The Lodge at Whispering Pines

by Melissa R. L. Simonin

  She slowly looked at her wrist. Then she held her arms tightly against her chest and turned away, clutching the bracelet as if protecting it.

  “I shall never find my brothers and sisters if I lose this. I shall wander forever, never at rest…”

  “That is a made-up story. It isn’t real,” said Miles.

  Trixie nodded.

  Elizabeth looked confused, reason fading in and out. She shook her head, hard, panic in her luminous blue eyes.

  “It is not true?”

  “It is not true,” Miles said firmly.

  She slowly removed the bracelet and held it out, her thin hand trembling as she did so.

  I reached out my hand and to my surprise, I was able to feel the bracelet as Elizabeth placed it on my palm. It looked as transparent as it did before, but it felt as solid as my own jewelry did.

  I handed the bracelet to Miles. He turned it over in his hands, examining it.

  “Look at the engraving.”

  “Why would it say Elizabeth Conner?” I wondered.

  Elizabeth suddenly spoke up.

  “It’s part of my costume.”

  Miles and I both looked at her. I was surprised to see she looked a lot more sane now.

  “Tell us more about that,” Miles said.

  “I don’t know more than that. It’s just part of my costume,” she said. She shrugged and looked down at her gown, smoothing it with her thin, transparent hands.

  “What’s your name?” I asked.

  She looked at me as if seeing me for the first time.

  “Elizabeth,” she said. She still looked and sounded more consistently aware than before, and tolerated my question.

  “I’m Anika,” I said. “This is my husband, Miles.”

  “You’re… different,” she said, as she looked at Miles intently with her luminous blue eyes.

  “Yes, he is,” I said. “Not as different as he used to be, though.”

  “How did you become less different than you used to be?” she asked sharply, still focused on Miles.

  “Anika freed me by proving that I was innocent of a terrible crime,” said Miles. “Is there something that you need to be freed from?”

  She looked confused again, and pressed her hand to the side of her head.

  “Miles,” I said softly. “Did you ever have pain from your injuries when you were semi-transparent?”

  “No,” he said. “I sure did when I woke up in the hospital, though. Why?”

  “She keeps clutching her head like it hurts.”

  “It may have more to do with her inability to think clearly, than pain. But let’s ask,” he said. “Elizabeth, does your head hurt?”

  She looked up again, and thought.

  “No… it feels wrong though. Everything is all wrong!”

  Panic filled her eyes, and she was gone.

  We sat perfectly still for several seconds.

  “What happened?” I asked.

  “I… have no idea,” said Miles. “Nothing in my own experiences has prepared me to understand this. Trix, what about you?”

  Trixie looked at Miles for several seconds.

  “She doesn’t understand it either. She noticed the same thing you probably did, though. When she vanishes it isn’t by choice.”

  “What could be controlling her?” I asked, getting chills at the very thought.

  “I hate to be a broken record, but I have no idea,” said Miles, his forehead furrowed in concentration. He brushed his hands through his hair.

  I turned the bracelet over in my hands.

  “This is still here, anyway…”

  Miles’ eyes were on the bracelet, but his mind far away.

  “I’ll be right back, honey,” he said, quickly kissing my cheek. He got out of bed and walked to our bedroom door, which opened for him. Chip was lying on the other side. He jumped up and ran in, greeting Trixie. He was glad to see her. Poor guy, all alone out there! Both cats ran in too, he wasn’t alone after all. No wonder there was no growling while Elizabeth was here.

  Miles walked back in, carrying his laptop.

  “She said it was part of her costume. So where did she get this costume? Where did she even hear that story, and when?”

  I piled pillows for us to lean against, and scooted over so Miles could sit beside me.

  “How did you come to invent that story, I’d like to know!” I said.

  “Me and a group of friends were seeing who could come up with the scariest story. We all contributed to this one, and I didn’t even think it was all that scary, but… good grief. Look at this.”

