Mia looked down. “Should have left that night.”
“So why would Robin not want us in the basement?” Adam picked at his eyebrow.
“Maybe Vic is down there and for whatever reason doesn’t know anyone’s moved into the house yet since we haven’t been down there.” Mia shrugged.
“Joe and I went down there the day we arrived for a cursory inspection. Nothing stood out as unusual or even creepy. As basements go, it’s pretty welcoming.” Adam grinned. “Not like a finished basement, but normal as far as I could tell.”
“I still don’t want to go down there.”
He nodded. “That is most likely your parents’ house talking.”
“No, it’s Robin warning me.”
Mia swept her toes back and forth across the floor. He had a point about her inexplicably strong desire to protect Robin. It didn’t strike her as external, not like the girl’s mother had influenced her. This whole situation made her feel as though she’d gone back home, putting herself between her parents and her little brother. Timothy hadn’t asked to be gay any more than Robin asked to become a ghost. For the Vaughans to be cruel to her after everything she’d gone through went beyond unfair. Mia clenched her right fist in her lap, glaring at the half-sandwich in her other hand. If Robin—and not Vic—had been responsible for their attacks, she’d give her a back pat and say ‘good girl.’
Granted, that would also mean a being with the temperament of a child had the power to hurt the living. It might not take much to sway such a volatile temper against anyone, even Mia… but she couldn’t let that worry her. All kids had temper tantrums. The girl probably didn’t understand what effect she could have when lashing out, and didn’t mean serious harm.
Mia smiled to herself. Whatever it took, she’d protect that poor little girl.
21
Closer
Saturday, September 1, 2012
Wilhelmina roamed the house performing a sage scrub.
Mia had initially worried about the cleansing ritual possibly having an effect on Robin, but upon assurances that the minor invocation would only reduce negative energies, she agreed to it. Neither Robin nor Vic made any noticeable objection, though the smoke detector in the upstairs hall didn’t appreciate the burning sage. After making a full circuit of both floors, Wilhelmina went with Adam into the basement while Mia waited in the kitchen.
They both emerged a few minutes later, unscathed. Wilhelmina left soon after, bidding them contact her if anything else happened. Yardwork consumed the rest of the daylight hours, mostly collecting branches, removing weeds, and taming knee-high grass. Every so often, Mia looked back at the house, certain someone—most likely Robin—watched her.
Hours of work later, daylight weakened. Mia and Adam hauled bags of grass clippings around to the side of the house where they’d wait until Wednesday pickup. Rock-paper-scissors said Mia would cook dinner. Adam set up shop in the dining room and proceeded to grade tests or essays from his students.
A cold spot formed beside her while she chopped onions and garlic.
“Hi, sweetie,” said Mia. “I’m glad you’re okay. Wilhelmina’s sage didn’t bother you, did it?”
“No,” replied a faint whisper. Small fingers clutched at the fabric of her shirt.
Mia sighed, relieved. “Good. I was worried.”
She rambled along as if talking to a normal child all the while she cooked up a batch of chicken and mushrooms over pasta. Robin—or at least the cold spot—remained by her side. She figured the girl kept herself invisible out of fear. The child had yet to appear while Adam was anywhere nearby. Taking a chance, Mia changed the topic of her random conversation to him, telling the girl about when they first met. He’d been a senior doing volunteer work, delivering meals to elderly people living around the campus during her second year of university.
“I knew right away he was kind,” whispered Mia. “More than simply bringing food to old people. Something about him… Now that I think about it, maybe it had been a psychic read.”
A small giggle came from behind her.
That’s better. She sounds like a normal little girl. Mia smiled. “I’m so glad we found this house, and you.”
“You won’t go away?” asked Robin, a smidge louder than a whisper.
“Nope. Those other people were silly.”
“You want to stay with me?”
“Yes.” Mia patted the top of the cold spot. “Of course.”
She portioned out two plates and carried them to the dining room.
