"Tory isn't supposed to come today..." Luc murmured as he got up from his seat and headed for the door. He approached slowly, cautiously—seemingly fearful that whoever was on the other side might hear his movements and know he was there. The open sign hadn't been on for over a month. There was no reason for anyone to be knocking at Luc's door. Or at least no good reason.
Polly and I held our breath, worried that whoever was out there could hear our breathing.
He peered through the peephole, trying to see who had interrupted our conversation.
As the silence continued, the tension rose. I felt like screaming at whoever was lurking on the other side of the entrance to just go away and leave us in peace. I watched Luc, ready to take my cue from his body language...
His shoulders relaxed and as he turned to face us, I saw that Luc was actually laughing, his hand clamped over his mouth to keep quiet.
"Oh God," Luc said, through his fingers. "It's the last day of the month isn't it?"
I blinked at him, confused, but nodded.
Luc shook his head and exhaled with a whistle. His face darkened for a moment. "All this talk about Lillian... well... just give me a bit." He paused for a moment and laughed again, before turning back to the door and pulling it open.
I sucked in a breath of air in anticipation of the worst.
But there on the doorstep was no sinister being, or even Polly's sister, back from the grave. It was Mrs. Malik, our squat and loveable landlady. She was darling as ever in her sugary pink dress with a fluffy white cardigan, her plump figure making her look somewhat like a cupcake... though a soggy cupcake. Her cardigan was dampened, darkened in splotches over her shoulders and bosom. I could hear the sprinkling of raindrops outside and felt a cool breeze slip through the open door. The weather was bad, but it felt good to feel fresh air on my skin. It was staggering how much I missed the outside world.
"Heylo, Mr. Coo-lee-ard!" Mrs. Malik said, her accent thick as always. "It is the rent time!"
It dawned on me what Luc had found so funny, a smirk drawing across my face. Polly snorted quietly to herself, obviously enjoying the amusement too.
"Right, right, sorry it was late, Mrs. Malik," Luc apologized as he dashed over to the kitchen. He rifled through the drawers, searching for something. "Slipped my mind, and I forgot to send my delivery boy..."
"Is no problem." Mrs. Malik nodded, her face still pleasant, waving her thick hand to simultaneously accept and dismiss his apology. Her eyes found me, and she blinked dramatically as she took me in. "Ah, Ms. Vaughn! Much surprising! You be friend with Mr. Coo-lee-ard?"
"Uh... yes?" I said. "We've been hanging out, like, every day."
Polly sniggered next to me, like a schoolgirl at an inside joke. It was nice to hear her laugh again.
Mrs. Malik just looked at us, and her fluffy grey brows arched up in confusion like she didn't understand. "How good," she said after a moment, then blinked and smiled again.
Thunder rumbled outside behind her, and the sound of rain grew louder.
Luc looked up, shocked, from rifling in his kitchen drawers; he had found his chequebook but he seemed distracted as he scribbled out the details of this month's rent. "Oh, damn, I'm such a—Please, Mrs. Malik, come in out of the rain. I'll have it for you in another moment..."
Polly and I both gasped. I saw on his face that he immediately realized his misstep too.
"Oh, no, wait—" Luc held up his hand to signal for her to stop; his pen slipped from his fingers and clattered to the floor. He moved quickly towards the door, trying to get there before she did, but it was too late.
Mrs. Malik crossed the threshold without even a twitch. She walked forward a bit and stood in the centre of the room—just past the dividing line of the curtain—looking around the apartment with casual curiosity. We all watched her with bated breath, hoping that she would just take her cheque and leave.
"Love what you've done with the place."
I saw Mrs. Malik's mouth move, and I heard the words echo through the room, but I couldn't piece the two together. The voice that escaped the grandmother's lips was not her own. Her accent was gone, and in its place was a smooth, sweet voice, with perfect annunciation.
I turned to face my companions, searching their faces for answers, examining their reactions. But my mere surprise was nothing in comparison to the expressions of pure horror etched on Polly's and Luc's faces. Their eyes were pulled wide and their brows creased in pained disbelief; their mouths gaped in quiet dismay.
Mrs. Malik turned to Polly and smiled sweetly like she always did, but there was something unnerving about it this time. She tilted her head slightly to the side, studying Polly like she was some unique curio.
