There has to be someone who can help us, Daddo says. Not friends, family, police, priests... I don’t mean any of them. We just can’t... be stuck. It’s literally impossible. Nobody is ever just stuck. You hurt yourself, you go to a doctor. You need money, a car, you get a loan. I don’t know. We can’t be stuck. Everything is so piqued, Mommy says. We gotta talk about something else. But Daddo’s been talking like this for a long time. He’s at his desk in the living room. He’s looking up people he thinks could help us. And he ke eps looking at the cameras on his phone. I don’t like looking at them. I don’t like how small my bedroom looks on the camera. And how empty. Mommy’s on her phone, texting with Grandma. Grandma said she’s gonna come over soon. But she said that a while ago. I worry she was changed at Evelyn’s house. I’m so worried Grandma was changed. Like, how about this couple, Daddo says. From Samhattan. They say they specialize in... He looks over at me like he doesn’t wanna say what he was going to say. ... in this kind of thing, he says. I don’t believe them, Mommy says. What? Just by the pic? I don’t believe them. Well, we gotta believe someone. Daddo saw Other Mommy too. They’re all changed, I think. Are you tired, Bela? Mommy asks. Russ, maybe we should go for a walk. Daddo looks up like he could see the sky through the ceiling. In fact, he says, there’s another couple from Samhattan that says they specialize in the same thing. And in their description... they say that first couple is bogus. He looks upset. I am tired. I’m curled up on a blanket on the couch while Daddo searches for help online. I think of Grandma at her house sle eping all alone, the closet in her bedroom opening. All I can find are people who investigate, Daddo says. But does that mean they also exterminate? The word sits in the room, it feels like. Like Daddo tossed a black ball in the air. All the lights are on. Most will be on all night. My God, he says. Each one is worse than the last. That’s fine, Mommy says. Then I don’t want them in our house. All right, but someone’s gotta come, Daddo says. We need—
I know what we need, thank you, Mommy says. I’m touching my neck. I can feel my pulse. My heart. What would it feel like if I say yes? One time I told Other Mommy I was scared of what would happen and she didn’t smile or make a mean face, she just stared at me for a long time like she was hungry. I mean, this guy from downstate is insane, Daddo says. Look at him, Urs. Come here. Russ, I don’t wanna think about this right now. Okay, but— Please. Stop. Okay, but... just look. Looks like a Satanist. Looks serious. Bela, Mommy says. Sle ep if you need to. Rest is more important right now than ever. I close my eyes. But I don’t sle ep. Not yet. I don’t even know if I’m searching for the right thing, Daddo says. Are there differences? I need you to stop talking about it, Mommy says. I need to think clearly and everything you’re saying is making me feel crazier. Is she still awake? Daddo asks. I am. I don’t know. Mommy says. I think so. I am. It’s not even the money, Daddo says. But that’s outrageous too. I just think, if we had a bunch of people here, like when Chaps Security was installing the alarms... It showed itself at the party, Mommy says. But at least we weren’t alone with it when it did. I have dreams, Russ, Mommy says. I feel trapped. I have an entire life to live and instead I’m stuck in this house. This house of all houses only because it doesn’t matter where we go, this house follows us there. It’s insane and I want it to be over. I’m working on it. What are you doing? Are you seriously implying there’s a right way to react to this? There’s gotta be a wrong way. Russ. Leave if you wanna. Go for a walk. A drive. I can’t leave Bela. And that means I can’t leave whatever the fuck this is. It’s like I didn’t read the fine print on the motherhood manual where it said, You might have to stay home for a haunting. I feel tethered, Russ. Yeah, well, that’s not the nicest thing to say to the person you’re tethered to.
