The Dwelling: A Novel Read Online Free PDF Page A

agreed.
    Glenn raised an eyebrow, but silently agreed. It was the buying season.
     
    The Trents brought along their teenaged daughter.
    “This is Amber,” the mother said, after introductions had been made. Glenn smiled brightly at the girl, who half smiled back and then dipped her eyes to the floor, where they stayed, Glenn thought. She didn’t know how the girl saw to walk.
    They were motivated buyers. Mr. Trent— call me Don —was about to leave town on business for an extended period of time and wanted the house question settled, and them settled in the house, before he left.
    “We’ve got just over a month to find, buy and move,” he said firmly. His wife smiled and nodded at everything he said. He worked in plastics for an international company and was away a lot. Mrs. Trent stayed home, but inquired about business in the area.
    “I’m going to need something to do,” she said to Glenn, as they walked through the house. “Don is gone all the time and Amber has grown up. Don doesn’t want me to work, but there is a limit to how dirty a house can get.” She laughed, but Glenn sensed a backbone somewhere in there about to be tested. Don squired his daughter about, his arm around her shoulders.
    They were about to go out to the backyard and take a look at its size (Don would like a deck and a garage, one day). Amber asked if she could just look around on her own.
    “Sure thing, little girl, you go right ahead,” Don said, and left the house to prowl the yard.
    “Don’t touch the walls, honey. They’ve been painted,” her mother said. The daughter rolled her eyes, something only Glenn caught, and then the two women went outside.
    Don liked the yard. Don tended to say what he thought.
    “That’s a nice yard,” he said. “You don’t find a backyard that size anymore.”
    “It’s a nice yard,” Mrs. Trent echoed.
    “Good size. Room for a deck. Can see a problem with a garage, though. All those trees back there.” The two women nodded. Glenn added that the trees were young and some could be moved.
    “Tough job,” he said. “Tough job.”
    The three of them went back into the house in time to hear the girl scream.
    It was a terrible scream and paralyzed them all for a split second, and then there was a crash of something heavy to the floor upstairs and Don was running for the stairs.
    The women exchanged quick looks, and then the mother, with Glenn behind her, ran too.
     
    They found Don with Amber, at the end of the hall, in front of the pull-down stairs that led to the attic. She was curled up in his arms, still screaming incoherently and sobbing.
    “There’s a man! A man up there—he—”
    Don looked up at Glenn accusatorily. “What the hell is going on?” he said.
    All three of them looked up at the ceiling. The hatch to the attic was wide open. A light shone, illuminating a plain, gray ceiling. It was all they could see.
    “There couldn’t be anyone up there,” Glenn said.
    “There was! There was! It was a man!” Amber cried. She was genuinely upset. She dragged her hands down her face, rubbing her cheeks. Tears poured out of her eyes and she looked much younger than her fourteen years. Like a baby. “He—he—he showed me his—” and she began to sob harder still. Don’s face went red with rage.
    Mrs. Trent went white. She dropped to the floor and began to croon, “Oh my poor baby poor baby—”
    Glenn stood by helplessly, alternating between the open hatch and the trio on the floor. “I don’t know what to say, there’s been no one—”
    Don, red-faced and apoplectic with rage, called up the hatch, “I’m coming up there, you bastard! Touch my little girl—” and he took the hatch ladder in two steps, disappearing into the attic.
    Glenn urged the two on the floor to move away from the ladder. Mrs. Trent helped her daughter up. The girl looked up toward the hatch and began her shrieking again.
    “He showed me his thing!”
    Mrs. Trent covered the girl’s head