Dire Wants Read Free

damned fault a lightbulb had exploded when her mother hit her.
    But somehow, everything was. The house was more oppressive than ever. Even since she’d hit twelve and a half, things had gotten worse. Her thirteenth birthday loomed tomorrow, and for the past week, her mother had been on constant edge.
    They were strict Catholics. Kate went to Catholic school, church on Sundays, confession monthly. She was regularly stripped to check for markings, and she had no idea why, since she never heard this taught or preached about.
    Kate also had no idea what kind of marks the devil would leave, but she’d begun to check herself too, even as she’d stopping praying, letting her mind wander to anything but Christ’s teachings when in church or Sunday school, as part of her secret rebellion.
    After a while, she began to wonder if she was the devil, if maybe the beatings were bringing him out in her.
    “She never should’ve been born,” her mother would mutter after each inspection. It was as though every year she descended further into some kind of madness, and Kate’s father traveled more frequently to escape it.
    Kate wasn’t sure she didn’t despise him more because he was such a coward.
    She picked up her sketchpad instead and drew the moon, the ebbing shadows apparent on either side of the nearly full orb. She threw the window open to get a better view, despite the sticky night air, and got so engrossed in it that when she finished, she realized Julia would be long asleep.
    She wasn’t sure what startled her. At first she thought it was something in the trees outside her room. But when she closed the window, the sound was still there—and it seemed to be coming from inside the house.
    She didn’t want to go out into the hall, but something compelled her to. One foot in front of the other until she stood on the threshold of her parents’ bedroom. The door was cracked open, and Kate was sure it hadn’t been when she’d come upstairs earlier. She would’ve seen the sliver of light, the flashing of shadows thrown off by the muted television set.
    She opened her mouth to whisper “Mom,” but her voice quickly died in her throat when she stuck her head in the room, then recoiled in shock.
    Her mother wasn’t alone—and, although she was still asleep, she looked like she was struggling to wake.
    On her chest sat a monster. It might’ve been a woman once, but it looked more like a thing. Greenish black lips and red eyes, a mess of tangled white hair and long nails. It straddled her mother’s chest and laughed, a high, demonic sound that made Kate tremble.
    “Get off her,” Kate said quietly.
    Her mother moaned. Her head moved from side to side, but the monstrous thing didn’t budge.
    “Get off of my mother!” Kate called out, and the streetlights outside the house shattered in a stunning display.
    When Kate looked back, the thing was gone and her mother was sitting up, holding her chest. Kate wondered if she’d acknowledge the monster, but instead she asked, “What are you doing, Kate?” in a cold, angry voice that also held some fear.
    Kate vomited on the rug before she could stop herself. “I . . . got sick. I’m sorry.”
    She ran and locked herself back in her room and stayed under her covers for the rest of the night.
    * * *
    The county fair was held in the high heat of August, and even in upstate New York, the crowds sweltered under the noon sunshine.
    Kate had been sure she’d be punished for what happened last night, for not helping to clean up, for being out of bed, but oddly enough, her mother hadn’t said a word. Her father had given her a brief, perfunctory hug when he’d come into the house that morning, and she was thankful there was no mention of the monster or her transgressions.
    Julia rode over with them, sitting quietly in the backseat. Julia hated Kate’s parents—she’d seen the bruises, although Kate refused to talk about them. She knew her best friend rode with her as often as