Nothing Town

by Cherie Mitchell

  When she puts it like that, it all sounds so hopeless. “Can you help me? I don’t know who else I can ask.”

  Jane glances at the women sitting on the bed. “We think we can but we want you to help us in return.”

  “What can I do to help you?” I’m not sure where she’s gotten the idea from that I have any special powers of my own.

  “Do you really think we enjoy spending eternity as trees? We want you to help us to permanently move on.”

  “How did you get to be trees anyway? Miss Oxley didn’t mention anything about that.”

  Myrtle sheepishly ducks her head as her friends turn and glower at her. Jane goes on to explain. “At the last moment, Myrtle decided to try her hand at a silly new and previously untried spell.”

  “And it backfired.” Maisie frowns at the back of Myrtle’s bent head. “It was supposed to lift the silver birch stakes out of the ground as the men lit the fires that would burn us. However, somehow it ended up condemning us to return to earth as saplings. It wouldn’t have been my first choice, but here we are.”

  “Why haven’t you tried to undo the spell before now? You’ve had a couple of hundred years to reverse it.”

  “It took until now for everything to come together in perfect harmony. Divine timing. Your brother is part of that. He’s unaware of it, but he has the ability to act as a conduit for various forces.”

  This is getting crazier by the minute but hey, I’m willing to help them just for the shits and giggles. “Okay, what do you want me to do?”

  “The young woman you met the other day. You need to get her on your side. She has a touch of the same gift as your brother. She is also well aware that change is a necessary evil in order to correct old wrongs. Besides, there’s safety in numbers.”

  “Belle? She told me she hasn’t lived here long but she did seem to know a lot about the history of the place.”

  Jane smiles proudly. “She is one of my descendants, a great-great-great-great-niece twice removed.”

  “That’s awesome! Does she know?”

  “She does not know of the relationship but she is aware she feels a strange kinship with everything the four of us went through.”

  “This is seriously cool. What do you want Belle and me to help you with?”

  “We need to atone,” explains Jane. “We brought ourselves down to the level of the Town Council when we cursed the men of Euthanasia. It’s time to lift the curse and apologize so we can all move forward. The breaking of the curse should have a roll-on effect and lift our own spell.”

  “Sounds great and I’m happy to do whatever I can. When shall we do this?” Shit-a-roonie, I’d be happy to start right now. I know I won’t rest until Obidiah has been dealt to.

  “Monday,” suggests Agnes. “Mondays are always a good time to begin something new.”

  “Except for diets,” says Myrtle knowledgeably. “Diets always fizzle out if you start them on a Monday. It’s a well-known fact. Friday Night Happy Hour comes around and boompha, that’s it. You’re done. All your good work of the preceding five days unravels like a knitted scarf and you’re left hating yourself in the morning.”

  Maisie wistfully chews on her thumbnail. “I must say I do miss my Friday night ciders.”

  “Monday it is. It’s time for us to go,” Jane says as she flips her hood back up over her hair. “We’ve dallied long enough.” She beckons to her friends, who all rise reluctantly from the bed. “Come back outside and we’ll return to our roots. If luck is on our side this may be one of the last few nights we have to do this. Our long penance may soon be done, my sisters in witchery.”

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Mom and Sheriff Dixie have a coffee date and anyone would think she’s won tickets to the greatest show on earth. “How do I look?” She does an anxious twirl in front of Organza and I.

  “You look fine.”

  “I have a date too,” Organza says airily. “I’m leaving in a couple of minutes to meet him.”

  “Good. Reece and I can enjoy some peace and quiet with both of you out of the house.” I give Reece a playful punch in the shoulder but he’s buried deep in his book and he just moves himself out of my reach without looking up or acknowledging my comment.