Adam shoved his paperwork aside, grinning. “Ooh. That smells wonderful.”
“It’s just chicken, mushrooms, and cream-of-mushroom soup over noodles. Nothing fancy.”
“Being simple doesn’t mean it can’t be good.” He ate a few forkfuls, overacting how much he enjoyed it.
“Those noises you’re making make me want to check under the table for a mistress.”
Adam laughed into coughing. “Seriously, though. It’s good. So, I’m thinking of checking out the basement now that it’s dark. See if I can get some EVPs.”
Small fingers dug into Mia’s side.
“That’s probably not a great idea. Robin’s not saying don’t, but she’s scared.”
“Hmm. Perhaps he is down there and disturbing him could cause her problems. All right. I’ll hold off.”
Mia relaxed, not having realized she’d grown tense. Over the rest of dinner, they discussed what Wilhelmina or they could possibly do to help Robin. The child didn’t appear distressed at haunting the place, only being alone. Thus far, nothing had happened to explain what chased the prior owners away… beyond them overreacting to a benign spirit. Then again, the bathmat flying out from under her and Adam being so scared he blacked out on his run from the kitchen to the front yard would probably have sent most ordinary people running for the hills. But Mia wouldn’t give up on Robin so easily. It no doubt helped that being psychic allowed her to see and talk to the child relatively normally. Even innocent requests for help would be terrifying otherwise.
Still, something unsettled her. The first moment she’d ever laid eyes on the house, she got a bad feeling. It hadn’t been so strong she wanted to run away and never look back, so she hadn’t raised any objections to Adam’s enthusiasm to buy the place. Of course, the price helped convince her to set aside that bit of worry, as did a sense of belonging here. The lingering question remained as to what caused her initial trepidation. It had to be Vic, or perhaps she had been sensitive to the dark emotional energy such a horrible crime could leave in a place. The walls had also likely soaked up fear and panic from the prior occupants who couldn’t handle Robin trying to say hello.
Who better to move into a haunted house than a psychic and a wannabe paranormal researcher? She eyed Adam across the table, somewhat surprised he hadn’t yet tried to ask Robin to demonstrate something he could catch on video. Either making footprints in more dust, moving objects, or EVPs. Perhaps after hearing her history, and seeing her active interactions with Mia, he didn’t want to think of her as a test subject.
After dinner, Adam got up to load the dishwasher and planned to finish grading his papers. Mia, tired of feeling funky from all the yardwork, went upstairs. She collected a clean shirt and sweat shorts from the bedroom, then headed to the bathroom.
Soon, she lay in a tub of milky-purple water, basking in the fragrance of a lavender bath bomb. The warm water drew the soreness from her arms and relaxed the muscles in her legs. Whoever had let the yard get so out of control needed a swift slap upside the head. They’d kept the front and sides neat, but anything that couldn’t be seen from the road had been left to sit.
Amazing we didn’t find a nest of snakes or wasps.
She reclined in the awesomeness of the bath, teetering on the edge of sleep.
A sudden odd feeling made her open her eyes and look around. All the hairs on her arms stood up in response to the sinister vibe in the air. Mia tried to open her ‘psychic eyes’
to find the presence she felt certain stood in the room with her. The corner by the door had nothing but shadows, and the cabinet along the wall to her right appeared normal.
Mia tilted her head up and back, peering at the sink in the corner behind the tub. An instant after she looked, her hair dryer leapt into the air straight toward the bathwater. She shrieked, thrusting her arms up at the flying instrument of death, deflecting it off to the side.
The dryer hit the bathmat with a soft thump at the maximum extension of its cord, which dragged it back toward the sink. Heart racing, Mia leapt out of the tub and stood there dripping, staring in horror at the innocent device that nearly took her life.
“Vic, you motherf—” She clenched her fists, glaring around.
Tickling droplets ran down her body. Her gaze focused on the outlet at the end of the hair dryer’s cord. It had a little red breaker button. In theory, it would’ve cut the circuit the instant a short happened.
