Psycho

Part 2

Half an hour passed and the two of them were just dozing off when there was a knocking on the door again. "Oh, please don't tell me she's back," Lucy whispered as Matt climbed out of bed.

"Who is it," he said, the sleep heavy in his voice.

"It's me, Beth," the lady said. "I've brought tea."

Lucy frowned at hearing this. "Oh for God's sake." She looked at her phone. "It's one AM," she hissed, but her husband didn't hear her. He opened the door and the woman barged in holding a tray with three cups, a teapot, and a bowl of cookies. Beth planted herself on the bed and placed the tray beside her.

"I hope you like tea. I prefer tea at night because coffee—unless decaf—will keep you up. You two weren't sleeping, right?" She looked at Lucy, who still had her legs underneath the covers, a shirt covering her torso. Beth smiled sweetly—seemingly oblivious of her intrusion—and turned to Matt, who was wearing nothing but his boxers. "Come sit dear, I think I finally managed to soothe Vincent a bit. Here." She poured the tea into the cups and handed one to Matt, who took it with slight reluctance.

"Thanks," he said, more out of habit.

Lucy took her cup too and just smiled the best she could, not wanting to be found rude. Beth held out the bowl of cookies and they both took one.

"Vincent is a sweet boy, he really is," Beth stated as she sipped her tea.

"What happened to him that got him institutionalised?" Lucy boldly asked, and she quickly took a bite out of the cookie.

Beth sighed deeply. "It's a long story really..."

"Could you give us the short version?" Matt asked, smiling slightly as if to not betray his annoyance with her.

"Let's just say he was a very troubled teen... He heard voices and one day he followed their orders..."

The woman was silent for a while and the couple exchanged looks. Finally Matt dared voice their question. "What did he do?"

"He raped and killed a girl," she said, her voice heavy with sorrow. "It happened years ago, and he did his time. Like I said, he is still in therapy and he is medicated. He hasn't heard the voices for a year now." She smiled, but her eyes seemed hollow and a shiver ran up Lucy's spine.

It was silent for a moment as they all sipped their tea, until a long wail echoed through the hall.

Beth sighed in annoyance. "Give me a moment please." She placed her cup back on the tray and practically ran out into the hallway.

Lucy wanted to tell her she could stay with her son as they wanted to go to sleep, but she seemed to have lost her tongue. She looked at her husband pleadingly.

"I know, I know... Just finish the tea and I will get her out of the room as gently as I can."

Another scream rang through the air and Lucy's eyes shot to the door. "I don't know about you, but I'm scared as fuck that next time it's not going to be Beth standing in front of that door, but rather her insane child!"

"Now, now, stay rational..." Though it was clear that Matt was feeling very uncomfortable himself too.

After a few minutes of silence there was a knocking on the door again. "It's me," Beth said and Matt let her in. She sat down on the bed and picked up her cup of tea. "He can be quite troublesome sometimes, but he's never violent."

Lucy sighed in relief at hearing this.

"He has been suffering from insomnia for three nights in a row now. He should fall asleep sooner or later. The television normally helps, but it seems the storm took care of that... He hates the dark, so I'm already quite relieved the power is back up. As much as I love candle light, I just don't like the idea of leaving him alone with that."

The woman rambled on some more, but both Lucy and Matt were no longer listening; they simply nodded most of the time. Both their teacups were empty, but Beth's was still half-full—she had refilled it at some point without them noticing.

Suddenly the phone in the room rang and the couple was wide-awake once more. Beth stood up and answered it, causing the Clements to frown at one another.

"Just sixty-nine more minutes, Ma," they heard the voice of a young man say. "It will be another year in just sixty-nine more minutes!" Loud sobs were audible even though Beth had the horn pressed tightly against her ear. "I'm scared, Ma."

"It's alright dear, I'm coming back now. I'll be there in a moment, okay?" Her voice was soft and soothing.

"Thanks Ma, I'll be waiting."

Beth placed the horn back and looked at the couple. "I'm sorry dears—"

"No, no! It's okay, go see your boy!" Lucy exclaimed.

Beth smiled and picked up the tray. "Thanks for the company. I will do my best to keep Vincent from waking you two lovelies up." She walked to the door and Matt held it open for her. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight," the couple chimed. Matt closed the door and locked it before returning to bed.

"Thank God, finally some rest," Lucy said as she dropped herself onto her pillow.

"I must say though, I feel sorry for the kid."

Lucy eyed him suspiciously. "Why? Did you miss the part where she stated he raped and killed someone? Whatever phobias and nightmares he suffers, he deserves them."

"Oh, I don't disagree with you there. But come on, no crime is big enough to have to suffer a lifetime with a chattering mother like that." He grinned broadly at his own joke, but Lucy just groaned.

"Go to sleep."

"Fine." He sighed and turned off the light.

            

They had just started to fall asleep when a scream—louder than any of the ones before—ripped through the air. Unlike the previous times, this one was long and filled with agony. Lucy sat up straight in bed. "That's it." She flicked on the light. "Get dressed, we're leaving."

Matt looked at his wife with disbelief. "Are you serious?"

She glared at him. "I am very serious! I don't want to sit here and wait for that boy to come kill us in an attempt to silence whatever troubles him. Come on." She got out of bed and grabbed her clothes. "I'll drive the first two hours while you sleep in the car, then you can drive again."

Her husband got out of bed grunting his discontent, but he didn't protest.

"It's not like we're going to get any good night's sleep here at any rate. And look on the bright side: we'll be early for the wedding." She smiled broadly, her eyes clear.

"Fine, fine..."

They went to the bathroom, checked if they got all their belongings, and left the room. They went down to the reception and for a moment they hesitated if they should call the lady and tell her they were leaving. After exchanging glances they placed the key to their room behind the counter. Lucy took a piece of paper from a notepad that lay there and wrote: "Sorry, we left early. Thanks for the tea. The Clements." She placed the note by the key and they walked out into the now dry night.

A large man walked by them and they greeted him. He politely nodded back as he entered the motel.

"Well, I guess Beth will find the note a little sooner than expected then," Lucy said as they got into the car.