by Reyna Favis
Walking over to the cousins, I tried to be pleasant before asking them what was really on my mind. After reading Lummie’s journal, I was filled with questions. “You both look nice.” They nodded their thanks and I continued, keeping my voice low. “So, how does it work for you? You keep a low profile about what you can do in your community, but you’re going to advertise it nationwide on Lucas’ show?”
Bodean raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms over his chest. “That’s right. If we can get Lucas to take us on, we can move away from here. We’ll be able to hire security and only have to do our thing for the show. If you earn enough money, you don’t have to rely on community for anything and you don’t have to take any shit from anyone. That’s the goal.”
Parmelia poked her head out from her position behind Bodean. “That’s right. That’s the goal.” Her face was as hard as his.
I just nodded. After having read Lummie’s journal, I had a little more sympathy for what Parmelia and Bodean might have to put up with. This was a small community and memory was long in small towns. Maybe they had the right idea to want to leave. What I could not wrap my head around was how mercenary these two were. They didn’t care about either the living or the dead, only themselves. But then, who was I to judge? I only cared about half the equation until I met Cam. I had my own litany of sins to contend with. Before I walked away, I tried one more time to connect with them. “We found Lummie’s journal today. It was hidden under a floor board in the cabin.”
Parmelia’s expression softened for a second, but then she shook her head. “That’s all right. You go ahead and keep it. All that’s in the past and we don’t want no part of it.” Before I could say anything else, the cousins turned and walked towards the back room where the crew was setting up. I watched them go and decided to let it be. I needed to accept that trust would be a rare commodity when working with them, since it was clear that their priority was looking out for number one. The best I could hope for was that they would use their abilities honestly and not make stuff up to create good television.
Cam came up behind me with Zackie at his side. “I couldn’t help overhearing. I’m not sure we can trust those two.” Zackie made a sound like she was coughing up a hairball and I took that as her two cents worth on the cousins.
“Yeah, that’s about what I think too.” I was about to say something more when Parmelia cried out, an edge of hysteria to her voice.
“Aw, crap! Here it comes!” A loud impact sounded in the back room that rattled the windows of the entire house. Her hands flew up to shield her ears and she dropped to her knees.
Bodean whirled around, first one direction and then the other. “I can’t find it, Parmelia! Show me where.” She paid him no mind and seemed to be in sensory overload. All she could manage was a low keening as her arms went up protectively around her head and her face turned an alarming crimson.
Lucas was unaware of her distress as he rushed forward to join the crew. “Cameras ready to roll?” There was a chorus of affirmatives as equipment powered up. Spinning to identify the source of the impact, he caught Neil’s eye as he searched. “It sounded like a sonic boom. Are you in the flight path of any military operations?”
Neil looked uneasy and he slowly shook his head. He put his arm around Janie. “No, we got nothing like that here. That was the loudest I ever heard it. All y’all better be careful.”
“Where is Gretchen?” Lucas stopped what he was doing and started moving toward the stairs to find her.
Janie clung to Neil, but stretched out a hand to stop him. “It’s all right. I asked the neighbors to take her tonight.”
My ears were still ringing and the impact of the sound reverberated on my breastbone. I could still sense a low frequency vibration, as if it were winding up to do some more. “Cam, there are four of us here. What if it’s drawing power from all of us?”
Cam appeared calm and gave a quick nod to Zackie as he strode forward into the mayhem. “Shields up, if you please.” When Zackie responded, Bodean and Parmelia suddenly hunched as if the wind had been knocked out of them and wrapped their arms tightly around each other. I only felt a warm, comforting feeling, but at that moment, I was not on the shit list of the psychopomp. The thrumming went down significantly and the only sound that could be heard was heavy-footed pacing on the hardwood floors of the back room. After Cam and I entered the room, we pressed ourselves against the wall next to the door. I tried to pinpoint where the walker was pacing, but my concentration was broken when the stacked cardboard boxes slammed violently against the far wall, spilling their contents and knocking over some of Lucas’ equipment before they came to rest. A jumble of baby clothes and toys tangled with cables and metal supports, creating an impassable pile of debris on the floor. Some of the crew scrambled to right the fallen equipment, while others worked to continue filming with what remained. The temperature plummeted and the breath of everyone in the room became visible with each exhale. Crew members exclaimed curses as first the electronics died and then all house lights began to dim.
