FICTION BY KRISTEN HOUGHTON

Kristen Houghton’s latest novel, Teeth: The Haunting of Dansbury Plot, has just been released, n which the eleven-year-old character says: “A lot of scary stories have been told about The Plot and stuff that’s happened. Little kids call it ‘Bury-the-Dead-Dan’s Plot’ but won’t go anywhere near it, not ever. Even animals keep clear of it. Hell, if a mouse was being chased by a cat, it would go clean out of its way and take a chance on getting caught rather than run across Dansbury Plot.”

She is the author of the best-selling series, A Cate Harlow Private Investigation, which has been named Best Series of the Year by WNYC Book Clubs.

Her writing portfolio includes The Huffington Post, Thrive, interviews and reviews for HBO documentaries, The Style Network, and OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network.

A storyteller from childhood, she has always felt that “Words, in any language, are pure magic.”

On a personal note, she is crazy about tennis and, just like her fictional character Cate Harlow, tries to play as often as she can.

THERE ARE NO SUCH THINGS AS MONSTERS
by Kristen Houghton

It was that sound that had awakened him. Same sound he had heard before. A human scream? No, come on now, be real. It was probably a night owl screeching. Looking for prey. Something like that. Right…that had to be it.

He was just dozing off again when the high-pitched sound pierced the air once more. This time he went to look out the window to see if he saw anything. As he watched, a large dark shadow seemed to pass quickly on the lawn, away from the house and out toward the road. A shadow of what? A person? They were pretty far from any neighbors. Okay, a bear then? No, not their season. More likely just shadows from the clouds trying to cover the new moon.

He shivered and pulled the curtains closed. That scream. He’d heard it a lot ever since they’d moved here. Whenever he’d heard it, he always had an uncomfortable feeling that something was right outside looking in. Ridiculous since, whenever he looked outside, he never saw anything but…well, shadows. Always shadows after that scream.

“Daddy! Monster, monster!”

Pushing the curtains aside, he looked out the window one more time, then went to his son’s room. Four-year-old Luke suffered from night terrors and the sound had probably awakened him, too.

An hour later, back alone in his king-sized bed, Jamie shifted, uncomfortably. No sleep tonight. Flicking on the TV, he began to flip through channels.

“The family of a woman who had been missing for six years has petitioned the courts to have her declared legally dead. Channel4 has discovered that she is the third person to have gone missing over the last three years in Warren County. And now a traffic update…”

Jamie turned the TV off and sighed. People going missing. Warren County was two hours north of where he lived. He’d made sure that every night he checked that the doors and windows were locked tightly. He took no chances with the safety of his son.

He missed his wife, Jen, who was a photojournalist now headed to Guatemala to shoot a documentary on an ancient Mayan ruin. He worked from home and was alone all day except for their housekeeper, Naomi. She cooked and cleaned while Luke was in pre-k from 8:00 to 1:00 every day.

The woman was a real godsend. Before she left on her assignment, Jen told Jamie that she was so grateful to have someone like Naomi to take care of the house. A few days later when he’d told Naomi what his wife had said, she adjusted her sunglasses self-consciously and said that his wife was sweet. “So very sweet,” she repeated, then covered her mouth quickly with her hand as she hurried out the door.

There was a gardener-cum-handyman who showed up once a week. He was a quiet, raw-boned man named Henrik. Came, never spoke, did his job, and left.

Henrik resembled a character named Zacherley who was made up to look like a ghoul and had been the host of some spooky late-night show in the sixties that showed horror films. If anyone looked like a real ghoul—no makeup needed—it was Henrik. He was tall and gaunt, his face almost skeletal with prominent cheek and chin bones and a high forehead.

Tonight Jamie lay with his arms pillowing his head, trying to remember the exact date when his son had awakened screaming in fear. What had suddenly brought on the night terrors? He’d never had them until—Jamie yawned and shook his head, yeah, no night terrors until—he yawned again and closed his eyes, thinking about Luke’s night terrors—no terrors until a month after they’d moved here.

“You’re gonna love this place!” the real estate agent had said when they’d committed to buying the house a year ago. She explained that Jamie and Jen could have the services of both a housekeeper and a yardman if they wanted them to stay on.

