The Last House on Needless Street

Ted downs liquor. Disaster has struck. While doing his weekly inspections, he discovered the new nails Dee put in the plyboard she replaced. He knows someone has broken into the house. However, he realizes that whoever the intruder was, they cannot have seen Lauren or Olivia because there would have been consequences. He suspects Dee because she is the only new variable in his situation. He hears a bark outside and is momentarily relieved that it might indicate the chihuahua lady is back, but it is the orange-juice hair man. Ted is suspicious because the man does not live on his street.

Ted drinks bourbon in the yard, staring at Dee’s house.

Dee has a recurring nightmare of red birds in the grove of silver birches by the lake. They weave together their nests with strands of Lulu’s hair. She wakes up from the tabby cat tapping her nose; she had been screaming. Dee feeds the cat tuna, beginning to feel a connection with it. She goes to the window, and she sees Ted drinking bourbon in his yard, staring at her house.

A phone call from Detective Karen reminds Dee to be more careful. Karen thought she saw Dee in a store.

Ted has not been so scared since the incident with Lauren at the mall, the last time he took her out in public. Lauren badly needed new clothes. Lauren found a pair of tights that she wanted. When Ted asked one of the store employees if there were other sizes, she smirked at him, but another worker found a pair.

Ted could not leave Lauren alone in the dressing room, but he closed his eyes for her privacy. The leggings did not fit. Defeated, Lauren wanted to go home. They left the department store, but they were soon accosted by the angry employee. Lauren had written “Plaes help. Ted is a kidnaper. He cals me Lauren but that is not my nam” on the leggings (189). Ted managed to appease the worker. In the car, Ted forced Lauren to give him her marker. Ted sent Lauren away for six months as punishment. The separation was unbearable for Ted. When Lauren returned, Ted put stricter precautions in place.

Ted is upset, so he records his recipe for mint hot chocolate. He puts his hand in his pocket and finds the list of suspects for murdering the birds. The word “mommy” has been added to the list. He thinks this is a cruel joke; he tears up the list and throws it away.

Lauren makes a recording on the tape recorder pleading for Ted to be arrested for murder; the death penalty is still in use in Washington. Lauren says that she will kill Ted or Ted will kill her. Lauren got the idea to record a message from Ted’s feelings diary. Ted arrives, and the recording is cut off.

Olivia can barely think due to the high-pitched noise. Eventually, she hears a voice beneath the sound, calling her to the kitchen from the freezer. It is Lauren’s voice.

Lauren explains that Ted locked her in the chest freezer for trying to poison him. Olivia is shocked that Lauren can understand her; she even seems to hear the cat’s thoughts. Olivia slowly realizes that when Lauren “goes away,” Ted locks her in the freezer, this time for over a month. Lauren is not Ted’s daughter. Ted calls Lauren “kitten” when she is good, just like Olivia. Ted has had many “kittens.”

Lauren used to live with her family. Ted took Lauren on a hot summer day, telling her he was taking care of her until her parents returned. Ted locked her in the unplugged chest freezer. She begged for Ted to let her go, but he said it was for her own good.

Lauren lived in the box for a long time. Ted would put food and water through the air holes. Lauren acclimated to the cold and filth, finding ways to cope with her confinement. Ted constantly played his record. If Lauren kicked or screamed, boiling water streamed through the airholes, badly burning her.

Ted finally took Lauren from the box and bathed her in the sink. He fed her and cleaned up the box. Ted poured vinegar in the bottom of the freezer and put her back in. The vinegar burned her scalded skin. Ted poured in more hot water; the air burned with vinegar fumes. Lauren was gradually conditioned to be powerless while the record plays.

Lauren explains to Olivia that she can take more pain than the others, and that is why she has lasted the longest. She wants Olivia to help her escape.

Ted calls for Olivia, and Lauren tells her to go to him. She tells Olivia to act normal. Olivia feels sick and conflicted as she goes about the motions of being a normal pet for Ted. She realizes that it was for Lauren’s sake that the Lord prevented her from escaping the house.

Ted is in a bad mental state. He comes to the front of the chihuahua lady’s house. He knows that to end the stress he must figure things out with Lauren. He also knows he cannot keep putting his life on hold for his daughter and his cat; he has to make himself happy. He has a date tomorrow.

