Don't Stay Up Late

  “Stop bouncing up and down,” I said, tugging Harry to the couch cushion beside me. “You’re making me seasick.”

  He laughed. Then he took the controller and paused the movie. He turned to me, his eyes wide, an open-mouthed grin spread over his pale face.

  “I like staying up late, Lisa.”

  “It’s not a good idea,” I said. “You’re going to get me in trouble, Harry.”

  “I like staying up late,” he repeated. His blue eyes suddenly had an unnatural glow. “Know why I like it so much?”

  “Why?” I said.

  “Because I get to change. It’s so much fun.”

  I squinted at him, confused. “Change?” I said. “What do you mean change?”

  “Watch,” he said. He stood up. He turned and faced me. His grin faded. He made a soft grunting sound. Behind him, the TV was frozen in a cartoon scene with a dragon snorting fire.

  Harry took a step back. His eyes rolled up in his head.

  I gasped in alarm. “Harry—what are you doing?” I cried.

  “Changing,” he whispered. His hair seemed to sink into his head. Instantly. His hair disappeared except for a strip of black fur down the middle of his scalp.

  His nose poked forward until it became a snout. His mouth twisted. Long jagged teeth made a ripping sound as they poked out of his gaping pink gums. His blue eyes appeared to burst into flame—and now they were a burning red, deep in their sockets.

  “Harry—” I choked out. “It’s you. It’s you. You’re the demon!”

  He tossed back his head and let out a long, snakelike hiss. The hiss turned into dry laughter, laughter that sounded like someone vomiting, dry heaves of laughter, cold, evil laughter.

  The chilling laughter of a monster.

  52.

  “Nooooo!” A scream burst from my throat.

  I tried to climb up from the couch, but he shoved me back down with startling strength. A dry rattle escaped his open snout, a snake’s rattle. And he leaped on me, pinning me to the couch.

  His ruby eyes rolled crazily in their sockets. His jaw snapped, the big teeth clicking. Beads of sweat formed on his green-tinted skin.

  “Let me up! Let me out of here!” I shrieked.

  But he had me pinned to the back of the couch. And then he raised his hands. I saw the long fingers. The long, skinny fingers. He dug them into my hair. He began pulling at my hair, rattling and hissing, the fingers sharp and hard, scraping my scalp.

  “Let go! Get off!”

  I tried to push the creature but he was too strong.

  He snapped at me. I felt a sharp pain at my earlobe. He snapped again. Missed. Did he plan to eat my ears?

  I squirmed and ducked as his jaws opened and closed, and his long tongue rubbed against my cheek, rubbed and pressed, scratched my face, the hot dry tongue, licking so hard as he rattled.

  He’s going to kill me. Like the others. Like the others. He’s going to tear me apart and EAT my insides.

  I tried to scream again but no sound came out. He held my head tightly between his snakelike fingers. Held me in place, pressing those ugly hands against my cheeks. As he held me down, he opened his snout and began to lower it.

  He’s going to eat my face!

  His hot, sour breath burned my cheeks. The eyes shimmered and glowed, buried deep in their sockets. The jagged teeth were drenched in drool.

  I shut my eyes. I held my breath. I gritted my teeth.

  And waited for the crushing pain.

  Waited.

  No.

  I heard a voice. “I don’t believe it!” A woman’s voice.

  I opened my eyes to see Brenda. Harry still drooling and hissing on top of me. And Brenda, hands angrily on her waist, leaning over the back of the couch.

  “Lisa!” she cried. “What have you done?”

  53.

  “How could you?” Brenda screamed. “You let him stay up late.”

  She darted around the side of the couch. She grabbed Harry by the back with both hands—and tore him off me. She swung him to the floor and held him there.

  The creature didn’t resist. He didn’t try to fight her. And slowly he transformed back to Harry. The black fur slid into his scalp and the curly blond hair shot up. He shut his eyes, and when he opened them, they were big and blue again. The green tint faded from his skin as the snout receded, and his face reappeared, his normal face, so innocent-looking now.

  In fact, he looked a little embarrassed. He hunched his slender shoulders. He half-turned so we couldn’t see his face.

