The Bringer

by Jennifer Park

  “I can?” Brynn looked from Miriam back to Jonas. “Oh…well, I want you to leave. I’m sorry this happened to you, but I still want you to leave. Right now,” said Brynn as she shakily climbed to her feet using the wall to support her.

  The man opened his mouth to say more but Brynn had had enough.

  “No you don’t! Now go!” Brynn pointed outside.

  The man closed his mouth with a crack of his teeth, pulled on his vest indignantly and then he glided back out to his ship.

  “Who was that and who are you?” asked Brynn while still watching Jonas leave.

  “Oh my dear child, what a fright you’ve had. Come, sit down on the bed.” Miriam walked over to the bed to sit down. “My name is Miriam and I, well I hate to use the word haunt but I suppose that is the proper word for it, I haunt this house.”

  “You’re a ghost. I’m seeing ghosts. No, I’m just going crazy, that’s it. Well, it makes sense really, my parents killed in front of me and seeing those demon things. I’m probably in a straightjacket in some padded room.”

  Miriam chuckled softly. “I’m afraid not, my dear. You are very much sane and very much seeing spirits. This is just the first of many talents you will discover now that you are no longer shielded. What a pleasure it is to meet the Bringer.”

  “You know who I am?” Brynn looked startled.

  “Why of course. I’m a ghost. Anyway, don’t worry about Jonas and his shipwreck, he’s just still angry. He shows his shipwreck story to anybody with the gift to see our world, the spirit world.”

  “You mean he just made that up to scare me?”

  “Oh no, that really happened and it was horrible. I’m not saying it wasn’t,” Miriam clasped her hands in her lap. “He and his folk just refuse to cross over though. They hang around on that beach moaning and crying avenge us, avenge us. Believe me if I could I would avenge them myself just to get them to leave me in peace.”

  Brynn sat crossways to her on the bed, “Why are you still here, or is that a rude thing to ask?” She wasn’t sure of proper ghost etiquette. Miriam seemed nice, like a TV show grandma from the 50s. But what if she offended her.

  Miriam patted her knee, “No honey, that’s not rude at all.”

  Brynn looked with astonishment at the hand on knee, “Um, I can feel your hand.”

  Miriam pulled her hand back, “Of course you can. You have the talent. You can see me and feel me as I was when I was alive. I’m not sure how that works, something to do with crossing between planes or time or something. I didn’t mean to frighten you,”

  Brynn reached out and touched Miriam on the arm. She seemed warm and solid and very much alive. This is so crazy she thought. “No, I’m not frightened exactly. Overwhelmed is probably a better word.”

  Miriam took her hand and continued her story, “I guess I stay because I like it here. This house is full of wonderful memories for me and I’m just not ready to leave yet. One day I’m sure I’ll cross over, but for now I’m happy to just stay put.”

  There was a soft knock on the door and Brynn jumped. The door opened slightly and Jerom poked his head in. He saw her looking at him and then his body followed his head through the door and into the room.

  “Hi, you’re up.” He looked at her for a second and then said, “You okay, you look a little, I don’t know, shaken?”

  “Oh, well yeah, I am a bit shaken.” She looked around the room but Miriam was gone. She ran her fingers through her hair trying to pull herself together. “I just had a really strange experience. Like a vision or something.”

  “I was wondering what was going on when it got so cold in the other room.”

  “It did. I didn’t notice,” said Brynn.

  He sat down beside her and took her hand. “You’re hand’s freezing. Why don’t you tell me what happened.”

  He cocked his head to the side to show her he was listening. She went through the whole story with him, from thinking she was dreaming to the moment he knocked on the door. She was surprised that it actually didn’t take too long to tell, only several minutes. He opened his mouth to respond when they heard someone walking up to the door.

  Chapter 11

  Miranda did not feel the need to knock like her brother. She just barged right in. Jerom dropped Brynn’s hand like she had leprosy and practically jumped off the bed.

