by Eva Pohler
“So what is your mom doing tonight?” Ellen asked Sue. “Is she mad at you?”
“She said she’s not mad, but I know better.”
“Did you have plans with her before we made ours?” Tanya asked.
“No. That’s the thing. We usually talk on the phone each evening, but we didn’t have plans. I guess she’s upset that I couldn’t chat on the phone. I told her I’d call her when I got home, but she said not to bother.”
“I suppose you could have invited her along,” Ellen said.
Sue rolled her eyes. “It crossed my mind, but, really, Ellen, she needs her own friends. Besides, she would have tried to take over the séance. You think I’m a believer, but you should see her. She’d probably start talking in tongues before we even held hands.”
They all three laughed.
Then Sue said, “Maybe I should have asked her to come along. She would have really enjoyed this.”
Ellen realized then that Sue must have all the confidence in the world that they were dealing with a ghost and not a vagrant, or she never would have considered inviting her seventy-something-year-old mother. Ellen bit her tongue, though, rather than point out her feeling that the odds were much greater that the sound above them came from a squatter than a spirit.
The idea of someone in the house with them was making her nervous. Why had she locked the front door behind them? She’d been thinking about keeping nosy neighbors from walking in on them, but she should have been thinking about an escape plan.
“Let’s get this show on the road,” Ellen said. “Before it gets dark outside.”
“Scared, are we?” Tanya teased.
“Not of ghosts,” Ellen said.
Tanya stuffed her last dip-covered cracker into her mouth and swallowed it down with margarita before taking the hands of her friends. “Ready.”
Sue reached across the table and took Ellen’s hand. “Remember, don’t break the circle until I tell you it’s okay.”
Ellen nodded, feeling a lump form in her throat as something Tanya had said sent a shiver down her spine: Just because you don’t believe in ghosts doesn’t mean they don’t exist.
The statement had been true. Ellen hadn’t believed one of her children would ever do drugs, and he had. She hadn’t believed her marriage could ever fall apart, and it had. She hadn’t believed she’d ever partake in a séance, and here she was.
“Spirits of the past who dwell here,” Sue said with her eyes closed. “Move among us. Be guided by the light of our world and by the aroma of our food. Tell us who you are.”
Ellen took a deep breath and waited. Nearly a minute went by, and nothing happened. “How long is this supposed to last?”
“Sshh,” Tanya hushed her.
“Spirits of the past who dwell in this house,” Sue said again. “Follow the light of our world, and the aroma of our food, and come to us. Make yourself known to us. Is anyone here? If so, please rap twice.”
They waited quietly for another minute. Ellen kept her eyes wide open, unlike Sue and Tanya. The living room behind Sue was almost in complete darkness now. Very little light came in from the windows in the kitchen. A shrub covered most of the dining room window, where Tanya thought she might have seen something.
As Ellen looked at that window now, she too, thought she saw something: a face. “Holy shit,” she muttered, her heartrate accelerating.
Tanya and Sue opened their eyes and looked at her.
Whispering, Ellen said, “There’s someone out there. I saw a face. A man, I think.”
“Don’t break the circle,” Sue warned. “It’s probably just a neighbor wondering why we’re here.”
Ellen took a deep breath and tried to bring her heartrate back down to normal again.
“Spirits of the past who dwell here,” Sue said again, gazing into the candlelight. “Rap two times if you can hear me.”
Ellen froze: Two unmistakable knocks resounded on the ceiling above them.
Sue and Tanya smiled as Ellen wondered what the hell was going on. She refused to believe a spirit had actually replied to their summoning.
“Oh, thank you, spirit from the past,” Sue said. “We would like to ask you some questions. If we have your permission to proceed, please rap once. If you don’t want us to speak with you further, rap twice.”
Again, unmistakably, a single knock to the ceiling.
Sue and Tanya smiled again. Ellen wanted to leave. The vagrant was toying with them. It was the only explanation.
