by ML Gardner
“Oh, yeah? How’s she doing?”
“Not that well. I keep talking to her about going. It’s eating her alive watching her beau with another girl. I think she’s tormenting both of them.”
“That’s not good. But I can understand how she feels. It’s hell to watch.”
“But I think she’s doing more than a little trip here and a pebble thrown there.”
“Like what?”
“Not sure exactly. Maybe you could stop in and talk to her? She’s mentioned you a few times. I think she misses you.”
“I can do that,” I said, glad to have something else to do before going back to Elizabeth. “Give me directions and I’ll go after I leave here.”
“Still doing things the old-fashioned way, I see,” he said. I gave him a curious look. “I told you early on, all you have to do is focus on a person, and you’re right there. That fast.”
“You sure know a lot about being dead for someone with a pulse.”
“Comes with the job.” He plucked at his white uniform shirt.
“So,” I said, sitting down on the stool in the corner. “Catch me up on hotel le manic. What’s been going on?”
“New doc seems to be fitting in well. He’s young and got a human side to him. Some of them are getting better.”
“What about the old doc?” I asked with one eyebrow raised. I wondered if he had shown himself to David.
“He’s still here. He still tries to do his job. Said he won’t leave until all the souls who died under his care cross over.”
“I guess that’s good of him.”
“Thing is, I don’t know if he’ll cross over himself after they have gone. He feels a lot of guilt for what happened. To all of them, but mostly over you,” he said.
I sat quietly, staring at the floor. I wasn’t in a forgiving mood just after having left Elizabeth in another man’s arms, and I pushed from my mind what might be happening at that moment. “I hope he can help the others,” I said, unable to give more than that.
David opened his mouth to say something as the metal door to the room swung open wide.
“They need your help in the commons. Got an unruly one,” a young, thin orderly said with a hint of panic. David glanced at me, and I nodded, following them out to the hall. There was a crash of shattering glass, and David broke into a jog.
I called out after him, “Just another day in the happy factory.”
He threw one hand up in a wave, and I turned and left.
Outside on the front steps, I looked in all directions before deciding what to do. I had known all along I could be somewhere with a focused thought, but I did enjoy doing things the old-fashioned way. Thinking deep thoughts on long walks was something that made me feel as if I was actually alive. It reminded me of our walks around the courtyard, our long nights of walking when we escaped together. It seemed to keep me closer to the life I left behind. Suddenly, my life seemed like a distant memory as thoughts of Daniel and Elizabeth crept into my mind. I closed my eyes and thought of Anna.
When I opened them, I was standing in a dining room. Anna was there, perched high in the corner; she watched over the room with a scowl. Her eyes had grown very dark, sunken further into her emaciated skull. Her eyes fixed on one girl at the table. I assumed the girl was the offending fiancée. She seemed nervous, fidgety, unable to concentrate on eating or maintain eye contact.
“Now, look at that, Anna, you’ve got this girl scared out of her mind,” I said.
Her eyes jerked toward me and then softened. “What are you doing here, Simon?” she asked as she slowly sunk down to the floor.
“Just dropped by to say hi,” I said. “Let’s go for a walk.”
She shook her head and glanced back at the table where Matthew and Nicole sat with both sets of parents.
“They aren’t going anywhere,” I promised. “Come walk with me.” I held out my hand, and she looked from it to Matthew and back.
Matthew laughed at something his father said and looked at Nicole.
“Relax,” he leaned over and whispered, taking her restless hand in his on the tabletop.
“I was a nervous wreck before I married your father,” Nicole’s mother offered with a sympathetic laugh. Anna looked in her general direction and hissed.
Anna walked over and stood behind Nicole’s chair. She blew on the back of her neck, and Nicole shivered hard as goose bumps rose up on her arms.
“He’s mine,” Anna whispered close to her head. “Leave and don’t come back.”
