Valcour Enchanted by a Demon

Chapter 2

It was early evening when she settled into a room at the Holiday Inn. One bed, half a bath, and a television awaited her for the night. She kicked her shoes off, sending them across the room. Then she threw herself down on the bed, stretched out her arms, and stared at the ceiling. There was a water stain in the stucco up there, its irregular edges old and brown.

“At least it’s not over the bed.”

She had this habit of talking to herself when she was alone. It helped her think, and kept her sane, as her mother used to say. But most of all, it dispelled the silence that seemed to follow her through her life. Even in college, surrounded by her new friends, she had felt alone. It wasn’t like she didn’t go out, do things, or have fun. But then she would come back to her dorm room, and be alone again.

And then today, when a good-looking guy had asked to share a ride with her, she’d turned him down. Sensible, right?

“Sensible girls die alone,” she said to the room.

Whatever. Her concern right now shouldn’t be herself. It should be her dad, back home, feeling lost with the death of his wife and needing someone else to take care of things for awhile until he could get back on his feet. Needing her, more specifically.

She rolled over onto her stomach on the bed and stared at the room’s beige-colored phone on the nightstand. She reached over and took the handset off its hook. The coil of the phone cord was tangled and knotted as she put it up to her ear to listen for the dial tone. It was expensive to call long distance on a hotel phone. But she had packed her cell phone in her luggage and, truthfully, she was just too tired to get it out right now.

The last time she had spoken to her dad, yesterday, he had been quiet and unemotional. Like he was just reading the words he said to her off a script. Mom’s death was hitting him hard.

It was rough on Brianna, too, but right now she didn’t have the luxury of being the one who was sad. She had to be the one who was strong, the one who travelled across the country to help her dad take care of things. Maybe after all that, after she knew that her dad would be all right, she could find some time for herself, to think some things through.

So she dialed her dad’s number in New York. “Dial nine first, then one, three-one-five…” She talked herself through the whole process. It was just too quiet in this room.

The phone rang four times before someone picked it up on the other end. “Hello?”

“Hey daddy. How are you doing?”

“Are you almost home, honey?’

There were tears in his voice. “No, not yet. I’m in Minnesota. Or Iowa. I’m not really sure. I think the line runs right through here somewhere. I’m stopping for the night. Tomorrow, maybe. If not tomorrow, then the day after.”

“Oh.”

Silence.

“How are you doing out there?” she asked him, trying to be cheerful, pulling at a knot in the cord.

“Oh, I’m getting by, I guess. I miss her, you know?”

“I know, daddy. I miss Mom too. Is Aunt Judy there with you?”

Judy was her dad’s sister. She had promised to come over and help with things until Brianna could get there.

“Yeah, she’s here. She came yesterday. Cleaned out everything in the refrigerator and threw it all away. Then she went shopping and bought a whole bunch of lettuce and grass and stuff for animals to eat. She knows I hate salads.”

And that was the way Aunt Judy helped. She took over and changed everything to the way she liked it.

“I’ll be there soon, Daddy. I promise.”

“Okay, honey. Have a safe trip.”

And then he hung up.

She knew she shouldn’t expect much, not when he was still grieving for Mom. But he hadn’t even said that he loved her. That wasn’t like him. She really wished she was there, now, to take care of him. And then she wished she was back in school still and someone else could take care of her dad. And then she wished her mom had never died in the first place.

Her head was spinning as she lay there on the bed and let the phone’s receiver drop to the floor, its cord pulling it back and making it spin in a little half-circle.

Brianna had always been the one to be there when anyone else needed her; her parents included. She had put off going to college a whole year because her mom needed her. In fact, going to college in Seattle had been the first thing she had ever truly done for herself. And just when she was starting to build a life for herself, her mom had died.

She wasn’t angry at her mom for dying, not really, but she knew in her heart that this meant her chance at a life of her own was over. She was being sucked right back into the middle of everyone else’s life to be the dependable one. The one who was always there for anyone who needed her.

The one who missed out on everything.

That unwelcome thought trailed around in her mind, echoing and twisting into the sound of bells ringing in her ears.

