'The Between’ a Tale of Horror

Where we lived in Nebraska was called ‘The Between’ because it filled the great emptiness that divided civilization. There was a city three hours north from us and two hours south. East and West? That was just more Between; rolling lands of cornfield oceans just swimming with cattle. It was quiet. 

Until it wasn’t. 

When I turned seventeen my mom threw a celebration on the farm. She’d spent days cleaning and preparing. It was a gathering made up of the elderly couple from the farm twenty miles to our right and just us – Mom, Aunt Eileen, Duncan, and I. Dad was too busy with his new family in Florida. 

Mom and Aunt Eileen felt worse about that than me, I think. I caught their blue eyes exchanging glances when I blew out my candles and shared my wish, “I wish our family was like it used to be.” 

Of course, that’s when the power went out. I thought briefly, it was the universe hearing me finally. Maybe Dad would run through the door and apologize for nearly missing the celebration.

But it was just another side effect of The Between; electricity was dodgy and wifi was nonexistent. Mom said we should look at it as a reminder to stay in the present. Dad would have said it was like ‘living in the dark ages’ if he’d been there. She was always looking for reasons to prove him wrong, stubborn as she was. 

“Light the candles,” Mom said as she mumbled something about the ‘damn electricity’. 

When the lights went out inside our house it was as dark as black water; having been built with only two windows on the ground floor and two upstairs, the shadows commandeered most rooms. Aunt Eileen and I shared a room with a window on the ground floor whereas mom took one of the two upstairs. I hated when the dark took over because then my imagination did too. Then I would squeeze my eyes shut and start to count my breathing. At nineteen, Duncan claimed he didn’t care, but I knew he’d been desperate to seem brave and fearless since Dad left. 

After the lights went out the sound of shuffling bodies filled the living room. Drawers opened and closed, a handful of lighters clicked on and floated like glowing orbs until they met the various candles stationed around the space. I breathed slowly, urging myself to be brave like Duncan. I began to count the candles already lit. Three on the kitchen table, 4 lining one side of the stairs, then someone was igniting a candle in my bedroom. That same light turned and bobbed towards me through the doorway, past the back door, “Rose, take care of the two by the other window. I’ll head for the mantle,” It was Aunt Eileen’s voice, then her face emerged, outlined by shadows like a vignette. Her reaching hand found mine in the dark as she placed a lighter in my palm. I gasped at the unexpected coldness of her touch despite the warmth of the cramped main floor. It was hardly big enough for four of us, let alone 6 people. 

“Sure,” I breathed, swallowing the urge to squeeze my eyes shut. 

“Good,” She said before submerging herself in the shadows again. The window was easy enough to locate based on muscle memory. About ten paces from the base of the stairs where I now stood and just right of the front door. I listened for the confirming creak of the floorboards that let me know I was heading in the right direction, dodging armchairs and a couch. The task was made easier by paying attention to where Aunt Eileen’s lighter traveled. The mantle was across from the window in the living room. 

When I reached my destination I threw aside the curtains hiding the candles, letting in the faintest of starlight. The dogs began barking, loud and vicious. I jumped back and the curtain fell. 

“Hush,” Mom chastised our two German Shepherds, Milo and Champ. They were still growling quietly. I felt one of their fury bodies brush across the skin of my calf as I tried to steady my breathing. 

“You scared me,” I said, reaching down to my left to where I thought one of the dogs was pacing, only to come up empty. I listened as the distinct click of dogs’ nails continued away from me, halting directly before the front door. Soft rumbling vibrated under my feet; their growling intensified. 

“Might be a coyote out there,” Mr. Sampson said with a humorless laugh, his voice emanated from where I’d stood blowing out my candles moments earlier beside the kitchen table. “The dogs’ll smell ‘em from a mile away this time of year. Especially when that wind picks up and blows the scent farther.” 

“They’ve been like this since that fuse blew last week,” Eileen said at my shoulder. 

I jumped again, embarrassed and grateful, for once, for the layer of darkness; even if now the room had begun to take on a hazy orange glow. Silhouettes dotted the space. 