Nicole blinked and shuddered, putting down her fork and crossing her arms. Matthew looked over at her rigid posture and uneasy expression and leaned close to her.
“What’s wrong?” he whispered. Nicole adjusted in her chair.
“I just don’t feel well.”
“Are you getting sick?” he asked, the parents’ conversation going unnoticed in the background. She shook her head again and then excused herself, nodding for Matthew to follow.
“If you’re not sick then what’s wrong with you?” he asked somewhat impatiently in the far corner of the living room. “We’re having a nice dinner party in there, and everyone is having a great time, and you act like you don’t even want to be here.”
“I don’t like it here,” she said. “In this house.”
“What’s wrong with my house?”
“I don’t know. For the last few weeks there’s been weird things happening whenever I come over here. There’s this feeling here.” She paused, looking around. “It’s unnerving.”
“I think you’re just nervous. There’s a lot going on, and I think maybe you’re getting a case of the wedding jitters.” He took a good look at the dark circles around her eyes. “You look like you could use some sleep, too.”
“I can’t sleep. I’ve been having nightmares and, if I tell you something, do you promise not to be mad?”
“No.”
“Then I’m not telling you.”
“Fine, I won’t be mad, what is it?”
“I did some research at the library. Apparently, someone was killed in this house twenty years ago. Right there in the kitchen,” she said and glanced nervously around. “I think that person is still here. I think your house is haunted, Matthew.”
He stared at her straight-faced and then broke into a laugh.
“Don’t laugh at me!” she said indignantly.
“You only said I couldn’t be mad. You didn’t say anything about laughing.”
“I’m being serious. You can ask your father. I’m sure he knows about it.”
“I’m sure he knows, and I’m sure he doesn’t believe in ghosts or spooky things that hide under the bed. You’ve got one imagination,” he said with a grin.
“I’m being serious.”
“And so am I. There is no ghost of someone killed in our kitchen haunting this house or you. You’re nervous and you’re tired. It’ll all be over soon, and things will settle down, I promise.” He gave her a quick kiss on the forehead and returned to the dining room.
“Everything all right, Son?” his father asked.
“It’s fine,” Matthew said with a smirk. “Nicole’s under the impression that the house is haunted.”
Everyone at the table laughed, and Nicole shot Matthew an angry look as she slipped into the chair beside him.
I looked at Anna and nodded toward the door. She followed me out with a satisfied grin on her face.
“So when are you going to ease up?” I asked as we walked.
“When she leaves.”
“Anna, that’s not fair,” I said. I felt guilty in chastising her. I wouldn’t be satisfied until Daniel left, and I often thought of ways to help encourage that.
“Why are you here?” she asked.
“David was worried,” I said honestly. “And I needed a break from Elizabeth.”
“I thought you loved her.” She squatted, a skeleton folded into thirds.
“I do. But she’s interested in someone else righ
t now, and it’s a little hard to watch.”
“Then you know how it feels!”
“Yes, and it’s terrible.”
“And you haven’t done anything?” she asked suspiciously as she slowly rose to stand.
“Well.” I grinned and looked away.
“See! You have done something to him! What did you do?” she asked excitedly.
“It was harmless stuff, Anna. And I don’t take pleasure from it. It got to be too much, so I took off for a bit. I think you should do the same thing.”
She stared at me, unwilling to negotiate. “What if she doesn’t leave?” I asked.
“Oh, she will,” Anna said and turned away from me, taking slow deliberate steps back toward the house. I caught up with her, stood between her and the porch.
“Anna, please. Leave them be. Just go on to the other side, or travel or something. Please.”
She bent down, and when she came up, she had a blade of dead brown grass between her fingers.
“You’re learning to move things,” I said, not hiding the sinister annotation. Anna was a vocally powerful ghost. To combine that with the ability to move things in the real world held the possibility for her to become a very troublesome entity.
She smiled with satisfaction, blew the blade of grass off her fingers, and I watched it float to the ground.
