by Stratton, M.
“What’s it like, your vision?”
“Think of a movie on fast forward. It’s like that, bits of a scene and the outcome, sometimes I get sound along with it, sometimes it slows down, sometimes it focuses on something specific I need to see.”
“Doesn’t it get overwhelming? Do you ‘see’ things all the time?”
“Sometimes it can be, but I’ve lived with it so long, I’m used to it.” She tapped her chin. “Think of doing two things at once; you have a football game playing on the television in the background, but you’re carrying on a conversation with your friends. You’re able to keep track of both at the same time. Besides, it’s not like that all the time.”
“What about dreams? Are yours more vivid?”
She shrugged. “I have no idea. I’ve never had someone else’s dream. I can tell you I either have no dreams, sometimes for weeks on end. And other times, I dream all night long, sometimes the same thing over and over until I finally recognize what I need to do.”
“What about the pain?”
“What makes you think there’s pain?”
“There’s always pain.”
She nodded. “Yes, yes, there always is pain in life. You take the good with the bad. I help people, sometimes it causes pain. But there are times when you’d take all the pain in the world to help someone, to save someone.”
“But you don’t know these people and you take on this pain for them.”
“So.” She blinked slowly at me. “We’re all human, none of us is getting out of this life alive, we might as well help someone, make their lives better while we’re here.”
“You loved my grandmother.”
“I did. She was very special. I wish I had a female role model like her when I was growing up.”
“What about your mother?”
She waved me off. “That’s a story for another day. Right now, we need to get back to business and focus on this demon that is bent on causing damage here.”
I let her think the subject was done, but I made a mental note to check deeper into her family. While I wasn’t one hundred percent sure of her innocence, I still felt knowing all of the information I could would somehow help us in the long run. “Sure. Where do we start?”
“Did you bring your laptop? Anything electronic? You might want to go get it and bring it back here. We’re going to be making a lot of notes.”
I smiled. “Call me old-fashioned, but I prefer to use pen and paper first. It makes it easier for me to transfer onto the computer later.”
“Well, then we have everything we need.” She pointed to the kitchen table. “Pick it or the coffee table, I don’t care which one I use. I’ll be right back.”
She disappeared into the back of the trailer. When she turned the light on, I could see a bed and the walls I could see were covered from floor to ceiling with bookshelves overflowing with books. I wondered if every inch of the room held books and what they were all about.
Coming back into sight, her arms were full of heavy books. I immediately stood and went to her, taking them from her arms.
“Thank you. This is your stack, so pick where you want to do your research.”
I wondered what the size of hers was going to be if this was mine. Deciding the kitchen table would work better for me, I carefully set them down and casually opened the first one up to a page in the middle and sucked my breath in at the artist’s drawing of what they depicted something sinister and dark to be.
“Oh, yeah, that’s one of the more nasty ones.” Es said, peeking around my shoulder. “Some of these will give you nightmares. I’ve been dealing with this kind of thing my whole life, and even that thing we ran into tonight is going to make sleeping hard for me tonight.” She dumped her stack on the couch and went to the coffee pot. “Don’t feel like you have to stay and help. I’ve done this kind of thing before. I’m used to working alone.”
Again, I felt sad for the girl that was always alone, that had no one to help her. No one should face something like this alone. “No, I’m in for the long haul. You’d better make a full pot, I tend to drink a lot of it.”
“Thank you.”
“No problem.” I nodded at her and pulled my notebook out of my pocket and got comfortable, determined to try to figure out what was going on. I’d always been lucky, while it wasn’t a true photographic memory, it was close. I was able to quickly read though and process a few of the books, not paying attention when Es put a pizza in front of me or was topping off my coffee. I didn’t even notice when there was an extra notebook on the table so I could continue to take notes.
Rolling my shoulders, I finally registered how stiff I was. As I stood up, I looked over at Es, there she was with her dark hair piled up on top of her head, a couple of pencils sticking out at odd angles from the messy knot. She had books piled all around her, along with a laptop and numerous notebooks.
“Wow,” was all I could say when I saw the huge book on the coffee table. “What is that? I’ve never seen something like this except for in the movies.” It had to be the largest book I had ever seen. When she leaned over and opened it up, I wanted to gasp. For all I knew, it could have been a prop on a movie set. It was aged and had old, thick paper with fancy handwriting and hand drawn pictures. “What is it?”
