Provex City

by Michael Pierce

  “We should get down,” Anna said and extinguished her flashlight. Desiree did the same. The hum from the light grew swiftly into a roar, which I finally identified as belonging to an oncoming train.

  The horn bellowed and the train screamed past, missing us by mere feet. And then it was gone, disappearing around a bend in the canyon. Our position was dark and quiet once again. Desiree and Anna flipped on their flashlights and we were ready to move.

  We stepped carefully over two sets of tracks. I let the girls continue to lead the way, still anticipating where this adventure would lead. Desiree reached the next hill first and began the climb, careful to keep her balance. As soon as she reached the top with Anna, they both shone their flashlights down to light my path until I had finally reached the crest of the hill.

  A frail wooden fence framed the top of the hill, extending before us in either direction and fading into the darkness. It was low to the ground with only two beams running across its length. The fence was obviously acting as just a perimeter, not security. Beyond the fence were headstones. Desiree had brought us to a cemetery.

  “This is our destination?” I asked.

  “Yup.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “You wanted to talk to TJ, right? Well, he’s right over here,” Desiree said.

  “He’s buried here?”

  Both girls nodded. Desiree hopped over the fence first, and Anna more carefully stepped over the two horizontal planks. Both girls looked back at me impatiently.

  “Come on,” Desiree said, lowering her flashlight.

  I crossed the threshold into the cemetery and it felt colder within the border, even though that didn’t make any logical sense. But maybe my chills weren’t temperature-related.

  I walked between Desiree and Anna through the sublime rows of headstones. The moon was higher now and cast menacing shadows from trees, angelic statues, and larger headstones. We were serenaded by the hymns of a choir of crickets. And finally, Desiree stopped at a headstone and shone her light on the engraving. The eternal resting place of Thomas Taylor.

  We all took a moment of silence and gazed upon the name. Desiree and Anna both knew him. Their faces were blank, and Anna couldn’t keep her eyes on the tombstone. She continually glanced over at Desiree.

  “What should I say?” I asked.

  “Nothing yet,” Desiree whispered. Her fingers on both hands were tightly interlocked.

  Anna took off her backpack and sat down in front of TJ’s headstone. She unzipped her pack and pulled out a board and laid it on the ground. Desiree and I sat down. Upon closer examination, I realized that Anna had brought a Ouija board. She also took out the heart shaped planchette and placed it on the board.

  “Ever use a Ouija board before?” Desiree asked.

  “No. And why do you have one?” I asked Anna.

  “It was a gag gift that has since come in handy,” Anna said and placed her hand on the planchette. “Everyone has to join in.”

  Desiree and I scooted closer to the board and placed one finger each on the planchette. I looked at Anna with amazement and curiosity. She was not the type of girl I would have pictured participating in a séance. Anna was changing before my eyes, exuding an intriguing dark side I had not seen before.

  “Oliver, remember to keep your finger on the pointer and don’t move it. If we can reach TJ, he will move it for us. I’ll start off. TJ, are you with us?” Anna asked.

  We all sat in silence, impatiently staring at the spirit board.

  The planchette didn’t move. No answer.

  “TJ, we would like to speak with you. Are you with us?” Anna asked again.

  We continued to wait in silence. I then noticed how silent it really was. The crickets no longer sang. The air was deathly calm. All I could hear was my heart thumping in my chest.

  Just when I was thinking how childish this game was, the planchette began to move to the top-left corner of the board. It pointed to yes.

  “Anna, are you doing that?” I asked, attempting to control my paranoia.

  “No.”

  “Desiree?” I asked.

  “I didn’t move it.”

  I felt hair all over my body stand on end. I shivered involuntarily, but made sure not to remove my finger from the animated pointer.

  “Ask him something.” Anna said.

  “Why are you still in my room?” I asked quietly. The planchette crisscrossed around the board to spell out a word or phrase: D...E...S...I...R...E...