“That’s all I can do right now. But I’m working on it,” she assured me.
Back in the dining room, Anna stood behind Nicole and reached atop her head, holding up one strand of hair and then snapped her wrist.
“Ow!” Nicole yelped as her hand flew to her head.
The whole table stopped to look at her. “I think my headband’s too tight,” she said, self-consciously adjusting it.
“As I was saying,” Matthew’s father continued to the waiting audience at the table, “we’re certain we’re looking at just one or two men. They’ve all been petty crimes so far. Break-ins and thieving along the outskirts of Rockport. I’ve got two deputies on it. Most likely a drifter that’ll move on.”
“How long did you say this has been going on?” Nicole’s mother asked.
“Started getting reports a couple of weeks ago.”
I immediately thought of Elizabeth and then Daniel and closed my eyes.
When I opened them, I was in Elizabeth’s bedroom. She was alone, reading a book by the window. She paused every few moments to look out the window at Daniel, who was working below in the yard, and I moved to sit against the wall so I could watch her and not see him.
“I miss you,” I said. She stopped reading and sighed. “I don’t like him, Elizabeth. There’s something about him. You should stay away from him.” She glanced out the window at Daniel again. “He’s not going to stay, Elizabeth. He’s going to move on. And he’s going to break your heart when he does.” Her smile dropped. “He isn’t who I see you with.” I had scrunched up my face as if the words tasted bad. “I see you with someone else, Elizabeth. The one who will bring you back to me. Remember? I told you all about it before we got caught.” I stared at the side of her head while she stared at Daniel below. “I wish you could hear me,” I said with a heavy sigh.
I closed my eyes and thought of all the visions that included her and this man I would bring to her. I didn’t know how or when it would happen, and all I could do was wait. Wait for a sign, wait for a cue or a vision…I didn’t even know what I was waiting for.
After getting a taste of what it would be like to watch her with someone else, I began to think of abandoning my vow and crossing over after I found the one I needed to bring to her. The visions I had of them together were hard enough. I didn’t think I could stand to watch it firsthand. I opened my eyes and decided.
“I’m going to leave after I bring him to you,” I said. “I know I swore I’d stay, but I just can’t, Elizabeth. I know he’ll take care of you. And it’s okay because you’ll be a different person for him. You won’t be my Elizabeth for him. I just can’t watch you take the medicine and wrestle with yourself.” I glanced at the window. “And I can’t watch you love anyone else. I’m sorry.” She closed her book with a snap, tossing it on the floor and suddenly left the room. I followed her to her old room as she slowly sat down at the vanity. Leaning against the doorjamb, I watched her as she stared at herself in the mirror for a long moment before dropping her head. She reached for the clay heart.
“I miss you,” she whispered as she rested her fingers on it lightly and sighed. As quickly as she had appeared, she was gone again. Her head rose and her smile reappeared. She pulled up her hair and tucked it under a man’s hat that hung from the corner of the mirror. She reached into the top drawer, pulled out a journal and began writing. I stayed frozen for a moment, reliving the brief moment my Elizabeth had surfaced. It was enough to give me the smallest shred of hope.
“Alright.” I surrendered with my eyes closed. “I’ll stay.”
I regretted that decision before the next day was over. I couldn’t watch them together; kisses and handholding, ducking behind trees to snuggle and grope. The urge to hurl a bucket of hot syrup at him was getting too intense to resist. I went on many walks, getting to know the townsfolk of Rockport by eavesdropping.
I returned to watch Elizabeth sleep at night and talk to her when most likely she could hear me. I heard the barn door creak on one of those late nights. The window was left open for a breeze, and the noise had echoed across the yard. It was darker than usual from a thick cloud cover, which blocked the moonlight, but much warmer than usual for March.
From Elizabeth’s bedroom window, I could see Daniel crouching out from behind the door, clad in a black wool coat and cap. I thought of him with contempt and was by his side instantly.
