Chapter74 Beth and the Steinman Brothers

Beth goes up to the attic to the area where Cindy said she was when she talked with Mary; then, sits down and starts softly calling out their names, "Anna? Chelsea? Tommy? Davey? …Mary?" Nothing. She starts running down the list again; repeating it over and over for about ten minutes. No one answers her; so, Beth heads back downstairs. At the second floor landing, Beth hears noise coming from down the end of the hallway inside Mary's old room. Wondering if he's checking out anything in the room, Beth calls out, "Professor?" "Yes, Beth, what is it?" The professor calls back…from downstairs. Beth reaches out, grabs the railing, and crouches down; looking down the hallway at the closed bedroom door. "Never mind, Professor." She waits there, motionless, watching the door; listening. Within a minute or two, Beth hears laughing coming from inside the room; so, she decides to check and see who's in there. Upon opening the door, Beth sees the two four-year-olds in the center of Mary's room playing with toy cars. She recognizes Tommy; and, assumes the other's Davey. Beth walks over and stands by the two playing children. Tommy looks up at her and smiles. "Hi, Beth." "Hi, Tommy. How are you?" "Good." "This must be Davey. Hi, Davey; how are you?" The boy doesn't acknowledge Beth; he just continues playing. She tries again. "Hi, Davey; my name's Beth…Tommy knows me. How are you?" Still nothing. "Tommy, why isn't Davey talking to me? Did I do something to make him mad?" "No." "Then; why won't Davey talk to me?" "He's not Davey." Startled…Beth quickly steps back, taking a moment to compose herself; then asks, "If he's not Davey, Tommy; who is he?" "Charles." Beth stumbles back, falling on her buttocks, and scrambles backwards until she backs into the wall. She's trembling as she chokes up asking, "Did you say…he's Charles, Tommy?" "Uh huh." "Charles…Steinman?" "Uh huh." "Your brother?" "Uh huh." Tommy smiles. "Say hi to Beth, Charles." The boy turns and stares at the frightened Beth. "Hi…Beth." He turns back around and continues playing. Beth's sweating, breathing heavily, and trembling. "Tommy," Beth changes the subject, "where's Anna?" He shrugs his shoulders and answers, "I don't know." Then, he returns to playing with Charles. "Tommy, please; where's Anna? Is she okay?" The two boys stop playing and look at each other; then, Charles gets up and leaves the room. Tommy returns to playing with his car. Beth, still crouched on the floor with her back against the wall, watches him play for a few minutes before asking again… "Tommy, please: where's Anna? Is she okay?" Tommy walks over to Beth and stares at her; smiling. Tears run down Beth's cheeks as she softly begs, "Please, Tommy…where's my baby girl? Please; tell me where Anna is." Tommy remains silent; smiling. Beth, angered by his non-responsiveness, reaches out and grabs each of his arms; then, starts shaking him while yelling, "Where's my daughter, you God damn little twisted fucker?!" Tommy grabs Beth's wrists and squeezes them tightly. She's amazed at the strength he possesses…and, as the pressure increases…becomes subdued by the pain being inflicted on her. The pain becomes unbearably intense, and forces Beth to release her grip on Tommy's arms as she slides along the wall down to her side; causing her to bang her head on the floor. Tommy releases his grip and steps back. Beth immediately sits back up, rubbing her wrists in an attempt to soothe them. They're bruised; and, Beth can see the impression of Tommy's tiny fingers left on them. When Beth finishes tending to her aching wrists, she looks back up at Tommy; who's been watching her all this time with an innocent looking smile on his face. Then, it begins. Beth watches a small line of blood trickle from his temple to down the side of his face. Within seconds, another line of blood trickles down next to that one…then, another… and, another…then, a couple of more lines after that. Within seconds, the entire right side of Tommy's face is covered in blood; and, his wavy, blonde hair becomes bright red from being blood soaked. Suddenly, blood starts gushing out of his head; spurting out onto the floor and Beth. She covers her face with her hands in an attempt to keep from seeing the horrific, bloody sight. Beth starts screaming and crying for the professor. When Professor Rhyies comes running into the room, he finds Beth cowering on the floor with her hands covering her face. He runs over and kneels down besides her, putting his hands on her shoulders, then, gently jostles her; trying to get her attention. He yells out… "Beth! It's me; Professor Rhyies! Beth, do you hear me?" Beth slowly lowers her hands and starts looking around for the blood covered Tommy. When she sees he's not there, she looks down at herself…there's no blood. She starts to laugh…while still crying…and, throws her arms around the professor's neck to hug him. "What's wrong, Beth; what happened?" She doesn't answer at first; continuing to simultaneously laugh and cry while holding onto him. After a couple of minutes, she lets go of the professor, leans back against the wall, and exhales. "Whew! I didn't do it." Baffled; the professor asks, "What didn't you do, Beth?" "There's no blood; so, I didn't hurt him, Professor. I didn't hurt Tommy."