The Girl Who Wasn't There Read online

  It’s the first time she goes through the house like this, and she finds something quite unexpected in the creature’s bedroom. In the closet, which she presumed only contained the creature’s clothes, she finds a shelf full of different shoes, including Rebecca’s own. They’re all around the same size, and all seem to be girl’s shoes. Some of them are very old. She counts at least six pairs.

  She considers for a moment taking her own shoes, but that would of course be a blatant mistake; the creature would find out and punish her for it. Besides, she’s quite used to walking around in her socks by now, even when she’s outside.

  She leaves the shoes and goes on investigating while she ponders the plan. There are a lot of questions she needs to answer.

  Should she do it in the day or in the night? Should she try while the creature is sleeping or wait for it to leave in the van? If it’s out, it will lock the doors, meaning Rebecca needs to smash a window to get out of the house. But even if she does, the biggest obstacle will still be the fence. She can’t climb it because of the barbed-wire, that’s too dangerous. Which means she needs to go either under it or through it.

  There is, of course, the beech. It’s a big, old tree by the side of the house, and it has long branches reaching out over the fence. If she could somehow climb up there, she might be able to climb over the fence and jump down on the other side.

  The problem is, though, that the lowest branches of the beech sit very high, too high for her to reach them, even if she brought a chair to stand on. She would need a ladder. She knows there is one in the garage—she saw it one day, when she was out playing with the puppy and it ran into the garage—but it’s firmly chained to the wall; as though the creature predicted the ladder might be used to scale the fence. So, the beech is not really an option, either.

  Later, in the afternoon, Rebecca goes outside and checks the garage. The creature has returned home and is taking a nap in its bedroom.

  She finds a pair of pliers which might be big enough to cut the fence—if Rebecca has the strength, that is. She picks up a piece of wire from the floor and tests the pliers. She manages to cut the wire, but it takes a lot of effort, and the fence is even thicker. Besides, she needs to cut it in at least ten places in order to make an opening big enough to squeeze through; probably more like twenty. How long will that take her? Will she tire out before she’s done?

  There is also still the option she already tried once: digging her way under the fence. The biggest problem with that option is how long it’ll take. The first time she tried it, the creature had time to sense what she was doing and showed up. Which means, if she chooses to dig her way out, she needs to do it while the creature isn’t home.

  But then the next question pops up: what does she do if she makes it past the fence? Where does she run to? There are open fields in every direction and she has no idea which way town is. Of course, she can follow the gravel road until she reaches the highway, but if she flees while the creature is out, she runs the risk of it returning and seeing her on the road.

  It might be better to just choose a direction and make a run for it. At some point, she’s bound to meet a house or a town.

  Then how much of a head start will she need? If the creature sets after her, which she feels pretty certain it will, she better make sure she’s far enough away that it can’t catch up with her. Even more so if the creature follows her in the van.

  Unless she sabotages it, of course. She’s seen in the movies how people will cut a wire or something in the engine of a car, and then it won’t start. Maybe she can do the same before she makes a run for it?

  There are so many things to consider, Rebecca’s head is spinning, but she wants to make sure she doesn’t overlook anything, so she prepares herself mentally for staying another couple of days, just until she has got it all figured out.

  Then, suddenly, a completely unexpected chance shows itself.

  DAY 99

  Rebecca hears it already from very far away, as she’s out playing with Doris in the garden. She immediately recognizes the sound of tires on the gravel, and at first, she thinks it’s the creature who has left in the van. But she hasn’t heard the engine start up or the rattling of the chain at the gate.

  So, she picks up the puppy and goes around to the courtyard. The yellow van is still in the garage.

  Some distance up the gravel road, she can make out a red car coming this way. The gravel is very dry and creates a tall, narrow cloud of dust rising towards the blue sky.

  Rebecca feels her heart rate rising. She turns and looks at the house. The creature is in there somewhere. Has it heard the car yet? Why hasn’t it come out? Perhaps it’s napping—it sometimes does that around this time of day.

  Rebecca looks toward the approaching car again. It’s driving along at a leisurely speed, with no hurry.

  Who is it? Someone who knows the creature and wants to pay it a visit?

  Rebecca never even considered the possibility of the creature having relatives or friends, and it seems highly unlikely.

  She stands there in the courtyard, uncertain what to do, watching the car come closer. Still no sign of the creature as the car reaches the gate. It stops but doesn’t turn off its engine.

  Rebecca can’t see through the windshield due to the reflection of sunlight. The driver’s door is opened and an older gentleman steps out. As soon as Rebecca sees his face, she understands he’s not a friend of the creature.

  “Hello?” he calls out, waving at Rebecca. “Hello, there! Could you please help me, darling?”

  Rebecca is completely unprepared for the man’s thick accent. It’s British, as far as she can tell, like the way old, fancy people from Europe talk in movies. The man sounds very nice, and he’s smiling at her and waving her closer.

  Rebecca glances back at the house again. The front door is still closed. The creature would have heard the car by now. Perhaps it really is napping.

  She bites her lip. Should I go for it?

  The old guy is still waving and calling for her.