“Where ya headed?” I asked as I walked next to him. He walked quickly, but carefully, trying to be as stealthy as possible. I stepped on a few twigs, and he jumped at each snap, stopping to look around him with a gasp. I followed him, this time allowing several feet between us. He walked to the very edge of Rockport. He stopped at a small, whitewashed farmhouse and walked around the side, peeking in windows all around before stepping lightly to the backdoor. He opened it without trouble.
These people don’t lock their doors; in fact, most doors probably don’t even have locks on them, I thought. He slipped inside, lit the stub of a candle for light.
“So you’re the one committing the robberies,” I said. “Wouldn’t Sheriff Vincent love to know about this?” I closed my eyes and opened them in Vincent’s bedroom. I shook the bedpost lightly and he stirred, but didn’t wake up. His mind definitely was not weak, and he had no way of hearing me.
“You might want to get up and get over to the McGregor’s,” I said anyway. “A guy named Daniel is in the process of robbing the place right now.” He jumped, snorted, rolled over, and farted. I grimaced, waving my hand in front of my face. “Nice, Sheriff. Now get up, and go get that lowlife out of mine and Elizabeth’s life!” He grunted and mumbled in his sleep, but still didn’t wake.
I walked downstairs to his kitchen, found paper and pen. I hadn’t written anything since David taught me how, and I struggled with gripping the pen and the wording. My handwriting looked ragged and childish. But hopefully it would be enough.
Daniel is the thief.
Elizabeth William’s house.
I knocked over a chair, making a loud crash in hopes of waking him up. Hearing nothing from upstairs, I blew out my breath, closed my eyes, and returned to the McGregor’s.
Daniel was stuffing silverware and a few pieces of crystal into a bag. I thought to physically stop him, make a noise or do something to scare him, but I worried for whoever lived here. If they were to wake and find him here, well, I didn’t know whether this degenerate was beyond murder or not. I was helpless to do anything, but watch.
I followed him back to the barn and watched as he put all his spoils into a crate, which he had hidden in the corner of his room in the barn. When he lifted the lid, I knew wi
thout a doubt that I had been right about him all along. He was the one responsible for the break-ins around Rockport.
The crate was full of silver, jewelry and crystal; quite a tally for a little town.
The next day I was ecstatic to see the sheriff pull up, knock on the door and step back, waiting for some kind of reply. Daniel was out working in the field and her parents were in the barn. Elizabeth came out onto the porch, wiping her hands on her apron.
She had taken to cooking and other things domestic and devotional since Daniel had arrived. A gold cross with a diamond in the center hung from a gleaming gold chain around her neck, a gift from Daniel. Stolen, no doubt.
“Can I help you, Sheriff?”
“Hello, Elizabeth,” he said stiffly. He unconsciously took a step back and surveyed her warily. “I was just wondering if I could speak to your pa for a moment.” Her father was in the barn cooking up another batch of medicine, and Elizabeth made excuses that he was too busy with work and asked if she could help.
“Well, I hope so. Did your pa happen to hire some help recently?”
“He did, why?”
“Well, I was wondering if I could speak to him.”
“You want to speak to Stewart?”
The sheriff straightened and looked slightly confused. “Well, I was looking to speak with someone named Daniel.”
“No one here named Daniel,” she said, shrugging. “Not now, anyway. Daddy did hire a man a few months ago, his name was Daniel. But he’s gone now. There’s only Stewart.”
“Hmm. When did he leave?” The sheriff scratched his head. He tried not to look at her suspiciously, but he knew her history.
“A few weeks ago.”
“All right, probably just a prank.”
“What was a prank?”
“It’s not important, Elizabeth. You have a nice day.” He sat in his car for a moment thinking before sputtering away.
On the long dirt road leading away from the house, he passed the field where Daniel worked. The smug bastard threw a cordial wave with a smile at the sheriff as he drove by.