Atticulation
“I'm telling you, Len. I heard something up there last night,” Jeyline Crawford stared hard at her older brother, but the dark-haired boy just shook his head.
“You didn't, J. My room is right next to yours and I didn't hear a damn thing.” She frowned. Dad wouldn’t want him using words like that, but both of their parents had been gone more and more lately, usually apart.
She was watching Len's face now and it was obvious; he thought she was being stupid. The whole family did, From Len and the next eldest Ben, right on through the three girls – Elaine, Marcy and Mae – and up to William. He was the worst of the lot, never letting anyone call him “Will” or “Bill”. Always “William”.
Jeyline opened her mouth to chide him for the bad language and then thought the better of it. She wanted him to take her side at least enough to get up into the attic, something she couldn't do by herself.
“Please? Look, just take me up there and we'll find out together. If I'm right then that's that, but if you are I'll do your chores for a week!”
Len's face brightened noticeably, brown eyes glowing. He hated raking leaves and their new house had more trees than most of them could count.
“Well...I guess...but make it two,” his words made him sound reluctant but his face gave it away.
It was fine with her; she'd been prepared to go as high as three if necessary so this was a bargain as far as she was concerned. Racing forward, she grabbed his hand and pulled him toward the staircase.
“Done. Let's go!” She tried to keep the excitement from her voice.
Len followed without comment as they made their way up past the second and third floors to the narrow hallway with its pull-down ladder. This was why she needed Len; not because she was scared, she told herself, but because she couldn't reach the knob.
It was a strain even for Len to get the knob in his hand and Jeyline had to grab on and haul him down in order to get the old staircase to pull out. With a screeching protest it came free, dropping lightly to the floor below as the springs took hold.
“Go get a flashlight,” she commanded Len. She'd paid for his help; two weeks of raking would be tough, and the least he could do was make sure they could see while they were up there.
He glared at her a moment and then sprinted off down the hallway and ducked into Ben's room. Of course. Len and Ben had never seen eye to eye, and taking property without his permission was right up Len's alley.
Returning to the base of the stairs he handed it to her and motioned for her to climb up first. Flashlight on she rose slowly, taking each step in measured turn. Halfway up she realized that Len was still at the bottom, staring up at her.
“Maybe this isn't such a good idea, J. You're so clumsy you'll probably fall and break your neck, and guess whose fault that's gonna be! You should come back down,” he was scared, and his face screamed it even if his words sounded sensible.
“Scared, little Lenny? I'll bet Ben would love to hear about this! He'd be up here in a heartbeat,” she put the most patronizing tone on it she could.
Shimmying up the ladder he snatched the flashlight and quickly passed her.
“Silly, girl, I was just lookin' out for you. Now, lets get this over with.” He sounded gruff, like he was trying to hard to be sure of himself. Jeyline smiled; whatever got him up there.
She emerged into the attic; it was actually quite neat. Mother had been up here when they arrived, and had ensured it was a clean as she could make it.
“Over there,” Jeyline pointed to a stack of boxes, “my room should be just under them.”
They weren't heavy and she and Len were able to quickly shift them out of the way and see what lay behind. An old iron-wrought furnace grill stared back at them, white paint chipped in a dozen places. Kneeling down, Jeyline could feel her excitement rise. This was it.
She reached forward but Len pulled her back quickly.
“This is a man's job, leave it to me,” he words were clipped and tense as he leaned in and lifted the grate off of its mounting. Surprisingly, it gave no squeal and revealed a perfectly standard aluminum duct, ordinary save for the small ivory comb resting on its bottom.
Len snatched it up, “This is it, silly girl! A comb. Probably left by some other silly girl and now rattling around in the duct at night when the furnace comes on.” There was a stupid grin on his face, a big, stupid grin.
They both saw it, but Len had no time to react. The comb vibrated in his hand and then drove upward, tines slamming hard into his skull just above the eyes. No blood came out and Len made no sound but was simply frozen there, swaying back and forth on his knees. After a moment the comb fell free and Jeyline caught it in one hand, then stuffed it back into the duct.
Len shook his head and then rose to his feet, stumbling back toward the attic stairs.
Shen'halla – that was her name – wanted to see through the eyes of the living once more. It was either her own soul or those of her family that the spirit wanted, she had told Jeyline on that first night. The many, to save her one.
Who was stupid now?
Pushing the boxes back into place, Jeyline Crawford hummed a happy tune to herself and followed Len downstairs.
- D
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