  I knew I wasn’t pushing the planchette across the board, and I didn’t know if one of the two girls was, but I was beginning to get freaked out. We waited for the next move to begin to unravel the enigma of the message. He desired to remain in my room? That didn’t tell us much. There had to be more.

  I felt the piece begin to move again—

  We all jumped to the sound of a snapping twig, all hands flying off the Ouija board. Desiree and Anna gasped. I could only assume they saw the same shadowed figure I did, standing inconspicuously under the canopy of a tree a hundred paces away. I couldn’t make out any features, but it was obvious the figure was looking in our direction. We were not alone.

  “I think I’m gonna be sick,” Desiree whispered.

  7

  Room of Enlightenment

  I thought about all of today’s events that had led up to this moment. Maybe I shouldn’t have followed Desiree blindly into the night. The Ouija board was a bad omen. I had heard of people going crazy from using that kind of inanimate medium. I couldn’t take my eyes off our intruder. Hopefully, he was just a night watchman who would soon ask us to leave, after he was done scaring the crap out of us. But I felt this was not the case. Desiree, Anna, and I sat nervously awaiting our fate.

  “What should we do?” Anna whispered. She scooted closer to me, leaving Desiree more on her own. Desiree immediately noticed and scooted closer to the both of us to feel more secure.

  I didn’t want to stand up and make myself a target, but I felt like I had to do something. I was the man in the group. But I felt sick and, if I stood up, I would probably vomit all over the board.

  What is he doing?

  The cemetery was silent except for our pounding hearts. Each heartbeat had its own pace and rhythm, but each was prominent in the still air and close proximity of our bodies.

  I finally built up the gall to do something. I grabbed for Desiree’s flashlight and she wrestled it out of reach.

  “Don’t do that,” she hissed.

  “We can get a better look at who he is,” I argued just above a whisper.

  She shook her head.

  I devised a new plan after my momentary setback. Not yet able to stand, I called out from my seated position, “We were just leaving.”

  My communication seemed to make little impact.

  “Don’t call the cops, we’re leaving right now,” I said again. I picked up the Ouija board and planchette and handed them to Anna to stuff back in her pack. She fumbled awkwardly with the zipper before putting the board away.

  I looked back at the figure just as he took a step forward, out from the shade of the canopy. He was cloaked in black, with a hood up, but there still wasn’t enough light to make out his face. He lifted his hand and clicked on a flashlight, flooding our little group in bright white light.

  Desiree jumped up and grabbed my arm with both hands, trying to force me to my feet.

  The man continued toward us, keeping the flashlight pointed directly at us.

  All on our feet, we made a break for the fence. I had no intention of looking back to see how close our intruder was until I heard the sound of frustratingly familiar laughter.

  “You should have seen the looks on your faces,” Jeremy laughed.

  All three of us turned to Jeremy, who was now standing in front of TJ Taylor’s headstone. It took Desiree a moment to connect the dots. “Is that your brother?”

  I didn’t answer her. I funneled all my rage toward Jeremy. “What’s
wrong with you?”

  “I’m sorry, I couldn’t stop myself,” Jeremy said, finally extinguishing the flashlight.

  “Did you follow us out here?” I asked, making no attempt to hide my annoyance.

  “I saw you sneaking around on the way home,” Jeremy said. “You’re not very subtle.”

  The girls stood behind me, fuming. I didn’t know about Anna, but I’m sure Desiree wanted to say something. I guess she stopped herself when she realized this was a family matter.

  “You alone?” I asked.

  “Leslie’s parked on the street, if you want a ride.”

  “That’s all right, we’ll walk,” Anna said.

  “Suit yourself. Any luck with the Ouija board?” Jeremy looked down at the headstone. “Is this the guy that supposedly killed himself in your room that everyone’s been talking about?”

  “Not supposedly. Did!” I spat.

  “And now you’re trying to conjure him back? That doesn’t sound smart,” Jeremy said. “So, does the board work?”

  “I dunno. You kinda interrupted us.”

