When To Fear The Living

by B. L. Brunnemer

  When dinner was over everyone cleaned up, it was the twins’ turn for the dishes. Zeke took off for work, Asher and Miles sat with Rory talking, while I took Hades outside for a break. I was rocking back and forth trying to keep warm and ignore the pain radiating down my neck when a soul came around the house. He was an older man, in his seventies, I’d say. Nice suit with a bow tie, he looked charming and sweet, it was a lie. Mr. Wright was a miserable old ghost who wanted to move on.

  “Why don’t you get working young lady?” He chided me. “I want to see my family.” I sighed painfully. The salt around the house must have worn out. My head started aching.

  “I’ve told you. If I burn myself out, no one will be able to move on,” I reminded him. Mr. Wright came closer. My chest started aching, heart attack. Before I could move, Hades ran back to stand between me and Mr. Wright, he barked and growled at the soul. I opened the back door, picked him up and hurried inside, I came up short. The dead were walking through the front of the house, making a beeline for me. Shit, blood hit my lip, I grabbed tissues and slipped on my bracelets as fast as possible. By the time they reached me, they could only yell at me. I looked around and saw that Tara was still at the table doing her homework. Shit, I hurried through the living room, holding tissues to my nose. It was so loud I didn’t even hear my name being called as I ran up the stairs. I hit my room and looked for the salt I usually kept in there.

  “Lexie?” I could barely hear Rory’s voice over the shouting of the dead. I found my salt and threw it around. The souls screeched and backed up out of my room as Rory walked to the door. I glared at the dead in the hallway.

  “Get the fuck out,” I hissed quietly, putting everything I had into it. My stomach cramped as they were shoved back a few feet, but it didn’t stop them, they just yelled louder. I walked back into my bedroom and covered my ears. If I shoved them again, I was going to be sick, I really fucking hated this. I sat on my bed, rested my elbows on my knees, and covered my ears as Rory got my attention. He was saying something, but I couldn’t hear him. “I can’t hear you over the dead, Rory. They’re in the house screaming at me,” I made a point to keep my voice at a normal volume. Tara didn’t need to hear me. Rory nodded, then hurried out the door. I closed my eyes and sang a song in my head, hands were on my shoulders and back. I opened my eyes to find Miles next to me, Ethan in front of me, and Isaac standing behind Ethan. They were in my bedroom and they all looked worried. “The dead are screaming,” I told them directly. Miles reached into his pocket and handed me some more tissues. I dropped my hands and gave him a grateful smile. I tried to ignore the names the dead were yelling at me. Miles’ hand was running up and down my back, comforting me while Ethan was making funny faces at me. By the time Rory got the salt around the house done, I was laughing at Ethan. The ghosts all gave one last shriek as they were thrown out of the house through the wall. I was still laughing as I checked my tissues. Ethan got to his feet; my nose bleed had slowed.

  “So, this is your room?” Isaac said, turning to my desk. He started poking through my desk drawers. I reached out and smacked his hand.

  “Look, but no snooping,” I shot at him. Isaac grinned down at me before looking at the few pictures I’d put on my desk in frames. They were of all us over the last few months.

  “Are you alright?” Miles asked. His voice showing his concern, I nodded and checked my tissues again, the bleeding had stopped.

  “Yeah, I just-” Ethan started opening one of the drawers under my bed. “Snoopy, shut that now.” He looked over at me smirking. I got up and slammed the drawer shut, he barely got his fingers out of the way.

  “What are you hiding, Beautiful?” Ethan’s eyes were full of mischief.

  “That’s my underwear drawer,” I told him bluntly. “So, unless I get to go rifling through yours, hands off.” Ethan held his hands up, palms out and near his head.

  “Gotcha, I thought it was just storage. Don’t you have a dresser?” Ethan asked before going to open my closet, which I didn’t care about.

  “No, there isn’t enough room,” I turned to see Isaac pulling open the drawers on my desk, while Miles eyed my bookshelf from my bed. “Miles, you can look at the bookshelf. That’s not being nosey,” I offered. He shot me a small grin before getting up to cross the small room. I went back to Isaac’s side and smacked his hand again as he was pulling out the middle drawer again. He shot me a suspicious look, I just glared at him. He sighed then went to flop on my bed. I sat on my desk while the others looked through my bedroom.

