by Chris Cannon
“I’m sorry.”
“It is what it is. I’ve spilled my guts about my home life. What about your family?”
I sighed. “My dad manages Holland’s, which is our local drug store.”
“And your mom?” he asked.
The only good thing about living in a small town was everybody already knew about my mom. I didn’t have to share the story. I swallowed and blinked. “I’ll tell you when we reach your aunt’s house. I shouldn’t talk about it when I’m driving.”
“Okay.” He sounded confused, but he’d understand soon enough. One of the reasons I liked to live in books is that real life mostly let me down. I turned on the radio so Jake wouldn’t feel like he had to talk. Plus I needed some time to prep myself for the ugly reveal.
I headed out of town and soon we were on the gravel road that led out toward his aunt’s house. Dust flew through the air. The old two-lane road seemed bumpier than usual.
“I can’t believe I’m about to say this.” Jake put his hand on my shoulder. “I think you should slow down.”
I checked the speedometer and I was going twenty miles over the speed limit. “Shit.” I hit the brakes and both of us flew forward against our seat belts. Jake braced himself against the dash.
“Sorry.” I steered the car to the shoulder of the road. “Maybe you should drive.”
“Yeah, I think so.”
I climbed out of the car and Jake and I traded seats. What the heck was wrong with me? I never sped…or speeded…or whatever the past tense of speed was. It had been an emotional day. Thinking about my mom on top of that must be messing with my brain.
Once we were back on the road, Jake reached over and grabbed my hand. “You don’t have to tell me about your family.”
I enjoyed the sensation of his warm hand wrapped around mine. “No. It’s only fair.” I took a deep breath and then dove in. “My mom was bipolar. I didn’t understand that when I was younger. I knew she had giant mood swings. Her highs were actually kind of fun until she hit the manic stage. Then nothing was good enough. When she swung into a low she blocked out the world. I thought she was reading. That’s one of the reasons I became a bookworm. She’d sit at the library and stare at books for hours. I didn’t realize she wasn’t turning the pages until I heard the librarians talking about it.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Yeah.” I slid down in my seat. “It gets worse. Doctors prescribed medication for her, and she’d take it for a little while. She’d get better, we’d be happy, but then I’d find her pills stuffed between the couch cushions, or inside the box of cereal between the wax paper and the cardboard. And she’d spiral down into depression, denying the entire time that she’d stopped taking her pills.”
“That’s rough.”
“Hold your sympathy. My mom and dad had a huge fight. He told her she had to take her pills or he was going to leave her and take us with him, so she did. She took the entire bottle and chased it with a bunch of sleeping pills.”
“Shit,” he said. “She killed herself?”
“Mostly.” I took a shuddering breath. “She’s in a vegetative state at Haven Nursing Home.”
“And that’s why your dad drinks every night and why you don’t like alcohol.”
“And everyone in town knows the story,” I said, “which is another reason why I can’t wait to leave.”
“I don’t blame you.”
I stared out the window.
“Now that you know about the demons and their deals, did you ever wonder why your dad didn’t try to make a deal to help your mom?”
“Shit. Now I am.”
“Sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.”
“No. It’s a reasonable question. I guess the person selling their soul has to want whatever it is more than their own life.”
“Like my dad wanting my mom.”
“In a way what your dad did is tragically romantic,” I said. “He’d rather have ten years with her than live a long life without her.”
“I guess. I still think it’s bullshit. There should have been another way. I can’t imagine any situation where I’d be willing to trade my life for someone else.”
“I can. What if you had a terminal disease? You could trade your life for something good for someone else.”
…
Jake
At that point I’d be trading my soul for a cure to whatever disease I had, so her argument didn’t make sense. I wasn’t going to point that out to her. I squeezed her hand and said, “I guess so.”
As we drove down the road toward my aunt’s house I was surprised to see all the lights on. Like all the lights. The store lights and the bedroom lights and even something in the attic.
“What’s that all about?” Meena pointed at the house.
“I have no idea.” It wouldn’t be dark for a few more hours. “Maybe it’s a bug in the alarm system.” I parked and stared at the house. Something about this didn’t feel right. Not that much had felt right today. “Maybe I should call before we go in.” I didn’t want to interrupt my aunt if she was in the middle of some woo-woo ritual. I touched her name on my cell, hit speaker phone, and waited. The phone rang and rang. No one answered.
“Why would all the lights be on if no one is home?” Meena asked.
“Maybe she turned her phone off so she could meditate?”
“Does she do that a lot?” Meena asked.
“Yes.” I’d seen Aunt Zelda chanting and humming to herself on several occasions. Given what had happened today, that no longer ranked high on the weird meter. “We can’t sit here all night.” I turned off the ignition and unhooked my seat belt. “I’m going in. You can wait in the car if you want.”
“Or,” Meena said, “I could call Carol to see what she knows.”
Something bad could be going on right now. “I have to make sure Aunt Zelda is okay.” She was the only person who gave a crap about me. I climbed out of the car and headed up the walk. I heard Meena follow behind me. When I unlocked the front door, the alarm beeped. I punched in the code and all was silent.