  “Yes, the board works,” Desiree said. “And I just gotta say, it’s pretty messed up of you to come here just to scare us. I don’t care what you say. It wasn’t funny.”

  “Well okay, I apologize. It was all meant in good fun.”

  “It wasn’t,” Desiree snapped.

  “Look at the fangs on her,” Jeremy said, turning to me. “Good job, Oliver.”

  “Come on, Jeremy, don’t do that.” I didn’t want him to escalate the conflict further. The girls seemed mad enough. I wanted Jeremy to leave and allow us to start our grumpy trek home.

  “Isn’t one bogeyman enough? Why do you feel the need to conjure up another one?”

  “What bogeyman?” Desiree asked.

  “Kafka. Hasn’t Oliver told you about him? He was such a prominent figure when we were kids.”

  “Who’s Kafka?” Anna asked.

  “Kafka the bogeyman,” Jeremy said, amused with himself.

  “No one,” I said. “It’s nothing. Isn’t Leslie waiting for you?” I asked Jeremy, hoping he’d take the hint.

  “Oh come on, break out the board again. If we can’t reach your ghost, maybe we can reach Oliver’s old bogeyman. It could be fun. Oliver still dreams of him, you know.”

  “Thanks for that.”

  “I think we’re done for the night,” Anna said, sounding a little more than anxious.

  “At least let me give you guys a ride home,” Jeremy said.

  “That’s quite all right,” Desiree said.

  I just shrugged.

  “I can have you home in like five minutes.” But Jeremy wasn’t changing anyone’s mind.

  We didn’t let Jeremy win this one and left him in the cemetery. The ravine was just as treacherous the second time, and we snuck back into the Heritage Villas complex. Then the streetlights reappeared and we were back on familiar ground.

  “That sucked,” Desiree said once we were finally back to the corner of Santa Clara and Wheeler.

  “Yeah, I’m sorry about that. I’m sorry about Jeremy,” I said.

  “It wasn’t cool.”

  “Look at the bright side, at least we didn’t get in trouble,” Anna said.

  “It seemed to be working, even if just for a moment,” I said.

  “Of course it works. I wouldn’t have gone through all the hassle to take you out there as a joke or something,” Desiree said, crossing her arms.

  “I know that. That’s Jeremy.”

  “Jeremy—I know he’s your brother and all, but I’m not a fan. I don’t say that to piss you off. It’s just how I feel.”

  “We should try this again another time,” Anna said.

  “Sure, we can do that,” I said, afraid to share my real feelings.

  “Okay, well, it’s getting late and we should go,” Desiree said. “It’s been interesting.”

  “To say the least. Good night,” I said and turned to leave. I had quite the dilemma. The one thing I wanted to do more than anything in the world was go to sleep, but not in my room.

  “Oh, I almost forgot,” Desiree started unexpectedly.

  I stopped abruptly, now several paces away.

  “Anna and I are planning a Halloween party. You interested?”

  “Yeah, that’d be fun.”

  “We’re going out this weekend to look for costumes,” Desiree said. She cracked a huge smile. “Wanna come?”

  “I guess so. Let me know when.”

  “I guess so is so lame. Just say yes!”

  “Yes.”

  “I’ll let you know. Good night,” Desiree called as they started off into the night. She seemed to have a need for making theatrical exits. I was stuck there for a moment having to watch them leave, seemingly unable to successfully leave first.

  Leslie and Jeremy were sitting in the Camaro, parked against the curb in front of our house when I reached the driveway. I snuck in the side door, knowing everyone would be asleep, and tried not to disturb Frolics. I didn’t want him waking the whole family. It was almost one o’clock in the morning.

  I heard a tail beating against the floor as I entered the kitchen. Frolics sensed it was me and waited impatiently in the dark for me to come over and pet him so he could peacefully go back to sleep.

  I turned on the light to my room, but stayed in the hallway. I inspected the contents and condition. Everything looked fine. I was relieved, but still didn’t want to enter. I flipped off the light and went quietly into the bathroom, closing the door behind me. I examined my face in the mirror: dry eyes, rough skin, scattered blemishes, chapped lips. It wasn’t a pretty picture up close and I couldn’t understand why anyone would want to look at me. If I stood at a distance, I appeared presentable. Maybe if I kept a constant distance no one would notice.

