“I mean, it seems like every bar has to have a schedule of events for each day they’re open. Musical sing-along night. Karaoke night. Darts league. Get a bucket of wings with a bucket of beer. Why does everything have to be like an amusement park?”
“I like karaoke,” Maya said, bemused by the randomness of Julie’s cultural criticism. “I’ll remember not to bring you to my favorite bar, which has an amazing weekly karaoke night.” She took another sip of her beer. She wondered if Julie were that rare specimen: a thirty-something, female fuddy-duddy.
“I didn’t say I didn’t like karaoke. My point was that a bar shouldn’t feel like it has to constantly entertain its customers by holding things like karaoke nights. Isn’t it enough that you can buy beer and maybe get some snacks? I’m all for a bar being a refuge from the near constant onslaught of media.” She finished the porter and pushed her long brown hair—not tied up in a ponytail tonight—behind her ear. A silver flower earring dangled from the lobe.
Maya wasn’t sure if Julie was messing with her or if she were really invested in her social critique or what this had to do with ghost hunting. Maybe she was flirting with her? No harm in that even if she did have a girlfriend. There wouldn’t even be any harm in flirting back.
“Not only do I like karaoke, I am amazing at it, but you’ll never find out,” Maya said, mockingly.
Julie looked suddenly shy. “Actually, I think I’d like to hear you sing.”
Maya beamed. “Maybe you will some time.”
“I think I’ll get another drink. Not another beer,” Julie hastened to add. “It’s getting late, so I’ll get a club soda. Do you want anything?”
“A club soda sounds great,” Maya said, reaching into her purse for her wallet.
Julie, who had stood up, gently pushed Maya’s wallet back toward her purse. “No. No. This round’s on me.”
“Oooh. Big spender.” Maya smiled. “Thank you.”
Julie shrugged. “No problem.”
Maya watched her walk up to the bar, noticing that Julie had a nice butt. Of course, things like that—Julie’s butt, the way her eyes gleamed when she laughed—were distractions. They were competitors meant to be working together on this investigation, and after that they would go their separate ways, running into each other occasionally at paranormal conventions or lesbian socials. They seemed to have such different working styles that Maya doubted a longer-term partnership would be fruitful for either of them.
When Julie got back to their table with their club sodas, Maya said, “You know you could have gotten another beer if you really wanted to. You sounded like you wanted to reassure me that you aren’t an alcoholic.”
“Oh no. It’s not that. As much as I like porters and stouts, I can really only drink one in one sitting.”
The bar may not have had scheduled entertainment that night, but the lesbian couple at the next table started making out. Another woman started yelling at the video poker machine. The bartender turned up the music, and Maya had to talk louder to be heard. The bar was still very entertaining.
“Does the bitterness get to you?”
“No, nothing like that. I just find them to be very filling.” Julie took a sip of her club soda and wrinkled her nose in distaste.
“Club soda not to your liking?”
“After having a really good chocolate porter, no. Are you tired or anything? Maybe you should go right to bed when you get home. You look tired.”
“I’m fine,” Maya chuckled. “Work was easy, and I just talked to a ghost yesterday. That was a beautiful thing.”
“You make it sound like talking to Katie was not a big deal.”
“It wasn’t. I’ve been doing it for a long time.”
“I thought you’d only been a paranormal investigator for the past year?”
“No, I meant talking to ghosts,” Maya said.
“That’s interesting. Tell me about your ghost whispering. You said that you’ve been doing it for a while. When did you start?”
Maya laughed and leaned in closer, noting that Julie smelled of lemon flower and pine. Maya liked how she smelled.
“Ghost whispering? That’s funny. I was 12 when it first happened. I was with my family visiting relatives in North Carolina that summer. We went to the graveyard next to the church where my father’s family had worshipped for generations. My dad wanted to show us kids the graves of some of our ancestors. Some of them went as far back as the years shortly after Emancipation.”
“I love old graveyards!” Julie gushed.
Maya started to wonder how to ask Julie about her girlfriend in hopes the answer would dampen the mood and keep the focus on business.