“Get out! Get out!” Parmelia screamed as she struggled to her feet and forced Bodean and anyone near him out of the room. I slipped out the exit with Cam, yanking Lucas by the arm to bring him with us. The temperature radically shifted and a blast of scorching air blew my hair forward into my eyes as we retreated from the room. Parmelia shrieked as the blast caught her. Whatever I might have thought of her, she was the last to leave the room and paid the price. I turned back to find her crumpled unconscious at the threshold with the clothing on her back smoldering from the heat. Lucas was closest and grabbed her under the arms to drag her away from the room.
As we retreated farther up the hall to the staircase, I heard from the room the sound of a deep growl with harmonics that played in and out of the range of my human hearing. I could feel the threat more than hear it and I hunched myself to protect my throat as I ran. The sound raised the hackles on the back of my neck and drove Parmelia out of her stupor. She screamed and started crying. Zackie, I thought. Of everything that had just happened, nothing made my gut churn like the sound of that growl. I thought I would piss my pants and wanted nothing more than to run out the front door and not look back. The dead hand took that moment of weakness to grab the banister and not only stop my retreat, but propel me past Cam and back towards the room.
I saw the look of wild fear in his eyes as I staggered under the sudden change of direction. “Cam! It’s making me go back!”
“All right! We’re coming with you.” Cam gasped out these words as he collared Bodean and dragged him away from Parmelia. Over his shoulder, he shouted instructions to Lucas. “Get everyone out of the house.”
Bodean swore and tried to break free, but Cam had a tight grip. “Shitshitshit! Lemme go!”
The dead hand grasped at any purchase it could find and forced me back down the hall where the growling became louder. The sharp odor of disinfectant penetrated my overwhelmed senses and I shook my head, trying to clear it. I knew that smell. Hospital. I reentered the room with Cam and Bodean on my heels. Zackie had the spirit clamped in her jaws and with each growl she shook it off of its feet. It was a man, but he was stripped of all natural color, being visible to my eyes in only shades of gray. The spirit was in agony. I could feel the pain, but the face was a black hole devoid of any humanity and showed me nothing. Despite everything, I reached out towards him, wanting to stop the pain.
Cam’s voice rang out. “Zackie, let go. Bodean, bind him.” Bodean looked like he wanted to run and Cam gave him a firm shake using the grip on his collar. Zackie released the spirit, but the hackles were still raised from the back of her head all the way down her tail. Her teeth were bared. I had never seen her as anything but gentle and loving with the dead and this side of her shocked me to my core.
The spirit began to flail and fight again and I blocked his blows, striking back and keeping him at bay as Bodean worked. As the spirit began to rise from the floor, the smell of disinfecta
nt became caustic and I slammed him again to keep the momentum on our side. In another moment, Bodean had him pinned and helpless, floating before us.
Sweating and grunting, Bodean doubled down and held the spirit. “It’s stronger than anything I’ve seen before. I don’t know if I can hold it for long.”
Cam took a breath and nodded. “It’s because he’s Lummie’s son. You know how strong she was.” Bodean’s eyes went round, but he held his grip and increased his focus on the spirit.
