Some things are just that bad.
What happened to Sadie that night in the late summer of 1993 was one of those things.
Its as if people think ignoring an event could erase it from history.
Rene Asmussen
Theyre lying to themselves if they really believe that.
Some things are just that bad.
What happened to Sadie that night in the late summer of 1993 was one of those things.
No one will speak of that terrible time.
Ive been slapped in the mouth more than once for trying.
The second time drew blood.
I know the reason for the silence.
Im going to explain why they did the right thing.
As far as any of us could tell, the horror began labor day of 1993.
Our entire cul-de-sac threw an enormous end of summer barbecue block party that ran from mid-morning to nightfall.
Everyone gorged themselves on burgers and brisket, beans and slaw, and Mrs. Watkins world famous Ambrosia Salad.
I myself emptied no less than eight Dr. Pepper cans, a personal record.
As darkness fell, Jeffs dad set off a fireworks display that rivaled the towns Fourth of July celebration.
This signaled the end of the outdoor festivities, though not the end of the party.
Sadies parents, the Carmichaels, owned the largest house on the block.
No one seemed to resent his success either.
He was happy to spread it around, and practically bankrolled the entire block party.
A simmering cauldron of puberty, exiled to the upper floor for the duration of the nocturnal festivities.
We joked that he was our token black friend, but only to shock our desperately politically correct parents.
His actual claim to fame was a seemingly endless collection of dirty jokes.
I found this mildly disillusioning and sort of disgusting.
Jeff Holloway was my best friend, and his dad was my dads best friend.
Heh, Funny how that works out, isnt it?
The hit movie that summer wasJurassic Park, and the two of us had seen it six times.
We could quote it word for word and had been humming the theme song for weeks.
We spent the previous summer grounded and mired in the agony of separation.
Ashley and Ashton Valentine were fraternal twins, both of them pale and towheaded with icy blue eyes.
We called them The Children of the Corn and they called us assholes.
They knew they were creepy looking.
They went everywhere in matching outfits holding hands until the fourth grade.
They only stopped then because we kept picking on them about it, just as real friends do.
Jill Peters was probably my second best friend and my neighbor on the side opposite Sadie.
Her college-aged older sister was an invaluable source of music to both of us.
For all I know, she didnt even know at the time.
Sadie, our gracious host, was my next door neighbor.
She was blonde like the Valentines, but not in a creepy way.
I myself was more interested in her older sister, Eliza, whose room faced my own.
She stood before the window for at least five glorious seconds, until noticing my presence.
She winked at me and shut the curtains.
That moment has been playing in my head on a continuous loop ever since.
And then theres me.
My name is Paul Davidson.
The movies I watched when I wasnt watchingJurassic Parkfor the billionth time were mostly horror movies.
Jill and Jeff backed me up, and Khalil and Ashton were game.
Sadie and Ashley tried to protest, but as in all things, the majority ruled.
I knew that Ashley scared easily and I was already planning a good jump-scare story to make her scream.
I told everyone to sit tight and ran downstairs in search of candles to set the mood.
Twice in my journey I was nearly discovered.
The hypocrisy of adults, I knew with all the wisdom of a jaded 12-year-old, knew no bounds.
The second near-discovery came at the final approach.
I had nearly set my hand on the doorknob when it began to turn from the other side.
Would she notice her husband canoodling with my friends mom?
That was not my concern.
I slipped into the bathroom, already conveniently lit.
A mirror lay next to the sink confirming my suspicions.
Traces of white powder still clung to the reflective surface.
The smell of lavender wasnt quite right for scary stories, but it would have to do.
The return trip was without incident.
I crept up the stairs already home free but hungry for mischief.
The door was ajar, the sole source of light upstairs.
I slipped a hand through the doorway and flipped off the light.
In the ensuing confusion, I slipped in among the others and took a seat.
Good evening, I said, doing my best Vincent Price, which strongly resembled a terrible Vincent Price.
The time has come for tales of the macabre.
Who will go first?
Hey I got one, Khalil called out.
We all turned to him, seated at Sadies vanity table.
The chair looked ill-equipped to hold him.
I passed the candle to him, already knowing what to expect.
He set the candle on the vanity so he could free the use of his arms as he spoke.
Pretty soon the hotel was full up.
Some traveling salesman walks in, dripping wet and looking like hes gonna freeze solid.
He tells the clerk, Hey man, give me a room.
Clerk says, We only got one room left, but its haunted.
Salesman says, I dont care, give me the keys.
So the salesman walks into the room, throws his jacket on the chair and sits on the bed.
Right away something wasnt right.
He heard a voice coming from inside the closet.
