Ray Garton - The New Neighbor

Pastor Quillerman raised his arms to quiet them down. "I know what you're going through," he said. "I understand your fear and your feelings of guilt. I realize those of you with loved ones missing are especially upset right now. But please listen to me for just a few minutes."

George listened as Quillerman told them the truth about Lorelle Dupree. He told them everything that Robby had told George that morning, all the things that George wouldn't listen to then. They listened silently as Quillerman spoke in his best pulpit voice. Then:

"Thanks to young Robby here, we think she’s trapped in her own house right now.” He stepped over to Robby's side and put an arm around his shoulders. "Unfortunately, some of your family members are in there with her. They are there of their own free will, just as many of you gave in to her of your own free will. But you might be able to change that. With words of encouragement to your sons and daughters and spouses, you might be able to draw them out of her house. If we all resist her, reject her, there will be nothing to keep her here. She will have no choice but to go.”

“Why can't we kill the bitch?" Mr. LaBianco asked.

Quillerman hesitated. “To be honest, I don’t know how to kill her.”

“She seduced my husband!" a woman shouted. "In just a few days, that bitch destroyed my marriage!"

"Please!" Quillerman said, raising his arms again. "I know you're angry and you have every reason to be, but you must let go of that anger. It will only weaken you. It demeans you, and that is precisely what she wants. She feeds on it. It’s important to let go of that anger and hatred. We’re all human, we are weak. We must pray to god for – “

”I don't pray," a man said coldly.

"Yes, I understand that some of you may not have any religious beliefs. Perhaps many of you. But you can still let go of the anger and hatred you feel toward her. You can – “

”I'm not so sure I believe what you say about her," another man said.

Quillerman turned to George in desperation.

George's mouth opened and closed as he searched frantically for something to say.

"Some of you probably know George Pritchard, here," Quillerman said. "He has been going through many of the same things you have." He looked at George again, nodding encouragingly.

George said, "My family and I… well, like all of you, I'm sure… we got involved with Lorelle and we became uh… my wife Karen is, um, she's over their right now, and -"

"I don't give a damn, Pritchard," Mr. Weyland barked. "All I want to know is how to get my daughter out of there and how to get rid of that cunt ."

Quillerman sighed. "Please listen to yourself. That kind of attitude is what she wants ! You must have compassion for your neighbors, think of the pain they're going through, too, and don't -"

"I'm thinking of my husband right now," a woman said.

A man shouted, "And we're thinking of our son!"

"I thought you wanted to help us," another man said. "You're a man of god. Wouldn't god want us to stop that slut?"

“Yeah!" Mrs. LaBianco shouted. "Christ kicked the moneychangers out of the temple, why shouldn't we kick that twat off our block?"

“How the hell're we supposed to do that ?" Mr. Parker asked.

"Drag her out by the hair if we have to!" Mrs. LaBianco replied.

"No, no, please listen !" Pastor Quillerman shouted.

"We are listening," Mr. Weyland growled, "But you're not telling us anything!"

"I'm trying to tell you something," Quillerman said, his voice lower now, more calm than before. "I have been through the exact same thing you're going through! I wish someone had come along and tried to help -" His voice broke and he cleared his throat, then lowered his voice a bit. " – tried to help my family. But no one did. So I haven't had a family for many years, thanks to a creature just like the one in there," he said, pointing at Lorelle's house. "But that doesn't have to happen to you ."

"It's already happened to us!" a woman shouted. George recognized the voice as that of Trish Mason. She and her husband lived at the end of the street with their three kids. "My husband is gone and I want to get him back before it's too late. You're not telling me how to get him back."

"He has to make that choice himself," Quillerman answered.

"What if we make the choice for them?" Weyland asked.

"Fine," Quillerman said. "Then why aren't you storming the place? Why aren't you bursting in there and rescuing those people? I think it's because deep down inside, even if you don't admit it to yourself, you're afraid of Lorelle Dupree. But I'm trying to tell you that you don't need to be afraid of her! You have a much greater power at your disposal. Your love for your sons and daughters and husbands and wives could bring them back to you if you'd just let it. But you mustn't give in to the dark, angry part of yourselves that she's trying so hard to bring out! She wants you to -"

“He's a madman!" a woman's voice shouted from a distance.

Everyone turned and shined their flashlights in that direction.

Lorelle stood in the same window in which Robby had seen Karen earlier. She wore a red robe open just enough to bare a narrow strip of pale flesh down the front.

"Don't listen to him," she said. "He's a liar. A crazy liar! He'd be in a mental hospital if he didn't have his pulpit to hide behind!"

"Don't listen to her!" Pastor Quillerman shouted, raising his arms high. "Wear the armor of righteousness! Fend off the arrows of evil!"

"Listen to his holier-than-thou talk!" Lorelle shouted at them. "Have I talked to any of you that way? Have I done anything to any of you? I've done nothing !"

The crowd was silent. No one responded, but looks were exchanged, brows creased.

“If I've done anything at all, I've given you pleasure. You know that's true, each one of you. You know in your hearts that this lunatic is lying to you. And as for your friends and loved ones who are here with me… they are here because they want to be. You may not like it, but they are here by choice. " Over her shoulder: "Isn't that right?"

A chorus of voices rose in agreement from the darkness behind Lorelle.

George put his arms around Robby and Jen and said, "Go back to the house."

"That was Mom's voice!" Jen shouted, pulling away from him. “I heard her!” She took several steps toward Lorelle's house as she shouted, "Mom! Come home! Please come home! Mom?"

Silence. Everyone stared at the window, at Lorelle.

"I don't want to!" Karen shouted.

A whimper escaped Jen as she spun around and faced George. He embraced her and whispered in her ear, "Please, honey, please go back to the house now."

Before she could do as he had said, a frightened man's voice called, "Carl? Carl, your mom and I want you to come home now. We're sorry for what happened earlier and we'll -"

" Fuck off! " a young male voice shouted back.

"Marlene?" a man shouted. "Marlene? Hon? Please come out of -"

From behind Lorelle, a woman giggled drunkenly and the man who had called for Marlene whispered, "Oh, my God."

Lorelle said, "I don't care what he says – these people have chosen to be here and no matter what you do, they won't leave until they choose to leave. They don't want to come back to you right now." She paused, then: "Of course… you could always come join us.”

“No!" Quillerman roared, raising a hand in the air. "If you go in there with them, you'll all be lost!"