Cursed: Paranormal Women's Fiction (Mid-Life Haunts Book 1)

by Nhys Glover

  “An old lady called Miz Millie? An old lady who’s been dead for decades?” he seethed.

  I sighed and rubbed my forehead. Did I really want to give this bastard more ammunition to use on me? But then, what else but the truth would be sufficient for him. No other explanation worked.

  “Maybe you heard one of those loonies talking about the exorcism at the funeral…” he said, clutching at straws.

  “Yeah, that’s right. While they were calling for me to be sent back to hell they told me they were torturing a girl in the basement of Miz Millie’s house. That works!”

  “Maybe not the actual location, but they could have said they were doing an exorcism, and you followed them to the house…”

  “Then why wouldn’t I tell you sooner? Why did I sit around chatting with you, if I was worried a girl was being tortured by my enemies at that very moment?”

  He rubbed his temples, obviously replaying the morning in his mind.

  Finally he nodded. “Okay, I see your point. But you have to see mine. I have to believe you saw the ghost of Miz Millicent in the diner, who then told you what was happening in her old house? That stuff only happens on TV!”

  “Actually, a lot of police departments around the country use psychics to help solve their cases. I’m not one of them, by the way. And I don’t actually see ghosts.”

  Faith looked up at me, her grey eyes filled with tears again. “You don’t? I… I thought you were like me. How did you know?”

  “I am like you, darling. I just don’t see them. I feel them and get impressions, pictures in my head. Because I used to know Miz Millie when she was alive, I could easily pick up who she was. Then she just dumped the scenes in the cellar on me.”

  “That’s when you jerked back?” Jake asked, still keeping his voice low.

  I nodded. “It was horrible. And I couldn’t just let it happen. Even if you didn’t believe me, I had to tell you. Thank you for that, by the way. I really didn’t expect you to take me seriously.”

  Jake looked away. “Everyone in this town knows your family are witches. Seeing ghosts seemed to fit.”

  I hadn’t expected him to be so forthright. Maybe partnering up on this criminal investigation had created some trust between us. I didn’t know. But it seemed a very fragile thing I would have to foster if I was to keep him on-side.

  At that moment, the EMTs jogged in with a gurney. The medical center doctor quickly reported the situation as the men gently but proficiently lifted their patient onto their gurney. I could tell Faith wanted to go with her sister, but I knew she was too young. She’d be in the way, and once at the hospital she’d be all alone.

  “Stay with me, baby. I’ll drive you over to the hospital. Okay?” I said gently.

  She nodded, her eyes never leaving her sister as she was rolled away.

  “How is she?” Jake asked the doctor who had been working on her.

  The man was middle-aged and tired-looking, but he’d worked like a man in his twenties to help the girl.

  “We stabilized her. She’s in a bad way, but she’ll likely pull through. I hope you find the biggest, deepest cell in the country for whoever did this. Poor kid.”

  “I plan to do just that right now,” Jake assured him.

  He turned back to me. “I need to go back for Jones and his wife and call Child Services while I’m at it. You’ll stay with her at the hospital?”

  I nodded, my mind reeling. “She can come home with me. She trusts me now. The last thing she needs is to be shunted off to more unknown hands when she’s already so traumatized.”

  He looked down at the girl, who was clinging like a limpet to my side.

  “I can postpone notifying them for a while. And maybe I can pull some strings. Temporary fostering is a possibility, if I vouch for you.”

  I nodded, my heart lifting. He didn’t think I was crazy. If he did, he would never entrust a child to me so easily.

  “Okay. Can you drop us off at my car, so I can drive us to Franklin?”

  He nodded. “Sure, come on. But we have to make it fast before the bastards leave town.”

  10

  I got back to my place many hours later, with a tired, wrung-out little girl at my side. She had fallen asleep on the drive home and didn’t see the curse, not even when I carried her inside.