It said, I got you where I want you, now Im going to eat you!
Next comes some big burly biker.
He jumps straight out the window and drops dead, white as a sheet.
By this point were all leaning in, eager to see where this is going.
Khalil has a devilish grin on his face as he spins his yarn.
Finally this grizzled old hippy comes strolling in, his beard and shaggy hair all plastered to his head.
Hes got a soggy guitar case on his back and hes just about soaked to the bone.
Hed been out on the interstate hitching across the country and he was just about ready to keel over.
Thats cool, man, says the hippy, Couple of ghosts wont confront me none.
So he takes the keys and settles into his room.
Pretty soon he hears that sinister voice from the closet.
Ive got you where I want you, now Im going to eat you
Far out, man!
the hippy says, takes another puff and keeps playing.
But the hippy doesnt listen.
Just keeps smoking, just keeps playing.
Just like he said, the ghost doesnt confront him none.
Well, enough was enough.
Khalil holds the moment as long as he can.
Finally, Ashley asks, Well?
What did he see?
and he pops the booger in his mouth!
Khalil roared laughter over a sea of groans.
Sadie lobbed a stuffed animal at him, beaning him right in the forehead.
Watch out, man!
There was a lull following Khalils terrible story.
We all sat there, no one wanting to follow such a travesty.
Finally, it was Jill who saved story time.
She gestured for the candle and said, Ive got one.
Khalil passed Jill the candle, still wiping tears from his eyes.
Jill held the candle under her face, the shadows transforming her features into something ghoulish.
When they closed the place down they didnt move the crazies to other asylums.
They just threw them out on the streets.
The mood was set.
Well, except for Ashley and Ashton.
They told their story together as if they had rehearsed the whole thing in advance.
It was not bad, actually.
I think their whole Children of the Corn vibe helped them along.
At the end of every tale there were shrieks, nervous giggles, and wide eyes all around.
Out of all of us, she was the easiest to scare.
Finally, she said, This house is haunted.
I guess thats my scary story.
How is a new house haunted?
I dont know, Sadie said, defensively, It just is.
When I was little I thought it was the boogeyman.
Theyd bust in, shine a flashlight into the closet and show me it was empty.
As if that was supposed to make me feel better.
A few years went by and I got a little older and I learned that the boogeyman wasnt real.
It was just something babies believed in because they were scared to sleep alone.
The whole nightly ritual of earplugs and blanket forts seemed kind of stupid, you know?
I congratulated myself on coming to such a grown-up decision.
I was genuinely riveted by this.
As a horror movie junkie, I was thrilled at the idea that one could be happening next door.
The boogeyman ate her, dummy!
Khalil cried, Shes the ghost!
This time a torrent of stuffed animals pelted Khalil until he cried mercy.
Go on, Ashley urged.
Tell us, Ashton suggested.
Okay, Sadie said, at last, cutting her eyes at Khalil, But no more jokes.
I dont really like talking about this because it freaks me out.
Khalil held up his hands in surrender and made a lip-zipping gesture.
Sadie found this satisfactory and went on.
Well, the very first night I stopped doing my ritual, I heard the sounds again.
But the sound…It doesnt sound like a rat would sound.
Next, she stood up and crossed to the wall next to her closet.
There was a poster on the door of Madonna.
Sadie always loved Madonna.
The sound kind of sounded like footsteps walking around, like people footsteps, sort of.
Heavier than a rats footsteps, at least.
And I could hear a sound like this against the closet door.
You see what I mean?
It does that every night.
By then I knew what a ghost was, I had watched that awful movie with the weird name.
Putter…. putter guy?
Poltergeist, I suggested.
Thats the one, She agreed.
I couldnt even finish watching it, I had to leave halfway through.
But the rubbing and the slapping sound, the footsteps, thats not the worst part.
I could hear voices too.
Like, inside the wall.
Do you know what I mean?
No one wanted to interrupt, even to agree verbally.
I even put my ear right up to the wall where I could hear it.
The sounds werent coming from the closet at all, you see?
They were coming from inside the wall.
But even with my ear to the wall they just sounded like whispers.
I started playing music at night while I tried to sleep and that helped.
The sounds were never loud enough that I could hear it over the stereo.
Did you ever… see anything?
Like a spirit, you mean?
Some floating sheet with like, eye holes?
No, just the sounds.
But it must be a ghost, what else could it be?
We pondered this for a moment.
No one had a solid suggestion, except perhaps that she imagined the whole thing.
No one wanted to say so, though, for fear of offending her.
So wait, Jeff said, were all here, its late at night.
Do you think well hear the sounds?
Sadie frowned, and said, Probably not.
