by Kayes, Greg
But that was the thing. Why did he really want another ghost? He made up the reasons on the sort of fly for the sake of the crowd but where was his motivation when he came up with it? Maybe it was because he realized the only other commodity out here besides stories are ghosts with more stories. He was vaguely aware that someone was asking him another question.
"Hmm?"
"I said how are we going to find others without getting lost ourselves?"
"And how are we going to bring them back with us?"
"I say...we try. We try and figure that out. There are other fallen out there, let's try and get them."
"But how?"
Mist took the kettle off the flame and set it on a cozy in the middle of the table. Henrietta had been sitting quietly in her chair watching Mist like a cat. But that was a lie Henrietta told herself in order to sit still. In between the silence when Mist put the kettle on to her taking it off Henrietta had been trying to avoid the fact that she had broken down out there in the garden. She sat miserably frustrated that she didn't know what to do with herself anymore. It was like being a toddler who knew they did something wrong and was squirming because they knew someone was going to yell at them, except Mist wasn't yelling at her. She stayed peacefully calm as she seeped some herbs in a cup.
"Henrietta," Mist said, making Henrietta jump "would you be so kind and see if your friend would like to join us?"
"Wha...What?" Henrietta said taken off guard by the request.
"Go and wake him up. He should still be sleeping."
"How do you suppose I do that? I'm a ghost. I don't even know how I'm talking to you?"
"People are more susceptible to other things when they are asleep. It lets them slip into other worlds through their dreams. He'll notice you, but he probably won't remember it. Takes training to do that."
"So you are saying you're asleep right now."
"Just go wake him." Mist said dryly "That is a conversation for another time."
Henrietta shrugged then flew upstairs through the ceiling. Mist then turned to the cupboard to put back some herbs and take out a tin full of dry tea leaves. She counted under her breath to five before a blood curdling scream bellowed out from upstairs followed by what sounded like a heard of stampeding elephants crashing through a china shop as a set of bagpipes squealed for no reason. Mist sighed to herself as she tipped a spoon full of tea into the pot.
"I thought I put those away..." She said under her breath as she sat down.
The man limped carefully down the stairs as Henrietta followed closely behind him with a look of bewilderment skewed on her face.
"Care for some tea?" Mist said deliberately but not unkindly as she poured a cup out for him.
The man hesitated.
"Yes I mean you. Have a seat."
Slowly and cautiously the man took a seat as Mist placed the cup in front of him. He stared at it as if it were poison.
"Come now." Mist said as she poured out a cup for herself. "If I wanted you dead you'd already have a big gaping hole where you're head use to be."
Mist then set the herb tea cup in front of Henrietta then took a sip from her own cup. She looked up to see the both of them staring at her.
"Well now, isn't this nice. The three of us sitting down to tea."
The man tensed up at her words and looked as though he wanted to run. This startled Henrietta, who still had a bewildered look on her face, making her knock over her tea cup. The man then fell back over his chair and rolled to his feet in a very gracefully ungraceful manor, like a crab attempting a somersault backwards. Henrietta in turn jumped back just as frighten by her actions obliviously knocking her own chair over.
Mist was the only one who stayed perfectly calm as she took another sip of tea. Carefully she put her cup back on the table before she went and up righted the chairs. She then picked up Henrietta's cup and refilled it with hot water. Setting the cup to the side, she went into the cupboard for a towel leaving Henrietta stunned and the man on the verge of hyperventilating.
Curiosity overpowered Henrietta as she went and inspected the cup closely before she poked her finger through the cup making it rattle in its saucer. The man let out a whimper then ducked under the table to look underneath it before rushing over to pick up the cup, spilling more tea all over the table.
"It's not a trick." Mist said coming back with a few towels. "For either of you."
Mist took the unresisting tea cup from the man's hand before setting it on the table and mopping the dripping tea up from the floor. Uneasily the man staggered back and sat down heavily in his chair.
"I imagine there is a lot you can't tell me," Mist said from the floor "because you can't talk."
The man's body stiffened
"I don't know when you lost your voice or if you ever had one," Mist said as she stood up and wrung the towel out over the sink. "And I'll bet you haven't had much company for a very long time."
Mist turned back to look at him with a sharp look in her eye as he looked back at her like a deer momentarily frozen in head lights.
"I can't be sure if you are alive, dead, or somewhere in between but you do know how to listen."
The man remained unchanged
"Well as long as I have your ear then you should know there is a whole lot that goes on that we don't get told about. And you being special like you are I'll bet you don't get told much of anything."
Mist sat down and sipped her tea "So, here is the deal. You mind your manners, keep an open ear, and help out, then you and your friend here are welcome to stay."
Mist finished her tea before getting up and placing the cup in the sink. "You're not a prisoner here. But with the world as it is right now it seems everywhere is a prison for everyone. Take some time to think about it. I don't need any help from no one that can't commit to the chore at hand."
