by Alexie Aaron
Henry shrugged. “I’m not scared, if that’s what you’re asking.”
“Good.”
“Why Henry?” Richard Kowalski asked Mia.
“In my opinion, from what little I saw,” Mia qualified, “Henry is the only one of you that saw the... let’s call them DTDs, who isn’t afraid of them. I have a feeling these entities feed off of fear. Henry isn’t afraid. He sees them as perhaps something out of a video game.”
Burt handed Richard a small viewer. “This will let you see and hear everything we say and do,” Burt explained. “Feel free to come in at any time you feel that Henry is uncomfortable.” Burt turned on his small camera and pointed to the viewer.
Richard watched as Burt scanned the front of the house. “Do you have to film this?”
“We have a colleague in Rome who is our expert on this type of phenomena. He will want to see what we are seeing,” he clarified.
“Rome,” Richard repeated impressed. “Okay, go ahead. Mind, we didn’t have time to pick up before we left.”
“Don’t worry, we aren’t the neat police,” Mia said. “Brrrr, let’s get started.”
The three of them entered the house from the front door. Richard and Julie joined the girls in the SUV to stay warm. Snow was forecast for later, and the temperature was dropping as the sun waned in the sky.
Mia’s first impression of the house was that it was ordinary. Second, it was filled with love. She puzzled over the fact that the only emotions she could sense there were from the Kowalskis. Henry directed her to the stairs and hung back as Mia climbed them. She looked at every shadow as she turned on the hall light.
“The lights went out,” Henry told them. “It happens a lot here. That’s why I had so many LEDs in my room.”
“Smart lad,” Burt said as he trained the camera on the room they were approaching at the end of the hall.
“My dad was holding on to the door here,” Henry said, pointing to the scratch marks on the door frame. “He was being pulled in. I could only see his hands and his face.”
Mia reached in and felt for the light switch and turned it on. The room was a pleasant room decorated with a little girl in mind. The walls were papered halfway and a bleached wainscoting served to cover the bottom half of the wall. “Henry, remind me to ask your mom where she got this wood,” Mia said, more for the couple viewing than the child in front of her. She pulled off her glove and touched the wood as if she was testing whether an iron was hot. She quickly put her glove back on.
The three of them examined the room. The closet was opened and each corner checked. When Henry went to pull up the bed skirt, Mia grabbed his hand. “Don’t.”
Henry pulled back and went to stand by Burt.
“I can hear a scrabbling sound coming from under the bed. It’s dark under there. Hey, Henry, I have an idea. Run and get some of those lights for me.”
Henry smiled and quickly left the room. In no time, he returned with a handful of the tiny powerful lights. Mia took one and lit it and nodded for Henry to do the same to the other four lights.
“I am going to toss these under the bed. Stand back because I’m not sure what is going to happen. Burt will protect you.” Mia waited until Henry stood behind Burt before proceeding.
She placed the lights around the bed and quickly kicked each light under the bed. A roar erupted, and dark snakelike things scattered out from the bed in all directions. They climbed the wall, hiding in cracks, dissolving into shadows. Some skittered across the floor and down into the heating vents. Mia flipped the mattress off the bed and more dark things shot out. They moved into any area that was in shadow. Mia drew out a saltshaker and tossed salt at the line of DTDs, and it didn’t stop them or intimidate them in any way. Next she used holy water. The only effect was that the things moved around the water as the water droplets caught the light. Mia and the camera recorded all this information.
“I think we should check out your room, Henry,” Mia said.
Henry’s room was in total darkness, but there were no DTDs, not even in the vents. They took a moment after the light was turned on to have Henry show them the latest project he was working on. Mia thought that Henry may have forgotten a few times that his parents were watching as his language turned from a polite little boy to a worldly preteen.
“We have this amazing technician on our team that you have to meet. He makes all our equipment,” Mia told him. “Maybe between the two of you, you could design something to keeps those things at bay.”
Henry nodded thoughtfully. “Tell him to give me a call.”
Burt smiled behind the camera. Mia had a way of winning over every male she met. The interesting thing about it was that she wasn’t even trying.
The Kowalskis watched as the three of them worked their way through the house. By the time they had finished, the snow began to fall. Burt asked the family where was a friendly, family-style restaurant that the seven of them could meet, eat, and talk quietly about what they had found so far.
“Grandma’s house is the friendliest place on earth,” Gwen proclaimed.
“We don’t want to impose on your grandmother,” Burt said.
“Let me call my mother, that’s where we are staying, and ask,” Julie said.
Mia and Burt decided to go with the situation. They gave Julie some room and walked over and got in Mia’s truck.
Mia looked up at the house and over to the end where Gwen’s room was.
“Penny for your thoughts.”
“I don’t know what those things are. I haven’t a clue,” Mia admitted.
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Burt said concerned.
“Most of them weren’t aggressive. A few seemed to have a problem with what I was doing, the rest just followed like lemmings.”
“Do you think the family is in danger?” Burt asked.
“The family isn’t in danger, unless they get in the way of the DTDs and Gwen. She’s in mortal danger yet treasured. They seem to need her for something. I wonder what?”