Dang, Jeff said.
It was a disappointment I at least shared with him.
The Children of the Corn and Khalil looked almost relieved.
Jill seemed deep in thought.
I have an idea, Jill said at last.
All eyes turned to her and she blushed at the sudden attention, but she didnt back down.
I have a Ouija Board at home we could use.
I could run out and get it, five minutes tops.
What the hell is a… Ashton began, then lost the word.
Ashley finished for him, uncertainly.
Everybody puts their fingertips on a pointer thing-
Its called a planchette, I supplied.
Right, she said.
It can spell out answers to our questions and we can talk to it that way.
We can ask it to leave you alone.
Well that sounds like some devil worshiping shit to me, Khalil said.
Its not, Jill protested, honestly, its totally safe.
I use it all the time.
Well, Jill said cautiously, sort of.
Thats kind of the fun of it.
So what do you think?
Her ghost, her house, her rules.
She appeared to give the matter serious thought.
Okay, lets do it, She said at last.
But if I get freaked out and I want to stop, we stop.
Deal, Jill said and jumped up immediately to fetch her board.
The rest of us stayed behind.
There was a lull in the conversation.
Everyone just sort of sat back and watched the shadows flicker around the room.
It was fun to be scared, though.
From downstairs there was a crash and everyone jumped, eyes as big as Frisbees.
Just our drunk-ass parents stumbling around, maybe with party games of their own.
Nights like these were always so strange to me.
Our parents were mostly pretty young, in their mid-thirties or so.
As old as I am now.
People who wanted to make out with strangers, snort coke, be the life of the party.
So they could forget us and be those other people.
Like I said, I understand it now.
Its not like we wanted to party with them anyway, you understand.
We were happier up here, but it was still alienating.
The oldest of us couldnt even drive yet.
The youngest of us was already showing the wages of pubertys hormonal warpath.
This seems like a tangent, I know, but Im trying to make a point here.
My point is that we lived in a strange time and we lived in a strange world.
We were no longer the people we thought we were but we werent yet the people we would become.
We all jumped again when a violent knocking came at the window.
We sighed and Sadie crossed to the window to let her in.
Jill laughed as she pulled herself through the portal and rejoined the group.
She said, Sorry if I scared you guys.
I couldnt get back in the way I came.
Jeff and Khalils dads were standing out there passing a cigarette back and forth.
I almost got caught.
Its contents bulged through the canvas in a mass of odd angles.
She began to unpack it onto the floor and narrated its contents.
Khalil took the box and announced, This thing is made by Parker Brothers!
Youre telling me this things a portal to the spirit world by the makers of Scrabble?
Shut up, Khalil, I said, not unkindly.
He actually had a good point but I didnt want him to ruin the mood.
You shut up,Pauuul, Khalil returned, chucking a stuffed animal at me.
He didnt press the point, though.
Actually, he seemed a little calmer for his discovery.
I guess he didnt figure the good people at Parker Brothers would endorse actual devil worshiping.
I watched Jill continue to detail her treasures with this disruption at an end.
Ive read that if you burn sage it like, wards off evil ghosts.
Its also a-good on-a spaghetti!
Jeff cried, taking on a terrible Italian accent.
Jill glared at him but continued the unpacking process.
I brought a couple more candles too.
Just to sort of set the mood, I guess.
Pad and paper, to write down whatever the spirits spell out for us.
And one more thing.
Jill had a mischievous glint in her eye that I had seen before.
This glint always spelled trouble.
Well, Sadie asked, What is it?
Its a surprise, Jill told us.
For after the seance.
I knew we wouldnt sway her.
Years of experience taught me this.
Lets set it up, I said, still curious but wishing for no further ado.
We set up the board, which of course was no complicated matter.
This was left in the box unread.
Jill laid out the instructions for us.
The spirits dont like to be mocked and we dont need peeved off spirits on our hands, understand?
We all nodded, but I noticed Khalil suppressing a smile.
Taking things seriously was not exactly his strong suit, but he did know when to rein it in.
Sometimes he was even successful at it.
Secondly, Sadie will be asking the questions.
Its her ghost, her show.
Sadies eyes widened at this, but she said nothing, Ill support her and transcribe the messages.
The rest of you gather around the board and place your fingertips on the planchette, very lightly.
Dont press down hard, just sort of touch it.
We obeyed her instructions, crowding around the board and laying claim to two fingertips worth of plastic.
With our spare hands, we clung to one another, mostly just so we wouldnt fall over.
Sadie sat in front of the board holding the lavender candle.
The other two were set at the top two corners.
There was just enough light to see the board.
We looked up at Jill expectantly.
