He began to concentrate on Angie, and even verbalized aloud that it was his wish to connect with her spiritually, on another level. He kept repeating her name. His eyes remained aflutter. His breathing became thicker with each passing breath.
The room was so silent that he could hear Brenda inhaling as he was exhaling. There was a hypnotic ticking of his alarm clock. Carter was concentrating on the duality of their breathing for quite some time. He could feel his mind begin to drift off as if it were leaving his head. He was aware of the ticking of the alarm clock, but continued to think of Angie. He summoned her aloud, thought about her, and whispered to her. He was fully engaged.
“Charlie?” Carter said. He raised his body and sat up in bed to see his old friend Charlie sitting at the end of his bed looking toward the bedroom door. Carter was not too certain what was going on, because he had been speaking to Angie and all of the sudden felt like he had slipped into that world Brenda had spoken about. He progressed from summoning Angie to somehow viewing Charlie sitting on his bed.
Carter looked at Charlie, and Charlie slowly turned to look at him. Carter did not know for sure if he was dreaming or if this was part of that other world that Brenda had been telling him about. If it was that world, then why was Charlie here and not Angie. Besides, Charlie was very much alive and renting his house with his fiancée back in Boston. Was it an imposter? Did Angie take the form of Charlie in order to trick Carter? He was convinced it was part of a dream.
Carter continued to look at Charlie. He appeared very different, almost like a shadowy figure that his hand would pass through if he were to try to touch him. At the same time, he looked physical enough, as if it was indeed his friend Charlie sitting on his bed. However, he was not comfortable with attempting to touch him, and just wanted to see where things went. He stared at Charlie, before saying, “Hi Charlie.”
Charlie just looked, and did not respond. He had a very blank stare and no smile was even close to forming on his lips. His face looked ashen, and he certainly was not the happy-go-lucky Charlie that he would pal around with all through high school.
“Charlie, what brings you here?”
There was no response.
Carter watched the blank look on Charlie’s face as he finally leaned in to Carter’s ear and whispered, “Keep an eye on the past.” He moved back to his original position, then back to Carter’s ear again. “Watch the reflection, and keep an eye on the other one.” Back to his position he went, before again leaning in for one final whisper, “Find Trevor.”
Carter started to ask Charlie what he meant by all of these random comments, but when he looked up, Charlie evaporated right before his eyes. The last of the physical part of Charlie disintegrated. Carter rubbed his eyes and looked again, but Charlie was no longer there, and Brenda was sleeping away where she was when Carter began his journey. He thought it odd that he never really took a journey like he expected.
He didn’t go anywhere. Rather, someone other than who he had summoned came to him. It’s not what he wanted, and Charlie was speaking gibberish, but at least Carter returned and remembered everything Charlie had said. He even wrote it all down in a notepad on his nightstand, before he forgot, or before Brenda awoke and dialogue could erase everything Charlie had mentioned, if it even was indeed Charlie at all.
Carter had expected to go on this fantastic journey. Instead, this fantastic journey came to him. That’s the way it appeared, but by the time Brenda awoke and popped her head up, Carter wasn’t totally sure exactly what had happened. It was almost like a dream. It really felt like a dream, but he wasn’t ready to break the news to Brenda just yet.
“It’s late,” said Brenda. “Do you want to do this tomorrow night?”
“Yeah, tomorrow night will be fine.” Carter lied back down on his pillow, but his eyes were now wide open.
CHAPTER TEN
A new day was upon them, and Carter slept much later than usual for good reason. It had been a late night. He could hear Brenda talking downstairs with the Blankenships. He remained lying in bed for a few minutes as the bright sunshine tried its best to get him going. He was still exhausted at 11 o’clock in the morning, even though he was normally an early riser. He then heard the phone ring, and he heard Brenda answer it. He lifted his head off the pillow and noticed the bedroom door was ajar. He also noticed that the twins were in the hallway peeking in.
“Hello?” He saw the eyes disappear and heard the scampering of feet down the hallway.
“Carter,” Brenda yelled. “Come quickly.”
Carter jumped out of bed and quickly got himself presentable, which was something he didn’t have to do before, but now the rules had changed with their new additions. He loved the extra money, but he hated the loss of his privacy. However, he felt it was a fair exchange and he could live with it. He raced down the hall as Brenda held the phone up with worried eyes. “I’m not sure who it is, but she’s frantic.”
Carter grabbed the phone out of Brenda’s hands and pushed it hard against his ear. “Hello?”
He listened, but all he could hear was the voice of a woman who was sending a high-pitched frequency into his ear. “Hello?” The high-pitched squeal continued. He was not sure who was on the phone. He believed it was a woman, but he wasn’t even close to identifying what she was trying to say. “Who is this?”
“Seetha!”
“Who?”
“Seetha!”
“I’m hearing Seetha. I don’t know anybody named Seetha.”
“Seethia.”
Carter thought a minute. He could not imagine who it was on the phone, and thought that maybe it was a prank phone call. He was waiting to be asked if his refrigerator was running, and then being told that he had better go catch it. That was the oldest one in the book. It might very well have been the first. “Seethia?” he asked.