She hadn’t remembered falling asleep, but the ringing of the phone jolted her awake on the bed, and she blinked her eyes open. They were heavy and raw. Brianna rubbed at them with the back of her left wrist as she felt around the floor for the receiver.

The phone rang again.

Her groping fingers found the cord and followed it to the handset where it lay near a leg of the nightstand. She picked it up and brought it to her ear.

And then stopped. The phone was off the hook.

How was it ringing?

She stared at it. It couldn’t be. Maybe she was still sleeping and—

It rang again in her hand, making her jump.

She took a breath. “Okay. Next time I’m definitely sticking with my cell phone.” Her voice was still shaking as she put the handset to her ear and said, “Hello?”

Ring.

This time she was so startled that she dropped the phone back to the floor, its coiled rubber cord bouncing and shaking and pulling the base across the top of the nightstand to the edge of the table.

“Oh, for crying out loud.” She got hold of herself and reached down to where the handset had fallen. The phone was obviously just malfunctioning. She picked it up and slammed it down hard in its cradle, the buttons on the front panel lighting momentarily and then going dark again.

Silence. The phone didn’t do anything. “There. Now stop it.” She sat up on the bed, knees drawn up to her chest, and rubbed at her eyes with both fists.

Ring.

She heard herself squeak as she nearly fell off the bed. With a growl of frustration, she grabbed the phone up and yelled into the mouthpiece. “Hello!”

There was silence on the other end for all of two seconds before she heard an uncertain voice. “Uh, hello. Is this Miss Maitland in room four-oh-three?”

Brianna sighed and raked her hand back through her hair. It was just the clerk at the front desk. She remembered the woman’s voice from when she had checked in. Brianna pictured her now, dark-skinned and pleasant, with a faint Indian accent. “Yes. Yes, this is Miss Maitland.”

“I’m sorry to disturb you, but you have a package here at the front desk.”

“I have a what?” She couldn’t have heard that right.

“You have a package here. It was just dropped off. Shall I have it sent up to your room?”

“Um, no. No, that’s…I’ll be down to get it. Who delivered it?”

“The man didn’t leave his name. And there’s—” Brianna could just hear the faint sounds of the clerk turning the package over in her hands “—there’s no return address. Just your name and your room number.”

Her room number? Who would have known her room number? She had only just paid for the room an hour or so ago. She checked the clock. It read 7:38. Well, an hour and a half ago, anyway. But still, no one could know she was here.

“Miss Maitland?” the clerk prompted her.

“Oh. Sorry, I was just trying to figure out how someone could have delivered a package to me here. You know?”

“We take in packages all the time,” the clerk tried to rationalize it. “I’ll hold it here at the desk for you.”

And then she hung up.

Brianna didn’t understand. It had to be a mistake. Didn’t it? She replaced the handset on the cradle gently this time and then just stared at it.

It had to be a mistake.

Didn’t it?

Shaking her head, she went and found her sneakers where they had landed against the room’s air conditioner. She put the first one on and tied it tight, reached for the second one.

And the phone rang again.

She hopped back to the bed on one foot and sat down. With the phone cradled in one shoulder, she put her other sneaker on. “Hi. Did you forget something?”

It wasn’t the clerk. It was static. Just hissing, popping static.

“Hello?” she tried again. Still static.

“Stupid phone.”

Stupid phone.

The static twisted and coagulated into her own words.

Chills ran up her spine. “Who is this?”

“Who is this?”

“Okay. I’m…I’m going to hang up now.”

“Don’t hang up.”

The chills stood the hair up at the nape of her neck. Those weren’t her words.

“Listen to me. Stay away from him.”

“Who is this?”

“Don’t trust him.”

Brianna swatted the phone away. It landed on the table this time, the static loud and insistent.

“Stay away from him.”

And then the line went quiet with a little click.

She reached out a finger, slowly, tentatively, and poked the receiver. It twisted in a half-circle and she jerked back away from it. But it was just moving in response to her touch. Nothing sinister, nothing bizarre. Just a phone.

Then what had she heard?

Brianna left the phone where it was on the table. Not that she was scared of it, she told herself. She just didn’t want it to ring again. That was all.

Keeping her eyes on it, she slowly backed her way to the door.