  “Lexie, have you read all of these?” Miles asked, still looking over the shelves.

  “Yep, I never got to keep any, though. I’ve been picking up my favorites from the second-hand bookstore the last few months,” I said. Miles turned to meet my eyes.

  “Why didn’t you get to keep them?” Miles asked.

  “It was a one bedroom trailer. I had a cabinet for clothes, and that was it,” I reminded him. His brow drew down as he went back to looking at my packed shelves.

  “You’re running out of room,” Miles observed.

  “Not in her closet,” Ethan snickered.

  “You have the least amount of clothes of any girl I’ve ever known.” I resisted the need to squirm. “One side of the closet is full,” I pointed out, starting to feel defensive. I hated it. It reminded me of the conversations I had with my Mother, she’d criticize me for not being more girly, it had always ended with a shouting match. I just didn’t think that much about clothes, I had nothing to be embarrassed about. I would just rather spend my money on other things, like books and music.

  “Most girls have both sides packed,” Ethan countered still looking at my closet. I sighed quietly and reminded myself that Ethan didn’t mean it the way my Mother had.

  “Ethan, in the last five years, I have been well acquainted with not having much,” I reminded him. Isaac snagged my hand in his. I turned to see him lying on my bed, he winked at me.

  “Don’t listen to my brother, Red.” I noticed Ethan go still out of the corner of my eye. “He’s a clothes horse, his dresser and closet is packed.”

  “Yeah, he’s right,” Ethan agreed as he shut my closet, his fingers twirling his rings as he turned around. “I do have a closet to rival the girliest girl ever, my perception is probably skewed.” He walked over to drop on to the bed at Isaac’s feet. I gave Isaac’s hand a squeeze, I was pretty sure he let Ethan know to drop the subject somehow. Someone was coming up the stairs, a few seconds later Asher climb the last few steps to the landing. He was frowning and muttering to himself as he came in, his eyes ran over me then back to my face.

  “Are you okay, Ally?”

  “Yeah, the dead are outside now,” I replied. He nodded before glaring at the twins on the bed.

  “You shitheads were going to come down and save me,” Asher snapped quietly at them. We all laughed.

  “We got distracted checking out Red’s room,” Isaac gestured around my bedroom. He looked down at Ethan and nudged him with his foot. “Ooh, send some pics to Zeke. We might never see this room again!” I chuckled as Ethan got to his feet, pulled out his phone and started taking photos. I decided to ignore him, I looked at Asher who was looking at my book shelves now. Miles had moved to lean by the door since there wasn’t enough room for all of them standing. He had his thinking face on while he looked at my bed.

  “You have a lot of books, Ally,” Asher said. I eyed the shelves.

  “Yeah, I’ve only been buying the ones Dad read with me, but I’m still running out of room.” I hated to admit it, but my shelves were already sagging in the middle.

  “You just need more shelves,” Asher pointed out. I had been thinking about buying some, but I didn’t know how to put them up. Wait, YouTube, I could probably pull it off. Ethan burst out laughing, we all looked at him as he held his phone up.

  “Zeke’s telling all of us that we have no business being in her bedroom,” Ethan announced. Everyone laughed at that. I was still l
aughing when my phone rang, it was Zeke.

  “Yeah?”

  “Are the twins being nosy shits?” Zeke growled in my ear. I sighed.

  “The twins were trying to be, but they stopped after I almost slammed their fingers in drawers,” I grinned down at Isaac. He stuck his tongue out at me before fluffing my pillow behind his head. “Watch the twins. They like to move your shit when you're not looking,” He warned. I bit back a grin, it sounded like Zeke had dealt with it before.

  “I don’t have that much stuff to move,” I pointed out. He huffed.

  “Good point. You were right, though, your room is small,” Zeke said. I snorted.

  “Yeah.”

  “Hades is going to get too big for your bed soon,” He reminded me. “I know, I’m saving for a bigger bed, so I don’t have to ask Rory,” I admitted. Everyone was suddenly looking at me, all of them interested. I snorted. “So, Hades can sleep next to me,” I reminded them. They all seemed to relax at once. I just shook my head as I went back to talking to Zeke. “Aren’t you supposed to be working?”