But an eerie feeling told her it wouldn’t have worked.
She lunged forward and unplugged the cord, then kicked the hair dryer into the corner by the toilet.
“Ow…” Mia stood on one foot and grabbed her toes. “Okay, that was dumb.”
Taking on a malevolent spirit while soaking wet and naked didn’t sound like the best idea in the world. She dried herself off, opting to wrap her hair in a towel rather than use the machine. After letting the tub drain, she crept to the door, afraid to shut off the light. Mia rested her head against the door and stood there a while listening to her heartbeat, still thrumming well beyond normal.
Maybe I was wrong. Is Evelyn still here and she’s pissed at me? I’ve been worried that Robin would get jealous if I had a baby, but I never even thought her mother would… wait. If her mother still haunted this house, Robin wouldn’t be lonely. She—they—might not even make contact. The ghosts at my parents’ house kept to themselves. Robin tried to get our attention within hours.
She gripped the doorknob and turned, dreading what she might see in the hallway. Though nothing appeared wrong, she couldn’t shake a sense of dread, even stronger than what she caught upon seeing the house the first time.
“Is this what scared everyone off?”
Mia stepped out of the steamy lavender-scented bathroom, toes squishing into the cool rug in the hall. Ill energy saturated the upstairs. Someone’s pissed. She shuddered. If she’d fallen asleep, or not looked up at the exact moment she did, she’d likely be dead. If not Evelyn being possessive of another woman trying to ‘steal’ her daughter, it had to be Vic. But that, too, didn’t line up with Adam’s psychological assessment of the man.
He hadn’t been angry with Robin specifically. In fact, the man barely viewed her as a person… simply an object to be taken away from his wife to hurt the woman. That the child had to die in the process most likely didn’t register to him. His lack of real effort to avoid the police, simply going to one of his known hangouts and drinking until they came for him, said he’d given up. If he had no particular animosity toward the girl, why would he care if Mia tried to make her happy?
Ghosts change, said Adam in her memory. They’re no longer the people they’d been in life. There are things on the other side, energies, secrets, who knows… seeing that all affects a mind.
True, Vic may have succumbed to his anger, becoming less of a human sentience and morphing into something akin to an elemental force of rage. In that case, it wouldn’t matter as much that she tried to comfort the girl. Merely being in this house could be enough to incur his wrath.
She trembled, feeling much the same as she did whenever she’d been forced to go into the basement back home. When she’d been fourteen, her father figured out being down there scared her witless and thought sending her into the basement on an errand and locking the door behind her might scare her into ‘reopening her heart to God.’ Mia had purposefully blocked out much of her memory of that day, but did remember slamming herself into the door at the top of the stairs over and over, as panicky as if a pack of lions roamed loose in the darkness below waiting to devour her at any moment.
Her screaming had evidently become so extreme and incoherent that her mother demanded he open the door—one of three times she could ever recall the woman defying him. Mia had collapsed on the kitchen floor and cried like a three-year-old after they let her out of the basement. She had always been fearful of her father, but after that, she avoided him as much as possible… until she had to get in his face to keep him away from Timothy.
Mia peered into Robin’s bedroom, but found no sign of her.
The dread in the upstairs hall didn’t drive her to the point of trying to scratch down a wooden door with her fingernails. It had a darker quality that made the basement feel like horror movie fear: lots of screaming, but deep inside, she knew nothing could really hurt her. The mood surrounding her didn’t make her want to shriek, cover her eyes, or crawl under something to hide… more as though something wanted her to die.
She cautiously approached the top of the stairs, eyeing the floor for any objects she might trip over—or that might rush into her path at the last possible moment. Nothing appeared dangerous, so she gripped the railing in both hands and made her way down to the living room.
“Adam?”
Only the echo of her voice replied.
She padded around the couch and peered into the empty dining room. Curious, she advanced down the hall to the kitchen, and stopped short at all four burners glowing bright, no pots on them.
