CHAPTER 3: Two Heads Are Better Than One

TUESDAY

Another day at work, and it was even harder for Ed to focus than before. Going over old files and putting in numbers should have been a breeze, but he was making mistakes all over the place. It was a good thing he was double-checking all his work; a slip-up might be severe. But as he worked, his mind kept going back to what he saw last night. If that was the same kid he saw in the reel, it would mean the film was current, not from 1966.

But then how did the kid get in his house at all? And it still didn't answer where the movie came from. It was getting harder and harder to find logic with this video.

Ed checked his watch; a few minutes past noon. Might as well get lunch out of the way. He stepped into the lunchroom, seeing Herbert talking to another accountant, a man with a pinstriped dress shirt and jet black mullet.

"You haven't seen Jeopardy lately, Herb?" The co-worker asked in a high voice. "Well they changed its set a little, and it looks pretty goo-"

"Sorry to cut in." Ed walked over to the two of them. "Herbert, can I have a word with you?"

"Sure thing! Be right back, Neal!" Herbert and Ed walked over to another table, sitting far from the confused-looking co-worker. "Is this about that reel again, Ed?"

"Yeah…Marnie had no idea where the video came from."

"None at all?"

"She didn't recognize anything in there. What's worse…I think that video affected me a little too much. I thought I saw the kid from that video running around the house."

"The little boy?"

"Yes, except he looked…off…his skin was so pale and veiny. Like a zombie. And then I saw demon metal guy standing outside."

Herbert looked at his friend incredulously. "Ed…are you on a new medication?"

Ed scoffed at the thought. "I had two beers, that's it."

"Well, there has to be an explanation for this. It sounds like you're hallucinating now…this is dangerous, Ed. You don't want to lose your mind over something like this."

Ed sighed, resting his head in his hand. "Maybe it's just that I have been under a lot of stress lately…suddenly jumping off to a new firm, Lucy's been acting up, and that video…I think it's driving me nuts."

Herbert put his hand on Ed's shoulder. "Hey, it's easy to see why you're so deeply affected by that thing. Seriously, to tie up a boy and drag him into the pool…even for a movie, making that scene must take a really sick mind."

Ed blinked. "Actually, come to think of it…that kid wasn't in that part."

Herbert looked confused. "What?"

"In fact, he's the only one who wasn't! It was the parents and two girls, the boy was nowhere!"

"So how come he's the only one showing up in your night terror?"

"Him and the…metalhead or whatever the hell he is."

"Hell might be the appropriate word in this case." Herbert sighed. "But if the kid was nowhere, then where was he? Was he the one pulling everyone in the pool?"

"Are you actually suggesting a little boy pulled his entire family into the pool without breaking a sweat?"

"You told me that metalhead was standing at the bottom of the pool with no problem. Logic doesn't seem to exist in this video."

Ed ran his fingers through his hair. Herbert had a point. "OK, maybe we should research this video. Herb, do you mind?"

Herbert sucked air in through his teeth. "I don't even know where to begin looking, but sure. I'll poke around after work."

"Thanks Herbert! I owe you one!

Herbert nodded and waved. Take it easy, Ed." As Herbert walked back to Neal, Ed walked back to his office. One way or the other, they were going to get to the bottom of this.

The night was proving uneventful. Ed spent the night drinking more Budweiser and helping Lucy with her homework…thankfully, not in that order. Now it was shortly after midnight. He lay in bed with his eyes closed, trying to drift to sleep, but not doing a good job. He tried not to toss and turn, knowing it would disturb Marnie.

THUMP!

