this is Tyler Whitfield. He’s our head of security.”

  Tyler gave her a friendly smile “Good evening, ma’am. Would you mind telling me what you saw?”

  “I, uh, I saw a woman in the hallway.”

  “Mmm-hmmm. And can you describe this woman?” Tyler said as he took out a pad and pen, jotting down some notes.

  Riley shifted her weight and looked at the ground. “Umm… uhhh…”

  “Take your time,” Tyler said, but the way his eyes stared at her made her feel as though she really didn’t have much time to take.

  “It was… it was… just a woman.”

  “And you’re sure it was a woman?”

  “I… I think.”

  “Ethnicity?”

  “White? I think. Or maybe… Her face was kinda… it was dark in the hall.”

  “Okay.” Tyler scribbled down notes. “Clothing?”

  “It was like a, um, white dress. Or something.”

  Tyler’s eyes flitted up and looked at her. “So, a person, possibly a female and possibly white, broke into the house and stood in the hall while wearing a white dress.”

  He was trying to keep his face neutral and pleasant, but she caught him glance over at her dad who responded with an apologetic shrug.

  “That’s, um… that’s what I… I mean, I didn’t really get a good look.” Her arms went up and hugged herself. Her eyes drifted down, staring into the ground as her toe dug a little hole in the gravel. She wanted to make the hole deep enough to fall into and vanish.

  The silent stares of the annoyed guards felt interminable, although it probably only lasted a few seconds. A few seconds of silent staring and judgment from a dozen large men with big guns. Her father finally stepped over and put his arm around her shoulder.

  “I’m sorry, Tyler,” he said. “She must’ve gotten spooked.”

  “No need to apologize, sir. Happens to the best of us. Besides, it’s good practice for the real emergencies, ain’t that right?”

  “Thanks for understanding.”

  Tyler motioned Riley toward the front door of the house. “Let’s give this little lady a walk-through. Put her mind at ease.”

  Riley forced a nod.

  She followed behind Tyler as they all walked into the house.

  They passed guards stationed at the door. The towering men watched her every step. She wanted to hold her head up high and meet their gaze defiantly, but her neck felt permanently bent downward at this point.

  A heat seemed to flow up from her chest and settle behind her cheeks. Soon, she could also feel it’s fire emanating from her forehead and neck. She was sure her face glowed a bright crimson, but she tried to shut it down and keep her mind focused on her own slow-moving feet. Don’t trip on the front step. Don’t trip on the front step, she thought.

  They stepped into the house.

  Riley finally glanced up.

  All the lights were on. The well-lit hallway was empty.

  “Pack it up, boys,” Tyler announced to the men.

  They muttered to themselves as they stowed their gear and proceeded out the front door. Riley could hear various whispered comments —

  False alarm.

  What was that all about?

  Kid thought she saw something.

  Tyler had Riley stop in the middle of the living room. He pivoted around, pointing his hand to all 360 degrees of space. “Everything in order, ma’am?”

  “Yes,” Riley muttered.

  Tyler strolled over to a curtain and peeled it back. “No monsters hiding behind here,” he said. It wasn’t intentionally patronizing; it seemed like the niceties of a man who couldn’t tell that there was any sort of cognitive difference between a sixteen-year-old and a six-year-old. But Riley’s face still burned with an embarrassment that quickly turned to frustration.

  “It’s cool. I take your word for it,” she said.

  “Better safe than sorry,” Tyler said as he walked to the coat closet, opened it, and made a show of shining his flashlight around. He pushed the coats out of the way, leaving no inch unchecked. “Nothing in the closet.”

  “I’d like to just go to bed,” Riley pleaded.

  “Allow me to perform a walk-through first,” Tyler said as he marched off down the hallway.

  Riley looked over at her father. Her face pleaded with him to end this mortifying act. She tried to forcefully push the thought into his brain — Please stop it. I fucked up, okay. You’re killing me now.

  But he simply looked down on her with a sympathetic smile, as if he were going along with the charade because it seemed like the best way to put his daughter’s fragile mind at ease.

  “I’ll go first,” he said as he walked off down the hallway after Tyler.

  Riley lingered in the living room.

  “All clear,” Tyler’s voice announced from her bedroom.

  With her head down and arms clutched together, Riley stomped off down the hall. She took a right turn and joined Tyler and her father in her bedroom.

  AND THERE SHE WAS.

  Riley’s mouth hung open. She felt her face, which had been burning with embarrassment only moments before, suddenly turn cold. Her hands, wrapped around her chest and clutching herself, clenched tight. She wanted to scream, she wanted to run. But her muscles seized. Her legs and even her mouth felt like distant islands, too far away for the panicked messages that raced through her mind to reach.

  THE WOMAN IN THE HOSPITAL GOWN STOOD BESIDE RILEY’S BED.

  The woman’s mouth stretched open, then closed. Open, then closed. It was like a fish gulping for air. Her eyes roamed around her head like two unmoored pinballs. The rest of her stood rigid.

  Tyler walked past the woman.

  He knelt to lift up the bedskirt and take a look. “No monsters down here,” he said.

  Riley stared at the woman.

  Did no one else really see her?