  I jumped to my feet, wiping thick saliva off my cheeks. I struggled to straighten my hair. My heart was pounding so hard, I felt my chest might explode.

  Brenda stood facing me, her fists clenched at her sides, her jaw clenched, her expression angry. “I warned you, Lisa,” she said through gritted teeth. “I warned you.”

  “I—I didn’t know—”

  I stood there, frozen, still terrified. I didn’t know what she expected me to say. Did she expect me to apologize for keeping her son up late? Her son who turns into a demon?

  “I-I’m going,” I stammered. I took a step toward the front.

  She moved quickly to block my path. “I’m sorry. I can’t let you go home, Lisa.”

  “But—” I tried to dodge around her, but she was too quick for me. She bumped me hard with her shoulder. I stumbled back, struggling to stay on my feet.

  “You can’t leave, Lisa,” she said. “You’ve seen what Harry is. I can’t let you tell anyone.”

  “But … but…” I sputtered. “I don’t understand, Brenda,” I said, finally finding my voice. “He’s a killer. He’s a monster. You can’t let him—”

  “I know he’s been bad,” she said. “But I can control him.”

  “Control him?” I cried. “He … he killed Summer and Isaac.”

  “I know,” she said. “But that wasn’t his fault—it was yours.”

  “Mine?” I cried. “My fault? The two murders were my fault? Are you crazy?”

  “You let him stay up late,” she said, sneering. “You had instructions. Everyone would have been safe if you had followed them. But you let him stay up. Even after I warned you.”

  “You didn’t warn me that he’s a demon!” I screamed. I glanced around frantically, looking for an escape route.

  The bowl of popcorn, half-empty, still stood on the coffee table. The TV was still frozen on the cartoon dragon. Normal life. They were signs of normal life.

  But my normal life had ended.

  Harry stood behind me, his hands in his jeans pockets, blond hair catching the light, a strange smile on his face. Brenda stayed close in front of me, readying herself in case I tried to run again.

  “You can’t keep me here,” I said. “Brenda, you have to know that—”

  She raised a hand to silence me. Her eyes were on Harry. “He’s all I’ve got in the world,” she whispered. “He’s all I’ve got. I’m bringing him up … bringing him up for the others.”

  The others?

  “Huh? What others?” I blurted out.

  “You don’t know anything—do you?” she cried.

  “No. How could I?” I screamed.

  I thought Nate was the demon. I had everything wrong.

  “My family is bringing him up,” Brenda said. “Nate and Saralynn and Alice and I have a big responsibility.”

  I gasped. “Nate and Saralynn know about it? They know Harry is a monster?”

  “He’s not a monster.” Brenda scowled at me. Her voice trembled with emotion. “The first three were monsters. They couldn’t transform into humans. They were defective. Failures. Failures that must be kept hidden away. But Harry—Harry is perfect. We made him and we’re bringing him up and…”

  I didn’t hear the rest of what she was saying. I could only think about Nate and Saralynn. I thought they were my friends. But they knew all along. They knew who murdered Summer and Isaac, and they kept it a secret.

  They are all ra
ising some kind of demon they created.

  “I can’t let you ruin everything, Lisa.” Brenda’s voice returned to my consciousness.

  “Brenda, please—” I pleaded.

  “I can’t let you leave this house alive. The others are depending on me to bring Harry up to maturity.”

  Harry had been standing there silently, hands in his pockets, eyes on Brenda. But now, a wide grin spread across his cute face. And as he grinned, he began to change. Once again, his blond hair receded into his scalp and the strip of black fur replaced it. His snout grew long and his eyes flared red.

  Grunting and wheezing, he became the demon again. He snapped his jaw and eyed me hungrily. Thick white drool ran down his chin.

  “I can’t let you. I can’t let you.”

  I’d been staring in horror at Harry as he changed. I didn’t realize Brenda had left the room. But I turned at the sound of her voice and saw her darting back from the kitchen.

  I gasped when I saw the large kitchen knife in her hand, the long blade gleaming in the light from the ceiling.

  I froze. The demon Harry stepped closer to keep me from escaping.