"Hello, Polly," she said, at last, her voice still unnaturally silky.
"Lilly?" Polly choked.
My surprise turned to matching dread as Mrs. Malik's skin suddenly started to melt away. Her wrinkles and excess flesh seemed to absorb inward and tauten, smoothing out her complexion. Her stature changed; she shot upwards a few inches and the plump form vanished to reveal a slim, attractive figure, the now too-big dress hanging awkwardly on her frame. The hair, once tight salt-and-pepper curls, began to grow out, fading from dark grey to honey-gold as it tumbled down in gentle waves over the now petite shoulders.
Lillian stood before us in place of Mrs. Malik. There was still the strong family resemblance between her and Polly I'd seen in the pictures, but something was off. She looked altered, her features slightly tweaked, as if her face was an imperfect sculpture done by an artist who hadn't quite mastered the skill; you could see the similarities and tell who it was... But there was still something that was undeniably wrong.
"Oh, G-God..." Polly stuttered. "Lillian?"
Lillian just casually shrugged, like she had been caught violating curfew instead of trying to kill her sister and her friends.
Polly's face crumpled like her features were fighting between a sneer and a sob, the pain of the betrayal obvious in her features. "I thought... I thought you were dead!"
The smile that was spread across Lillian's face just got wider.
"But... you tried to kill us!" Polly said. "Why?!"
Lillian's face finally fell into a scowl; she almost looked inhuman with rage. "Because you got in my way."
"What the hell happened to you?" Polly wailed, tears streaming down her cheeks.
Lillian ignored her sister's distress and let the huge dress she had been masquerading in slide off her model-perfect body to the ground. She didn't seem at all bothered by her nudity or the horror that was plain on our faces.
"So this is where you've been hiding out," Lillian muttered to herself, her face slipping back to its pretty plastic perfection that matched her new form. Her eyes traced the room, falling on the golden script that encircled it. "This is how you've been keeping my boy out."
As she spoke of the Beast, its growl turned into a full wail next door, and I could hear it tearing into the floor and walls—like it knew that its master was in here and it was trying to claw its way through to join her.
"Well, that's easy enough to fix now that I've crossed your barrier," Lillian smirked. She closed her eyes and we were plunged into an eerie silence as the Beast's howling and screaming stopped.
Then, I felt the air change in the apartment.
My muscles seized in anticipation of the pain, waiting for it to come at any second, waiting for it to rip me apart.
Suddenly Luc was at my side, pulling me close. "Listen to me," he whispered in my ear, "She's going to call that thing in here, but once it's in here, the barrier will still stand. It won't be able to cross the boundary to leave. I have enough power to trap her—and it—in here with me, but you and Polly need to get out!"
My heart seared. "I'm not letting you stay here!"
"You don't have a choice, Rach—"
A hideous growl filled the room; the noise was louder than ever. The sound and the fear cut into me like a blade plunging into my head. It disabled some part of my brain, paralyzing me. I could see it now, hovering just behind Luc.
More hideous and powerful than ever, its huge and hunched body wavered like pure heat on a hot desert road. Its four glowing eyes were wreathed in flame, and its teeth and claws were all shaped out of what seemed like blades of magma. Its gaze fell on me, and it screamed in triumph. I could hear Lillian's victorious shrieking laughter over the Beast's terrible din.
"You bitch!"
I turned in time to see Polly launch herself at Lillian, eyes blazing with murderous rage to match her sister's wicked fury. Lillian screamed in pain as soon as they made contact, and the two began thrashing; Polly seemed to have a death grip on a mass of her sister's hair.
In my distraction, I hadn't realized Luc had released me until I felt myself being pulled away; a force dragged us apart. I screamed, fearful that it was the Beast, ready to destroy me at last. But the concentration and sadness that clouded Luc's eyes told me that this was his doing, that he was the one lifting me and pushing me out the door, out of the apartment.
I landed roughly on the sidewalk with a thump that was muffled by an infuriated roar from both Lillian and the Beast. But the slamming of the door cut them off. Lillian and the Beast were trapped inside... with Luc and Polly.
🔮
So it was Lillian all along...
But with Luc trapped, what can Rachel do?