“I know, right? They’re atmospheric and, if you know the history of the people buried there, it can be satisfying to spend time in them.”
The amorous couple had moved to a horizontal position on a bench in the corner and were replaced by two women who seemed to be on a first date.
Julie nodded enthusiastically. “Yes. Even when I don’t know the histories, I make something up.”
“Oh, I know. It’s just the best.”
“But you were talking about the graves of your ancestors. Tell me more. Tell me how you talk to ghosts. Tell me about your first time.”
Maya said, “Yeah, so my dad and my brother and sister and I stopped at the grave of one of my great-great uncles. Dad was telling us what he knew about him. I wandered away to look at a gravestone a few feet away. While standing there reading the name, I felt something grasp my left leg. At the same moment, I thought I heard a whisper.”
“Spooky.”
“Yes. I thought my brother or even my sister was playing a trick on me, but they were still standing by my father. I asked if they heard anything. My brother said, ‘Yeah. Dad, dumbbell.’ My dad said he would get to Aunt Ruth, whose gravestone I was standing at, soon, but that he needed to go in order. I turned to go back over to my great-great uncle’s grave, but whatever it was that had grasped my leg held on. I really had to pull my leg to get whatever it was to let go. I stumbled a bit. My brother laughed. I said, ‘Something was holding on to my leg.’ My brother said, ‘Maybe it was one of the creepy, crawly vines around here.’ I looked around, but there were no vines anywhere near where I’d been standing.”
“What did the ghost whisper to you?” Julie swirled the straw around in her club soda. “Did you try to talk to anyone about it?”
Maya nodded. “I didn’t understand what the ghost said, and I mentioned the incident to my mom and grandma that night. They both said they’d heard from other people that the graveyard was supposedly haunted, but they thought there was probably some rational explanation for what I had experienced. In fact, I think they both thought that I might have had a little too much sun. Grandma made me drink a glass of ice water before bed. The only thing that did was make me get up a couple of times during the night to pee.”
Maya continued as Julie looked on, riveted by her tale. She talked about how she had convinced herself that the incident had been a fluke, that it wasn’t a ghost, that the hot breeze had made her hear things. Perhaps her mother and grandmother were right about her having gotten too much sun. The next time it happened, she was a sophomore in college. She had gone to visit a friend who lived in a dorm on campus that had been built by the W.P.A.
“There were rumors that the laundry room in the basement was haunted, but I wasn’t in the laundry room when it happened. I was in my friend’s room alone. She had gone to the bathroom down the hall. I was sitting on her bed, flipping through one of her magazines. I felt some pressure on my shoulder, like someone was leaning on me. I pulled my shoulder forward to shake it off. It didn’t occur to me initially that it was a ghost. I got up and sat down in one of the chairs. Then I felt something brush past me. I looked around, but I couldn’t see anything. I was starting to freak out because I realized what must be happening. At that moment, my friend came back. She took one look at me and burst out laughing.”
>
Julie smirked. “Let me guess. Did she say, ‘What’s wrong? Did you see a ghost?’”
Maya chuckled. “No. I think she something like, ‘You look like you need to take a shit.’ But I could see hovering behind her the image of a young man. It looked like he had dark hair. He was a white guy. He pursed his lips together like he was about to whistle. It seemed like he was staring at me, but I couldn’t be sure. I couldn’t stay there so I told my friend that she was right, that I really needed to take a shit. I ran out of there so fast.”
“Sounds like a perfectly appropriate response. Did you ever do any research to learn more about the building? Maybe find out if the ghost guy had been an actual guy who lived in that dorm at one time?” Julie asked.
“I did. Turns out, it wasn’t just the laundry room that was supposed to be haunted. Several areas in that dorm were supposedly haunted. It was a huge dorm and used to house men only. There had been deaths in that dorm, mostly suicides and a couple of accidental deaths, although I never did figure out who my ghost was.”
“That sucks. That would have been cool if you had found him.”
