Relentless: Three Novels Read online

  “I wouldn’t like that,” Trenton said.

  “They don’t either, but it helps everyone remember to pay attention in class.”

  “I bet it does,” he said. And we both laughed.

  We finished half our pizza and packed up the leftovers. We headed to the long line to ride the little indoor rollercoaster.

  When we got home it was late, long past his usual bedtime.

  I put Trenton to bed and sat on the edge of his bed until he fell asleep because it was a new room and I didn’t want him to be scared. He kept opening his eyes to see if I was there and sleepily smiled every time I was. After about ten minutes, he was sound asleep and I left his room, closing the door softly behind me.

  I decided to stay up and read my new book. Even though it was late, I still wasn’t quite ready for bed. As I flipped through the pages of my romance novel to find where I had left off, I began to get the feeling that someone was watching me. I turned around quickly, expecting to see my son had awakened and come out of his room, but nobody was there.

  I shrugged my shoulders and started back on my book. As I read through a few more pages, I began to feel heavy breathing on the back of my neck. I felt the goose bumps form on my body and turned around, only to see nothing behind me. I was starting to get a little scared.

  I put my hand up to feel the air, to see if there was a draft in the room, but there didn’t seem to be. If there was, I couldn’t figure out where it was coming from.

  I remembered what Ray had told me, about the former tenants who had insisted that the cottage was haunted, so I turned around quickly. There was nobody there. Deciding I was probably just overtired, I headed off to bed.

  *

  The next morning, I made a pancake breakfast to celebrate our new home. Trenton rubbed his eyes that were still a little puffy from sleep. “Guess what, Mom?”

  “What?”

  “There was a little boy in my room last night and we played with the toys that Mr. Ray gave me.” Trenton had a history of having imaginary friends, so this didn’t seem out of the ordinary to me.

  “That’s nice, Trent. Did he play nicely with you?”

  “Yeah, Mommy. We had a lot of fun.” Trenton looked past me to the door. “Someone’s coming, Mommy. I hear him.”

  There was a knock at the door. I got up from my seat and answered it.

  “Good morning,” said Ray.

  “Good morning. Would you like to come in?”

  “Yes, but I can’t stay long. I just wanted to see how you liked the new furniture or if you want it rearranged. I know how women are. Sometimes, it requires a few times to get everything all feng shui.”

  I laughed. “Oh, it’s lovely furniture and we are already settled on this arrangement. I can never thank you enough.”

  “It’s my pleasure. Hello there, buddy.”

  Trenton looked up from his plate of pancakes and waved to Ray.

  “Ray, this is my son, Trenton. Trenton, this is Mr. Ray.”

  “Thank you for the box of toys, Mr. Ray.”

  “You’re welcome. Nice to meet you, Trenton.”

  “Nice to meet you, too. I like the cottage.”

  “Good!” Ray said. He looked at me. “Everything working? No burned-out bulbs or dripping faucets?”

  “Nope. Everything is perfect,” I said. I didn’t mention the heavy breathing from last night. I was sure that my imagination was getting the best of me.

  “I have to be going.”

  “Okay, see you later, Ray,” I said.

  Ray left the house.

  “Come on, Trent, you need to get in the shower. We have Matt’s birthday party to go to.”

  “Aw, Mom! I thought we were done with Matt and Toni! Why do we still have to go to his stupid party?”

  “Because we already promised. It would not be nice to break a promise. Besides, other kids will be there that you like.”

  “His friend, Tiffany? The one who played checkers on the Wii with me that one time?”

  “We’ll see if she comes. I bet she will. And don’t worry, we won’t stay too long.”

  “Okay, Mommy. But if it’s fun, can we stay longer?”

  Kids!

  Chapter Three

  I sat on the couch at Tori’s house watching the kids play “Pin the tail on the donkey.” Now that they didn’t live together and share a bedroom, Trenton and Matt seemed to be getting along great.

