Shadows in the Night

by J. J. Franck

  Avery took the key out of her pocket, quickly rubbed away the dry blood. She stared at the number before turning to Kirt.

  “Now where do we go?” she asked.

  “I don’t know,” is all he said with a confused look.

  Avery glanced around and then saw the information booth at the other end of the terminal. She just took a deep breath and then turned to the hazy hue next to her.

  “You said Penn Station was where the locker was?” she snapped with uncertainty in her voice. But the confused look Kirt was giving her, made her wonder now.

  “I just assumed the locker would be here.”

  Avery had the look of frustration when she realized they might have been on a wild goose chase. People around her were starting to stare at her, wondering who she was talking to. Avery didn’t care, she was too angry with Kirt to worry about anything around her.

  “That’s just great. What are we going to do if it isn’t here?”

  Kirt just shrugged. He hadn’t thought that far ahead, just figuring this was a good place to start their search.

  Avery just shook her head, in reality, all she really wanted to do was go back home and forget this fiasco had ever happened. She didn’t care how insistent Kirt was. Avery stood in front of the vision of Kirt, was inches from him and then pointed her finger into where his chest would be.

  “It is your key,” Avery snapped with a puzzled look on her face as she held out the key with her other hand, which made people around her give her a wide berth.

  “Not exactly,” Kirt frowned while glancing around. “I acquired it so to speak.”

  All Avery could do was shake her head in frustration. “So now I’m on a wild goose chase with a ghost,” she stopped before continuing because people were staring at her. Avery turned back to where the shadowy figure of Kirt hovered, but in that instant, he was gone.

  Avery suddenly felt dizzy, as everything around her seemed to blur and started to move. Quickly Avery shut her eyes and took a few deep breaths to calm herself. She feared that the vision of Kirt was a figment of her imagination now, but the key she held was real she was sure of that. When Avery finally opened her eyes again, the hazy hue of Kirt was back, and all she could do was whisper softly. “Am I going crazy?”

  Kirt smiled at Avery and then shook his head while mouthing, “No.”

  But that wasn’t enough to reassure Avery as people were still looking at her with strange expressions on their faces while keeping their distance. It bothered Avery watching Kirt as people walked through him. At first, it caused her to wince, but Kirt didn’t seem to feel their intrusion into his space. Avery relaxed a little and tried not to watch him when someone got close enough to walk through him.

  “Keep it down,” Kirt said warning Avery of her actions. “You’re drawing attention to yourself.”

  “So!” Avery snapped.

  “You want to end up in Belleview?”

  It was only then that Avery noticed the looks that she was getting. All she could do was smile at the people looking at her uncomfortably and then hurried off across the vast terminal to the information booth, followed closely by the shadowy figure of Kirt

  Avery breathed a sigh of relief when getting closer to the information booth, she saw the young man behind the glass partition reading a textbook. Patiently Avery stood at the window for the longest time without the young man taking notice of her.

  Kirt reached through the glass and then flipped the book shut startling the young man. The young man looked up suddenly to see Avery who looked as surprised as he was by what had just happened.

  Avery stuttered for a moment. “Can, can you tell me where this locker is?” she asked shoving the key at the glass so the young man could see the number.

  “We don’t have lockers here anymore,” he said with a smirk across his face.

  The young man had a condescending look on his face not happy that he had been interrupted. He reopened his book trying to find the page he was on while purposely ignoring Avery standing at the window in frustration.

  Avery almost had tears in her eye. Where a few moments ago she felt exhilarated, she now was tired and anxious to go back home. Avery was frustrated with Kirt now, wondering why she let him talk her into finding the locker that the key fits into at that hour of night when he wasn’t even sure where it was located.

  The young man finally looked up again after finding the page he was on and then cleared his throat. When he realized the woman at the window was not leaving, he quickly added. “You might try Schwartz Luggage Storage, a lot of times people confuse their lockers for the ones we used to have years ago.”

  “Where would that be?” Avery asked.

  The young man rolled his eyes with annoyance and then quickly opened the side drawer of the desk. He pulled out a little cheat sheet. With a slip of paper as a guide, he slowly moved it down the list until he got to what he was eventually looking for.

  “357 W 37th Street,” the young man snapped.

  Avery breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank you,” was all she could muster up to say and then turned and walked away with Kirt at her side.

  “Now what?” Kirt asked.

  “Either we go there now, or we go tomorrow.”

  Avery really didn’t know why she said that because what she really wanted to do was go back to her apartment and forget that evening ever happened. Maybe she would wake up in the morning and discover this was all a nightmare. But for now, Kirt was not letting her give up.

  “I want to get this done tonight,” Kirt said with a look of determination.

  “Oh, that’s just great. And how do you propose we get there?”

  “We could take a taxi?” Kirt suggested.

  “No,” Avery snapped. “I don’t have that kind of money. We can walk.”