Okay, Jill said, her eyes glittering in the light.
I could see she was as excited as I was.
Sadie looked frightened, though not yet ready to back down.
Ill get us started, then Sadie you start asking questions.
What kind of questions?
Sadie asked, bewildered.
Oh, just like who are you, what do you want, that sort of thing.
Whatever you’re able to think of.
The rest of you, when she asks the question, just concentrate on the question.
Dont form an answer in your mind, just think about the question.
Jill nodded, satisfied.
I suspected this was for dramatic effect.
We, the living, wish to speak to you.
We wish to speak to the spirits who have been trying to contact our friend, Sadie Carmichael.
She set her hand on Sadies shoulder.
Sadie jumped just a little, but smiled at Jill and patted her hand.
Are you willing to speak to Sadie and answer her questions?
We waited, and stared at the board.
At first, there was nothing, and then slowly the planchette began to move.
The window at the point of the planchette rested right over the word No.
We glanced at each other uncertainly.
The planchette then jerked back to the center of the board.
Thats weird, Jill said, frowning.
They dont usually refuse like that.
Usually, the spirits want to talk.
None of you moved it?
We all shook our heads and refused.
I didnt move it, I knew that, and I was staring right at the planchette.
I didnt see anyones fingers flex, or any other sign that anyone might be cheating.
It was so hard to tell, though.
Jill said, Hmm.
Okay, Sadie, why dont you try?
Maybe it just doesnt want to talk to me, just you.
Sadie swallowed hard, but said, Okay.
Spirits, this is Sadie Carmichael.
We stared at the planchette again, and it began to move immediately.
Right back to No.
Next, it crawled to Goodbye, and then back to the center.
Sadie glanced back at Jill, but Jill just shrugged.
Sadie addressed the spirits once again.
just, spirits, Sadie begged, just speak to me.
I only wish to know what you want from me.
Wont you speak with me?
The planchette spun in place once and fell still.
We all stared at Jill, our would-be spirit guide.
Her face reddened and she shrugged yet again.
What can I say?
Jill said, If the spirits dont wanna talk, they dont wanna talk.
I guess thats how it goes sometimes.
Well, what am I going to do, then?
She wasnt crying, but her eyes glistened.
I could tell that in her own way, she was as disappointed as I was.
What am I supposed to do about all these noises?
Jill pondered her question, then lit up, I have an idea!
If it doesnt, maybe you and I could try with the Ouija board by ourselves.
Maybe the spirits just didnt feel comfortable with all of us here at the same time.
Okay, Sadie said.
She seemed only mildly encouraged, at best.
She stared at that spot on the wall by the closet door.
Khalil declared, markedly more energetically, The Unsolved Mysteries portion of the evening has concluded.
The rest of us cheered regardless of whether or not we actually wanted to try alcohol.
I didnt, not exactly, but of course I had my share.
I thought it tasted like medicine spiked with battery acid and nearly choked on my first sip.
I wasnt the only one.
We all tried at least a couple of swigs.
Needless to say, the rest of the evening kind of got away from us.
Before long we had all forgotten about our failed seance and Sadies ghost.
I have no idea how late it was when the bottle came to me completely empty.
Sadie was trying to get a game of Truth or Dare going, I think.
My head was buzzing and I wasnt really paying attention, at least not until Jeff called on me.
Jeff demanded, Truth or Dare?
I didnt want to get up for a dare.
Yes, I said, not considering my present company, I saw Elizas tits once.
What the hell Paul!
Sadie cried, You little perv!
I said, There was nothing I could do!
You saw Elizas beaver?!
Khalil asked, incredulous, Tell me you saw the ass, too!
Shut up, Khalil!
It was an accident, I swear, I told her.
That wasnt exactly true, I just never expected all my spying to pay off so well.
Look, theres my answer.
So uh… Ashton, truth or dare?
Uh…. Dare, he said.
I dare you to… On the mouth, too.
I said, The bottle is law.
He kisses whoever it lands on, fair and square.
I prayed, after all my bottle is law talk, that it would not land on me.
All I wanted was to pull focus from the whole Elizas boobs thing.
Slowly the bottle came to a stop, and who did it land on?
Ashley, thats who.
Both of them were roughly the color of fire hydrants when all was said and done.
Okay, Khalil said, I like this game.
No, just, Ashley said, looking like she wanted to sink into the floor.
Jill said, How about this?
How about instead of a kiss in front of everyone, we do Seven Minutes in Heaven?
What the hell is that?
I asked, immediately regretting revealing my ignorance.
Jeez, Paulie, youve never lived, Jeff said.
Basically, Jill said, Whoevers turn it is, they spin the bottle.
