Cameron arrived ten minutes later, and in that time, I’d downed three more shots of whiskey. I’m not even sure why I was drinking it, but at the time I felt compelled to keep hitting the bourbon like my life depended on it.
Fortunately, I wasn’t sloppy drunk yet by the time he knocked on my door. All of the liquor hadn’t hit yet, and I was still able to act reasonably normal. He could smell it on me, though.
“You’ve been drinking.” He said, but there wasn’t a hint of judgment in his voice. “A lot.”
“Yeah,” I answered guiltily.
“Let’s get you some fresh air.”
“Where are we going?” I asked as he backed the car out of the driveway.
“I figured we’d go to a movie. That way we can be together, but you don’t have to talk. It will give you some time to decompress before you tell me about what’s going on.”
He meant sober up, but I appreciated the sentiment. We didn’t make it to the movie theater before my stomach protested the large amount of alcohol I’d dumped into it.
“Pull over. I don’t feel good.” I pleaded.
I didn’t get sick, but I wasn’t sure if I could get back in the car. I got motion sick anyway, and the booze in my system was making a simple car ride more than I could bare. The good news was that we’d stopped a block away from a massive park on the edge of town.
“This will work too,” Cameron said with a compassionate smile. “Let’s go, Samantha. A little time walking amongst the trees will do you a world of good.”
He took my hand, and we walked towards the park entrance. Having Cameron’s hand in mine slowed the spinning in my head and made my stomach settle. For the first time since we’d gotten out of the car, I felt the warm sunshine on my face.
Cameron didn’t say anything for a long time. He led me down one of the park’s trails quietly, and I felt peace and clarity for the first time in a long time. I remembered feeling this at ease in life before I’d started drinking, and I knew what I had to do.
“Cameron, I need to quit drinking,” I said just above a whisper. “I think I have a problem.”
“That’s so good to hear.” He said and pulled me into a hug. “I’ve been praying for you.”
“I didn’t know you did that,” I said surprised, but I should have just said thank you.
“I still pray, Sammy. I don’t believe in the churches interpretation of God, but I do believe in him.” He said and squeezed me tighter.
“I was an atheist, or maybe an agnostic until I moved into my house,” I said.
“What changed your mind? Is it just the things you’ve been experiencing?” He asked after letting me go.
We began walking again, and I took a minute to ponder how to best explain what I’d discovered. I think I’d mentioned the stuff going on in the house to Cameron before, but I couldn’t remember. Maybe those conversations had been in my imagination.
“There’s a ghost in my house, Cameron. I can’t deny the existence of an afterlife anymore. We’re not just meat suits, and when we die, our consciousness doesn’t go out.”
“I know that, and I’m glad that you know it now too.” He said and squeezed my hand affectionately. “But, what do you mean that there’s a ghost in your house?”
Maybe I hadn’t told him anything. Or perhaps he just wanted the whole story again. Recent history had become a blur that made it difficult to remember specific incidents with any kind of accuracy.
“I’ve been hearing things and seeing things in my apartment.” I began.
We happened across a bench and Cameron and I sat down while I told him the rest of the story. Once I was done explaining the occurrences that had plagued me, I explained to him what I’d found out about the former tenant.
“I know that the woman who lived there before makes a convenient scapegoat for the activity in your home, but it doesn’t sound like a haunting, Sammy.”
“What else would it be?” I hoped that his answer wasn’t a demon because I wasn’t in the mood for religious garbage at that moment.
“You already know what I’m going to say, and I can tell by your tone that you don’t really want to hear it.”
“It’s okay,” I said and took a deep breath. “I understand what you believe, but I do think it’s the spirit of the woman who lived there before. Maybe she’s angry because I’m living in her home. I think I need to reach out to her.”
“That’s the worst thing you can do,” Cameron said adamantly.
“Why?” I asked, but truthfully, I was ready to tune him out.
“If you reach out to the entity, you’re essentially inviting it into your life. If it’s a demon, you’ve probably already done that, but if you engage with it, things will get much worse.” He said gravely.
“You’re saying I’ve already invited a demon into my life. So, if it is malevolent, it’s my fault?” Okay, now he had my interest and not in a good way.
“No, I’m not saying it’s your fault. Whatever happened in your life that opened the door to it, you might not have known what was going on. Do you remember anything recently that could have attracted the evil spirit? Something that you really regret?”
“No.” I lied.
I didn’t want to talk to Cameron about bad things I’d done. Even though I thought he was ridiculous, there was still a big part of me that craved his approval. I wanted, no I needed, him to like me.
“I’m going to ask you something, and I don’t want you to get upset.” He said gently. “Okay?”
“Go ahead,” I mumbled.
“When did the drinking start?”
“Well, when I was twenty-one I guess,” I said and blushed. “Okay, I had a beer at a party when I was nineteen, but I felt so bad about breaking the law that I waited until I was twenty-one to drink again.”
“Samantha, you know what I mean.”
