The Red String of Fate

by Rebekah Fowles

  Once Landon managed to get on top, Kayne wildly swiped at his captor with unnatural vigor, forcing Landon to expend even more energy to try and restrain the man. After nearly a minute of struggling to maintain a limb at any given time, Landon finally managed to maintain a grip that kept both himself and his assailant safe.

  “Okay, what now?” Landon said through screams. There was a blanket of sweat on his forehead, and it looked like the color in his face was leaving as well. Vee saw the splotch of blood on his suit increase in size. “I can’t exactly choke out a ghost!”

  Mr. Clarke finally got his engine running, but had yet to drive off, the scene transfixing him in place. As he stared, Kayne continued to roar.

  “Get off! Let go!”

  Vee clenched her fists. She closed her eyes, and when she opened them, she glided toward Landon and the other ghost.

  “Professor,” she said, “Do you recognize me? It’s Vee. Everlee Bern. I’m your student.”

  Without loosening his grip, Landon shot a glance at Vee, but quickly returned his gaze to Kayne. The ghost didn’t seem to pay her any heed, but that didn’t stop Vee. She tried again.

  “Professor Wellington, please. What do you want?”

  To that, the malicious professor turned her attention to Vee, but Kayne continued to thrash underneath. They spoke in unison, “Kill...Wil...”

  “Why do you want to kill Mr. Clarke? Did he do this to you?”

  “His...fault...”

  Landon yelled back to the man on the motorcycle. “What the hell did you do?”

  Mr. Clarke jumped. “I didn’t do anything! I swear!”

  “Oh no? Then why is your dead wife trying to kill you?”

  “Dead...Sandra? That...thing...is Sandra?” Mr. Clarke’s hands shook.

  “Well, what is it?” Landon said, running out of energy to restrain Kayne.

  “I don’t know! The only thing I did was cheat on her, but you already knew that!”

  The wail of sirens sounded in the distance. Vee looked to the professor once again. “Professor, who killed you? Was it Mr. Clarke?”

  The ghost didn’t respond right away, but the thrashings seemed to calm down a degree. “No...”

  Vee cautiously moved in closer. “Who was it, then?”

  The ghost looked down, and Kayne ceased to struggle altogether. “Gilbert.”

  A pulse of energy emanated from Kayne’s body, rustling the grass with a gust of wind from the center. Landon let go, but Kayne didn’t run or attack. Rather, he started to seize as the red spirit began choking the life out of him.

  “Professor!” Vee said, “What are you...”

  This time when the creature spoke, the words didn’t come out of Kayne’s mouth.

  “You are right. Gilbert is the one to blame. He killed me. He needs to die.”

  Vee clenched her teeth. “No, that’s not what I meant!”

  Swallowing her fear, Vee approached the ghost without reservation. She placed a palm on the professor’s rigid shoulder. It burned, but not in the way it had earlier. “Professor,” Vee said quietly, “I understand how you feel. Kayne, he...he killed me too.”

  The ghost peered into Vee’s eyes. It responded in a strange voice, but it was less distorted than before. “If you understand, why do you wish to stop me?”

  “Because it’s not the right thing to do,” Vee said. “What Kayne did is unforgivable, but it’s not up to us to decide his fate.”

  The ghost’s eyes bulged even further, and another surge of energy rippled through the air. She leaned in mere inches from Vee’s face. The distortion in her voice returned full-force, and Vee’s hand sizzled with pain. “No? And yet, he feels he has the right to take everything from me? He took my home. He took my husband. He took my life. Why should he have these things?”

  The shaky voice of Mr. Clarke made Vee flip around. Apparently he had moved in closer while she tried reasoning with the spirit. “Sandra,” he said, “Sandra, is that really you?”

  The ghost turned its attention toward the man and Vee removed her hand.

  “Sandra, I...I’m afraid I made a terrible mistake...”

  The ghost cackled, but Mr. Clarke continued in the face of fear. “I was in denial about it, but I think I knew all along. About Kayne. I realized he was becoming more and more unreasonable, and when I found out the police were after him, I...well, part of me didn’t think it was so out of character after all. But...this isn’t how he should go. This isn’t like you. The Sandra I know would let nature run its course. She’d let the proper authorities handle things, and let justice get served the way it was intended.”

