The Dead House, стр. 15
I have this horrible feeling tonight. Like—I don’t know. Like, maybe I’m starting to remember something. Just the hint of something—a hunch I can’t shake. My mind was wandering, and I saw my mother, in my memory, sitting on the bed. She was wearing a blue polo-necked dress and that thick black belt. She leaned forward and said, “Isn’t it funny how memories are just colors, shades, and impressions?”
She leaned back, and then she wasn’t Mum anymore, she was Dr. Lansing, and she was shaking her head. “Not funny at all, really. Is it?”
I don’t think our parents died in an accident like Lansing says.
Did they die… on purpose?
14
A police incident report was filed on 25 September 2004. Part of the report detailed the damage to a dorm in the Juniper House.
Berkley, Somerset
Incident Report.
25 September 2004
OFFICER REPORTING: Community Officer Seamus Rompton
DETAIL OF INCIDENT: Door to one of the dorms in Juniper wing of Elmbridge High removed and hidden (as yet missing). Mirror in the bathroom of Juniper House smashed on the floor. No sign of a weapon, and no item in the bathroom heavy or sturdy enough to inflict damage of this nature. A sixth-form student, Mike Bowers, suffered several superficial lacerations to his face, torso, and thighs. He has been removed to a local hospital for treatment and recalls nothing of how he was wounded. A brief search of the boys’ wing revealed nothing untoward; however, it is noted that none of the windowpanes or doors have a locking mechanism in the student wings, and anyone might have had access. Incident resembles a student prank and will be treated as such.
Naida Camera Footage
Sunday, 26 September 2004
Time Index Not Noted
Common Room
“You heard?” Naida says, putting the camera down on the common room coffee table. She sits beside Carly, who stares out the window, the back of her thumb pressed to her lips. She looks pale.
“Carly,” Naida presses. “Did you hear? About Mike?”
“Hm?”
“Did you hear about Mike’s room?”
Carly ignores Naida’s question and turns to gaze out the window again. “Do you hear that?”
“Hear what?”
“You don’t hear it? It’s—shh! Listen… like someone whispering.”
Naida frowns, her eyes darting as her ears search for the sound. The girls sit still for a moment, until Carly gasps and grabs Naida’s arm.
“There! You heard that, right?”
“Carly, there’s nothing.”
Carly swallows, glancing down at her legs. “It sounds so sad.”
“Sugar, you’re scaring me.”
Carly exhales and, with a wistful glance out the window, turns back to Naida.
“What were you saying about Mike?”
“Someone took his door clean off its hinges and hid it somewhere. And someone smashed the mirror in the Juniper House bathroom.” Naida laughs. “They can’t find the door anywhere. Not to mention that he woke up covered in tiny little cuts. Couldn’t have picked a more perfect target, if you ask me. Mike’s an A-hole.”
“Oh. Hm.”
“What’s wrong? You’ve been acting so weird lately. Always zoning out, always tired, or else fidgeting and worried. I feel like you aren’t even here sometimes. Where are you?”
“I think I’m getting sick. Or maybe it’s these new meds. Dr. Lansing says they’ll help me feel better once I get used to them.” There is tightness in her lips and jaws as she speaks.
The light in the room changes, dimming subtly, which registers noticeably on the camera. The time index is not given, but it can be assumed it is late afternoon, or early evening. Both girls are still wearing their Elmbridge uniforms.
Naida folds her arms. “And you trust this doctor woman? Kaitie seems skeptical.”
Carly frowns and scratches at her arm. “You speak to Kait?”
“When she lets me. Which isn’t often.”
“Yeah,” Carly says slowly. “I do trust Dr. Lansing. She’s trying to help me.”
“Help with what?”
“Help me to remember the accident. What happened. I don’t know. And I need to believe that… I just need her.”
“And Kaitlyn? She wants to put Kaitlyn away, right?”
“You can’t just put her away.”
Naida hesitates. “Would you… if you could?”
For the first time, Carly’s face grows hard, alert, and resolute. “No. Never. I would destroy myself first, okay?” Her voice turns desperate. “Do you believe me? I would never intentionally—” She breaks off with a gasp, hands flying to her throat.
“What? What—Carly, what?”
Carly’s face crumples. “Don’t you hear it? Don’t you hear the noise?” She stands, and her face disappears out of the shot, but we can see her hands shaking. “I hear you! I hear you! What? What?”
“Carly, what the hell—”
Carly’s legs buckle, and she collapses onto the sofa, eyes rolling and lips trembling. She looks panicked, though unaware. Naida pushes back her hair and feels her forehead.
“Kaitie,” Carly murmurs in a high, small voice, before she falls silent.
Naida sits watching, face drawn and eyes shadowed. “What the hell’s going on with you?”
After a few moments, Carly’s eyes snap open. She glances at Naida before sitting up and leaning away. Her posture is noticeably different, her expression visibly hardening.
“What do you want?”
Naida shakes her head, seemingly unable to tear her eyes away. “Nothing, Kaitlyn.”
With a withering look, Kaitlyn gets to her feet and walks out of the shot. As though stung, Naida reaches out a hand.
“Kaitlyn!” she calls. “Is… is everything okay… with you?”
Offscreen, Kaitlyn’s reply is curt. “Why should you care?”
“I do. I… is Carly okay?”
There’s a pause. It stretches out. Has Kaitlyn left?
“How would I know?” comes the somewhat subdued reply at last.
Naida nods. “Okay… um… see you around.”
Footsteps, a door closing, and then Naida bends forward, covering her face with her hands. It is unclear whether she is crying.
[END OF CLIP]
Diary of Kaitlyn Johnson
Sunday, 26 September 2004, 8:00 pm
Attic
So Mike’s door was apparently taken right off its hinges while he slept, and no one can find the door. It’s vanished into thin air. That’s not all. The mirror in the Juniper House boys’ bathroom was completely smashed—and no one heard a thing. And then there’s Mike’s face… cut to little pieces. Creeeeeeeeepy. The police are being all hush-hush about it too, and Mike hasn’t been back to school since. I think there’s something more that they’re not telling us.
Principal Roth called the police. And, naturally, the police wanted to talk to me—I guess because of my parents or maybe just because of Claydon and Carly’s meds. Technically, we’re the only people person who are is a social-deviancy risk. This was after dinner, thank God. If they had treated Carly the way they treated me and I found out about it later, I’d have done something stupid.
As it was, I simply listened to them ask the same questions over and over.
“Do you know what happened to the door to Mike’s room?”
No.
“Did you remove the door to Mike’s room?”
No.
“Do you and Mike associate in school?”
No.
“Did you and Mike have a falling-out?”
No. (Get on with it already.)
“Are you currently taking your medication?”