  Miles pointed to the computer screen.

  “No way! You started an urban legend,” I laughed. “Who would’ve thought.”

  “Certainly not me,” said Miles. “I didn’t think the story was all that great… of course the way one of the guys told it, it would raise goosebumps. But wow. I’m surprised.”

  I turned the bracelet over in my hands again.

  “Want to guess what’s stamped inside the bracelet?” I asked. “China, and the year 1998.”

  “It’s costume jewelry, then? Well obviously, but it’s cheap plastic?”

  “From what’s stamped inside, I’d say so. You can see where it came out of the mold too, and this clasp won’t last for long.”

  Miles scrolled down the search results.

  “This is unbelievable, but look, you can buy Elizabeth Conner Halloween costumes.”

  “Well! You had no idea you were famous for something besides a false accusation, did you!” I said, shoulder bumping him.

  “No, none! Wait until Xander hears about this,” Miles smiled.

  “Oh my goodness!” I said, laughing. “If he hasn’t been already, he’ll be convinced you’re the coolest guy ever. He’ll be more impressed with this, than anything else you’ve done.”

  “You’re probably right,” Miles laughed. He set his laptop aside and put his arm around my shoulders. “We’ve learned a lot tonight. We know direct questions will send her off into outer space, but as long as we talk to each other, she’ll join in. We know something is pulling her away, and the time we have in which to talk to her is limited, so we’ve got to make it count. We know Elizabeth was wearing this costume and died between 1998, and present day.”

  “It would be reasonable to think she wore the costume on Halloween,” I said. “Although, that’s not a given.”

  “It was almost certainly a party of some kind though,” said Miles. “That, the costume, and the timeframe which has narrowed significantly, should all help in locating news articles about her death.”

  I looked at the clock on the wall.

  “It’s a little after midnight. Didn’t she come around midnight last night?”

  “Yeah, it seems like that was when we bumped into our friends and went to Elizabeth’s to talk over her visit.”

  “Wonder what’s with the late night visits,” I said, as we un-piled pillows and the lamp switched off.

  “No idea, but she has shown up in the daytime too,” Miles pointed out.

  “Hm. I thought maybe she was on a schedule, but now I don’t know,” I yawned, and then groaned as a gray cat landed on me. “Night, you’re getting too heavy to jump on me like that!”

  “Do you need a force field to protect you from your cat?” Miles asked. I didn’t know if he was serious or not.

  “No, I guess I’m fine,” I said, yawning again as Night curled up on my legs, and Miles put his arms around me.

  “Ouch, I might need one to protect me from mine,” he said a second later. By the sound, Pandora just landed on him.

  “What do they do, climb the highest piece of furniture they can find, and then hurl themselves at us to achieve maximum velocity?” I asked.

  “Probably,” Miles laughed. “Your cat, anyway. Probably both. I’d say my cat’s cute and sweet and innocent, but I’d never get it past you. You’d know that’s not the truth.”

  I laughed at that and had trouble st
opping, then Miles laughed too.

  “They are cute though, and sweet… but I wouldn’t say innocent,” I said. Night and Pandora were both purring as they kneaded the blankets, and— “Ow! Please remember to trim their nails in the morning!”

  Night continued to knead, but I no longer felt his needle-like claws jabbing me through the blanket and my silk gown.

  “Thanks for the force field,” I said, yawning again.

  “Anytime,” said Miles softly, and he fell asleep.

  Another second, and so did I.

  ~***~

  The sun painted the clouds vivid shades of pink and orange, giving advance notice that today it intended to take back the sky, and shine. If the colorful clouds held more snow, they weren’t letting on.

  Night and Pandora tore through the suite, nearly knocking over Chip in the process.

  “My goodness, watch where you’re going!” I exclaimed indignantly, petting my poor dog. He didn’t seem to care, but honestly!

