Ghost Bully

by Brian Corley

  “I don’t know,” I replied. “You’re kind of a dick, but I understand where you come from, and I think I know what life will be like for you if you continue on here. I want to help, Willard. I’m taking this way out. Come with me.”

  I thought back to my conversation with Angela, the first spirit I helped move on, and tried to remember what we were talking about that brought her door back to her. I remembered Seph saying that I gave her hope. I thought back to the life I led, the people I’d known, the people I’d lost—my dad. I thought about seeing him again. I released Willard and helped him up.

  An angry chorus of indignation filled the stadium.

  A bright rectangle of light appeared on the floor of the arena, blinding the first few rows of spectators with its sudden appearance. I looked over to see familiar silhouettes waiting to welcome me just on the other side of my door.

  Another light erupted inside the arena, and I looked over to see Willard gazing toward his own door. He looked to me with a small smile and a nod.

  I nodded in return, and he started floating toward his portal to the next plane.

  I shot a look to George and Ramona and waved them over.

  “Come on,” I said. “This is our only way out.”

  They looked at each other, steeled themselves, and floated toward me.

  “We had to go sometime, Jonah. Now is as good a time as any,” George yelled over the chorus of boos and shouts of outrage that began to fill the arena. Ramona hugged him tightly as we hurried toward the other side.

  A seven-foot shadow descended to prevent Willard’s departure. Masephson stepped forward, taking shape as he moved toward us and away from the light.

  “Not so fast, Mr. Hensch. I will not allow you to leave here tonight.”

  He stretched out large and looming as he took on his grotesque gargoyle form. Darkness, despair, and feelings of hopelessness bore down on Willard and seeped into my consciousness as Masephson stretched his demonic muscles.

  “I have plans for you,” he said.

  “I can’t allow you to go either, Jonah,” Cat said, stopping us in our tracks with her right hand raised to impede our progress to the door. “We need you here. I’m sorry. I’ll help you understand over time.”

  I exchanged apologetic glances with Willard. All hope

  was lost.

  Chapter 37.

  I tried to rally and gave myself a pep talk. I thought through other ways to get us out of the situation. Maybe I could open a door at another time when they locked us up like they did earlier, although I had to admit they probably would learn from this particular tactic. Maybe I could convince them that I was actually on their side to the point that they would allow me the latitude to go off on my own in a couple thousand years—I could do it then. Ah, the long con.

  A new light burst forth into the arena from the stands. The crowd in the immediate vicinity flew in different directions as though it were some sort of explosion. It wasn’t.

  A light arced from the stands onto the floor of the arena. Landing about ten feet away was the face I’d seen for weeks—at the diner, the concert, and the house as I was flying away. Before, I was convinced he worked for Masephson, but now I could see that all along he’d been working for Seph.

  In a few more seconds I realized that he was the angel that reached out to me in my dream that night I met Zoe and the Psy-kicks for the first time.

  “That’s enough, Masephson,” he boomed.

  We were thrown to the floor and held there as though we were in the depths of the ocean with miles of water pressing down upon us. Masephson squinted and shielded his eyes like someone stepping out of a movie theater in the middle of a sunny day.

  “You and [Cat],” he continued, “have exceeded what we allowed in our conference.”

  “You have no authority here,” seethed Masephson. “We will do as we please in our home. Be gone, before you suffer the same fate as Mr. Hensch.”

  Khepri appeared from below the floor between Masephson and Cat. He pounded his staff on the ground and flexed in a show of strength. The floor rumbled beneath us.

  “You are outnumbered, friend,” Cat said calmly. “Whatever overreach you think may have occurred can be discussed in counsel at another time. Leave in peace now.”

  A brighter light than I thought imaginable filled the entire arena as a battle-armored Seph appeared before Cat. Spirits fled in terror, dispersing from the room in a chaotic array, until the three demons were left on their own to face Seph in his angelic form.

  “Maseph,” she acknowledged.

  “Father,” Masephson said.

  Seph acknowledged them both as well as Khepri.

  “I’ve been informed of a breach of our agreement. I’m here to collect the subjects of our arrangement and take them back to their homes. We will discuss the implications of your betrayal at another time and place.” The impact of Seph’s angelic voice felt like it was going to rip my mind into little tiny pieces and scatter them into the air.

  “We will not—you shall not come into my home and take what is mine,” Masephson said.

  “Silence, child,” Cat interjected in a soothing voice while grabbing him by the arm. “You are no match for his sentry, let alone your father. We have been undone. We must go.”

  Khepri opened up a passage in the ground and hopped through as Cat pulled Masephson along.

  “This isn’t over, Father. We will meet again!” he said as he disappeared through the floor.

  The light in the arena dimmed as Seph and the other angel resumed their human forms. Seph chuckled as he gave his sentry a pat on the back and then looked over to me.

  “Sounds like you had a hell of a night—no pun intended.”

  I rolled my eyes. “I had them right where I wanted them.”

  “Oh, I’m sorry. I can probably call them back—” Seph walked as though he were going after them.

  “Whoa, whoa—that would just be anticlimactic. We can let them go for now, I guess,” I replied.