Ed woke with a start. He was sure he heard something downstairs. He slid his slippers onto his feet, then made his way out. He crept downstairs, nothing but the outside lights illuminating the house. Standing on the next-to-last step, Ed saw the door to the garage was open. A girl's figure stood in the doorway, apparently staring at the minivan. He couldn't tell many features except that the girl had long hair. As Ed went down one more step, the girl suddenly ran off to the living room. He couldn't quite tell if it was one of his daughters, or someone else. As she ran, he thought he saw movement in the garage. He took a deep breath, then decided to look in the garage first. Ed cautiously made his way in looking for any telltale signs of a rat or other intruder. The garage door was down, and the side door was locked. Nothing seemed disturbed. He cautiously walked inside.

CRACK!

Ed jumped slightly, then looked down. He stepped back, revealing the body of a scorpion. He sighed…at least it wasn't anything worse. He went over to the door, looking down…he saw nothing. Content, Ed started to head back out.

CLANG!

Ed turned to the source of the metallic noise, and saw a blue reel of film on its side, rolling towards him. It fell at Ed's feet, and he knelt down to pick it up. It was the same Pool Party reel…what was it doing here? He looked over to the van, and thought he saw a figure inside. Ed got up to take a closer look. It was another boy, who also looked about nine, sitting in the front passenger seat. The boy had an afro and a black tank top, and he was staring through the front window.

"Hey…you. Kid."

The boy very slowly turned to look at Ed, his cold stare similar to the one the other boy had. He glared at him, unblinking.

"Who are you, how did you get in here?!" His voice full of anger, Ed opened the van door, but the boy didn't react. Now that he came closer, he could see this kid's skin had the same veiny appearance as the first one. He kept his gaze as he put his finger up to his lips.

"Shhhhhhhhh..."

Ed snarled as he tried to grab the kid, leaping in through the open door. He landed hard on the chair, feeling nothing but the chair underneath. He got himself out of the van and pulled open the side door. The kid was nowhere to be found.

"Not again!" Ed pounded his fists on the side of the van. This was going to be another sleepless night. Frustrated, he got out from the garage and looked around the first floor for any sign of the girl he had seen, but there was no one. Maybe it was just his mind playing more tricks on him. He decided this was enough creepiness for the night, making his way back upstairs and into his bed.

WEDNESDAY

"Hello, Miss Mayfeather! I need to speak to you about your taxes for this year…"

"Mayfeather? Who the hell's Mayfeather?"

"Oh! Sorry, wrong number…" Ed hung up the phone. Great, another mistake. This day was not going well at all. Herbert had decided to spend his lunch break at the library…Ed was grateful for the help, but wished Herbert was around so he could properly update him on the situation. Listening to Neal babble about his trip to Napa Valley wasn't helpful at all. Ed was about to thumb through another set of files when he heard a deep voice coming from the doorway.

"Ed…I need to speak to you for a moment."

Ed was approached by his boss, Antoin. He wasn't just the boss of this office, he was one of the firm's founders…the Muller of Cameron-Muller, in fact. Antoin was a tall, slender black man in his late 40s, with short curly black hair and a mustache. Today he wore a peach-colored shirt, paired with a brown tie and slacks. He generally had a pleasant demeanor, but today Antoin had a look of concern on his face.

"Ed…what's been going on?

Ed just shook his head; he had already dragged one person involved in this mess, he didn't want to do the same to Antoin. "It's getting hard to focus lately. Things have been rough."

"Rough? What do you mean?"

"I'd rather not go into it, Antoin…it's really hard to talk about. It's pretty personal."

Antoin gave Ed a strange look, but it quickly shifted to one of sympathy. "Listen Ed…I like you. You seem to be a really nice guy. But if you keep screwing up like this, I can't keep you around!"

"I'm sorry, Antoin…it's just…"

Antoin put his hand on Ed's shoulder. "Listen. I know you can do it. I've seen you work before this week; you do a great job. You couldn't afford that BMW if you were bad at this, right?"

Ed did chuckle a little at that.

"So make us proud, Ed. I know you can get your head back in the game." Antoin patted Ed's shoulder and left. Ed turned and stared back at the glow of his computer screen. Easier said than done, he thought as he typed.