Cam walked up close to the spirit and I cringed, even knowing he was now bound, I worried that he would somehow break free. “Your name is Daniel Clark. You were raised by Randall and Flora Clark. You had eight brothers and sisters.” With each word, the spirit became more animated with color and the stench of disinfectant faded. Cam continued relating the story of his life and was somehow sensing what I could not. There was sweat on his brow as he concentrated and he was visibly straining as he drew out the identity from deep within the spirit. As Cam described Daniel’s time as a sheriff’s deputy, the black hole of his face lightened and eventually color entered even this void. Features formed and he was given a face. I saw the man from the newspaper article before me, complete with uniform and a badge on his chest. This, then, was the core of his identity and his reason for living when he was human. I felt no sense of identity or emotion beyond pain until Cam had completed his efforts and gave the spirit back the life he had lived.
Cam wiped his brow and took a shaky breath. “Let him go, Bodean.” Bodean slanted a look at Cam that was laced with fear, but he did as he was told and freed the spirit. Zackie had stood down as the process unfolded and she was sitting peacefully at Cam’s side, hackles down and fangs concealed. Seeing this, I finally let my guard down and almost fell to the floor as the adrenalin drained from me. The dead hand was also quiescent. I suppose it got what it wanted.
“Are you ready to move on?” Cam eyed the spirit and I could tell he wanted this to be finished.
I heard a definitive No! as I tuned in and my eyes went wide. I dug down and started pulling energy, readying for another battle. Bodean changed his stance to put himself at the ready and started swearing.
Cam put a restraining hand up towards us. “What is not done for you? Why do you not move on?” At this question, I got a flood of information, but all of it was from after the death of Daniel and I saw a bright image in my mind of Gretchen. He told us that he did not remember much of anything until Cam helped him, but he did remember decency.
Daniel had been locked into the last patterns of his life in the house, confused and agitated, but he meant no harm to anyone living here. That was true until the McLeans took in the two hikers. The terror from the little girl penetrated his disordered mind that night. One of the hikers had taken her from her bed and was touching her in a way that was frightening her and making her cry. Before anything worse could happen, Daniel stormed up the stairs and tore the man off the little girl, battering him into the wall outside of the room. The man did not immediately release his grip and the little girl’s arm was broken in the struggle. Daniel tried to comfort her, but he sensed another man in the house and assumed he was another threat. From that point on, the idea was fixed in his mind that these people in the house were threats and had to be removed. He would protect that little girl at any cost.
When he heard the tale, Bodean spat the words, “Fucking pervert!” Cam turned his face in disgust and his fists clenched at his sides. I thought that some people just didn’t deserve to draw breath. The man had walked out the door as free and easy as you please. He would do it again, preying on some other child, and Daniel could not move on to his peace knowing that this man could harm another innocent. Daniel wanted to go after that man.
Cam stepped back from the spirit. “Do what you must. You have our blessings.” And we all knew what this spirit was capable of. I felt a cold wind as the spirit swept passed me and I almost pitied the man.
# # #
Standing outside the farmhouse, I dug through my trunk to find a bottle of coconut water that I chugged until it was empty. Wiping my mouth on my sleeve, I felt better and opened another bottle. I took more leisurely sips as I thought about what happened. Parmelia had some blisters on her back, but the injury was not nearly as bad as I had thought. Janie put some homemade salve for burns on the blistered skin and that seemed to soothe the pain. Despite all the damage to the equipment, Lucas did succeed in getting some film footage and sound recordings. That should hold his producers at bay until we were ready to confront the Entity.
I listened as Cam finished explaining the course of events to Parmelia, Lucas and the McLeans. Bodean was sprawled out on the front steps, exhausted and not up to participating in telling the tale. I handed him my unfinished bottle of coconut water and told him to drink. When Cam got to the part about Gretchen, Neil was livid would have grabbed his shotgun and hit the trails to look for the man, but Cam told him in no uncertain terms that Daniel was on the case. There would be no escaping Daniel. Janie calmed Neil down further when she declared that nothing they could do to the man would rival Daniel’s wrath. She trusted the spirit to mete out justice.
On our drive back to the cabin, I asked Cam the question that had been niggling at me. “How did you know the spirit was Daniel Clark? I thought you had some doubts when we talked about it before. That was a huge risk, approaching him like that. What if you were wrong?”