  “Oh, excuse me.” Miranda dragged out “excuse” just long enough to embarrass Jerom and make Brynn feel decidedly uncomfortable. Then she smirked with one side of her mouth. “She awake?” she asked her brother.

  “I’m sitting right here,” said Brynn.

  “Hey, Miranda, Brynn has just realized one of her powers.”

  “Oh, yeah, what’s that?”

  “She’s a communicator.”

  “I’m a what?” asked Brynn.

  “You’re a communicator. You know someone who can see and feel and speak to those who have, um, passed on,” said Jerom.

  “What happened?” Miranda slid down the wall and sat on the floor.

  Brynn hesitated a moment, not sure she was willing to share with Miranda. Jerom was different, he had been mostly sweet and gentle with her, but Miranda had left her feeling cold and offended.

  “Do you want me to tell her?” Jerom asked sensing her reluctance.

  Brynn let out a breath, she needed to trust Miranda with this even if she didn’t like her. She told her about the ship and the ghosts.

  “It’s kind of creepy, you know,” Brynn shivered as a fresh chill ran through her. It felt as if she had just relived it, “but at the same time, it wasn’t really scary. They were just people. What happened to them was horrible and I was drained when the vision passed and a little sick to my stomach too, but I thought seeing dead people would be more, I don’t know, terrifying.”

  “We all have different gifts and when we start using them, they just feel right. They aren’t hard to use, or anything, it just feels natural, like a part of you was missing and just showed up again,” Jerom said.

  Like part of me was missing. Am I feeling that she wondered. All I’m feeling is a really big hole where my parents should be. She scrunched her eyes shut hard to stop them from watering. She couldn’t think about them now. She should do something, distract herself. “Well, how do I use my gift. I mean, can I call up spirits anytime I want, or do I have to wait for them to come to me?”

  “I don’t know. You’ll have to play around with your power some and find out.”

  “Play around with my power. That just sounds so bizarre.”

  “Why don’t you try something, let’s see what you can do.” Jerom shifted around on the bed in anticipation. He loved experiments, even at school.

  “You mean like right now?” Brynn hesitated. What if that creepy colonial guy came back, the one from the ship. She wasn’t ready to see him again.

  “Why not?” said Jerom.

  “I’m bored,” Miranda stated and then walked through the door, back into the living room.

  Brynn watched her leave. “I appear to be boring your sister.”

  Jerom just shrugged and looked expectantly at Brynn.

  “I suppose I could try to talk to Miriam again. I so miss my old life,” she said before closing her eyes.

  “Why are you closing your eyes?”

  Keeping her eyes closed, but smiling just a little, she responded, “Because every time you see someone on TV try to talk with dead people that’s what they do.”

  Brynn stretched out with her other four senses to feel Jerom watching her. She imagined in her head what the room looked like around her.

  “Getting anything?” Jerom asked.

  “Not yet, but I can almost like see you with my eyes closed. It’s weird. I can feel you so clearly it’s like looking at you.”

  Brynn concentrated even harder when she barely started to hear some mumbling, but she couldn’t really make out the words. She focused on the mumbling, straining to hear more, like when she would listen in on her parent’s con
versation in the next room that she knew she shouldn’t be listening to. She started to be able to distinguish individual voices. She could hear the scary old man from the shipwreck and then she thought she could just make out Miriam’s voice. She tried to focus on that. Brynn ignored all the other sounds and took a deep breath. Suddenly she could understand Miriam as if Miriam was standing right in front of her.

  “Well now missy, you can stop shouting, I hear you.”

  Brynn popped her eyes open and standing at the foot of the bed was Miriam. She looked over to Jerom, and he asked, “Did something happen?”

  “Yeah, Miriam’s here. She says I’m shouting at her.”

  Miriam crossed her arms in front of her chest, “You were shouting at me, with you concentrating so hard.”

  “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to shout. I was just trying to see if I could seek you out or if I had to wait for you to come to me,” explained Brynn.

