by Alexie Aaron
George was very bloated from days of binge drinking. Although, Mia could see the man was sober today. His father kept a firm hand on his son’s arm. Marjorie sat on the other side of her husband putting a lighter hand on his other arm. Mark and Susan sat across from George. Mark was dressed smartly, and Susan’s attire spoke of a recent trip to the mall.
Maximillian Hofmann raised his hand and asked for the camera’s benefit, “What items in particular?”
“The dueling pistols given to George by Marjorie’s brother held the spirits of…”
As Beth told the story of the duel gone wrong, Mia studied the Hofmann men. She looked for any signs of Klaus. So far the men appeared normal. She heard the click of the front door. Father Santos and Gerald walked quietly in and sat down in the living room, waiting.
Beth finished the duelist story and asked if there were any questions on the pair, and none were asked. She moved on, “The family rocker which has been reported in the past to rock by itself seems to be a favorite resting place for Anneliese Hofmann. History has told a story of her falling asleep in the rocker and failing to wake to save her twin grandsons. One, an older boy, Klaus, escaped. Burt, would you show the Hofmanns what proof we have of Anneliese?”
Burt turned on the viewer and presented the stills of Grandma rocking, reading, and a few of her moving through the house.
“She sure likes my e-reader,” Marjorie said bemused.
“In order to keep Anneliese happy, we had to download a few more books,” Mike explained. “But I am sure you will love them.”
Marjorie smiled and nodded.
Mia heard a low creak and turned to see Grandma in her chair. She was sitting quietly looking at the group at the table. She also was checking out Father Santos and Gerald. She was calm and serene so Mia chose not to alert the group.
“Why did she ruin my living room?” Marjorie asked.
“We aren’t sure. Sometimes when a spirit tries to communicate, the energy they take in to manifest may cause other things to happen. There is no exact physical explanation, each case although similar is also different. She hasn’t talked about the destruction so we have no idea or proof it came from her. The past history of the rocker tells of a few sightings, especially in high emotional times, but never before has destruction and mayhem been reported in reference to Grandma Hofmann.”
Mia looked over at Anneliese and she nodded in agreement.
“But who smacked the boys, tore up their room?” Marjorie asked.
Anneliese put her hand on her chest and shook her head no.
“This is where this haunting becomes interesting,” Beth said in an authoritative voice. “Mike, could you present the materials on the twins’ room?”
Mike stood up and started by sharing his and Burt’s personal experiences.
Mia took this opportunity to walk through the living room, nodding to Anneliese, Father Santos, and Gerald as she passed. She stood in the hall and looked at the top of the stairs. There, sitting with their legs kicking gleefully, were identical twin five year-old boys. Mia smiled up at the boys and gave them a shy wave. They giggled and waved back. One of the boys Mia thought was Erdmut, motioned for her to come upstairs. She held up a finger and peaking around the corner took in the completeness in which Mike was explaining things. She knew she would have a while before she was needed.
She took the stairs two at a time and reached a hand out to Erdmut and the other to Garrit, and the three walked back into the nursery.
Displayed on the floor was a miniature courtroom built of the plastic building blocks. She looked at the judge’s bench and saw two identical judges. Mia pointed to it and then to the boys who smiled. She got on her knees and looked at the jury box. In it were Grandma and two other ladies. Mia assumed they were Marjorie and Susan. Sitting at the defendant’s table was monstrous image. It was of two men twisted and attached to a smaller man made of tiny red blocks.
Mia touched the middle man and said, “Klaus.”
Garrit got on his knees and grabbed the blocks from Mia. First he pulled off one man and rolled his eyes and then put them back together only to pull off the other man and roll his eyes. He replaced the trio at the table.
“You are saying that Klaus is attached to one of the men, but you don’t know which one?”
Garrit clapped his hands. He pointed to the Lego man in black with a white spot at his neck and the all black, blocked man and rolled his eyes back.
“This is Father Santos and Gerald Shem. They are here to take Klaus away and punish him.”