  Throwing myself down on the couch in the living room, I peeled the afghan off the back and prepared for the alluring release of sleep.

  Jeremy entered the house and headed for his room without the need for lights. Passing me by without notice, his return gave closure to the evening. I finally surrendered to the chariot of slumber to take me away.

  “I’m sorry again about last night,” I said as Desiree, Eli, and Anna sat down. I was the first one at our lunch spot. I had continued leaving gym slightly ahead of everyone else to avoid unnecessary confrontations.

  “I don’t know what you have to be sorry for. It wasn’t your fault you couldn’t answer my history question,” Desiree said nonchalantly.

  I glanced at Anna who shook her head and mouthed something to me with a guilty expression.

  “Yeah...” I said pitifully. “I still felt bad.” Hopefully, my recovery from my original statement would suffice.

  “No worries. I finally got it,” Desiree said, placing her lunch on the ground in front of her.

  I tried to read her face, but she was hiding the situation well and gave me no clues to what I should say next. I desperately wanted to be looped in.

  “Anna, how was your night?” I asked, seeing what kind of information she would divulge.

  She didn’t skip a beat. “I finished up some physics homework at Eli’s coffee shop until about nine, then went home and went to bed. How was your night? Eventful?”

  “Eventful isn’t quite the word. I just hung out at home,” I said, still at a loss for words. Obviously Eli wasn’t clued into our escapade last night, but I wasn’t sure why. “So how was work?” Eli had to have something to say and maybe some of it would be true.

  He looked at me inquisitively, like I had just asked the dumbest question known to man. “It’s work. I hang out, drink some coffee, jam with a buddy of mine, and help the occasional customer.”

  “Your playing helps me study,” Anna said.

  “That’s cool. I play guitar a little,” I said.

  “Good for you,” Eli said. I sensed there would be no rapport built today.

  Anna and Eli went their separate directions after
lunch, so I was left with Desiree to pry and fail to attain information on what all the lying was about. Everyone was rushing off to class. We had left our lunch spot late, which was okay with me since I had hoped something related to last night would be mentioned in a subsequent conversation. I was not so lucky.

  “From the study questions,” Desiree said, grabbing a paper from her backpack. “What was the Egyptian concept for justice?”

  “Did you actually finish the homework?”

  “All but that question. I got like no sleep,” she said with a yawn.

  In class, we were rewarded with a pop quiz. Desiree finished before me, which I found remarkable since she seemed to be barely functioning. And then she fell asleep. Mr. Gordon was in the middle of his lecture when he noticed and immediately picked up a whiteboard eraser and chucked it at the wall between Desiree and me. I didn’t think teachers were allowed to do that, but Mr. Gordon didn’t seem to care about classroom etiquette when it came to sleeping in his classroom. I had never seen anyone awaken so fast, thrust into such disorientation. I attempted to hold back a snicker and released a snort in the process.

  Fortunately, she wasn’t fully awake and turned to me sheepishly and asked, “Did I fall asleep?”

  I nodded. “I think you drooled a little,” I said, feeling an overdue sense of victory. For the first time since I’d been here, I didn’t feel like the new guy anymore. Maybe the feeling wouldn’t last, so I wanted to relish in it as long as possible.

  Desiree didn’t even notice the eraser on the floor until the end of class, assuming she had startled herself awake. Mr. Gordon asked for his eraser back as Desiree and I attempted to slip out of class unnoticed. Desiree blushed like a clown, retrieved the eraser in a flash, and was out the door before Mr. Gordon had the slightest chance of thanking her.

  I hustled after her, but was called back before I reached the doorway.

  “I hope I didn’t offend you,” Mr. Gordon said as he erased the board.

  “That throw was pretty close. If your aim was off you could have hit either one of us,” I said.