Mist glanced at Henrietta
"Especially with the way life is right now."
She then turned back to look at the man who appeared to be cowering while standing strait up.
"If you're still alive, we should get those bandages changed. Either way you need a bath. If you’re going to be a zombie you might as well be a clean one. The solar heater should have the water nice and warm by now. Go and get cleaned up and I'll have you something to eat by the time you're done."
The man seemed to relax a little.
"Henrietta, meet me in the garden when you’re ready."
Mist got an odd look from the man.
"No not you. That's your friends name there. I'm going to have to figure out something to call you, but later. Now off you go."
The man hesitated for a moment then slowly went upstairs where the sound of running water gradually came through the ceiling followed by the sound of someone slipping and the breaking of some glass. Mist winced her eyes at the sound.
"I really liked that vase too." Mist said under her breath "Oh well. Come on out when you are done being bewildered, dear."
Mist then left Henrietta alone in her aforementioned state of bewilderment. Henrietta looked around at the quiet room then back at the cup she had knocked over. Words escaped her. She couldn't even think the words to describe the feeling of not having any words. It was an awkward and vexing place to be before she thought
Well that's a good way to describe it.
Henrietta chuckled to herself awkwardly out of tension before she remembered Mist beckoning call and followed her out in the garden. This was turning out to be a very unusual day, even for being a ghost.
"What do you mean you can't find anyone?" Mike said
"Well a few of us went over there just within view but we couldn't see anyone over there so we came right back."
He couldn't be mad at them. You couldn't blame them for not having any imagination to try and look further but what it came down to was that they were all afraid of getting lost and rightfully so. They all secretly knew that as soon as they couldn't see any of the other ghosts that they would get lost. It'
s not that they couldn't remember how to get back or what direction they had gone[9], it’s just that they needed something to hold on to, something other than themselves close by for them to be able to go anywhere. Unfortunately that use to be their own corpses.
When they didn't have anything they just stopped and couldn't decide anything anymore. Like a switch went off. Honestly that terrified everyone. No one wanted to get turned off like that but it did happen.
"Ok." Mike said after some thought. "We are going to make a line. Or a chain of sorts. I want you and a few others to go back over there until you can barely still see us then I want...one of you to...um...stand still where they can still see us and the rest of you-"
"-Go further until we can still see the one standing still. Brilliant!"
Mike did a one eighty spin to see a ghost that he didn't recognize. But the same could describe most of the others ghosts in the group. It was a big city before it was bombed to the ground and for as much as a zombie does wander around; his corpse sure didn't get to go everywhere. There was always someone new to meet.
But this ghost had a sharper look on his face compared to all the dull child like expressions of all his listeners. He had to have sharp eyes like that to give him as quick a response as he just gave. It made Mike feel uneasy.
"...Right." Mike said uneasily as he turned back to the other ghost he was talking to. "Let’s get this chain going and start bringing people back. No one's going to get lost if we do this right."
"Ok!" The ghost said enthusiastically before rushing off back to the search party.
"You're doing a good job there Story Master."
Mike turned back around to look at the other ghost. His sharp expression gave him the willies.
"It's just Mike right now." Mike said "At least until we start getting more people here for me to be a story master for."
Mike didn't know when he started thinking like that because he loved his title. That was another weird thing that was happening around here. So much was happening so fast to this little world of storytelling zombie followers now that they lost their zombies to follow.
"How come?"
"I don't know. It...It's just doesn't feel right." Mike said and felt odd for saying it.
"Well that's why you're the boss!"
Boss. Mike thought
"Riiight...anyways was there something you wanted? A short story or something? So many people have been asking for one."
"Yes, everyone does seem to be getting a bit antsy lately."
Antsy. Mike though
"No, I just wanted to watch you work." The sharp eyed ghost said
Work. Mike thought. Now that was a thing. He didn't know what he was doing with telling people what to do but he didn't think of calling it work till after he said it. But that other thing he just said...He was watching me! Like another ghost to his zombie! That disturbed him to his core and he didn't know why.
"Well...Stop." Mike said
"What?"
"I mean...Go and help the others. They could use some help searching. Someone sharp like you."
"That's why you're the boss!"
The ghost practically saluted. Mike stood idle as he watched the sharp eyed ghost join the search group as they headed off with enthusiasm. Something felt very worrisome about all this, and he had no idea why. Maybe it was the way that ghost made him feel like a zombie. Like a mindless rabid beast who aimlessly wandered while a silent audience critiqued and took notes of your actions. In essence he felt like the other ghost was better than him and he suspected that he knew it and was poking fun at Mike's expense. Now here was a ghost he needed to keep a close eye on.
Almost as if on cue, the sharp eyed ghost turned and waved back at him from the distance.
"A very close eye." Mike said to himself oblivious to the rest of the world “Preferably from a very long distance away.” He then watched as most of the search group move on beyond his sight and disappeared.