  Avery was thankful to leave Penn Station. She was getting a headache from all the loud noises, and the smells that were overpowering. None of them enticed her to want to eat at any of the restaurants. Plus, the terminal hadn’t looked like it had been cleaned in a while. But then with all the people mulling about, how could anybody do a decent job of cleaning up the mess left by busy commuters.

  Before leaving, Avery turned back around at where she saw Nathaniel last, but the group he was in was gone. She wondered why he would have been there that late at night. As much as she knew Nathaniel, in reality, she knew nothing about him, or what he did when he wasn’t the library.

  * * *

  Once on the street and heading in the direction of Schwartz Storage where they hoped the locker was located, Avery glanced over at Kirt. There was just so much Avery was confused about when she looked at Kirt. Given her current situation with death being imminent, Avery appeared baffled at what happened at the end of life and wondered if that would be what her own death would somehow be like. Would she spend the rest of her days wondering about? Would her parents be able to see her like she is able to see Kirt?

  Avery remembered when her grandmother had passed. Her mother suffered the loss for months afterward. There was never any mention of visions or at least no one ever mentioned them to her or spoke out loud about it. But then Avery quickly shook those thoughts aside when she saw the sign for the storage facility. There was one thing that was bothering her that she had to get cleared up.

  Avery quickly turned to Kirt, curious now how he could have reached through the glass and closed the book back at the information booth. Especially given the fact he was a hazy hue and didn’t seem to have any substance so to speak and people were walking through him because of that.

  “How did you do that?”

  “Do what?” Kirt asked.

  “Back there, closing the guy's book.”

  “I don’t know, I guess the guy pissed me off. Besides he was ignoring you on purpose.”

  “I would have gotten his attention.”

  “I promised to get you home at a decent time. I didn’t have all night to wait for him to finally do his job.”

&n
bsp; Kirt wasn’t able to tell Avery how he managed to pull off that trick of closing the book as Avery quickly walked into the storage facility. The clerk behind the counter had seen Avery talking to herself and watched her warily as Avery approached the counter. Avery kept to the task at hand, and after showing the clerk the key, he was more accommodating than the Penn Station Information clerk had been. The key definitely would unlock one of their lockers, and once given directions, Avery hurried on her way. She was anxious to put an end to this little adventure once and for all.

  Avery slowly walked down the dimly lit hallway the young man had pointed too. She made a conscious choice of not talking to Kirt because of the look the clerk was giving her. Avery would have to be more careful from now on. Avery could definitely feel the scrutiny the clerk was giving her as she walked away.

  Avery scanned both sides of the long hallway, glancing at the lockers as the numbers were getting larger and knew the one they were looking for was getting nearer. Avery had the key in her hand, and when they finally found the locker, she quickly put the key in and turned it. Avery slowly opened the door and did a little apprehensively not know what was inside. All she could do was stare at the dark enclosure with the briefcase tucked in the back. Avery turned to the shadowy image of Kirt behind her.

  “What’s in it?” she whispered leaning back to Kirt who also was staring at the briefcase with wide eyes.

  Kirt shrugged his shoulders and then quickly reached in but his hand when right through the briefcase. He turned back to Avery with a frustrated look.

  “I don’t know,” is all he said, curious why he could close the information clerks book, but his hand went right through the briefcase.

  Avery leaned forward and reached into the small enclosure for the briefcase. She grabbed hold of the handle. “Well, let’s have a look,” she said turning to Kirt.

  Once she pulled the case out of the locker, she set it on the floor, thankful that they were at the end of a long hallway where no one else seemed to want to venture that late at night. She was about to unlatch the case when Kirt shadowy hand appeared on hers. She felt a chill go through her as she quickly looked up at him.

  “Not here, it is too public,” he whispered.

  Avery just glanced down the long hallway as a few people entering the facility. It may have been a public place, but there was no one near them, and she couldn’t understand his reluctance at opening the case now.

  “I’d like to see what’s in it,” she said staring at Kirt for the longest time and then decided to abide by his wishes.

  Avery started to get up when a shooting pain went through her head causing her to wince and stumble backward. She landed up against the lockers on the other side. Everything was moving, and there were suddenly two Kirt’s in front of her. All Avery could do was put both hands on her temples and rub profusely as she sat down on the floor in pain not knowing what else to do. It was far worse than ever before.

  “You okay?” Kirt asked wanting to help, but given his situation, there was nothing he could do to assist Avery through what was happening.

  “I just moved too fast.”

  Once Avery recovered, she quickly grabbed for the briefcase and got up slowly and then hurried down the hallway. She knew it was imperative that she got back to the safety of her apartment. Avery had taken the last pill from her pill case in her purse that afternoon. She needed to get home and to her Meds.

  Kirt just stood and did nothing for a moment. He was curious about what had just happened.

  Avery turned back to Kirt. “You coming?” she asked.

  Kirt followed Avery close behind. Once they reached the end of the hallway, there was a group of people at the clerk's counter waiting for luggage they had left there earlier. Avery quickly headed for the exit door and once on the street she took in a few deep breaths to help make her feel better. The cold night air was refreshing.

