I awakened just at dawn, and felt as if I had been slammed back into my body after traveling all night outside of it. The intensity of sadness caused my eyes to tear.
I grabbed Auggie’s arms and pulled them around myself even more tightly. He shifted in his sleep and then settled back in.
His contentment bathed me in true love.
25
The House was quiet, its inhabitants asleep in their beds.
The Pit was unquiet, its inhabitants restless.
Esperame.
Wait for me.
The plumbing of the House was a marvel of engineering for the time in which it was born. In addition to the luxurious bathrooms, with what seemed like several miles of plumbing to the workers who installed it, each room was heated by steam heat. The sisters who’d originally lived in the House had sworn by the moist heat, loving it for protecting their skin from the dryness of the desert. Every inch of the House was at some point moistened in one way or another from the earth’s bounty. That same bounty would prove useful to an unseen group of residents.
Spirit is a driving force in every living being. We say we are moved by spirit. Spirit fills us. Our lives are formed by our spirit. Spirit, or lack thereof, will send you to Heaven or Hell.
The Universe knows that Spirit crosses dimensions, time, and space.
Many met their unfortunate end in the Pit belonging to Richard Waverly. It can be said that those spirits were unsettled, restless. Auggie and I would later believe that many of them were vengeful and not yet resigned to their fate. In any event, spirit would work in mysterious, and helpful, ways.
The girls were asleep in their rooms late that night. Corazon and Lupe were asleep as well, a couple of long yet uneventful days as tiring as busy ones. Waverly had practically barricaded himself within the master bedroom and slept fitfully.
Juanita had met many kindred souls as a result of her visit to the Pit. She was welcomed by several she’d known at the Junction, and a host of others unfamiliar. All of them were eager to help, to see justice. They forged an unbreakable bond, an alliance unstoppable, a force unable to be reckoned with. Their wish, their desire, their own hope unified and they mounted a formidable presence.
Together, they would manifest.
The existence of the septic system leach lines had been a forgotten part of the House history. Neatly covered pipes and drainage systems are often overlooked, until they cause some sort of problem. The lines were disturbed on their far endings when Richard Waverly built the Pit, and the ends of them festered like sores as the Pit became an open wound in the earth.
Much of the desert Southwest is sacred from the Universal point of view, spiritual to many, a haven for those who worship it. The small patch of ground that Richard Waverly had desecrated contained life - natural life - before he dug, and unnatural life after he filled it up.
Spirits began to rise from the pit, visible to some who could see them only as minute points of light. Spirit began to flow through the lines, making its way through pipes that had lain in the ground many years. Tiny points of light floated through the night air, hovering around each window of the House. Liquid spirit drifted through the piping of the House, up from the pipes underground and into the pipes of the skeleton. More than a hundred spirits participated, guests of Richard Waverly. Others came to help.
The plumbing of the House contained more than water.
The windows of the House shone with more than moonlight.
Lupe was the first to awaken. She was groggy, and sat up on the edge of her bed, feeling on her nightstand for her water glass. She took a drink, but the glass was empty. She rubbed her face with her hands, stood up clutching her glass, and went into her bathroom to refill it.
As she turned on the cold water faucet, nothing came out.
Puzzled, she turned off the faucet and then on again. Nothing.
She looked up at the mirror above the sink and saw that her reflection was as puzzled as she. Glancing at the window to her left, a warm stream of urine suddenly trickled down her leg.
A half-dozen faces looked in at her, faintly traced in white, floating.
Lupe screamed.
Her scream work Corazon, who tumbled from her bed. As she tried to get up from the floor in a tangle of sheet and blanket, she happened to look out of her own window. A dozen faces floated in the moonlight. She screamed and then fainted on her floor.
The girls were all awake by then and their own screams filled the House.
Faces floated outside of every window.
Richard Waverly was pissed as he threw off his bedcovers. He pulled his robe over his rumpled pajamas and shoved his feet into his slippers with an oath. Angrily he twisted the handles of his locked bedroom doors, and stomped out into the hall. He covered his ears with his hands; the screams were deafening.