“Seenthia.”
“Cynthia?” he tried.
“Yes, Cynthia.”
Carter thought for a moment. Did he know a Cynthia? Then he realized he only knew one Cynthia… and she was the fiancée of his best friend, Charlie.
“Cynthia from Boston?”
“Yes,” she said, and then the crying continued in hysterical fashion. She was hyperventilating so badly that she could not even speak. Brenda did her best to get her ear as close to the phone as she could, while Carter unfortunately had to cover part of the receiver with his hand to block out the background noise so that nothing could interfere with Cynthia’s message. All he could do was think of the irony of Charlie’s fiancée calling the day after Charlie had visited Carter in a dream, or in that spirit world that Brenda had been working with him to set up. Then it hit him, and it hit him hard.
“Cynthia! Did something happen to Charlie?”
All that he could do was listen to Cynthia cry and hyperventilate. There was no immediate message. It was impossible for her to talk, making it impossible for Carter to get her message, but the more he heard her cries and the more he thought about the previous night, the more he knew that something terrible had happened to Charlie. He kept telling Cynthia to calm down, and after several minutes he was able to understand her message.
“Charlie’s dead,” she cried.
“Oh my God, Cynthia. Oh my God! What happened?”
She let out another wail before she could gather herself together again. “He was paying for gas inside of a… convenience store, and somebody… somebody came in with a gun.”
The uncontrollable sobbing muffled the conversation greatly. It was such difficult news to deliver, and difficult news to hear. Charlie held the phone with his right hand and put his left hand on his head. He listened as Cynthia delivered more details. “It was the wrong plac
e at the wrong time. He was just a customer trying to pay for gas and some son of a bitch shot him… shot him twice… twice in the head. Shot him dead. He died at the scene. He died at the God damn scene!”
Carter sat down at the kitchen table slumped in his chair. He began to sob as well. Charlie represented his high school days. Charlie was his mentor. Charlie helped him at a time in his life when he needed a helping hand, and he needed it badly. Charlie believed in him. Charlie even took over the mortgage payments on the house so Carter and Brenda could remain in Colorado. Now Charlie was dead. Just like that.
As Carter reflected on mental images of Charlie in good times, tearing up as he did, he remembered how Charlie had paid him a visit the night before. Now he knew that he wasn’t dreaming. He actually did reach the spirit world, or the spirit world reached him. Either way, it would be fair to say that he had mixed with the spirit world.
“When did this happen?” Carter asked.
“Last night,” Cynthia replied. “It happened last night but… but I just… got a visit… from two police officers early this… morning.” She continued to hyperventilate hysterically as she did her best to deliver the horrific news to Carter.
“I am so sorry, Cynthia. I know how much you loved Charlie. We all did. We all do. Who could do something like that to such a wonderful man?” Carter thought about the timing and realized that Charlie must have paid him a visit right after disconnecting from the real world. When he died late last night he must have gone right to his best friend, but why would he come to Carter? Carter was trying to connect with Angie, and somehow Charlie connected with him instead, since they apparently became part of the spirit realm at the same point in time. Carter took a moment to put the phone down and then he put his head on the table, shaking it and saying, “No… no… no… not Charlie.” He then slowly returned the receiver to his ear.
“I’m sorry too,” said Cynthia. “I know how close you and Charlie were, and he always spoke so fondly of you. You two really had a history, a special bond, and I know that you would want to know… right away.”
“Absolutely,” said Carter. “Thank you for calling me right away. If there is anything that I can do, please do not hesitate to call me.”
Brenda nudged Carter from under the phone where she had been listening. She began to whisper a message to Carter for delivery to Cynthia. “Tell her not to worry about the house or the rent payment, Carter. We will just use the rent money for it. Tell her not to worry about anything having to do with the house, and that we will be there in a couple of days.”
Carter looked down at Brenda after the message, and saw that the message was complete. “Oh, and Cynthia… don’t worry about the house or the rent or any of that stuff. Don’t worry about it.” Then he looked back down at Brenda because he forgot the second part of it.
“We will be there in a couple of days,” Brenda whispered.
“Oh, and Cynthia, we will be there in a couple of days. We’re going to get packed up and we’ll be leaving… ”
“In the morning,” said Brenda
“… in the morning.” Carter stopped talking with that.
“Carter… you guys don’t need to do that.”
“We insist. I want to be there for Charlie, and for you.”
“There’s really not much you can do… ”
“I can get there in time to say goodbye to my friend. We’re leaving soon.”
“If you insist. You really don’t have to... ”
“Take care of yourself, Cynthia. I’m very sorry, and we’ll see you soon.”
“Goodbye Carter.”
Carter slowly hung up the phone and saw five sets of eyes upon him. Everybody in the house had been in on the conversation. Nobody could speak. Carter looked around the silent room and didn’t even know what to say. His best friend, Charlie… randomly murdered during a botched robbery. He just went into the convenience store to pick something up and pay for gas. If he just needed gas, then he would still be alive.