It is several days before Olivia can speak to Lauren again. They discuss options for Lauren’s escape. Lauren tells Olivia to do anything to get Ted to turn the music down. There are lead weights on the top of the freezer; Olivia will have to knock them off.

Later, Olivia gets Ted to turn the music down by acting upset. As Ted pets her, Olivia thinks of how she trusted him; she used to feel as if they were part of one another. Her attention eventually lulls Ted to sleep.

Olivia returns to Lauren. The whining sound is back in Olivia’s head. With Lauren’s guidance, Olivia manages to remove the weights from the freezer’s lid. Olivia is apprehensive as the lid opens. The freezer is empty.

When Lauren speaks again, her voice and presence are in Olivia’s head. Lauren tells Olivia that Olivia is inside her. For a moment, Olivia’s reality shifts, and she sees and experiences herself inside a human body. She hears the high-pitched noise again, and she realizes at last that it is her, scratching the inside of the freezer.

Lauren explains that the first time she tried to escape, Ted broke her feet between boards with a mallet. The second time, Olivia came out of Lauren’s mind. Lauren had made her mind up to die, but instead, Olivia was born. They would switch places; Lauren experiences what Olivia sees as if watching TV. Olivia helps them survive by making Ted happy.

Olivia now dreads being around Ted. She likes Lauren’s presence. She wonders what Lauren looks like because there are no mirrors in the house. Lauren is glad Olivia cannot see their body. There are other personalities inhabiting their body, including Night-time.

When the time comes for them to escape, Olivia will have to use their body. Olivia thinks she knows where Ted’s big knife is, but when she checks, it is gone.

Despite Lauren’s instructions, Olivia cannot control their body. Lauren tries to get Olivia to toss the cassette she recorded into the street from the letterbox, but it falls in the bushes. Lauren is frustrated, complaining that Olivia does not try hard enough.

Olivia worries that Lauren does not want to live after they escape from Ted. They settle down on the orange rug in the living room, which, for a split second, changes from orange to blue.

Dee waits at the window, feeling weighed down by her memories. She feels the burden of her responsibility, but she feels she owes it to Lulu and the other missing children.

Dee witnesses Olivia’s attempt to throw the cassette tape through the letterbox. When Ted leaves, she finds the cassette in the bushes and rushes home.

The bug man immediately notices new scratches on Ted’s face; Ted attributes it to Olivia rather than Lauren. Ted wants a prescription for his pills, but the bug man convinces him to keep getting the medicine directly from him.

Ted uses the fake television show he made up to secretly ask about Lauren. He tells the bug man that the daughter in the show has another personality that takes over at times. The bug man tells him that this sounds like dissociative identity disorder (DID), which is very rare. It is also his area of research. The bug man explains DID usually arises from “systematic abuse, physical or emotional” causing the sufferer’s mind to fragment as “An intelligent child’s elegant solution to suffering” (227). Some children construct places of mental refuge for their personalities to dwell in. There are two theories on how to treat DID: either get the multiple personalities to coexist peacefully or integrate them into the primary personality. Ted thinks the second option sounds like murder.

The bug man tells Ted he could help Lauren if he spoke with her. Ted lapses into thought and when he comes to, he sees the bug man staring at him, horrified: Ted drove the tip of a pen into the palm of his own hand.

Ted hurriedly takes the list of books about DID the bug man wrote for him and excuses himself.

Lauren and Olivia think the best means of subduing Ted is the knife, but it is missing. They practice trying to get Olivia to use their body. Lauren has Olivia go to the stairs to help her understand their situation. She uses the stairs as a metaphor. Since Olivia is the connecting point between the personalities, only she can save them.

Lauren becomes fed up with Olivia. She accuses her of not wanting to help. Lauren shows Olivia she can inflict torturous pain on her. She describes their appearance to Olivia: they are “deformed” and “disfigured” from the years of abuse. Lauren stops and apologizes. Olivia reels with the aftershock of the pain and Lauren’s words.

Olivia knows how to hurt Lauren back. She locks them in the freezer, ignoring Lauren’s screams.