  Rebecca can’t open the gate, and neither can the man, since it requires a key, which the creature has. And if she tells the man to call the police or go for help, and the creature shows up to see her talking with him, she will no doubt be punished. In fact, just standing here looking at the guy might be considered a disobedience by the creature. Perhaps she ought to simply go inside the house.

  On the other hand, this might be the chance she’s been waiting for. Rebecca decides to take it.

  She runs to the gate.

  “Hello, sweetheart,” the old man says, holding out a brochure of some kind. “What a lovely little dog you’ve got there. Listen, I’m looking for this motel, you see, but I’ve been going ’round for hours on end now, and I just can’t seem to—”

  “You’ve got to help me,” Rebecca interrupts. “You need to call someone.”

  The man’s smile falters. “I … I’m sorry, sweetheart, I’m not quite sure I follow?”

  Rebecca grabs the cold metal bars of the gate. “Help me!” she says earnestly. “Help me get out of here!” She darts a look back towards the house.

  The old man follows her gaze, frowning. “What … what’s wrong, darling? Are you all right?”

  “No! I’m not all right! I’m being held hostage. Call the police!”

  The man raises his eyebrows. “The police? But, really—”

  “Yes! The police! Call them now!”

  The man hesitates for a moment longer, looking from the house to Rebecca, then seems to decide to believe her and goes to his pockets. “Shoot, where’s my bloody cell phone?”

  He goes back to his car.

  Rebecca’s heart is pounding away in her throat, Doris is shaking in her arms.

  And then she hears it. The front door.

  She turns her head like in slow motion to see the creature come out of the house. It looks right at her, but weirdly, it’s walking in a different direction; it’s headed for the g
arage.

  The old man has found his phone and is coming back towards the gate, fumbling with a pair of reading glasses.

  Rebecca reaches her arm out through the gate, pointing frantically. “Hurry up! Call them! It’s coming! The creature is coming! Call them, just call them!”

  “Now, hold on a minute,” the old man says, and then he says something more, which Rebecca doesn’t pick up, because she’s looking back to see the creature coming back out from the garage, holding the shovel and coming this way.

  “Call the police!” Rebecca screams. “Call them now! Please!” She lunges for the phone, but the old man steps backward with a look of utter confusion.

  He looks to the creature and says: “Good afternoon, sir. Could you please explain to me why this young lady seems to be terrified? What exactly is going on here?”

  “Call the police! Call them!” Rebecca screams, as the creature grabs her and drags her aside. It produces the key and unlocks the chain.

  Rebecca is still screaming, the old guy is still talking to the creature, but now he’s also backing away towards his car, the cell phone still in his hand.

  “Run!” Rebecca screams to him. “Get out of here!”

  Finally, the seriousness of the situation dawns on the old man, and he turns and makes for his car. The creature has just pulled the gate aside and is still far enough away that the old guy can actually make it—but his shoe slips on the gravel, and he grabs the door so as to not fall down.

  It gives the creature the five seconds it needs to get to him and raise the shovel.

  Rebecca doesn’t actually hear the blade of the shovel connecting with the old guy’s skull, because her own scream drowns it out.

  She doesn’t see it, either, because thankfully, the creature is blocking the view.

  But she does see the man fall to the gravel and she sees the creature swing the shovel three times more and she sees the man’s bloody face.

  Then, she only sees the blue sky and finds herself lying flat on her back, Doris barking somewhere nearby.

  I guess I fainted, she thinks curiously, looking at the white clouds drifting by.

  She tries to lift her head and is surprised to find she actually can. She sees the creature come walking across the courtyard, dragging along the old man by one leg.

  Rebecca feels very faint and weak, but she uses her last strength to turn her head towards the gate. The old guy’s car is still right outside, his cell phone lies in the gravel, only a few yards away from Rebecca.

  But the creature has closed and chained-up the gate once more, so the car and phone might as well be on Mars.

  Then, Rebecca rests her head on the gravel and looks back up at the clouds.

  That was my chance, she thinks. Now the creature will kill me.

  She drifts off.

  PART THREE

  AMBROOS VAN DE GOOR

  DAY 107

  Andy tells Lisa about the episode with New Mom the next day at the library. He doesn’t exactly want to, but Lisa asks about the band-aid on his earlobe.

  “So, now I can’t go looking for Rebecca at night anymore,” he concludes dejected. “But I guess it doesn’t really matter. I wouldn’t find her that way anyhow.”

  Andy sighs, leans back and rubs his forehead. He senses Lisa saying something, but he doesn’t open the book right away. Once he does, the line says:

  »don’t give up«

  “I’m not,” Andy says, looking up into the ceiling. “But I have no idea where to go from here.”

  He racks his brain. There must be some way for him to find Rebecca. Some tiny clue he has missed. Something seemingly insignificant that he—

  Andy’s thoughts come to a sudden halt. For a long moment, there’s only silence in his head. Then:

  The book. Perhaps …

  It’s so obvious. It’s been right in front of him for days. Could it really be this simple? His heart seems to think so, because it starts racing behind his ribs.