He shouted, but none of the women could hear him.
He turned and looked at the leaded glass of the front door and its windows, and clearly saw the faces through the panes. He passed out on the floor of the foyer.
The faces could not maintain their presence for very long. They were forced to disappear, and return to the Pit. The spirit in water picked up where the faces were forced to leave off.
Sludge began to bubble from every drain in the House, and to ooze from every faucet. Water in the toilet stools became brown and tiny bubbles popped within the bowls. Spirit avoided the area of the boiler and the radiators, knowing that the women and babies needed the heating system intact. The smell coming from the foreign liquid was instantly nauseating and repulsive.
Lupe shook Corazon awake, and they dashed out of the room. Lupe ran into her kitchen, trying without success to turn off the sink faucet. She looked at Corazon, their faces mirrored with panic. They looked at the ceiling in the hallway, listened to the dying screams, and ran to the foyer to go upstairs to the women.
Corazon tripped over Richard Waverly and landed on her side painfully against the front door. Lupe helped her get up. They looked down at the man, looked at each other, and headed up the stairs two at a time.
The women had huddled in the hallway, the girls with larger bellies sitting on the floor. All of them were crying and sobbing. There were six bathrooms on the upper level; the stench was overpowering and several of the women had vomited. Lupe darted into the nearest bathroom and saw that the sludge had ended, at least in that sink and tub. She ran into the next and saw that no more was coming out of those fixtures either. She stepped back into the hallway and helped the last of the girls from the floor. All of the women stampeded downstairs.
“The faces are gone,” Corazon cried. “We’ve got to get outside.”
She and Lupe dragged Waverly away from the door, and opened it. The girls fled the House, congregating on a small patch of sod that served as a lawn. They sniffled and wept and held each other. Corazon and Lupe took Waverly’s hands and together they dragged him over the threshold and front steps, letting him flop on the grass.
He woke up within a few minutes, amazed to find himself lying on the lawn. The women circled him and looked down upon him. For a moment his eyes went wide and then quickly returned to their normal shrewdness.
Lupe spoke while the rest of the ladies remained silent and watchful.
“You are a very bad man, Senor Waverly. Tonight we have all been warned. What you have done here, in this place, this House, is an abomination. God in His Wisdom is deciding what to do with you.”
She spat in his face.
He rose up on his elbows, watching as the girls filed back into the House one by one.
They discovered that all of their sinks, tubs, toilets and faucets were as spotless as they’d left them before retiring.
The smell of fresh desert night air wafted through the windows of the House, all of them wide open.
26
Richard Waverly headed into the kitchen at the House. “Lupe?” He frowned when he did not get a response. His frown deepened into a scowl as he looked at
the coffee maker and saw it was empty.
Auggie and I were sitting at his dinette table with our cups, when soft knocking sounded on the front door. He raised his eyebrows at me, got up, and I heard him say, ”Cora. Lupe. Good morning, please come in.” He held the door open for the women and closed it quietly behind them.
“Buenas Dias, Doctor Auggie,” said Corazon. Lupe and she both smiled as they turned and saw me sitting at the table.
“Have you two met Madeleine?” he asked. I rose from my chair. “Cora, Lupe, this is Madeleine Brown. She works for Mrs. Evelyn in the oficina.” Both women came toward me with smiles and each of them grasped one of my hands.
“It is so wonderful to meet you. We have heard many good things about you from the girls,” said Cora.
My face must have reflected my puzzlement. “Really? Well, I’m happy to meet you as well.”
“I am the nurse up at the House, and Guadalupe is in charge of everything else up there,” laughed Corazon.
“Actualmente, I remember meeting you the day Mrs. Evelyn brought you up to the House,” said Lupe. I nodded.
