Haunter 1: The Shadow of the Haunter

26. Plan B 2.0

I didn't feel cold down in the basement. The burns hurt nonstop, no matter how many painkillers I swallowed, so Kujo soon was able to keep me warm alright. I slept in the next morning, waking up only when Amy came down to bring me my meds, something to eat and check on us both. I took the pills, wolfed down the food, gulped up the water and went back to sleep. Trisha woke me up in the afternoon with another tray of meds/food/water. I noticed somebody had been down there cleaning while I was sleeping. Whatever. Just like before, I polished the tray and went back to sleep.

I only left the corner to go up to the restroom by the kitchen. And on my way in and out of the basement, I would go up to the camera and give the finger to whoever was watching. Hopefully that Price son of a bitch.

That night, Amy brought my phone along with dinner.

"They're worried about you," she said softly. "Poor Joseph's been here all day, unable to get through to you."

That cunning woman knew my soft spots alright.

"Oh, okay," I muttered. "How is he, Amy?" I asked, nodding to the other half of the corner.

"Worried about you, like all of us."

I shrugged. "As long as he doesn't feel guilty."

"How much longer are you gonna keep this shit up, Fran?"

"As long as I fucking feel like it." I handed her the empty tray and got back into the sleeping bag, turning my back on her.

In the morning, she threatened to drag me out of the basement if I didn't come out of my own will, at least to go to the hospital and have my bandages changed. So I had no choice but to do it. On the way out of the Manor, I saw Trisha in the east parlor, with the magnetic boards and one of the tablets on the coffee table.

It was a beautiful morning out there, and I actually enjoyed the cold air in my lungs as I approached Amy's car. My phone rang the moment I opened the passenger's door. I saw it was Price, rejected the call and got in the car.

He ran out of the guesthouse as Amy started the engine.

"Fran! Wait!" he called out, hurrying across the garden toward us.

"Drive," I growled, turning to look ahead.

"Okay," she murmured, gearing in.

My phone kept ringing, until I got so mad, I blocked his number.

"Aren't you overreacting?" Amy said in her wise grownup way.

I opened my jacket and pulled up my flannel, exposing the bandage that covered my belly from my bra to my navel. "You think?"

She didn't insist over the next hour, until we were on our way back to the Manor.

"And what're we gonna do, Fran? If we resume the cleansings now, Isaac can be clean with only one more. The one we were planning to do in the basement, for Kujo to snack on his cousins."

"Then we should do it right today."

"And what about Price?"

"He can go fuck himself a thousand times over, for all I care." I anticipated her foreseeable reply. "You said whoever starts the cleansings has to see it through to the last one, right? You expect me to go anywhere near that crazy psycho? You wouldn't even suggest it, had you seen how he came at me when I found him in the basement. Or why d'you think Kujo reacted? And I was enough of a fool not to step out of the way and let him knock the son of a bitch down and eat him alive if he felt like it." I shook my head, pissed off. "No, Amy. The last two cleansings made me sick. I ain't putting myself through that shit again for his sake."