The New Neighbor

same things you have.' He looked at George again, nodding encouragingly.

George said, 'My family and I… well, like all of you, I'm sure… we got involved with Lorelle and we became uh… my wife Karen is, um, she's over their right now, and -'

'I don't give a damn, Pritchard,' Mr. Weyland barked. 'All I want to know is how to get my daughter out of there and how to get rid of that cunt.'

Quillerman sighed. 'Please listen to yourself. That kind of attitude is what she wants! You must have compassion for your neighbors, think of the pain they're going through, too, and don't -'

'I'm thinking of my husband right now,' a woman said.

A man shouted, 'And we're thinking of our son!'

'I thought you wanted to help us,' another man said. 'You're a man of god. Wouldn't god want us to stop that slut?'

“Yeah!' Mrs. LaBianco shouted. 'Christ kicked the moneychangers out of the temple, why shouldn't we kick that twat off our block?'

“How the hell're we supposed to do that?' Mr. Parker asked.

'Drag her out by the hair if we have to!' Mrs. LaBianco replied.

'No, no, please listen!' Pastor Quillerman shouted.

'We are listening,' Mr. Weyland growled, 'But you're not telling us anything!'

'I'm trying to tell you something,' Quillerman said, his voice lower now, more calm than before. 'I have been through the exact same thing you're going through! I wish someone had come along and tried to help -' His voice broke and he cleared his throat, then lowered his voice a bit. ' – tried to help my family. But no one did. So I haven't had a family for many years, thanks to a creature just like the one in there,' he said, pointing at Lorelle's house. 'But that doesn't have to happen to you.'

'It's already happened to us!' a woman shouted. George recognized the voice as that of Trish Mason. She and her husband lived at the end of the street with their three kids. 'My husband is gone and I want to get him back before it's too late. You're not telling me how to get him back.'

'He has to make that choice himself,' Quillerman answered.

'What if we make the choice for them?' Weyland asked.

'Fine,' Quillerman said. 'Then why aren't you storming the place? Why aren't you bursting in there and rescuing those people? I think it's because deep down inside, even if you don't admit it to yourself, you're afraid of Lorelle Dupree. But I'm trying to tell you that you don't need to be afraid of her! You have a much greater power at your disposal. Your love for your sons and daughters and husbands and wives could bring them back to you if you'd just let it. But you mustn't give in to the dark, angry part of yourselves that she's trying so hard to bring out! She wants you to -'

“He's a madman!' a woman's voice shouted from a distance.

Everyone turned and shined their flashlights in that direction.

Lorelle stood in the same window in which Robby had seen Karen earlier. She wore a red robe open just enough to bare a narrow strip of pale flesh down the front.

'Don't listen to him,' she said. 'He's a liar. A crazy liar! He'd be in a mental hospital if he didn't have his pulpit to hide behind!'

'Don't listen to her!' Pastor Quillerman shouted, raising his arms high. 'Wear the armor of righteousness! Fend off the arrows of evil!'

'Listen to his holier-than-thou talk!' Lorelle shouted at them. 'Have I talked to any of you that way? Have I done anything to any of you? I've done nothing!'

The crowd was silent. No one responded, but looks were exchanged, brows creased.

“If I've done anything at all, I've given you pleasure. You know that's true, each one of you. You know in your hearts that this lunatic is lying to you. And as for your friends and loved ones who are here with me… they are here because they want to be. You may not like it, but they are here by choice. ' Over her shoulder: 'Isn't that right?'

A chorus of voices rose in agreement from the darkness behind Lorelle.

George put his arms around Robby and Jen and said, 'Go back to the house.'

'That was Mom's voice!' Jen shouted, pulling away from him. “I heard her!” She took several steps toward Lorelle's house as she shouted, 'Mom! Come home! Please come home! Mom?'

Silence. Everyone stared at the window, at Lorelle.

'I don't want to!' Karen shouted.

A whimper escaped Jen as she spun around and faced George. He embraced her and whispered in her ear, 'Please, honey, please go back to the house now.'

Before she could do as he had said, a frightened man's voice called, 'Carl? Carl, your mom and I want you to come home now. We're sorry for what happened earlier and we'll -'

'Fuck off!' a young male voice shouted back.

'Marlene?' a man shouted. 'Marlene? Hon? Please come out of -'

From behind Lorelle, a woman giggled drunkenly and the man who had called for Marlene whispered, 'Oh, my God.'

Lorelle said, 'I don't care what he says – these people have chosen to be here and no matter what you do, they won't leave until they choose to leave. They don't want to come back to you right now.' She paused, then: 'Of course… you could always come join us.”

“No!' Quillerman roared, raising a hand in the air. 'If you go in there with them, you'll all be lost!'

Laughter came from Lorelle's house. When they turned toward it again, she was gone and the window was black once again… but undefinable shapes moved in that blackness and laughter rang out now and then as if a party were going on, as if toasts were being made and jokes were being told…

'If they don't want to be with us,' Mr. Weyland said, 'why should we go in there and get them'

Everyone spoke at once and their voice blended into an incoherent babble, but the tone was unmistakably one of angry agreement.

'Wait a minute, please!' Pastor Quillerman shouted. 'You're not hearing me!'

'We hear you fine!' someone sneered. 'You're just not worth listening to!'

'Wait, please, aren't there any Christians here?' Quillerman asked.

Several voices rose affirmatively.

'But,' Mrs. LaBianco said, 'being a Christian doesn't mean I have to sit still for that woman, that-that… whore in there! She doesn't have any of my family with her, but I've been married for thirty-one years and I don't take kindly to some bitch coming into my life and screwing up my marriage!'

'But you allowed her to!' Quillerman said.

'Yeah,' a woman replied angrily, 'just like my husband is probably allowing that slut to do god knows what with him in there right now!'

Quillerman spread his arms and cried, 'But most of you here allowed her to do these things! How can you pass judgment on -'

A heavy black flashlight flew out of the darkness and struck Pastor Quillerman with a sharp crack across the bridge of his nose. He fell back against the pickup and released a whimpering sigh as he slid limply to the ground.

George and Robby knelt beside him and George shouted at the crowd, 'He was just trying to help you! Why did you do that?'

Quillerman, stunned and bleeding, rolled his head back and forth slowly as he groaned.