No, she told herself. You heard the boys outside again. Nothing more. If felt like more, and the feeling wasn’t helped by the fact that the kitchen suddenly darkened. The sun, dimming behind a cloud. The Watts were waiting. They apparently hadn’t heard anything. Joyce exhaled slowly, causing the flame of Seyha’s candle to flicker.

“You all right?” Bill asked.

 

“I’m fine. Just lost my place. Time to move down the hall?” She looked at Gem in case she’d decided to join them. The girl watched with a forced indifference, then turned her head sharply towards the front entrance.

Something was wrong.

 

The living room looked darker, too. Definitely just a cloud, moving in front of the sun.

           

*     *     *

This is nuts. Why am I still here? Gem pulled her feet tighter beneath her and stared through the window at Eliot and his friend, still tossing the football. Just before releasing it, Eliot would glance at the Watts’ house. She’d never seen her attention-deficient brother stick to anything this long. He’d watched her go inside and was waiting for her to come back out, tell all about the Magical World of Watts. His throws were slow, leisurely, his catches not always successful. Hopefully he’d get tired of waiting soon and go inside.

Joyce and company were in the master bedroom by now. That was not a room Gem wanted to see. Not to mention this house was starting to give her the creeps. She kept hearing someone whisper, once from right beside her.

 

She should leave.

Coming in with Joyce for the tour was bad enough. She had to stick around for the whole ceremony. And Mrs. Watts wasn’t even pretending to like her. The women had implied she knew about Gem’s little visits... and not for the first time she had to remind herself it didn’t matter. That had been way before the lady owned the place.

She thought about the passage Joyce had read. Bizarre, of course. They all were in that book. Gem had actually tried to read a few chapters this past Spring in the school library, tucked out of sight in a far corner. Just out of curiosity, to see why so many people kept coming next door week after week all those years. The stories were pretty repetitive and disjointed. Maybe Joyce could –

No, she thought, don’t be stupid. The woman was a minister, had her own “flock” to take care of. She wasn’t going to take time out for someone like her. Gem didn’t even go to church.

“Someone like you....” The words were followed by a quiet giggle, stretched out, then, “Yea...”

Gem bit her lip to keep from screaming. She stood up on the couch. Someone was talking to her, from somewhere in the room.  The same voice as before, no question, a guy’s voice, except now she understood the words. As she’d done a few minutes ago, Gem glanced over the back of the couch, half-expecting to see one of Eliot’s buddies crouching there with a shit-eating grin on his face.

No one.

Things were getting a little too Twilight Zoney in here.

 

The lights dimmed. Gem looked around. The lights weren’t even on. Outside it was bright and sunny. Inside, the light had an evening quality to it.

And there had been a voice!

 

She stared at Eliot holding the football close to his chest. Carl was beside him. They talked and glanced surreptitiously at the house, looking like they were finally giving up and heading inside for the Pat’s kick-off. Gem wondered again if her brother put some of his buddies up to sneaking downstairs and spooking the new neighbors. If he did, they were also spooking her. Bad idea, Eliot.

Problem was, this wasn’t her brother’s style. He was too boring to be that creative.

 

Gem got off the couch, began walking towards the window. She’d ask him before the Watts got back. Tell him to knock it off.

“You’re alone... “ the voice behind her said. Gem screamed and spun around, swinging her right arm.

No one there. Again.

“Gem, what’s wrong?” Joyce ran out of the hallway and into the dining room. She still held that thin black book she’d been reading. The Watts followed a pace behind.

 

Oh, Great, Gem thought. Definitely, absolutely, time to leave.

“Nothing,” she said, ignoring how constricted her chest felt. “I’m OK.”

 

Bill stepped past the others. His earlier, smiling face had dropped into a scowl. “Did you hear something, too?”

The room was getting darker every second. Gem found it hard to focus on the man’s face. Was she fainting? She nodded and said, “I thought I did. I don’t know.”

 

He looked out the window. “One of those boys your brother?“

Mrs. Watts stumbled forward, as if pushed, then turned around and covered her ears. She moaned quietly, the opposite of Gem’s earlier reaction but no less startled. She looked at her husband with staring eyes and lowered her hands.