  “It’s a simple nail trim, I’ve done this dozens of times,” said Miles as he put away the nail clippers, trying not to laugh at how ridiculous those two are. “Can you imagine trying to do that without superpowers though? Anyone that did would be taking their life into their own hands.”

  “Thank goodness you’ve got those superpowers,” I said, giving Chip one last pat. “I love our cats, but I’d be very mad if they scratched you.”

  “Same here,” said Miles, as I hugged him. “If they scratched you, I mean.”

  I laughed and hugged him a few seconds more, then we went to breakfast.

  We had a busy morning. The new software John installed in the middle of the night, was now up and running. Chad was still manning the check-in counter, and being familiar with the software since it’s what we use at our other hotels, he demonstrated it for Miles and I, and Annette.

  We met with the contractor who arrived shortly after, to sign the contract for the work we wanted done in order to convert Ballroom A into our new workout and fitness center. His crew was with him, and soon there were heavy plastic sheets covering the entrance to the corridor leading to it, and the carpet. The sound of power tools and hammering ensued. We were in luck that the weather was clear for the time being. He assured us he’d have the new windows in before evening, and… I knew he was telling the truth.

  The web designer arrived, and asked lots of questions. By the time he left, he had a good idea of the image we wanted to present on our webpage, and we had a better idea too!

  Then Mom called to remind me to pick up Doreen at four, and it was lunchtime.

  Now that we had adequate employees and the crisis we faced upon arriving Tuesday had been averted, we had lunch with our friends during the actual lunch hour.

  After we placed our orders and our drinks had been served along with soft rolls, the door closed to our private dining room, and we began to talk. And eat rolls.

  “Alright, tell us what we’re dying to know,” said Xander. “Have you seen her since yesterday?”

  “Yes, last night,” said Miles.

  “So what happened?” asked Jenny, her eyes wide.

  “I woke up when I felt pressure on the force field I placed around us when we went to bed.”

  “No way, you can feel that?” asked Xander.

  “It’s not a feeling exactly. I know, though,” said Miles. “I’m aware. I don’t know how to explain it.”

  “That’s alright,” said John. “We’re getting used to not being able to comprehend a lot of things about you two.”

  We all laughed at that.

  “So then what happened?” asked Annette.

  “I turned the lamp on, and there she was,” Miles said, taking a sip of his drink. “So I woke Anika.”

  “We found out all kinds of things,” I said, taking over so Miles could take a bite of the roll he buttered. “She’s wearing a costume. She’s not from long ago, she’s from somewhere between 1998 and now.”

  “How did you figure that out?” exclaimed John.

  “Well, we found out we can’t ask direct questions or she spaces out. But if we talk, then she’ll join in and contribute. She started telling this story about having a bunch of brothers and sisters, and being in an orphanage, and her parents died, and they all have bracelets, and she’s got to find them.”

  “Yeah, I’ve heard that,” said Xander. “That story scared me to death as a kid.”

  “Really?” asked Miles, surprised.

  “Hey man, if you heard it around a campfire as a kid like I did, it would’ve scared you too. This creepy girl, sneaking up and checking kids for bracelets with her cold bony hands…”

  Miles smiled.

  “What?” asked Xander.

  “Miles was one of the guys that made up that story,” I said, and enjoyed the looks on everyone’s faces. Especially Xander’s, though. Miles just smiled, but I laughed.

  “Yes, a group of friends and I made up the story. I never thought it was that great, but… apparently it caught on. Elizabeth Conner costumes are mass produced, even. That’s what she’s wearing.”

  “I’ve got the bracelet she had on, she handed it to me,” I said, reaching in my pocket for it.

  Annette reached out tentatively, but couldn’t take it from me.

  “I see it, but it’s like it isn’t there!” she said. “I can’t feel it.”

  Then John and Xander wanted to try, and they couldn’t either. I could tell Jenny didn’t want to get anywhere near it, so I didn’t offer it to her.

  “Why can’t we touch it?” wondered Annette.