  Matt’s birthday party was decked out in a Spiderman theme. I really enjoyed the Spiderman centerpiece—it caught my eye. It was layer of pop-up building shapes with Spiderman hanging off them. The party decorations looked really adorable.

  I was actually surprised that Toni went all out. She never really took any interest in Matt and mostly parked him in front of the TV or gave him unlimited use of the Wii and their Netflix subscription. Tori was always too worried about what her boyfriend was doing—video games and the TV were a convenient babysitter.

  I felt sort of bad, judging her. She had helped us when no one else could or would.

  Tori was my friend from high school and I had loved her in high school because she was always so spontaneous and sometimes came up with wild things to pass the time. However, if I would have met her now, I would more than likely not bother to befriend her. She was always so wrapped up in herself that she never paid any attention to her son. And she hadn’t matured. She had exactly the same personality that she had in high school, which was all about having fun and mostly, all about attention that she liked to get. I guessed that’ was why Matt was such a bully. He wanted attention, even if it was negative attention.

  I worried about his future. He was mostly a good kid, he just had no direction from his mother. This was another reason we had left their home. I couldn’t stand the whole environment of the selfish woman who randomly parented her son. I never claimed to be the best mom in the world, but Tori was just awful. At least with this birthday party, she was trying. She did keep drifting off to participate in adult conversations instead of organizing the games for the kids, but at least she was present.

  “Jodie, why are you by yourself?” someone asked, drawing me out of my thoughts.

  I turned around to see Tori’s boyfriend, Fred.

  “Hi, Fred. I’m just watching the kids play.”

  “How’s the new place?”

  “It’s great. We just moved everything in yesterday. So, we’re settling in. It’s really cozy and best of all, we have our own bathrooms, a yard and even a washer and dryer.”

  “Tori says it’s a haunted cottage.”

  “Fred, stop it,” said Tori as she made her way to us. “Jodie doesn’t believe in that kind of thing.”

  “No, I don’t,” I said. Tori and Fred took a seat next to me. I could smell the liquor on both of them. At a kiddie birthday party? Really?

  “I once lived in a haunted house, ya know, Jodie.” Tori was mumbling and I didn’t catch it at first, what she was saying.

  “Really? I didn’t know that, Tori.” She had never mentioned this before and we had been friends for years.

  “Yes, it was when I was a little girl. We lived in a large farmhouse in the Midwest. Well, we saw ghosts all the time. Until finally, my dad sold the home.”

  I nodded my head pretending to be interested. I quelled the urge to roll my eyes. The liquor was starting to hit her as she slurred her words. I hated it when she was drunk. Tori was a mean drunk and she usually ended up breaking things. And screaming or crying. Stuff like that was amusing in high school. But now that we were both mothers and had shared an apartment, not so much.

  I knew the party would be over soon, so I tried to keep calm about how drunk she was. Plus, it was her place, so what could I say?

  “I have Jell-O shots,” she offered. “And Fred brought some W-E-E-D.”

  “No, thanks. I’m driving,” I said. “And the kids can all spell that word.”

  She shrugged. “Oh, yeah.”

  “Well, if you’ll excuse me, I
see Elizabeth over there and I haven’t seen her in a while.”

  “Bring me back a beer?” Fred asked. “I need a chaser.”

  “Sure,” I said. I had no such intention.

  I got off the couch and made my way into the kitchen. “Hey,” I said to Elizabeth.

  “Hey, stranger, how have you been?” Her voice was warm and friendly. And sober.

  “I’m good.” I took a seat at the kitchen table next to her. “Really good, as a matter of fact.”

  “Tori told me you and Trent moved out.”

  “Yeah, it was time. I found a really good deal on a cottage rental.”

  “I heard it’s haunted right?” Elizabeth laughed.

  “Let me guess. Tori told you that, right?”

  “Yep, she told me not to be surprised if your house needs an exorcist.”

  “She needs an exorcist,” I said, a little too meanly, but we both broke out into laughter. I felt very catty after I said it and wished I could take it back.