Wendy stepped in. “Carter, if you two need to go back east… rest assured that we will take care of the house. Do what you need to do. This house isn’t going anywhere.”
“Yeah,” Carter responded. “That’s what we need to do. We don’t have many answers at this point, but yeah, we just need to go. I’m shaking!” Carter wiped both his eyes with the back of his hands.
“We can get going in the morning,” Brenda said. “We’ll get a good night’s rest and be off early. Maybe we can get there in a couple of days.” She walked over and hugged Carter hard.
Carter and Brenda retreated to their bedroom. Normally their open discussions would take place in the living room, but again, their privacy was compromised. He thought about how the Blankenship’s presence was sort of a godsend at this moment, because they had to leave for a while and they were not sure when they would be returning. He would hate to leave the house unattended indefinitely. People might notice, and the house could get ransacked. He was grateful that the Blankenship family would be there to occupy the house while they were gone.
“I saw him last night,” said Carter.
“Saw who?”
“Him… Charlie.”
“What do you mean you saw Charlie last night?” Brenda looked at Carter, separating from his hold on the bed.
“When you fell asleep last night, I came to bed and did not want to wake you because you had such a long day. I saw you sleeping so peacefully. I figured I’d try to utilize everything that you had taught me. I didn’t think anything would happen without your nudge, so I just lied back in bed and did everything you had told me to do in the nights leading up to last night.”
Carter reached up and stroked Brenda’s black hair. This gave him time to collect his thoughts. “It all happened so fast… I was calling out for Angie… listening to your soft breathing patterns and the hypnotic ticking of the alarm clock. I don’t know… maybe the stars were aligned.”
“Are you shitting me?” Brenda said, jerking her head back. “You communicated with Angie?”
“No, no, no. I never did reach Angie, but… while I was doing this… I looked over at the edge of my bed and Charlie was sitting there.”
Brenda sat up on the bed and flashed huge eyeballs at Carter. “Are you telling me that right after Charlie was murdered… he came to you?”
“Something like that,” Carter answered. “That’s why I was dumbfounded when I got a phone call from Cynthia, and then the news of Charlie.”
“Do you know what this means?”
“No,” said Carter. “I was hoping that you did.”
Brenda averted her eyes, searching for an answer. “Well… there has to be a reason that happened. If he came to you last night… maybe he’ll come to you again tonight. Maybe he’ll let you know what happened. Cynthia didn’t even tell us if they caught the guy. Holy shit!”
“Holy shit, what?” asked Carter.
Brenda bounced into her sitting position as she prepared her statement very carefully. “If we’re having a hell of a time reaching Angie in the spirit world, and you’re reaching Charlie in the spirit world, maybe we can try to get our answers through Charlie?”
“What are you talking about? How would Charlie know anything about why Angie ran away from us?”
“He doesn’t, but maybe he can get the answer from Angie?”
“And how the hell do you suppose that will work?”
Brenda again paused as she contemplated a plausible response. He could see her working on a statement in that head of hers. He was hoping that she would come up with something, anything.
“I really think that Charlie is going to reach out to you again to
night,” she began, “if you prepare yourself to be reached. You need to repeat what you were doing last night. Now we know that all we have to do is have you enter that realm any which way. Chances are… Charlie will find you, if you successfully reach out. Instead of verbalizing your desire to reach Angie… and the reason you are reaching out to her, you will reach out to Charlie. That way, when you do connect with Charlie, he may be able to find the answers we need. It would seem as though it would be easier for someone in that realm to reach someone else in that realm. Do you agree? Does this make sense to you?”
Carter dropped his shoulders as he thought about what she was saying, and once again Brenda made otherworldly plans that made perfect sense. However, there was only one way to test her theory. Carter needed to replace his quest for Angie with his quest for Charlie. He needed to get Charlie to contact Angie for them. Yeah, it all made sense to him, but having it go down like that was a horse of a different color entirely. He was severely distraught by the death of his best friend, but he was driven by the opportunity to get more details of his death.
He began to mull it over in his mind, and he looked over at the door to the bedroom, which was ajar. For some reason, that damn door never stayed shut properly. It was always just a notch away from a complete shut. However, he did see a little set of eyes peeping through at them, again. He got up from the bed to close the door tight, and he again heard the pitter patter of footsteps by what was becoming the nosiest set of twins he’d ever come across.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
“Come back to Boulder… whenever you think the time is right,” said Carl to Carter as they sat around the kitchen table after dinner.
“I will,” replied Carter, knowing to the best of his knowledge that the house would be in good hands. Then he thought of the twins, and began to wonder. He had no choice, though, as his best friend had just been murdered and his fiancée was left alone with no immediate family around. Carter knew what this meant. Cynthia could not afford to live there alone, and the memories would drive her away as fast as Carter’s memories drove him away. There was something about that house.
Desert Son Trilogy: Desert Son, Wayward Soul, Spiritual Intervention (Books 1-3) Page 26