Three Truths and Other Unsettling Tales Read online

  “Yeah. I was guiding a beam into place.” Brady closed his eyes as he tried to recall. “I unhooked my lanyard, just for a moment. I was trying to step around a support column. And then, I’m not sure what happened. Somehow I slipped.”

  “Incredible,” Carla said. “Just incredible. You must be made of titanium.” Brady only smiled in response. With that, Carla encouraged her patient to get some sleep and made her way from the room.

  Soon, the activity in the hospital died down, and only the murmuring of the nurses and the occasional beeping of a machine could be heard in the rooms. Brady began to rest. His eyes had been closed for no more than five minutes when a gruff voice, speaking too softly to be understood, sounded out from within his room.

  Brady shot up and looked around. “Who’s there?” he questioned into the darkness. Before he could reach for the dimmer to turn the lights up, a small child-like form quickly jumped onto his bed.

  Brady was immobilized, whether it was from fear or from an unseen force, he didn’t know. He could sense the intruder staring at his face. “What’s going on?” he asked with a shaky voice.

  The intruder sat atop Brady’s chest, his finger poking Brady’s forehead. “You’ve been given life,” the gruff, gravelly voice said. “Go live it. Be happy. Be sad.” With that, the small form jumped from the bed and scuttled out of the room.

  Brady, finding his freedom of movement restored, hit the call button.

  “Nursing station – can I help you?”

  “There was someone... something in my room.” Brady’s voice was shaking from the experience.

  “I’ll have Carla check in on you. Give me just a minute.”

  Brady actually waited less than a minute before Carla came through his door. She scanned the room for any sign of an unwelcome guest. “Was there someone in here with you?”

  Brady pondered on what had just happened. “Yeah, a little man maybe?” All he’d seen was a small silhouette. “Actually I don’t know what it was. It was the size of a kid, but it moved way too fast and, really, I just don’t know.”

  Carla looked him over and studied his breathing pattern. “You suffered quite a trauma today. I’ll call the doctor and maybe he’ll let me give you something to help you sleep.”

  Brady shook his head. “No, it’s okay. Whatever it was, it’s gone now.”

  The brunette nurse looked around. “Yeah, we’re alone. But I have to tell you, I was just down the hall, and I didn’t see anyone come out of your room.”

  “I understand,” Brady said, still a little shaky. “Maybe I just imagined it.”

  Carla studied her patient, and even though his blood pressure and heart rate were normal on the monitors, he appeared sweaty and disheveled. She reached for his pillow and fluffed it up. “Well you’re never going to get to sleep if we can’t calm you down,” she said as she replaced the pillow.

  “I’ll be fine,” he said.

  “Of course you’ll be fine,” she replied with a smile. “You have me for your nurse. Would some soft music help you relax?”

  “Sure. Maybe something classical.”

  “Perfect,” she said as she fiddled with the TV remote. “There’s a channel on here that plays nothing but classical.”

  Brady listened as the pleasant notes filled the room. “Thank you,” he said, beginning to relax. “Almost as good as playing it myself.”

  “Oh, you play?”

  “Yes, piano. Mostly when I’m stressed.”

  Carla glanced at the construction worker’s beefy fingers and imagined them working their way across a set of piano keys.

  Brady noticed her expression. “Silly, I know.”

  “Not silly at all,” she said. “I wish we had one here for you to play, but since we don’t, just try your best to relax.”

  Brady looked into her pretty brown eyes. “I think I’ll be okay. I feel better already.”

  She smiled at him and pointed to the call button. “I’m here until seven in the morning. Let me know if you need anything.”

  He couldn’t help but smile as she sauntered away.

  From that point on, Brady Hollis lived a charmed life. His construction firm paid out a large settlement rather than risk going to court over the accident. The strange thing was, Brady never even threatened to sue them. As he saw it, he was the one at fault – he knew better than to remove his lanyard. But the lawyers, being lawyers, wanted to make sure the company had no further liabilities, and they insisted he take the money.

