Dead, Sweet Boy (Book One - Dead, Sweet Series)

by Susan MacQuoid

  Mason sat back in his chair to consider what was being said. “I guess that’ll be okay, but they have to show up on time and no drinking,” he laid down the law. “Hey does this guy have his own equipment?”

  “Only the best,” Doctor Warren tried to satisfy.

  After much discussion and explanation for my mother, it was agreed that Doctor Warren could call his friend. Mason seemed really excited about the prospect, and Claudia was excited for him. I wasn’t excited. The feeling was more like inadequate. So we all had a mission now, but it was really on my back, and I had no idea what to do. It was more likely I would fail, than accomplish anything and I would have to live with that if it happened. Everyone else would be able to go on with their own personal missions, while I had to live with the fact that I had let down the beings that risked everything to save me.

  The new member to our clan was Dr. Jim Carsten, and according to Dr. Warren, Dr. Carsten would leave with a team in the morning and be here by lunchtime. A team of experts. I should have been happy, and maybe part of me was, but my confidence was off kilter. Did I doubt what I had experienced? Hell no, I was doubting myself.

  “Let’s make sure we don’t rush into anything,” Father Vic said. “It’s never a good idea when dealing with spiritual things.”

  Of course I didn’t agree. I knew about the urgency and if I was really true to it, I would have insisted that we start that night. But then I looked at Dr. Warren and remembered LaKisha. Things were coming together the way they were for a reason. Why else would I be connected to LaKisha’s father like this?

  “So we’re all in agreement to meet here tomorrow?” Dr. Warren asked. The fact that he was going to be there at all, led me to believe that he was rethinking and possibly accepting that I had met his daughter in another realm.

  My mother couldn’t agree right away. She had listened mostly, while the men talked, but she wasn’t comfortable. “I’m worried about Sunny. Why do we have to do anything about this? Why not just leave it alone.”

  I didn’t speak up. How do you tell your mother about the evil that must be faced in order to help the others? I had no idea what to expect, except for what I witnessed in the coma realm and the graveyard. Evil was real, and I wanted to protect my mother from the worry.

  “It appears your daughter is committed to doing something about this on her own if she has to,” Dr. Warren stepped in, where I should have been talking. “It’s better if she has experts with her. Don’t you agree?”

  My mother shook her head and reached for my hand again. I couldn’t look in her eyes. She might see the fear and lack of confidence. Mothers know almost every emotion you’re capable of, even though they get it mixed up sometimes. “Would you want your daughter to do this?” she asked the Doctor, not even knowing if the man had kids.

  Dr. Warren cleared his throat and put his hands flat on my mother’s table, before he answered. Maybe it was to show he wasn’t hiding anything, or maybe he needed to brace himself when he spoke. “I have to admit to you, that I have never come across anything like this before in my life and my career. So I’m seeing it all the same way you are, except for the fact that she’s your daughter. It must be a frightening thing for you. I can assure you as your daughter’s doctor, her well being is my first concern. It appears she is being tormented by something real and my associate Dr. Carsten is the best person to help us.”

  “You didn’t answer my question,” my mother pressed. “Would you want your daughter to do this?”

  “I wouldn’t want any of my kids to go through something like this. But if they were seeing ghosts and were tormented by the experience, you can believe I would get to the bottom of it.”

  My mother pursed her lips and sat back in her chair. She looked around the room at everyone sitting at the table and shook her head. “I don’t want Sunny to go through any of this.” Her voice cracked a little when she said it, and I wished that none of this ever happened. My poor mother had fought her demons to try and spare me from my own. “This isn’t supposed to be happening. She’s been through enough, don’t you think? I want Sunny to have…”

  “We all want that, Nancy,” Father Vic cut in. It was so strange to hear someone say my mother’s name. I couldn’t recall hearing it for years. Surely my father must have said it. “What do you think about all of this?” he asked me.

  I shrugged my shoulders to answer. My mother had been through so much.