“The power was out for four days,” Eileen continued with a tone almost jovial, her shape inching toward the curtains. I heard the swish of fabric as she pulled them aside abruptly. The dogs started barking again. One of them jumped on the front door, scratching and pawing at the wood. Eileen continued lighting the candles there and securing the curtains open. “There,” she patted them.

“What the hells gotten into them. They’ll break the door,” Mom said and I identified Duncan’s tall figure as he approached the door and yanked down whichever dog was on it. He held the beast down for only a second though before he yelled and fell to the ground. 

“He bit me!” He said, “He bit me!” 

Both dogs were on the door now, clawing frantically and barking. 

Mom was attempting to continue Duncan’s work as he whined from the floor. The dogs writhed and growled. “They’ve never been like this,” she grunted. 

“Joe, go on and help them,” Mrs. Sampson called from somewhere in the house. 

“No, No. Please, I don’t want anyone else getting hurt,” Mom said as she wrestled one dog towards the kitchen. 

Still frozen at my place by the window I saw a flash of bluish white in the corner of my vision. I turned from the door to face the window. The curtains were tied back and a line of candles illuminated the sill. The night beyond the glass was unreadable. 

And yet. The more I stared, the more it felt like someone was staring back. 

Something slammed. A door? My eyes darted to my left but confusion gripped me. The front door was closed. 

“What was that!” Mrs. Sampson said. 

“Eileen, check the back–” Mom was interrupted by the dog she carried breaking free and hurtling away from her grasp. The other dog followed and before anyone could react Milo and Champ were hurtling through the now open back door and sprinting into the night. Their barking echoed back to us as they voyaged deep into the night. 

“I’ll get them!” Duncan yelled, stumbling to his feet, but mom told him to stay put. 

“Eileen!” She called again, but no answer came besides the creak of wood. “Has anyone seen Eileen?” 

Mr. and Mrs. Sampson responded that she had been right there only moments ago. 

I looked around then, squinting, trying to spot my Aunt’s petite frame crowned with massive curls. She wasn’t at my shoulder anymore. In fact, she wasn’t in the living room at all. 

“Eileen!” Mom’s feet smacked against the floor until she was leaning out the back door, clutching the doorframe. “Eileen!” I wondered why she didn’t run into the night like the dogs had, like she’d done countless nights before when necessary. 

“I’ll check our room,” I mumbled and padded back the way I’d come, racing past the base of the stairs, directly opposite the back door and where mom’s back stared at me. 

“Aunt Eileen,” I whispered into our shared room. There was only one candle resisting the shadows, it jerked in the…breeze? I stepped into the room and felt the coolness permitted by an open window. On the far left, hidden from view of the doorway, the only other window on the first floor was completely open, the curtains tracing it fluttered. 

“Rosie, I’m sorry about your birthday,” A familiar male voice said.

My breath caught in my throat. It couldn’t be. 

“Let me make it up to you. Come with me.” Dad’s voice piggy backed on the breeze flooding the room, until I felt like I was drowning. But there was no one there. I blinked and wiped sweaty palms on my jeans. A droning was starting in my ears; it was so loud. Somewhere a dog howled and suddenly stopped. 

A hand gripped my shoulder and then I was being turned around. 

“Rosie, are you listening? Mom said to help her find the emergency radio. I’ll check the basement for gauze for my hand,” Duncan said in his usual condescending tone, “And what is that window doing open? Jesus, it’s freezing in here. Honestly, you never think, do you?”

“I..I heard Dad,” I whispered, shaking my head to clear it.  Duncan shouldered passed me and closed the window with a thud. 

“Stop being stupid. Mom needs you in the other room,” He’d returned to stand before me, looking down his sharp nose. 

“Is Aunt Eileen gonna be okay?” 

“Who knows,” He leaned down so that we were face to face. “But if you don’t get a move on now, you won’t be.” 

