He leaned back in his seat and smiled.
“I sat there and read the book straight through until eleven in the morning. I think I stopped to order a pizza, but that was it. And you know what? It didn’t matter to me that the characters aren’t real people; it didn’t matter that they used swords and magic to save their kingdom. What mattered was they started as ordinary people like me.” He showed her a spot in his book. Kimberly could see where fingers had stained the pages edge numerous times. “This is the scene where one of the knights, this guy named Brevor, is about to die. His friends are fighting just to survive, and he can barely walk—he’s full of arrows. Well, he stands up, he draws his sword, and he goes running in full steam ahead. This line in the book really caught me.”
He looked at the words, but Kimberly could tell he was reading from a page in his heart. “Brevor stood, pain and panic on his face. These would likely be his last moments alive, but it no longer mattered. All that mattered was what he did, right now. Whatever came next was going to happen anyway.” He closed the book and chuckled. “The man who wrote this book never knew it, but that one line struck something deep in me, and that something made me turn things around. I got my degree and moved on to get a masters. I make good money and have a nice life because of him. I just found out from the news that he died.”
The stranger turned to look at Kimberly and a connection was instantly made. He was sitting next to somebody who understood.
“It’s like losing a childhood friend.” He held the book lovingly in his hands. “Man, I’ve read most of his books.” He drank, the ice clinking in his glass.
They talked for the remainder of the flight. They talked about Hal Stone’s early books, some of the movies that were made, and about his last book, one they had both read. She never told him who she was, and it didn’t matter. She had found kindness in a stranger and she soaked up every last drop of it she could. When the plane landed, he offered her a slight wave of his hand, his book still tightly clutched in the other. She knew that he was going to read it from start to finish once he got wherever he was going.
A car waited for them at the airport. Getting in, Nathan asked Kimberly about her companion, suspicion in his eyes. She told her father the truth; the man was feeling chatty and told her how he got through college. This satisfied Nathan, who got in the driver’s seat. The drive to her grandfather’s home was over two hours long and the only noise she heard was the occasional exchange of the twins while they were awake.
Pulling up to grandfather’s home was bittersweet. Hal had built a mansion on the side of a hill, overlooking the lake. His home looked like it was straight out of a storybook. Wrought-iron bars with creeper vines and roses were placed along the perimeter and the house was made of both stone and wood. Every time she had ever been to this home she had seen it as an escape, a place to be loved and cared for. The world outside of this house was a cold, lonely place.
And now the world inside would be, too.
Kimberly could see her father’s face in the rearview mirror. His face had twisted into a mix of emotions. She recognized anger and disgust, but she saw one she had never seen before.
Could it be… fear?
Nathan entered a code into the gated entryway. The doors swung open and they proceeded up the paved driveway.
As Kimberly got out of the car, she saw that a few people had already gathered outside the gate. To say that her grandfather was loved by his fans would be a humble understatement. She guessed that by tomorrow, the number of people would be triple and that they would need an armed guard just to get out the gate in a couple of days.
Two men waited at the door. The first man Kimberly recognized from her father’s business functions. Carl Gass, exactly the kind of textbook, greasy, slimeball lawyer that actors portrayed for any show or movie. He had flirted with Kimberly openly after she hit puberty and always gave solicitous looks at Kimberly’s mother. He was also good at what he did, and was therefore one of the few people on Earth her father considered even close to a friend.
The other man introduced himself as Lance. No fancy last name, no comb-over. This was her grandfather’s attorney, a man in a simple blue jacket and slacks. He smiled in greeting and offered his hand. Upon seeing Kimberly, he clasped her hand warmly in both of his.
“Hal has told me so much about you.” He opened his mouth to say something else, but was interrupted by Nathan.
“When is the reading?”
Lance frowned a little but pulled out a notebook. He handed Nathan a couple of forms.
“Tomorrow at 11 a.m. at my office. Those forms will help us expedite the process; I understand that you want this to be over with as soon as possible.”
“Yes.” Nathan handed the forms over to Gass, who made them disappear into a briefcase. “I understand we are to stay in the house?”
“Per your father’s instructions. One night in the house before the will is to be read.”
“An unusual request,” Nathan said.
“It’s in there, Mr. Stone.” Gass turned to Nathan. “I’ve been over preliminary instructions. No way around it.”
“I’m sure. Very well.” Nathan turned to Lance. “If there is nothing further, then I suggest we get on with it.”
Lance gave Nathan a sad look. It was obvious he wanted to talk about it. He looked at Kimberly with a grim smile and made his way over to his car. He started to get in and stopped.
“Oh, I meant to mention… Ip is probably still in there somewhere; nobody has seen him.”
Ip? Kimberly looked at the windows of grandfather’s house. Ip was Hal’s pet fox. He was some strange breed, similar to the fennec foxes of the late 21st century. Kimberly remembered playing with him on several occasions, chasing him through the house. What would happen to Ip?
“We’ll take care of it,” Gass said. He waved to Lance and watched as the lawyer got in his own car. He turned to Nathan.
“If I see the thing, I’ll call you to come and retrieve it.” Nathan threw a glance at Kimberly, daring her to say something.
