Hellfire

He listened, waiting for it to come again.

All he could hear was the pounding of his own heartbeat.

Once more, he started up the stairs.

And he heard it again.

It was faint, almost inaudible, but he was nearly certain that it was there.

It was a crackling noise, almost as if something were burning.

He froze again, straining his ears, struggling to hear the sound once more, hear it clearly.

It didn’t come.

The minutes passed, and his heart finally slowed to a normal pace. In the mill, there was only silence. At last, Phillip went on up the stairs, and walked slowly toward the door. He paused one final time, his hand poised over the light switch, and looked around.

Everything was as it should be.

He switched out the lights, plunging the building back into darkness, then carefully locked the door. From a few feet away, the policeman spoke. “Everything all right, Mr. Sturgess?”

Phillip nodded, about to start back toward his car. Then: “You didn’t hear anything, did you?” he asked. “While I was in the mill?”

The cop frowned in the darkness. “Hear anything, Mr. Sturgess? No, I don’t think so.”

Phillip thought for a moment, then nodded once again. “All right,” he said. “Thanks.”

He walked quickly to his car, unlocked it, and got in. Then he put the flashlight back in the glove compartment, started the engine, and shifted the gears into drive.

He looked at the mill once more.

He decided he hadn’t heard anything. It had only been his imagination, and the stress of the day.

Phillip Sturgess drove away into the night.

Beth woke up just after midnight, screaming.

The dream was still vivid in her memory, and her pajamas were soaked with perspiration. Her heart pounded as her scream faded away.

The door to her bedroom flew open, and the light went on.

“Beth?” she heard her mother’s voice asking. “Beth, what is it? Are you all right?”

Beth shook her head, as if the gesture would shake the hideous images from her mind. “I saw it,” she breathed. “I saw it all!”

“What?” Carolyn asked, crossing the large room to sit on the bed and gather Beth into her arms. “What did you see, honey?”

“Jeff,” Beth sobbed. “I saw what happened to him, Mom.”

“It was a nightmare, sweetheart,” Carolyn crooned, gently stroking her daughter’s forehead. “It was only a dream.”

“But I saw it,” Beth insisted. “I … I was in the mill, downstairs, and there was someone else there. And then there was a sound, and I could hear Jeff’s voice.”

She broke off, sobbing, and Carolyn cradled her. “No,” she whispered. “It was a dream. Only a dream.”

It was as if Beth didn’t hear her. “And then the wall slid away, and all of a sudden I could see Jeff. And then — and then someone pushed him!”

“Pushed him?” Carolyn asked. “What do you mean, honey?”

“I … I don’t know,” Beth stammered. “But someone pushed him, and he fell onto the pick. He didn’t trip, Mom! She pushed him. She killed him!”

“No, sweetheart,” Carolyn insisted. “All that happened was that you had a bad dream. And what happened to Jeff Bailey today was an accident.”

Beth looked up at her mother with worried eyes. Carolyn brushed the hair back from the child’s forehead with gentle fingers. “A dream?” Beth asked. “But … but it was so real—”

“I know,” Carolyn assured her. “That’s what makes nightmares so scary, honey. They seem so real that even when you wake up, sometimes they seem as if they’re still happening. Is that what happened to you?”

Beth nodded. “I woke up, and it was dark, and it seemed like I was still in the mill. And I could still see it, and … and—”

“And now it’s all over with,” Carolyn finished for her. “Now you’re all wide-awake, and you know it was just a dream, and you can forget all about it.” She eased Beth back onto the pillow, and carefully tucked her in. “Do you want me to leave the light on for a few minutes?”

Beth hesitated, then nodded.

“Okay. Now, you just try to go back to sleep, and I’ll come back in later, and turn the light off. How’s that?”

“C-can’t we leave it on all night?” Beth asked.

Carolyn hesitated, thinking about the nightmares that had plagued Beth in the months after she and Alan had separated, and how the only thing that had finally solved them was leaving the light on through the night. It had been less than a year since Beth had finally been able to start sleeping in darkness once again. Was it all about to start over? “All right,” she said. “For tonight, we’ll leave the light on. But just tonight. All right?”

Beth nodded, and Carolyn leaned down and kissed her on the cheek. “Now, go back to sleep, honey, and if you have another bad dream, you call me.”

Beth said nothing, but turned over and drew the covers tightly around her. Carolyn straightened up, and looked at her daughter for a moment, wishing she could simply take Beth in with her and Phillip. But of course that could never happen. No matter how bad the nightmares had been, Beth had always refused to leave her own bed for the safety of her mother’s. That would have been giving in to her fears, and Beth would never do that.

Giving the little girl a reassuring smile, Carolyn kissed her again, then quietly left the room, pulling the door closed behind her.

Alone, Beth rolled over again, and lay staring at the ceiling in the soft glow of the bedlamp.

She knew what had happened now; knew what had taken place during the time that had disappeared from her day.

She’d been on her way to visit her father, running away from the party — the horrible party where everything had gone so wrong — and she’d stopped at the mill.

Stopped just for a moment, hoping to find out if Amy was really there or not.

And then she’d gone on her way, but something had been different. The light had changed, and the sun had dropped over the horizon.

It was suddenly much later than she’d thought.

So instead of going to see her father, she’d come back home, climbing back up the trail on the hillside. No one had even missed her; no one had even known she was gone.

But now, after the dream, she knew exactly what she’d done.

She had found Amy, and told her what had happened at the party, told her how mean Jeff Bailey had been to her.

And Amy had gotten revenge.

It hadn’t been she who had killed Jeff; she was sure of it.

If Beth had killed him, she would have remembered it.

So it had to have been Amy who killed him.

Beth reached up and switched out the light.

The darkness no longer frightened her, for now she had a friend. A friend named Amy, who liked the dark.

From now on, Beth wouldn’t be alone anymore. There would be someone to talk to, someone to confide in.

Someone who understood her.