They simultaneously let go of my hands, and Lupe pulled me toward her in a warm embrace. She caught me by surprise, and I raised my eyebrows as I caught Auggie’s eye over her shoulder. He shrugged.
Corazon hugged me as well, and when she released me I saw that her eyes looked a bit damp. I felt curious and knowing, simultaneously.
“Ladies, please, sit over here,” Auggie offered. “Would you like some coffee?”
“Yes, please, Doctor Auggie. I didn’t even make any this morning – we just came straight here as soon as we thought you’d be up. I am certain Senor Waverly will not be pleased.” Lupe and Cora looked at each other and giggled, shyly.
“I’ll get it,” I said. I went to the cabinet for more mugs.
“We apologize for coming so early.”
Auggie waved his hand. “Not a problem, Cora. Although, I am surprised to see both of you down here.”
Cora and Lupe exchanged glances again. “There was a problem at the House last night.”
Lupe fiddled with the hem of her skirt. “An unusual problem, Dios Mio.”
I brought the ladies their coffee, and then pulled my dinette chair into the living room and sat down. I knew the ladies were very distraught about something, and it reeked of the House.
“I don’t know how to begin,” said Cora. Lupe put her hand over Cora’s in a gesture of encouragement.
“There were fantasmas.” Lupe’s face went white.
“Ghosts?” asked Auggie.
“Si,” nodded both ladies. “Ghosts. At the windows.”
My skin grew a heavy layer of gooseflesh.
Auggie remained silent, staring at the ladies.
Both women took sips of their coffee and then Lupe spoke. “All of us were asleep in our rooms, even the Senor. Everything was very quiet. Late into the night, I went to get myself a drink of water from my bathroom and as I looked out the window, there were – caras.” She shut her eyes. Faces. Some of them were so very familiar. They were transparente, you know, clear. I could see right through them, but their eyes were bright.” She shivered.
“Yes,” confirmed Cora. “I saw them too, after Lupe screamed and woke me. But that’s not the only thing. There was, how do you say – caca – stuff – coming out of the faucets, and in the drains and toilets.”
“The smell was absolutamente horrible.” Lupe wrung her hands.
“Both of us screamed, I am afraid,” continued Cora. “ Of course all the girls woke up. There were faces at all the windows. Some that all of us knew. I myself saw Juanita, and Leticia. Pobre, pobre Leticia!”
Lupe made the sign of the cross upon her brow and breast.
Auggie and I looked at each other. His eyes reflected a degree of disbelief, but I’d felt the inexplicable draw of the House for myself. I did not doubt the ladies. I was sitting close enough to Auggie to put my hand on his leg, nodding. “Listen,” I admonished softly. “With more than your ears.”
I leaned forward, toward the women. “How did the faces look – I mean, could you see any kind of expression on them?”
Cora and Lupe looked at each other silently. Lupe then said, “Well, actualmente, now that I think of it, they were not – espantoso – scary, as you say. Even though I was very frightened, now that you ask us, I do not think that they wanted to do harm.”
Cora nodded in agreement. “We of course never saw anything like it, any of us. We were so frightened. We only wanted to get away from them, and from the bathrooms and that horrible smell. Lupe and I ran into the downstairs hall, and then up to the girls. Some of them had thrown up, too. It was – Dios Mio – muy horrible.” She wrung her hands.
Lupe nodded. “And, Senor Waverly had come out of his room. I think he had passed out. There were faces at the front door by his room. Corazon tripped over him.” Cora shyly lowered her head and suppressed a giggle. She touched Lupe’s hand.
She continued, “The girls – we – had to get out of the House. We all went downstairs –“
Corazon interjected, “We had to drag Mr. Waverly out of the House. We all went out the front door, and stood on the grass.”
Auggie took my hand, sighing deeply. I looked down at my lap, then back up at the ladies. “What happened then?”