“This…” She moved the laptop off of her lap and leaned forward, caressing the book like a lover. I was surprised by the jealousy that took hold of my throat. “This is what I call my Keeper. It keeps me grounded, it give me information. I swear there are times I think it is a living, breathing thing. It’s ever-changing. Each person who has held onto it has put their information, their stories, their knowledge into it. Look.” She opened it to the first page. “Look at the date. Three hundred B.C.” She spun the book around so I could look at the page. “And you can read it. That’s written in English, but English wouldn’t be spoken for almost a millennia after this entry. And that’s not the only thing. Yes, I thought the date could be faked, but look at this.” She flipped through the book towards the back. “Now this one was written only about one hundred and fifty years ago. I traveled to Europe a while ago and found an old historian in Germany. I was at a crossroads and something told me to turn left, so I did and I stopped in this small village and went into the local pub. There in the back, darkest corner of the room was a little old man. As soon as I walked in the door, he beckoned me over. Once I sat down, he pulled this book out of his bag and placed it on the table and started talking to me, in English, I understood every single thing he said. He told me this book was magic and it had told him I was going to be in that pub at that specific time and he was to give it to me. He told me it was very old and that every answer I could ever need answered could be found somewhere in this book. The trick was finding the right page.”
“Well then, why aren’t we concentrating on this book?”
“There’s more to it than that. I didn’t want to take the book, it seemed too powerful, surely it meant more to him or his family. He said it was for me. He told me I was to use it for as long as I needed it and then to pass it along to the next person when the time was right. That is how the book had worked for centuries upon centuries. Traveling from person to person. He told me to add my story, anything I found that would be helpful, into the book.”
I wanted to see the end, I wanted to see what she wrote. I wanted to see how many blank pages were left.
“He said the book would help those who seek good over evil. It didn’t matter the language or even if a person could read, the book would be able to reveal all to the right person. Then he opened the book to his pages and said they were written in his native language, German. Yet, I could read every word. If that wasn’t enough, he said he didn’t know my language, English, but we were communicating. He said it was the book. Once I took possession of it, we would no longer be able to understand each other. And he was right. There was something inside of me telling me I had to have that book, that it would come in handy. Once I touche
d it, I couldn’t understand the next thing he said to me. But the last words he wrote in the book were there for me.”
“What did it say?”
“Child, in the absence of light, create your own.”
“What did he mean by that?”
“It seems like the darkness has always followed me. That nice gentleman died as soon as he walked out of that pub. Hit by a car, it looked like the person ran into him on purpose.” The corners of her mouth turned down and she shook her head. “It’s continued all throughout my life, like what happened to your grandmother. As the years have gone on, I’ve felt the darkness getting closer and closer. And now I think it’s time for the battle. Time for me to bring my light into the darkness.”
“Do you know how to do that?”
“Not a clue. That is why I’m going through looking at all of these other books, I’m trying to hone our search down so when we start looking through this one, we will know better what we are looking for.”
“That makes sense. But couldn’t you just, I don’t know, flip through it and see if something sticks out to you?”
“That was one of the first things I did. Nothing.”
“Damn.”
“Unfortunately, it’s never easy.” She glanced over at the clock and I was surprised at how late it was. “So, are we brewing another pot of coffee and comparing notes, or are we saving that for tomorrow and trying to get some sleep?”
Once I got ahold of a story, I could never put it down until I uncovered everything I could. There’d be no sleep for me tonight. “I think we’re going to need more coffee.”
“Excellent.”
We spent the remainder of the night discussing what we had discovered, tossing ideas around and trying to find some kind of conclusion. I’d never met someone and instantly been drawn to them like I was with her. I couldn’t believe how completely my opinion of her had changed, or how quickly. Twenty-four hours ago, I was sure she scammed my grandmother out of money. Now I knew she couldn’t have. As the sun started to peek over the horizon on a new day, I began to wonder if maybe the books and movies were right. There actually was a thing as love at first sight.
Chapter Seven
Esmerelda
I tried to hold onto my temper as Dominic followed me around the Autumn Carnival. “We’ve been over this. I’ll be fine.”
“No we haven’t, not to my satisfaction.”
“Your satisfaction would be if I stayed home. That isn’t possible. I made a commitment and I’m here.”
“What if that big nasty shows back up?”
“It won’t.”
“How can you be sure?”
“Because I’m ready for it this time. Besides, twice in twenty-four hours is a lot.”
“What do you mean?”
“It takes energy to push me aside, basically lock me up and not only use my voice to talk to you, but also physically move me around. Unless it’s the big guy down there, which I highly doubt, it’s going to need time to recharge.”
“Hmmm… I still don’t like it.”
“You don’t have to, but I’m going to do this. Now let me get ready.” I walked into the tent they had set up for me. Carefully, I walked around the tent testing, seeing what kind of energy was around. Finding nothing out of the ordinary, I set my duffle bag down and pulled out some sage and lit it. Carefully, I worked my way around, drawing symbols in the air, protecting what was in this tent from harm.
“What are you doing?”
“It’s another layer of protection, making sure nothing gets in here. I should have done it last night, but I didn’t expect anything like that to happen. I won’t make that mistake again.”
“What can I do to help?”
I paused for a moment. This was a big moment. “How do you know I wasn’t scamming you last night, getting you over to my side to throw the suspicion off of me?”
