I paced on the sidewalk outside. Our dad stood a few feet away, apparently deep in thought.
She will be back.
She will be back.
She will be back.
At least, that's what she had said. I wasn't sure what she had meant to do, nor how it would help us. But this was Evelyn. I had to trust her.
Dad snapped me out of my thoughts. "Do you think we should go after her?"
I didn't answer for a few moments. "I think-"
A flash of something caught my eye. It was the attic window. A figure wearing white walked by it. For a moment, utter relief flooded through me. But then my heart stopped.
Evelyn was wearing green.
And suddenly I knew what she had been planning. She'd asked me whether she could contact mom herself, and she could. So she thought she could lure Andrew upstairs and summon our mom to face him because she was tired of feeling useless.
But I wouldn't have come this far without her.
I abruptly stopped pacing. "You're right dad. We need to go. Now."
He sensed the urgency in my voice and picked off a rock from the yard. I silently pushed the door open and made sure to skip the bottom step, which creaked.
Loud voices interrupted my stealth, and I made a run for it the rest of the way. The attic door was bolted.
Our dad seemed to know this would happen and threw the rock he had at the latch. The bolt from the other side fell, and we were able to get in.
Evelyn and Andrew were in the middle of a row. I couldn't make out what they were saying since their voices overlapped. In fact, so much that it sounded as if someone else was trying to block the sound.
Then I noticed Evelyn clutching her wrist. When I looked closer, I noticed that one of her hands was badly disfigured.
Time seemed to slow to a stop.
Dad looked ready to make another move (though he hadn't noticed; he would have tackled Andrew for sure if he had).
I remembered Evelyn's mission. Taking the fact that neither of them had seen us, I yelled into the room, "MOM!"
Andrew fell backwards and Evelyn gasped. "What're you doing here? I told you to stay!"
"Are you serious- I-"
The sudden appearance of a gray wall cut me off. It wasn't a wall at all. Dozens of spirits faced us. Imprints of a departed soul, provided a very small voice in my head.
Only one of them was clear to us though. Our mom was separated from the crowd and came forward.
Speaking to us first, she said, "Good job. You have no idea how proud I am of you. But I started this, and I need to finish it. Thank you for letting me in."
"Well well. Hello there, friend," she turned to Andrew.
"You think I did all this on accident? Oh no. I knew what you were planning. That's why I was so sure of myself. I've heard my husband and what he told you about wisdom. He was right.
"Wisdom always towers over physical strength. You underestimated it. My plan was for Evelyn and Jacob to find this and discover it all along."
Andrew had turned as white as chalk.
"I've been watching you for a long time after my death. You were never free. Nor will you ever be."
I was impressed at the amount of color a living person's face could lose. Evelyn had edged towards the corner of the room, while I had stepped forward.
"Maybe not," Andrew conceded. "But you, are after all, only a spirit. You cannot control what I do."
And he gripped my hand, bringing his weapon closer.
Mom's eyes flashed, "Can't I?"
She intercepted the axe, which went clear through her, somehow not harming me.
Andrew didn't miss a beat. Instead of falling back, he simply muttered, "you are simply a hallucination. I do not believe."
And the spirit somehow turned into mist before our eyes. Andrew was far more dangerous than I'd expected. He knew how to rid of something not everyone believed in.
We were now dangerously close to the window.
He swung again. I ducked inwards and he missed.
A few steps further.
He tsked. "Come on now. Cooperate. I promise it'll be quick."
"What makes you think I'll listen?"
"What makes you think I'll stop trying?"
A body flew in from the left and knocked him through the window. It had wavy hair. But it wasn't our mom's spirit, somehow renewed.
It was Evelyn. She screamed as Andrew pulled her out the opening with him. She gripped the window ledge, Andrew hanging on to her shoe. Mom was now able to reappear, but it wouldn't help us in this situation.
"NO!" Mom cried desperately. "Grab her!"
I snatched at her hands, managing to grab them. But Andrew was far too strong. We were still very high up. The floors of our house were tall.
In a first time in probably forever, an actual surge of fear rushed through me.
Then I had an idea. "Evelyn! Try to pull off your sneaker with your other foot!" I called.
Evelyn, newly inspired, swung her left leg into her right, both loosening Andrew's grip and removing her sneaker.
We all watched Andrew fall. For a few seconds, there was silence. Then we heard a sickening crunch.
There was nothing else to it. Everything was fine. Then a stifled sound interrupted my thoughts. In my excitement, I had forgotten to hold on to Evelyn.
Evelyn had crashed down, but a few feet down, a tree had caught her. I breathed a sigh of relief. But the branch cracked.
She now held on solely by the tips of her fingers.
I could see her mouthing no, no no.
She looked up towards us very slowly, one last time. Then, as if in slow motion, she fell.
She was falling.
The spirits all groaned at once. Dad gripped my hand and started dragging me down the steps. Mom's spirit followed as far as she could. We entered the front yard, turning to the side.
There was the tree.
There was Andrew, run through by his own murder weapon.
And lying a few feet away was Evelyn herself.
"No," I whispered. I kicked the head of Andrew's corpse on my way. Finally, we were there. I dropped to the floor.
Evelyn did not stir. The fall was blocked a bit by the tree, so she should be fine, right?
Right?
"Evelyn. Get up. He's dead. You did what you always wanted to ever since we discovered all this.
"I'm so sorry. Please don't. Come on, we need to say goodbye to mom."
But she did not stir.
Tears welled up in my eyes, and this time, I didn't block them. I let them fall.
A slight cough.
I turned back to the corpse. Evelyn's eyes fluttered. Tiny slits of turquoise showed through.
"Did you really think I would leave that easy? I'm sorry to break it to you, but you'll have to live with me for a long time. Don't you see? We did it. You did it. You got behind the broken truth."