  “I guess it’s because of our abilities that we’re able to,” I said. “No one else could see or hear Miles, so… he’s said before I have an awareness, and he’s right.”

  “What else did you learn?” asked Jenny, as our waiter returned with our meals.

  I remembered that all of our employees, even the ones brought in from other businesses, were well aware of Elizabeth. So I didn’t bother waiting for him to leave.

  “She’s only here for a little while at a time, then something pulls her away.”

  “Like… what?” wondered John.

  “We’ve no idea,” said Miles seriously. “Not being able to ask her questions directly without forcing her into confusion, makes it difficult to get the information we want.”

  “Now at least, we know not to waste our time asking questions,” I said, as we all began to eat. We each had places we needed to be soon.

  “Is her name even Elizabeth?” suggested Annette. “Since she took that story as if it were her own…”

  “It may not be,” I said. “We’ll have to find a way to get that information without asking.”

  “We suspect she was at a Halloween party when she died,” said Miles.

  “That does make sense,” I said.

  “Or it could have been a frat party,” said Xander.

  “Yeah…” said John. “She might have been wearing the costume and playing a part in some sort of sorority initiation, and then something went wrong, and she was killed.”

  “Or murdered,” I said. “We do know it was a party anyway and she, at least, was in costume.”

  “The whole urban legend thing sounds like something that would be used in a fraternity or sorority initiation,” said Annette. “Maybe she was supposed to scare the pledges, and they reacted…”

  “Man, that’s some reaction!” said Xander.

  “Unless we can get more information out of her, it’ll be hard to know,” I said.

  “I can do some internet searching for you this afternoon, after I get the new computer set up,” said John. “It was delivered right before lunch.”

  “Excellent, I’m glad it arrived on time,” said Miles. “Let us know what you find right away, if you do find anything. It’s a long shot with only a first name and not knowing where she died, but… you might get lucky.”

  We ate in silence for several minutes. I could tell Miles was finished, and now I was too
.

  “Ready?” he asked.

  “Ready,” I said. “We’ve got to go guys, my sister is coming and we need to have our work done, so we can pick her up from school later.”

  “You’re kidding!” said Jenny. She was stunned.

  I completely understood why. Who would voluntarily bring their little sister into this mess?

  “I forgot to tell you. Grandma Thompson is having surgery, but the doctor says it’s routine and nothing to worry about. Since my truth ability doesn’t work over the phone, I’m trusting he’s telling the truth, otherwise I’ll drive myself crazy. Mom went to stay with her and took my brother, and Dad’s on his way there too. Doreen can’t miss school though, so…”

  “She’ll be staying with us until Anika’s parents get back,” Miles finished for me.

  “B-but what about Elizabeth?” stuttered Annette, as stunned as Jenny.

  “I’ve no idea,” I said. “We’re winging it, here.”

  “It’s not the best timing, but the way our lives are going, when will it ever be?” Miles pointed out. “If I had to choose, I’d prefer to be responsible for Anika’s sister now rather than when we’re investigating darkness filled individuals. It could be worse.”

  He looked at his watch, and stood. I started to stand, but the surprised look in his eyes made me pause.

  “Trix! How in the world did you get in here?” he exclaimed.

  I jumped out of my seat then, and so did everyone else.

  There she was, standing in front of the closed door, telling Miles something.

  “Oh my goodness!” I exclaimed. “That explains soooo much!”

  “What? I didn’t see the door open! How’d she get out of your suite?” Xander’s thoughts and words were tripping, and everyone else was exclaiming also.

  “Surprise,” said Miles, turning to me and looking rather shocked himself. “Trix never lost her superpowers. I assumed she did, although why I ever assume anything after all of our experiences I have no idea, habit maybe, but—it all makes sense now.”

  “When she told you I wasn’t in my room that night at the estate, and I heard the voices and she led you to me! I always wondered how she knew! And the way she kept getting out of your apartment last year, and past security—”