  He left the construction industry and found work as an assistant to a veterinarian. He made far less money, but with his settlement that wasn’t really a concern. Working for the vet was a far more rewarding experience than guiding girders into place. And for whatever reason, he kept running into Carla. First he saw her at the supermarket where they said an awkward hello. A few weeks later she brought her Chocolate Lab to the vet for a checkup and was surprised to find Brady working there. He saw her again at the car wash, a concert, and the dentist. He finally took it as a sign from above and asked her out on a date. She accepted.

  The date went well, as did every date after that. They married after six months. Brady didn’t think he could be any happier, until the birth of his daughter.

  Brady lived a charmed life, indeed. And just when everything was perfect, that’s when he saw the little man again.

  Lying in bed half asleep, Brady watched the light from the television flicker through the bedroom. Carla slept peacefully next to him. On his nightstand, a baby monitor played the sounds from the nursery where Charlotte, his nine-month old daughter, slept. His eyes closed, sleep almost taking hold for the night.

  A gruff voice came through the monitor, speaking some sort of foreign language. Brady shot up and looked at the device on the nightstand. Again the rough-edged voice came through, almost beckoning him to the room. In only seconds, Brady darted from the bed and down the hallway. As he flung the door to the nursery open, a horrific site greeted him – his daughter was in the arms of what could best be described as a half-size adult. Tufts of gray hair poked out from underneath a bowler hat. His cracked, weathered skin was stretched tautly across his face. A dark, dusty suit covered his body. In his hand was a large knife.

  “Get the hell away from her!” Brady screamed as he moved into the room. “Carla!” he shouted behind him, “Call 911!”

  The little man hissed at Brady as he moved the knife up to the throat of the little baby. Brady stopped dead. His daughter, who looked to be yet unharmed, surveyed the room curiously, seemingly unaware of the danger she was in.

  Neither man moved as the lights from the mobile zipped across the room. “Just put her down, please,” Brady said. He could barely hear himself over the beating of his heart.

  The little man smiled, and Brady could swear dust spewed out from the cracks on the man’s lips. With no warning, the little man jumped across the room in a single leap with the baby still cradled in his arms. He hopped up to the window sill and kicked the glass out. The whole thing happened before Brady could even react, and he watched in horror as the little man leapt through the shattered opening.

  Carla came screaming down the hall holding her cell phone. “What’s happening?” she demanded.

  “Did you call 911?” Brady yelled over his shoulder as he ran to the window.

  “Yes! What’s going on?”

  “Stay here!” he ordered as he jumped out the second floor window. He landed on an awning and then rolled off to the ground below. Despite some scrapes and scratches, he was unhurt. He had no idea where the little man had run off to, and resorted to screaming the name of his daughter as if she could answer. Lights in the neighbors’ houses came on. From far away, he could hear the sound of police sirens.

  He picked a direction and ran, hoping he was headed the right way. As he got to the end of the street, he heard the loud cry of his daughter break through the night air. Alive! He ran toward the crying and found her pushed under a juniper bush. He careful
ly picked her up, and to his great relief, found no injuries. The little man was gone. He arrived back at the house at the same time the police arrived. With tears in his eyes, he handed her to Carla, then fell to the ground shaking.

  The next few hours blurred into each other. Carla took the baby, along with a police escort, to get checked out at the hospital. Brady stayed behind and gave his witness statement to a million different officers. As the police were finishing up he got a text from Carla – Charlotte okay, no injuries. Almost done. Be home soon. Love You.

  He thanked the officers for their help, and for agreeing to keep a unit parked out on the street until morning. He retreated inside and waited. When the house became too quiet for him, he went to the closet and did something he hadn’t done in a couple of years. He retrieved a keyboard piano, laid it across the bed, and plugged it in. It was a nice model, a fancy one that Carla had bought for him right after they were married. He’d only touched it a few times, but at that moment, he needed its calming power more than ever.