***

I’ll be eighteen tomorrow and Aunt Eileen is still missing.  The cold breath of Fall teases the back of my neck and I pull my jean jacket tighter. It’s oversized and holey, but it smells like Dad still. I wonder if Aunt Eileen is cold wherever she is. She would have told me to go inside and put something warmer on. I sigh as my boots crunch on the dirt path. Corn stalks rise around me, I imagine they’re like the sea when Moses parted it.  If I close my eyes I can see Aunt Eileen challenging me to a round of hide and seek before diving between the stalks. But it’s just a fantasy and when I open my eyes I’m still alone. 

That night when she disappeared we contacted the local sheriff and posted MISSING signs in a plethora of places. Still there were – and there are no signs. Milo and Champ were a different story. Mom found them dead the next morning in the middle of the cornfields. They’d been torn up pretty good mom had said, looking sick the whole time. The Sampsons had left the next morning with a promise to keep in touch, but they never did. And when I called Dad the next day he said mom ‘brought this on herself’. She refused to talk to him, instead she told me to inform him that he was wrong. I never told either of them about the voice…

The farm felt different after Aunt Eileen’s disappearance. I was hyper aware of just how far civilization was. Mom invested in the generator for power and swore it could withstand any storm. Nevermind, that you would probably still hear it rumbling during a volcanic eruption, the device was so loud. I wondered if it could withstand something else. Something I didn’t even know how to describe. Luckily, it’d permitted better wifi connection so far. 

Today, I walked the cleared paths of the cornfields and listened as the wind rustled the plants and cicadas chanted. I waited for the rush of excitement I used to get before harvest, when the green stalks are tall and thick as a wall. Instead I felt dread as the blue light of day coated the world. I stared up at the sky and wondered where Aunt Eileen was for the hundredth time, wishing she was here. The stalks shivered to my right, bending like a womb and then, as if summoned, my Aunt stumbled through. 

“Rosie,” she gasped at the same time I screamed. Then she dropped to her knees and face planted in the dirt.  

I wondered again at my power to manifest signs from the universe. Maybe I should exile ‘wish’ from my mental lexicon. Mom shouted my name somewhere near the house. I didn’t call back at first, too stunned at the creature crumpled at my feet. Aunt Eileen was wearing the same jeans and t-shirt she’d been wearing on my seventeenth birthday. My knees groaned as I knelt to inspect her. She wasn’t wearing any shoes, but the soles of her feet were clean. Like she hadn’t just been running through the dirt of the fields. 

I reached a tentative hand to her brown hair, brushing curls aside to examine her face. She was pale, but breathing I realized as I turned her head to check her breath on the back of my hand. 

“Rosie!” My mom called again, closer this time. 

“Over here!” I called back. 

She yelled something else but I didn’t hear it, the moment my hand touched Aunt Eileen’s cheek all I heard was a droning. It was everywhere. Inside me and out. All at once I felt a familiar drowning like I was being pulled underneath the surface of a great lake. 

Then the world was sideways, falling upwards. Or was I falling down? 

“Mom, she’s over here! Oh, my god. Is that – Aunt Eileen! Are you okay? Rose, is she okay – Rose?” Strong hands gripped my shoulders and shook like I was a dusty blanket.  “Dude, what’s wrong with you? Are you fainting?” 

I blinked. Duncan’s wind burnt face came into focus, the sky behind him outlined the absurdity of his ears. I shoved his hands away, “I’m fine. Excuse me for being a little shocked to see our missing aunt barreling towards me.” 

My sass was lost on him, he had already moved on to Aunt Eileen, turning her onto her back before scooping up her small frame. I watched as he remained unaffected by the direct contact. 

“You don’t hear it?” I asked. 

He shot me a look that meant you’re-being-weird, and said, “I don’t hear anything but cicadas. Now if you’re done fainting, let’s get her back to the house. She needs a doctor.” 

“I didn’t faint…” 

Mom came running down the pathway. “Eileen! Oh, my god.” Duncan reached Mom as tears started trickling down her cheeks. She caressed her sister’s face with the back of her shaking hand. “This is real. Oh, my god.” She repeated that last part two more times. 