“My first question,” Sue said. “Are you female? Please rap once for yes and twice for no.”
A single rap.
Ellen broke out in a sweat. “We should leave,” she whispered.
“Sshhh.” Tanya glared at her and shook her head.
“Do you live in this house?” Sue asked next. “Please rap once for yes and twice for no.”
A single rap.
Followed by loud pounding.
“What the hell?” Ellen whispered, looking from one friend to the other.
More pounding. It was the front door.
“Don’t break the circle,” Sue said. “Let me ask one more question.”
Before Sue could ask it, they heard a loud creak, like the sound of a door opening, followed by a slam.
“That sounded like the attic door,” Tanya whispered, craning to look behind her without breaking the circle.
The ceiling above them shuddered, as though someone were walking on the second floor.
“Oh, spirit,” Sue said desperately. “Are you a friendly spirit? If so, please rap once for yes and twice for no.”
A single rap, but not from the ceiling. This time, it came from the stairwell behind Tanya.
“She’s friendly,” Sue whispered.
“Unless she’s a liar,” Ellen said.
Now someone was pounding on the back door.
“It’s got to be the neighbor that was looking in the window,” Sue said.
“I think we better answer,” Tanya said. “We should break the circle.”
They heard another creak on the stairs behind Tanya. They all three turned in time to see a thin figure with white hair and a white dress run across the foyer toward the back door.
“The ghost!” Sue cried in a mixture between a whisper and a squeal.
“I saw her!” Tanya said, holding tight to Ellen’s hand. “Did you see her, Ellen?”
“I saw something,” Ellen admitted.
They heard more creaking and footsteps at the back of the house.
“Don’t break the circle!” Sue warned again. “Wait and see if she speaks again.” Then more loudly she said, “Oh, spirit, please come to the light. If you like dwelling among the living, please rap once for yes…”
Sue hadn’t finished speaking when the floorboards of the bottom floor shuddered with loud, quick, heavy footsteps.
“That’s not the same spirit,” Tanya whispered.
Sue’s mouth dropped open as she gazed at something behind Ellen’s back.
Ellen turned to see a man with an axe in his hands. Ellen screamed and scrambled to her feet, shaking all over as she backed away from the man.
“What the hell’s going on in here?” the man asked sternly, glaring at each of the women. “If you don’t vacate these premises immediately, I’ll call the cops.”
“Who are you?” Sue asked.
“I might ask you the same question,” he said.
“We’re the new owners of this place,” Sue said.
“The hell you are,” the man said. “I’d know if this house sold. I know the realtor.”
“Ronnie?” Ellen asked. “You know Ronnie?”
“That’s right,” the man said less sternly. He lowered the axe to his side. “You know him?”
Ellen nodded as she caught her breath. She put a hand to her heart. “Man, you scared the heck out of me.”
“How do you think I feel?” the old man, probably mid-seventies, said as he rubbed the gray whiskers along
his jawline. “For a minute, I thought you were the three witches of Eastwick.”
Chapter Four: The Man with the Axe
“Would you like some crackers and dip?” Sue offered the man with the axe.
“No, thank you.” He scratched his head. “So have you already closed on the house, then?”
“Not yet,” Ellen said. “My friends wanted to see if the rumors were true—the rumors about this place being haunted.”
“Oh, they’re true alright. My wife and I have both seen her. You should have a chat with my wife before you buy this place.”
“Come have a seat and tell us what you know,” Sue suggested.
Tanya seemed to have swallowed her tongue. She was almost as pale as the ghost girl, or whatever it was Ellen had seen dart through the foyer.
The man with the axe took the chair where Ellen had been sitting. Ellen continued to catch her breath near the wall with the window.
She’d been so freaked out that she may have even peed a little.
“We just saw the spirit,” Sue said. “She ran toward the back of the house. Did you see her when you came in?”
The old man’s face turned as white as Tanya’s as he shook his head. “No. I didn’t see her.”