“Maybe she turned all the lights on to brighten things up,” Meena said. “It’s been a creepy sort of day.”
“Maybe.” But it’s not like lights would keep Bane away. I headed over to the stairs which led to the second floor and the bedrooms. The sound of a television show drifted down to us. I could smell some sort of smoke.
When we reached the second floor I realized it wasn’t a television, more like a whispered conversation, and it was coming from my aunt’s room. I walked over and poked my head in her open doorway. She was seated on the floor, surrounded by candles, and she was talking to no one. Maybe this was some kind of chanting ritual. I ducked back out before she could open her eyes and acknowledge me.
“What’s going on?” Meena asked.
I headed toward the television room we’d been in earlier. “She’s talking or chanting or something. I didn’t want to interrupt her.”
“As long as she doesn’t start screaming, I guess we’ll assume she’s okay?” Meena said it like she was asking a question as she followed me back to the flowery couch we’d sat on earlier.
“That’s my plan.” I sat on the couch and she joined me.
Meena ran her hand back through her hair, brushing it off her face. “Is it just me, or do you have a sense of impending doom?”
I laughed. “Now that you mention it. Maybe I should distract you.” I reached over and turned off the lamp that was way too bright for the small room. There was plenty of light from the hallway and the window, so I could still see Meena smiling at me like she knew what I planned to do. Moving slowly so I wouldn’t spook her, I leaned in and pressed my mouth against hers. She sighed and kissed me back. I’d never been into nerdy girls, but Meena was changing my mind.
Laughter came close to
my ear, which was bizarre since Meena was kissing me. I froze and pulled away from her. “Did you hear that?”
“Someone turned the light out,” a singsong voice drifted through the air. “And we like to play in the dark.”
“Jake,” Meena said, and then she was tugged from my arms and dumped onto the floor.
“Is that your name?” An apparition appeared in front of me. It was hazy and gray like smoke, but there were eyes and lips that curved in a smile. “We like it.”
And then something was pressing against my face, keeping me from breathing.
I shoved at the smoke but my hands passed right through it. Another set of hands grabbed my arm and tugged. I couldn’t move.
Meena flipped the light on. The smoke swirled away from me and smacked into Meena, knocking her to the floor.
“What the hell was that?” I yelled.
“Jake.” Aunt Zelda’s voice came from down the hall. She appeared in the doorway and looked at me and then Meena sprawled on the floor. “Did you turn the light off?”
I helped Meena up. “Yes.”
“From now on, if you see all the lights on, please leave them that way. I was communing with some spirits but when you open the door, sometimes ghosts sneak through.”
I scrubbed at my face. “Aren’t those the same things?”
“No,” Zelda said. “Spirits are people at rest who’ve moved on. They’ll cross over to communicate with the living. Ghosts have unresolved issues and they like to mess with people.”
“It looked like that ghost was trying to kiss you,” Meena said.
“More like trying to suffocate me.” I grimaced. “My mouth tastes like an ashtray. I’m going to brush my teeth.”
“Ghosts are more active in the shadows, so don’t turn off any lights until I’ve smudged the house,” my aunt said.
I headed for the bathroom. Meena followed close on my heels. “You’re not leaving me alone with some ghost.”
“We should stick together.” When I walked into the bathroom, I kicked my boxers and jeans into a pile behind the door before I grabbed a bottle of mouthwash. I rinsed twice and then brushed my teeth.
Meena looked slightly amused.
“What?”
She laughed. “A ghost shoved me aside so she could kiss you. You should probably find that flattering.”
“I don’t.” It hadn’t felt sexy, it had felt mean…not evil or anything, just like the ghost was trying to do something to cause trouble. In case the specter was listening, I said, “I only date the living.”
“That’s a smart policy.” Meena glanced out into the hall. “Maybe we should do some research while your aunt does her white sage thing.”
Chapter Six
Meena
In Zelda’s library, Jake and I paged through several more books. I hoped to find a section about severing employment contracts with demons but none of the demon-related reading material focused on that topic.
The grandfather clock in the corner chimed four times. Four o’clock. I closed my book and set it on the table. “I better go.”
“Time to cook dinner?” Jake said.
It was on the tip of my tongue to invite Jake over for dinner. I was kind of afraid he’d forget about me as soon as another girl came along. Not that I thought he was a jerk, I just didn’t have a great track record with guys. “So, I guess I’ll see you later?” And wow…that sounded lame.
“Give me your cell.” Jake held his hand out so I passed him my phone. He typed something into it and then handed it back. “Now you have my number.” I checked the screen. It said Jake Grant.
He reached over and touched the call button on my phone, which made his phone ring. He checked his screen. “Meena Holland.” He blinked. “So Holland’s Drug Store is named after your family?”
“My great-great-grandfather opened the business in 1900, so it’s been around for a while.”
“I can’t imagine having roots someplace that go so far back,” Jake said.
Aunt Zelda came into the room waving a smoking bundle of white sage. “I cleared all the rooms.”