  Mom and Organza leave within minutes of each other and I try to lure Reece away from his reading but he’s having none of it. I pace around the living room for a while, bored with myself, and then I go out to check on the tree witches. However, they’re not interested in interacting today and I can barely raise a rustle out of them. I drag my feet back inside and go to my room to lie down on the bed. I know I should be out there doing quasi-dates and interviewing men but the whole Obidiah thing has left a bad taste in my mouth. I feel so foolish for allowing him to suck me in as Jack Hemlock. Not only that, but it’s Saturday and I’ve been working hard since I came to town. Surely a girl is entitled to some time off. I roll over onto my side, aware that I need to get hold of Belle and give her the heads up, but my eyelids soon start to droop and I don’t bother fighting it.

  I’m woken up by the skin-crawling sound of flies buzzing around my room. I’m off the bed in seconds and running out the door as if the hounds of hell themselves are after me. Mom and Organza look up as I gallop into the living room. “What are you doing, Ellie?”

  I’m still half asleep and reality is taking time to register. “Flies. In my room. Has anyone seen the fly spray?” I blink stupidly at my Mom and my sister, wondering why they’re back so soon from their dates. “Why are you here?”

  “Duh, ‘cos we live here.” Organza picks up the TV remote and turns the volume up some more.

  “She means why have you come back so soon,” Reece explains patiently. “Ellie, you’ve been asleep for hours. It’s nearly 4 o’clock in the afternoon.”

  “It is?” I rub at my eyes, attempting to get rid of the heavy, groggy feeling in my head. It’s not like me to sleep for so long during the day but then again, it has been a very odd 24 hours.

  “Dixie says hi,” says Mom. “He really is a lovely man. You should give him a chance.”

  “Hmmmph.” I sit down on the arm of Reece’s chair, fighting back a yawn. I feel as if I could sleep another ten hours and yet still wake up tired. “How did your date go, Organza?”

  Organza slants a spiteful look at me, accompanied by a sly smile, and I narrow my eyes back at her. “Don’t bother telling me then. I can already imagine how you bored the poor guy to death with your self-centered ramblings. What are we doing about dinner tonight?”

  “I thought we could order in.” Mom waves a stack of menu flyers over her head. “Pizza or Chinese might be tasty. I do like a good sweet and sour.”

  “Jack said to pass on his best regards,” Organza says as she cranks the TV volume up another notch. “He also said he hopes you liked the article he wrote about you for the newspaper.”

  “What.” I stare at her but she refuses to look at me. “Organza! Did you go to meet Jack?”

  “It’s a secret,” she mutters. “I shouldn’t have said anything. I knew you’d get pissy mouthed about it.”

  “All ladies should have a secret,” says Mom tartly. “It’s part and parcel of our gender. Leave your sister alone, Ellie.”

  “What the actual fuck? Mom, that’s so cliché! It’s also creepy. Why can’t I make you see how serious this whole thing is? Have you blanked so much of Cemetery Hill out of your mind that you can’t see the similarities between then and now?” I race across the room and snatch the remote control out of my sister’s hand. “Answer me, Organza. Did you go out to meet him today?”

  She gives me another one of those sly smiles. “Don’t get your panties in a bunch. You didn’t want him so he’s up for grabs. I just wanted to ask him where he buys his shirts and to get a few snaps of him for my Insta feed. My followers like dark, broody boys. By the way, he apologized for snubbing me the other day. Said he’d never have done it if he’d known I was an influencer.”

  “I t
hink it’s a generational issue,” interrupts Mom, clearly off on a tangent of her own. “You millennials think you know it all but guess what? You don’t. Learn from the mistakes your elders made before you came along and stop tripping over your own egos.”

  I barely hear what Mom is saying. Her lips are basically two pink puffs flapping in the breeze. “Organza, you walk around with your head stuck so far up your own ass it’s a wonder you ever see daylight. You must remember what he put us through at Pannier Street.” How am I supposed to deal with this? How can my sister be so ignorant?

  To my surprise, it’s Reece who steps up to save the day and here I was thinking he wasn’t paying any attention to the conversation. “Stop!” His roar is astounding. It’s the loudest noise I’ve ever heard him make. “Can you all stop fighting? I’m so tired of it. Fighting is all this family ever does when instead you should be supporting and helping each other.”