And even if I did go out tonight, Mommy says. Let’s say I could go out tonight: What the hell would I do? What would I say? When someone asks me how I’m doing, how we’re doing, what the hell would I say? O, Marsha! We’re fine. Things are really great. Bela starts school soon and Russ is working his tail off and I’m getting closer and closer to all my dreams. Maybe if you said all that, it would come true. I don’t know. There is a life I want to live, Mommy says. There is a life I want to be living instead of being stuck in the living room of our own house. For hell’s sake, Russ, I was at my wits’ end before all this. And now? That one guy is starting to look good now, Daddo says. What? Mommy says. Who? The man in all-black camo or whatever, Daddo says. He’s starting to look good compared to some of these other people. The house creaks. But I’m falling asle ep to the sound of Mommy and Daddo. Their voices are like a movie. They go back and forth, back and forth, and the creaking sounds like the lid of a box, closing over me, tucking me into the dark. I sle ep. And I wake. In my bedroom. In my bed. In the dark. Mommy? I sit up and look for her. We’re not sle eping upstairs anymore. That’s the rule. Where are they? Daddo? Mommy? Do I hear them downstairs, still talking? I listen close. But it’s hard to tell. Daddo? Mommy? Hey, Bela. I almost scream at the voice. The closet is so dark, I can’t tell if it’s open or closed. Kelvin? I say. Because it was his voice. Yeah, hey, Bela. How you doing? I hear him but I don’t see him. Where are you? Right here. I see his eyes. If white-blue were a color, his eyes would be white-blue.
Your mom and dad said you needed a friend, Kelvin says. They did? But I know they did. They’ve been talking about that. Yeah, Kelvin says. They’re having a party downstairs. Can you hear the party, Bela? I think I can. Yes. Voices. Yes. And music too. But I’ve never heard Mommy or Daddo play music like this before. They called me up, Kelvin says. Told me to come watch you. They really want you to have a friend. How did I get up here? We’re not supposed to be up here. I carried you, Kelvin says. And it’s your bedroom. Of course you’re allowed to be in your bedroom. If you’re not allowed, no one is. It sounds like a party downstairs. But far away. Like it’s two downstairs. Kelvin’s eyes are white-blue in the dark by the closet. Mind if I sit with you? he asks. No, I say. I’m sitting up in bed. There’s no blanket on me. I look to the hall and there’s no light. No nightlight. Only the moon coming through my bedroom window. Thanks, Kelvin says. His eyes get bigger for a second, like he’s coming toward me really fast. Then I see him, Kelvin, coming out of the dark. He sits on the side of my bed. You guys have been out on the road for a while, he says. Yeah. But you came back home. Yeah. That’s nice. That’s where you should be. Do you think your mom and dad are doing well, Bela? It sounds like a wave goes over the voices and the music downstairs. I don’t know. But you do, Kelvin says. Daddo was talking about how other people in the house would make him feel better. Like the Chaps Security people did. Is that why they’re having a party? Kelvin reaches out like he’s going to put his hand on mine but he just touches the bed. It’s okay to admit they’re not doing too hot, he says. No, they’re not doing too hot. No. But I think I know how to help with that. You do?
Mm-hm. Another wave, like all their voices and the music slows down and then goes fast again. I’m the person your parents call to help with things, Kelvin says. And so listen to me closely when I tell you how. Okay. Okay. He gets up and st eps into the darkness where my dresser is. If I were you, he says, I would be able to fix this. What do you mean? Well, I mean I know more about these things than you do, Bela. Yeah. Yeah. And so if I were you, even for a day, if we switched places, I could say all sorts of things that would make your mom and dad love each other again. They do love each other. The voices downstairs get louder. Whose voices are those? No, they don’t. Not right now. But they could. If you said and did the right things to make it that way. What should I say? His eyes blink white-blue by the dresser. It’s too much to teach you, he says. But I could do it for you. Will you? Yes. But you’re going to have to let me be you. Just for one day. I hear a woman crying downstairs. Is that Mommy’s cry? Who would I be? I ask. His eyes get bright and the shape of them looks upset. You would be you, Bela, Kelvin says. And I would be you, just for one day. Should we try it? I think I should go downstairs. They told me to make sure you didn’t do that. Why? They want you to rest. And they think you need time with a friend. Okay. I’m thinking of the dogs. How Mommy and Daddo would’ve had to get the dogs to “acc ept” all those voices downstairs. Are the dogs outside? Look for yourself.