Burt tapped her arm and pointed as Julie approached the truck. Mia lowered the window.
“My mother’s farm is a bit west of here. I called, and she’s happy to add a few plates to the table. Follow us. Here’s the address if we get separated,” Julie said, handing Mia a piece of paper.
Mia read it and handed it to Burt and closed the window. “Not too far from the hollow. I wonder…”
Burt was ahead of her. “If the wainscoting was made from old wood from the farm?”
“Lord, you’re a smart man,” Mia said as she pulled her truck behind the Kowalski’s SUV and followed them out of the neighborhood.
Burt smiled. It seemed like old times. He could feel the distance between them, but the friendship still had a chance. Burt pulled out his cell phone and dialed Ted’s number. He placed it on speaker. Mia smiled as she would be included in the conversation.
“Last PEEP in Kansas, how may I help you?” Ted’s pouty voice came over the speaker.
Burt updated Ted and informed him that he would be sending him the video some time tonight and would Ted, please, send it on to Angelo. Ted assured him that it would be done.
“We are going to sit down with the family and discuss things. I’ll give you a heads up to how soon you will have to hit the road with the equipment.”
“The sooner the better. I’m the Lone Ranger here. Oh, and tell Mia, this doesn’t count as the phone call she promised me.”
Mia smiled but kept her mouth shut.
“She heard you loud and clear. Later,” Burt said and hung up. “Is there anything I should know about you two?”
“Are you asking as Burt the ex-boyfriend or Burt our boss?”
“Both.”
“Things are the same as they always have been. Nothing new to report.”
“You still on the twenty year plan?”
“Yes, I have twenty years, I have been informed, to decide that Ted is the man for me. If not, he will then start loo
king elsewhere.”
“Does it make you feel powerful?”
Mia laughed. “Oh, Burt, it makes me nervous. I was just trying to live my life the best I could under the circumstances. Along come you PEEPs, and you rock my world. Each one of you is so precious to me. I really don’t have time or the inclination to think about the future. At the rate I am going, I will have a better chance of dating Murphy than walking down any aisle.”
“So you’re not leading the boy on?”
“I am not leading him anywhere. He can’t be led. He can’t be dissuaded.”
“What about Whit?”
Mia sighed. “I don’t know? You know this is so odd talking to you about this, but somehow you’re the only one that I trust. Now isn’t that twisted?”
Burt didn’t answer her.
“Let’s put the Whit situation like this. It is way too early for him to be thinking serious about me or anyone. We have fun together, but it’s not like it was with… Well, you know. I have no agenda except to enjoy life while I am still alive.”
Burt would have to postpone giving her his thoughts for a while. The SUV was signaling ahead of them, and they followed it onto a farm lane and up to a brightly lit farmhouse.
~
Mia was refueled by the rich happy atmosphere along with the supper of roast chicken, mashed potatoes, green beans and biscuits. She caught a whiff of an apple pie cooking and hoped she would be there long enough to be asked if she wanted some.
Burt offered to help clear the plates, and once he was finished, he asked if he could have the family together for a few minutes in order to discuss the situation.
“Do you mind if my mother sits in?” Julie asked.
“Martha is welcome,” Burt said smoothly. “You are her family, and I think her home is going to figure in too.”
The elder Kowalskis looked puzzled, and Martha raised her eyebrows.
“First, Mia and I have a few questions. Bear with us as some of these may sound, well, odd and out of place, but I assure you they are important.”
“Do you want the kids around?” Richard asked.
“Yes,” Mia said. “They should know what’s going on. No matter how boring it may seem,” Mia directed the last sentence to Lizzie who guiltily pulled the earbuds out of her ears.
“Where did the wainscoting come from?”
“Here, it was made from the wood from the old barn we pulled down,” Martha answered.
“We suspected that,” Burt said. “Where was Gwen born?”
“Here at the farm. It was bad weather when Julie’s water broke. She gave birth here,” Martha told them.
“Yes, Gwendolyn was born here. Why is this important?” Julie asked.
“Julie, we have to gather information. The more we know, the more prepared we are,” Mia explained.
“Gwen, when was the first time you remember the DTD’s?” Burt asked.
Gwen looked confused.
“Darker-than-darks,” Burt explained.
“Always. They were always playing mean jokes on me,” Gwen said and smiled as her grandmother came over and sat down beside her. “They would stick things in my ears. It hurt.”
“Did you hear anything?” Burt asked. “When I stick my fingers in my ears, I can hear my heart beat.”
“I can too, but when they do it, I can hear another heartbeat.”
Mia moved over to the little girl and took off her gloves. She reached for her hands and said, “Tell me about the heart beat.”
“It’s slower, mine goes thump thump thump to every thump of the other one.”
Mia heard the two heart beats as she held the child’s hand. “Were there always so many of them?”
“No, just three for a long time. I named them. Beanie, Bubba and Blast.” Gwen smiled. I drew pictures of them. Do you want to see?”
“Yes, another time, though.”
“Henry, Lizzie, when was the first time you saw the DTDs?”
