immediately as the one he'd taken of the wall during dinnertime. Terror seeped beneath his skin like a wet, winter chill. The photo depicted a dark shadow pinned on the wall like a furry spider, ready to pounce upon unsuspecting prey. The creature's shape was difficult to define. It reminded Link of a foggy morning before a storm, opaque and forbidding.
In the middle of the shadow, two malevolent eyes protruded from within the faint outline of a twisted face. The eyes dripped down the wall, independent of the wraith-like mist behind it, yet somehow connected to it. It was the eyes that made Link's heart stop. He knew them well. Bright white, onion-sized eyes, they were the ones from his nightmares, the ones from inside the bakery.
None of them knew what to say. Words no longer seemed adequate for explaining this sort of thing. Together, they stared at the picture with a fearful bewilderment.
Something disturbed Link even more than the creature's evil gaze, even more than his own disintegrating hold on reality. He realized suddenly that he no longer wished to follow this never-ending rabbit hole. "Moving dark," the words of his little brother haunted his brain like the echo of his deceased mother. He finally understood. This monster is what had been tormenting Ayden. The creature that had been stalking Link through his dreams had somehow broken into the daylight of his baby brother's world. No wonder Ayden had been so terrified.
32
The Broken Man
Ayden screamed from the basement. "Arrgh!"
The simple act of prying his eyes away from the picture took all of Link's strength. "Ayden?" He ran down the staircase, taking two and three steps at a time. When he reached him, he discovered his brother staring at the computer monitor.
Resting his chin on Ayden's shoulder, he hugged his little brother from behind. "It's okay. I didn't leave you, I swear. I was right upstairs." He pointed up through the open doorway. "I brought friends over to help."
Ayden's silent tears scared Link more than the most bloodcurdling howl of terror. "Talk to me, Ayden," he said, rocking the boy back and forth with the tender affection of a mother.
Ayden lifted his arm and pointed at the computer screen. "Why dat happen? She nice wady. She makes food."
Link followed Ayden's finger and landed on the fairway of his monitor. His screensaver no longer displayed a bouncy ball, ricocheting off each side of the screen while morphing into a variety of alternating shapes. The interior shape was different now. Instead of a colorful bouncy ball, the severed head of Mrs. Kidacki now bounced back and forth across the screen, leaving behind a trail of blood.
Link shielded his brother's eyes from the gruesome image. He wanted to console him but didn't know what to say. Still holding him close, Link said the only words he could think of, knowing full well they were probably a lie. "It'll be okay, Ayden. Everything is going to be fine."
"Is it all right if we come down there?" Celia called from the kitchen.
Link hated allowing others into his room. He liked to think of his room as sacred ground. Under normal conditions, Ayden was the only one with an all-access card to his sanctuary. Today, however, normal no longer existed. "I think you guys should see this," Link replied.
"Good, because we're coming in," Celia said, already hurrying down the stairs. Reluctantly, a sober-faced Panch followed her, still unable to retract his gaze from the photo.
Link pointed toward the screensaver on his monitor.
"Isn't that Old Lady Kidacki? Kind of a morbid screensaver," Celia said, her eyes scrutinizing Link. "Did you Photoshop it or something?"
"Don't look at me," Link said defensively. "I didn't do that." He turned to Ayden. "Aside from us, did anyone else come down here?"
Ayden shook his head.
"It doesn't look like anything is missing," Celia said. "Geez, are you ever planning on unpacking some of this stuff? How long have you been here? If it were me, I'd take all my stuff out the first night. How else are you going to get on with life? I mean, really. Brown boxes are so...postal."
"I don't think it's even been a month yet. We'll get around to it."
"Dude," Panch said, "why would someone break into your house just to change your screensaver? Sounds pretty lame if you ask me. Bet someone just hijacked your system via remote access." Panch sat on the bed next to Link and rested the photo on his lap.
Surprised by the reasonableness of the statement, everyone turned to Panch, except Ayden, who still clung to Link's shirt.
"How would they do that?" Link asked.
"Don't know. Never used one before, but I've got a buddy who might be able to help."
"Who would you know that... Watcher!" Celia rolled her eyes. "Panch, you're brilliant! Watcher is good with this kind of stuff, isn't he?" She smiled at Panch and rubbed his head affectionately.