  He tried a different approach and asked, “Do you think all of this will just go away Sunny?”

  “Mom, I have to do this. I don’t know how or why, but I have to. I have to help the angel and the others who helped me. I can do this mom, I swear,” I lied. “I went through way worse than seeing ghosts in the coma.”

  My mother got up and started a pot of coffee. “Kids, why don’t you let us talk for awhile? Go watch a movie or go for a swim.”

  Claudia, Mason and I went to the suite mom had done for us. My body felt like it had just run a marathon. My limbs were like mush, so I sought out the cane that Claudia had brought back from the pizza shop for me.

  “This is too cool,” Mason said. At first I thought he was talking about our living space, but he went on. “I can’t believe I’m going to be working with a scientist. Your case is just what I needed for my business. People love the shots we took at the graveyard, wait till they get wind of this.”

  “Huh? People? What are you talking about?”

  “You’re famous. I get more comments on my website about you and Mack than any other case I’ve done.”

  “On your website?” I asked. “You didn’t. Please tell me you didn’t.”

  “Dude, I put all evidence I get on my website. I didn’t put your names, but people know who you are. They want to know more.”

  “You idiot!”

  “Sunny, don’t get …”

  “No wonder people were gathering around me and Rick today, I can’t believe you did this to me. I’m not a freak show. You are such an ass wipe. What have you done?”

  Claudia’s eyes were pleading with me to stop, while she tried to defend Mason.

  “Hey look, you guys called me. I didn’t call you and I wasn’t being sneaky or anything. Dude, didn’t you see my website? I always post evidence.”

  “Oh my God,” I couldn’t believe it, and couldn’t get to my laptop fast enough. It was like the ghosts, I didn’t really want to see it, but I had to see what I was up against.

  “Sunny, I told you that I found his website, remember?”

  As fast as my internet was, it was taking too long. “What’s the website?” I barked. I tried to type it in, but I couldn’t get it to work. Mason took over.

  “I wasn’t doing anything any of the other sites don’t do. We all post stuff. I thought you knew that.”

  There it was as plain as day. He didn’t put our names on the evidence, and even blurred out Mack’s name from his tombstone, but he was right. People knew who we were. There were over three thousand comments on the evidence that had to do with that awful night.

  “I swear Sunny; I read the comments before posting them and took the names out. Look, I told everyone they couldn’t mention names in their comments.”

  The evidence he posted, was a fog around Rick while he was still standing. I didn’t play the voice phenomenon the site boasted. The subtitle promised a growl. The events of that night came flooding back to me. What a trip. My hell was being broadcast to the world. There was even a comment from Japan. “This can’t be happening,” I said, getting up from the computer. “Like there isn’t enough going on. Did you know about this?” I accused Claudia.

  “It really happened Sunny. Everything on there really happened. We were there too, remember? You aren’t the only one who went through this crap. How do you think Rick felt? He was attacked. And who do you think was there with you while the doctors were trying to break it to us that there wasn’t any hope? We all were. Even Mason came by to check on you. He didn’t do this to hurt you
. The world is bigger than just you Sun, and sometimes you have to let people in to help. That’s all he was trying to do.”

  This urge to slap her came up, but I squelched it. She was right about part of it. “But I don’t want people to think about Mack that way. They’re going to think he … he’s a … monster. He’s not a monster!”

  “So we can show them that. Can’t we Mason?”

  “Sure. When we get to the bottom of all of this, we can post it.”

  “I don’t have a choice now. Everyone knows. I’m sure everyone is talking about it.”

  Claudia approached me and took my hand. “They were talking about it before Mason posted that stuff Sun. You know they were. People were saying that Mack was haunting the town. We can clear this up for Mack.”

  I couldn’t argue with that. His shocking death and then supposed sightings of Mack, were the buzz before. How could I fight this? Maybe it was better to broadcast the truth. I sat on the couch and put my head between my knees. The tears flowed as quickly as the blood rushed back to my head.