“I’ve never seen them,” admitted Lizzie.
“The last night in the house,” Henry said.
“Did you ever experience any odd things? Lights going out, someone tugging at your covers? Missing toys?”
Both children shook their heads.
“Were they always scary?” Mia asked softly.
“Yes, no, yes,” Gwen said, trying to make up her mind.
Mia smiled to calm her. Gwen released the images of the child being abused and tormented. They filled Mia’s mind. She let go of the girl’s hand and patted it before she put on her gloves.
“Why do you wear gloves all the time?” Gwen asked.
“It’s because I see things with my hands. Secret things. I try my best to respect others privacy, so I keep my gloves on,” she explained.
“Oh. Will you make those DTDs go away?”
“We’re going to try our best,” Mia promised.
Burt nodded to Martha. She got up and said, “Come on, kids, time to play some cards. Who thinks they can beat me at caraaaazzzzzzzy eights?”
She made it sound so inviting, Mia wanted to raise her hand too. She waited until the grandmother had the children secured in the kitchen before nodding to Burt to begin.
“First of all, we have never been exposed to anything like this. We’ll seek out advice and help from anyone reputable, group or individual, to get answers, but I suspect that this is something they haven’t been aware of either. They aren’t ghosts, not in the traditional sense. Methods we use to deal with the departed won’t work on these entities. They are paranormal in the respect that they aren’t normal.”
Burt continued, “It’s just a guess, but I think that they came from the wood in the old barn. We will get our researcher over here soon. She will ask a million questions, but hopefully will be able to ferret out the information of where the wood came from, or what may have happened in the barn or the woods where the original wood came from. Something happened that took whatever these things were originally and turned them into a stain. They are primal, very old. They herd together much like deer, sheep, or even wolves. My instincts say they were people once.” Burt stopped a moment and allowed the Kowalskis a chance to ask the big question.
“Why Gwen? What do they want with her?” Julie asked.
“It could be that when she entered this world, they found a way in too. In a sense, they bonded with her,” Mia said softly. “I won’t lie to you and tell you everything is going to be fine. It isn’t. My feeling is that unless we can break the bond, then you’re going to lose Gwen.”
Julie started crying.
“We’ll move away, across the country,” Richard vowed.
“It may work,” Mia said. “For a time. But they will find her eventually. She is part of their herd.”
“How can you say such things!” Julie shouted at Mia. “How can you know?”
Mia was quiet a moment. “I would love to tell you what you want to hear, but it’s not going to help that child. It’s no one’s fault this happened, so the both of you can cancel-clear that from your minds. I can only tell you what I felt when I was in that room, and when I held her hand.” Mia stopped a moment, deciding whether or not to share her personal information. A child was in jeopardy, she would just have to deal with the stares and comments. She began, “I was born into a house with its own ghost. I was fortunate that it was a nurturing spirit.” She went on to tell them about Misty Mother and her impact on Mia. “Gwen is not so fortunate, except she has you. Your love will save her. Burt and his team will find a way to free her, and then you will have your daughter back. She will have a future and soon will forget all about Beanie, Bubba and Blast.”
“What do we do in the meantime?” Richard asked.
Burt scratched his five-o-clock shadow before speaking, “Keep Gwen away from the house. If she stays here then you have to make sure she is always surrounded by light. We will move as quickly as we can, but it’s going to take time to figure this out. Your other children will only be in danger if they get b
etween Gwen and the DTDs. Much like what you went through. If the DTDs come here, then we will find a safe place for her. Remember, these are paranormal but not ghosts in the sense you know ghosts to be. They need time to build energy, and after your brave son’s assault with the lights, they are very weak.”
“Are they demons? Would a priest help?” Richard asked.
“I don’t know. Not yet,” Mia said. “Sometimes when things predate the church, the church has no power over it. I hope that we will find out what they are, what they want and how to get rid of them.”
“What’s this going to cost us?” Richard asked.
“Patience,” Burt said.
“Courage,” Mia added.
“And your trust,” Burt said finally.
Mia got up. “Burt and I will take a walk. Give you time to talk it over. We will understand whatever choice you make.”
Burt helped her on with her coat and grabbed his as they walked out the door.
“Phew!” Mia said and watched as the word became smoke in the icy air.
“What do you think they are going to do?”
“Whatever they think is best,” Mia replied. “If they decide on us, we are so over our heads that I can’t see the surface.”
“Don’t be too sure. After all we have the best people. A ghost on retainer and a sensitive that survived an eighty foot plunge in a haunted well. Plus, we have Angelo, and I have a feeling that he knows what these are.”
“I hope so.”
They heard the door open behind them. “Guys, come on in,” Richard said and held the door open.
Mia walked in followed by Burt.
“We decided to let PEEPs help us. Hell, we pray that you help us. You can have our permission to film the bloody thing as long as we save Gwen. She is the most important part of this deal. You save our child, and we will give you everything we own.”
Burt looked at Mia and his eyes twinkled.
He put his hand out and Richard shook it. “We’ll get our team moving. They are all over the world presently, but by the end of the week we will be up and running.”