Witchscape

by Y G Maupin

  “Well I’ll miss you. So will Birdie and all the rest of us. I would hope you would miss me.” T turned around and gave the woman a firm long hug, which surprised Beryl, but she appreciated it just the same. Then after a moment, a slight aftershock rumbled across the kitchen floor. Giggles replaced the surprised looks on their faces and they ran back to the family room where Birdie and Anesta sat watching T.V.

  “Let me call Alice and make sure everything is alright. They might need help at the bookstore.” Birdie said, grabbing her cell. For the rest of the night the ladies watched tv on and off, laughed and drank and then one by one they nodded off and a few padded off to sleep in the spare rooms.

  Carla had started walking toward the main highway that ran through town, every couple of minutes looking behind her to see if that man was still following her. He was. A couple of times he would run up to catch up with her and try to talk, but she glowered at him and he would laugh and wait a few steps behind.

  “Are you from Gilbert?” he called out to her, trying to engage her in conversation. She didn’t respond.

  “I am. My whole family is from here. I only ask because I was wondering if you hadn't gotten in touch with your family since you crossed over.” No answer.

  “I don't know if I should, you know what I mean? I kind of would hate scaring them so bad that they’d die of a heart attack.” To which Carla stopped and started to laugh. She laughed so hard, folding her lean spirit body in half, not needing to catch their breath, as they were no longer breathing, but the whole idea of not wanting to scare someone to death was lost on the man.

  The dark haired spirit stopped walking and nervously laughed with her. “I guess that makes me kind of dumb, huh?” he said, looking down at his feet.

  “Yes,” Carla said, her laughter tapering off. “Just stop following me. I don't need you. Maybe you should go look for someone. Or, at least decide if you came over for a reason or not,” She said starting her trek again. They had been walking for about an hour since they had left the house with the arguing couple.

  “I did come back to see someone. I hope she’s ready to see me again.”

  “Oh yeah, who?” she asked, never turning her head, only walking again on the side of the dirt road where the asphalt had ended. Silence on his part. “That’s fine you don't have to tell me . Like I said, go on and find some other spirit to hang around, I’m busy trying to get back to living,” she continued, but at the same time curious. She didn't recognize the young man, although he did seem a little younger than her. He might not have been at school the same time she was and she didn't remember him from the other side. Many of the spirits were unfamiliar to her in this little town.

  “You wouldn't know her. She’s really quiet and keeps to herself,” he said, starting to walk behind her again.

  Carla scoffed. “I’m quiet and keep to myself,” she replied with a sneer on her face.

  The young man frowned and shook his head. “I'm pretty sure that you do neither,” he said, remembering who she was and who she was acquainted with. No one from his group of friends or social circles. She was unpleasant in the afterlife as she was when she had been alive.

  Carla was quiet. She was glad that she didn't know who this girl was. She couldn't have been very extraordinary. As a matter of fact, most of the girls in this town were boring and prissy. She could imagine that the spirit of this young man was pining away for a prissy cock tease that had probably already moved on. “So how do you know that she hasn't found another man? I mean, how long have you been dead?” Carla wondered, turning around to face him but still walking backwards.

  The young man smiled slightly. “Because I know. I know her and how she feels about me. I know her past and what she wants from her future. I died about seven months ago and although I couldn't see her from the other side, I just know that she hasn’t moved on.”

  Carla fake gagged and turned back around. “Oh my god. I guess even in death men are still selfish, self involved pricks. I hope for your sake, you’re right. I’d hate to see what happens to your ego if you meet up with her and she’s met another hard body, big dick energy having stud, with a beard,” she added. “ And she’s blissfully going for rides on his big bad motorcycle among other things,” she drawled, casting a backward glance at him. He was frowning. He certainly didn't like the picture she was painting for him.

  Good, she thought. Maybe now he’ll go away. But they both kept walking. Until they made it to the highway. The lights from the oncoming traffic lit up the dust swirling around them on the side of the road. They weren't exactly stepping but they had movement enough to move the dirt around them. Carla recognized how far they were from the main town. There was nothing much left up here other than the last filling station and then it turned into farmland again. She stopped. Pondered for a moment. He waited with her. Carla was unsure as to what she should do. There were no people out here, no one had any reason to stop. Most people in the cars driving by were too busy looking at their phones even if they did have enough of a psychic ability to make out their presence. That was what had really amazed her when she came over, the number of people that had enough intuition or psychic ability to see them was about equal to the number of people that were oblivious.

  “Look, I don't know where I’m going at this point, and it doesn't make much sense for me to continue, much less for you to keep following me. So, I'm going to turn back around and go to town. I shouldn't have walked this far.” Carla felt foolish walking around without a real plan. And this guy, he was practically worthless.