  “Testing out your new talent, I see,” she said while tapping her finger against her lip thinking. “Well, that’s not a bad thing to do. You never know when one of us might come in handy. You don’t have to shout though. I can hear you just fine and if you want to talk again, I’m around,” said Miriam. Then, she was gone. She left so abruptly Brynn jumped a little.

  “What happened?” Jerom asked. He was blowing out his breath and watching it turn white while rubbing his arms from the cold.

  “She just said she could hear me and that if I wanted to talk again she would come back. She also said it was good I was testing my new talent because I might have need of them.”

  “Them. Like ghosts?”

  “I think that’s what she meant. Hey, I can see your breath,” she said.

  He puffed out a breath which turned white. “I know, it’s really cold in here.”

  “No it’s not,” she said. Brynn huffed out a breath too, but it didn’t turn white. “I can’t see my breath either, that’s weird.”

  “Maybe that’s part of your gift. When spirits are around I feel cold and I can see my breath but I can’t see the ghosts. You can see the ghosts but you’re not cold.”

  “This is just all so…I don’t know, so much,” Brynn sighed.

  “Hey, you okay?” Jerom asked pushing Brynn’s hair back from her face.

  “I really don’t know what to think about all this. Calling up ghosts, finding out I have some kind of power.” Brynn shook her head and pulled her knees up under her chin and wrapped her arms around her legs. “I’m being hunted down for a power I don’t know anything about or even want.” Suddenly Brynn’s world felt very lonely. The weight was truly unbearable and a wash of grief ran though her. She wanted to run to her parents and they weren’t there. Her eyes watered up. Jerom went blurry in her vision and then tears start running down her face.

  “Hang in there, Brynn. I can’t imagine what you are feeling, and I wish I could tell you it will feel better soon, but I don’t know if it will or not. I can tell you I won’t leave you and me and my family will do everything we can to help and protect you.”

  He leaned forward and brushed the tears from off her cheek. His face was just inches from hers. He smiled a sad little smile that conveyed sympathy. It didn’t make things any better for Brynn but he was there and he cared even though he couldn’t really understand what she was going through.

  “Okay.” That’s all she managed to say without totally breaking down.

  Chapter 12

  Through the windows of the snug little living room in Ben’s house Brynn could just begin to make out the trees surrounding the property as the sun was barely peaking up above the horizon. Brynn snuggled down a little deeper into the oversized chair in Ben’s house with a blanket, a cup of hot chocolate and the piece of toast Ben just brought her. I could get used to everyone pampering me she almost said out loud but stopped herself. Maybe this Bringer thing wasn’t so bad after all. Maybe, she could stay here for a while and not think about anything.

  “Do you think you might be ready to travel a little farther? We can’t stay here much longer, they are tracking us,” asked Jerom after a bite of eggs.

  “Nope.”

  He looked kind of startled by her answer. She felt a little bad for teasing him, but he asked and she was just being honest.

  “Can I finish my toast? Where are we going anyway?”

  “We live in Salem,” said Miranda sipping from a mug.

  “Like Salem, Massachusetts?” asked Brynn.

  Jerom nodded, “I know, I know. Witches in Salem. Really funny. But, yes, that’s where we live. We need to get home where we can protect you.”

  “Won’t they just follow us the whole way?”

  “Won’t who follow you the whole way?” asked Ben from the kitchen.

  “You know, those demon thingies,” said Brynn.

  Ben walked out of the kitchen wiping his hands on a dish towel. He looked thoughtful for a minute. “Yes. They’re not going to give up. You’re too important to them. Maybe you guys should wait here for your parents to get back.”

  Miranda set down her mug and asked Jerom, “What do you think. Maybe we should wait for Mom and Dad?”

  “What’s this about your parents?” asked Brynn.

  “My parents are in the middle of some forest right now on a retreat, but they are really powerful. Between Miranda and me and our parents we can protect you.” He scooped up the last of his eggs, swallowed then nodded his head as if he’d made a decision, “But we need to get home to them. I think the faster we move, the harder it will be for the handlers to find us. We really need to get going.”

