Finding the Way Back

by Jill Bisker

  A dim light was left on over the stove in the kitchen and I could only see dark shapes outlined in the shadowy rooms. Stealing into the kitchen, I opened the refrigerator door as quietly as I could. I perused the contents and pulled out a container of orange juice. I filled a small plastic cup and returned the container. I took a sip before turning around then felt two hands grab my upper arms from behind.

  I squealed and turned, the cup slipping from my hands, spattering juice all over the floor and the person who had grabbed me. Emmett quickly let go of me and stepped back.

  “What do you think you’re doing?” I asked, rubbing my arms. I would have bruises on top of bruises. “Trying to scare me to death?”

  He turned on the overhead light while I found paper towels to wipe up the mess. I handed him a dish towel to wipe himself off.

  “Sorry about that. I saw this willowy figure moving softly through the house in old-looking clothes and I thought you were the ghost.”

  “Seriously? A ghost getting orange juice?” I said, annoyed, getting up to throw away the sopping paper towels.

  “I couldn’t see you very well—all I saw was that nightgown flowing behind you. I didn’t think women wore that sort of thing anymore. Don’t get me wrong, I approve of your choice,” he said with half a grin.

  “This was my grandmother’s nightgown. My mother didn’t approve of my pajamas so she insisted I wear this. Actually, she would be quite pleased to know you caught me in this outfit, she’s been talking about grandchildren for years,” I said, wrapping my robe more tightly around me.

  “I’ll be sure to thank her in the morning for the outfit, but I don’t think we’re quite ready to provide her with grandchildren.”

  “Ha-ha, very funny. Let’s go back to bed.”

  “Is that an invitation?”

  I felt my face get warm as he laughed and I tried unsuccessfully to hold back a smile.

  “Say, didn’t you come down here for something?’

  “That’s right, I was thirsty.” I went back into the fridge for another glass of orange juice and finished it at the sink. I followed Emmett as he ambled back into the living room, my feet sticking to the floor on my way out of the kitchen. I would have to wash it in the morning since I couldn’t face it right now.

  I sat down on the recliner while he turned on the television. It would take me a little while to settle down enough to go to sleep. I was reminded how I loved the early morning hours when old shows like Bewitched played on TV. I pulled a throw that was on the back of the recliner over myself and leaned back to enjoy the exploits of Samantha and Darren.

  My eyes were closing and I was almost asleep in the chair when I felt someone standing over me. “Emmett cut it out, stop checking on me,” I whispered.

  “Cut what out?” I heard him answer from across the room on the sofa.

  Opening my eyes I saw a dark shape hovering over me. I could feel a miasma of anger, pain and frustration seeping from the dark pall. It descended on me like a heavy blanket, sucking the breath from my lungs. I flailed out with my hands and arms, trying to strike at the unknown attacker, but my blows passed through the air without landing. How could it be touching me, hurting me, yet I couldn’t inflict any damage on it? Panic set in as I couldn’t scream and could hardly breathe. I felt like I was going to die.

  The next thing I knew, I was staring up into Emmett’s eyes that were open wide with fear. “Are you okay, Laney?”

  “I think so,” I gasped, trying to catch my breath and push myself up.

  “What was that? All I saw was a shadow. Could you see anything more? Was it the same as what you saw in the basement?”

  “I saw a black shape but I couldn’t see any distinct features.”

  He pulled me up and held me, folding me in his arms protectively. “We need to get out of here.”

  “Connie—we need to get Connie too.”

  “I’ll come back for her but I want to get you out first.”

  “Don’t you watch scary movies? There is no way we are splitting up. I’m coming with you,” I said, pushing myself away from him so I could look into his eyes.

  He must have known I meant business because without another word he grabbed my hand and pulled me after him towards the stairway, yelling for Connie. “Connie, get up, come on, we have to go.” There was no sound of movement upstairs and I began to worry.

  Emmett pulled me halfway up the stairs, still holding my hand and keeping the front door in sight. “Connie! Wake up! We gotta go!”