“Yeah, but my research led me to the local paranormal investigations group. Talking to them is what got me interested in paranormal stuff, and I met Steve.”
Julie hesitantly took a sip of her club soda. “I can definitely see Steve being interested in someone like you.” Her smile broadened.
They still hadn’t talked about the investigation, but Maya was in no rush. She was enjoying herself, and she wanted to know how Julie had gotten into the paranormal biz. Julie seemed embarrassed and reluctant at first to talk about it, but Maya was able to coax her into sharing.
“It’s not as interesting as your story, but I first heard about paranormal investigation about fifteen years ago when I went to a pop culture convention in high school. It was such a hodgepodge of stuff—comics, sci-fi, fantasy, cosplay, dramatic readings of really bad screenplays, video gaming, and ghost hunters. I think the ghost hunting gal was friends with the dudes who organized the con and that’s how she got put on the schedule.”
Maya said, leaning back in her chair, “Sounds interesting so far.”
“It was Jason who wanted to go, so Mom and Dad decided to make it a family outing. We all went. I guess I could have gotten out of it. I really did have cooler things to do, but I was curious. I ended up at this workshop about ghost hunting. It sounded cool, so I asked the ghost hunting gal some questions after her presentation. She gave me her card. I became a sort of apprentice to her and her girlfriend. They were really into it. I was, too, even though we almost never encountered anything remotely supernatural.”
“What did you like about it?” The first date at the next table seemed to be making some progress. They were close enough to kiss. Maya wondered what it would be like to kiss Julie, but quickly pushed that thought out of her mind.
“The investigating. Staying overnight in supposedly haunted houses. I loved it all. College intervened. Then job hunting after college. Then an actual adult job in marketing after college. I only got back to investigating stuff a few years ago.”
“Is that when you met Steve?”
Julie nodded. “At a paranormal investigation class on equipment. He tried to interest me in going into business with him, but I really wanted to go out on my own. I didn’t want to answer to anyone.” She paused and took on a serious tone. “I still don’t. We should talk about the case.”
Maya wanted to talk about so many other things, but this wasn’t a date.
“I agree. Do you want to contact Mrs. Forcier about coming out to the woods with us or shall I?” Maya asked.
Julie’s voice was all business, like she’d suddenly realized how late it was, how much time they had spent together. Also, the first date couple was now loudly and passionately making out and had not moved to a dark corner.
“I’ll take care of it,” Julie said. “Leave that all to me. It’s getting late. I should get going.”
“I guess you have to get home to your girlfriend,” said Maya as they stood up.
“Girlfriend? I don’t have one,” was Julie’s reply.
****
Penny was getting ready for bed when Maya got home.
“So, what’s the strategy, chief?” Penny asked as she brushed her long, wavy dark hair, alternating between soft and vigorous strokes.
“Julie’s gonna contact Mrs. Forcier about her coming with us on our next trip to the woods,” Maya said.
“That’s it? That’s the strategy?” Penny laughed. “I knew it! I knew you weren’t going to talk about the Forcier thing. So, how was the flirting? What’s she like when she isn’t sneering?”
“No, we didn’t spend the whole time talking about the case, as you predicted. Congratulations. Sneering? What do you mean sneering?”
Penny followed Maya into the kitchen. “She sneers. Not all the time, but I saw her sneering a lot last night. It was impressive.”
“Really, Pen? She wasn’t sneering tonight. Actually, she seemed…” Maya stopped at the pantry and opened the door. Before she could stop herself, she began scanning the shelves for a bag of potato chips. Then she remembered that they didn’t make a habit of keeping chips in the apartment.
She wasn’t hungry, and it was too late to be eating. She knew what was happening. Crush eating. Ever since her first crush ever (on a girl in her fifth-grade class), she had done this thing where she’d eat more junk food than usual, mostly barbecue potato chips, when she had a crush. She still didn’t quite understand why she did it. She closed the pantry door, poured herself a glass of water from the carafe in the fridge, and left the kitchen.
As Maya passed Penny on her way out of the kitchen. Penny was smirking. They had known each other for years, and Penny knew why Maya had made a beeline to the pantry.