Erdmut put his face in Mia’s and searched for a lie. He looked at Garrit, and Garrit joined in the silent inquisition. Mia reeled with the visages of the interlocking faces in front of her. Suddenly they were pulled sharply back. Murphy stood with a kicking boy in either hand.
“It’s okay, they were just testing me. They wanted to know if Father Santos and Gerald could take Klaus away.”
Murphy raised Erdmut to eye level, said “Stop,” and the boy stopped kicking. He set him down along with his brother. Murphy got to his knees and said, “Trust,” pointing at Mia.
The boys nodded and smiled at the farmer. Murphy pushed his hat back and stood up. He picked up his axe and left the room.
“That’s my friend Murphy,” Mia explained. “Would you like to come downstairs with me and face Klaus?”
Garrit shivered, but Erdmut took hold of his hand and the twins nodded.
“Murphy will be there so no shenanigans,” Mia warned.
The twins tried to look innocent which made Mia laugh. They giggled and walked over to her. She took their offered hands and stood up. “Which is you,” she asked Erdmut, pointing at the doll and then at the book. He nodded at the book. Mia picked up the book and looked at Garrit and asked, “Is this you?” He nodded and Mia took the doll. “Anyone else?” she asked, looking around the room. Both boys shook their heads. “Come on then, let’s go downstairs.”
Mia let the boys lead, and with a watchful Murphy standing guard at the front door, they obediently walked into the living room and took a seat at their Grandmother’s feet. She leaned over and briefly placed a loving hand on each of the boys’ heads.
Mia looked at each boy and put a finger to her lips. The boys made a face. Mia pointed to Murphy who raised his axe. The boys nodded, although with wrinkled noses. She then placed the doll and the book in Grandma’s lap before she walked across the room to the dining area.
Gerald watched Mia’s progress from the stairs to the chair and then to the dining room with much interest. He couldn’t see the ghosts, but he, like Father Santos, could sense their presence. He reached over and squeezed the priest’s hand and whispered, “The boys are over by the chair with Grandma.”
Mike had just finished his presentation, and he asked if there were any questions.
“You’re saying that twin autistic brothers have been destroying my son’s room?” Marjorie asked.
“Yes.”
“Why destroy the room, the furniture, and the walls?” she asked him.
“Our understanding,” Mike started, taking time to look meaningfully at Mia, and continued, “is that spirits have a hard enough time trying to break through the veil in order to speak to us in this plane of existence. These little boys, due to their infirmity, couldn’t communicate when they were alive, and now, well, they did the best they knew how.”
“But the violence, why slap my babies?” Marjorie asked.
Mia looked back at the boys, and one lad looked at the other and they shook their heads. She looked back to see Mike looking at her. “I’m sorry, did you say something?”
“Marjorie asked why the boys hurt her boys.”
Mia turned to Burt and asked, “May I?”
He nodded and pointed for her to put herself in front of the camera which she refused.
She started talking from where she was. “Erdmut and Garrit were abused in life by their older brother Klaus. They would have assumed that little slaps
and pinches were fine as Klaus was never reprimanded or punished for doing this to the boys. This explains some of the violence. The other is explained by Klaus.” Mia looked at George and Mark, trying to get a bead on the possessing spirit. She told the family about what happened the night of the fire. There were gasps from the women, and Maximillian mumble something about, “It being a damn shame.” Still Mark or George showed no remorse or outrage.
“I believe that Klaus set fire to the nursery, and because of this, killed his brothers and his grandmother.” Mia turned around and faced Anneliese. “You didn’t fall asleep, it was the smoke. It put you to sleep, and then killed you. You didn’t fail the boys. Their death is on someone else’s hands.”
Mia watched as Anneliese looked down at her grandsons, and they nodded emphatically, and each twin touched the space where her eyes once where. She blinked and opened her lids for the first time in a hundred years and saw the truth.
“Is that all? Who killed them?” George asked.