  “What?” I heard Connie’s muffled voice, groggy from sleep. She appeared in the hallway in her pajamas and bare feet wiping the sleep from her eyes. “What’s going on?”

  “Something attacked Laney again. We’re leaving. Come on.”

  “The house will be left wide open with the back door broken,” I said hesitantly.

  “You and Connie are worth a lot more than the contents of this house,” Emmett answered impatiently.

  Connie’s eyes opened wide, fully awake. Moving more quickly now she went back to her room briefly and returned wearing a robe and slippers. When she got halfway down the steps, Emmett took her hand also and hauled us both downstairs towards the front door, the three of us nearly tumbling over each other in the process. The next thing I knew I was standing on the grass in front of the house.

  “What happened?” Connie snapped. “I should get to know why I’m being dragged out of the house in the middle of the night.”

  “Something attacked Laney in the living room,” Emmett answered more calmly now that he was out of the house. He’d closed the door behind us but I knew that wouldn’t keep anyone in any more than it had kept Saundra out. “I don’t think it’s safe to stay in the house at night anymore, it’s probably not even safe during the day.”

  I sat down then lay back on the lawn and looked up at the sky. I could feel the cool earth beneath my back and the dew seeping through my pajamas, such as they were. I didn’t want to move. My body had been battered so much lately I scarcely wanted to breathe.

  “Laney, get up, are you okay?” Connie asked. Then hesitantly she continued, “What are you wearing?” She started to laugh.

  Suddenly I realized how crazy I must look with my fifties gauzy nightgown, my hair wild, lying on the ground like a lunatic. I just didn’t want to get up, but I knew I couldn’t lie there all night.

  I smiled and held out my hand to Emmett. He tugged me to my feet and led me to his truck. “Where are we going? I don’t even have shoes on.”

  “I’ll take you to your mother’s,” he answered, looking at my bare feet. “We’ll find you some there.”

  He pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and handed it to me. “Go ahead and call your mom so she knows we’re coming.”

  “I would but your phone’s dead,” I said as I looked at the face. “Apparently our uninvited guest sucked the juice out of it.”

  “Don’t look at me,” Connie said. “You dragged me out so fast my phone is still in my bedroom. If Ruth and Louise are up they are going to get a good story tonight. Here we are in our jammies being escorted out by a man. I’d love to hear the stories that get started by the neighbors.”

  The night was cool and I was shivering by the time we got in the truck. “Not to worry, I’m sure we will hear some version from someone who knows our moms.” I grimaced. My nightgown was damp from lying on the grass and my feet hurt from the concrete. I reached over to turn on the heat full blast and then wrapped my arms around myself to try to get warm. Emmett reached into his back seat, grabbed a sweatshirt and threw it in my lap.

  “So what happened?” Connie asked from the back seat.

  I slipped the sweatshirt over my head, drinking in Emmett’s aftershave, then took a deep breath and began, “I’d gotten up for a drink. I sat down to watch TV and was almost falling asleep when I felt someone standing over me. It felt like it was trying to smother me. Whatever it was it was mad.”

  “I saw it too,” Emmett said.
“To me it was a black blob but you could see through it. The weird thing was that you could feel its anger, just like Laney said. She’s right—it’s pissed and it was scarier than Laney’s new pajamas.”

  “Shut up,” I said, smacking him on the shoulder.

  “Those pajamas seem to have gotten you all kinds of attention,” Connie teased.

  I was surprised when Emmett just laughed.

  We arrived in front of my mother’s house and then just sat there looking at it. None of us knew exactly what to say or do so we didn’t do anything.

  The outside lights came on and my mother was standing in the doorway waving us inside.

  “How does she do that?” I asked amazed. “It’s like magic.”

  “Maybe she has the gift too, or some form of it. Maybe it’s just not as strong or comes out differently,” Emmett answered. I was only kidding when I mentioned it, but he was serious. “Or maybe you just really have a strong connection to one another.”