  “I know where I’m going.” Instantly he regretted mentioning it. He would be bringing this hateful, heartless spirit with no care to the home of the woman he loved. Now he needed to fix it.

  “You do?” She turned around again and walked towards him. “Are there a lot of people there?”

  Thinking quickly he nodded and decided to turn ahead on the next road and walk until she gave up. He hoped her impatience would make an appearance quickly. She couldn't kill him anymore than he was already dead.

  Thirty One

  Sharon rolled around sleepily as Randall tried his hardest to not wake her up, but he still wanted to kiss her goodbye before he went in to work that morning.

  “Mmm..hey..wait. Let me at least make you coffee,” she mumbled, sitting up in bed. He kissed her again on top of her tousled brown hair.

  “Can’t wait. I’ll just get some from the station.” Sharon instantly bolted up. “Like hell you will.”

  In the kitchen, Sharon rummaged around for the new covered mug she had brought him from Sarah and Alice’s Bookstore. They had just gotten them in stock and had the bookstores name in purple on the stainless steel mug. Calliope’s Sister. She stood in her pajamas and stockinged feet, the morning sunlight still hours away from coming up. Yawning, she put in the cup and started the machine.

  “What are your plans today?” Randall asked, checking his emails from his phone.

  “Not going to the grocery store,” Sharon replied, checking her cupboards absentmindedly.

  “Good. You should probably stay home anyway since the school will be closed until Thursday for the teachers,” he replied. Getting up and drawing on this jacket, he asked, “Is it ready yet?”

  She nodded and handed him the covered mug.

  “Well, I might just go see Alice and Sarah. Maybe check in on T?” Sharon started meekly.

  “No. No. No,” Randall droned.

  Sharon closed in on him and squeezed him with her hug. “Don't you tell me no, Mr. Webster,” she replied in a deep voice, as Randall laughed at her attempt to be the boss. On her tiptoes for a peck on the cheek, she murmured, “You be careful out there, Buddy.”

  He smiled and slapped her behind. “You too, honey bee.”

  Randall walked out and Sharon watched him get into his squad car and drive away. Wistfully, she thought it might be a good idea to go back to bed but her cell rang. Curious, she picked it up. It was Alice.

 
“I’m sorry, I didn't wake you did I?” Alice seemed out of breath.

  “No. I was just saying goodbye to Randall,” she replied.

  “Oh, ok. I was just calling to tell you not to eat today,” Alice said firmly. Sharon was surprised, but understood.

  “Ok. But water is ok, right?” she checked.

  “Yes that's fine, but no coffee or soda, juice, crackers, nothing until cakes and wine at the gathering.”

  “Got it,” Sharon replied and hung up. What a diet, she thought. I guess it won't kill me to go one day without a latte and croissants. She returned to their bedroom and tried to lounge around, but it was too hard. In the end she rolled over and fell asleep after playing some morning tv shows.

  The VW and BMW pulled into T’s house a little after four, followed by a pick up truck and another BMW. Birdie and Sharon were already at T’s house along with Beryl. They all went outside to meet up with the new arrivals and to help bring in the supplies.

  “What’s in this box, weights?” said Beryl, huffing into the front room and placing it on the floor.

  “Candles,” Sarah explained, lugging two large old fashioned bags with bread and wine. “There is no such thing as having too many candles at an event like this.” Alice was behind her with bags of apples and what appeared to be a tiki torch.

  “Uh, I thought this was a calling circle, not a luau,” Sharon said, unpacking the candles and separating them by height.

  A tall nordic looking man, with the most amazingly chiseled body from his cheekbones down walked through the door followed by an equally tall blonde woman, older but just as fierce looking as her demeanor would allow.

  “Everyone. This is Tyler and Yvette. They’ve come to add strength to our numbers,” Godfrey introduced them all.

  Alice nodded, “Welcome.”

  But Sarah began the hugs that were enthusiastically joined in by all, starting with Birdie.

  “Good. Well, now that introductions have been made, let's take a look at the area we will be working in.” Godfrey walked to T and clasped both of her hands. “Thank you for letting us be here. Would you please show us the way?” T felt her face flush. If anything, she was the one feeling the gratitude of people arriving to help clean up her mess.

  “Nonsense,” Tyler said, as he walked up to her. T’s eyes widened,

  Yvette placed a hand on T’s shoulder. “Yes. We do hear people’s thoughts. It's not as great as one would think,” she smiled and turned to Beryl. “I am vegan and I do run marathons. But you are incorrect to think that it's in my genes. Both my parents were dark haired and closer to five feet five inches. Perhaps I was a giant’s stolen baby,” Yvette laughed, and Beryl nervously laughed with her.

  T led them out the back door that led to her wood deck that had three small steps opening up to her gardens, lavender bushes on the left and the orchards to the right.