  For Brady, it was like the return of an old friend, and he kept playing right up until the moment when Carla returned. She entered with Charlotte and he held them both. They laid Charlotte down on their bed where she slept peacefully.

  Carla glanced at the keyboard. “I thought you forgot about that thing,” she said in a low voice.

  Brady shook his head. “Of course not.”

  “Play something relaxing.”

  Brady lowered the volume as not to wake Charlotte, then began moving his fingers from key to key.

  Carla closed her eyes and listened. “What’s it called?” she asked as the notes floated through her mind.

  “It’s a sonata.”

  “Yeah, but what’s its name?”

  “I haven’t given it a name yet.” Brady kept playing the soothing melody.

  “You wrote this?”

  “A long time ago, yes. It’s actually unfinished.”

  Carla kept listening. “It sounds finished to me.”

  “This is just the first movement. It still needs two more.”

  “Well it’s beautiful already.” Carla snuggled up to Charlotte at the top of the bed and closed her eyes. “Keep playing,” she requested.

  Brady did as he was asked. Even after Carla fell asleep he kept going, and he managed to come up with the backbone for the second movement of his sonata by the morning.

  The next day they installed a top-of-the-line security system – cameras, sensors, alarms, live monitoring – everything that the security company offered. They had new doors and windows installed too. Their house became a fortress, and Brady and Carla felt safe.

  For the next five years, Brady had no worries. The little man faded from his daily thoughts, but not from his memories. In the meantime, they had a son who they named Carl. He had Brady’s eyes and his laid back nature. Brady was fiercely devoted to his family, and lived to make sure they had everything they needed.

  On a mundane day, Carla decided to take the children and visit her mother. Brady, who had plenty of yard work to keep him occupied, decided to stay home. He helped her load the children into their car seats and kissed them all goodbye.

  He watched as the minivan backed out of the driveway and moved slowly down the street. As he waved goodbye, a movement in the vehicle’s cargo area caught his attention. He squinted to get a better look, and saw, waving at him, the little man. His face was pressed right up against the window.

  Brady took off after the van, but couldn’t keep up. He waved his arms frantically to flag down Carla, but neither she nor the children seemed to notice. As they turned the corner, Brady could still see the little man waving and smiling. He stuck his tongue out at Brady and licked the window.

  Fumbling through his pockets, Brady searched desperately for his cell phone. His first call was to Carla, but it went straight to her voicemail. He called 911 next and screamed at the operator for help. The police responded quickly and arrived to find Brady furiously pounding his fingers on his cell phone screen, trying to get a call through to his wife.

  Hours went by with no sign of his family. As had happened years earlier, he answered a million questions from the officers. One of them gave him a look of pity, while others stared at him suspiciously.

  A day went by – a whole damn day – without Brady hearing from his family. The police were “looking” for them, he was assured, though it was clear they seemed to think it was a domestic squabble playing out rather than some sort of crime. Brady’s description of the little man hiding in the back of the van didn’t seem to hold much weight. He himself had spent the night combing the city, checking every possible route between his house and his mother-in-law’s. Family members and friends joined in too, though nobody could seem to find them.

  The next afternoon he got a call from a neighbor who was among the searchers looking for his family. “Hello?” Brady said anxiously into his phone.

  “Hey Brady, it’s William, I think I found your van.”

  “Where? Where is it?!” Brady shot up from his seat.

  “I was passing over Cooper’s Bridge, and I saw it off the road, down by the river. I’m pretty sure it’s yours.”

  “Are they in there?” Brady grabbed his keys and ran to his car.

  “I’m heading down there right now.” He could hear William panting as he climbed his way from the road and down the embankment. “Yeah, it’s definitely your van. Give me just a minute, it’s still far away.”