“You didn’t see what I saw. I can say with complete conviction, there is absolutely no way you faked what happened last night. It wasn’t just what you said or did, the air changed. It was cold and there was a rotten smell that wasn’t there before. Like it was trying to suck all the warmth and familiar out of the room. No, that was nothing that could be faked. Now, what can I do to help?”
“After I’m done inside with the sage, I want you to do the same thing, but outside. Don’t worry about the wards I’m drawing, slowly walk around the outside, make sure the circle is complete. Don’t leave an opening. When you are done with that, come back in and get the salt, and then do the same thing outside with the salt.”
Silently, he took the sage and walked out of the tent. Next, I took the salt out and started tossing it in the air all around the inside of the tent, quietly chanting the words that had been taught to me years ago.
“I thought you said you weren’t a witch?” he asked from the door.
“I’m not, technically. However, we all have some kind of latent power we can tap into when we need it. An old witch taught me years ago how to protect myself.”
He nodded. “So, witches are real?”
“Yep.” I watched him, knowing the world he thought he lived in was slowly being demolished.
“Okay… Anything else I should know about?”
“All I’m going to say right now is fiction is always based on some semblance of truth.”
Slowly, he nodded. “All right, we’ll leave that for now. Anything else you need help with?”
“Do the same thing with the salt that you did with the sage.”
“Great. On it.” He left the tent without another word.
Digging a few other trinkets out of my duffle, I put them around the tent and on the table, making sure that not only would I have all the protection I could possibly need around me, but also anyone coming to me to have a reading wouldn’t inadvertently end up with something attached to them when they left.
Dominic came back into the tent. “I want to talk to you about something. I know you have taken all of the precautions, but what if something goes wrong? What if he does get through again? What should I do? Last time you told me not to talk.”
“That was stupid of me. I wanted to make sure you wouldn’t think I was leading you and figuring out the answers based on what you were saying. I needed you to believe in me. Trust me, if that ever happens again, I want you to talk, get as much information as you can. Every little bit will help.”
Once everything was ready, I started seeing people. It was always the same thing, especially with the young girls. They all wanted their happy ever after. I tried to be as vague as possible with some of them, because not all of them can have their dream.
Towards the end of the evening, my protector, Dominic, asked, “Are you always so positive with your readings?”
“I have to be. Everything you put out into the universe comes back to you times three. If I tell someone they are going to lose the one thing that means the most to them, or their job, or money, I can end up turning the bad luck onto myself. Besides, there is already so much negativity in the world, why add to it?”
“Good point. How long do you have to be here?”
“I can close up anytime.” I glanced at my watch. “Typically, this is the time it starts to slow down.”
“So I was thinking…”
I raised an eyebrow at his tone. “Really…”
“It’s been years since I’ve been to a carnival. It might be fun to take a stroll down the midway, go up in the Ferris wheel. Want to join me?”
I could envision it all, like a movie montage. The teenaged couple in love goes to the fair and spends all day in perfect sync, enjoying each other. It was something I never had, but the dream was always there and so different than my typical evening at these things.
“Yes, yes I would.”
“Great, then let’s clean this up.”
I tried to brush aside the feeling that this night wasn’t going to have the happy ending like in the movies, but I couldn’t.
Chapter Eight
Dominic
I had to admit, I loved the fact that she’d ride any ride with reckless abandon, seeming to enjoy every second of the thrill. Since I met her, she’d been angry, reserved, tough, and possessed by a demon. Not your typical start to a relationship, but in this day and age, not too many people started out like generations in the past.
Spending more money than my ego wanted to admit, I finally won her the stuffed teddy bear I’d seen her looking at. I had to wonder what about the teddy bear drew her to it. She lived in a small trailer without a lot of personal items around to clutter the place up. The amount of books was the only thing she seemed to splurge on.
If we were teenagers on our first date, I’d have to admit, even to my bitter heart, we’d fall in love and maybe, just maybe, spend the rest of our lives together. I gave myself a moment to think about my youth, the dreams I had and what was expected out of me. Go to college, find a job. Date some women, not at the same time, of course. Grandma would have smacked me upside the head for that one. But then to settle down, get married, have a couple of kids. Live a happy life. I had followed some of the plan, but not all of it. In fact, I really didn’t know what I had been missing until I laid eyes on Es.
On a whim, I grabbed her hand and walked over to the Tunnel of Love ride. I wanted to memorize every second with her. The way the lights of the rides flashed around us, illuminating her face. The laughs and screams of the crowds around us as they dared themselves to ride the fastest, scariest ones. The smell of the popcorn and funnel cakes filled the air. Her beauty as she smiled at me. I wrapped my arms around her and spun us around, completely getting lost in the moment as she threw her head back and laughed. It was like everything in my life was leading to this one moment, this moment with her.
Slowly, I stopped us and I couldn’t take my eyes off of hers. The impulse to kiss her was stronger than anything I had ever felt. “Do you feel it?” I needed to know if she was feeling the same thing I was.
