by Alexie Aaron
“Until then, keep your loved ones together,” Mia advised. “School can be made up. Other jobs can be gotten. The strongest weapon you have right now is your family unit. And…” Mia paused as she looked across the room at Lizzie before saying, “the longest battery life on a MP3 player I’ve ever seen.”
Martha came into the foyer. “Take off those coats. I would be insulted if you snuck off before sampling my pie.”
Mia wiggled out of her coat and grabbed Burt’s hand. “Come on, let’s not insult the clients.”
He let himself be tugged along. He admired the way Mia helped him bring this investigation to the PEEPs team. He knew that there were hard days ahead, and she and he may not be so friendly, but right now he was happy and at peace.
Chapter Four
Archie Braverman sat in the center of his piece-of-shit Buick, windows open, heater pushing out as much heat as possible. His job was to deliver the free local paper to the community’s residents in the wee hours of the morning. He had a system. He would straddle the middle of the street and toss the plastic bagged papers out each window to get them hopefully on the drives on either side of the street.
He faced many challenges in his twenty years on the job. Drunk drivers heading home would fix on his tail lights and follow him through the streets as if in a trance. He’d seen a few sleepwalkers who he watched move about the outside of their homes. Archie waited until the walker headed inside to what Archie hoped was the right house. Once he had seen a pack of coyotes chasing some rodent through the yards miles away from their habitat.
This morning he noticed something different about 1634 Hillside Drive. He saw shadows move across the hoar-frosted lawn towards the mailbox, rest for a moment and then move to the next mailbox to the west of the home. Archie didn’t know how long this had been going on before he arrived, but he saw ten of the shadows in the five minutes he had been idling there. It reminded him of a unit of soldiers in the old combat movies. “I’ll cover you. Move out one at a time,” Archie said to himself. He waited until the activity stopped before tossing his paper and moving up the street.
He caught up to the shadows in a few minutes. He made the mistake of tossing a paper at one of the shadows. It moved through the shadow. Archie tossed another at it, and it bounced off the blackness instead of moving through it. He tossed another, and the same thing happened. The shadows still crossed the drive without hesitation. Archie grew bored and continued down Hillside depositing his papers on the drives. He wondered what the shadows were, but as they seemed to be moving away from the housing development, he didn’t think it was something he should waste time thinking about.
He put on his turn signal, which was absurd considering the time, and looked down the normally busy intersecting street to check for oncoming traffic. He was looking right when a paper sailed in the left window smacking him hard on the shoulder.
“What the hell?” Archie said turning his head left. Another paper sailed into the car from the right side. This time it fell harmlessly to the floor of the passenger side.
THUMP! A paper hit the left side of the car. “Damn kids, playing a prank!” He backed up his car onto the verge, picked up a paper and got out of the car to scare the little assholes away. He no sooner closed the door when twenty papers hit him all at once. He got his arms up to protect his face, but he was bruised and battered by the onslaught of plastic-encased rolled papers. He fell to his knees. He saw shadows move towards him. “Help me,” he said weakly.
Four shadows moved across his body. Two flowed into his nose and mouth choking off the air. Another sought out his ear and pushed against the eardrum. The fourth faced an obstruction in his bad ear. A hearing aid barred the entrance. A shrill whine pierced the air. The shadow pushed and pushed to no avail. It took a sliding start and pushed inward with all its might. The battery in the aid exploded. The shadow became ash and fell down across the body.
The others were curious but were on a mission. They left Archie lying in the cold, battered and broken with a busted eardrum. They had lost one of their own but had learned from the assault. People with devices in their ears were to be avoided.
~
It wasn’t a question of hospitality versus propriety the fact that Burt Hicks was blissfully snoring away in Mia’s guestroom. Convenience would be the better word. After they had worked out a contractual agreement between the Kolwaskis and Martha regarding the imminent investigation, Mia and Burt were too tired to backtrack to find him a hotel room for the night. Mia was within twenty miles of home, and she had an empty guestroom. When she had proposed the idea, Burt had looked at her for a moment. The only reference to their past relationship he made was to say, “You sure?”