  “I’ll be right back,” he tells Lisa, leaving the book in the chair as he gets up. He finds Regan between the shelves.

  She lights up the minute she sees him. “Hey, Andy—what’s up?”

  “Could you do me a huge favor, Regan?”

  “Sure.”

  “It’s a really big one.”

  Regan’s smile turns slightly bemused. “You need me to find a book?”

  “No, not exactly. I’m looking for something else.”

  “All right, what then?”

  “I need to know who took out a certain book the last time it was lent out.”

  Regan frowns. “Uhm, okay. And why do you need to know? If the book isn’t here, I’m sure it’ll be returned soon …”

  “It’s no longer in the system. I checked. The last person who borrowed it never returned it.”

  “Oh, I see. But … why do you need to know?”

  “I just do. It’s really important, Regan.”

  Andy is so excited and nervous he’s almost out of breath, and he can tell Regan notices.

  She looks around, then lowers her voice. “Listen, Andy, you know I’m not supposed to. Other people’s personal information is confidential.”

  “I know, but … I think … it just might …”

  Andy can’t say it.

  He can’t tell Regan that the person who took out Anatomy of the Human Eye and never returned it just might be a monster in disguise, and that that monster has taken Rebecca. Even though Regan has a well-developed imagination from reading a lot of books with supernatural things, she will still think Andy is crazy if he spills the beans on his whole theory.

  He moans. “I can’t tell you, Regan. I just can’t, but … it’s really important. You know I wouldn’t ask you unless it was something crucial. Please!”

  Regan eyes him for long moment. “What’s wrong, Andy? You’re all freaked out.”

  Andy scratches his hair. “It’s just because …”

  He decides to tell Regan a small piece—just enough to make her realize the seriousness of the matter.

  So, he leans forward and whispers: “It’s got something to do with Rebecca.”

  Regan’s eyes widen. “Rebecca? But, how on earth …?”

  Andy doesn’t say anything else, he just stares at Regan, giving her his most earnest look.

  Regan bites her lip, looks around once more, then she says: “All right. If it means that much to you. Come with me.”

  Andy follows her to the computer, and she logs in by scanning her ID card.

  “What’s the title of the book?”

  “Anatomy of the Human Eye.”

  Regan types it in. The system comes up with a hit.

  “There it is,” Regan says, pointing. “It was last taken out on that date. Three months later, still no return, and there was a bill sent to the loaner. It was paid the day after. Then the book was filed as gone. Which means, the loaner basically bought it out of the system, probably because he or she lost it.”

  “Who was the loaner?” Andy whispers, staring at the screen.

  Regan presses a link.

  A name pops up.

  Andy gapes.

  The last remnant of doubt is erased from his mind as he sees the name. He knows for a fact that he’s looking at the name of Rebecca’s capturer.

  The name on the screen is Ambroos van de Goor.

  DAY 103

  The creature doesn’t kill her.

  It burns her feet until they’re both like one giant, oozing wound. It drips the liquid in her eyes and blinds her. It doesn’t feed her for three days. And it keeps her locked in the room the entire time.

  But it doesn’t kill her.

  Rebecca lies in bed for a week as her feet slowly heal and her eyes recover somewhat.

  The pain is so bad the first couple of days that she barely sleeps. She drifts in and out of feverlike dreams, where she witnesses over and over again the creature beating the old man to death with the shovel. She hears crunching on gravel, her
own scream and the sharp thud of a metal blade connecting with a skull.

  But she also sometimes dreams about Andy and the rest of her family; they call to her from behind a thick window. She can’t hear their voices, but she can see them waving and banging the glass.

  Rebecca reads Andy’s lips. He keeps repeating the same three words:

  “Come home, Becca!”

  On the fourth day, the creature brings her a bucket to use as a toilet and starts bringing her meals again. It doesn’t look at her or talk to her, though.

  As Rebecca slowly recovers in bed, she gradually becomes able to think straight again. And she realizes the thought of trying to escape is even worse, now that she knows what the creature is willing to do to keep her here. She harbors no illusions that it will kill her without hesitation if she tries to run and it catches her.

  And why wouldn’t it? After all, Rebecca is pretty replaceable. The creature could easily find a new Alice. Maybe it even has done so before.

  The way the creature simply replaced Boris makes Rebecca wonder if she is the first one to get caught by the creature? It would explain the many girl’s shoes she found.

  How many Alices have gone before her? How many exactly are buried around the garden?

  So what happened to them? Did they simply grow too old? Or perhaps they refused to toe the line. Perhaps they refused to forget their real name or their family. And finally, one day, they tried to run away. And the creature caught them. And now, their bones lie buried in the ground out back, their flesh eaten away by maggots.

  The thought brings out a deep dread in Rebecca.

  Though she feels terrified at the thought of trying to flee, she has also already made up her mind to do it. At least it will offer her a chance to see Andy and Mom and Dad and Cindy again, even if the chance is slim. If she does nothing, however, she won’t see them for sure.

  She also realizes, as she spends the week in bed, how she will do it. It comes to her in a half-dream in the middle of a night full of pain, as she suddenly opened her eyes and stared right at the solution.