Part 13 (1/2)

She picked him up. His head rested on her shoulder. The priest noticed the birthmark under his chin.

”That's a nasty scar he's got.”

”No,” she said. ”It's just a birthmark, really.”

”Oh? Well, it certainly is a strange one, then.”

”Yes,” she agreed. Then she noticed the priest trying not to look over Liz's shoulder and when she glanced back she saw the old naked woman duck behind her curtain again.

Liz laughed.

”Well, that's something you don't see every day, isn't it?” he said.

”You do around here,” Liz said. ”She's always standing there like that. I have no idea why.”

They shared a chuckle and Liz carried Joey back to the house. She laid him on the couch, then turned to thank the priest. He said it was his pleasure. They talked another few minutes before he remembered another appointment.

”I hope you and your family have many good years here,” he said, walking to the door.

”Me too,” Liz said. ”And thanks again. I'm sure we'll be very happy here.”

”G.o.d bless,” he said. He walked out.

”Goodbye.”

She closed the door and turned around to look at her house. Was it over? Had the blessing worked? She went up to the second floor, stood in the middle of the main room, and waited.

Nothing. She went to the third floor, stood up there a few minutes. She had to make herself stand still. She would probably be nervous coming up here for awhile. But she did it and she heard nothing, felt nothing.

Am I alone? she wondered. She thought she just might be.

”Thank G.o.d,” she said out loud.

She took another look at the empty third floor, wondering what they'd put up here once the house was done. They really had more room than they needed.

We'll think of something, she thought as she went back down to the first floor.

She got a washcloth from the bathroom and wet it to wipe Joey's face. He was deep in sleep on the couch. Would he even remember any of it when he woke up? She hoped not.

She put the b.l.o.o.d.y rag in the dirty clothes, then put those in the washer.

She sat on the couch at Joey's feet, leafing through one of her decorating books from the library, at ease for the first time in weeks. Jack would be home in a few hours. She decided to enjoy the peace and solitude for the first real time since they moved in.

Joey slept. Liz relaxed.

Chapter Nine.

In the two weeks that followed the blessing, Liz had finished three rooms on the second floor. Two actually, but she was nearly done with the dining room. She worked through the afternoons, setting up three fans on the second floor, while Joey played in the main room or took his nap.

The main room had gone quickly once she'd gone back to work on it. She wondered if Jack had even noticed she'd stopped. But it didn't matter now. The room was done, as was the bathroom, and now she was working on the dining room. Only the kitchen and study up here left to do, then it would be time to decide what to do with the third floor.

Jack had suggested closing off the first floor from the rest of the house, put a wall up down there and add a door to the end of the hall at the side of the house. They could rent it out and the Kitches could live on the top two floors.

”It's not like there's not plenty of room for us up there. There are four bedrooms on the third floor and only three of us. And you and I share a room. What do you say?”

Liz had nodded at his idea, said it was something to think about, but hadn't really considered it.

No matter how long she went without hearing a thump or seeing a blurry figure pa.s.s down the hallway, she didn't know if she could bring herself to sleep up there. A hundred psychics could come through, tell her the house was clean, and she wouldn't be able to do it. She knew it like she knew the sun would set at dusk.

But it really was an awful lot of room. More than they needed.

”Forget it, ” she said, turning away from her thoughts, and back to the wallpaper.

This would be a beautiful room when it was finished. All they needed now were people to impress with it. All this time in Angel Hill and still they hadn't made any friends. There was the guy at work, Charley, Jack talked to. But as of yet, at work was the only time they talked.

Jack had mentioned going to Charley's house some time to play guitar, but mention it was all he'd done. When the second floor was done, they would have to invite Charley and his family, if he had any, over for dinner.

She looked back through the door connecting the dining room to the main room. Joey was lying on his back, Superman flying above him, cras.h.i.+ng down into the floor above Joey's head. Liz lost her concentration and the sheet of wallpaper she held fell back over her. She wrestled with it and climbed up a couple rungs on the ladder to reach the ceiling.

She was papering the last wall when she checked on Joey again and saw he was asleep in the middle of the floor. She'd trained one of the fans on him, but from here she could see he was still sweating.

Liz had taken a break from working and gone downstairs. Joey was asleep and would be, she figured, for a while longer. Joey woke up minutes after Liz was gone.

He climbed off the floor and looked around, wondering where everyone was, including himself. He wasn't used to waking up in the middle of the floor. After a few seconds, he realized where he was. They'd lived in the house over a month, but anything other than the first floor was still alien to him. He moved around the room, looking at Liz's decorations, not forming much of an opinion about them.

It looks a lot different, he thought.

A lot different than what?

He didn't know. He went into what would be the study. It was dark, the shadows keeping it cooler than the main room. This was their bedroom, he thought.

Whose?

The parents, the ones who had the house before us. Their bedroom was in here.

How did he know?

They'd told him, the voices. He hadn't heard them in a while, but they used to tell him things. And this was the parents' bedroom. The kids' rooms were upstairs. Up there was where all the bad stuff happened.

Joey went to the bottom of the stairs and stared up. He listened, but there was nothing. He wondered what had happened up there. And why didn't he hear them anymore? Not that he wanted to, but he had noticed, and was curious.

He took a step up and looked overhead to the high ceiling and then the top rail. Even though he didn't feel he was being watched anymore, he was still scared in the way children are of such places. Looming, dark, empty. He stepped back down and went downstairs, walking into the living room, rubbing his eyes.

”Did you just wake up?” Liz asked.

”Uh-huh,” he said, nodding and climbing onto the couch beside her.