"You should go." Mist said
"What?" Henrietta replied
"Go." Mist said as she put a freshly plucked cucumber in her basket
"But I thought you said I was welcome to stay here. Also what was all that back in there?"
"You are. And I will tell you about that." Mist said as she pulled out an oddly deformed carrot that looked like an expensive inappropriate toy for female pleasure[10].
"Well?" Henrietta said while trying to hide her gross embarrassment as Mist obliviously placed two radishes that looked an awful lot like mammary glands on either side of the phallic vegetable.
"Just not right at this moment." Mist said as she pulled out a bucket and began milking a goat.
"What do you mean?" Henrietta said almost with a squeak as a stray stream of milk shot off and splashed on the insanely inappropriate vegetable display in all the wrong placed.
"Seriously! Are you messing with me with those vegetables?!"
"Of course I am dear." Mist said as she kept filling the bucket "Look at the basket again."
Henrietta winced when she dared herself to look again only to find that none of the vegetables looked like what she saw moments before.
"How did you-"
"-Only a test dear. Shows me I'm right. You're so high strung right now that you need a breather."
Henrietta felt struck numb. She didn't know what to think or feel especially after that...That illusion.
"This place is overwhelming you. And yes, the dead can get overwhelmed. Trust me, you need a breather."
"Wh...where shall I go?"
"Anywhere will do. Just go already. Things will settle down by the time you get to wherever you should be."
"I..." Henrietta began but thought better of it and wandered away.
Mist stayed still as she kept milking the goat until she was sure Henrietta was out of ear shot and began laughing so hard that she went red in the face and fell backwards onto the ground hard, momentarily knocking the wind out of her. She kept laughing for some time after that before she calmed down. When she could breathe again she went over to her straw basket and tipped out its contents, which looked exactly like Henrietta originally thought they appeared.
"This has got to be the most pornographic crop I’ve ever pulled out of this good green earth." Mist said with a big smirk before looking up the way Henrietta had gone. "Good timing. If I didn't know any better I'd say fate has something special in store for that poor dead woman. Honestly, I'd have given anything to know what she looked like in life."
"Back so soon?" Mike said "Did you find anyone?"
"No. But that other ghost has gone."
"Well that's a shame." Mike said with slight sympathy and a lot of relief
"And so have a few of the others with him."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean as soon as they got to the edge of my vision they stopped and I saw one left like we planned until..."
"Until?"
"Well...I stayed still as I looked back at the other ghost behind me and at the next one just as the one before me did and the one before him. But the one after me...She...when I turned back…she was gone!"
Mike didn't say anything. He just held an expression that said "I'm not going to say anything"
"I...I didn't rush back right away. I waited, I did!" The ghost said in a panic from Mike's glare. Mike nodded in acknowledgement.
"She...they were our own after all." The ghost continued "We don't have our corpses anymore but at least we have each other. That's how we all feel now. None of us want to see any of us go missing. And now we have!"
The ghost looked wretchedly tortured. All Mike could do was sigh.
"You did good. This wasn't your fault. You stayed in sight like I said. Maybe I sent you out too thin, who knows. Ok first things first. I want you to go and double up and go after the ones we just lost. They can't be far. Just put someone in between you and as far as you can see and maybe a runner who can go along the chain so you don't have to leave your post if you need to repo
rt something. Got that?"
Looking less tortured the ghost looked up at Mike with a bit of awe and respect which made Mike feel odd.
"You do look out for us." The ghost said which made Mike feel even more odd "But...How will I signal the runner if he can't see me?"
"Just...um...listen, what's your name?"
"Benny, sir."
Sir. Mike thought. He didn't know how he felt about that but it didn't feel terrible when Benny said it than if that sharp eyed ghost had done the same.
"Well Benny, you should wave to the ghost next in the chain and have them wave to the next till the waving reached the sight of the runner. Then they'll come right to you. How does that sound?"
Benny looked happy at being asked his opinion that he tried to look as though he was thinking hard about it which just made him look adorable. Mike had come to know what it looked like when a ghost really thought about something and Benny looked as if he never had a thought in his life or death but also didn't want to let anyone down. It made Mike smile in a genuine lighthearted way that he wasn't accustomed to even when he was alive.
"I think it's a good idea." Benny said finally as if trying to act smart.
Mike patted the ghost on the shoulder as he beamed his smile at him, which surprised the both of them for a moment as physical contact between ghosts was mostly unheard of.
"Go get our friends back Benny," Mike said importantly "I'm counting on you." Surprisingly enough he really was.
Bugs flew around carelessly as Henrietta pushed on. She had no direction. It bothered her that she was just out here practically moments before. But things weren't the same as a few moments before were they. She felt different. Like cross between pissed off frustration and growing determination and both were burning her out. She didn't even know that she could burn out.