If it offended her, good. For years, he’d been looking forward to Beast House. Now he was finally here, but Monica wouldn’t let him enjoy it.
Big mistake.
And she thinks I’m actually going to marry her?
When hell freezes over
He waited just inside the doorway while a family with three kids made their way into Lilly’s bedroom. Everyone in the family wore earphones. Even their girl, who appeared to be about eight years old.
It didn’t seem right, bringing a kid that age into a place like this.
People are so damn queer, he thought.
But what’s really the harm? If the kid ever lays her eyes on the TV news, she’ll see a lot worse than this.
When the door was clear, Owen moved into the hallway and stepped aside to avoid a man carrying an infant
The baby didn’t wear earphones. Owen smiled.
For just a moment, he pictured a kid of his own—but it was a girl and it looked like Monica.
No way, he thought.
My God, she could be pregnant right now for all I know! Who’s to say she isn’t? Condoms leak.
He wished he could simply close his eyes and make a wish and Monica would be gone...
“Oh, there’s nothing much to see up there, anyway. But the attic isn’t particularly safe. That’s why we don’t allow anyone up the stairs.”
Owen glanced at the person who was speaking.
A guide.
He started to look away.
She caught him looking and smiled.
He smiled back.
She turned her eyes away from him and resumed talking to a couple of teenagers who had stopped near the attic door. On the wall beside the doorway was a large number 7.
Owen kept moving.
He stared at her as he walked by.
Then he turned his head to look over his shoulder at her.
“Don’t break your neck,” Monica said.
“Huh?”
“God almighty.”
“Huh?” Facing Monica, he raised his eyebrows. “What’re you talking about?”
“You know damn well.”
“What?”
“That dumb blonde in the guide suit back there.”
Was I that obvious?
“What makes you think she’s dumb?” Owen asked, trying to sound amused.
“Just one look at her.”
“I wouldn’t know. I didn’t get that good of a look.”
“Sure you didn’t.”
“I was trying to see up the attic stairs,” he said.
“Uh-huh, sure. She’s not that hot, you know. If you ask me, she sort of looks like a horse.”
Yeah, a gorgeous thoroughbred.
“I don’t know,” he said. “I hardly saw her.”
He wished he’d had a better chance to see her.
She works here, he told himself. She’ll still be around when we come back this way. Station Seven.
She’ll probably be a big disappointment. Nobody can be that terrific. And even if she IS that terrific, I’d never stand a chance with her.
Guys like me don’t even exist...
“Where you going, Bozo?” Monica asked. “We just walked past Station Four.”
He stopped, looked over his shoulder, and saw the 4 painted on the wall of the hallway. “Ah,” he said. Then, trying to smile at Monica, he said, “Thanks.”
With a smug smile, she said, “I think you’d lose your head if it wasn’t attached.”
“Maybe.”
He pressed the Play button.
He expected Janice’s voice, but Maggie’s came on instead. “When the beast couldn’t get into Lilly’s room, it turned around and came prowling down the hall this way, looking for someone to kill. It sniffed its way along like a bloodhound.”
Owen glanced toward the attic door, but too many people were in the way and he couldn’t see the guide.
What if she’s gone?
Never mind, he told himself. Just ignore her and enjoy the tour.
Sure.
“It smelled Lilly’s kids,” Maggie was saying. “It tracked their scent all the way down the hall, and found them in their bedroom. This is it, right here. Come on in.”
While Owen waited for a man to step out, Maggie’s voice was silent. He imagined her leading a group of tourists into the room, making sure they were all inside before resuming her speech.
“Here we are,” she said.
Beyond the red cordon were twin, brass beds. The covers were thrown back and rumpled. The sheets were bright in the sunlight coming in through the windows, but spattered with dark stains.
The kids lay sprawled in the space between the beds. Their night-shirts had nearly been torn from their bodies. Shreds of the bloody fabric draped their buttocks.
“This is the bedroom where the children slept,” Maggie said. “But I ‘spect they were wide awake when the beast came after them. All the commotion was downstairs and way at the other end of the hall, but this ain’t a real big house. And it’s real quiet in the middle of the night. Noise carries. So they likely heard the beast slamming things around and pounding on their mama’s door and roaring out its rage. If they heard it, they were too scared to move. All they could do was hide under their covers, the way kids do, froze up with fear and hoping it was just a bad dream and maybe it’d go away. Only it wasn’t no dream, and it didn’t go nowhere. It come for them.
“Earl was ten years old,” Maggie said. “His brother, Sam, was only eight. They were both still in their beds when the beast got them. See the blood? They must’ve started off on their beds and ended up on the floor. Right there, that’s where their bodies got found.”
Maggie stopped talking. Owen expected Janice to come on. But a couple of seconds later, Maggie’s voice returned. She said, slowly and low, “Imagine how scared they must’ve been, those little fellers. They likely reckoned it was the boogeyman.
But I bet they figured everything’d turn out all right and they’d get saved at the last minute. Only they didn’t get saved. The beast got them.
“It didn’t kill them right away. That would’ve been a blessing. We can’t really know what all went on here, but there’s reports of town-folk hearing the screams of children in the night. Far-off screams that went on for good long time. Nobody could figure just where they were coming from, but afterwards, they knew. It was Lilly’s boys crying out in horror and agony while the beast tormented them.
“It’s said that Lilly heard their screams when she was running down Front Street, and that’s what unhinged her mind.”
The tape went silent again for a few moments. Then Janice came on and said in a solemn voice, “With the deaths of Lilly’s two sons, the rampage ended. The beast vanished, and its crimes were placed on the head of poor Gus Goucher. Nobody knew that there was a beast. Only Lilly, perhaps—and she had been reduced to manical babbling.
“Which may or may not have been faked.
“If your curiosity has been aroused, I suggest that you read my books and take advantage of the Midnight Tour. You’ll be surprised and maybe even shocked by what you learn.”
She paused for a moment or two, then started talking again. “After the attack on Lilly Thom’s family on that horrible night in 1903, the house was abandoned. Nobody lived here again for twenty-eight years. Then, in 1931, it was purchased by Joseph Kutch. He moved in with his wife, Maggie, and their three children. But they were in the house for only two weeks before the beast struck.
“You may now move on to Station Five. Turn right just outside the door, and go down the corridor until you come to the top of the stairway. There, you’ll hear Maggie begin to tell you about the night that the beast attacked her family.”