  Although she must have been nine or ten years old, if she was in Grade 3, she seemed younger. Maybe she was undersized from poor nutrition. I didn’t know when her parents had died and what their living conditions had been like before their death. Those questions would come later.

  Hilary had rung while I was at the hospital, worried when I hadn’t gotten home on time. I’d explained the situation and what I would be doing. Therefore, when I came in, dragging my feet as if I’d just been on an all-day hike, Hilary had a bed made up for the little one and Michael was ready to take my charge from my arms to carry her upstairs.

  “She smells awful,” Hilary whispered.

  “Her sister smelled worse. We need to undress her and sponge off the worst of it. I don’t think it's fair to force a shower on her right now. What she needs is sleep.”

  Hilary nodded, as did Michael, who was being very adult about the whole situation. He carried the girl as easily as if she’d weighed nothing, and looked good doing it. My son was growing into a kind and gentle man.

  Once she was down, my kids let me have a shower and change before dragging me downstairs for an interrogation. By the time I was done, they were staring at me wide-eyed with amazement and horror.

  “Have you ever had a ghost present you with a crime to solve before? It’s like Charlie Davidson, except you don’t act as a grim reaper and allow people to use you as a portal to the other side,” Hilary said.

  I laughed. Her and those books.

  “Nope, no crime-solving for me. Just the occasional ghost wanting acknowledgement and maybe for me to help them finish what they left undone. But even that got less when I had you kids. It’s like my life was focused on the living. Coming home, sensing Mom and Miz Millie is probably the most ghost action I’ve had in years. A lot of it’s about where you put your attention. And my attention since I got home has been on magic.”

  “That makes sense. And Dad wouldn’t have encouraged you,” Michael said thoughtfully. “I can only remember you talking about magic when he wasn’t around. I don’t know if you ever told us not to mention it around him, or if we just knew not to do it. He’s kind a narrow-minded about things like that.”

  I laugh tiredly. “Yeah, he is. But he had a ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ approach over the years. He probably knew I had a gift, but if I didn’t talk about it he could ignore it.”

  “Maybe that’s why he found someone else. The weird factor was too much for him,” Michael said, not to insult me, but as if he’d spent a lot of time trying to puzzle out the end of his parents’ marriage.

  “No, Michael. That wasn’t it, and it wasn’t that I didn’t keep myself in tip-top condition, either. Your dad just has a roving eye. Some men are like that. One woman isn’t enough. I knew it going in. I did take him away from his first wife, after all. Maybe this new wife will hold his attention. His libido will have slowed down by now. He is pushing sixty.”

  Michael scowled at me, but decided to change the subject to safer ground.

  “And the girl is okay? She’ll live?” Michael asked.

  I nodded. Yep. The doctors rehydrated her, gave her a blood transfusion and saw to her cuts and bruises. They had to set her broken arm. The doctors at the medical center had already put her dislocated shoulder back in. Gods only know how those injuries were sustained. They’re keeping her overnight but believe she can be released tomorrow.”

  “The vision the old lady sent you didn’t tell you how the injuries occurred?” Michael went on, seemingly fascinated by every detail of the story.

  “Not precisely. And to be honest, I didn’t look too closely. It was way too horrific. And Miz Millie was clearly traumatize
d by it as well. The images were pretty chaotic. I got the gist. That’s all that matters.”

  “And the sheriff believed you?” Hilary asked, yet again, not being able to get past the fact that Jake had known we were witches and that, when all else was dismissed, had believed I saw a ghost. Or… felt her.

  “As much as he can. He’ll probably have come up with another explanation by tomorrow, but he has far more pressing matters on his mind right now. Like finding which of the church members were in involved in the exorcism, so he can have them arrested. Wouldn’t it be good if Herbert was a part of it, and we lost our biggest challenger right off the bat?”

  Hilary sat back on the sofa and stared up at the ceiling. “I have a feeling he’s too smart to dirty his hands with anything illegal himself. You heard him at the funeral. He claimed he had no knowledge of the fire. I imagine he’ll claim he had no knowledge of the exorcism, either. And unless that little girl can put him there, I doubt his loyal supporters will incriminate him.”

