Part 22 (1/2)

Liz was taking a bath, dad was gone. Joey was right here.

The man was upstairs. Or the girl. Or one of the other kids.

And whomever it was up there, they'd find him, because they'd been looking for him since they moved here and they'd find him sooner or later.

Justice League came back on. Down the hall, Liz splashed water.

Joey stepped into the hall. Another noise came right above him again. He moved toward the stairs, and the noise followed.

The best way to get over something that's scaring you is just to face it.

Was Liz right? He had the feeling she'd seen things, too. And she didn't act afraid. Had something happened to her here and she faced it and now she was fine?

Joey went to the stairs and listened.

He didn't hear anything this time, so he stepped up, quietly so Liz wouldn't hear. She'd wonder what he was doing and he didn't want to tell her. If he was wrong and she hadn't seen anything in the house, he didn't want to tell her what was up there because ghosts were scary and he didn't want her to be scared like he was.

He could hear her humming a song in the bathroom as he crept up. He got to the front door landing and turned to look up. The noise had been right above him, so if there were anything up here, it would be on this floor. But he couldn't make himself keep going.

He was trying to be brave and face it like Liz said, but his legs wouldn't go any further.

He looked up the stairs. The lights were on. He stood on his tiptoes, but couldn't see very far past the top of the stairs. He listened again, but still didn't hear anything.

He turned to go back downstairs, and then he heard it.

Something creaked above him. Not on the second floor, higher. Joey moved on the landing so he could see between the railings, up to the third floor.

He dreaded what might be staring back at him, but Liz said ”Most of the time, you realize that whatever it is, it's really nothing that can hurt you.”

I hope not, Joey thought.

He looked up, focused on the dark, heard the creak again, and saw the boots moving back and forth in a tiny circle.

Something whispered ”Adam,” into his ear, and Joey screamed and bolted down the stairs, tripped in his rush, and fell face-first to the floor, tumbling over and over until he came to hit the back of his head on the hardwood hallway floor.

Liz heard the thumping, and plunged her head under the water to keep the ghosts out. If she couldn't hear them, their noise wouldn't bother her and if the noise didn't bother her, she might pa.s.s five seconds without thinking about them. She was already paranoid enough half the time just undressing, knowing someone or something could be watching and she wouldn't know for sure.

She'd heard the television in the front room and wondered if Joey'd heard the thumping on the stairs. She was pretty sure he knew what was in the house, too, but she also thought he was trying to keep the reality of it out of the front of his mind. He was like Jack sometimes in that, if he didn't think about it, it wasn't there. Except Joey wasn't the straight-arrow thinker Jack was. Not yet. He still had his perfect childish logic where anything he thought could be real.

Liz decided those few seconds under water were enough--G.o.d forbid she open her eyes and find something dead grinning down at her--and she sat up, swept water and hair away from her face, and rubbed her eyes with the rag.

She'd better get dressed before Jack got home so she could grab the food and eat as soon as he walked in the door.

She unplugged the tub, dried herself, and dressed in a pair of sweat shorts and a T-s.h.i.+rt. She ran the brush through her hair and cleaned the water from her ears. She opened the door to head toward the living room, and froze in horror when she saw Joey lying unconscious on the floor.

”Oh, Jesus Christ!” she yelled. She leaned to wake him up, then remembered something about not moving someone who's unconscious in case they've broken something.

She ran to the phone instead to call 911. What would she tell them? That she wasn't watching her six-year-old son? That in her negligence he'd fallen down the stairs? Was that even what had happened? Yes, she told herself.

s.h.i.+t, she thought. And I heard it happen, too.

But you thought it was ghosts, she heard Jack saying. How stupid are you?

I'm sorry, I just heard noises, I hear them all the time, I didn't realize it was Joey.

Then maybe you're not stupid. Maybe you're crazy. Maybe that's the problem.

No, she protested. Joey's seen things, too. Ask him.

I would, but he's unconscious at the bottom of the stairs.

f.u.c.k, get an ambulance. She remembered, but before she could dial, Jack walked in the back door with the pizza.

”Jack,” she said.

He didn't notice the look on her face and he said, ”Are you starving?”

”Joey.”

”Huh? I'll get him. You get the plates.”

”No, Jack,” she said. ”Joey. He's in the hall. He fell or something, I don't know, I was taking a bath and I heard something in the hall and by the time I got out, Joey was--”

”What happened to him?” he asked, dropping the pizza on the table and rus.h.i.+ng toward the hall. He found him at the foot of the stairs as Liz had left him and was immediately on his knees, trying to shake him awake.

”What the h.e.l.l happened to him?” he yelled over his shoulder. ”What happened to him?” a third time.

”I don't know,” she said. ”I told you, I was in the tub. I heard the television, I thought he was in the living room. I don't know what he was doing upstairs.”

”Did you call an ambulance?”

”No,” Liz said. He looked back at her. ”I was about to when you walked in the door.”

They both waited for the other one, but neither moved nor spoke.

”Well do it, then!” he shouted.

Liz jumped and ran for the phone.

While she dialed, Jack shook Joey's shoulder as if waking him up from a nap.

”Joe,” he said. ”You okay, babe? You alright? Did you hurt yourself? What happened, huh? You gonna get up?”

Joey's eyes fluttered and Jack wondered if he was having a seizure, but then he opened them and tried to sit up.

Jack put his hand on Joey's shoulder and kept him down.

”Don't get up, Joe. Just a second.”

Joey went back down and began crying. Jack ran his hand over his son's head, through his hair, murmuring, ”You're alright, Joe. I'm here. You're okay.”