“Their salaries are reasonable and, truthfully, they sort of come with the house, you know? They worked for the previous owners.”

They agreed to have Henrik and Naomi continue in their jobs. It was, his wife had said, not only their dream house but a dream situation.

And then their dream situation ended when Luke started waking up in the night screaming about a monster.

Jaimie looked at the digital clock. Jen was in a Guatemalan jungle. He’d checked online and knew that her plane had landed so he knew she was safe on the ground, well, as safe a one could be in Guatemala. He also knew that she couldn’t be reached.

A shadow passed in front of the window again. The clouds were playing games tonight and the shadows were dancing.

“Daddy! D-a-d-d-y! Monster, monster!”

Jamie got out of bed sighing. Monsters. He remembered what his college psych professor had said about the human obsession with monsters.

“There are no such things as monsters, only scary images our own minds create as monsters.”

The mind of his son certainly was creating a monster every night.

Luke was scheduled to see his pediatrician tomorrow for his yearly check-up. Jamie would talk to her about his son’s constant fear of a monster in the house.

*****

After the exam that showed Luke was a physically healthy little boy, the doctor smiled at him, gave him a lollipop, and, trying to be extra careful of Luke’s reaction, asked him why he thought there was a monster in his house. Luke said nothing, just stared at her, his eyes welling up with tears.

Jamie told the doctor that he thought his son was awakened at night by a screech owl, a night hunter. Could that be the cause of his fear of monsters in the house?

“Screech owl? Never heard that they were in this area,” she said, typing on a tablet.

Jamie and Luke left the pediatrician’s office with no solution for the night terrors other than a suggestion for a mild sedative to be taken at night which Jamie declined. He didn’t want his son doped up. There had to be another way. He had to find out what was scaring his son.

As they pulled into the driveway, Henrik came around the side of the house and Luke looked at him timidly. Henrik nodded at Luke and continued on toward the pool area. Jamie glanced at his little boy who sat quietly in his car seat his eyes carefully following the handyman. Is he afraid of Henrik? Does Luke see him as a monster? He is a little creepy looking, that’s for sure, but he’s not a monster, right?

He took Luke into the house.

He checked his email, text and voice messages but found nothing from his wife. He left another voice message on her cell phone telling her he loved her, all was well, and to call him as soon as she got a break.

He clicked on the TV for an update on the weather only to find a breaking news flash.

“Early this afternoon, the body of a woman was found in a dumpster near the Willowbrook Mall. Her body had been mutilated. Teeth marks were seen all over her body and large chunks of flesh were missing from the torso and face. Police say the body displayed marks similar to the ones found on the body of a man who was found in a park in Crestfield exactly two years ago. That murder has not been solved. Stay tuned for further details on News at 5.”

What a crazy, insane world this is, he thought shaking his head. Sick, sick bastards out there. Jamie clicked the TV off and went to find Luke. He’d decided to take his son out for ice cream to make up for the doctor’s visit.

Luke was in the living room staring out from behind the curtains. His posture was tense, almost as if he were an animal in hiding peering out at a predator. Jamie walked over to see what his son was looking at so intently. Luke turned toward his father with a worried look.

Jamie looked outside. Henrik was down on his knees in front of the window, pruning a small bush. Jamie looked at his son again and saw tears sliding down his face as he pointed to Henrik. Then he crawled into his father’s arms and cried. So, the reason for Luke’s night terrors was Henrik.

A thought occurred to Jamie. Was it possible that Henrik was coming back after dark for God only knows what purpose? Robbery? Kidnapping? After all, what did Jamie really know about this man? Didn’t know where he lived or if he had any family.

Henrik was not only strange looking but acted strangely too—never talking to anyone, always looking at the house. So he’d worked for the previous owners, what did that prove? Jamie had never met the previous owners. Maybe he should do a background search on the internet for this guy.

There wasn’t a whole lot on Henrik other than a minor run-in with the law, but that was rather significant. He’d been picked up by police who had been called to a home a few miles from Jamie’s house. The homeowner told the arriving officers that Henrik had been standing in their front yard just staring at the house and shaking his head. It had been going on for a few days.

The next morning, when he returned from dropping his son off at pre-K, he waited for Henrik to arrive and walked outside to meet him. Jamie told him that his services were no longer needed and paid him for the next two months.