  “I’m afraid you’re going to have a very bad accident with this knife!” Brenda exclaimed.

  “No. Please—” I uttered in a choked whisper.

  Her eyes bulged as she leaped at me—and stabbed me in the chest.

  54.

  No. I moved before the blade came down.

  I threw myself to the floor. And the knife stabbed the air above my head. I felt the whoosh of the blade over my hair.

  She swung the knife again, and I rolled right into her. I bumped her shins hard and sent her tumbling to the floor. She landed on her back, and the knife sailed out of her hand and across the carpet.

  She groaned and started to her feet. But I jumped on top of her and tried to pin her to the floor. We struggled and wrestled, rolling over the carpet.

  Behind me, I glimpsed the demon Harry move toward the knife. His shoulders were heaving up and down, and he snapped his jaw excitedly.

  I rolled off Brenda and made a wild dive for the knife.

  Missed.

  Harry grabbed it and wrapped his snakelike fingers around the handle.

  He stood over me. I was helpless, on my knees on the floor. He raised the knife high in the air—

  —and a loud crash made him turn.

  I turned, too, and saw Nate bursting through the front window. He landed on both feet, his eyes on the demon Harry and the raised knife.

  Nate uttered a furious scream as he came running into the room. He lifted a tall, blue lamp off the table beside the couch—and smashed it over Harry’s head.

  Harry groaned and sank to the floor. He folded up onto his stomach, the knife beneath him. He didn’t move.

  “What have you done?” Brenda shrieked. “Are you crazy? What have you done to Harry?”

  Red-faced, waving her fists, she leaped at Nate. He wrapped his arms around her waist, pinning her arms at her sides, and held her helpless. She struggled to squirm free, but he was too strong for her. He twisted her around and sent her spinning onto the couch.

  “Nate—what are you doing here?” I cried.

  “I knew you were in trouble, Lisa,” he said, watching Brenda warily. “I wanted to explain everything. I wanted to tell you why Saralynn pretended not to see the demon Friday night. I wanted to tell you how Saralynn and I are responsible for bringing him up, too. But … but…”

  Brenda jumped to her feet.

  Nate arched his back, tensed his fists, prepared for a fight.

  “Run, Lisa,” he urged, giving me a gentle push. “Run. Get out of here. Now!”

  I hesitated for a second. But then I took off, running on trembling legs to the front door. I didn’t look back. I heard Brenda’s angry shrieks. I could hear them scuffle.

  “Don’t let her get away! She’ll spoil everything!” Brenda cried.

  “No. This has to stop, Brenda. I won’t let you kill her. This has to stop!”

  Then I was out the door, Nate’s cries ringing in my ears. Out into the night, the cool air fresh against my burning face. I ran, ran down Fear Street. Deserted. No one outside. No cars. Nothing moving. The houses mostly dark.

  I ran down Fear Street, not thinking, not seeing anything at all. Just ran for my life. And all the way down the street, I could hear the furious screams, Brenda’s angry protests.

  A block away, I could still hear her wailing and shrieking. Frightening sounds I knew would stay with me forever.

  55.

  The next morning, I paced back and forth across Dr. Shein’s office. I was too tense and too upset to sit in the chair across from her desk. She kept her eyes on me as I walked, her face expressionless, her hands clasped in her lap.

  The desk phone rang, but she ignored it. A fly buzzed around her head but she ignored that, too. I’d been talking for nearly ten minutes, but it was hard to keep the story straight.

  “Go on,” she said. “Don’t worry about telling it in order. Just tell me what you saw and what happened last night.”

  My hands were ice cold. I rubbed them in front of me as I paced. “The police don’t believe me,” I said. “My own mother doesn’t believe me. No one believes me. Everyone thinks I’m crazy.”

  “They think you’re troubled,” she interrupted. “You shouldn’t say they think you’re crazy.”

  “Whatever,” I said. I stopped walking and faced her. “Whatever. Whatever. That boy really is a demon, Dr. Shein. Brenda Hart is raising a demon in that house.”

  She opened a black-covered notebook and scribbled in it for a few seconds. My chest felt fluttery. I kept feeling cold, then hot. I’d never been as nervous.