  “I can’t believe you put up living with Tori for six months. I would have killed her.”

  “I almost did. Well, not really. We just screamed at each other. I couldn’t take Matt bullying Trenton. And Matt is older, bigger, and has no self-discipline. We were all cooped up in this small apartment. Things were bound to take a turn for the worse.”

  “Oh, wow, he was bullying Trenton? Poor little guy.”

  “Yeah, I told Tori a few times about his behavior, but she just brushed it off. We had several blow-ups about it.”

  “Surprise, surprise.”

  “I know. Right? But Tori did help us and our new cottage is very cute. The landlord even gave us some furniture and he’s really helpful. Ray came over today to see if anything needed fixing or any furniture needed to be rearranged.”

  “That was nice of him. Maybe Missy and I will stop by this week.” She paused. “Are you interested in Ray?”

  “Bite your tongue, girlfriend! I just got a divorce! It’s just me and my little man. Besides, you know how jealous my ex can get. I don’t want any trouble and I won’t have Trenton lying for me if I want to see someone. At this point in time, it’s just best to not start anything with anyone.”

  “Nonsense. You are so young to just cut yourself off from men.”

  “I am single and I plan to stay that way! No relationships!”

  “Woohoo! That just means more men for me,” Elizabeth said.

  “You’re so bad,” I said, laughing. “Come over and bring Missy but leave my landlord alone.”

  “Is he cute?”

  “Shut up!” I said. “He’s handsome.”

  “Aha! I knew it.” Liz was so funny.

  “But yeah. That would be great if you two came over. Trenton would love to play with her. I think he is extra lonely at the new place. He’s starting to make up imaginary friends again.”

  “Missy does that, too. It always happened though after she watches the DVD movie of Drop Dead Fred.”

  I laughed. “I don’t think Trenton’s seen that one. As dumb as it was, I know I loved it as a kid.”

  “It’s on all the time at my house. It’s Missy’s favorite now.”

  “Why don’t you and Missy come over for dinner Wednesday night?”

  “Yeah, we can do that.”

  “Great.”

  “Mom, Mom!” Trenton ran into the kitchen. “Matt’s opening his presents. Come watch. I want to see if he likes our present.” In a stage whisper, he said to Elizabeth, “We got him a Wii game at the dollar store!”

  “Shhh!” I said to Trenton and laughed. “Okay, be right there, Trenton. I’ll talk to you later, Elizabeth.”

  “See you on Wednesday at your place. I’ll bring the dessert.”

  “Oh, thanks, what are you making?”

  “Cake pops?”

  “You rule, girlfriend.”

  Chapter Four

  Monday morning came before I knew it, and I was back at work. I didn’t have too many complaints. I loved my teaching job. My fifth graders were awesome and we were mostly in synch as a class. The kids knew what I expected, and I knew what to expect from them. Teaching this age was what I had wanted to do since I could remember. Sometimes it was challenging, but in a good way. This week’s big challenge was a long-division game with little prizes and team competition.

  It was also nice having my son go to the same school where I taught. He was only in kindergarten and went to school for a half day. So, in the mornings I would drop off Trenton at his babysitter’s house and she would take him to afternoon kindergarten at 11:30 a.m. That worked out great because we could go home together three days a week and we would tell each other about our days.

  We lived a simple life for the most part, just me and my son. Since my divorce, my life was filled with Trenton and work. It was sometimes a little boring and lacking in adult conversation and sophisticated company, but I never missed my old life. There were always teachers to talk to at work, but it was always shop talk. Sometimes, I just wanted to talk to an adult who was not a teacher, but not one of my old high school girlfriends who had never evolved.

  The last couple years of my marriage had been so horrible. There had been so much fighting, so much stress and so many tears. I was just relieved to get Trenton away from all of that. And me, too. We were happy, just me and my little man. I think he was happy to have my extra time and attention and occasionally, bunking in with me during a storm or if he had a bad dream. I liked to think the divorce had made me a better mom. Likewise, I hoped that my ex was learning to be a better dad.

