Don't Stay Up Late (20 page)

“Just give me one more chance,” I begged. “Just believe me this one time. Just this once. And if it turns out I'm crazy … I'll never bother you again. I swear.”

“I really can't—”

“Just come to Harry's aunt's house and look in the basement. It won't take any time at all. You'll see that I'm not crazy. You'll see that I'm not making this up. These creatures are real and … and…”

I had to take a breath. The words poured out of me like a rushing waterfall. I knew I sounded like a crazy nut. But I was so desperate to make him believe me, to show him what I found.

“Just this once!” I screamed. “You'll thank me. I
swear
you'll thank me.”

“Okay,” he said abruptly. “Okay, okay. Stop shouting in my ear.”

I swallowed. “You'll come?”

“Give me the address. I'll be right there. I was taking a supper break anyway.”

“Oh. Okay. Great.” It took me a few seconds to realize I had won.

I gave him the address. “I'll meet you over there,” I said. “They're in the basement. You'll see.”

I clicked off. I heard Harry calling me from the kitchen. Harry. I'd almost forgotten about him. What could I do with him while I ran back to Alice's house? I couldn't take him there. And, of course, I wasn't supposed to leave him on his own.

But I had no choice.

I trotted back into the kitchen. “Do you want more food?”

He burped really loudly. Then he rubbed his stomach. “No, I'm full. Do I have to do my homework now?”

“Would you like to play your Xbox game?” I asked.

“Yes. Yes! Can I?”

“I have to run out for two minutes,” I said. “If you promise you'll sit in the living room and play your game, and
not move or do anything else,
I'll let you play it now.”

He squinted at me. “You're going out?”

I nodded. “Just for two minutes. Maybe five. I swear. Will you do it? Will you sit still and play your game?”

He pumped his fists in the air. “Yes! Sweet!”

“And don't tell your mom I ran out for a few minutes?” I said.

He grinned. “If you let me stay up late.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “Excuse me?”

“I won't tell her if you promise you'll let me stay up late.”

I sighed. “Harry, you know it isn't good for you.”

“Promise?” he insisted. “Promise?”

I had to get over to Alice's. I didn't have time to argue with him. “Okay,” I said. “You can stay up late. I promise.”

I got him set up. I made sure the doors were locked. Then I hurried out the front door, down the lawn, onto Fear Street.

The late afternoon sun was a red ball, ducking behind the trees, sending long shadows across the lawn. The air had grown cooler. It smelled flowery and sweet. The people on the corner had mowed their lawn, and the aroma of cut grass greeted me as I crossed the street.

I cut through backyards and then a narrow gravel alley. I came to the corner of Alice's block just as Rivera's patrol car pulled to the curb. Rivera climbed out. I waved to him as I ran.

His black uniform shirt was rumpled. His eyes were hidden behind dark glasses. I could hear the rattle of the police radio as he slammed the car door.

“You didn't have to come, Lisa.” His eyes were on the house.

“But I wanted to be there when you found them,” I said. “I mean, it's important to me, too. I know you think I'm crazy and—”

He waved me quiet with one hand. “I don't think you're crazy. Let's not talk about that now. Let's just have a look in the basement. Then we can decide who's crazy.”

I think maybe he was making a joke, but I wasn't sure. His face was like dark-stained wood. Hard. His features didn't move.

I followed him up the driveway. Alice appeared in the door before we reached the stoop. She had pink plastic curlers in her hair. She squinted at me. “Lisa? Is something wrong? Is Harry okay?”

“He's fine,” I answered. I suddenly felt embarrassed. I'd just turned Alice in to the police. Maybe I shouldn't have come with Rivera.

“Harry is fine,” I said. “I just—”

Rivera stepped in front of me. “Good afternoon. I'm very sorry to trouble you. I had a report…”

“A report?” Alice's face twisted in confusion. “Why don't you come in.” She held the door open and stepped aside.

I followed Captain Rivera into the living room. His gaze darted around the room. I couldn't decide what to do with my hands. I kept shoving them into my jeans pockets, then pulling them out.

