CARRIE

Chapter Seventeen

We pulled into the driveway, and I helped Mom out of the car and into the house. I helped her to the couch and Barry went to grab a bottle of water and gave her to drink. “Thanks, you guys. That was extremely terrifying” She gulped the water and sank into the chair. Barry pulled a chair in front of her and sat down, “What exactly happened, Mom? Can you tell us how everything happened” He asked with a soothing voice. She put the water on the table and leaned forward, “Well, I got to the market and bought all the things I wanted to buy. I was about to leave when I noticed someone following me. I thought it was one of those creeps at first, but then, it didn’t feel like that sort of scenario at all.” She gulped before continuing, “He was hiding behind something every time I turned to look at him. I hid behind a shop and looked directly at him when he looked up, I saw it was-” she stopped and sniffed a little, trying to hold back tears. “I saw it was Perry. I was shocked for a while, then my legs moved by themselves and I started running.” I hugged her tight and cleaned her face with some wipes, she couldn’t hold the tears any longer, so she just let them stream down her face.

Barry hugged her and then turned to walk upstairs, she looked at him and asked “Where are you going?”. He answered back without turning back, “I’ll be right back. I have to show you something”.

I let go of my Mom and she looked over to Leah, “Forgive me, Leah, I haven’t even asked how you’re holding up with your first day back and having something like this happen”. Leah went over to her and smiled, “It’s okay Mrs. Cook, I’m more worried about you really.” Mom smiled back and kissed her on the cheek, “Thank you, I’m okay.” She held both of us, and smiled, “Thanks for today you two.”

Barry came back downstairs and he had something in his hands. “There’s something I have to tell you guys,” he said as he walked down the stairs. He had a box in his hands, he set the box down and brought out its contents. “What’s that?” I asked as I got up from where I was seated. “I received this box a month after Dad died” Inside the box were a note and a key. “In the note, he said he was afraid Perry would come after him, and if anything happened I should always take care of you guys”. My Mom’s eyes lit up and she sat up, “Why would he think Perry would come after him? And why did he feel something was going to happen” Her voice was already shaking. “I don’t know, something definitely happened between both of them though. I’ve always felt that uncle Perry was involved in Dad’s death”. He brought out the key from the box and dangled it, “This is the key to a storage room in town, there’s a number written on it. I’ll go check it out tomorrow, we will definitely get to the bottom of this” He finished as he put the note and key back into the box. I looked outside, it was already dark. “Leah, it's getting dark already. I don’t want you getting home late”, She frowned as she nudged me gently, “I already told my Mom I’m sleeping over. I can’t leave now” I smiled as she said that. I didn’t want her to leave anyway. I was about to ask what we’d have for dinner when the light went out. “That’s odd, only the living room light went out,” I said as I looked to the kitchen. Barry grabbed a chair to check the bulb, and before he touched the bulb, the light came back on brighter this time. I felt the same shiver I felt at the parking lot of the market, as I rubbed my arms. The door flung open and the light went off and then on. I gasped and jumped a little when Leah bumped into me. “Calm down, it’s probably just the breeze.” She walked to shut the door. “The breeze made the light go out too?” I asked, my voice breaking a bit. Leah was walking back when the door flung back open and a loud screech accompanied it. I held my ears tight as I pulled Leah back. We all ran upstairs to my Mom’s room and locked the door, then pushed a drawer behind it. “What the hell was that?” Barry asked as he dragged the drawer. We were all terrified, as we huddled together. After several minutes, we decided to go downstairs because the door was open. “We don’t know what could get in if we stay here” Barry said as he dragged the drawer back and opened the door.

We walked downstairs slowly, and by the time we got to the living room, the door was closed and the light was back on. The chair Barry moved to check the bulb was also back in its original position. “Anybody else finds that weird?” Barry asked as he checked the kitchen. “Uh-uh” My Mom answered as she followed behind him. “The more reason we have to go that storage room tomorrow, that wasn’t normal at all”. “I agree. First thing tomorrow we head there” I made sure the door was locked and we all sat down for dinner before going upstairs to bed. None of us could eat much during dinner. We were all deep in thought, but nobody said a word. “I felt something at the parking lot before I entered the car,” I shouted out of nowhere, it would do no good to keep secrets at a time like this. “Felt something how?” My Mom asked. “I felt a hand on my shoulder, and a shiver down my spine. I also felt it when the door opened and the screech after.” I dropped my fork and looked at them. Barry stared at me for a while before talking, “Let’s hope that storage has all the answers we need.”