“I’m gonna bring her up to the house and get her situated. Do you want me to call the sheriff and the doctor?” Duncan asked. A year ago mom would have said she’d do it. 

Now she nodded weakly, “Could you?” Her tired eyes never left Aunt Eileen. 

I trailed them back to the house pausing outside the window that looked into the living room, it was left open to invite fresh air. During the daytime it felt silly to imagine a creature lurking where I stood, but I knew the night of my birthday I’d felt something watching. I thought of the open window and the slam of the back door. I had questions for my aunt. 

The house was in a state of disarray. Plates were stacked in the sink and trash overflowed from the bin, contributing to the sour smell of the interior. I’d taken to sleeping upstairs in one of the windowless rooms because despite my fear of the dark, my fear of hearing Dad when I knew he was miles away was even greater. I remembered the droning that had followed and shivered. It felt wrong. Now I only entered the house when I desperately needed sleep, leaving a nightlight on. I didn’t want to be in the room I’d shared with my aunt, it hurt too much. 

Most days I spent as much time as possible stalling sleep in the barn, fumbling with the wifi on my new laptop and applying to colleges. Mom didn't know that last part, besides she’d been so distracted, and frankly I knew it would hurt her. 

Duncan and Mom deposited Aunt Eileen in the old bedroom we’d shared. When I entered they were feeling her forehead and whispering incessant questions. When Eileen only moaned and they realized she wasn’t going to be answering them then they moved on to ordering me about. 

“Grab some water.” 

“Get my cellphone.” 

“Open that window.”

“Bring another pillow.” 

Only when Duncan went to grab something to eat and mom fell asleep in the corner did I approach Aunt Eileen. She was exactly how I remembered. I didn’t touch her this time. I was too afraid of another episode of…whatever happened before. 

“Where have you been?” I whispered, sitting in the chair beside the open window on her left hand side. I looked down at the legs of the chair and began to drag it closer to her bedside. 

“Happy Birthday,” my gaze shot up to see Eileen smiling tiredly. Her blue eyes were open and focused on me. 

“You’re awake? I should let mom know –” I moved to get up, but Eileen raised a finger to her lips and shook her head. 

“You have questions for me.” She continued in a whispered tone. 

“I..I do, yes. How did you know?” 

“Is this one of your questions?”

The landline in the kitchen rang. Duncan answered, speaking around a mouthful of food.

I shook my head, feeling like this was precious time. “Why did you run into the night last year?”

“You mean last night.”

I felt my brow furrow, “No, I mean last year. You disappeared and we’ve been looking for you everywhere. The state has you listed as a missing person.” 

“That’s impossible, I was only gone a few hours.”

“You were gone for a year. Why did you run away?”

“They invited me to go with them, to be powerful like them. I got to leave The Between and be someplace even better. They’re my family now,” she smiled, eyes unfocused, “I  was imprisoned here but they freed me.”

Duncan was arguing with someone now. Something about medical necessities.

“I don’t understand. We’re your family,” I’d never heard her speak like this, “Who invited you?” She’d come back to support Mom after the divorce not because she’d had to. 

“I was stuck, just like you are, but you don’t have to be. You can have a family that loves you and gives you immense power. I can introduce you.” 

I heard the snap of the phone receiver as it landed back in its home then Duncan’s familiar heavy steps in the hallway. 

“To who? Introduce me to who?” I had too many questions and not enough time.

Just before Duncan could clear the threshold of the bedroom, Aunt Eileen fell back into her feigned sleep. Her eyes snapped shut and her head returned to its pillowed throne. 

“Rose, don’t bother her,” Duncan commanded as he entered. His voice shattered the tension growing in my limbs and shook mom from her nap. 

“What is it? Eileen?” 

“Hey, she’s alright Mom, sorry. That was just me,” Duncan said, as he went to Mom and rested a hand on her arm. “I just spoke with Dr. Himmel and he agreed to ride out here to check on Eileen. It was hard convincing him on a Sunday, but I explained that she’s in no shape to travel. The sheriff says he’ll be out here first thing tomorrow.” 