“You got it, sir. See you in the morning.” Gass got in his own car and followed Lance down the drive. Kimberly glared at her father, who was no longer looking her way. He certainly was being a bastard today.
What was her father staring at so intently? Kimberly turned and looked out into the wooded area surrounding the house. She didn’t see anybody there.
“Let’s go see what we have to deal with.” Her father began ushering everybody inside. As she walked past her father, she saw that he was still watching the forest.
* * *
The night passed in almost complete silence. They ordered in and sat at the long table that, according to her grandfather, had been built just like the tables in a knight’s hall. Kimberly didn’t eat much, but she did squirrel away some of her meal for Ip, if she ever found him. Her eyes darted around the house constantly, hoping to see a sign of his presence.
The fox usually wore a bell, mainly because he moved so quietly. Kimberly was certain that the bell would sound at any moment and it would be a race to see who found him first. Ip was her grandfather’s only pet and he’d been around since she was a little girl. She briefly wondered how long foxes lived to begin with, hoping that Ip hadn’t died shortly after her grandfather.
As to how her grandfather died, that was something Kimberly had finally discovered through a news broadcast. A friend had come to check on him and found him curled up in his favorite chair in the library. Apparently her grandfather’s heart, the same heart that donated almost ninety percent of his considerable income to charity, had finally run down.
That night, Kimberly stayed in the room that Grandfather had decorated solely for her. That is, after her father had swept through with a garbage bag, removing all of the books from the shelf. She wept and screamed in rage as her father committed the deed. Each book was a first edition of Hal Stone’s work, and each one had a special note written inside to Kimberly from him. N
otes that referred to her as Little One, and Fairy Catcher, and other sweet nicknames a grandfather calls a child. Kimberly called her father names of her own. Names like monster, tyrant, and even went so far as to address him as a horrible demon.
Nathan took the whole thing in stride until being called a demon. At that point, he turned around and slapped her hard enough that she fell. He stared at her with the same look he gave her the time he broke her hand. She waited for the blows to come, but she saw him fight it back. He stormed out, taking Hal’s stories with him.
After Nathan went to bed, Kimberly snuck through the house trying to find Ip. Unsuccessful, she hid the extra food from dinner under her dresser, hoping to hear him in the middle of the night. She drifted off to sleep, the glow of the candlelight vigil on the property’s edge giving her comfort.
* * *
Lance’s office was warm and smelled a little like honey. Gass commented on how small it was several times before Lance finally appeared. Smiling, he sat down behind his desk and offered everybody a cookie.
Gass snorted, Nathan scowled, and Kimberly’s mom said nothing. The twins sat quietly in the back, taking turns pinching their sister in the sides. They, at least, seemed happy to have her back. She had overheard them make a bet. First one to make her yelp got five bucks.
Irritated, Lance sat back and pulled a copy of the Last Will and Testament of Hal Stone from an envelope. The reading of the will was long, due in part to how many different intellectual properties he owned. He left almost all of his money to different charities, something that came as no surprise to anybody, especially Nathan. He never saw the purpose of making all that money just to give it all away. If he had kept it, Hal would have been one of the richest men in the world.
Nathan really didn’t care either way. He just wanted the ordeal to be over, to erase his father’s memory once and for all.
Kimberly was openly squirming now; pinches were coming harder and faster.
“And in the matter of my house and home, the lake property: I leave it and all of its contents to my granddaughter Kimberly.”
The only place she had ever called home was now hers. She imagined what it would be like to live there someday.
“Get with some of our people. We’re liquidating the entire estate.” Nathan barked the order.
Gass nodded at Nathan and pulled out a cell phone.
“That isn’t your decision, Mr. Stone. Ownership of that property is completely under Ms. Stone’s control.”
“No, you listen. This building you’re in is smaller than my office. I ride an elevator every day that is bigger than your lobby. In a heartbeat, I can have a team of lawyers crush your very legal existence.” Nathan was building steam as he stood, towering over Lance. “And before I’m done, I will make every one of your clients question whether or not you truly acted in their best interests, I will have you disbarred, disbanded, destroyed.” He swung a hand and knocked the cookie plate off of the desk. “She is my daughter and I will decide what is best for her and I will not have that horrid man influencing her from beyond the grave.”
Lance looked up into Nathan’s eyes and shook his head, disappointment on his face.
“He hoped so much better of you Mr. Stone. I know about the beatings, the missing evidence, all of it. Maybe I can’t stop a monster like yourself from ruining your life, but I can tell you what I think of you. You are the epitome of what is wrong with the world: a greedy, domineering bastard. You will never crawl out from under his shadow, Mr. Stone. You may be feared, but you will never be respected or loved by anybody.” Lance thrust the will in Nathan’s face. “Go on, take it. We both knew this was only a formality anyway. I’m through.”
The whole room looked at Nathan, unsure of how he would handle the situation. Nathan just laughed and grabbed the documents.
“My father was a dreamer. To be a dreamer, you have to have your eyes closed. My eyes, however, are wide open.” He grabbed the paperwork and handed it to Gass. “Pleasure doing business with you.”