“Who was that ghost?” Meena asked.
“No one in particular. Probably someone who likes to stir up trouble. She should be gone now.”
I stood and wiped my hands on my jean shorts and that’s when I remembered. “When I changed into this outfit, I left my dress in the spare bedroom.”
“Jake, would you go grab her dress, please?” Zelda said.
“Sure.”
Okay. Maybe there was something she wanted to say to me that Jake couldn’t hear. Once he was gone down the hallway, I looked at her expectantly.
“I know you’ve just met Jake, but you seem to like him.”
“I do.” Where was she going with this? Did she think I wasn’t good enough to date her nephew?
“I’m hoping he’ll stay in Crossroads. If he goes back to live with his mother…” She frowned. “I know she loves him but she doesn’t make the best decisions. Hopefully, you can help convince him to stay here.”
“Of course I want him to stay, but it’s his decision.”
She moved closer. “You’re a good person. You can help steer him in the right direction.”
Jake jogged back into the room with my dress folded over his arm. He took one look at me and then said, “What’d I miss?”
“I was warning Meena about Bane. He can be very smooth. He likes to lull people into trusting them and then he takes advantage. I thought she should know.”
Okay, I’d go along with her lie for now since she wanted the best for Jake. “Trusting him isn’t something I plan to do.”
“I’ll walk you to your car,” Jake said.
We headed out the door. Jake carried my dress all the way to my Volkswagen. Suddenly the situation felt awkward.
“I should tag along whenever you’re running errands for Bane,” Jake said.
“Sounds good.” And now I didn’t know what to say, so I went with, “Try not to kiss any ghosts while I’m gone.”
“Not funny.” He reached out and wrapped a piece of my hair around his fingers. “Try not to let any demons play with your hair.”
“I’ll work on that.”
Chapter Seven
Meena
On the drive home, I realized I had another problem. How much should I share with my dad? He’d known I was going to the job interview at Carol’s. Should I tell him I got the position? It’s not like I was lying. She did hire me, and then Bane had highjacked my life.
The silver bracelet I wore caught the sunlight and glowed. I didn’t normally bother with jewelry, so my dad would notice the bracelet. Not to mention the necklace Carol had given me. I had to tell him something. Maybe the truth would be the best…as long as I spoke to him before he started drinking.
I parked on the street so my dad could have the driveway and walked through the grass to the front door. When I entered the house I was mobbed by two furry beasts. “I missed you, too.” Marshmallow and Pumpkin wound around my ankles so I squatted down to pet them. “Couch time,” I said.
Both cats ran and jumped on the couch. I sat between them and ran my fingers through their silky fur. “Hello, kitties. How was your day?”
They meowed and purred at me as orange and white fluff drifted through the air. No matter how strange my day was, coming home to my cats always made me feel better. After a few minutes, Marshmallow hopped down and walked toward the kitchen. She stopped in the doorway between the living room and the kitchen and gave me a pointed look, like she was making sure I understood what she wanted. “I know it’s dinner time.”
Pumpkin hopped down and trotted into the kitchen. I followed along and passed where they sat expectantly by their empty bowls. In the pantry I scooped up a cup of dry food and filled their dishes.
Once the
y were chowing down, I grabbed the ground beef from the refrigerator and a pan from the cabinet. Twenty minutes later the spaghetti was simmering while I chopped cucumbers for the salad.
When my dad walked in the back door he sniffed the air and smiled. “Is that spaghetti?”
“Yes. I’m almost done with the salads.”
He took off his white lab coat that had “Holland’s Drug Store” embroidered on the front pocket. Underneath it, he wore a button-down shirt with a tie. He could wear anything under the lab coat because no one would see it. I didn’t understand why he didn’t dress more comfortably.
“I’ll pour us some tea.” He grabbed two clear glass tumblers from the cabinet and filled them with sun tea. After sipping from one, he handed me the other. I reached for it with my right hand.
“Did you go shopping today?” he asked.
Right. The bracelet. “Not exactly. I applied for a job with Carol Winslow. She hired me to clean and pick up deliveries.”
“You don’t sound happy about it,” he said.
The weight of the day crashed down on me. I carried a plate of spaghetti to the table and sat. He did the same.
I launched into my story. “The job with Carol would have been great. I signed up to clean her house and run errands. It kind of morphed into something else.”
My dad’s eyes narrowed. “What does that mean?”
There was no easy way to say this. Since my dad drank himself to sleep every night, I’d come to one conclusion but I wanted to test my theory. “Demons. Real or fake?”
He set his drink down with a thunk. “Real and very dangerous.”
“And you never thought to warn me?” If I’d known demons were real maybe I wouldn’t have made such a colossal mistake.
“Warn you about what? You were leaving town. Going to college. I never thought you’d be tempted to make a deal.”
“I didn’t make a deal. I signed a contract to work for Carol. Then she screwed up. Now she works for Bane…which apparently means I do, too.”
My dad slumped in his chair. “I’ve spent half my life avoiding a deal with that devil.”
