Five Minutes After Midnight

by A. J. Gallant

  After Tim tied the boat, the sound of their footsteps was loud as they made their way across the redwood dock, adding to the atmosphere they had created, and then Anita grabbed his hand and they ran to the basket. They set the food on the blankets and ate, thoroughly enjoying the loveliness of it all. It appeared as if the dolphins were putting on a show as they jumped out of the water. The sirloin steak with garlic butter was delicious and the wine perfect.

  Tim saw a storm brewing in the distance, the dark clouds were slowly getting closer, making him wonder if the family they passed had wished for the inclement weather. He would wish it away before it got to them, but when the time came he discovered that he couldn’t. Anita wasn’t able to get rid of the thunderstorm either, and suddenly a bolt of lightning struck a palm tree behind them. Something was definitely wrong.

  The ocean waves were getting larger and a huge one came crashing on the shore almost making its way to the basket. Tim pointed out the massive wave that was heading for them, it appeared to be a tsunami. Anita reminded him that they were already dead and need not worry, but there was something about it that seemed dangerous. It got darker as the wave got closer and closer.

  Anita opened her eyes and found that it had all been a dream. Dreams in heaven weren’t usually scary so why had this one been so different?

  chapter twenty-five

  AT THE SCENE OF THE MURDER along with about a dozen cops, Detective Brown was taking in the lay of the land. The strange thing was that no one could describe the face of the shooter. Some said that his face was blurry which made Olivia suspect it was a supernatural thing. This stuff appeared to be following her around like a predator seeking prey. Why was everything now so otherworldly?

  Fred’s body was slumped on the bench; he had taken one to the head and four to the torso with the occasional drop of blood still dripping from the bench. It wasn’t often that someone got the drop on a serial killer.

  “Olivia, that’s the killer,” said Anita. “And believe it or not his soul has gone to heaven.”

  “The serial killer?” asked Olivia. “You have got to be kidding?”

  “No, as a child he was tortured by his father to such a degree that it broke him and all those evil acts weren't his fault. Now he has to work through what he did in life in heaven.” Anita gestured to two cops that were watching the detective. “They think that you’re talking to yourself. Just whisper and I’ll hear you.”

  Olivia whispered. “Isn’t that going to piss off the people he killed that are in heaven?”

  “They see the big picture, and besides they are much too happy to care. Oh, and he was murdered by a demon.”

  “Demons? What the fuck? What the hell am I supposed to do about that?” Olivia had again gotten too loud, and people were staring. She thought they might be ordering a straight jacket soon if she didn’t watch what she was doing.

  Anita shrugged. “Diallo’s gonna be helping us, and we’re trying to get someone to come and deal with the demons.”

  The body fell over, and three black butterflies flew out of the corpse. “That was creepy. Anita, did everyone see that or just me?”

  “Anyone that was looking saw it.” Anita watched curiously as the insects flew away, and she didn’t like the vibe that she was getting from those things.

  “Is that a sign of things to come?” Olivia had her eyes on one of the butterflies and watched it until it vanished.

  “I have no idea Detective. I’m going to see if I can track down Cuthbert and ask him what is going on. I’ll be back when I get some answers.”

  “And tell them that I’m getting tired of this shit.” If I ever write a memoir, no one will believe it. Olivia’s right hand started to shake; she held it with her other hand wondering now what? Stress could manifest in many different ways, and if seeing this stuff didn’t stress a person she didn’t know what would.

  The area was already beginning to have a different feel to it, murder could do that to a place, felt like a dark cloud was now hanging over it. It was time to get to work.

  chapter twenty-six

  AUNT STELLA PLACED THE EMPTY CEREAL BOWL in the sink and then washed her kitchen table. It was ten minutes to eleven, and Stella had saged the place and said some prayers as she had a client that was supposed to show up shortly. She was charging three hundred dollars for the reading this morning, some old fella wanted to contact his wife. Without a physical body, it wasn’t the same, but people were happier knowing their loved ones were okay on the other side. Sometimes it made a huge difference.

  There was a knock at the door, and she imagined that Garrett had arrived, and sure enough it was him. He had white hair and was wearing a black fedora. His eyebrows definitely needed a trim, and his ear hair was longer than should be possible. He looked to be in his late seventies and yet he seemed healthy as if he might make another twenty years before the end came. There was a strength to him.

  “Mister Garrett, come in come in and follow me to the kitchen and have a seat at the table. Your wife is already here waiting for you. She’s been here for almost an hour waiting for you.” Stella watched as he sat down and tossed the six fifty dollar bills across the table to her, and she pushed the money aside as she sat down.

  “I don’t believe in this nonsense,” said Garrett. “No one can talk to dead people, once you’re dead that’s it.” He was waiting for a response to see if he could get her going. Garrett knew there were a lot of charlatans around, but was she one of them?

  Stella looked at him and shook her head. “Why would you pay good money if you don’t believe in what I do? Why don’t you just flush your money down the toilet? The Same result according to you.”

  “Well, Samuel swears by it. Said that you made a believer out of him. Said he’ll give me my money back if you don’t convince me.” He stared at Stella with his bright blue eyes.