Link wasn't sure why this bothered him, but it did. He was being silly. Panch and Celia were just friends. Besides, what did it matter if they weren't? It's not as if he cared whom Celia liked. With much more important matters to concern himself with, Link quickly shoved his feelings aside.
"You think she's okay?" Panch asked.
"Who? Celia?" Link asked. Caught off guard, Link averted his gaze. Had Panch been reading his mind?
"No, dude, the old betty with her head bouncing 'round your PC."
"There's a child present, moron!" Celia scolded. "Don't talk about stuff like that in front of him." Then Celia whirled on Link. "Why wouldn't I be okay? Is there something wrong with me? There wasn't anything in those e-mails about me was there? I mean, if someone is coming to kill me, I want to know this instant. Will you look at what I'm wearing? Total fashion disaster. Why didn't anyone tell me I looked like train-wreck vomit? If I die in these clothes, I'm going to kill someone." She eyed Panch and glared. "And I choose you. Why didn't you tell me before we left the house?"
"Blame the lack of food," Panch replied. "I can't think straight when I'm hungry."
"You don't ever think straight," Celia huffed. "What's food got to do with it?"
After climbing up into bed, Ayden buried his face into Link's shirt.
"Dude, what's up with your bro? He looks freaked."
Realizing that Ayden must have seen the image now resting on Panch's lap, Link pointed at the picture. "Wouldn't you be freaked if that thing had been following you?"
"You mean Squirt saw this thing up close?"
Link hugged his little brother back. "It's all right, Bug. It can't get you anymore," Link said. He flipped the picture over to conceal the creature's roving eyes. A picture didn't seem like much of a prison. He hoped the creature was truly trapped.
"Bwoken man on wall. Me no yike him. Bad, bad," Ayden said. He puckered his lips as a deep scowl creased his forehead.
"So little dude has seen that...that shadow...thing before? Seriously? That's messed up. Does he know what it is? Hey, li'l dude-"
"Stop it, Panch!" Celia said. "He's probably only like four or five years old. Can't you see he's terrified as it is?"
Ayden held up four fingers.
Celia grinned. "See that? He's only four. Man, he is one seriously brave four-year-old." She reached for Ayden's hand and patted it a few times. "Your name is Ayden, right?"
Ayden nodded.
"Well, it just so happens that your brother has already told me how awesome you are. And judging by the snappy jammies ? I love the slippers by the way ? I bet you are some kind of superhero. Do you have any superpowers? I sometimes like to pretend I'm invisible. Have you ever tried that? I bet you're a natural."
"I like to pretend she's invisible, too," Panch said, laughing.
Celia ignored the comment. Link marveled at how easy it was for Celia to coax Ayden out of his shell. He couldn't see his brother's face, but he didn't have to. Link knew his little brother was smiling. He could feel Ayden's grip loosen with every word. "Celia, do you have a little brother or sister?"
"Nope. Only child. Tons of little cousins, though." She smiled at Ayden. "None as cute as you." She touched Ayden's cheek and wiped away t
he drying remains of a tear. "Don't even look at the big meaniehead over there," she said, making a face at Panch.
"She wike Mommy. Where is she?"
"I'm sure she'll be back soon," Panch said, trying to make amends for his apparent lack of sensitivity.
Before Link or Celia had time to correct him, Ayden spoke again. "No, she not! Bad man take her. No give her back! I hate him."
This time it was Link's turn to look surprised.
"I thought my mom said that she died in a fire," Celia whispered, mirroring Link's confusion.
Link faced his little brother and said, "Ayden, you know what happened to Mom, don't you?"
Ayden scrunched up his face. He appeared puzzled by the question.
Link rephrased it. "Do you know why Mommy isn't here anymore?"
"Because bad man take her!" Ayden said, an angry defiance resonating in his voice.
"The police? Or are you talking about those mean people? The ones who said all that nasty stuff after the funeral? Because you know that no matter what they said, the fire wasn't her fault. You know that, right?"
"No! Bad man. He take Mommy. She not weave; she not die!" he said again to make his point.
"Ayden, you know that's not true. Mommy died in the fire. Nobody took her. She died, remember?"
"Bad man. Me hate bad man." Ayden said, as he pointed to the picture on Panch's lap.
"You mean that thing in the picture?" Ayden must be mistaken. Had he known about this thing back in Pensy?
"You not wisten! Never wisten. No one wistens."
"Ayden, I'm sorry if I didn't believe you. Trust me. I'm