Mia turned around and looked at Beth and nodded for her to resume the lead.
Beth got back up and held a paper in her hands. “Bear with me a moment,” she looked at her list and compared it to Susan’s and Marjorie’s. “Ghostly attachments, the chair, the doll, and the book brought Grandma and the twins into this home. But another was already here. He came in with the gift of a very sharp razor or shaving brush.”
Susan inhaled sharply. Marjorie looked at her husband George.
“Klaus in his will gave his possessions to his younger brother’s oldest child, George. He, not liking the look of the straight razor put them in a drawer somewhere, perhaps the end table or medicine cabinet and promptly forgot them.”
George nodded.
“We don’t know what happened that night to cause these spirits to become active, but active they did become. We have film, recordings, and you, along with us, have personal experiences to testify to their presence. But we don’t know why this happened, we may never know. But I think that we may, with the help of Father Santos, be able to lead the boys into the light. They will leave this home, but they ask one thing of us first. They want justice.”
“Justice?” Mark said arrogantly. “They destroyed this house, and they want justice?”
Beth spoke up, “They were blamed for a fire they did not start. Anneliese was blamed for falling asleep when she should have been watching the twins. They were shunned instead of mourned. They want you to set the record straight, Klaus,” Beth said, staring at Mark.
Mia saw a filmy movement within the face of the handsome man. She had seen this before when a possessed young woman tried to choke the life out of her in the bathroom of a Sub shop.
“Me?” Mark tapped his chest and then pointed a finger at George. “He’s the heir. He was given the razor and shaving brush.”
George looked at his accuser and said, “True, but I never used it.”
Susan got to her feet, and Mark smiled as he thought she would be taking his side. Instead she said as she moved away from him, “Mark brought the razor with us from here when we collected things my in-laws would need. I thought it was strange when I unpacked the items at the time, but then I forgot about it.”
“I never received the shaving tools. I had to use Susan’s lady razor until I got to Dad’s,” George told them.
Mia motioned to Father Santos with her hand, and he got to his feet. Gerald tilted his head and sent a message to her, “Mia, get him to talk about shaving.”
“Mark, you look a little less groomed than usual. You didn’t shave this morning,” Mia accused.
He put a hand to his face and spat, “I shaved last night.”
“Night? Were you going out?” she interrogated.
“No, I wanted to look at my face.” He smiled.
“Why didn’t you shave this morning, son?” his father asked.
Gerald heard Klaus shout in Mark’s mind. “I’m not your son. Respect your elders.” Gerald tapped the priest on the shoulder and said, “Klaus is in Mark.”
“I didn’t shave because I couldn’t find my razor,” Mark spat.
Susan picked up her purse and handed it to Beth, saying, “Inside. The razor and brush are inside. I saw them on the sink this morning when I got up. I knew it was the same one Mark took from this house. I was going to return it…”
“They’re mine!” Mark screeched and tried to grab the purse out of Beth’s hands.
She twisted and wrenched it away and tossed it to Mia. Mia caught the bag and backed away from the enraged man. She could see the outline of another face within Mark’s. She moved back quickly, and Father Santos stepped in front of her.
He began chanting, and Klaus was livid. He was having none of this. He pulled out of Mark and fled the room, moving swiftly by the twins who got up and followed him.
Mark’s body fell hard against the table, and Mia heard a sickening crack of rib as he bounced off the hardwood and onto the floor. Quickly Mike and Burt were at his side giving him aid.
Mia spun around and looked at Murphy who pointed up the stairs. She started running, and Murphy stopped her before she could climb the steps. All she could do was listen to the crashes and the screams of rage coming from the entity that was Klaus. She felt helpless. All she could do was hold tight to the purse containing Klaus’s vessels. Mia felt a gentle hand on her shoulder, and she looked to see Grandmother Hofmann. Anneliese looked kindly at her and asked, “Please excuse me. I think one of my Grandsons needs a spank.” She glided up the stairs, and Murphy let Mia follow her.