“So she just vanished?” Tanya spoke for the first time.
“I guess so,” the man said. “It wouldn’t be the first time. Like I said, you need to have a conversation with my wife.”
“Who do you think the ghost is?” Sue asked. “A former resident of this house?”
“Probably,” the man said.
“I’m Sue, by the way. It’s nice to meet you, Mr….”
“Forrester,” he said. “The name’s Bud Forrester.”
“I’m Ellen.” Ellen took the chair on the other end of the table across from Tanya. She was not about to put her back to any of the rooms in the house. “And this is Tanya.”
Tanya gave the old man a silent nod.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” Bud Forrester said without shaking anyone’s hand. “Like I said, the rumors are real. What are you doing here, having one of those what-do-you-call-‘em’s, with the Ouija Board or something?”
“Séance,” Sue replied. “We were communicating with the spirit until right before you came in.”
“What do you mean, communicating?” he asked with narrowed eyes.
Sue explained, “We would ask a question and then ask her to rap once for yes and twice for no.”
“And the ghost answered?” he asked.
All three women nodded.
He rubbed the scalp beneath his gray hair. “What questions did you ask?”
“If she dwelled here, if she was female, if she was friendly,” Sue said. “We didn’t get very far, unfortunately.”
“Well, I tell you what. You women have a lot of guts coming into this haunted house hoping to communicate with ghosts, that’s for sure,” Bud Forrester said. “But this here house is dangerous. You could have been hurt. You wouldn’t believe what we’ve seen.”
“Like what?” Sue asked.
“Gives me the creeps to talk about it,” Bud Forrester said enigmatically. “I tell you what. My wife and I would surely benefit if this house ever sold. It’s brought down our property values something fierce to have this disaster next door to us. But I wouldn’t wish this place on anyone. This here is a piece of hell, is what I think.”
“Why haven’t you moved?” Ellen asked.
“Oh, that’s out of the question,” Bud Forrester said, shaking his head. “My home has been in our family for generations. My wife’s mother grew up there and lives with us still.”
Ellen sat up in her chair. “How old is she, if you don’t mind my asking?”
“Ninety-five in October,” Bud Forrester said.
“If you think this place is a piece of hell,” Sue asked, “why are you sitting here so calmly? I would think you’d be begging us to leave with you, to save our lives.”
“I thought about it,” the man said. “But I was afraid you’d think I was a crazy lunatic. We really should get out of here, as soon as possible. Can I help you ladies out?”
Tanya frowned. “We can manage, thank you.”
They all four stood up.
Something suddenly occurred to Ellen. “The back door was locked, wasn’t it?”
“Yes, ma’am. I picked it,” Bud Forrester said. “I saw you through the window and was worried about you.”
“That’s why you brought your axe?” Sue asked. “Because you were worried about us?”
“I brought it for protection,” Bud Forrester said. “Like I said, this place here is something you don’t want to mess with. It was nice meeting you. Be sure and come by and chat with my wife before you close on this place.”
“Would tomorrow afternoon work for you?” Ellen asked.
“Yes,” Bud Forrester said as he headed toward the back door. “Come at three. I’ll tell my wife to expect you.”
As Tanya and Ellen started packing things back into Tanya’s re-usable grocery bag, Sue said, “Let’s try to contact the spirit once more, now that the old man is gone.”
“What?” Tanya shook her head. “I say we get out of here.”
“I agree,” Ellen said.
“But maybe she’ll come back and tell us who she is,” Sue said.
“I think I’d like to get my psychic to come out here,” Tanya said. “She can find out what we need to know without the séance. I’m a little spooked after seeing that apparition. Aren’t you?”