  “How beautiful,” Tyler marveled. “I need to get out of the city again. I’ve been there too long.”

  It was a beautiful late winter day, Spring was still at least a week away but the sun was out strong for at least two hours more. T walked all the way to the tree where she had her emotional outburst. Laying a hand on it, she proclaimed, “This is it.”

  Alice, Sarah, and Godfrey observed it, walking around and feeling its gnarly bark. It had a beautiful shade of green that budded where the leaves were ready to unfurl.

  “This isn't an oak,” Alice said surprised. “This is an Ash tree.”

  T smiled slightly. “Does it make a difference?”

  Alice shrugged. “Not really. I just thought for you to have made such a strong declaration to actually make it come to fruition, I would believe that it happened under an oak.”

  “The tree might have nothing to do with it.” Sarah stepped forward. “It just might be that the call to nature was a strong one and it went on the root system down through that conduit.”

  Godfrey nodded in agreement. “Hopefully, we will find out tonight. We need to be sure that before we start this circle we have protected ourselves and this sacred space. We can't have more spirits join than is necessary.”

  Upon hearing this, Anesta stepped forward. “I need to tell you all something that happened late yesterday afternoon.”

  An hour later, the group stood at the deck. Wood had been gathered in the meantime and two cauldrons had been set up nearby. One with water from the creek that Tyler and Birdie had brought back and the other empty.

  “I have no idea what this could mean. One day its people coming back from the dead, now it's talking cats. Alice, this is more than we bargained for,” Godfrey said, running both hands through his grey hair.

  “So should we go get it? Or stay the course?” Alice asked.

  “Let’s leave it where it's at. Ladies, anything else you need to tell us? Maybe dancing zebras or any other talking animals or inanimate objects?” Godfrey called out. Perturbed, they shook their heads and returned to their conversations.

  “Let’s just move forward and map out how far we’re going to make the circle. We’ll need to make sure that there isn't any dry brush, no use setting fire to the field or grove as we summon the spirits to deal with us.” Godfrey walked off and Sarah approached Alice.

  “So ,this must be what he’s like when he hasn't had his morning coffee,” she murmured and chuckled.

  Yvette walked past and added, “No this is worse.”

  They spent the last hour before it was time to ready themselves with clearing branches, moving benches, and setting up small banks of candles in a rudimentary circle at each direction, North East, South, and West. It was going to be a no frills, basic circle casting and they had hoped that the words and intentions would do the trick. Sharon was inside baking small carrot cake muffins and oatmeal cookies.

  “It smells divine in here.” Birdie said entering the kitchen for a glass of water. Peering over Sharon’s shoulder to see her put the cookies on a cooling rack she added. “It's going to be hard to wait until the middle of the ceremony to eat.”

  Sharon agreed.”Well, it won't be too much longer now.” Looking up at the kitchen clock, she hurried and washed her hands. “It's time to get ready. The bottles of wine and the cups need to be ready out there. Did they start the fire already?

  “They're doing it now,” Birdie replied. “Using a flint. Trying to keep everything away from being man made.”

  “Well that’s going to be a little tough. But I'm sure that the gods and the spirits will forgive us.”

  Minutes later Sarah announced that it was time for everyone to get ready.

  “Make sure you remove your jewelry and take any bindings out of your hair. Belts on your robe or dress are ok but bare feet is a given. We’ve made sure that there’s no stray animal poop in the pathway,“ Sarah added and Yvette nodded.

  “I should probably make sure the chickens are put away,” T said, and made one last run outside while everyone else was getting ready. Upon stepping out to the deck, she took a deep breath and surveyed the home she had tried to make with Jackson. The sun was close to fifteen minutes away from setting as she made her way to the coop and jogged behind a stray hen to get her inside. Closing the bar that latched the door, she felt pain in her heart for the troubles people were having because she had made a rash call.

  Whatever happens tonight, she thought, I’ll take my punishment as needed.

  The dark haired man continued his walk down the wrong way with Carla behind him. They had walked all night, all morning and now into the next evening. Looking around her she started to recognize where they were.

  “Hey. Where did you say we were going to because this looks like we’re heading to the next town. I mean, I don’t have too much of a problem with that but at this rate we won't see anyone for at least three more hours?” Carla was exasperated. Not tired, but tired of wandering for so long without a plan. She hated not knowing. Being one step ahead was the way she lived her life, no one would get the upper hand on her.

 
The man kept walking and after a moment stopped at a junction. He put his hands on his hips and turned to face her. “I think I’m lost,” he said quietly.

  “No shit,” she replied, walking around the junction sign.

  “Well,” he said, “Maybe, I’ll just wait here until something happens or I get another idea.”

  Carla looked at him like he had started speaking in tongues. “Are you crazy? I can't believe I’ve been following you all this time,” she yelled, waving her arms in the air.