“What on Earth?” She rushed over and shut them off, then stood there watching the ceramic cook top dim to plain black. “Who turned on the stove?”
Light from the back porch drew her to the window. Adam sat out on the small deck, still grading papers while enjoying fresh air. He didn’t appear aware the stove had been on, nor likely the cause of it.
Did this place originally have a gas range? Does Vic still see that stove as gas… is he trying to kill us both?
“Robin? Are you here?” Mia shied away from the basement door, backing into the counter. “Hey, sweetie? Where are you?”
The girl appeared abruptly, halfway between Mia and the doorway to the living room, eyebrows knit in a flat line, a perturbed scowl on her little face.
“Gah!” Mia jumped, staring at her.
Robin walked closer, giving off a sinister aura that pushed Mia back step for step.
Oh, shit… is she trying to kill me?
“Honey? What’s wrong? What did I do? Why are you mad at me?”
The child stopped walking. “You’re not turning into a ghost!”
“W-what?”
Robin’s anger faded. She looked down at her bare feet like a child who’d been told to go to bed early. “If you’re a ghost, too, you could hold me… we could be closer.”
Anger, heartbreak, and confusion collided, leaving Mia blank. “Umm… That’s not a nice thing to do, Robin. What your father did to you is about the worst thing imaginable. He betrayed your trust. Hurting people is not the right way to do anything. I expected better from you.”
Robin ground her toe into the floor.
Good grief. Am I really scolding a ghost?
“Sweetie,” said Mia in a softer, non-accusatory tone, “I understand why you did it, but I need to be able to trust that you won’t do anything like that again.”
Robin kept staring at the floor, lower lip thrust forward in a pouty expression.
“I’m happy to be here for you, and I’ll do everything I can to make sure you’re safe and not lonely… but if you keep trying to kill us, we’ll have no choice but to leave.”
“No!” Robin looked up, tears brimming at the corners of her frightened eyes. “Please don’t go away.” She clamped onto Mia in a hug that felt as though she leaned against a cold metal wall. “I promise I won’t do anything bad.”
The pervasive sense of dread hanging over the house dissipated. Mia looked up at the ceiling, more than a little unnerved that she no longe
r felt as though her life was in imminent danger as soon as the child changed her mind about making her a ghost, too. I should get the hell out of here. This kid is… maybe not quite a child anymore. It’s foolish to… no. She’s just a kid. An adult couldn’t handle being murdered, and I’m expecting a seven-year-old to take it in stride? Despite the alarm bells ringing in her mind, Mia lowered herself to sit on the floor and wrapped her arms around the spectral figure. The pressure of the child’s embrace shifted to her chest, making it difficult to breathe. Tiny fingers stabbed into her back like icicles.
Those people couldn’t see and talk to her like I can. We can make this work.
Robin sniffled. “I’m sorry. Please don’t be mad at me.”
“Did you make that woman fall down the stairs?”
“She was gonna go away and abandon me. I wanted her to stay.”
“As a ghost…”
Robin shrugged. “I didn’t want to be alone. I’m sorry if that was mean.”
“What about the woman who stopped breathing in her sleep?”
The child’s face twisted into a scowl. “They were nasty. I didn’t like them at all. I sat on her chest and squeezed her neck, but I didn’t wanna make her a ghost.”
Mia sighed. “Stopping someone from breathing will turn them into a ghost.”
“No.” Robin shook her head. “Not all the way. I only scared her so the mean people would go away. They didn’t like me. Told me I had to leave because it wasn’t my home. The man made Daddy angry.”
“He’s here?” Mia swallowed.
Robin bowed her head. “Yes. In the basement.”
“Does he still hurt you?”
“Only if I go down there, but I don’t go down there. He’s a monster now.”
“Sweetie, he was a monster before… anyone who could do what they did to you…”
The Spirits of Six Minstrel Run Page 16