“I hope this isn't too big an inconvenience,” Rivera said softly. “I wonder if I could just take a quick glance at your basement.”

Why was he being so polite to her? She was keeping ugly, deformed MONSTERS down there.

Alice put a hand to her throat. Her eyes widened in surprise. “My basement?”

She's a good actress,
I thought.
She's acting totally innocent.

“You want to see my basement?” she said. “Is there some kind of problem?”

“I hope not,” Rivera answered, eyeing me.

I hung back by the living room doorway. I had my arms crossed tightly in front of me. My legs felt shaky, weak. I pointed to the back wall. “The basement stairs are over there,” I told Rivera.

“I don't have a warrant or anything…” Rivera said to her.

“No worries.” Alice led the way across the room. “I can't imagine why there might be a problem in my basement, Officer. You say you had a report?”

Rivera nodded. “Do I have your permission to look downstairs?”

Alice held open the door. “Go ahead. No problem at all.” She clicked the basement light switch.

Rivera's shoes clumped heavily as he made his way down the narrow stairway. Alice started to block my way. I could see she wanted to ask me what was up.

But I slid past her into the stairwell and followed Rivera. I was two-thirds of the way down the stairs when I stopped and gazed around. I saw an old couch draped in a bed sheet, a stack of old magazines, a few random cartons against one wall.

Rivera, halfway across the basement floor, turned and narrowed his eyes at me. “Well?”

I spun away from him. I couldn't bear to face him.

Ohmigod. Ohmigod.

The basement was empty. No cages. No creatures.

Then, from between two stacks of cartons, I saw a pair of eyes glaring out at me. “There!” I screamed to Rivera and pointed.

I gasped as a large gray-and-white cat stepped out. He bent his back, stretched and yawned. His eyes glowed a pale green.

“Mister Puffball!” Alice cried. “I've been looking for you.”

 

51.

Alice lifted the big cat and hugged it. “You've been a bad boy, hiding down here.” She turned to Rivera. “Are we done here?”

He nodded. “Yes. Thank you. I appreciate your cooperation.” He was staring at me. I knew what he was thinking:
You're crazy, Lisa.

I hurried up the stairs first because I didn't want to confront Alice. How could I explain this to her? I knew she'd tell Brenda about it. I was definitely out of a job.

Outside, Rivera patted me on the shoulder, but his expression was cold. “I don't know what to say, Lisa,” he said in a voice just above a whisper. “Are you seeing your doctor regularly?”

I nodded.

“I'm trying not to be harsh,” he said, his eyes locked on mine. “But I have two murders to solve, and I can't have you wasting my time.”

He didn't give me a chance to reply. He strode quickly down the front lawn to his patrol car. He was shaking his head as he walked.

He thinks I'm a nutcase.

“But I'm not,” I murmured to myself. Those sad creatures were real. I had the red bruise on my wrist to prove it.

Why didn't I show it to Captain Rivera? He probably wouldn't believe a creature did it to me. After this, I knew he wouldn't believe a word I said.

But I knew I wasn't crazy. And I knew those caged monsters were real.

Did Alice see me go down in the basement? Is that why she moved them somewhere so quickly?

And then another question rushed into my troubled thoughts: How does Nate fit in here? If he is Brenda's cousin, that means he is Alice's cousin, too. But what is the connect between Nate and those three deformed creatures?

I was convinced that Nate was behind the two gruesome murders. He had been texting me and calling and, so far, I'd been able to avoid him.

My head swam in confusion. I thought I cared about Nate. But now I realized I was terrified of him. I knew that his horror collection wasn't just a hobby. It was the
real him
.

As Rivera's car pulled away from the curb, I suddenly remembered Harry.

I promised him I'd be back in five minutes. But it had been more than fifteen.

Alice called to me from her front stoop, but I pretended I didn't hear her and took off running. A few minutes later, I burst through the kitchen door, calling to Harry. “Are you okay? Harry? Everything okay?”

I shouldn't have worried. He was still sitting in the glow of the screen, his eyes intent on his game. I dropped into the nearest chair, still breathing hard from running all the way back.