  “Aw Sunny, this all sucks, I know. We can get through this sweetie.”

  “I’m afraid,” I whispered. “What if I can’t?”

  “What are you talking about? They tried to tell us you wouldn’t make it back, and look at you. You weren’t supposed to be walking yet. I’d say you can handle it. And we’re here with you. Me, Mason, Rick, your mom, and all the experts. You can’t go wrong with a real priest, can you?”

  “Rick’s angry. I didn’t tell him about everything, and he’s out.”

  “I thought so,” she whispered. Mason was perceptive enough to go outside for awhile, and let us talk. “You guys just had a fight, that’s all. Rick is crazy about you.”

  “Not so much. Not now. He’s furious that we would even think about going back to the cemetery after what happened.”

  “Yeah, but he doesn’t know everything, like you said, and when you fill him in he’s gonna want to be there. Trust me. The guy is head over heels with you. When he finds out that we have a bunch of experts this time, he’ll understand.”

  “He’s not even willing to listen. It’s over,” I sobbed again. “I can’t have anything normal.”

  Claudia put her arm around me and gave me a comforting squeeze. “Life is good Sunny. You are alive and you might have a very weird mission in front of you, but people believe you now. We’re going to help your angel and get answers. Life is good.”

  Life would have been better if Mack and I were practicing for our next gig. Or if my eyes had been opened before he … well, it could have been better.

  “You are so sure Sun, that the angel needs your help. You wouldn’t have been able to help him if none of this happened. Right?”

  “Help who?” the voice came from the doorway. It was Rick.

  “We were just talking about you,” Claudia said. Her voice was almost a scold.

  “Yeah, my ears were ringing.”

  I didn’t want to look at him. My face was a mess. I was a mess.

  “You’re crying? Why is she crying?”

  Chapter Twenty Seven

  Simple Life

  And I won’t break and I won’t bend

  But someday soon we’ll sail away

  To innocence and the bitter end

  And I won’t break and I won’t bend

  And with the last breath we ever take

  We’re gonna get back to the simple life again

  (Elton John’s, The One)

  It wasn’t as hard as I thought to explain everything to Rick. I guess our experience in the graveyard that night made anything possible. He believed me, and like Claudia said, he was relieved there were experts involved this time. The hardest part to talk about was the part about Clay. But surprisingly, he wasn’t half as interested in Clay as he was about Bobby.

  “Why would this angel break the rules for you? I don’t understand. And since when do angels kiss mortal girls? Isn’t that how giants came about in the bible?”

  “I think those were fallen angels,” I said, a little nervous about his questions.

  “If he broke the rules, doesn’t that make him a fallen angel? I don’t get it Sunny. Are you sure he’s an angel and not more of a demon than the other guy was?”

  “No! He saved me. He fought the demon to get me out of there.”

  Rick shook his head as he played with my fingers nervously. “I don’t like it at all. Something’s not right. I have a really bad feeling about this. What does Father Vic think about the angel?”

  “He didn’t say. But I think he’s all for getting to the bottom of this mess.”

  “Yeah but he kissed you.”

  We couldn’t get past Bobby in my attempts to fill him in on everything. He was obsessed with the kiss, and the fact that I took a part of the angel back with me somehow.

  “Are you a little jealous?” I asked carefully. I knew he was, but had to ask in order to hide my own questions about Bobby. Or rather my questions about the feelings I had for him.

  “No!” he answered way too quickly. “God no. That’s not it at all. I just don’t understand what an angel would need from you. It’s creepy Sunny. The rules were so important, even though you didn’t know all the rules, and then he breaks the rules. I’m pretty sure that makes him a …”

  “Stop! Don’t say it again. If you knew him, you would know that’s not true.”

  “You’re pretty defensive about him, aren’t you?”

  “Are we fighting again?” I asked to change the subject.