  The potency of Professor Wellington’s presence flickered. The monstrous figure seemed to just barely regain a sense of normalcy. And then, Vee noticed, it made a face as if it wanted to cry. “Why?” It said, “Why did it come to this?”

  Mr. Clarke bowed his head. “I don’t know,” he said. “But I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry...”

  The sticky texture of the professor’s essence faded away, and the maroon tint transitioned into the stable light blue hue of Vee’s own spirit. No longer was Professor Wellington a monster made of nightmares, but the dignified figure of the woman Vee had grown to respect as a mentor and a friend. Yet, despite the transformation, Kayne continued to convulse and shake.

  “Professor,” Vee said.

  “I’m sorry, Vee,” she said. “I don’t think I’ll be able to help you with your homework anymore.”

  Vee shook her head. “That’s...I understand. But, what about Kayne?”

  The professor looked on in dismay at both her husband and her killer. Her body was steadily becoming more transparent. “I’m afraid it’s too late. I put everything I had into dragging him to Hell. Neither of us will last much longer. I wish I could stop it, but I can’t.”

  Vee stared at Kayne when an idea struck her. She turned to Landon with a tired smile. “Sorry it’s been so cold.”

  Landon gave her a quizzical look. “What do you mean?”

  Vee offered no explanation as she dove toward Kayne’s unconscious body. As she did, she was instantly hit with a force as if she had touched a boundary, but this force pushed back. Not only did it push back, though. It burned. Bad.

  Vee grunted as she threw all of her essence into Kayne. Both Landon and the professor’s eyes grew wide as they watched.

  “Vee!” Landon called.

  “Vee, if you do that, you could...”

  But Vee didn’t listen. With a final push, she overcame the force. Her ethereal body lurched forward with a snap, and she plummeted through Kayne’s body. Kayne’s shaking stopped, and the color slowly returned to his face. The professor disappeared, leaving a wispy afterimage, and a moment later, she called out from the open door of the house.

  “Vee!”

  Vee popped up through the ground. The professor continued to fade away as she spoke.

  “It’s alright,” Vee said with a smile. “It’s better this way, isn’t it?”

  The professor bowed her head, but then she looked up and smiled. With a simple nod, she said. “Yes.”

  The professor was nearly gone, but she seemed at peace. “One last thing.”

  “What is it?” Vee said.

  “Please tell my husband...I’m sorry too.”

  Vee solemnly nodded. The professor disappeared.

  Landon stood up and limped close to Vee. She held up her hands and watched as little bits of herself dissipated into the air.

  “Vee,” he gasped. “...Why?”

  Vee smiled, though she didn’t exactly feel like smiling. “A cat once told me that nobody deserves to go bad. For Kayne to go like that...it would just perpetuate the hatred. Maybe this way...he’ll have a chance to reflect on what he’s done.”

  Landon clenched his teeth. If Vee wasn’t mistaken, there were tears forming in his eyes. “But did that have to mean doing something so reckless?”

  Vee let out a tiny laugh. “Y’know, I think that’s probab
ly the most heroic thing I’ve ever done. I always wanted to do something like that, y’know. I’ll consider it a win.”

  “Vee...”

  “Landon, will you promise me something?”

  Landon frowned, but nodded.

  “Make sure I get a proper burial, okay? None of that dumped-in-the-river-crap.”

  Landon bit his bottom lip. “...I promise.”

  Vee smiled a wide, genuine smile. “Thanks.”

  And with that, she disappeared.

  - 22 -

  Landon dropped to his knees. Despite the lack of Vee’s presence sending perpetual shivers through his skin, he felt cold. The streets were silent except for the ever-closer sound of police cars. Landon felt alone.

  But, the shuffle of feet behind him reminded him he wasn’t, in fact, alone. Mr. Clarke plodded next to Landon. “The hell was all of that...?”

  Landon stared at the ground. “Can’t say I caught most of what happened toward the end there.”