  “I just finished an engine when Ethan sent me those pics,” He growled. “And now I have to get back to work. Call me later with who messed with you. Seriously, watch the twins.” He hung up without saying goodbye, I tucked my phone back in my pocket. There were steps on the stairs, Rory reached the landing then leaned in the door. “How’s it going?” Rory asked as his eyes ran over me.

  “Good, now that they’re all outside,” I replied.

  “Is that tar water still on backorder?” Rory asked. I nodded. Rory sighed before looking at the guys. “Alright boys, it’s that time.” The guys groaned. Rory snorted as the guys said bye to me before heading downstairs.

  “Night Lexie,” Miles called from the door. I waved to him.

  “Night Ally,” Asher said as he sent me a warm grin. Ethan came over gave me a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

  “Night Beautiful,” He whispered in my ear. Isaac came over, hugged me, then gave me a wet raspberry on my other cheek. I was wiping it off as he rushed out the door laughing. I shook my head at him. Rory looked around the room and sighed.

  “I’m going to lift the ban on guys upstairs,” Rory announced. Both my eyebrows went sky high. “But only with me at home and the door open.”

  I nodded. “Got it, boss,” I assured him. He snorted before heading back downstairs. Wow, the boys can come into my room. I was really going to have to keep my laundry off the floor. But it was getting late, and that meant one thing, Veil work. Joy.

  I screamed in frustration at the Way. The Veil was a desolate, burnt shadow of itself, the sky above still boiled. The green smoke shifted and slithered through the clouds, and I still couldn’t figure out how to get it to stop. I lay back on the cracked, dry dirt and screamed.

  “Calm down you mother-!”

  “What the hell are you doing?” Another voice snapped at me, only it sounded exactly like my own voice. I sighed and sat up again. Imposter Lexie was standing a few feet from me, with her arms crossed over her chest, glaring at me. Huh, so that's what I look like when I glare at the twins. “I’m fumbling around in the dark and getting nowhere,” I snapped back. She blinked at me in surprise then she was frowning at me.

  “What’s the problem?” She asked almost kindly. I sighed and pointed above me without taking my eyes off her.

  “I can’t figure out how I’m supposed to calm the Way,” I pointed out. Imposter Lexie sighed then met my gaze with calm eyes.

  “Show me what you’ve been doing,” She said.

  “What?” I asked, stunned.

  “I want to see what you’re doing wrong,” Imposter Lexie said. “There are other things that I have to take care of, so, hurry up.” I said fuck it and closed my eyes. I calmed my mind like I did in the real world when I started to meditate. Then instead of sinking, I tried to reach out with my mind. But again, there was nothing. Growling in frustration, I opened my eyes. Imposter Lexie’s were on me. She nodded.

  “You’re leaving your natural barriers up, that’s why you’re not getting anywhere,” She stepped closer. “You need to drop those if you’re going to make any progress.”

  “How?” I snapped. She sighed.

  “Close your eyes.” Imposter Lexie’s voice was calm. I did as she said. “Think of a time when you felt the safest, happy even.” Instantly, I thought of the guys. I pushed it away. No, I had to have felt safer with Dad, right? I tried to remember feeling safe with my Dad. I remembered listening to him read to me, riding in the Blazer on a last-minute camping trip. I remembered feeling happy, and safe. But the feeling was faded, not as sharp as it used to be, not as clear. I had trouble remembering it now. Tears filled my eyes as guilt hit me hard. How could I forget Dad? Why didn’t I feel it now, like I did back then? I bit my tongue hard to fight off the tears. “What are you remembering?” Imposter Lexie snapped. “Cause that’s not the way you need to go.” I shook my head as I opened my eyes. I wiped my face before looking up at her.

  “Nothing, I just...” I didn’t know how to explain. Imposter Lexie’s eyes ran over me, her face softened.

  “Memories fade, Alexis,” She told me firmly. “That doesn’t mean the person didn’t mean anything to you, time does that to all memories.” I met her eyes.

