by Amy Cross
“But you want to talk to him again, don't you?”
“We haven't heard any sign that anyone's here,” Sally pointed out as she finished pouring the first pint. “This building's easily a couple of hundred years old, and we haven't heard so much as as creak or a groan. Shouldn't the place at least settle at little at night? There's been nothing.”
“Maybe we should try upstairs,” Jane muttered, glancing at the ceiling. “Maybe we should try in the room where he died. Don't you think it makes sense that his spirit would be closer there?”
She turned to Sally and watched as she finished pouring the drinks. For a moment, feeling a little sorry for her friend, Jane wondered whether she should simply cut the night short and admit defeat. After all, she could always argue that her payment was for the attempt, and that she'd never guaranteed results. Then again, she didn't want any complications, and she felt that she was close to getting what she needed. As Sally carried the drinks back over, she decided that she was simply going to have to hurry things along a little.
“Tell me about Tommy,” she said, “and -”
Before she could finish, they both heard a bumping sound at the pub's front door. They turned and looked, just as the handle wiggled, and a moment later the letterbox flapped open.
“Hello?” a familiar voice called out.
“Is that...”
Sally hesitated.
“Sally, are you in there?” Matt continued. “Hey, I can see you. Are you having a lock-in? Can I come in?”
“What the hell's that idiot doing here?” Jane asked.
“Hang on,” Sally replied, heading over to the door, “I'll get rid of him.”
“If you're having a lock-in, it's only right that you let me join you,” Matt said as Sally crouched down to look at him through the letterbox. “Hey, Sally. Please, I don't want to go home right now, I've been out all night and the light's still on in Mum's bedroom. I really don't think I can handle another argument with her right now, and she's been on fine form over the past couple of days. Can you do me a favor and let me hang out here for a while?”
“We closed an hour ago,” she pointed out.
“But you're still open.”
“No, we're just... talking.”
“Are you playing a board game?” he asked, peering toward the table.
“No, we're -”
“That's one of those spirit boards!” he added. “Hey, what are you guys up to? Are you trying to contact the dead?”
“Matt, please just go home,” she replied, “and do me a favor, don't mention this to anyone, okay? Especially not to Jerry.”
“Is it just the two of you in there?”
“Matt -”
“Because that's never gonna work,” he added. “You know you need at least three people, right? Have you even invited the spirits properly?”
“We...”
Sally's voice trailed off, and then she turned to look at Jane again.
“We can manage,” Jane said firmly, clearly irritated by the interruption. “Matt, I mean this in the nicest possible way, but leave us alone.”
“I've used one of those things before,” Matt explained. “When I was a kid, I mean. Listen, I'm not saying I believe in them, 'cause I don't, but if you want to have even a slight chance of making it work, you need a third person. There's no way you'll get in touch with anything if there's only two of you.”
“You don't know that for sure,” Sally told him.
“ Cross my heart and hope to die.”
Sally hesitated, before looking at Jane again.
“Well?” she asked. “Is he right?”
“I don't know,” Jane said cautiously. “Maybe. Technically. It's not like this thing came with a handbook.”
“I'm not drunk,” Matt said. “I walked all the way out to The Cock at Wimbourne, which took me over an hour, I had one drink and then I walked to The King William and had a drink there, and now I'm here. I've walked miles tonight and I've only had two pints, so I'm completely sober.” He waited for an answer. “Listen, if you're just playing around and trying to spook yourselves a little bit, then knock yourselves out and I'll jog on. But if you actually want to have even a chance of getting in touch with any spirits, then you need to do a few things differently, and you need a third person.”
He waited again.
“It couldn't hurt to try,” Sally told Jane.
Jane opened her mouth to reply, but then she held back. Gritting her teeth, she looked at the letterbox and saw Matt staring back at her, and then she sighed.
“Fine,” she muttered, as she reached into her back and checked the tape recorder again, “I guess one more person can't hurt. Even if he is the dullest man in Crowford.”
“Sounds like you're in,” Sally said, getting to her feet and unlocking the door, then pulling it open so that Matt could enter. “Just remember that if Jerry comes home early, you and Jane are going to have to scarper fast.”
“I'm used to leaving places quickly,” he told her. “A misspent youth taught me that particular skill.”
Sally took a moment to lock the door properly, and then she followed Matt across the room.
“Jane,” Matt said as he reached the table, “always a pleasure.”
“Likewise,” she replied unconvincingly. “I hope you're not going to crack bad jokes and hit on Sally all evening, because this is actually a serious endeavor.”
“This board looks pretty old and basic,” Matt said, looking down at the set-up on the table. “That's not necessarily a problem, though. Do you have anything that might provide a physical link to any of the spirits that you're trying to contact? I don't know exactly what ghosts are supposed to haunt this place, but something – anything – connected to them would help. Is it an old landlord or someone who used to live here?”
He looked at Jane, then at Sally, then at Jane again. He furrowed his brow, and then he slowly turned back to Sally.
“Is it a specific person?” he continued.
“Kind of,” Jane murmured.