  “So do you want to continue or not? I can only tell you what the spirits tell me.” Stella could see that he wasn’t as unconvinced as he was letting on.

  “I guess,” said the old man. “It 'll take a lot to convince me I can tell you that. I’m no fool.”

  She smiled. “We’ll see. Is your wife’s name Caroline?”

  “It is.” Did she just call me a fool?

  “Was she buried in a blue dress?”

  “She was. How can you know that?” Can this foolishness be real? But how on earth is she doing it?Was she talking to Samuel? Are the two of them are in on this? I wouldn’t doubt it.

  Stella could see Caroline standing behind him. “She just tried to slap you on the shoulder. Did you fight a lot as a couple?”

  “Yes, but it was mostly just in play. Caroline liked to slap me but not hard. Spanking was part of the sex when we were younger.” Garret shook his head. “Now, why am I telling you this stuff.”

  She’s holding a cross that is broken and says she was buried with it.

  Garret scratched his head vigorously and with such force that it made Stella smile. So when I die, it’s not the end of it. Good, God! “Caroline, where the hell are my lucky socks? I can’t win a damn thing at bingo without them. Bingo is pretty much all I have left.”

  Aunt Stella looked as though she was deep in thought. “She says to look behind the bureau in your bedroom, and she told me you need to clean the place up it looks like a pigsty.”

  A tear ran down Garrett’s left cheek at the thought that he was again talking to his Caroline. “Caroline, what is heaven like?”

  Stella looked at the spirit and listened. “She says it is wonderful, but it’s something that’s too hard to explain. Just a minute, Caroline wants me to get pen and paper.” Aunt Stella got it out of the kitchen drawer and put it in front of Garrett.

  He picked up the pen as he stared down at the paper. “I’m supposed to write something?”

  “Your guess is as good as mine.”

  His wife’s soul went into him, briefly taking over his body as she wrote. No, she was drawing a map to the portal t
hat Aunt Stella was somehow supposed to close. “Did I draw that? What is it? I don’t understand? Why do I feel so funny?”

  Stella took the paper and examined it, quickly realizing that the map was for her. Now she had the exact location to the door to the dark side. But how on Earth was she supposed to close it? Wasn’t that information supposed to come in a dream? Now that Olivia had been pulled into this world, Stella also seemed drawn in deeper. Were they both being pulled down the drain? If she blessed or rather had the area blessed perhaps nothing might be able to emerge from it? Made sense to her. “Garret, the map is for me, and Caroline has gone back to the other side.”

  The old fellow got up and was deep in thought; it was a lot to take in as he had been an atheist and now he wasn’t so sure. If he found his socks that would be the clincher. But then again there was no way this so-called medium could have known the stuff that she had come out with, but if heaven was real? Garret had some pondering to do. And maybe asking for forgiveness for a few things. Life should come with a book of the do’s and don’t’s. Maybe it already did.

  chapter twenty-seven

  THERE WAS A DOWNPOUR OUTSIDE, and a rumble of thunder. Olivia thought it funny how the rain was soothing, wasn’t sure what the psychology was behind it. Maybe it was something that had transferred from the days of cave people. Perhaps they felt safer when it rained, fewer things that could eat them were out lurking. She had had an uncle that had been killed by a bolt of lightning as he slept, but for some odd reason, it hadn’t touched his wife sleeping beside him. Had someone from the dark side ordered that bolt for some mysterious reason? Olivia had lots of weird thoughts these days.

  Olivia stared at her stack of four French toast and glass of chocolate milk on the kitchen table. She was also occasionally glancing toward the washroom as she sighed, life had thrown so much at her recently that it seemed as if she was living someone else’s life now. That the things that go bump in the night were real repeated itself over and over. It was a new consciousness and that the world wasn’t at all what it appeared to be was daunting. Olivia placed a pat of butter on her toast and added some salt, and to the Detective this breakfast was a delicacy. She drank the milk and then poured herself another glass. Wondered what Aunt Stella was doing.

  Time seemed to have slowed drastically as she glanced at the oversized thirty-inch Stapleton wall clock, that second hand was taking its good old time getting around. Olivia thought that she may as well have an hourglass the size of a truck, watching each grain of sand the size of a rock fall, thump, thump. After the Detective had finished her first French toast, she took another drink of milk and again gazed at the clock. Olivia felt like taking her Glock and shooting it. She thought about time and how it was all perception. Einstein said that time was nothing but an illusion, more like a pain in the ass this morning.

  After this part of the a.m. was finished she was going to clean her Glock and make sure everything was in order, then go down to the range and shoot some targets as that was always fun. But shooting targets was nothing like shooting people. Pulling the trigger that put someone in the ground was gut wrenching. Unfortunately, sometimes it was necessary.

  Olivia switched to thinking about Aunt Stella again who had been talking to ghosts for years, and she didn’t appear to be overly bothered by it. Although she did surround herself with crosses and holy water for protection, and that did give Olivia pause. And again, she thought that if she moved to a different city might they not just leave her alone? What was the worst that could happen? She imagined she didn’t want to know the answer to that question.