  “I hardly caught anything at all. Who were you talking to that whole time? I could barely see that thing Sandra had become from the moment it showed up, but it seemed like someone else was there too...”

  Landon nodded. “A friend,” he said.

  Mr. Clarke let Landon wallow for a moment before he said, “Look, Mr. Investigator. I don’t know half of what just happened, but I can admit that I royally screwed up. Multiple times. I’ll do whatever I can to make things right.”

  Landon looked at Mr. Clarke. He wasn’t exactly old—he wasn’t even middle-aged—but his tired expression and slumped posture aged him what appeared several years and showed a level of remorse Landon considered rare in most people. He supposed looking into the face of a demon would do that to someone. As for Landon, it just made him empty.

  Landon stood up and crossed the lawn to where he tossed his phone earlier. He typed in Jim’s number and waited for the call to connect.

  “Landon! It’s been more than 30 minutes. I was starting to think you were working.”

  Landon didn’t have the energy to rebut. “I got ‘im, Jim. Gilbert is right here. Clarke, too.”

  There was a moment of silence on the other end. “No joke?”

  “No joke.”

  “What’s the address?”

  Landon told the detective and awaited a response.

  “You doin’ okay? You don’t sound the best.”

  “I’ll need another trip to the hospital, I think, but beside that...I’ll manage.”

  “Don’t let me keep you, then. I’ll be there in less than 10.”

  Landon sprawled onto the grass and turned toward Kayne. The criminal continued to lay there, near motionless. The sound of sirens drew closer, and Landon stood up. He moved to Kayne and knelt back down, feeling in his pockets. He noticed during their scuffles, but he didn’t have his knife on him. He probably left it in that pack he carried, which was currently on Mr. Clarke’s bike, or else he might have left it at the hotel. That wasn’t what he was looking for, though; so after a moment of searching, he found it. A key rested flat in Kayne’s pant pockets.

  “What now?” Mr. Clarke said.

  “The police will be here soon. I need to get this leg checked out, but I’ll see you at the police station later.”

  Mr. Clarke frowned. “What am I supposed to tell them?”

  “Probably nothing. They’ll arrest Kayne right away, and they’ll probably want to arrest you too. I’ll text the detective and ask him to treat you with respect, but they’re going to have a lot of questions they’ll want to ask you.”

  Mr. Clarke nodded. Landon stood up and walked to his car. He sighed as he looked at his leg, then popped open the trunk and got out the tarp to put on the driver’s seat. He also pulled out the first aid kit, but didn’t bother cleaning the wound. He picked out the roll of bandages and tightly wrapped his leg over his pants.

  Landon didn’t drive to the hospital. As much as his leg hurt, there was something else he needed to take care of first. He made a promise to Vee, after all.

  Landon inserted the key into the third-storey apartment’s door. It was cold inside, and all the lights were off. He glanced into the kitchen and saw nothing, so he turned his attention toward the bedroom. The door was open, and he could see glass shards on the floor where the window had been broken. He stepped inside, expecting to see Vee’s corpse beside the bed.

  Only, it wasn’t.

  “Hey there,” a familiar voice said.

  Landon flipped around. Vee gave a small wave and smirked. She had been hiding by the wall behind the door.

  “Vee!” Landon rushed in for an embrace. He pulled her in tight, and after a moment of reluctance, she returned the hold. Landon’s thoughts were disjointed, and it came out in his words. “But you...how? I thought...”

  Vee chuckled. “To be honest, I thought I was a goner, too. It was a long shot, but I decided it was better to try and reclaim my body while I had the chance. I guess it worked!”

  Landon moved out, but held her shoulders in his palms. “Are you alright?”

  She nodded. “Yeah, I’m fine. A little fatigued and drained, but overall okay. I should be back in working order before too long. What about you?”

  Vee eyeballed the bandage on his leg.

  “A quick trip to the ER or urgent care should be fine. I just...I thought you were...”

  Vee smiled. “All’s well that ends well, right? Let’s go get that taken care of. Besides, I still have questions I want answered.”

  Landon returned the smile.