“Where did you go?” he asked, without taking his eyes from the screen.

“Just to Alice's,” I said. “You know you're going to sprain both thumbs if you keep playing so long. You'll get thumb sprains and your thumbs will turn blue.”

He laughed. “I don't think so.”

“Well, it's getting late,” I said, stepping between him and the screen. “I'm sorry to say it, but it's homework time.”

He set down the controller. “Remember? You said I could stay up late?”

“I know,” I said, patting his shoulder. “But it's a bad idea. If your mom finds out…”

“You PROMISED!” he cried. “You PROMISED.” He sounded so hurt, hurt that I would break a promise.

“You're right,” I said, backing down. “When you're right, you're right. You get to stay up late tonight.”

That brought a big smile to his face. When he smiled like that, the most adorable dimples popped up on his cheeks. He hugged me around the waist.

“Stop! Too tight! Too tight!” I cried, prying his arms away.

He laughed. “I'm strong.”

“How did you get so cute?” I asked him.

“Practice,” he said.

His answer startled me so much, I burst out laughing. And then we were both laughing. It was such a perfectly silly answer.

We spread his math notebook on the kitchen table, and I helped him with the story problems. He didn't need much help. He's very smart and quick and has a good mind for math.

Math always made my brain hurt. I just don't have that orderly, logical kind of mind, I guess. I'm a good student. School is pretty easy for me. But I always have to work hard in math classes just to keep up with everyone else.

After the math, he had a story to read with questions to answer at the end. I sat across from him and watched him read. He had tremendous concentration. He never raised his eyes from the page until the story was finished.

His homework finished, I made a big bowl of microwave popcorn and we settled on the living room couch to watch a Disney cartoon on Netflix. He laughed and clapped his hands as he watched. He bounced up and down. He seemed to get more energy as the time grew later.

I couldn't concentrate on the movie. Every sound, every rattle or creak in the house made me jump. And my eyes kept wandering to the top of the stairs where I'd seen the green-faced demon last time.

I kept glancing at my phone. Did Nate plan to visit us again tonight?

“Stop bouncing up and down,” I said, tugging Harry to the couch cushion beside me. “You're making me seasick.”

He laughed. Then he took the controller and paused the movie. He turned to me, his eyes wide, an open-mouthed grin spread over his pale face.

“I like staying up late, Lisa.”

“It's not a good idea,” I said. “You're going to get me in trouble, Harry.”

“I like staying up late,” he repeated. His blue eyes suddenly had an unnatural glow. “Know why I like it so much?”

“Why?” I said.

“Because I get to change. It's so much fun.”

I squinted at him, confused. “Change?” I said. “What do you mean change?”

“Watch,” he said. He stood up. He turned and faced me. His grin faded. He made a soft grunting sound. Behind him, the TV was frozen in a cartoon scene with a dragon snorting fire.

Harry took a step back. His eyes rolled up in his head.

I gasped in alarm. “Harry—what are you doing?” I cried.

“Changing,” he whispered. His hair seemed to sink into his head. Instantly. His hair disappeared except for a strip of black fur down the middle of his scalp.

His nose poked forward until it became a snout. His mouth twisted. Long jagged teeth made a
ripping
sound as they poked out of his gaping pink gums. His blue eyes appeared to burst into flame—and now they were a burning red, deep in their sockets.

“Harry—” I choked out. “It's you. It's you. You're the demon!”

He tossed back his head and let out a long, snakelike hiss. The hiss turned into dry laughter, laughter that sounded like someone vomiting, dry heaves of laughter, cold, evil laughter.

The chilling laughter of a monster.

 

52.

“Nooooo!”
A scream burst from my throat.

I tried to climb up from the couch, but he shoved me back down with startling strength. A dry rattle escaped his open snout, a snake's rattle. And he leaped on me, pinning me to the couch.

His ruby eyes rolled crazily in their sockets. His jaw snapped, the big teeth clicking. Beads of sweat formed on his green-tinted skin.