“If it's a specific person,” he explained, “you can really boost your chances if you have something they owned, or even just something that was around when they were alive. Can you rustle something like that up?”
Jane looked over at Sally.
“Yeah,” Sally said cautiously, “I mean... I can find something.”
“That'd be really useful,” Matt told her.
“I'll go and...”
Sally's voice trailed off. She seemed uncertain, even as she made her way to the hallway behind the bar and began to go upstairs.
“Don't take this the wrong way,” Matt said, turning to Jane, “but so far it looks like this whole séance attempt has been a little on the amateur hour side of the scale. You're lucky I came along.”
“Yeah,” Jane said, forcing a smile before pulling a pack of cigarettes from her bag. “Whatever would we have done without you?”
Chapter Nine
Opening the little brown suitcase that she'd pulled out from under the bed, Sally felt a shudder pass through her bones as she saw her son's clothes neatly folded away. She hadn't looked in the suitcase since the night they'd arrived in Crowford, and tears were filling her eyes as she spotted his old Superman t-shirt.
“Pull yourself together,” she whispered under her breath as she moved a few more t-shirts aside and saw what she was looking for.
Holding up a light brown stuffed bear, she thought back to all the nights Tommy had clung to the bed when he was afraid of the dark. She'd almost had him buried with his favorite toy, but at the last moment she'd decided to hang onto the bear for sentimental reasons. Now she was starting to regret that decision, thinking that Tommy would have liked to have his bear with him for the cremation. For a few seconds, she couldn't help but think of her son's body in the coffin as the flames began to burn through the wood.
“Maybe I can give him back to you tonight,” she said, sniffing back more tears. “So you never have to be alone again.�
�
***
“A toy bear?” Matt said as Sally placed Mr. Bear on the table, next to the board. “That doesn't even look very old. Who did it belong to?”
He waited for an answer, and finally the penny dropped.
“Wait,” he said cautiously, “are you trying to contact...”
Again, he waited for one of them to say something, and then he pulled his chair away from the table.
“I think this is a bad idea,” he said firmly. “I know I was all gung ho about it earlier, but that was before I realized you were trying to contact...”
He watched Sally for a moment, but she could only stare at the bear as she struggled once again to keep from crying.
“Sally,” Matt said cautiously, reaching over and putting a hand on her arm, while trying to figure out the right thing to tell her, “I think this might be too much for you. Didn't your son die right here in this pub, just after you arrived?”
She nodded, keeping her eyes fixed on the bear.
“Why didn't I realize sooner what you guys were doing?” he continued, before turning to Jane. “Did you really think this was a good idea?”
“Sally wants to talk to him,” Jane replied matter-of-factly. “People do it all the time, they try to talk to dead relatives. Why shouldn't she try to get a sense of closure?”
“Sure, but...”
He turned to Sally again.
“We can stop,” he told her, “and -”
“No,” she replied through gritted teeth.
“It's just that -”
“We've come this far,” she continued, before taking a deep breath. “If you're not comfortable, Matt, I understand that and I won't blame you for leaving, but we're going ahead. I know you said there need to be at least three people, but that might not be true, we might be able to get through to him anyway if you tell us exactly what to do.” She turned to him. “I don't want to force you to do anything that makes you feel bad.”
Matt tried for a moment to think of a diplomatic way he might back out, but deep down he knew that by doing so he'd be condemning the exercise to failure. As much as he wanted to spare Sally any unnecessary pain, he also figured that if she was really sure about contacting her son, he could try to make that happen for her.
“There's no guarantee this'll work,” he told her.
“I know,” she replied, “but I really need to at least...”
She paused.
“If we get in touch with him,” she continued, “would there be any way for me to... talk to him in private? Would you guys be able to leave the room for a few minutes?”
“Wouldn't that jeopardize things?” Jane said, looking over at Matt. “I mean, if we break the circle or whatever, would the ghost stay or go? I just think it'd be an unnecessary risk.” She turned to Sally. “Don't worry, you can say anything you need to say to him, and none of it will ever leave this room. I promise.”
“Anything's possible,” Matt told her.
“Should we just get on with this?” Jane asked, glancing at the clock on the wall and seeing that it was already almost one in the morning. “I'm not being funny, but some of us need our beauty sleep. Besides, I have to be up at seven for work so I'm already kinda guaranteeing that I'll be exhausted all day.”
“Are you really sure?” Matt asked Sally.
She thought for a few seconds, and then she nodded.
“Jane's right,” she said, reaching out and adjusting Mr. Bear for a moment so that he was sitting up properly. “We should get started. One way or the other, I want to know if this has a chance of working.”
***
“I'm asking again,” Matt said as they sat in silence, each touching the marker with one finger, “if there's any spirit here who wants to speak to us. Don't be afraid, anyone at all, just come forward and give us a message.”
They all waited, but the room remained silent.
“This still isn't working,” Sally said after a moment.
“Be patient,” Matt replied. “We're doing everything right, but these things take time. There are lots of reasons why a spirit might not make itself known immediately.”