  Rick sighed. He wasn’t ready to close the subject, but he stopped the badgering about Bobby. He had one last thing to say on the subject. “Angels are supposed to protect you Sunny, not the other way around. I don’t know if I trust this so called angel, but I’ll let it go for now.”

  I think what helped, is that there wasn’t a plan yet. If I didn’t know what I had to do, how could anyone else? He was against us going to the cemetery again, but agreed to have an open mind when we talked to the expert who would be at my house soon enough.

  Claudia and Mason had taken off when Rick showed up, to give us some privacy. Just him being there made me feel better, and I was relieved to have everything out on the table. Soon enough, I would have to tell the story all over again to someone else, and it was an exhausting task each time. It made me wish I could just download, like my tunes, or better yet, like a video.

  Rick played with my fingers again and leaned a little closer to me. He was so sweet and warm, I just wanted to curl up in his arms and float away, far from our troubles. First he kissed my hair and then my cheek. With his finger, he traced the neck line of my blouse and then my mouth. The blood flow in my body had been through so many jolts that night that it was heaven to feel the steady beat of passion he stirred. I got up and locked the entrance to my living space, then went back and curled up in his arms.

  “You wouldn’t listen to me,” I whispered.

  “I’m sorry. It was stupid.”

  “Don’t do that to me anymore. Promise?”

  “I promise. But, you kept things from me.”

  “I know. I’m sorry, it was so wrong.”

  “Don’t keep anything from me Sunny. We can talk about anything, okay?”

  My answer came in the form of a kiss, and it was a hot and long one. Rick’s strong arms positioned my body so we were laying on the couch facing each other in a passionate embrace. His hands found their way under my blouse where they explored my back and belly, while I responded fiercely with my kisses.

  Not far from where we lay, my mother, my shrink and a priest, discussed my problems. Somewhere else, a team was preparing to come and jump start my mission, but on my couch, Rick was taking me far from everything pending. At least until the lights went on. I didn’t think about the sliding door to the pool.

  “Are you crazy?” Claudia exclaimed. “Your mother could walk in any minute. Do you want to ruin it for all of us?”

  I sat up so quickly, R
ick’s tooth hit my lip and I was bleeding. “Claudia!”

  “What the frick are you thinking Sunny?”

  “The door’s locked,” I defended.

  “Oh great. You’re in here alone with him with the door locked. Will that make it better for your mom?” she asked as she went to unlock the door. “Get a grip Sunny. Take it to his truck or something.”

  “We weren’t doing …”

  “Look who’s talking,” Rick laughed. “Oh my God, could that hickey be any bigger?”

  He was right. In plain view, and disgustingly large, Claudia had a big honking hickey on her neck, and Mason’s hair was messier than normal. When I started laughing, she ran to the mirror to take a look.

  “Mason!” she yelled. “Look what you did.”

  Because we were laughing, Mason couldn’t help but laugh. “I’m sorry, I couldn’t help it. You make me crazy,” he tried to excuse.

  Claudia ran to the bathroom for some makeup, desperately trying to cover up her own little blunder.

  Really, it was a good thing they came in and turned on the lights when they did. Not so much because we were out of control or anything, because I don’t think we were. I think. But because my mother walked in while Claudia was in the bathroom.

  “Why is this door closed?” she asked. “I told you kids that the doors had to be open if there were boys here.”

  “Sorry mom, but I thought you wanted to have a private talk with the adults.”

  Her hand didn’t move from her hip while she starred me down for pieces of the truth I might have been leaving out. It was that mother’s radar thing, I could feel it. “Where’s Claudia?”

  “I’m in the bathroom,” Claudia called back. “I’ll be out in a minute.” I smiled, sensing it was a little strange for Claudia to call out like that from the bathroom. We were closer and could have answered. To me it sounded suspicious.

  “Sunny and Claudia, don’t even make me regret this living arrangement. If I have any problems with this suite, I’ll have you both back up in your old room in a heartbeat.”