I was lying to him, and I’d been lying to myself too. Something was very wrong with me, but I hadn’t wanted to deal with it. I’d been stuffing the memories down because I had school and a new job to worry about as well. I’d started drinking whenever life got a little hard to deal with, but the truth was, since the incident with Ryder, my life had flat out been hard to deal with. There was a baseline anxiety and depression that permeated my days. So, I drank.
“Something happened earlier this year. I’m not proud of it, and I haven’t actually told anyone.”
He just smiled reassuringly at me, and then listened quietly while I told him about the party and Ryder. By the time I was done with my story, the smile on his face had been replaced by a startlingly grim expression.
“I don’t think you’ve got a ghost on your hands, Sammy. You need to be careful.”
“Would you come over and take a look around?” I wasn’t sure why I thought that would help, but I hoped that it would.
“I can do that.” He said and gave my hand a squeeze. “Would you mind if I called someone from my old church. I’d like to get their take on your situation.”
“You know what, never mind,” I said. “Could you take me home?”
Chapter Nine
After that, I kept to myself until my new job started. On my first day, I shadowed an RN who thought the best way for me to learn the ropes was to watch her do her rounds for the evening shift.
About halfway through the shift, a patient had an episode during the medication pass. There were only a few people left who needed their meds, and the RN had already measured out the doses. She asked me to finish giving the medication while she helped with the patient who needed sedation.
The last room in the rotation was the one that made me wish I’d said no. The patient, Elizabeth Barrett, was a young woman committed to the mental hospital for her third suicide attempt. She had a history of psychosis and delusions of persecution. Elizabeth was calm and compliant long enough to get me to let my guard down.
“You’re new.” She muttered.
“I am. I’m Samantha, and I’ll be working as an LPN
on this shift.”
She studied me quietly as I retrieved her medication from the cart and punched the confirmation code into the tablet we used for monitoring med passes. I held the little paper cup out towards her.
“Do you want water or juice?” I asked.
Then, the door slammed shut behind me. I jumped at the sound, and Elizabeth started to laugh. She stood up and crossed the room in a flash. Before I realized what was going on, I felt her hand wind into my hair. She pulled my face close to her and stared into my eyes.
The strangest thing about the situation was the smell of lilacs. The scent of the flowers became almost overwhelming as the unhinged patient began to speak.
“It’s coming for you. There’s nowhere to run.” She hissed.
Before I could speak, the door burst open again. Susan, the RN supervising me, rushed into the room and stared Elizabeth down.
“Let go of her, Ms. Barrett. I’ll be forced to sedate you unless you sit down right now.” Susan said in a calm, commanding tone. “I don’t want to have to do that. You’ve been doing so well.”
Immediately, Elizabeth let go of me and sat down on the bed. She looked like an entirely different person, and it occurred to me that perhaps it wasn’t Elizabeth that had grabbed my hair.
I wasn’t sure what to make of the incident, though, because I thought it was my house that was haunted. If there was some sort of entity inside of Elizabeth Barrett communicating with me, why?
What she’d said to me sounded like a warning, but it could have just as easily been a threat. It was also possible that she had been trying to get a rise out of me and knew nothing about my current situation at home. If I was going to do my job effectively, I knew I had to pull myself together fast.
But, what about the door slamming shut behind me?
The rest of my shift had been uneventful. After the medication had been passed, lights out followed. Susan said that nighttime could go either way. Either everyone went to sleep, and it was quiet, or one person began acting out, and the chaos spread to everyone. Thankfully, everyone went to sleep, and we handed the shift off to new nurses at eleven.
I wanted to shake my thoughts about Elizabeth Barrett and leave them at work. Taking the night home with me would’ve been a sure-fire way to increase my stress level. I also desperately wanted the entity in my house to be Janice Lockheed, and I wanted her to be at peace with my presence in the apartment.
In the back of my mind, where I refused to acknowledge it, was the fear that the spirit in my house wasn’t Janice. If it was something malevolent, my subconscious mind knew that it would feed off my negative energy.
So, I stopped at the local diner that sat between work and my house. I was starving and in desperate need of a pick-me-up. This hadn’t been the way I’d expected to feel after the first shift of my dream job.
The diner was fairly empty, and there were only a couple of other tables that had people sitting at them. I ordered a huge lumberjack breakfast and a Cherry Coke when the waitress came around to my table. I justified it in my mind by reminding myself that pancakes were better for me than whiskey.
I took out my phone and tapped the screen to bring it to life. I didn’t want to be alone because I wasn’t sure if I was strong enough to go home and not have a drink. But, I wasn’t sure who to call.
I hadn’t talked to Riley in a long time, and it felt wrong to call her this late out of the blue. She also still drank, and I wasn’t confident that she’d be supportive. Riley would have most likely told me that I was too serious, and then we’d end up back at my house drinking until the sun came up.
That left John or Cameron. Wow. What a choice that had become recently. I closed my eyes, tried to clear my mind, and asked the cosmos which I should choose. My answer was a huge plate of food being set down in front of me.
“You okay, sweetie?” The waitress asked cheerfully.