  “Everyone OK?” Seph asked. “George, Ramona—Willard?”

  Ramona and George responded with smiles and nods. Willard responded with a cautious, “Yes, thank you.”

  “Good, good—that’s good,” Seph replied. “Jonah, have you met [Bob]?” Seph asked, using a name that entered my ears as “Bob.”

  “Not officially,” I said, then sheepishly offered my hand and half-whispered, “Hi, I’m Jonah.”

  “I know,” Bob replied. “I’m [Bob], pleased to officially meet you, Jonah.”

  Seph continued, “[Bob] was the guy that was supposed

  to step in the night you were killed, but he got held up by something, didn’t you [Bob]? You want to tell Jonah what it was, [Bob]?”

  Bob looked to the ground sheepishly. “Not really,” he responded.

  “OK,” Seph replied. “Maybe another time then.” He leaned close and whispered, “It’s hilarious. Remind me to tell you later.”

  “Please don’t,” Bob said.

  “I’ve had [Bob] assigned strictly to you since that night he flubbed Father Chandler’s request. He got a little extra juice from his recent requests as well. They didn’t even notice him during the confrontation in front of your house. He just flew back with them.”

  “Shoddy security,” Bob deflected.

  “Gee, [Bob], it’s almost as though you had some extra help,” Seph sarcastically reminded him. “Welp,” Seph continued, clapping his hands and rubbing them together, “what say we get out of here?”

  “Works for me,” I replied. “I’m a little over the Morlock chic look of this place.”

  “It may be a little tricky getting out of here,” Seph said. “Stay close though. We’ll figure it out.”

  “What do you mean, ‘tricky getting out’? How did you get in?” I asked.

 
“I could locate where [Bob] was, but now that I’m here, things are a little dicey,” Seph replied.

  “I think I can help,” Willard sheepishly offered. “They gave us these talismans to help us get in and out of this place.” Willard produced something that looked like a key from one of the many pockets in his tactical gear kit. “As long as this is on you, you only see the tunnel system that takes you where you want to go. Follow me.”

  Seph gave me a look as if to ask if we should trust him, and I gave him a nod in the affirmative. We took off through the door I came in with Cat, through the same tunnel we walked down, into the room where they held us, through a series of tunnels that took us to a dead end.

  Willard floated up to the solid limestone wall, and it began to slowly open to the deep, dark void. We entered the chamber and shot straight up as fast as we could and out past I-35, straight up until we stopped about five hundred feet in the air, the Austin skyline beneath us.

  Freedom met me like air to desperate lungs. Seph and Bob floated without expression, while George and Ramona held each other, Ramona’s face buried in George’s chest. Willard looked sad and a little lost.

  “What’s next for you, Willard?” Seph asked.

  “I—I don’t know,” he said.

  “I do,” I interjected. “You’re going home.”

  “It’s not home for me anymore,” he said.

  “Not with that attitude it isn’t,” I replied. “Look, I know you can’t step in the same river twice, but that is your home. I’m happy to share it with you. I know we can figure something out.”

  “I think I would like that,” he said with a flat smile.

  I’d take that flat smile; it was about as positive an emotion as Willard could produce. Guys like him didn’t allow themselves to be happy too often, but maybe I could help. My mind then turned to something else that had been bothering me for the last half hour or so.

  “So Seph—Maseph. What was the story back there? He’s your kid?” I asked.

  Seph shook his head and exhaled like a smoker taking the last drag off their cigarette.

  “Yeah, he’s my kid.”

  “I don’t know why I never thought about angels having kids before. Is Cat his mother?” I asked.

  “Who is Cat?” he asked.

  “You know … the hot one … dresses in all black …”

  “Oh,” he laughed, “no, [Cat] isn’t his mother—she’s just an old friend. Without going too far into it, there was a time after everyone was cast out of the garden where we may have gotten a little too familiar with some of the people.”

  “Too familiar? What do you mean?” I asked.

  “You really want to know, huh?”

  “Seph, I just found out I’ve been the target of your son since the moment I died. Yes, I want to know.”

  “OK. Alright. I guess I owe you that much. See, we thought the grand experiment was over, you know, God’s pet project? I have a feeling [Cat] talked to you about that, right?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Yeah, I’d probably walk you through the same thing if I were her. So, some of us revealed ourselves to them since we didn’t think we were watchers any longer. They were interesting to us, given what they were modeled after, and we wanted to get to know them. Anyway, I fell in love with a woman after a couple hundred years—there wasn’t a specific rule against it, mind you. It was considered acceptable behavior. Well, one thing led to another, and the next thing you know she’s having a kid.

  “Now, it turns out the fallen had been doing the same thing, but for different reasons. They started this race of semi-divine beings that were bigger, faster, and stronger than the rest of the population. Some even had superhuman abilities. Next thing I knew, the hammer came down all at once.

  “As punishments were meted out, the other side pointed to me as one who engaged in the same behavior and zeroed in on me for punishment as well. So, I was bound for sixty-four generations and thrown into a dark pit.”

  “With the beetles?” I asked.