Henrik looked sad. He stared at the house for a long time and looked as if he were about to cry.
A cloud covered the sun and a shadow seemed to pass in front of the walkway. Henrik shook his
head and slowly walked away.

Jamie sighed deeply and exhaled a ragged breath. It was possible that he had gotten rid of the cause for Luke’s night terrors.

*****

Jen had been gone for a week and still he had no response to his calls and texts. Now he was getting concerned. Didn’t they have satellite phones in those places where cell service was irregular at best? He put a call through to the director who had hired Jen and whose number she had given Jamie in case there was any emergency. All he got was a voice mail and he asked the director to call him back.

The director finally got back to Jamie two nights later. He was in the jungle, sorry about the delay, and said that even satellite service in the jungle was horrible. The connection was poor, and Jamie could hardly hear the man through the crackling sounds on the wire. His voice faded in and out.

“…Jen feel…having her…”

Jamie asked him to repeat what he had said.

“Sorry. I said, is Jen feeling better? Miss having her here.”

“What?” Jamie said into the phone. “Are you saying that my wife is not there with you?”

“She never arrived…said she was sick…” The connection was suddenly dropped.

Jamie felt cold and he heard his heart pound in his ears. What was he talking about? Did the director really say that Jen was not there? If Jen wasn’t working with the director, where was she?

His thoughts turned dark. Guatemala was not exactly a third-world country but it was still developing. Violent crimes were common there, and it would not be unrealistic to imagine the kidnapping of an American. He felt panic rise but before his fear could become full-blown, he heard his son call out.

“D-a-d-d-y! Monster! Monster!”

He went to Luke’s room, his mind a whirl of fear. In a strange way he welcomed the distraction of his son’s needs away from the worry over his missing wife. He craved some sort of normalcy, but as he sat on his son’s bed, he realized that with Henrik gone, normalcy should mean that Luke would sleep through the night.

He stayed with Luke for about twenty minutes until his son became calm. Then he checked his emails. A short email from the director stated that he had received a text message from Jen, two hours before the plane was to leave, saying she was ill and couldn’t come.

Jen had never gotten on the plane. Oh my God, Jen! Where are you? Where are you!

He was beginning to slip back into panic when his son’s cries interrupted his thoughts for a second time that night.

“D-a-d-d-y!”

Jamie entered his son’s room once again just in time to see a dark form entering through the window.

*****

The man was studying the front of the house. His little girl tugged at his shirt to get his attention. His wife was saying something to him.

“I can’t believe that this beautiful house is listed at such a great price,” the wife said “There has to be a catch though, don’t you think? It was on the market for almost two years. Something’s wrong with it, right?”

The husband shook his head. “Supposedly the wife ran off, nobody knows why. Just up and left on some business trip and never came back. Then the husband disappeared. Cops found their little boy alone sitting in front of the house. Authorities located some distant aunt. She took the kid, got rid of the house; didn’t want it. Said it made her uncomfortable. But, hey, babe, their loss, our gain.”

“I don’t know about this neighborhood. There seems to be a lot of crime around here. Didn’t they say on the news that a body was just found in the park a mile from here?”

“There’s crime everywhere. We’ll invest in good home security. At this price, it’s a steal.”

A car pulled up and a woman called out the window. “Hello!”

The husband walked to the car and returned her greeting. “Are you a neighbor?”

Naomi smiled. “I’m more than that. I’ve worked for the families who lived here for many years. I see you have a young child. I’m a registered nanny, but I also cook and clean. If you would consider hiring me, I can provide my credentials. I promise I can be invaluable to a nice working family like yours!”

Naomi’s eyes were glowing especially bright today. It had been a long time for her. Too long. She missed the arrangement when she had a stable supply of human blood that she could sip from time to time without killing anyone. Her victims would weaken, of course, but were still able to survive and function.

Jen had been Naomi’s mistake. She had drunk too much blood from the woman and killed her. Naomi wouldn’t make that mistake again. It made the family move away. And she needed a family.

Without a family, she couldn’t take weekly sips. Instead, she was forced to attack strangers and drink all at once, killing the victim, like the one she discarded in the local park.

Her shadow passed in front of her.

She was so hungry!