  Trenton saw his dad on Monday and Tuesdays. Those were his days off. He would pick him up from school on Monday afternoons and bring him to kindergarten on Tuesdays and pick him up. Then on Wednesdays after school, Trenton would come home with me. I liked having a little break from him. This schedule gave me time to catch up on all my homework. Like every teacher I knew, I always fell so behind on grading papers. So, I made this my time for doing that. I parked in the teachers’ parking lot and headed into school. I said hello to a few of the other teachers as I unlocked my classroom.

  Halloween was not too far away so all the classrooms were decorated in Halloween décor. My classroom was a little bare, compared to other classrooms. I wasn’t too fond of Halloween. I didn’t quite understand what exactly was being celebrated. Trenton called it a “candy holiday,” which made me laugh because that was about as honest as it got for a little kid. I still managed to hang up a few pumpkins and skeletons to fit in.

  Today, I would be teaching the children about Christopher Columbus. This was one of my favorite topics to teach. I loved American history. Each year, I tended to overload the kids with information. This year, I’d decided to scale back a little.

  After work, I went through a local drive-thru for an early dinner. I normally tried to stay away from fast food. But I didn’t have Trenton with me tonight, so I figured, what’s the harm? I ordered a hamburger and a large diet Coke. I figured I would still be somewhat good by leaving out the fries. The girl at the window handed me my order and I drove home.

  As I pulled into the driveway, the cottage looked different. I couldn’t quite put my finger on what it was. But it was different. It was as if it was alive, gleaming with life. The only thing I could think of was that maybe all of the stuff in there made it brighter, happier. I walked to the doorway holding my purse, school papers and the fast-food bag. I turned my key into the lock, but it was already unlocked.

  I panicked and wracked my brain, trying to remember if maybe I forgot to lock it. I had been in such a rush that morning that I couldn’t quite remember whether I had locked it or not. I searched the house to see if anyone was there, or find out if anything was missing. Nope. The house was exactly how we’d left it. I made a mental note to make sure to lock the door before I left.

  I took a seat at the kitchen table with my hamburger and diet soda. I tuned on the television in the living room for background noise. I didn’t like sil
ence. It made me nervous. I was used to Trenton’s chatter.

  With the sound of Dr. Phil’s voice on the TV, I unwrapped my hamburger and took a bite. I enjoyed the taste of the hamburger, and before I knew it, I had eaten the entire thing. I threw away the wrapper and opened my folder of papers to grade. I had a math test, a science test and 25 book reports to grade. At the very least, I would be busy for a few hours.

  I started with the book reports since they usually took the longest. I was surprised that more than half of the kids had used Harry Potter books for their reports. I was a fan of the book series, and loved the movies. They were long books and I was impressed, but I hoped they weren’t just watching the movies and then writing book reports.

  An hour and a half later, I had finished grading the book reports, occasionally smiling at what the kids thought of certain books.

  I got up to stretch my legs.

  Suddenly, I heard a banging coming from Trenton’s room. I turned off the television and listened again. I heard the banging once more. I rushed into his room and opened the door. The banging stopped and there was nothing there. I looked around to see what was causing the noise. I couldn’t find anything. I shut the door and went back to the kitchen. That was weird, I thought. Maybe it was coming from outside, perhaps a shutter banging against the cottage in the night breeze or…I ran out of other things that it might have been.

  I sat back down and started grading the math tests. As I approached my second paper to grade, the banging continued. This time, it was as if it was coming from my bedroom. I got up and ran to my room. I opened the door and turned on the light. The banging stopped once more. I was starting to get very annoyed. I turned off the light and shut the door. I started up once more on my papers.

  I finally finished grading papers at a quarter to seven. My eyes were so tired, that I went straight to bed. I woke up at 3:30 a.m. with the strange feeling that something was wrong. I jumped out of bed and frantically called my ex-husband to see if everything was okay. “Hello,” I heard him growl into the phone.