“I’m gonna hit the hay,” Maya said.
Penny danced in front of Maya, blocking her path. She turned her hairbrush into an impromptu, fake microphone, like a TV reporter.
“Can you tell our viewers, Miss Nicholas, if there was a dangerous amount of flirting going on when you went to get drinks with Julie this evening?” Penny asked.
“I wouldn’t call it a dangerous amount of flirting,” Maya said, in a mockingly serious tone.
“Hmm… Would it be fair to say that the flirting with Miss Julie Sussman was at an appropriate and non-threatening level?”
Maya shook her head and smiled. “No further comments.” She went straight to the bathroom with Penny hot on her heels like a tabloid reporter.
“Miss Nicholas! Miss Nicholas! Our viewers have a right to know!
“No comment!” Maya slammed the bathroom door shut. She laughed as she listened to Penny sign off for an imagined TV audience.
“From my vantage point, I’d say Miss Nicholas hasn’t been entirely honest with us, but time will tell, dear viewers, if the flirting is merely appropriate or something more dangerous indeed. Back to you, Jim!”
Chapter Nine
Into the woods again
A few days later, Julie was once again in the woods with Maya. This time Mrs. Forcier joined the little gang. Julie had called her with an update after drinks with Maya. When Julie had tried to explain to Mrs. Forcier that Maya was no longer needed and that she could handle everything on her own from here, Mrs. Forcier had tutted. Julie could almost see her sly smile through the phone. She could certainly hear the slyness in Mrs. Forcier’s voice.
“I already told you that you’ve already done so much better as a team than I could have expected,” Mrs. Forcier had said. “I’ll call her next and set up a time for us to all go to the woods. I need you both.”
Julie had let it sink in then and there that Mrs. Forcier was serious about her teaming up with Maya.
“All right, but are you sure you want to go into the woods? Katie told us how scared you’ve always been to go there,” she had said.
Mrs. Forcier said after a few moments, “Katie’s righ
t about me being afraid of the woods. I can’t say I’m looking forward to going back there, but if that’s what I must do, then I’ll do it. I have to do it.”
Then she hung up.
Later, Julie tried to get details out of Maya of their meet up in the woods without letting on that she had tried to ease her out of the investigation.
Well, if I’m going to be stuck with someone it might as well be someone this sexy, she thought.
They didn’t know exactly where they’d encounter Katie again and decided at the beginning of her trail to split up. This part of the woods was a cellphone dead zone, and Steve had brought walkie-talkies with him.
“It’s old tech, but it still works a treat.” He handed one to Maya and another to Julie. He kept the third for himself.
Mrs. Forcier insisted on going with Maya. They would go along the trail where Maya and the others had first encountered Katie. Julie and Jason would go in the direction of one of Katie’s other trail maps. Steve and Penny followed yet another of her other maps. Katie really had gotten around in her time. They agreed to meet back at a clearing near the road in an hour if they didn’t encounter Katie.
Julie had at first been a little cranky because she wasn’t going with Mrs. Forcier. It made sense for them to split up like this, but she wanted to be the first one to find Katie. Then it occurred to Julie that she and Jason were just as likely to encounter Katie as anyone else. She was no more likely to appear where she did the last time as she was anywhere else in the woods. Julie did wonder if they’d run into Mike, the forest service dude. Maya had told Julie about him. He sounded creepy, mainly because in the movies guys like him were always creepy.
Julie used the walkie-talkie to check in with Maya and Steve after about thirty minutes. They were bulky, but Steve was right. They did work, but so far, no sign of Katie. The high humidity made the walk along the trail a sweaty affair. Julie wiped her brow multiple times as she tried to stay upright while picking her way over fragrant grass, broken branches, and the odd mossy log. She also walked into a spider web, an experience more hair raising than an encounter with any apparition could be. Despite the humidity, the darkness had taken the edge off of the hot day. Unseen animals could be heard slithering around the trees.
The Curse of the Old Woods Page 5