90_Minutes_to_Live (16 page)

Thomas paused for a second and let his words wash over Lewis. He felt it, in his bones, when it all came together for him.

“You found the walkie talkie,” Thomas said. “Did you find anything else?”

Lewis hadn’t waited on Thomas to speak. He had already started feeling around the coffin again, franticly searching for something. What, he couldn’t say. He only hoped he didn’t find anything. Then he felt it. Soft but coarse all at once. Solid and separate, thick and thin all the same. His hand started to shake as he breathed in peppermint and vanilla when he brought the thick lock of hair to his face, the one he knew was strawberry blond, even in the darkness smothering him. Lewis lost it then, started screaming and beating against the pine walls enclosing him. He would do so until the air ran out and the final darkness took him.

He didn’t hear the last thing Thomas said, before he dropped the walkie talkie and left Lewis to his fate. But he didn’t need to hear it, for he already knew.

“No Lewis. Two lives were lost that night. Two lives. An eye for an eye Lewis.
That
is justice.”

The End

House of Roses

(Horror)

By

Jasmine Cabanaw

The crimson sun was sitting low by the time Kevin Archer and Justine Francis pulled into the driveway of their new home. The hemlock trees lining the driveway looked jagged and scraggly against the flaming hues of the evening sky. The house loomed at the end of the drive like the silhouette of some sleeping giant, with its roof sagging in the middle and its rickety stairs leading up the porch like rows of teeth into a gaping mouth. Like lids closed tightly over glassy eyes, the windows were boarded shut against the outside world.

Kevin and Justine were weary from the long drive from South Carolina to Gravenstein, New Hampshire. They had started out at eleven o’clock the night before and had driven straight through, anxious to begin their new life in this tiny town nestled against New Hampshire’s White Mountain National Forest. A month before, the town and the house had seemed dreamy and alluring, like something out of a romantic fairytale. However, stepping out of the car and surveying the overgrown property in the chill of the autumn air, Justine was no longer feeling so enchanted.

Kevin, on the other hand, was practically bouncing up and down with excitement. “Justine!” he cried, as he picked her up and twirled her around in a dizzying embrace. “This place is so incredible! The air is so crisp! And look at these gorgeous trees!” he sighed. “We’re going to love it here.”

Justine stood back for a moment and watched her boyfriend start to unload the car. He looked a bit like a scarecrow right then, in his ripped jeans and plaid shirt and with wisps of curly hair sticking out from under his cap. He was tall and gangly, like a scarecrow. It was amusing how he already seemed to fit in with the place.

Justine grabbed a few boxes and followed him up the porch stairs. He fumbled with the lock for a moment but then the heavy, oak door opened with a groan to reveal a large parlor room. A round table brooded in the center, a wrought iron chandelier hanging above it. A staircase rose up against the west wall to the second level, a living room was through a door to the east and the kitchen and dining room were in the back, at the end of a short hallway. Three bedrooms and a bathroom occupied the second floor, with a large attic above. The house wasn’t enormous but it was certainly much larger than the two-bedroom apartment they had left in South Carolina.

The other bonus was that the house came fully furnished. While it did seem a little odd the previous owners had left their furniture and appliances, Kevin and Justine hadn’t pushed the realtor for details. They hadn’t wanted to jinx their good luck. With the money they saved from not having to hire movers, plus the money they made from selling all their furniture, they had been able to stash away some cash for an engagement ring. Kevin had yet to buy the ring, as Justine wanted to wait until she found the perfect one, but it was reassuring to know they would have the money available. The tide finally seemed to be turning for them. Kevin had gotten a job at the local high school, they had found this house and she was almost in the right frame of mind to start writing again.

Kevin was like a whirlwind, grabbing luggage from the car, running it inside and racing back out again. Justine had put her first load of boxes on top of the parlor table and sat down on the porch, watching the spectacle that was her boyfriend. She still felt tired from everything that had happened. In fact, she was suddenly feeling like she could barely keep her eyes open.