I swing my legs over the side of the bed and the carpet is cold. I walk to the window but it shows me mostly the side of the house. I can barely see the fence for our backyard. They’re right there, Kelvin says. I back up at the sound of his voice because he’s right next to me, his chin close to my shoulder. He points to the glass and his finger is dark with hair. You see them? I lean forward until my head is touching the window and I’m suddenly scared of falling through the glass. When I turn to look at him, I see his face move in the moonlight so that it looks like Kelvin again. Yeah, I say. Did you really see them? I think so. So what do you think, Bela? He’s standing close to me. My back is to the window. About the party? No. About letting me be you. Will you let me in? I hear a growl and at first I think it’s Kelvin. I think he’s going to jump at me. But it’s the dogs. I know it is. Down at the foot of the stairs by the front door. I wanna go down to the party first, I say. Kelvin just stares at me. He’s not moving. I can’t tell what part of me he’s looking at. It’s like he’s looking at all of me. I st ep to the side to get around him and he’s still just staring where I was. Like I’m still there. I’ll be right back up, I say. Bela, he says. His voice is lower now. Bela, I can ke ep your parents together. Thanks, I say. I’m backing away from him. He’s still standing by the window. I think his clothes only cover the front of him. I think the back of him is crouching in the dark. He turns my way. He st eps toward me. And I hurry out of my bedroom and into the hall. From the top of the stairs I see the dogs down at the bottom. The voices and the music get so loud, then get quieter again. Kelvin comes out of my bedroom. I hear him behind me.
I hurry down the st eps. I hold on to the railing as I go. Kami and Kamael are growling, looking at the top of the stairs. I pass them, get to the bottom, and hurry down the hall. There is no music. No voices. And no light either. Mommy, I say. Daddo. I pass the dark bathroom and I run into the living room. The dogs bark behind me. Someone moves in the dark living room. What’s going on? Daddo says. Then his face lights up from his phone. He turns on the flashlight and shines it on me. Bela? What’s happening. Let’s hurry, I say. Let’s get outside. The stairs creak. The dogs bark. Russ? Mommy’s awake now too. What’s happening? Mommy says. She’s up and she turns on the light. Daddo is looking at his phone and his eyes get wider. Kelvin was upstairs, I say. He carried me up there. What? Daddo says. O my God, Mommy says. She grabs my wrist. Leads me toward the back door. Russ, she says. Russ, now. The dogs bark. The three of us hurry to the back deck door. Daddo is still looking at his phone. The footage, he says. But he doesn’t say any more. Why did you turn off the lights? Mommy asks him.
I didn’t. Why did you fall asle ep? She doesn’t answer. She pulls me outside and then all three of us are out there and Daddo closes the door and we’re backing up to the grass. Daddo has his phone to his ear. Hey, Kelvin, he says. Daddo called Kelvin. Hey, yeah, Daddo says into his phone. Well, I don’t know actually. Are you in our house right now? Mommy puts me behind her legs. Puts herself between me and the house. We’re all looking at every window at once. It’s a weird question, Daddo says. I understand. And I didn’t think you were. Thanks, Kelvin. He ends the call. What are you doing? Mommy asks him. I don’t know. I think I was hoping. Russ, Mommy says. You’re right. I’m sorry. You have to get someone here. Now. Anyone. It doesn’t matter. I know, Daddo says. I know. He looks through his phone. Front yard, Mommy says. Come on. She leads me to the backyard fence and we exit together. Daddo follows, still searching his phone. We walk along the side of the house and I look up to my bedroom window. I don’t see Kelvin. But I think I see where my head was touching the glass. He was so close to me. Now Daddo’s calling someone. We’re getting someone, Mommy says to me. Someone will come. We’re in the front yard now. I think of Kelvin saying he could help Mommy and Daddo. Hello? Daddo says. He sounds surprised. I’m sorry I’m calling so late, he says. O, are you? A night owl? Yes, I guess we’ve been ke eping odd hours ourselves lately. Listen, yes. No, we’re not religious. But we’re not sure what we believe in right now and anyway that doesn’t matter. The only thing we care about is getting rid of it. Yes. Absolute proof. I’ll tell you everything. Can you help? Really? You’re up for that talk right now? Well... Daddo looks to Mommy and me. Go ahead, Mommy says. Why waste one minute more?
We back up all the way into the empty street. Mommy still ke eps me behind her legs. Putting herself between me and the house. All right, Daddo says into the phone. All right. Here’s what’s happened so far...