  I took a few steps toward her desk. Then I plopped into the chair. I couldn’t walk anymore. My legs were too rubbery. I pulled out my iPhone and pressed it into my lap.

  “And there are others,” I said. “Other demons. Experiments that went wrong. Really.”

  She eyed me, then scribbled some more.

  “I saw them in cages in Alice’s basement,” I said. “Only when I brought Captain Rivera there, they were gone. Alice had moved them.”

  Dr. Shein tapped the pencil eraser against the glass desktop. Behind her glasses, her eyes narrowed till they were nearly shut. I could see she was concentrating, thinking hard.

  “This must be so frightening for you,” she said finally. “I’m so sorry you are experiencing this, Lisa. And I’m glad I’m here. I know how alone you feel now. And I’m glad I’m here so you have someone to trust, someone you can confide in.”

  I swallowed. “Does that mean you believe me? Really?” I asked in a meek voice. “You are my last hope, Dr. Shein. Do you believe me?”

  She hesitated. “Yes, I believe you,” she said finally.

  “Oh, thank goodness!” I cried. “Thank you. Thank you.”

  “I believe you,” Dr. Shein repeated. “In fact, I know you’re telling the truth.”

  “I’m so relieved,” I said. “Thank you!”

  She stood up. “I know you’re telling the truth, Lisa. That’s why I’m going to find you a nice hospital where you will be comfortable for a long time.”

  I gasped. My hands shot up to my cheeks. “Hospital? Huh? What do you mean?”

  “A long, long hospital stay,” she said in a voice just above a whisper. “We can’t have you telling people about us, Lisa. It just wouldn’t do.”

  56.

  She pressed both hands on her desktop and leaned forward, her eyes locked on me. “You understand why you have to go away, don’t you?”

  She waited for me to answer, but I remained perfectly still, gripping my phone, my heart fluttering in my chest.

  “You are seeing things, Lisa,” she continued. “It doesn’t matter if they are real or not. You are seeing things you shouldn’t.”

  She forced a smile. It was an ugly, cold smile. “I’m going to order a nice long hospital stay for you, Lisa. A long
hospital stay, maybe a year or two, with other patients who see things.”

  Like Joy, I thought. I pictured her—Harry’s previous babysitter—locked away in that mental hospital in Martinsville. That hospital! I saw myself there, drugged, helpless, the crazy girl who sees monsters.…

  A powerful chill rolled down my back.

  “When you get out,” Dr. Shein continued, “no one will ever believe you. No one. And we can all get on with our mission and with our lives.”

  “I-I don’t understand,” I stammered. “You picked me to babysit Harry. Why? Why me?”

  She pulled the chair out and sat back down at her desk. She picked up the pencil and rolled it between her fingers as she watched me.

  “I picked you because you were so traumatized,” she said. “You had a severe concussion. You were having dark nightmares and hallucinations. You were a perfect choice.”

  “Perfect?”

  “Of course. I knew no one would believe you if you discovered the truth. The previous babysitter was trouble. She had to go. Your lucky car accident happened at just the right time.”

  I gasped. “My lucky car accident?” I shrieked. “That accident killed my father!”

  “But it brought you to me,” she said softly. “And I knew you were just right.”

  “How can you do this?” I cried. “Harry is a killer. He killed two people, two kids from my school.”

  “Your fault,” she said, sneering. “Your fault. You let him stay up late. Your fault entirely.” She banged her fist on the tabletop. “So far, Harry is perfect. We had three failures. But Harry is perfect. And I’m going to protect him by sending you away for a long time.”

  “I don’t think so,” I said quietly, calmly.

  She blinked. She studied me. “What did you just say?”

  “I said, I don’t think so, Dr. Shein. I don’t think I’ll be going anywhere. I think you’ll be going away. Not me.”

  57.

  “Have you lost your mind?” Dr. Shein snapped. Her face twisted into a mask of anger.

  “Did you really think I didn’t figure out the truth about you?” I said. “You got me the job with Brenda. You said you knew Brenda from before. You had to know what she was doing with Harry.”