  “No, I wish. That would have at least given me something to focus my attention on—pain, the creepy, crawling, chittering sounds. Instead, I was unable to move, and all I had were my thoughts. Sixty-four generations to think about that stupid mistake—or if it was a mistake at all. Sixty-four generations removed from everyone I knew or loved. Separated from the light I didn’t know I needed so much until plunged into darkness. At least I can be thankful that life spans tanked after the first few generations of humans. People used to live like a thousand years back then.”

  “That sounds horrible,” Ramona said. “Did you ever get to see your son?”

  Seph shifted to look Ramona in the eye. “Not until much later. After a few thousand years, with a little time off for good behavior, I was released and demoted. I spent some time in Northern Africa learning about our new structure and how we watched over people.

  “I was taken aback at how far they’d progressed. I couldn’t believe how they went from little huts made of grass, mud, and sticks to the buildings I saw before me—the pyramids. It was hard for me to wrap my mind around.

  “I was shown spirits that for one reason or another chose to stay on Earth rather than move on to the places of rest that were created for them to stay until the Earth was remade. I was assigned to Scandinavia when my son found me. He started showing up to make requests on behalf of the fallen—quite the public speaker, that kid. I learned that he was among the first, if not the first, to discover that they did not have to move on after they passed. His nature made him quite powerful on this plane, and the other side valued him as an advocate as well as an organizer. He revealed who he was one day during a motion to petition, unveiling his lineage, singling me out in front of my battalion, and adopting the moniker that he uses to this day. He resents me because I was not there for him or his mother and has managed to find me wherever I’ve been assigned.”

  “What about Cat?” I asked. “You two were friends?”

  “We’ve known each other a long time—billions of years,” he said as he looked off into the night sky. “I don’t know that I was surprised when I heard she was part of the group that was exposed. She was always naturally curious, and maybe even skeptical. Still, it’s hard to be cut off from someone you know like that.”

  “How could you have been friends with a demon?” Ramona asked with a look of shock.

  Seph took a deep inhale and replied, “Eh, they’re not all bad. Some of them just had questions. Don’t get me wrong—there are some mean, twisted, dark souls in that number, only made worse by the separation and sentence. That said, they’re kind of like Republicans—mostly well-meaning with a handful of real motherfuckers.”

  Seph was speaking George and Ramona’s language, and they nodded in unison. George found the metaphor particularly amusing.

  “That’s funny, but I wouldn’t expect that type of language from an angel,” he said.

  “Don’t tell anyone,” Seph said and winked. “Well, it was nice seeing everyone tonight. Let’s hope next time we meet it’s amid less dire circumstances.”

  “Wait,” I interrupted. “What happens now? Aren’t they just going to come after us again?”

  “Oh no, thanks for reminding me,” Seph replied, snapping his fingers. “No, they successfully petitioned for something I can’t share with you, but I’m sure you can figure out for yourselves. They overstepped in a few places tonight but were way out of bounds when they prevented you from moving on. That was the egregious behavior we needed in order to intervene. After what they pulled, they can’t influence you directly in any way ever again.” He almost laughed. “Big mistake.”

  “So, that’s it then,” George said. “We just go back to our normal lives?”

  Seph nodded his head. “I might use the word ‘routine,’ given your current state, but yes.”

  �
��Works for me,” George replied with a hearty laugh.

  “[Bob],” Seph said, “why don’t you go ahead and escort George and Ramona, and I’ll see these two safely back home.”

  Ramona floated over and gave me a hug, with George close behind her for another. She looked to Willard and gave him one as well.

  “I hope things work out for you, young man,” she said. “You let us know if you ever need anything, OK?”

  Willard was visibly taken aback and gave them a nod yes. “Thank you,” he replied. “I certainly will. Likewise, OK?”

  Ramona smiled and put her arm around George as they headed west with Bob back to Hyde Park. We started floating south, taking our time as we admired the view.

  “Can I ask you a question, Willard?” Seph asked.

  “Yes.”

  “Why did you open your door back there?”

  “What do you mean? I wasn’t interested in being food for insects.”

  “Nah, that’s not the only reason, is it?”

  “No.”

  “Come on, you can tell us.”

  Willard fidgeted with his fingers. “I trusted them. I liked belonging to a group again, but then I saw how quickly they were willing to break their word and toss me away. I decided to face down whatever punishment met me on the other side—at least I would be able to find peace and rest for a few hundred years.”

  Seph and I chewed on Willard’s words and allowed for silence as we floated south.

  “I’ll tell you what I told Jonah the first time we met—things you do here matter. Your ledger is still open until you choose to move on, so make your time here count.”

  We floated along Ben White, and Seph remained quiet for a bit before he asked, “What are your plans with this second chance?”

  “All I can think about is how hard it is going to be to live in the same house with Jonah and Max again, but I’m going to do my best to be a good roommate. Maybe we could make some house rules to start.”

  I smiled as his control issues eclipsed his efforts to turn over a new leaf. Oh well, at least he was willing to try.

  “Have you given any thought to doing something like George and Ramona are doing in their neighborhood?”