  “Or maybe she’s just a light sleeper and heard your truck pull up,” I said. We got out of the truck and walked in the direction of the door. As I got closer my mother opened her arms and I went right into them. Just the smell of her comforted me. We did have a strong connection. I had pushed against it for a while, thinking I was too old for such behavior, but maybe I was never too old to feel my mother’s protection. Maybe I just had to grow up to realize it didn’t make me weak to want my mom.

  “Come in, I’ll make tea,” she said. My aunt strolled up behind us as we entered. She was dressed in polka-dot pajamas with large furry slippers.

  “You too?” Emmett said to Aunt Shelly. “You two scare me just a little bit,” he said when we got inside.

  “Son, we should all scare you a little bit,” my aunt said as she lightly patted him on the cheek.

  My mother and aunt went to put the tea on as I led the rest of us into the living room. The modern furniture with its straight lines and gray wool material was more suited for looks than comfort but at this point no one cared. Connie and I sat on the hard, straight backed couch and Emmett took an equally hard leather chair.

  The women came in with a tray of teacups and the sugar cookies my mother always had on hand.

  “Aren’t you glad I made you wear the nightgown now?” my mother whispered to me as she bent down to serve me the tea.

  Embarrassed, I ignored her, and began telling her of the night’s events as she gave Emmett and Connie their cups. I spoke quickly so as not to be interrupted. By the end of my story everyone was quiet. My mother stood staring at me with the tray forgotten in her hand.

  “From now on, Laney MacKenzie, you are not to be alone anywhere in that house,” my mother said flatly.

  “Yes, ma’am,” I replied.

  “Don’t get smart with me. I’ve put up with a lot, and gracefully too I might add. It’s too much to have you in danger for a piece of property no one cares about.” I could tell she was ready to cry so I softened my stance a bit.

  “Okay, Mom, I won’t. I promise. I do think we have to figure this out though. We can’t sell the house with these things happening. There has to be some reason, but I don’t think it’s me. There might be some reason it associates with me, but I don’t think it’s me personally. The entity from tonight exuded anger, pain and frustration. I could feel it. Maybe if we can decipher what it wants we can find a way to make it stop. Besides, there’s Teoline. We can’t just forget about her.”

  My mother didn’t move. The room was quiet waiting for her assent or not as the case would be. “Only if I am allowed to be a part of this. I won’t be left out anymore,” my mom said after a long consideration.

  “Me neither,” my aunt added.

  “Me too, me too,” I mumbled to myself. Everyone had to be involved.

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  The next morning we all arrived at the neighborhood breakfast restaurant to work out a war plan. I had slept until the last possible minute when my mother threatened to leave without me, so I had to forego a shower for the time being. For days I had been meaning to pick up the clothing I had left at my mother’s so it was nice to actually have something of mine to choose from when I got dressed. I found a pair of old jeans, a black t-shirt and a loose black sweater. My mother was not happy with my choice and kept at me until I finally changed into a jean skirt and red t-shirt she pulled out of her own closet. I made it out of the house without the pearl necklace she wanted me to wear but wore shiny silver flats as a compromise. I wasn’t sure who’d come out on the better side of the deal but suspected it wasn’t me. I didn’t want to make too many waves since she was okay with me going back into the house after all the trouble we had recently had.

  We were escorted to a group of tables pushed together to accommodate our group. Dean and Glen were already seated when we arrived so we situated ourselves across from them.

  I was good and cranky, having hardly slept the night before. My mother had found places for all of us to try to get some rest, but I couldn’t seem to fall into anything except the lightest sleep. I dreamed of monsters chasing me and trying to run away but not able to do so, and I awoke exhausted, both mentally and physically. Now I was sitting right in line with the restrooms where everyone walking past would probably bump my chair.

  The waitress was a plump, middle-aged woman, her graying hair pulled back in a ponytail and covered by a hair net. She was wearing khakis and a blue polo with the restaurant’s logo on the front which brought me back to high school when I’d bussed these very tables. She came over to the table and plunked down a coffee thermos as she passed around the menus.

  “Good morning, everyone, would you like to hear about our specials?” Her bright eyes didn’t dim as we all mumbled our assent. “My, we are in a good mood this morning, aren’t we?”

