The Coldwater Haunting by Michael Richan

Author:Michael Richan [Richan, Michael]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: UNKNOWN
Published: 2019-04-18T16:00:00+00:00

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Jake walked into his sister’s room.

Toys had been stored away long ago. The made bed still seemed odd; Marty never made her bed when she was home. His mother had straightened everything up after the second time she was sent away, and it remained in a state of suspended animation.

He hated it. He hated the sterility and order, the fact that his sister wasn’t at home, the changes that had come over the family.

But most of all, he hated this room.

He walked to the bed and sat on it, looking at the walls. Pictures Marty had colored were tacked up, next to a poster of a sloth in a tree, “Hang In There!” emblazoned in an ugly yellow font along its bottom.

Something’s still here, he thought. She’s gone, but it’s still in here. Mom and Dad refuse to believe it, but I know it’s true.

Whatever is in here is why Marty is at Southbrook.

His sister had been taken to Southbrook two days after the incident in the kitchen. The three of them recovered from the shock of the events; Jake had helped his father right the fridge, and while his mother attempted to clean the floor of the spilled food and destroyed china, Jake listened as his father tried to talk to Marty through her bedroom door. His sister screamed obscenities from inside, and when his dad grabbed the door’s handle to open it and confront his daughter, he yelled and pulled back his hand. He claimed to receive some kind of electric shock.

The mood of the house changed dramatically after that. His mother and father spent a lot of time huddled in conversation. Occasionally they’d quiz him about Marty’s behavior, things he’d observed, and Jake answered them as best he could, his guilt over ratting her out now gone. Marty stayed in her room and didn’t come down for meals. His mother began leaving plates of food by the door, which Jake noticed were polished off when no one was looking.

The next night, Jake had been asleep for about an hour when his father shook him gently. “We’re taking your sister to a hospital,” he whispered. “Get dressed quietly and come with us. Quick.”

Five minutes later he was in the back seat of the car, watching as his father carried his sister from the house and through the darkness, placing her into his mother’s arms in the front seat. Marty was completely passed out, and didn’t rouse as the car bumped along the surface streets to a facility a half hour away. Jake sat in the car as a nurse and orderly appeared from the front entrance to the building, and helped take Marty from his mother. He watched as his parents talked with the nurse and the orderly, and disappeared inside with his sister.

When they returned to the car, Jake asked, “What is this place?”

“It’s a special hospital that can help your sister,” his father replied, driving them home.

“You drugged her,” Jake said.

His mother turned to look at him.

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