Whoever it lands on goes with them into the closet and, uh…
They make out for seven minutes.
Since Ashton took the last truth or dare, he had the right to assign the first spinner.
Whos it gonna be, whos it gonna be?
He gave the bottle a vigorous spin and we all waited with bated breath.
Whoever the bottle landed on would get up close and personal with Jeffs cheese curl scented mouth.
Khalil provided a drum roll.
We sat boy-girl-boy-girl, and it landed halfway between Ashton and Sadie.
By the predetermined rules, that meant the round went to Sadie.
This was a big moment.
With a big dopey grin on his face, Jeff stood up and offered a hand to Sadie.
Sadie did not protest, which I considered to be a good sign.
As they entered, Jill set a timer on her watch and said,
Seven Minutes in Heaven.
Neither of you comes out until we say, understand?
They nodded and entered the closet hand in hand.
Outside we all watched the closet door, cheering and generally acting like assholes.
Its funny, you never know at the time when youve experienced a rite of passage.
Or at least, I think thats how it usually works.
That night, that was a rite of passage for all of us.
A mundane though meaningful initiation into the wider world of relationships and, hopefully, eventually, love.
All that normal, boring, everyday crap that made life worth living.
When the timer hit five minutes and thirty-five seconds, we realized that would not be the case here.
The closet door with its Madonna poster swung open and Jeff stumbled back out into the room.
There was someone in there, he muttered.
Yeah, I said, Sadie was in there, you freak.
Its only been five minutes.
Is she that bad a kisser?
Ashley said, peering into the closet, Theres no one in here.
We all gathered around and stared inside.
Well, there was nothing to do then but to tell our parents.
Naturally, there was nothing on the other side but the next room, and Sadie wasnt there either.
She said, Dammit, Charles, would you just go up there and look?
We had already turned back to the stairs, prepared to lead him to our mystery.
He had his cigar clenched in his teeth and his left eye was watering in the smoke.
Ashley and Ashton proclaimed in unison.
Jill took the helm.
She said, Were not sure what happened.
We were just playing a game and Sadie was in the closet.
But when we checked in there, she was gone.
We didnt see her leave and we cant find her anywhere.
Dammit, Jillian, Mr. Carmichael barked, Sadies just playing a joke on you.
Shes hiding somewhere laughing at you all for being a bunch of dummies.
He stormed into Sadies bedroom first and scanned the room.
He scooped them all up and blew them out in turn.
You damn kids are gonna burn the house down.
Who said you could light candles up here?
And is that one of my damn liquor bottles?
We said nothing, just stood there sheepishly with our hands behind our backs.
It seemed like the safest course of action.
Sadie, of course, still wasnt there.
He grunted and slammed the door shut.
Next he checked under the bed, and still, he found nothing.
he bellowed, You get out here this instant, missy!
Im not playing around!
Closets were flung open, beds were checked, curtains were drawn, and the crawlspace was thoroughly investigated.
There was no trace whatsoever of Sadie.
Now furious, Mr. Carmichael stomped down the staircase bellowing Sadies name and cursing all the while.
We stood at the second-floor landing, knowing the situation was out of our hands.
I turned to Jeff, who had been following us without a word the entire time.
Not that any of us felt particularly talkative, mind you.
His face was still pale and he had not bothered to wipe the lipstick from his lips.
It looked almost clownish in a way.
In any other situation, I would have teased him endlessly.
Now I just wanted to know what he knew.
Jeff, I said to him.
He turned to me slowly and said nothing.
What happened in there?
There was someone else in there.
At first it was just me and Sade.
We kissed a little.
Then she said something like did you hear that?
and I said no, but I did hear something.
I heard it right after she asked.
What did you hear?
She was standing right on the other side of us.
She was holding hands with her brother, though I dont think either of them realized it.
I dont know who they were, but they were right next to us in the closet.
I could feel their breath on the back of my neck.
Like a cats breath stinks, only worse.
Then I could feel them, feel hands all over me.
I was gonna scream, but then I sort of fell over.
Because I was leaning on Sadie and she wasnt there anymore.
Out of thin air.
Thats when I busted out of there.
Could you tell what they were saying?
There was a sort of ruckus from below, in the living room.
Mr. Carmichael must have been rallying the other adults to form a search party.
One of them was saying Sadie, Sadie, Sadie, over and over like that.
The others were just, like, copying us.
One said did you hear that?
and the other said no, again and again.
I asked, mostly rhetorically.
Finally, softly, he said, What.
Not who, what.
I dont think they were people.
Read Part Two HereRead Part Three HereRead The Final Chapter Here
