The Dead House

(AL): Carly was unstable, which is why she was hospitalized. She had delusions about flight and a fixation with putting herself in danger. She had a history of reckless behavior even before what happened to her parents. When she escaped, she was delusional. She behaved in the manner of someone hiding something, and I think that something was what she called “the Voice.” Aka Manah, the voice that tortures the mind. I did everything to help that girl—I was there for her, at her beck and call, all hours of the day and night, should she have chosen to talk to me. But, like everyone who suffers from paranoid personality disorder, she made me into the enemy, saw my attempts to help her as trickery, and pushed me away. Then, after she was readmitted to Claydon, she began to see that she needed help. She began to let me in. Until Naida Chounan-Dupré insisted on seeing Carly.



(FH): Do you think Naida has something to do with Carly’s escape?



(AL): You know better than I do what happened, Inspector. All I know is that Naida came, and then Carly regressed, and then she escaped. Smashed right through the window in her room.



(FH): Did you ever meet Naida face-to-face?



(AL): Yes. Directly before she went in to see Carly.



(FH): Is that meeting on tape?



(AL): No. Only the meeting room is recorded.



(FH): Did Naida seem normal to you when you met her?

[Pause]



(AL): What do you mean?



(FH): Do you think that Naida herself might have been… emotionally unstable?



(AL): I never had any professional dealings with Naida, so I don’t know.



(FH): And if I were to inform you that Naida was a patient at Claydon for a summer some years ago?



(AL): I was unaware of that.



(FH): Her records are sealed, but her consultant, a Dr. [name omitted], stated that she had an anxiety disorder that was brought under control.



(AL): Then I expect that’s correct.



(FH): Is it possible that Naida, a girl with a history of anxiety and hospitalization, might have been… influenced by Carly in some way?



(AL): Mr. Homes, I think you’d better be frank with me if you expect a helpful response.

[Pause]



(FH): What is your opinion on group hysteria?



(AL): My opinion?



(FH): Myth or fact?



(AL): It’s very real. I think you’d better tell me what you’re getting at.



(FH): Thank you, Doctor. You’ve been helpful. I’ll be in touch.



[End of tape]





71


31 days until the incident




Diary of Kaitlyn Johnson


Sunday, 2 January 2005, 7:00 pm

Attic

These are what my thoughts sound like.

Have you ever heard glass sing? It’s so beautiful. Delicate, crystalline—it’s a sound you think should be relegated to the happiest places and the friendliest gestures.

I hear glass splintering… no, not even glass, really. It’s too soft for that. More like the glass equivalent of toffee… more like… a mirror. A mirror, squeaking and snapping as it splinters and begins to break. On and on.

Chip… crack… squeak…

A plastic sound, not quite real, but real enough to cut if you grab too hard. And I always do, so I always bleed.

These are what my thoughts sound like.


The house is mine.

I hear him in the day now too. I feel him, the way I felt the house in that nightmare. I feel the house like my own heartbeat.


Later

What do you think, Dee?




Naida Camera Footage

Date and Time Index Missing

Basement



A succession of days and nights follow, all of them with Kaitlyn waiting, restlessly pacing in the dank cellar room. Occasionally she examines her arms, pulling back the long sleeves of her top to stare down at her stitches. Scott brings food and drink, then Brett, who stays to chat with a fairly unenthusiastic Kaitlyn, then Scott again. Naida is rarely seen.

“Naida’s busy again?” Kaitlyn asks Scott one night. “Am I too much… am I a burden?”

Scott puts down the tray of food he has brought with him. “Just hang in there, I guess. I know it’s hard—”

“No, you don’t! It’s more than hard, Scott—I’m going crazy in here! I’m losing my mind!”

Scott, in a yet-unseen act of kindness, pulls Kaitlyn into a hug. “She’s been working hard to find out what’s what. Waiting for a sign from the Shyan bloke, watching students around her, performing rituals, and laying—whatever she calls them.” He releases her. “I’ll tell her.”

Kaitlyn shakes her head. “Don’t. Carly’s more important.”

He nods. “I can stay for a while, if you want?”

“No. Help Naida if you can. But… maybe you can find Ari first? He’s doing extra-credit work after school, but… ask him to come?”

“Right.” He grins. “You and the army brat getting close, huh?”