The Dead House - Dawn Kurtagich Page 0,55

know is that it happened. I don’t know anything else.

(FH): And Carly Johnson? How well did you know her, huh? Maybe you’d better rethink that answer, lad, because Naida’s talking.

(SF): You asshole—

(FH): Watch your mouth. You’re facing some serious charges, Scott. If I were you, I’d answer my questions honestly. [Pause] Carly Johnson. Were you intimate with her?

(SF): What the hell is that supposed to mean?

(FH): Did you and Carly Johnson have sex?

(SF): I want to speak to my father.

(FH): Answer the question! Did you and Carly Johnson have sex?

(SF): No—

(FH): But you wanted to. Maybe you suggested something of that nature to Carly herself. Maybe you forced her into it—

(SF): No! I told you, no! I was with Naida, that didn’t change—

(FH): Something triggered her, and you’re the only one left!

[Loud bang]

[Heavy breathing]

[Pause]

[Softer] Scott, I need to know how it all went down. You’re the only one who knows.

[Silence]

See, I think you know more than you’re telling me. Why, I don’t know. You’ve got no one to protect and everything to lose. So tell me what happened that night!

[End of tape]

66

40 days until the incident

Naida Camera Footage

Friday, 24 December 2004

Time Index Not Noted

Basement

Naida swings the camera around the small room. It is nothing more than a cemented space with a solitary lightbulb hanging from the ceiling. The circle of light that the bulb creates does not touch the corners of the room, which sit stagnant in shadow. The mic picks up the sound of dripping water.

“Lovely spot,” Kaitlyn murmurs, folding her arms.

“It’s temporary. I’d stash you in my room, but the chances of you being seen—”

“No. No, you’re right. This is fine. Cold, dank, lonely.” She gives a grin. “Feels familiar.”

“I’m going to set the camera up there,” Naida says, angling the camera at a strip of wall near the ceiling. “I can monitor the footage through my computer.”

“Won’t the battery die?”

“Nah, I’ll hook it into the school’s power supply, and it’ll feed directly to my laptop. I’ll rig it to send automatically to an online server too, so we can watch it later in more detail.”

“Watch me in more detail, you mean. We’re past sociology projects, aren’t we?”

“It’s not about that anymore. We need this. Need proof.” She spins the camera to face her and messes with the focus.

“They told me I was crazy,” Kaitlyn says after a beat of silence. Her voice barely registers in the mic.

Naida glances at her, then steps forward. “You’ve got to put that out of your head, sugar. It won’t help Carly.”

Kaitlyn looks away, and the progress of the camera—and Naida—stops. “What you did… going there. Seeing me, the note, everything. I… thank you.”

“I’d do it again and more in a heartbeat.” Naida hesitates, and then adds, “But what made you come here? Why believe me?”

“I could blame it on the pill diet they had me on, but… in my last session with Lansing… I saw something. I don’t know, probably nothing. But…”

“Tell me.”

Kaitlyn sighs sharply. “I sound so bloody crazy, and I hate it because I’m not crazy.”

“I don’t think you’re crazy. You’ve got to trust me with the truth.”

“I saw something in the room with us in my last session with Dr. Lansing. A girl. She smelled wet and earthy, and she looked terrified; her mouth was wide open, and her teeth—” She takes a breath. “She was pointing at Lansing. Like she was warning me. And I knew… I just knew I had to get out.”

There is another pause, and then Naida says, “We should find something for you to sleep on in that junk heap round there.” She points the camera at the floor. “There’s bound to be—”

[END OF CLIP]

Naida Camera Footage

Date and Time Index Missing

Basement

“You look like shit,” Naida says, facing a mattress that now lies in the corner of the room. She goes to sit beside Kaitlyn, handing over a bag of cookies. She takes one too. “Didn’t they feed you?”

“Don’t remember.”

“So tell me about this girl, the one you saw. Have you seen her before? Do you see her a lot?”

The slightest hesitation. “No.”

“What about other things? I need to know, Kait.”

Kaitlyn opens the bag of cookies. She removes one but doesn’t eat it. “I don’t want to go back to that place.”

“Then tell me.”

“Right.” Kaitlyn laughs. “Tell you about crazy stuff I see so that you don’t call my shrink.”

Naida glances at her pointedly. “I warned you, Kaitlyn Johnson. I warned you about all this. You called it crazy Mala shit, remember? Now you’re