by Sandy Night
“No problem, I was headed back to the mountain today anyway.” With a smile plastered on his face, Colt zipped away from the monstrous hell hole as if he had been the one released. “I got all packed, moving in with your sister.”
Blade looked at the boxes in the back seat. “So you quit being a cop?”
“For Little Rock, I start Harrison next week.”
“Oh that’s cool. That’s a little house she’s got, you gonna fit?”
Colt chuckled. “Yeah, there’s room, I don’t have too much stuff.” His gaze turned toward Blade after stopping at a red light. “You know she hasn’t been staying there, she’s at the cabins with my parents.”
“She mentioned something about sleeping out there for awhile because of Tom’s ghost. Have you seen it?”
“No, every time I’ve been up there on my days off, she insists we stay at the cabins. We’ve had the carpet replaced, new bed, burned the dresser.” The light turned green and Colt turned to focus on the road ahead of them. “It has to be broad daylight or she won’t even go in the house.”
“That damn Tom. So do you think there’s a ghost or maybe it’s all in her head? I know when I thought Whip was dead, I felt bad but I knew I didn’t kill him.”
“That’s what I was wondering. It could be she’s haunting herself, but then again, could be there’s something paranormal in there. I don’t know.” Colt flicked questioning glances. “I was thinking about having a psychic or a medium go in there and hold some kind of séance or something, to flush him out of there, or out of Alaska’s mind. What do you think?”
“Good idea.”
*****
Old friends, employees, Colt’s parents, and a few leftover lunch customers attended the late afternoon party Alaska threw for Blade at the cafe. There were pans of lasagna, chocolate cake with raspberry sauce, and a bottle of rum. Colt kept a vigilant eye out for who drank, making sure they had a designated driver.
Blade received hugs and pats on the back.
Nobody talked about Whip, or Esther and Haggard who both survived the injuries they sustained. Bail had been denied for all three.
The conversations pretty much centered on when he was going to get back to work, as a mechanic. And then Alaska, after she announced she was pregnant.
The party didn’t last long. Everybody had something to do. But Colt and Stormy stayed. She was halfway drunk and all over Blade. He liked her.
After the café got cleaned up, they all sat at a table with fresh cups of coffee.
Stormy said to him, “I bet you’ll be glad to be sleep in your own bed tonight.”
But he didn’t look at her with his response; he gazed at his sister and said, “Oh, I’m not sleeping at my trailer tonight. I’m staying at her house.”
Alaska’s eyes blinked, and then she said, “My house?”
“Yeah, I want to get rid of Tom, we’ve had enough of his shit, don’t you think?”
Blade had thought about the psychic plan and decided to check out the house himself first, see if Tom was still there. And if he was, then maybe he could get rid of him, instead of a medium that could possibly be in cahoots with the occult. They could invite trouble into his sister’s home instead of getting rid of it. He had pulled Colt off to the side earlier and explained it to him.
“Well actually,” Alaska said, “I’ve been thinking of offering it to the fire department so they can burn it down, you know for training.” Her eyes got wide. “You know they found out it was really Tom who strangled that Sally Jean woman.”
“Yeah, I know, but I don’t think setting your house on fire is necessary.” Blade leaned over the table. “Let me check it out. If everything’s okay and you still don’t want to live there, then I can, and you and Colt can have the trailer. It has two bedrooms, one for the baby.”
“That sounds good to me,” Colt said. “We can’t stay at the cabins forever, now don’t get me wrong, my parents love having us out there, but they can be a bit overwhelming at times. I’d like to put some distance between us.”
Alaska folded her arms. “Fine, but you shouldn’t stay there tonight by yourself, and I don’t want to go, I’m pregnant. I don’t want that evil thing near me.”
“I’ll stay with him,” Stormy said, and then she turned toward Blade. “What do you think?”
“No, not tonight, it’s got to be just me and Tom.”
*****
Blade drove Alaska’s truck to the house. It looked haunted. A few plants on the porch were dead and brown and the yard needed a good weed-eating. The heat hadn’t subsided too much with the oncoming of dusk. He went inside, turned the AC on from the little wall unit sitting in the kitchen window, and left.
His trailer hadn’t changed. He showered and took a nap.
The moon was almost full and it was going on midnight when he went back to the house. He turned on the kitchen light, opened all the curtains, put two pillows underneath the bed covers to make it appear as if someone was sleeping, and then turned the light back off. He stepped to the bedroom’s entrance and leaned against the door-jam where he could see into the moon-lit room and living room. And he waited.
After about an hour, he saw nothing and heard only the hum of the air conditioner. He turned it off and went back to his spot.
He didn’t think about anything too much, stayed focused, like a coyote watching a rabbit’s burrow. After awhile the room grew warm, but not too uncomfortable. But then the temperature dropped, dramatically. He knew Tom had showed up, but where?
Blade hardly breathed, and the only muscles he moved were his eyeballs, switching back and forth from the living room to the bedroom. And then he saw him.
The apparition stepped out of the closet, cloaked in silhouette except for his face which glowed in the moon light.
Jesus! So much for monsters not being in the closet.
Tom’s black lifeless eyes didn’t seem to notice him standing by the door. It was as if he was looking at the bed. He moved toward it and stood by the edge, peering down at the form Blade had created. And then as he leaned over, his black arms moved out as if he was going to grab it.
Blade spoke, “Hello Tom.”
The black body stood straight, jerked his arms back by his side. His face turned toward the doorway and he let out a loud menacing growl.
But it didn’t scare Blade. He wasn’t going to take no shit from him. He went over to the opposite side of the bed and glared at him. “It’s over, man. And you’re fucking dead.”
Tom growled again, contorting his face like an evil mask.
“You need to move on, go where you’re supposed to go, you know, the light, don’t you see the light, like this.” Blade turned on the dragonfly lamp on the nightstand.
The silhouette rippled and in an instant Tom stood as a full body apparition.
Holy shit!
He was like a living person standing there. And he wore an angry scowl.
“It’s over, man,” Blade said without attitude. “Your mom’s in jail, so is Whip and Deputy Haggard. Isn’t your dad calling you to pass over into greener pastures?”
“Yeah, I am,” a voice said and then his dad walked out of the bathroom.
Tom turned to face him.
“It’s time to go son.”
When Tom reached out and touched his dad, a brilliant light flashed, and they both vanished. ###
The End
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