  “I wonder how many more exorcisms he’s initiated,” Michael said thoughtfully. “I bet this wasn’t the first. Just the first that got discovered. Can you imagine the graves scattered around the country, courtesy of him and his people? All in the name of a righteous and jealous god who won’t accept any path but his own. Or the one determined by Herbert.”

  I hated to admit he was right, but I was pretty sure he was. Men like Herbert were into control, and they used religion as their way to gain that control. If it wasn’t God, it would be something else. And some people couldn’t think for themselves. They really are sheep. What was the term I’d heard bandied around? Sheeple? That sure fitted a big proportion of humanity. But at least there were more people thinking for themselves than ever before in the history of mankind. Or that was what I liked to believe.

  “You should go up to bed. You look worn out,” Hilary said, her expression concerned.

  After a sleepless night, the night before and then all the excitement and waiting today, I was exhausted. But it was still early and all I’d eaten all day was hospital canteen food, which was hours ago.

  “I’ll just make dinner and then head up to bed.”

  “Nope. I made lasagna while I was waiting for word from the hospital. It’s ready to eat.”

  My stomach grumbled on cue. My daughter made the best veggie lasagna. Even Michael, who was a dedicated carnivore, enjoyed it.

  “So, what will happen to the girls?” Hilary asked as we straggled into the kitchen.

  “Not sure. Jake let me take Faith for the night, but Child Services will have to get involved tomorrow, I assume. He said I might get temporary custody.”

  “Would you want to foster? I mean, you have a hell of a lot on your plate right now with the curse and Grandma’s business,” Hilary said carefully.

  I shrugged. “I know. But they have gifts. Magic. I hate to think of them in the system somewhere, trying to hide what should be valued. I never planned to have more kids, but holding that little darling brought back so many fond memories of you two when you were young. I … I wouldn’t mind giving motherhood one more try.”

  Hilary smiled slowly and looked at her brother. “Broody. I told you she was going to get broody after this.”

  “Why is every woman in this family so into motherhood? I mean, isn’t that very last century or something?” Michael jokingly exclaimed.

  “Depends what part of last century, numb-nut!” Hilary said, bussing her brother’s arm. “The second half was all about liberating women from the home. But the first half was still very into keeping women barefoot and pregnant.”

  “Unless they were needed to help with the war effort, then they were allowed out. Until the boys came home, and then they were waved back to where they belonged,” I said.

  “Whatever. I just think our family is a bit of a throwback. You guys treat motherhood as if it’s the most important job in the world.”

  “It is. Half the problems in the world today are due to the fact that kids aren’t properly nurtured and taught. If children don’t get the right start, then everything else just falls apart,” Hilary explained, as if talking to a two-year-old.

  “I would think the doctors trying to find the cure for cancer have the most important job in the world. Or the President. Every woman—so, like half the population—can be mothers. Hardly any qualifications or aptitude required.”

  “And that is why so many kids get a bad start. Because people think that all you have to have is a womb to be a good mother. There is way more to it than most people realize.”

  I tuned the debate out and focused on the steaming food that Hilary placed in front of me. I could barely keep my eyes open long enough to cut up the lasagna and bring it to my mouth. Luckily, it took minimal chewing and filled my stomach quickly.

  After my meal, I dragged myself upstairs to change into my PJs and then slipped next door to check on Faith, before finally giving in to sleep.

  The sweet little darling was curled up in a ball deep beneath the covers, her thumb in her mouth. It broke my heart that a girl of nine should still suck her thumb. What terrible things had happened to her that made her regress so badly.

  * * *

  Next morning I awoke to a feeling of being watched. As my sleep-crusted eyes opened, I found myself peering into a pair of gray orbs fringed with blonde lashes.

  “Morning, sweetheart. Did you sleep well?” I croaked out, voice equally encrusted with sleep.