“Aunt Eileen doesn’t like Dr. Himmel,” I muttered from my perch beside her. 

“Well he’s the only doctor within the next 50 miles, so  Eileen can’t be choosy.” 

Dr. Himmel arrived about two hours later at the tail end of afternoon with a single briefcase. Duncan had been watching from the windows and opened the front door just as the doctor was mounting the final porch step. I followed him, not sure what else to do. They exchanged basic greetings and Duncan led him into the house. Dr. Himmel graciously did not mention the stench or the garbage, but I thought his lip jerked up for a fraction of a second. We headed down the hall to the bedroom where Mom and Eileen waited.  

Aunt Eileen was sitting now, propped up with several pillows and slurping some soup. She was surrounded by empty cans and tupperware. She’d ‘awoken’ when her stomach had begun to growl, loud and watery like. Then she’d begun begging for food. We didn’t have much as of late, but whatever we could grab went to her. 

Dr. Himmel took in the sight of the room and sat his briefcase on the end of the bed. 

“Hello, Eileen. I’m Dr. Himmel. How are you doing?”

“We’ve met before,” Eileen glanced at him. 

“Yes, so we have. I can see that you seem to be very hungry. In fact, I think I can hear it, too,” He chuckled to himself, “I’d like to do an exam to see that you’re in working order. You’ve given us all quite the scare.” 

“I’m sure,” She said and winked at me. 

“If you’d all give us just a moment, I can go ahead and assess Eileen.” 

With that we all filed out of the room in silence leaving Aunt Eileen and Dr. Himmel alone.  Mom and Duncan huddled just outside the door, craning to hear any details. My feet led me to the living room, to the place I couldn’t forget. I stood by the window watching the sun teeter on the horizon. Aunt Eileen had said someone invited her to leave. I had a strange feeling that I already knew who. 

A flash of white caught my attention. Between the stalks of corn, someone was walking. They were tall enough that their head peaked above the crops. I gasped. 

They disappeared to the far right of the field as a loud scuffle sounded from my Aunt Eileen’s bedroom and the generator stopped rumbling. The lights flicked off with a beep. Then the front door began to slowly creak open. I licked my lips, frozen with fear. I needed to breathe. In and out. In and out. A thud sounded as someone took each step of the porch at a time. 

The droning began in my chest this time, a vibration that shook my whole body. Panic spurred my feet into motion just as a gray figure bent beneath the doorframe. I ran down the hallway, screaming as the air ripped from my lungs. My eyes began to vibrate, making it difficult to focus in the dark as I barreled through the bedroom door. Mom and Duncan weren’t outside listening anymore. Instead they were inside. Or at least pieces of them were. And Dr. Himmel, too. A monsoon of red bathed the walls. I wondered at the ear piercing noise and then realized distantly it was me screaming still. 

“He was hungry, Rosie. I told him no, but he was so hungry,” I rushed to Aunt Eileen but froze halfway. She was lying in the bed, the blankets rolled to her thighs, the flesh between her legs was torn, and there chewing on Dr. Himmel’s severed arm was a small gray creature, naked and covered in red just like everything else. “Dr. Himmel insisted I go to a hospital,” Aunt Eileen continued, “I won’t let them take my family.” 

“Oh, my god,” I gasped. I couldn’t breathe. The droning was so loud. “This can't be real.” I backed away, towards the door when I met a hard body. 

“They want you to join them, too, Rosie.” 

I turned slowly, barely seeing or breathing. I bent my head all the way back and stared wide eyed at the thing hunched against the ceiling staring down at me. Two massive black eyes that reminded me of a fly, inside an oval face that lacked a nose but hosted a slit for a mouth. Its tongue slithered towards my face while its long arms swept the floorboards. 

I shook my head, trying to clear it but it was no use. Black spots dotted my vision even as a bright light bled into the room from behind me. The last thing I heard before the droning dragged me under was Aunt Eileen’s reverent words…

 “They’re here.”