  “Make sure the window’s locked,” her dad said.

  Tyler got off the floor, walked past the woman again, peeled back the curtain and gave a tug on the window. “Window’s locked. Alarm sensor is in place and responsive.”

  The woman’s roaming eyes suddenly stabilized. They locked directly onto Riley. The woman’s pupils focused. There was now no mistaking it — she was looking at Riley.

  This woman saw Riley.

  Her mouth continued twisting and stretching, but Riley now knew that the woman wasn’t making involuntary, random movements. She was trying to get the muscles of her jaw and tongue aligned. She was trying to speak.

  When the woman found the words, they escaped her lips in a whispered hiss. “I can’t feel it,” she said.

  Riley just stared.

  Meanwhile, her father and Tyler continued inspecting the room. Tyler walked over to the foot of the bed and opened Riley’s closet. He shone his flashlight inside and slid some of the clothes around. “All clear,” he announced.

  Riley barely registered that he had spoken. Her eyes were now locked with the eyes of the woman.

  “I can’t feel it,” the woman said again.

  And then, the woman — whose bod
y had been standing so perfectly still as to almost seem as though she were just some Halloween decoration suspended from the ceiling — lifted her hand.

  She took her fingers and touched them to her own cheek.

  “I can’t feel it.”

  The fingers danced around her face, poking and prodding at her cheek, her chin, her nose. Her hand moved faster and faster as she pressed and dug her fingers harder into her face.

  “I can’t feel it!”

  She flashed her fingernails and dug them deep into her own cheek, scraping out a chunk of flesh. Blood rushed to the slit she created on her pale face. It ran down her white cheek and splattered to the floor in a thick stream.

  “I CAN’T FEEL IT!”

  “I think we’re all good here, sir,” Tyler said.

  “Thanks, Tyler. Sorry for the inconvenience.”

  “No inconvenience at all, sir.”

  The two men shook hands, oblivious to the woman beside the bed who was now clawing furiously at her face with both her hands. She was in a frenzy. Her fingers dug in and tore out large strips of flesh.

  “I CAN’T FEEL IT! I CAN’T FEEL IT!” The woman’s screams drowned out all other sounds.

  Blood poured from her wounds. She was down to the tendons and the muscles, ripping and tunneling through her own cheeks like a rat through newspaper.

  As suddenly as she began, the woman stopped.

  She looked directly at Riley.

  Her face hung in tattered shreds, but her voice became calm and clear with no hint of the slurring, hissing that had enveloped it before. “What have they done to me?”

  Riley could only shake her head. It was a movement so slight that no one noticed.

  “What do they want from me?” the woman asked.

  Riley stood petrified. No answer.

  “Why can’t I feel it?” the woman’s voice rose. She was getting worked up. She held her bloody hands out, reaching toward Riley. “WHY WON’T THEY LET ME DIE?”

  The woman shrieked out a horrific scream of anguish and anger as she seemed to fly across the room, lunging at Riley.

  The suddenness of the movement rattled Riley from her frozen, terrified state. She didn’t have the strength to bring herself to scream and instead released a quick gasp and raised her hands to protect her face as she stumbled backwards. She tried to run, to get away, to put distance between herself and the bleeding banshee.

  The horrible scream echoed around Riley’s head.

  Riley’s feet tangled, unsure if they wanted to turn and run or continue stumbling backwards. They twisted among themselves and locked up. Her body weight carried her a bit further, and soon she toppled.

  She felt herself falling in slow motion, like in a nightmare.

  She tried to tell her feet to keep running and carry her away, but they didn’t respond. She tried to tell her arms to get underneath her and catch her fall, but they also didn’t respond. A million miniscule muscle corrections flashed from her mind down throughout her body, but nothing could stop her downward momentum.

  Despite all the thoughts running through her conscious and subconscious mind, the scream penetrated it all. It was all she could hear as she toppled to the floor.

  WHUMP!

  The moment she landed hard on her butt in the hallway…

  Silence.

  The screams were gone.

  Riley sat on the floor, looking around the hall. Her eyes darted back and forth. Her breaths were sharp and fast. The woman wasn’t there.

  Her father and Tyler rushed to her side.

  “You okay?” her dad asked, crouching down to face her.

  “You didn’t see anything?” Riley asked.

  “In the room?”

  Riley nodded her head vigorously.

  Her dad’s brow furrowed as he studied Riley for a moment. Then he glanced up at Tyler who stood in the doorway to the bedroom. Tyler’s massive stature filled the doorframe. If there was a threat, this man was sure to be the first to confront it.

  Tyler maintained his poker face, taking everything about this situation seriously. “Empty, ma’am. Your bedroom is clear.”

  Riley gulped. She craned her neck to peek through Tyler’s legs and into her room. She leaned slowly, ready to bolt to her feet and scamper away.

  Bit by bit, inch by agonizingly slow inch, the room revealed itself to Riley.

  Empty.

  No woman. No blood. No nothing.

  Riley blinked, not sure what to believe.

  “Did you hit your head?” her dad asked.

  “No, no,” Riley gasped out.