  “How did you know that was what I was thinking about?” I asked suspiciously.

  “You have an expressive face. It said guilt and sorrow a moment ago,” She explained, then tilted her head to the side. “It’s not that hard to figure out here but this isn’t the time for a discussion on that topic. What was the first memory that came to you? The one you pushed away?”

  “I was with my friends,” I said. I wasn’t giving her more than that. Imposter Lexie nodded.

  “Then use that one,” She told me. “Now, close your eyes and picture yourself in that memory.” I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. It was after Miles came home from Nevada. Everyone was at Miles’ house, in the family room for a videogame marathon. I was sitting between Asher and Miles on the floor in front of the big sofa. Isaac’s head was on one leg near my knee as he munched on popcorn, Ethan’s head was laying on my other leg as he watched the battle happening on the big screen. Zeke was snoring away on the big sofa behind us. My fingers were playing with Isaac’s hair, my head resting on Miles’ shoulder. I was almost asleep, someone said my name, I made a small noise, Zeke shifted on the couch, one of his hands found my shoulder. It was the safest and most relaxed I had felt in a long time. I fell asleep that way. I remembered that memory. With the feel of Miles’ shirt against my cheek as I smelled leather mixing with wintergreen, vanilla, spice, and limes, I felt that peace again. Suddenly, my barrier drop. The energy of the Veil swept through me like a hot wind blowing across my soul and mind.

  “Good,” Imposter Lexie said. “Now open your eyes.” I opened my eyes slowly. Around me was a dome of shimmering energy, like golden waves of heat rising from the ground, it surrounded me. “That is your energy, your control,” Imposter Lexie explained. “Now, you’re going to push it out away from you.” She walked around me and out of my sight.

  “How?” I asked quietly, afraid I’d throw my barriers up again.

  “Think about it for a moment,” She said patiently. I closed my eyes and cleared my head. Will, I had to will my energy across the Veil just as I did with the ghosts at the house. I focused. I wanted to stretch out across the Veil. I concentrated on that need and pictured it in my mind. There was a strange stretching sensation in my chest, but I ignored it. My energy began to creep over the Veil. I could feel it, the soil dry, cracked, and parched for water, that’s when I realized it.

  “The Veil is dying,” I said quietly, still focusing on moving my energy.

  “Yes, it is,” Imposter Lexie said. “Now, open your eyes.” I did as she said. The shimmering wall of gold had moved across the ground from me. I looked around, I had managed halfway to the walls in every direction. My control wavered, the wall flickered bef
ore rushing back to me and my barriers slammed shut as if I was stepping out of the blazing sun and into the shade. The difference was shocking. While I was still disoriented, Imposter Lexie walked around me again. “That wasn’t bad for your first try,” She announced, her eyes running over me appraisingly.

  “The Veil is actually dying,” I said again, still unable to believe it. Imposter Lexie nodded. “Without the continuous flow of energy from the dead moving on, the Veil will collapse. And the world will change in ways you wouldn’t believe,” She said her voice serious. I looked up at her.

  “What are you?” I asked. She smirked.

  “What do you think?” She countered. I didn’t want to play games. I wanted an answer. When I wouldn’t play, she started walking off. She paused, turning back to me. “If you get into trouble again, just call for Imposter Lexie.” Then she disappeared, I sighed deeply. What the hell was she? How the hell did it know so much? I decided to put it out of my mind for tonight as I pulled myself back and up.

  Chapter 2

  Friday

  I was cursing as I walked away from my Blazer in the student lot. I was struggling to close the zipper on my bag and juggle coffee at the same time when someone grabbed my arm and jerked me backwards. I stumbled back against someone as a yellow car shot by. Heart slamming, it took me a minute to realize that I had almost walked right out in front of that car, damn. I looked up to see Clay. He had a friendly face with okay cheekbones and a decent chin. His black hair was still cut short to his head. His brown eyes were glaring at the car that finally parked two rows over and he was still frowning when he looked back down at me.

  “You okay?” Clay asked, his hand still on my arm.

  “Yeah, thanks. I’m just...” I rubbed my eyes with one hand.

  “Scattered?” He offered. I dropped my hand and smiled up at him.