  Brady stopped short of his car, his keys still in his hand. He waited, still as a statue. He could hear the gravel crunch under William’s steps as he made his way nearer to the car, then there was a moment of silence.

  “William!” Brady shouted. “What do you see?”

  “Uh...” It seemed like William didn’t want to speak.

  “What do you see?”

  “They’re in there. All three of them.” Brady breathed out a short breath. “The door is locked. They’re... they’re not moving.”

  Through the phone, he could hear William rapping his fist against the window of the minivan. “Carla! Are you okay?” Just silence. Then again, “Carla! Can you hear me?”

  The phone dropped from Brady’s hand and clattered to the driveway, but he could still hear William’s desperate voice. “Carla! Carla!”

  Having reached his darkest moment, Brady melted to the ground. Lying on his back, he stared straight into the cloudless blue sky. “Kill me,” he said.

  There was an abrupt change in the pitch of Williams voice. “Carla? Are you okay?” Brady lifted his head up. The faint, muffled sound of a female voice could be heard in response, then William spoke again. “Brady, I think she’s okay. Carla, open the door.”

  Brady sat up and grabbed the phone. Putting it next to his ear, he could hear the unmistakable sound of the car door clicking open and then the sound of one – no, two – two children as they began crying. They were alive, all of them. He looked to the sky. “Thank you,” he whispered.

  That night, after endless rounds of police questioning, Brady found himself unable to sleep. Carla and the children, who had no recollection of what happened, dozed peacefully. He went to the closet where his dusty keyboard sat and retrieved it with jittery hands. As soon as it was within his grasp he felt reassured, as if everything was instantly better. He played.

  Brady and Carla’s first grandchild was beautiful. She had a shockingly full head of hair and the cutest button nose that he’d ever seen. She seemed to most resemble her mother, Charlotte.

  Brady, who had spent thirty rewarding years working at the same veterinary clinic, found himself with plenty of extra time when he retired. He was able to offer Charlotte one of the most valuable gifts a new parent can receive – free babysitting.

  It was with that offer that he found himself at his daughter’s house two days a week, babysitting the granddaughter he was so proud of. As the little one approached eight months, she began scooting around on the floor like a little ar
my ranger. Brady followed her around the home, smiling at her delightful little movements as she made her way across the living room.

  THUMP

  Brady tilted his head at the sound that had come from upstairs. He was sure nobody else was in the home. Probably nothing, he thought as he resumed following the baby.

  THUMP

  That one was louder. After a moment’s pause he scooped up the baby and went up the stairs to investigate.

  THUMP

  It was coming from the nursery. He pushed the door open and looked inside. The baby cooed in his hands as he took a sweeping look around the quiet room. Just as he was about to turn and leave, he noticed some movement in the crib. Whatever it was, it was covered by a blanket, and it had just rolled over.

  Brady stepped closer to the crib with his free arm outstretched. He wondered if Charlotte had gotten a cat and not mentioned it to him. He reached into the crib hesitantly, as if he knew something was really wrong. He moved the blanket aside and saw, sleeping peacefully in the crib, the same granddaughter that he believed he was already holding.

  His gaze shot over to the little body in the crook of his arm. It was much bigger than the baby he’d been holding just a few moments earlier, more like the size of a small child, and it was dressed in a dusty gray suit.

  Brady dropped the gray bundle to the floor and watched in revulsion as it rolled over and scuttled out of the nursery.

  “What are you?” Brady shouted out to the hallway. He looked behind him to make sure his granddaughter was okay in the crib, but it was empty.

  In a panic, Brady looked all around the room for his granddaughter. It was a pointless search that yielded only further dread when he couldn’t find her anywhere.

  He ran out of the bedroom and down the hallway. Hearing a commotion from the kitchen, he descended the stairway three steps at a time and ran to the source of the noise. He immediately saw that the oven was on, though it had been off earlier. He jumped across the room in one bound and nearly took the oven door off in his haste to open it.