  She leaned back against the wall, closed her eyes, and lowered her head into her hands. She sat there quietly, taking deep, calming breaths.

  “Let’s call it a night, Tyler,” she heard her dad say.

  “Yes, sir. No shame in a false alarm.” Tyler paused and knelt beside her. “Ms. Riley, ma’am? It’s really okay. Nothing to be embarrassed about. This is our job and we’re blessed to do it. Now, you need anything else — you get spooked, you get scared, whatever — don’t you dare hesitate to call for help again. It’s what we’re here for. Worst thing that can come of a false alarm is when they make people stop raising the real ones.” He tipped his hat to Riley. “You have a wonderful evening, ma’am. Get some rest.”

  “Thank you, Tyler,” her dad said.

  The two men walked off down the hall together.

  Riley kept her head buried in her hands.

  Even as they crossed through the living room and approached the front door, she could still hear their parting conversation.

  “Is she… okay?” she heard Tyler say.

  “She had a stressful day. Something happened to her mom.”

  “Oh, well, I’m sorry to hear that, sir.”

  “Thank you. It’s… it’s a bit of a mess. I might be taking some time off. Sortin’ everything out.”

  “We’ll all cover for you, sir,” Tyler said. “I’m sure we can keep your machine well-greased and churning.”

  “I appreciate that, pal.”

  They bid goodnight.

  Then her dad closed and locked the door.

  Riley hadn’t moved from her spot on the hallway floor.

  She could hear her dad slowly walk over to her. And then, with a stiff bend of his aging knees, he plopped down beside her. He hesitated there, fidgeting slightly. Finally, he extended his hand and awkwardly place his arm around her shoulder.

  “How you feelin’?” he asked.

  She looked up, but not at him. Instead, she simply craned her neck and stared into her room. Her mind raced to piece together just exactly what the fuck was happening to her. She took a deep breath and suddenly felt calmer. No tears, no trembles.

  “I think I’m fucked up,” she said, her voice remaining level.

  Her dad patted her back. It was a little too firm and forceful, like a robot petting a dog. He opened his mouth a few times, trying to think of just the right words to say. He cleared his throat. Finally, he said, “It’s not your fault. None of this is your fault.”

  “I saw someone. It wasn’t light reflecting, or a curtain moving, or some stupid shit like that. I saw her.”

  “Get a little sleep. You’ll be fine,” he said.

  Riley stared off. She had been spending the past few minutes desperately trying to block the image from her mind, but now she tried to grasp the memory in all its excruciating detail.

  “She… she had black hair. Down to her shoulders,” Riley said. “She was very pale. It… it wasn’t a dress she had on… it was more like a hospital gown. She was, um…” Riley gulped, disturbed by the memory. “She was digging her fingers into her face. She was scraping off her skin.”

  Her dad withdrew his hand and stared at her.

  “She kept screaming,” Riley continued. “’I can’t feel it… I can’t feel it…’ Over and over, she kept screaming that.”

  They sat quietly. Finally, he said, “Riles, the day you’ve had would mess wi
th anyone.”

  He leaned over and kissed her head.

  Then, with a little bit of effort, he pushed himself off the floor and rose to his feet.

  “You wanna sleep in my room?” he asked. “Or we could both sleep in the living room. Have us a little campout, like we used to do when you were young.”

  “No.”

  She pushed herself off the floor. Her dad hung around, watching her. It made her uncomfortable, as though every action of hers at this point was part of a psychological evaluation. Trying to act calm (and sane), she took a cautious step to her bedroom door. She bent her head around the door frame and looked in.

  The light was on, the room was well-lit, and she was alone.

  “I’m okay,” she said to her dad, trying to sound casual, but not taking her eyes off the empty room. “Go to bed.”

  He lingered for a bit, then shuffled off.

  Riley stepped into her bedroom.

  She crawled into bed but stayed above the covers. Her eyelids felt heavy, though she couldn’t bring herself to shut them. So, instead, she stiffly lay on her bed, her head propped up against the headboard, allowing her eyes to dart from one end of the room to the other. If the woman returned, the one thing Riley couldn’t bear was to be surprised.

  She considered changing into pajamas, but she didn’t want that moment of vulnerability when she would have to pull her shirt over her eyes. What would be waiting for her in that split second of blocked vision?

  She certainly couldn’t shower for the same reason.

  And sleep was definitely not an option.

  So, she determined she would stay on guard for as long as she could.

  Her eyes jumped from her dresser, to her closet, to the wall, to beside her bed, to the dresser, to the closet, to the wall, to beside her bed, to the…

  ***

  Joe stepped into his bedroom and locked the door.

  He went to his computer. He was tired, and he hated logging in at this late hour. The login system was so arduous. It required passwords, security questions, a PIN sent directly to the user’s cell-phone…

  But he had to know.

  He had to see what had happened for himself.

  When his computer unlocked and loaded up, he opened his home security system. He didn’t have a camera in Riley’s room; he had fought the consultants tooth-and-nail to not put one there. Her bedroom and the bathroom were off-limits. At the time, they assured him that the system was a closed loop that only he could access, but he had an inkling that the feed was beamed elsewhere. He refused to subject his young daughter to that sort of observation.