  He’s standing in the middle of the room now and he looks furious. He also looks so much like Dad that it turns me hot then cold. Organza bites her lip and scrunches down in her chair while Mom gazes around as if she’s not sure where to put herself. Reece continues unabated. “This family get together was supposed to be a birthday celebration. It sure doesn’t feel like much of a celebration with all of you at each other’s necks every hour of the day.”

  “Sorry,” we all mumble in unison. Reece is right and on top of that, we have some major challenges ahead of us. If we can’t work together as a mature, adult team we’ll never rid the world of Obidiah or reverse the witches’ curse. I haven’t told them yet about my agreement with Jane but I’m well aware that I’ll need to let them in on it soon if I want them to help.

  “We’ll try our best,” I say, choosing my words carefully as I’m well aware that miracles are hard to come by, “But you’re asking us to change the habits of a lifetime. We have always squabbled, Reece. In some weird, warped way I think it’s how this family says I love you.”

  Mom and Organa murmur and nod but Reece doesn’t look convinced. “I don’t understand it. I don’t need to squabble and fight but the three of you seem to know no other way.”

  “Maybe that’s because we don’t know any other way. However, I promise I’ll do what I can to keep the peace for the remainder of your birthday vacation.” I look purposefully at my mother and sister. “We all will, right? We have to.”

  “Of course!” says Mom. She nudges Organza with her elbow. “Organza?”

  Organza nods sullenly but I notice she has her fingers crossed. I’m about to tell her to say it like she means it when the doorbell rings and our precious family moment has passed.

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Belle is standing on the doorstep with her son cradled in her arms. George, her tall, bony-elbowed husband is standing beside her. “Hi, I hope you don’t mind us dropping in like this. We were just passing and I remembered you telling me that you were staying at Windfell.”

  “Belle! Perfect timing.” I grab the startled woman by the arm and haul her into the house before doing turning back to her husband. “Hi, George. Good to see you again. Come on in.”

  I perform the introductions then Reece takes little Jamie off to draw pictures at the dining table, which is great as I have a lot of explaining to do. I ask everyone to take a seat, tell them that what I’m about to say will require an open mind and a positive attitude, and then I start to explain to Belle and George about our years on Cemetery Hill.

  “You’re that family?” Belle’s lovely eyes sparkle with tears and she covers her mouth with her hand. “Oh you poor, poor things. I should’ve put two and two together when you told me about all the zombies you’ve dealt with in the past.”

  “What’s this?” George seems like he’s one of the good guys but he isn’t as quick on the uptake as his wife. We take a few minutes to bring him up to speed but to be honest, he’s looking a bit shell-shocked. I wonder how he’ll cope with the bomb I’m about to drop. I’m not sure how much Belle has told him about our conversation the other day about the wandering trees, or about anything else that she knows.

  “During my research into the history of Euthanasia, I discovered a book that outlined the burning of four women at the stake. The men of the Town Council trialed the women and condemned them as witches. One of the woman laid a curse over the town before they set her on fire.”

  “That’ll be Jane,” Reece says from the table.

  “Yes, Jane Oakleigh. She served as spokesperson for the group of women and she dared to defy the word of the men by telling them exactly what she thought of them before she died. She issued a Sacral Decree, dividing the wider area into town and country while cursing the men to live without enough females in their lives.”

  Mom claps her hands. “Ooooh, it sounds like a real mystery, like something Agathy Christo might have written.”

  I can’t believe my Mom has just said something so stupid in the middle of my explanation. Luckily, Belle turns her ‘oh you poor, poor things’ gaze on my mother and I get the feeling she’s lumped Mom’s lack of culture in with the trauma we faced on Cemetery Hill. The whole ‘you looked death in the eye and your brain died a little’ type of scenario. I decide to leave it where it falls. Sometimes that’s all you can do.

  I return to the story and everyone listens with rapt attention, even Mom. I pleased to note that neither she nor Organza butts in when I tell everyone about my theories on the Kenworth zombie farm, my meeting with the four silver birch witches, and the return of Obidiah, who is feeding off the current situation and growing stronger by the minute. Organza wrinkles her nose at the mention of Obidiah/Jack but she keeps her mouth shut, which saves me from going to the trouble of bitch slapping her.