Cora and Lupe looked at each other. “Senor Waverly woke up, lying there in the grass. Lupe told him it was God’s warning, his judgement.” Cora squeezed Lupe’s hand. “I believe her. There is something not right. Augustus, why did I see Leticia? And some of the others, who lived in the House before, who left their babies behind and moved on? Why were their faces so bright, so sad – and there were so many others, too. Even some men.”
“I have no answers, Cora love. Apparently there is something going on besides our own work of delivering the babies.” Auggie rose from his chair and went to the kitchen, returning with the coffee pot and a bottle of Irish Crème liquor. “Ladies?” He offered. We all accepted.
“There’s something very wrong up there, Auggie,” I said. “When Evelyn took me up to the House that first time I felt it. Even with what Waverly did to me.”
Cora and Lupe looked at us, questioning. Auggie told them, “Richard is a very bad man. He did something very bad to Maddy that day. The same thing he does to the girls.”
Cora and Lupe’s faces turned a lighter shade of olive, and both of them crossed themselves. Cora leaned toward me and touched my knee. “Pobrecita. We didn’t know. I am so sorry.” Lupe nodded, unable to speak.
I waved my hand in dismissal. “Things happen. I have forgiven what went on. I must forgive and forget.”
“Ay,” said Cora. “But it is not so easy to forgive, sometimes. Now, we are wondering what more that man has done.” She looked at all of us, a horrible realization clouding her features. “What HAS happened?”
I looked at them, and at Auggie. I sighed, heavily.
“I am of the certain feeling that the faces you saw last night belong to every woman who has had a baby up there. There is no doubt in my mind.” I rubbed my arms, rough with gooseflesh. “Perhaps there are others. Often when a spirit is in dire need, there are others who want to help – others who have not fully crossed over. People often can see them if they manifest, especially if they help each other.”
Lupe, Cora, and Auggie’s faces were transfixed on my own. No one interrupted.
“I don’t want you to think I’m crazy. I’m not. Most of my life I have been able to see and feel things that most people cannot. Some of us feel, some of us feel more. For whatever reason, I think I feel more, am in touch with the Other Side more. I have always believed that there is a very fine veil keeping one side from the other – and sometimes things cross through. It is my feeling, from being in the House, and from your own account of last night, that these spirits were not there to scare, or to warn. They appeared so that you would KNOW.”
All of us picked up our coffee cups. “Che
ers,” said Auggie. We giggled nervously. Auggie drained his in one big swallow. “I think I’ll put on another pot. Tastes really good for some reason.” We laughed – and he winked at me.
“Senora, what are we to do?” Lupe asked me.
I thought for a few moments. “That is something Auggie and I have been talking about. Even Mrs. E knows that her ex-husband needs to be stopped. I’m thinking the time has come – perhaps now that I am here with you, and we can all work together – to put an end to his evil.”
Auggie stood behind me and laid his hand on my shoulder.
“I think Mrs. Evelyn needs to hear your story,” I said.
I called her at the office, using Auggie’s phone. She came right over, and the four of us talked until nearly noon.
27
Rafe Trujillo was sleeping very well, snoring softly, nestled into the soft pillows of his bed in his apartment. The room was small, as he’d maintained a modest living in order to squirrel away as much of Waverly’s money as possible. He’d already envisioned an end to their profitable association – and he had a contingency plan in place. His conscience was not a hindrance that kept him awake at night.
His snoring stopped suddenly as his deep rest was disturbed. Rafe was sleeping on his stomach, his arms wrapped around two pillows, his head supported between. He hitched his breath, snorted loudly, and restlessly rolled over. He opened his eyes a mere second.
It was a second he would never forget.
He screamed, and flailed with arms and legs, clinging to the headboard.
The room was full of faces.
At about the same time Corazon and Lupe paid a visit to Auggie’s trailer, Tony Lozano was rudely awakened by the constant ringing of his door chime downstairs. He threw his Egyptian cotton bedclothes aside, grabbing his robe and wrapping it tightly, tying the belt as he padded down the stairs. He saw one figure through the front door glass; as he opened it, Rafe pushed him aside and barged through.
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