  Olivia looked at the wall clock and then at her watch, thought that sufficient time had finally passed and so she went into the washroom and stared at the thing on the sink. She saw the empty box and it was simple enough, two lines and she was pregnant, only one, and she wasn’t. She had been told by Aunt Stella and even by Anita that she was with child, but this would make it official, more or less. Would the baby end up babbling to ghosts? Just the thought of it made her shake her head.

  Olivia picked up the indicator looking at it, and there they were two solid lines. The detective sighed as she really was pregnant. In a month or so Olivia would visit her doctor to confirm it, but knew it was true. She was going to have a little detective running around the apartment. Olivia smiled at the thought of buying her a small magnifying glass to look through.

  I’m going to need a crib, diapers, baby clothes. Should I breastfeed? But my breasts are small. I guess a bottle would be easier. Good God, I don’t need a baby. And nine months from now and I'm gonna be responsible for one. I’ll look for a live in a nanny. But picking one won’t be easy. I should have just stayed in bed this morning.

  And bringing another soul into this crazy world.

  The first thing to do is to tell Jack and then shoot him.

  chapter twenty-eight

  STELLA GAZED AT THE LOCATION OF THE SO-CALLED portal to the dark side, but she couldn’t see anything, and so she had no way of knowing if there was anything there or not. A young black couple hand-in-hand passed her and smiled, looking back wondering what she was doing. Whatever it was it appeared odd to them, the way she was looking around. There were a lot of strange characters in New York, and she sure seemed to qualify as one of them.

  Stella waved her hand, and a man in his sixties walking toward her with a cane waved back, thinking that she was waving at him. As he got closer, he reminded her of Anthony Hopkins, quite handsome she thought, but she had no intention of being bothered by him. This was serious business.

  “Do I know you?” asked Leon. He was wearing a light turquoise blue suit with a red tie, and she already judged him to be eccentric just from his attire.

  Stella was slightly annoyed. “I wasn’t waving at you, and no you don’t know me and let’s keep it that way.”

  “What is such a handsome woman doing walking around by herself?” Leon tipped his hat to her, revealing his bald head.

  This guy is full of it. “I’m busy, and I don’t need your phony compliments. I have a mirror at home thank you very much.”

  “Then your eyesight must be failing my dear woman. Why don’t you join me for a coffee? What harm could it do to get to know one another? My wife died two years ago today.” Leon’s eyes now looked sad. “I don’t like being alone.”

  Yes, he probably killed her. “I am sorry to hear that, but I still don’t want to be bothered. I’m sure there is someone else out there for you so go and find her.” Stella realized that she wasn't at all nice, but what she was doing was important.

  There was an awkward silence as she glared at him and he stared back at her.

  “I don’t know what this world is coming to when a person can’t even be civilized anymore. My name is Leon is case you want to call the cops and report me for talking to you.” Leon moved several steps back.

  “You have annoyed me long enough Leon. You need to move or do I need to move you?” Stella could see that he had a strange aura, one that she had never seen before and she didn’t know how to interpret it.

  Leon shook his head. “You are one cantankerous old fart, aren’t you?”

  “Well, I’ve gone from a handsome woman to an old fart pretty fast haven’t I?”

  He gave her a wave of disdain and turned and started back in the direction from which he had come. Stella went back to her business of finding the portal but still wasn’t able to see a damn thing. She could, however, feel a heat source from somewhere, but looking around there didn’t appear to be a place for it to originate. Now that is strange. Stella pulled her prayer beads away from her body and walked around, and suddenly she was pushed away from something, no, she had run into something that she couldn’t see.

  Now it was visible, a blob shaped door that looked as though it led into darkness; no one could pay her enough to go in there. Good Lord! Red eyes were staring back at her, eyes and nothing else. Stella took a step back as she commenced to pray, calling for divine help fr
om above. And as she prayed laughter emerged from the gateway that could chill one to the bone, evil was rearing its ugly head.

  Cuthbert appeared, still wearing his top hat and he had a most impressive dagger with a blue blade in his right hand; he slashed at the gate and actually cut it in two. “By revealing the gateway you’ve allowed us to see it.” He disappeared as quickly as he had appeared, dropping the blade before he departed.

  The sound of the dagger hitting the ground sounded heavenly, almost like a tuning fork being struck as a sparkle of white light escaped from it. The weapon then vibrated slightly as if making sure that she saw it. Stella looked around surreptitiously, being certain that nothing evil was nearby readying to grab her if she picked it up. She bent down and took it, placing the blade in her purse. If it was heaven sent it was definitely important. It might even kill a demon for all she knew. Aunt Stella would need to tell Stella about this as she was the one on the front lines battling those damn things.

  chapter twenty-nine

  ANITA HAD RETURNED TO HEAVEN and was walking with Tim through the most beautiful bamboo forest, and from a tree branch, a scarlet macaw was cocking its head and watching as they passed. In heaven, one could see just about any animal hanging around, extinct or not. The other day Tim had examined a woolly mammoth and his tusks were quite a sight to behold.

  More than a thousand butterflies appeared in the trees as the couple searched for Cuthbert. One that was sky-blue in color landed on Anita’s left shoulder; she appreciated its energy connecting with hers and its beauty. “Hello, you.”