  “Yeah. Can we go see Lauren now? Did the Sheriff protect her in the hospital? They might have come for her in the night.”

  I reached out to stroke back her messy hair. It needed washing badly.

  “I’m sure the Sheriff would have done everything in his power to keep her safe. You saw how upset he was by what was done to her. Those bad people won’t get away with what they did, I promise you.”

  She nodded and sat back on her haunches. She still wore her singlet and undies she had on under her filthy dress. As we had no kid’s clothes for her, leaving her in her underwear had been the only solution we had at the time. Hilary had taken her dress and socks to the laundry to wash and dry for the morning. I planned to get her some clean underwear at Mindy’s.

  “Can we go to the hospital now?” Faith asked again, her eyes pleading.

  I turned, blinking a little, to the light coming in through my bedroom window. It was still early.

  I was still in my old room. It felt too big a leap to move into my mom’s old room. Yet, if I was about to get two new children, I’d need to free up this room. The mansion was big, with plenty of bedrooms, but only so many of them had bedroom furnishings. They had been locked up when I was a kid so we didn’t untidy them and make more work for Mom and Gran.

  “I’ll call the hospital in a little while. In the meantime, can you shower yourself?”

  Faith nodded almost gratefully.

  “Okay then, take a good long shower and wash your hair. Hilary washed your dress, so you can put that on again after.”

  She blushed beet red. “My undies smell. I wet them when I saw Lauren yesterday. She didn’t look so bad at night by my flashlight, but yesterday they took me down to see her. They said I might get her to confess. With the electric light on, I saw how weird her shoulder and arm was, and... and how broken she looked… I was so scared for her.”

  Obviously, the memory of that time was still with her. Yet what concerned her was the fact she had wet herself.

  “It’s a natural bodily function when under threat. Grown men sometimes do it too if they're scared. There’s nothing to be ashamed about. The only shame lies with those terrible people. I’ll wash your undies by hand and stick them in the dryer while we have breakfast. Your dress will cover you until they’re dry. I was going to buy you some undies on the way to the hospital, but there’s nothing worse after a shower than putting on soiled clothes, is there? Will that work for you?”

  She nodded. “As long as it doesn’t take too long.”

>   Sitting up, I threw my legs over the side of my narrow bed, ready to show her that it would take no time at all. “Let me show you the bathroom. There are three up here, so we have each claimed one as our own. You can use mine. We’ll be quick, and before you know it you’ll be seeing your sister again. I bet you she looks a lot better this morning.”

  While Faith, clean and wearing her freshly washed dress, gobbled down cereal and orange juice, and her undies spun in the dryer, I called the hospital for an update. Little grey eyes watched my every move.

  “Hi, I’m calling about a patient. Lauren Jones. She was admitted yesterday afternoon.” I said to the woman on the other end.

  “Are you family?” she asked.

  “I’m her temporary guardian,” I said, hoping Jake had been as good as his word and organized for me to be that for both girls.

  “Your name?” the brusque woman demanded.

  “Cleo Channing.”

  After a moment of silence, where she likely consulted her computer files, she was back.

  “Lauren Jones is doing well. She had a good night with no complications. We expect to release her as soon as the doctor in charge of her case gives the word. He does his rounds mid-morning.”

  “Thanks. That’s great news. I’ll be in to collect her.”

  After ending the call, I smiled down at the impatiently waiting child. “She’s doing great. Still on track to be released mid-morning. I’m just going to check with the sheriff now, to see whether I’ll be allowed to bring her home with us.”

  Faith’s eyes showed her instant alarm.

  “Don’t worry, I’m sure it will be fine. The sheriff is very capable. And he could see how important it was that you stayed with your sister and with me. As you can see, my home is a good one for children.”

  I let my hand sweep out to indicate the sunny kitchen, clean and sparkling, courtesy of Hilary, I was sure. Michael wasn’t much into cleaning, and I hadn’t been doing any.

  “Would you like to stay with us? With me and my daughter Hilary and my son Michael?”