“You think there's a shy ghost here?” Jane asked, before turning to Sally. “Why don't you tell us again about the night Tommy died?”
“I don't think that'd help right now,” Matt said.
“To be fair, you don't seem to know very much about all of this,” Jane replied, turning and glaring at him. “We've followed your advice and we're no better off than we were before so why don't we try a new approach? There's no harm in bringing a little raw, honest emotion into the -”
Suddenly they all heard a faint creaking sound coming from somewhere upstairs. They looked toward the ceiling and waited, but now silence had fallen once more.
“It's probably just the building settling,” Jane said nervously.
“It wasn't settling before,” Sally pointed out.
“Yeah, but if a ghost heard us,” Jane continued, “then why would it respond by taking one step across a room upstairs? That doesn't really make a lot of sense if you think about it logically. What kind of ghost would decide to communicate by hopping once in a random empty room?”
“The needs of the spirits are beyond our understanding,” Matt told her.
“Bullshit!” she snapped. “People don't suddenly become ridiculous just because they're dead!”
“Can we just focus, please?” Sally asked. “Jane, this was your idea in the first place. Matt might be right, we might just need to give it a little more time.”
“I still think talking about Tommy would help,” Jane grumbled. “It might, you know, stir things up a little. I mean, if the little guy is anywhere around, he might like to know that he's remembered. Doesn't that make sense to anyone else?”
“Is there anyone here?” Matt asked, looking around the room. “Is there anyone who wishes to speak to us?”
He hesitated, and then he turned to Sally.
“Wait, your surname's Cooper, right?”
She nodded.
“So your son -”
“Yeah. Thomas Cooper. Tommy. We actually didn't notice until after we'd agreed on it, and by then the name had kind of stuck and -”
Suddenly she looked down at the marker as it began to slide across the board toward the word Yes.
“Who's doing that?” she asked.
“Not me,” Matt said. “Jane?”
“I'm not doing anything!”
All three of them watched as the marker stopped on Yes. For a few seconds, no-one dared ask another question.
“Now would be a really bad time for anyone to be messing about,” Matt said, with fear in his voice.
“I said it's not me!” Jane snapped. “I know that's what you were both thinking.”
“What do we do now?” Sally asked.
Matt hesitated, before looking around the room. The far end of the bar area was shrouded in darkness, but he watched for a moment just in case he was able to spot any movement. When he looked back down at the marker, he realized that he hadn't really, truly considered the possibility before that they might actually succeed in making contact with the dead. Now his throat felt dry, and he had to force himself to continue.
“Spirit,” he said finally, “are you the ghost of Sally's son Thomas Cooper?”
They all waited.
After a few seconds, the marker slowly slid across the board until it was over the word No.
Chapter Ten
“No!” Jane gasped, pulling away and stumbling to her feet, then backing across the room. “No way! Which one of you assholes did that?”
“We didn't do anything,” Matt told her. “Quick, get back here, we need you.”
“No chance,” she said keeping her eyes fixed on the board. “One of you just wants to screw with me, that's all. I could feel it, someone was moving the damn thing!”
“If it wasn't Tommy, then who was it?” Matt asked, turning to Sally.
“This build
ing's at least three hundred years old,” she pointed out, trying to stay calm. “A lot of people must have lived here over the years.”
“And died here,” he pointed out.
“Will you two stop talking about this crap?” Jane yelled, clearly on the verge of a full-blown panic attack. “You're not gonna convince me, you know! I'm not so stupid that I can be tricked by some kind of cheap stunt!”
“We have to find out who it was,” Matt said, reaching a hand toward her. “Jane, you can't leave now, not while the board's still open.”
“You're not tricking me again,” she replied, grabbing her bag before taking another step back. “You know what? It's been fun, guys, but I'm out of here.”
“You can't leave while it's open!” Matt called after her.
“Yeah? Well watch -”
Suddenly a loud thud rang out, and Jane spun around and looked over toward the bar.
“What was that?” she asked, her voice filled with terror.
“It wasn't the building settling,” Sally said, “that's for sure.”
“We need to stay calm and do this properly,” Matt told them. “You can't just open a board and initiate contact, and then run away, that's not how it works.” He turned to Jane. “We have to see this thing through to the end now.”
“It's not real,” she stammered, still watching the bar.
“Then you won't mind coming back over and joining in again, will you?” he suggested.
“This wasn't supposed to actually work,” she said with tears in her eyes, as she turned to look at Sally. “I'm sorry, I know you probably hate me for this, but all I wanted to do was give you closure and help you talk about Tommy. I mean, the dead can't actually come back, they...”
She paused, and now tears were running down her face.
“They just can't,” she added. “Can they?”
“I understand how you feel,” Sally replied, “but please, whatever we're in the middle of, we have to finish it.”
Jane hesitated, still clutching her bag, before looking back down at the board on the table.
“It's your board, isn't it?” Matt continued. “If you take it home while it's open, there's no telling what might happen. There are rules about this sort of thing, Jane. Whether you believe that we've contacted a spirit or not, either way, we need to get this done. You've got to finish what you started.”