  The local urgent care was sufficient to get the wound resutured and did so quickly, allowing Landon and Vee to head to the police department immediately afterward. They were led down a few halls to a small dark room with a one-way mirror they could see through. Kayne was on the other side talking to Detective Hollowclap. Jim nonchalantly leaned up against the glass watching the interrogation, only glancing to see Landon and Vee walk in before returning his attention to the other room. Nothing was being said.

  “Been like this for a while?” Landon asked.

  “More or less,” Jim said. “We honestly didn’t get started until just recently. Kid was out cold for a while. Victor is mostly just feeling out the situation right now. Being intimidating. Y’know, the usual.”

  “What about Mr. Clarke?”

  “We’ve already talked with him some. He was pretty open about the whole thing. Didn’t know his lover was a killer, that’s for sure. Said some pretty strange stuff about ghosts and monsters, though. Any idea what that was all about? Said you’d know.”

  Landon put his hands in his pockets. “Yeah, but that can wait. Has Detective Hollowclap actually gotten anything out of Kayne?”

  J-im shook his head. “Kid’s pretty tight lipped.”

  “Can I go in?” Vee said.

  Both Landon and Jim turned toward her. She looked serious.

  “You sure about that, Vee? I mean, he’s cuffed, but the kid really seemed to have it out for you,” Detective Bimmel said.

  “Trust me,” she said, “I know. But I think that’s why he might actually open up.”

  Landon looked to Jim, who just shrugged. “Well, if you feel up to it, I’m not gonna stop you. I’ll let Victor know.”

  Vee nodded, and a few minutes later, she was walking into the interrogation room. Landon observed from the other side of the mirror as Kayne’s eyes got wide and his jaw dropped. He shook his head, slowly at first, but then more frantically.

  “No,” he said, “No, this is some kind of sick joke.”

  “No joke,” she said, “just me.”

  “What the hell are you?”

  “Lucky, I guess.”

  “No. You were dead. I killed you. Twice.”

  The detectives looked at each other and Detective Hollowclap pulled out a notebook from his suit.

  “And I came back. Twice. But Professor Wellington won’t be coming back.”

  Kayne pursed his lips and frowned. “Is that wh
y she told you, then? Because you’re some sort of immortal freak?”

  “Told me what, exactly?”

  “Told you to hire her detective if something happened to her, what else?”

  Vee sat bewildered. “You’re talking about...why the professor gave me the information for Landon’s agency?”

  “Why else would she give it to you?”

  “Wait, let me get this straight. You thought the professor was aware that you were going to kill her, so you thought she tipped me off and gave me the information to a private detective to investigate it?”

  Kayne hesitated. “Are you saying...it’s not?”

  Jim let out a harsh chuckle while Kayne began sweating in his cuffs. “Kid just realized he could’ve gotten away with murder if he hadn’t jumped to conclusions.”

  Vee answered, “Professor Wellington gave me the information to Landon’s agency because I told her I joined the journalism club and was looking for stories to publish. She recommended talking to a PI because they’re likely to have interesting things to tell.”

  Kayne bowed his head.

  “So...why kill the professor at all?”

  Fire flared in Kayne’s eyes, and he shot his head up to glare at her. “Why? That dumb bitch took everything away from me, that’s why!”

  Vee frowned.

  Kayne continued. “She made the divorce proceedings a living hell. Thanks to her, dates kept getting postponed, and she did everything in her power to squeeze more and more money from Wil. She’s like a vampire hell-bent on sucking happiness out of the man she thought she owned, and where did that leave me? Anxious. Lonely. Angry. The more she preyed on Wil, the harder it became on me.”

  Vee looked on in disgust. “So, you killed her for it?”

  “Yeah, I killed her. I’d do it again. I have half a brain in me to not kill you too, but we see where that got me.”

  “You’re sick.”

  “I do the things other people are too scared to do for the good of the people around me.”

  “You think what you’ve done is good?”

  “I’ve saved Wil from being tortured, haven’t I?”

  “And...you think trying to kill me and Landon was good for him too?”

  Kayne hesitated for a moment, but ran his mouth once more. “Yeah. I do. By shutting you two up, I would’ve gotten off scot-free, and Wil and I could’ve finally been free. No more stress. Everything we need.”