  I harrumphed my reply then made a pass at the thermos but missed as Connie grabbed it from the other end of the table. We placed our orders and everyone seemed to withdraw into their own thoughts as Connie passed the coffee to the next person. By the time it got to me I started to pour but only a few drops dribbled out. “Great, empty,” I groused loudly, just to look up at the waitress bringing another container. “Thanks,” I said, a little shamefaced, remembering from my own experience how hard it was to waitress.

  Emmett picked up the pot and poured me a cup of the restaurant’s wonderfully dark, hot coffee. “Just don’t bite me okay?” he said.

  The wonderful aroma of the coffee filled me as I added a little sugar and cream, then leaned forward and took a sip, hoping my bad attitude hadn’t made the server spit in it. I shrugged mentally being too tired to care. I would have to trust the heat to kill any germs. It was amazing what didn’t bother me when I was tired.

  Ordering eggs, bacon, sausage, French toast and pancakes perked me right up. It was my standard order to have a little bit of everything. I couldn’t bear to miss out on any one item. Feeling better as I dug in, I almost felt up to conversation.

  “So Laney, I filled Dean and Glen in on last night and we’ve discussed a lot of ways we could go with this,” Emmett said, taking a large bite of waffle.

  “I’m listening,” I answered not looking up.

  “We think you should stay out of the house while we pursue the investigation,” Emmett said quickly.

  “Really?” I said, putting my fork down. They might have thought they could move ahead with this exploration without me but there was no way that was going to happen. I leaned forward in my seat and looked Emmett in the eyes. “Not going to happen,” I said almost spitting each word out. “I am the one that they are contacting. They may not even show up without me there. I know the risks and I will not be put aside.”

  “Are you sure you know the risks, Laney?” he asked seriously. “Your grandmother died there. Did you forget that?”

  “You think I don’t know that? Don’t you treat me like I’m a little girl, Emmett, or I might just have to leave you out of this investigation.” I was itching fo
r a fight and it seemed as if he was going to give me one.

  “Laney, just hold on,” my mother said. “I may side with Emmett on this one.”

  “You said I was in charge of this project, Mom. I didn’t come to you, you came to me.”

  “That was before all this bit about ghosts and you getting hurt,” she answered.

  I jumped up off my chair and marched into the bathroom. Grateful it was a single stall, I locked the door. I took a deep breath and wondered why I was so angry. I was just so tired and I ached down to the bone. Surely, I would be more convincing if I was level-headed. Leaning over the sink I turned on the cold water, scooped some into my cupped hands and brought it to my cheeks. I wiped my face with a paper towel and gazed at myself in the mirror. My reflection looked back at me in disapproval. I was deathly pale, there were deep circles under my eyes, and my greasy hair pulled back in a messy bun looked like it hadn’t been washed in days. No wonder everyone wanted me to stay home. This must be what ‘death warmed over’ looked like.

  I heard a knock on the door so I reluctantly went to answer it. Expecting my mother, aunt or cousin, I was surprised to see Emmett in the slit of the open door. He moved forward pushing a hand against the door, forcing me to back up then he shut the door behind him and locked it again.

  “Laney, let’s just get one thing straight. You’re not the boss of me.” He said it with such a grave expression for a minute I thought he was serious but then he cracked a little smile. “I learned that saying from you.” We both snickered and then he pulled me into his arms. His lips met mine, and all my cares fell away. My head started to spin and I returned his kiss, opening my lips to feel his tongue flit between them. He released me and I could still feel the endorphins coursing through my veins. I wasn’t even appalled by the lack of romance of our location.

  “That is why I don’t want you to go back into that house,” he said as he leaned his forehead against mine.

  I smiled and gave him another quick kiss. “I understand, and I feel the same way. But this is something I feel I must do. In some ways it’s for my grandmother who for some reason is trapped in the house with that spirit, but it’s also for me. This whole thing feels like a test of whether I can make it on my own. I’ve been learning all kinds of things about myself throughout this ordeal, and I need to see it through to the end just to prove that I can.”