As they all began to file out, Kimberly saw Lance give her a sad look. Out in the hallway, she heard her dad and his crony laugh.
“I’m sorry.” Lance’s voice trembled. He had been a personal friend of Hal’s and knew just how important Kimberly was. He felt like he had failed.
“I’ll be fine.” She said it and did her best to believe it.
* * *
They walked into the house, Nathan victorious and Kimberly defeated. It had taken them forever to get people to get away from the fence so they could get in, and Nathan was already making calls. Not too long after, a team of men showed up to escort Hal’s mourning fans from the premises.
Nathan thought it particularly funny to hand his daughter a box of trash bags and make her clean up all of the gifts and cards left along the fence. Tears ran down her face again when she saw the words written on the cards; saw the little bears, the candles, all of it. Nathan laughed as he watched her. This was just the first step in reclaiming what was his. He walked into the shadows of the house to make some calls.
Kimberly walked along the perimeter of the property, mainly by the entrance. She had filled three bags and was working on a fourth.
He came out of nowhere, and for just a second, he looked like smoke on the wind. Kimberly was reaching for a card when a clammy hand grabbed her own through the fence. Startled, she jumped back, the wrought-iron bars separating her from the stranger. He kept his hold on her and pulled the card from her hand.
He was tall, thin, and wearing a black suit. His skin was pasty white and he smiled at her with pupil-less eyes.
“Is it true?” His voice was strange. When he spoke, Kimberly heard other voices whisper along with his.
“What?” She tried to look back at the house, but suddenly she couldn’t move. It was like icy fingers were holding her still.
“The old man. Is he really dead? Gone? Worm food?” The man looked up at the house and opened a mouth full of teeth—sharp, pointed shark teeth.
“Yes, he is, you ass.” Kimberly fought hard to resist and he let go. She took a step back, and then another. He crooked a finger at her and beckoned. She was dragged back toward him by an unseen force, her feet leaving grooves in the dirt. A clammy hand reached through the bars and stroked her cheek.
“Temper, temper.” He laughed, a whispery noise that seemed to come from all around her.
Standing there in terror, she shuddered, unable to move her body.
Ip appeared, hopping up on the gate between the two of them. His body was only slightly larger than a kitten’s, and his ears were full size. They looked like giant satellite dishes on his tiny little head, dishes that were now pointing at the stranger.
The stranger acted as if he was burned by fire. He let go of Kimberly and hissed through pointy teeth. Kimberly heard a door slam behind her and she turned to look. It was just Zane with a trash bag of his own. When she looked back, she only saw a dim shadow fading into the bushes.
Ip had disappeared as well, but Kimberly didn’t bother calling him. She could tell the little fox was watching.
That night, they all ate dinner as a family. As Kimberly sat quietly with her food, she watched her brothers talk to each other and Nathan. Her mom sat off to the side, mute as usual.
She hated them all.
Dark Dreams, Darker Deeds
She was walking through her grandfather’s house, and this time she was only eight years old. The house was full of a dark mist, a mist that blocked out the light in the windows. She shuddered, knowing that there were rules, rules she couldn’t utter out loud.
The noise started somewhere else in the house. Whatever room that was in, that room was now off-limits.
She had to move, before it came. She wasn’t sure what it was, but her dreaming mind told her it was bad. The atmosphere in the room became hot and oppressive and she ran.
She was now in the living room. A picture of her grandfather was up on the wall and she cou
ld hear him screaming her name in terror. She opened her mouth, but it was full of fear and molasses.
The picture began to burn away and the room filled with her grandfather’s ashes. Somebody laughed and Kimberly had to flee to a new room as the earth shook. The house only had so many rooms, but the rules said she had to go to each one once before she could leave the house.
In this manner, she ran through the house. Some rooms were sideways, some were upside down. She found herself in rooms that didn’t exist at all until, finally, she was in a room that was merely a long silver rectangle. Frantic, she turned around to see a figure in the doorway.
It was the stranger from before. The knowledge of dreams buoyed her memory.
“You’re a homunculus.” It was an accusation Kimberly made with confidence.
The homunculus nodded and started walking forward.
“You are correct; I am. And I am here for you. Do you feel… vulnerable?” Long, leathery wings sprouted behind his body, somehow passing through his suit jacket.
He was right. She was defenseless. She was wearing just a long t-shirt and panties, the same ones she had worn to bed.
“I can do things to you here. You know that, right? Sharp things, screaming things. And you won’t wake up. I can do this all night and you will sleep through it all.” His fingers looked like knives, and he grinned a devil’s grin. “I could chew your flesh like gum and blow a bubble in your brain.”
He was nonsensical and completely right, all at the same time. Kimberly scrabbled at the wall behind her, unable to help herself as he approached.
Suddenly, he was gone. Kimberly opened her eyes to two dark, almond orbs staring into her own. Ip looked at her for a moment, then curled up in the crook of her arm. This time when she fell asleep, she dreamt about swimming in the lake with mermaids.
Outside her window, a shadowy figure faded back into the night. He left scratch marks in the glass with long, taloned fingers.