  Miriam suddenly popped into existence right in front of her. Brynn was so startled she spilled hot chocolate on Ben’s quilt.

  “Ben, I’m so sorry,” she said mopping up with a napkin. “She’s back, Miriam’s back.”

  “Yes, I’m back and you really need to go now, Miss.” Miriam was wringing her hands and looking around quite agitated. “They are coming right quick and they aren’t pleasant, if you know what I mean.” Then she popped back out.

  Brynn looked at Jerom. “I guess we are leaving. She says the demons are almost here.”

  He grabbed her hand and pulled her to her feet. She stuffed the last of the toast into her mouth and handed her mug to Ben.

  “Miranda, grab your stuff, they’re coming and they’re coming fast.” Jerom’s voice shook a bit with the urgency of the situation.

  Miranda didn’t say a word, just picked up her backpack and ran with them out toward the car. Jerom was pulling so hard on Brynn’s arm it hurt as he dragged her out the door.

  “Thanks for everything, Ben,” she shouted on the way out. Her mother always taught her to be polite.

  “You’re welcome, Bringer. It was an honor to meet you. If you ever need anything…” He said as they rushed to the car.

  “Lock your door and stay inside, no matter what happens!” Jerom shouted back at him, watching to make sure he did it.

  Surrounding the car were the spirits from the shipwreck along with Miriam.

  “Hurry, Bringer, they’re almost here,” she said.

  The man from the shipwreck pointed to Brynn, “Do not forget us. We will be avenged. We will hold off the evil spirits as best we may. We cannot do much, but we will try.”

  “Thank you so much,” Brynn said feeling a little sheepish for never wanting to see him again and here he was trying to help her.

  He nodded his head at her then motioned to the rest of the group and they glided off into the trees.

  “Be careful my dear. I’ll go do what I can too.” Miriam smiled, hugged her and moved off with the others.

  Brynn slid into the back seat. She noticed that Miranda had that faraway look in her eye, feeling around with her senses. “They are almost here. Hurry Jerom and I mean hurry, like now!” Miranda said.

  He started the car and pulled around the circular drive to leave. The drive was gravel and they slipped a bit as he started to accelerate. The tires found tra
ction and they jumped forward through the trees to the turnoff. They got to the main road and Jerom turned north, just as Brynn saw the spirits spreading across the track behind them. Her eyes lingered on their retreating forms for about half a mile until the highway gradually turned and blocked them from view. It felt like they just barely escaped.

  “What about Ben?” she asked.

  Miranda looked at her, “What do you mean?”

  “Are they going to hurt him for helping us?”

  “Ben should be fine,” Jerom said. “He isn’t who they are after and they won’t take the time to even stop, once they realize we have already gone.”

  “Ben's really talented too. He can take care of himself,” Miranda assured her.

  “The ghosts, they’re spread out across the road back there. They told me they would try to slow down the demons. What can they do?”

  “Well, not much really. It might slow them down for a few minutes and sometimes that’s the difference between life and death,” said Jerom as he tried to keep the car on the road. He was really pushing it and he knew when going this fast even a little tap on the steering wheel could send them off the road or worse flip them over.

  “Maybe you should quit talking, and focus on driving.” Miranda said to Jerom then she turned around. “The spirits can’t do much, Brynn, but they can kind of pull on the constructs. It’s kind of like when you hang on someone, like say you are sitting on the floor and someone walks by. If you grab onto their leg with both arms and put your weight into it, they have to drag you along if they want to keep walking. It’s like that. The spirits can slow the constructs down a little, especially if there are a lot of them.”

  “What about the handler that’s controlling the constructs? Can the spirits slow her down too?” Brynn asked.

  “I don’t know, maybe. She is kind of limited to moving only as fast as the demons so that should give us a little time too.”

  “Can’t they just blip in and out of places like they did at my house? Why can’t they just blip into the car with us?”