“Yeah. I was just praying.” I said figuring this would be the most believable thing, and it would probably make her turn and run.
“Let me know if you need anything.” She said quickly and skedaddled away.
I paid the check and left a half hour later. When I got out to my car, I noticed I had a message. It was from John.
I was just thinking about you. I hope you’re well.
The message had been sent at the exact time I’d been asking who to call.
Chapter Ten
Calling John would have been the right thing to do, but instead, I went home. As I opened my front door, I could feel the wickedness in the air.
Even though it was warm outside, the air in my house was ice cold. The air conditioning wasn’t on, so there was no natural explanation for the cold atmosphere in my home.
“Janice?” I asked as I closed the front door behind me.
Cameron had told me not to engage with the entity, but I was cocksure of myself and decided to ignore his warning. I’d made a mistake.
The deadbolt behind me clicked into place, and when I turned around to try and unlock the door, the bolt was frozen in place. The next sound I heard was the sound of the basement door opening and slamming shut. That had to be impossible. I’d seen John nail it shut.
I was torn between walking into the kitchen to check the basement door at the bottom of the pantry and desperately trying to find a way back out of the house.
“You’re not going anywhere.” A raspy voice said from the living room.
The voice sounded half human and half… I don’t know… Reptilian? Either way, it was the most unnerving thing I’d ever experienced. There were three possibilities, and none of them were good.
Someone had broken into my house.
I was trapped by a malevolent entity.
Full on psychosis had set in.
While I weighed my options, I heard whoever was in my living room stand up. The floorboards creaked under their feet as they made their way towards where I stood in the hallway.
As they approached the spot in the doorway where they’d come into view, a strangled yelp escaped my throat. My heart pounded, and sweat ran in a thin line down my back.
“Come closer, and I’ll let you live.” The voice hissed from just out of sight.
I felt compelled to move forward as my feet betrayed me. My eyes closed as I took two steps forward into the doorway to the living room. I opened them.
Nothing.
“You’ve lost your mind.” I chided myself as I realized no one was there.
I had begun to relax as I stepped the rest of the way into the living room. That’s when the glass in the windows exploded. It sounded like every window in the house was blown out at once, and I ran to the front door.
Clawing at the wood with one hand and the lock with the other, I heard myself wailing for my mother. Sobbing and begging for help from the woman who I knew would do anything for me, but she wasn’t there.
“Please let me out.” I tried to plead with the entity, but the lock wouldn’t budge.
In my darkest moment, I thought of the things Cameron said. What if he was right? What if there was only one who could help me?
“Please, God. If you’re listening, please give me a hand. I know I haven’t prayed to you since I was a little girl, but if you could please help me.”
I just kept repeating “please help me” over and over to a God I wasn’t even sure existed. But, I guess it didn’t matter what I believed. The deadbolt turned.
My purse was still crossed over my body, and I raced to my car. I didn’t think. I just drove without looking back. When my car pulled to a stop, I was parked in front of Riley’s place.
“Oh, my gosh, Sammy. Are you okay?” Riley said when she opened the door.
Without waiting for me to answer, she reached out and pulled me inside. Tanner came into the entryway a second later.
“Oh, Sam. Do I need to call the police?” He asked in a voice that let me know I must have looked awful.
“No, no. I just needed to get away from the house.
” I said and hugged Riley without thinking. “I need a drink too. I’m shaking so bad.”
“Sure,” Riley responded. “Let’s all have a drink.”
“Yeah. I need a whiskey just looking at you.” Tanner added. “I’ll grab the bottle.”
I knew I shouldn’t drink, but the thought of a highball full of whiskey made me feel calmer. Soon, I’d have a belly full of the warm liquid. I could almost taste the burn in my throat before Tanner even got back from the kitchen.
We sat around in their living room, and I told Riley and Tanner the story of what just happened. They sat there with their mouths open looking stricken. When I was done telling that story, I told them what I’d seen on the other side of the house.
“You need a priest,” Riley said after taking another huge shot of bourbon. “My mom knows one. I should call her.”
It was good to be believed, but I didn’t want her calling her mom so late. “It’s okay. Besides, I’m not Catholic. I’m not sure they’d help me.”
Riley was about to argue when we all heard it. A low growl from the kitchen caught our attention. A loud thump and then a dragging sound followed. It started to come towards us down the hall.
“Oh no. It followed me.” I jumped out of my seat and ran for the front door.
“Sammy wait,” Tanner yelled after me, but I was already almost to my car.
I jumped in and drove away. There was no way I was going to let that thing near my friends. I drove for what seemed like forever. Constantly checking my rearview mirror almost caused me to wreck three times, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was in the back seat watching me.
One more close call and I knew I had to stop driving. I pulled over to the curb and looked up. I was at one of the town’s smaller parks.
The feeling that something was in the car with me persisted, so I got out and walked to a park bench. I sat there scanning the area around me, waiting for something to come out of the dark and grab me until I couldn’t keep my eyes open anymore.
Magic & Mystery: A Cozy Mystery Sampler Page 25