  * * *

  Avery flagged a taxi for her trip back to McDougal Alley not wanting to wait for a bus. She feared another spell and knew she had to get to her Meds as soon as possible.

  All the while in the taxi, Kirt just watched Avery. He knew there was something definitely wrong with her, but feared to ask her point blank what the problem was. It wasn’t his place to pry into her personal space.

  Avery turned to the vision of Kirt who was still with her and just staring at her which gave her an uneasy feeling. She didn’t know if seeing him was because of the tumor and being traumatized by his death. She certainly wasn’t going to a doctor and try to explain her hallucination of Kirt to him. The idea of spending her remaining days in a loony bin just wasn’t that appealing to her.

  When the taxi pulled up to the alley, Avery handed the driver the fare and then grabbed hold of the briefcase and got out. Kirt suddenly appeared standing on the sidewalk when the taxi pulled away. Avery quickly turned to him.

  “How do you do that,” she asked with a puzzled look on her face.

  “It’s a secret.”

  Avery just shook her head and walked through Kirt to make a point. As she started walking up the steps to the apartment building she felt a sharp pain, the door to the apartment building appeared to move and then rotate. She turned to the construction across the street, it became blurred and one mass of color, no detail. Avery stepped back almost falling off the steps but then caught herself. The briefcase dropped to the pavement at her feet.

  “What’s wrong?” Kirt asked grabbing for Avery, but his hand went right through her arm. He looked at his hand in surprise and then the realization hit him.

  “Just a migraine.”

  Avery reached for her purse and then looked at the empty pillbox. Slowly she sat down on the steps and rested her head in her hands. It was the only thing Avery knew to do. It would take a while before the pain stopped and she only hoped she could wait it out.

  “I may be dead, but I’m not stupid,” Kirt said moving in front of Avery.

  When she opened her eyes again, she was startled by their closeness. She laughed at what Kirt said, but when the pain shot through her head again, she winced. Slowly she tried to get up but fell back down on the steps. Avery rubbed her temples and tried desperately to get her balance. It was when she opened them again that she saw the briefcase, it had jarred open when it fell, there were stacks of hundred dollar bills on the pavement and some sticking out of the case. Avery glanced around to see if anyone was around. But luckily, no one was about at that time of night.

  “Oh shit,” she snapped.

  “What is it now?”

  Avery fought the blurred vision as she pointed to the briefcase on the pavement with the money sticking out. Kirt made an attempt to pick it up, but there again his hand went right through the money. He got up and literally danced around the money.

  “Close it! Close it!” he yelled trying to get Avery to focus.

  Avery’s breathing became labored as she hyperventilated. “Wait,” she said as she struggled to get up.

  “Hurry,” Kirt said urging her on.

  “I’m trying.”

  Avery leaned forward and grabbed for the wads of hundred dollar bills. She quickly tossed them back in the briefcase and snapped the lid shut as the apartment door opened behind them.

  Her downstairs neighbor came bouncing down the stairs with his girlfriend in tow. Thankfully they were so engrossed in each other that they paid no attention to Avery or the briefcase she was picking up.

  “Evening Avery, it's beautiful night isn’t it,” he said making idle talk.

  “Yes,” is all Avery could muster up to say while struggling to get up.

  The girlfriend glanced up at her boyfriend. “Maybe we should borrow some of her money,” she said.

  The boyfriend had a puzzled look on his face not knowing what his girlfriend was talking about and figured being blonde she was having one of those moments. They walked to the end of the alley and waited at the bus stop.

  Avery breathes a sigh of relief not realizin
g the girlfriend had witnessed her tossing the stacks of bills back in the briefcase and thankful that the boyfriend was too distracted to notice or take the time to find out what she was talking about.

  CHAPTER 13

  Avery stumbled up the stairs to her apartment, tripping a few times but then getting back her balance. In the past, Avery had always enjoyed her third-floor apartment figuring the stairs added a good exercise regiment to her day's activities, but it was becoming a struggle making the three flights on a daily basis lately. Avery found that the days when she didn’t have to work, she tended not to leave her apartment, thus eliminating the trek up the three flights of stairs at the end of the day. Because lately she felt those three flights of stairs were becoming a struggle to climb. Plus looking at stairs tended to add to her dizzy spells. Avery didn’t know if it was due to the depth perception her brain had to adjust to, or what actually triggered that problem.

  Once Avery reached her apartment door, she stood there for the longest time trying to get up enough strength to open the door. Finally, after turning the key and pushing open the door, she walked in. Quickly she shut the door behind her and then all she could do was lean back on the door. Avery let go of the briefcase, dropping it to the floor but this time it didn’t open. Suddenly Kirt appeared in front of her. He was inches from her face startling her.

  “Level with me, and don’t tell me it’s a migraine!” he snapped and then turned and pointed to the prescription bottles on the counter. “You’ve got a drug store sitting on the counter and in your purse for Christ sakes?”

  “You don’t have to swear,” Avery said going through the motion of shoving him aside, but her hand just went right through him.

  “Well, level with me.”