“I didn’t know. I took a chance. We didn’t have any better ideas going into this.” Cam yawned and fell silent for a beat. “You know, maybe the hand is directed by Lummie. It was brooking no argument when it came to saving the spirit from Zackie. Lummie would have wanted to protect Daniel.”
I chewed on my lip and shook my head. “I can’t say no, but I don’t know. I just don’t get any consistent vibe from it that I would associate with Lummie. After reading her journal, I think I have a pretty good sense of her. And yeah, Lummie would have tried to save Daniel.” I focused on the road for a bit and then cleared my throat. “There is one thing about the dead hand that I’m now sure about.” I paused because for some reason, the hand embarrassed me. To me, it was like talking about venereal disease. Cam nodded for me to finish my thought, so I soldiered on. “Glove, no glove… it doesn’t matter. Keeping it under wraps has no effect. I was wearing gloves tonight and it did what it wanted to do. I’m starting to think it’s just being polite and staying quiet when I put a glove on it.”
Cam frowned. “That is disconcerting.” Rubbing his eyes, he yawned again. “Maybe it takes energy to act, so it simply can’t be active all the time.”
I shrugged. We could speculate until the sun came up and it wouldn’t change anything, so I just let the matter drop. Stifling a yawn, I pulled up to the cabin and killed the engine.
Stepping out of the car, I stretched until my ribs complained and then shuffled towards the door. “Looks like we beat Lucas here.”
Cam drawled words through another yawn. “No, he’s gone back with the crew.” I heard the words ‘gone’ and ‘crew’ and surmised the rest until he added to the sentence. “They’re driving home tonight, so they have a fighting chance to edit the material in time for the next show. I’ll pack up his things tomorrow and we can give them to him next time we see him.”
I just grunted a reply and headed up the stairs to bed. Part of me was happy not to have to control my hormones during another cramped drive together. Most of me regretted not having this chance. Still, the long drive with Cam and Zackie felt like a comforting prospect after a fast and furious spirit encounter. It surprised me how attached I’d become to the two of them.
CHAPTER 17
The drive home had me thinking about everything that awaited me. The practicalities of finding a new job were mundane, but necessary to my survival. Maybe something would materialize from all the applications I submitted before heading to North Carolina. Mentally sighing, I conceded that it wasn’t like anyone had left messages on my cell phone with
job offers while I was away, so I shouldn’t keep my hopes up.
Thoughts of how we would deal with the Entity were another major topic of discussion. Parmelia and Bodean had promised to meet us in a few days after they had a chance to organize things so that the goats were cared for and the rentals/rescues could go on while they were away. It was not beyond the realm of possibilities that they would blow us off and not show up. Still, we held out hope that they would honor their commitment, if only for the paycheck that Lucas’ show promised.
As we drove past a state park entrance just a few miles from home, we were diverted by state troopers away from the main road and towards a detour. Crawling along, I swore every time I had to hit the brakes. Because I knew myself to be a favored daughter of the universe, it made perfect sense that we would face traffic problems this close to home.
Cam stared from his window into the darkness as we approached the park entrance. Blue and red lights from emergency vehicles flashed on a continuous loop and a bright light illuminated an area near the back of the lot. “There’s a search going on. I see a bunch of people in high vis orange.” He opened his window and leaned out to get a better look. “They’ve set up staging right there in the parking area and there are searchers working the side of the road up ahead.” Cam and I had informed our teams that we would be unavailable when we departed for North Carolina, so it was not surprising that we did not receive the call out for this search.
I slowed to a stop in front of the officer directing traffic towards the detour. “Tell him we’re search and rescue and that we can help if they need it.” Cam dug out his county SAR ID and asked the cop if we could be of any use. He pointed us towards the parking entrance and told us where to sign in. Pulling into the lot, we drove around a car parked towards the middle that was surrounded by safety cones and flagging tape.