  Finally, I’m done and the room settles into a deep silence, save for the sound of Jamie’s crayons scratching across the paper. “Well,” says George, “It does require quite a mind stretch, doesn’t it? How do we know you’re telling the truth?”

  That takes the wind out of my sails. I don’t think I have the time nor the inclination to prove myself to anyone. We need Belle and George in on this because as Jane said, there will be safety in numbers for what lies ahead. I’m standing there, opening and shutting my mouth like a landed trout, when the door opens without warning and the four pretty maids all troop in.

  “Oh,” says Mom. “Weren’t you here the other evening? I don’t think I caught your names.”

  “I’m Jane and this is Myrtle, Agnes, and Maisie. I hope you don’t mind us walking in like this but we couldn’t help but overhearing you.” Jane points to the window that I opened earlier to let some fresh air in. “We thought it might help if we came in and added our two gold coins to the conversation.”

  Belle is staring at Jane with a light of recognition in her eyes. “You look a lot like someone I know.”

  “Genealogy, dear. There’s a family link. I’ll explain it to you sometime.” Jane smiles kindly at Belle before continuing. “There are many wrongs to be righted in this town and the time has come to action a reenactment. Are you all on board?”

  “Wait.” George clearly has more questions. I bet he’s the type to turn an hour long committee meeting into a four hour drudgery for all concerned. Belle tugs at the back of his shirt to make him sit back down but he wiggles out of her grip. “I hope you’re not expecting us to do anything illegal.”

  “Righting wrongs isn’t illegal. We want to put things back to how they should be. The divisiveness of Euthanasia and the surrounding region has gone on for far too long.” Jane is about to say more when George interrupts her again. I knew I was right about those committee meetings.

  “Are you expecting us to kill the zombies?” He angles a flinty stare at me. “Didn’t you just say that the only way to get rid of them in the past was with fire?”

  “Uh, yeah. It’s difficult to kill something undead unless you burn it. Well known fact.” I’m surprised he doesn’t know this.

  George sets his jaw mutinousl
y. “That settles it. We’re having nothing to do with killing anything. Come along, Belle.”

  Luckily, Jane has the right answer. “They’re already dead, George. These beings are living in limbo, which is no fun for anyone. We’ll be releasing them from their purgatory and releasing this town from the ties that have held it trapped for far too long.”

  “That sounds right up your alley,” Belle says encouragingly to her husband.

  “I don’t know.” George is wavering now. “When is this supposed to happen?”

  “Monday,” Reece adds in from the table. I wonder how he knows this when he wasn’t in the bedroom yesterday when I spoke with the witches. I have a sneaking suspicion that Obidiah has been bending his ear. Obidiah and his newly expanded powers terrify me.

  “We have our weekly meetings on Monday,” George complains. “I hope you’re not expecting me to take the day off.”

  Belle turns to her husband and gives him a disapproving frown. George blinks twice and I get the feeling he’s not used to his wife disapproving of anything he does. He sits back down in his chair and clamps his mouth shut.

  “Looks like we have our team,” says Myrtle. “Hands up who wants to crack open a keg of cider once it’s all done?”

  Now everyone is talking at once. Mom is debating with Myrtle over whether apple or pear cider tastes best, Organza is complimenting Maisie on her plaits, Reece and Agnes are making gooey eyes at one another, and Belle is cooing over little Jamie’s crayon drawings.

  “Rightio.” Jane claps her hands together to grab everyone’s attention. “Let’s get this party started.”

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Monday dawns bright and clear, which isn’t essential to our plan but sunshine is always welcome. Jane and her friends worked on whatever it was they needed to do for most of Sunday and we’ve chosen 9.00am as the time to put the plan into motion. When I asked how they could be sure it would work, Jane said that Obidiah missed one vitally important point when he started using Euthanasia’s energy to grow his own strength; there must be balance in all things and while his powers of darkness were expanding so too were the powers of good and light.