Noticing her slumped against the porch fence, Kevin took a break from running boxes and sat down beside her. “Hey,” he said, lightly brushing a hand through her short, blonde hair. “Why don’t you get to bed and I’ll finish unloading the car?” his brown eyes searched her blue ones with concern. “Darling, you look exhausted.”

She sighed. “Yes but I can’t possibly let you finish unpacking the car by yourself.”

He smiled. She was so stubborn sometimes. “Yes, you can. Besides, I have all this energy right now and if I don’t do something with it, I’ll be bouncing off the walls. Go upstairs and climb into bed and I’ll meet you in a little bit.”

Justine reluctantly agreed. “Thank you,” she gave him a kiss. “I owe you one.”

She trudged up the stairs and into the master bedroom, flicking on the light to find a large poster bed in the middle of the room, with end tables on either side. A dresser with a large mirror stood against the wall, across from the foot of the bed. Justine shuddered. She hated sleeping across from a mirror but was too tired to be bothered with rearranging any furniture.

The whole room had a darkness about it, with wine-colored curtains covering the only window and furniture carved out of dark mahogany. Even the comforter on the bed was a deep red. She would have preferred stripping it, sleeping in her own sheets, but she barely had enough energy to pull back the blankets and crawl in before she was fast asleep.

*   *   *

The next few days were spent unpacking, rearranging furniture, driving the mile into town to get supplies and settling into their new home. The fatigue she felt on their first night had disappeared after waking the following morning. She still felt the sadness that had plagued her for months but the move had spurred a new hopefulness in her. She and Kevin were behaving like ants rebuilding a colony. So much work had to be done. The porch steps had to be fixed, the boards had to be pried off the windows, all the carpets and floors needed cleaning. The structure of the house was in such neglect but Justine could tell it once felt love. She kept finding little details, like a single tile, patterned with roses amongst all the beige tiles on the kitchen floor, throughout the house. There were also roses carved into the fireplace mantel and a stained glass window with roses, in the upstairs bathroom. The roses had a romance about them, as if someone had put them there as a gift for their lover.

Justine was sitting at the table in the kitchen, sipping coffee, when she heard Kevin calling her from the attic. A smile lit her face. Something in his voice suddenly made her heart race with excitement. She put down her mug and sprinted up the stairs.

He was standing in the attic beside a bay window. The view was of the back of the property, studded with old maple, oak and chestnut trees, alight in autumn colors and stretching on for over an acre, until it gave way to the edge of the forest. White-tipped mountain peaks stood like sentinels on the horizon. However, the view of his love, breathless and face flushed as she entered the room, was more alluring to Kevin than any natural wonder. He had known she was the girl he wanted to marry since their first date.

Justine rushed over to his side. “Well, what’s got you so excited?”

He took her hand. “Here, have a seat,” he said, motioning for her to sit on the bench in front of the window.

“I know we planned to pick this out together but this somehow seems like the perfect ring for you.”

Justine’s eyes widened as she watched Kevin get down on one knee and open his fingers to reveal a gold ring with a stunning diamond in the middle. He placed the ring in her palm so she could examine it in detail. Tiny, intricately carved leaves decorated the band and the diamond was set within a tiny, gold rose.

Justine managed to pry her eyes away from it to look at Kevin. “It’s absolutely perfect,” she breathed.

He grinned and slipped the ring on her finger. A chill, like an electric shock, went down Justine’s spine.

“A little jumpy, are we?”

She shook her head. “Just excited,” she held up her hand to admire how the ring looked on her finger; it was a perfect fit. “Where did you get this?”

“It was in the top drawer of that desk over there,” he pointed to a large desk crammed up against several other pieces of furniture. “I was attempting to straighten out the attic. There is such a great view from up here; it would be a shame to let this room go to waste.”

He lowered his eyes and then brought them up again to meet hers. “So, what do you think? I know this ring is unexpected but it’s so perfect,” he paused. “Will you marry me?”

“Absolutely!” she cried and threw her arms around him.

Kevin sighed. It was so good to see her happy again. “Justine, I think we really can start over in this place. We’ll settle into this home and make new friends and no one will even have to know about our past and what we went through with the baby.”

Her eyes darkened. “Why would you even mention that right now?” she pulled away from him. “Why would you do that?”