Anneliese opened the nursery door, and Mia gasped as it was a swirl of fiberglass insulation and drywall nails. She put her back to the wall and watched as Grandma took charge. She clapped her hands and said, “Stop this nonsense at once!” The twins listened, and the chaos stopped. As the last of the pink fibers fell, Mia ventured in. She saw Grandma Hofmann standing in the middle of the room holding by the ear a young version of Klaus. She was pulling him along and smacking his behind with the other hand. She said politely, “Excuse me, dear.”
Mia let her pass into the hall, heading for the staircase. She disappeared down the stairs. Mia spun around and saw that the twins were gone too. She ran down the steps yelling. “Cemetery, get these things to the cemetery.” She picked up the doll and book and tried to wrench the chair up, but Marjorie stopped her. “Let her stay, if she wants to,” her voice was gentle and full of compassion. Marjorie handed Mia the e-reader and said, “I think she’s in here.”
Mia looked at her, took the e-reader and jammed it in the purse next to Klaus’s razor. “The chair stays. Come on people, we don’t have all night.”
Mia ran out of the house and down the street. She jumped in her truck with Beth close at her heels. “Mia, you don’t know where the cemetery is!”
“I know. You drive,” she said, swinging open the door.
Beth got in, started the engine, pulled out, and sat there a moment.
Father Santos and George pulled up behind them, and still Beth sat there.
“What are you waiting for?” Mia asked shocked.
“Burt’s going to want to film this.”
“Are you freaking kidding me? He can catch up. Father Santos and Gerald are with us. Put your foot to the floor or I’m going to do it for you!” Mia stepped on Beth’s foot, and the truck shot forward.
“OUCH!” Beth complained.
Mia took her foot off Beth’s and sighed as the woman continued to speed through the subdivision and out onto the road that would eventually lead them to the graveyard off of Hecker road. “Burt is going to fire me,” Beth said shakily.
“For what?”
“Footage.”
“He’s got enough footage, Beth. Right now we have spirits that need to be crossed over. These little boys must ascend before they repeat their brother’s crime. They are innocents and need to be protected.”
“I see what you’re saying, Mia, but we are a team, PEEPs. We do things together. He will
never forgive me.”
“No, Beth, I’ll take the hit for this one. If he can’t see the greater good is being served here then I can’t believe he is the same man who fought with me in the hollow. Business is business, but Burt has to recognize sometimes you have to let the heart lead you.”
“I hope you’re right, Mia,” Beth said as they sped through the night with Gerald and Father Santos at their heels.
Chapter Thirty-seven
Beth parked as close as she could to the Hofmann graves. Mia handed her the purse, doll and book to carry, while she hopped in the bed of the pickup truck and opened the equipment locker. Gerald pulled up, and he and Father Santos rushed over to help Mia with the spades, salt and other equipment she thought they may need.
Beth led them to the graves, and Mia crossed herself and started digging at the twin’s small plot.
Gerald moved over to Klaus’s monument and planted a spade in the earth while Father Santos stood silently. He began to dig a small deep hole.
They heard car and truck doors slamming and the pounding of footsteps approaching them. To Beth’s relief it was the rest of the PEEPs team and not local law enforcement. It didn’t seem to occur to Mia that maybe with a little heads up they could’ve had this activity sanctioned. Maybe she needed to think more with her head and less with her heart.
Max and George helped Marjorie and Susan over the uneven ground before returning to the car for Mark.
Mike took the spade from Mia and dug as per her instructions. Burt stood back filming the activity. Ted was at his side with the parabolic dish listening for voices or sounds that would indicate that Grandma had arrived.
Mia moved over to Gerald who had finished his excavation. She dropped the shaving equipment in the hole. Next she walked to the twin’s grave and gently laid the doll and the book side by side. She ignored the group of graveyard denizens that had come out to see what the commotion was about. Her concentration was on Anneliese Hofmann. Mia willed her to move through the ether to the graveyard.