Ellen nodded. She was more than spooked. Her whole belief system had been upturned. Although she wasn’t completely convinced that she’d just seen a spirit, she also didn’t think the girl looked like a real person. She was as thin as a skeleton and as white, too. The white dress hung down to her ankles. She hadn’t been wearing shoes. And how could a young woman manage to live in the attic all these years? Maybe she wasn’t alone. Memories of a novel she’d read as a girl made her shudder. It was called Flowers in the Attic and was about a mother who imprisoned her children in the attic, where they had to grow up and fend for themselves. The brother and sister eventually fell in love because they had no one else.
“But it was exactly what we were hoping for, wasn’t it?” Sue said, bringing Ellen from her reverie. “I really want to buy this house now more than ever. Now that I know the spirit is female, friendly, and willing to talk to us, I’m excited. Aren’t y’all?”
Ellen still wanted the house, even if she wasn’t excited about its resident. “I’m still interested. What about you, Tanya?”
“If you two agree to let me bring my psychic to interrogate the spirit, then I’ll be more inclined. I just want to make sure no one was murdered here and that there’s nothing evil haunting this place.”
“How soon can she come?” Sue asked as she put her arm through the strap of her purse and picked up the bowl of dip.
“I’ll give her a call. Maybe she can stop by Monday while the locksmith is here. I’ll see.”
“Do you guys want me to pick you up around 2:30 tomorrow?” Ellen offered.
“That sounds good,” Sue said, leading them to the front door. “I’m anxious to hear what Mrs. Forrester has to say.”
“I didn’t much care for Mr. Forrester,” Tanya said. “He gave me the creeps.”
“Me, too,” Ellen agreed.
They hadn’t yet stepped out of the house when they heard a flurry of footsteps inside.
Tanya hastened outside and into the front yard faster than Ellen realized her friend could run.
Sue stood on the threshold as though she might go back inside.
“Come on, Sue,” Ellen said, pushing her out the front door. “Let’s go.”
Chapter Five: Mrs. Forrester
That evening, Ellen arrived home to find Paul had fallen asleep to the television. She took a shower, and by the time she got out, she saw the familiar lump of his body beneath the sheet on his side of the bed and heard the buzz-saw so
und of his snoring.
She’d wanted to tell him about the ghost girl.
Disappointed, she found her Kindle and went down the hall to Nolan’s old room, where she’d slept for the past five years. As she tried to get into the new mystery she’d started a few days ago, her mind kept wandering back to the séance, to Bud Forrester, and to the slim white figure that may or may not have been an apparition.
The girl had to have been a living, breathing person. There were no such things as ghosts.
Ellen heard a creak in the attic above her and for a moment worried that the spirit may have followed her all the way home to prove she existed.
It was the wind, of course. It was nothing.
So if the girl was a living, breathing person, what would she be doing in that dilapidated old house? Maybe she’d been abducted and made a prisoner. Maybe Bud Forrester was her captor. Maybe that’s why he didn’t want anyone in the house!
Ellen sat up in the bed and glanced at the digital clock on her son’s dresser. It was just after ten. It was definitely too late to call Tanya, but Sue might be up. Ellen teetered with indecision.
No. It could wait. Besides, if the girl was Bud Forrester’s prisoner, how would she have been able to run freely in the house? Wouldn’t she have made her escape after Bud entered through the backdoor?
Ellen lay back down on the bed.
If the girl had been a prisoner, she would have cried out for help.
And, if she were a living, breathing person, then someone would have found her out by now. Six different buyers wouldn’t have been so easily fooled.
Could it have been the margarita?
Ellen sighed and closed her eyes. The questions spun round and round in her head, making it almost impossible to fall asleep. She couldn’t wait to talk with Mrs. Forrester the next afternoon, and she was equally anxious to have the locksmith come on Monday after work to open the attic door.
The next morning, Tanya called.
“I’m just not up to going to that creepy man’s house,” Tanya said. “You two are going to have to go on without me.”
“Come on. Don’t be a wimp.”
“Sorry. I’m tired and don’t want to get dressed today. I just want to lounge around and do nothing.”