“Honey, I’m so sorry. It just came out. I love you. Please don’t be upset. Everything is so beautiful right now. Let’s just be happy,” he pulled her back to him.

“Okay,” she conceded, but the sadness had already returned in her voice.

*   *   *

The house felt empty and eerily quiet with Kevin away at work. She was sitting on her bed, trying to motivate herself to unpack her last few boxes. It was exciting for Kevin to be starting the new job teaching history at the high school but she was sad not to have her fiancé by her side during the day.
Fiancé
, she thought. She was looking forward to using that word, yet the title was bittersweet. In a way, she hated that being engaged and married mattered so much to people, particularly her former friends and family. When the baby died, just ninety minutes after it was born, her
supposed
loved ones blamed the death on her and Kevin’s
sinful
lifestyle. Her own mother had said, “This is what happens to people who don’t abide by God’s rules.”

Justine hadn’t planned on getting pregnant; she and Kevin had only been dating for two months. She couldn’t deny that aborting the baby had crossed her mind but she was raised with enough fire and brimstone to fear the spiritual consequence. And yet, if she had been able to foresee the social consequence—the scorn and disdain of her friends and family throughout her pregnancy—then maybe she would have made a different choice. In the end, her decision to keep the baby hadn’t mattered. Within ninety minutes, Justine had gone from witnessing the miracle of God-given life, to the horror that God could not possibly exist. What god would snatch the breath of a newborn baby and turn him a lifeless blue before his mother even had a chance to hold him in her arms? Her child had only been given ninety minutes to live on this Earth. What purpose could there be in that?

She flopped on the bed for a minute and took a few deep breaths to calm her nerves.
A new life
, she told herself.
Kevin and I are starting a new life.
She held up her hand to admire the ring. At first, she thought it was a little weird, wearing a ring that most surely had belonged to someone else, but after just a few days, the ring already felt like it belonged to her.

A door slammed downstairs—interrupting her thoughts. She heard a man’s voice call out her name but it didn’t sound like Kevin. She looked at the clock. It was only two-thirty; Kevin was not due home from work until four. “Who’s there?” she called. The cold shock of fear paralyzed her for just a moment as she heard the heavy thud of footsteps making their way up the stairs and then she was locking the bedroom door, grabbing her cell phone, and frantically dialing 911.

Kevin arrived home to find a cop car in the driveway. Alarmed, he rushed into the house to meet a uniformed officer, seated at the kitchen table with a distraught Justine. She looked so small and frail, sitting hunched over the table, but her eyes lit up as he entered the room. “Kevin!” she cried, and threw herself into his embrace.

“What’s going on?” he asked, his brow furrowed in concern and bewilderment.

The officer stood up, extending his hand. “I’m officer Ian Brady. We received an emergency call earlier this afternoon about a possible intruder. I can assure you, me and a fellow officer searched the house and the property grounds thoroughly. If there ever was an intruder here, he’s certainly long gone by now. Probably just some local kid, snooping around. This house has been empty for quite some time you know. Wouldn’t surprise me if some punk teens had been creeping around in here before you folks moved in.”

Kevin looked at Justine. “Was the front door locked? I locked it when I left this morning.”

Justine gave him a puzzled look. “I haven’t been out and I didn’t unlock the door.”

“Well,” Brady interjected, “There are no signs of forced entry, so you best double check the next time you think you’ve locked the door.”

Kevin shook his head. “I know I locked the door.”

Ian Brady shrugged. “It wouldn’t be the first time something strange has happened in this house. Just be glad it wasn’t as tragic as the last time we were called out here.”

Justine gasped, “What do you mean?”

Brady cleared his throat. “Oh, ah, um, nothing you two need to worry about. I best be going,” he said, quickly, and gave a tip of his hat. “Call if you need anything else,” he said over his shoulder, walking out of the room.

Kevin turned to Justine. “What happened exactly?”

She felt her face flush. “I don’t know anymore,” she was feeling silly. At the time, she really had thought she had heard something but now she was wondering if her mind was playing tricks on her. The police officers hadn’t found a trace of a footprint or anything.