 

 “Bill, who is that talking?”

Seeing the look of fear on the everyone’s face, Gem’s only thought at the moment was to get out, fast. “Listen, things are starting to get weird, so maybe I –”

“And it’s getting dark, as well,” Joyce interrupted. She was looking around the room.

Mrs. Watts took a step toward Gem, her once-startled expression giving way to rage. “If you think this little game you’re playing is funny, Miss Davidson, you’re wrong.” The candle in her hand had almost completely melted. Some of the wax which hadn’t evaporated melted over the round cardboard base above her fingers.

 

 “I’m not doing anything, lady! Maybe it’s you trying to scare me. You didn’t want me here anyway!”

“Maybe I don’t – “

“Sey, please...” Bill interrupted.

 

“No. It’s true. This girl sneaks into our house more than once and then waltzes inside today, of all days, completely uninvited.”

Gem tried to act casual, walking back towards the couch. If she left now, it would be admitting she was responsible for what was happening. She stopped in front of the couch, remained standing – plopping herself back down would be going a bit too far.

Joyce’s voice remained quiet but stern, “Seyha, I invited her, you know that. I’m sorry for causing trouble. I really think we should finish the ceremony.” She scanned the room one more time, then added, “Soon.”

 

“Finish...”

Everyone jerked at the voice, and the laughter that followed. Gem screeched and jumped onto the couch, pulled her feet up in a half-crouch. They’d all heard it this time. Why was it getting so dark in here? Mrs. Watts continued to stare at her.

 

“What now, Gem? One of your friends waiting in a closet with a monster costume?”

“Sey, please.”

 

Gem shouted, “No, you’re crazy. This house is haunted!”

With an edge of uncertainty, Bill said, “There are no such things as ghosts, Gem. Let me run downstairs before we finish. Someone must be hiding down there.”

 

“No.” The desperation in Joyce’s voice held him back. She walked into the living room and stood in front of the coffee table. “We need to finish the ceremony.” Her hands shook.

“Joyce,” said Bill, “don’t tell me you think the place has is haunted.”

 

Her attempt at a smile did not hold long. “No... no, of course not. But something feels wrong here. That wasn’t a child’s voice. And the room is getting noticeably darker, at least to me. I don’t understand what’s happening, but the only thing that makes sense is to finish.”

“Nothing’s happening!” Mrs. Watts screamed. She no longer pretended to be angry. She looked as terrified as Gem felt.

 

“There are other concerns in the world besides ghosts.” Joyce opened the book without waiting for a response, read, “The effect of righteousness will be peace...”

The light in the room faded, darker, darker, someone slowly turning a dimming switch. Gem felt claustrophobic. She had to get out of there. On the other side of one tall window, Eliot and Carl had spread out, not yet content to go inside. The sun shone bright and cloudless over them. Only its light didn’t make it all the way through the glass. Maybe it was tinted.

An opaque, smoky darkness spread along the edge of all the windows, like black frost. Gem focused on her brother. Her throat was too tight, she had no voice. Instead, she sent a mental scream for help, praying Eliot would see her and crash through the window to rescue his big sister.

Joyce was shouting. “...and the result of righteous tranquility and trust forever.”

 

Eliot wound back for a throw. Look at me! Gem pleaded silently.

“My people will abide in secure dwellings....”

 

Somewhere far away, Gem heard laughter. The darker the room, the louder the voice. Laughter running like a creek under more laughter.

God, please help me. If this is my fault, I’m sorry.

 

“...and in quiet resting places!”

But God didn’t live here anymore, did he?

 

Mrs. Watts whispered, “Bill, what’s going on?” The darkness had physical presence, filling up the house like dirt in a grave, wrapping around Gem’s head.

The only clear thing she could see was the center of the window across from her, Eliot releasing the football in a long arcing path to his friend.

Joyce screamed, ”Unless the Lord builds the house, their labor is in vain who build it! Let us pray!”

The window, and the house itself, were swallowed up in darkness.