“It will only be for the night. In the morning you can make arrangements for you and the PEEPs team when they arrive.”
Neither of them mentioned Whit, Mia’s boyfriend, or the impact this would have on Ted if he learned his boss was having a sleepover with his dream woman. As long as they kept sex out of the evening, what was the problem?
Mia stood at the window and watched as the sun rose on a frosty December morning. Big Bear Lake sported a thin layer of blue ice. The lawn was white and spikey with frost. Her decision to build on this peninsula of the northern Illinois lake was a smart one. Mia’s home was on the rocky end of the lake which made her neighbors far and few between. The only boat traffic she had was the occasional sport fishing diehard who would put up with the constraints of navigating the treacherous waters on this end of Big Bear.
Of course Mia hadn’t been thinking of keeping out people when she built her sanctuary. It was to keep the dead from bothering her. With her present set of protections, she was able to live free of the bumps in the night and faces appearing beside hers in the mirror in the morning. She took a sip of her coffee and let her mind wander back to the time when Burt’s face was seen beside hers in the mirror. Whitney on occasion too had fought grooming space the morning after. Two males in one year after a lifetime of being alone, what did this make her? The two men were so dissimilar. Whit, the high school crush, tall, fit, blue-eyed, dishwater-blond, and Burt the plump, dark haired, brown-eyed man who encouraged Mia to nurture her gifts and gave her the confidence she was just starting to enjoy.
“Any of that left?” Burt asked from the doorway startling Mia from her thoughts.
Pushing down her guilty feelings, she smiled looking at the rumpled sleepy-eyed man scratching his nuts while he waited for an answer. “Yes, I made a pot. Unless you want an espresso, which can be had with mucho engineering and by swearing in Italian at that expensive machine Ralph bought me. But if you want hot strong and convenient, seek out the percolator on the counter.”
“Where did you get a percolator?”
“Mike’s mom. She insisted I take the one from the estate. Glenda doesn’t believe in throwing good things away.”
Burt stopped in his tracks. “Mia, aren’t you afraid of the pot being haunted?”
Mia’s laughter bubbled up. She thought how ridiculous she must seem to people that didn’t have to deal with seeing ghosts. “I picked it up and held it. I didn’t get any vibes from it, so I accepted the gift graciously.”
“Baby, I’m impressed.”
Neither one of them acted oddly when the pet name slipped out of Burt’s mouth. They just changed the subject.
“I need to get this footage to Ted. Do you mind if I take over that prissy new desk of yours?”
Mia glanced over at the imitation French piece that Ralph took such pains to find and said, “Help yourself. I’m headed for the shower. After, do you want to go out and have some pancakes?”
Burt smiled. He knew that Mia was, in her way, asking him to make his special flapjacks without actually asking him. “How about I take care of breakfast. That is, if you have anything in the refrigerator that resembles milk?”
“I have milk, eggs and maple syrup. The rest’s in the pantry,” she told him and turned heel.
B
urt watched her leave. There was a bounce to her step that he had so missed seeing. He shook himself free of the hold she still had over him and proceeded to set up his equipment.
~
Mia let the hot water wash over her. She liked the idea that she had someone in the house she didn’t have to explain to why the idea of a used appliance would give her concern, only that it did. Where had the two of them gone wrong? Was it Whit? No. Maybe it was that they rushed into bed before finding out who each other was. She was bossy and a slob. Burt was bossy and worked hard to curb the bachelor nature of drop and run when it came to clothes, equipment and books. Perhaps they just weren’t suited. Could they exist as friends, forgetting what it felt like to make love to each other? Mia turned the shower colder. She was going to have to change her mindset or she was going to be in trouble.
~
Ted received the materials, worked his magic and had it on its way to Angelo. Burt didn’t have much to say in his email except that he was tired and would get back to him later in the day. The idea of going back to Mia’s neck of the woods pleased Ted tremendously. This would give him another chance to show Mia what a catch he was. He really liked her. In the beginning, between keystrokes, he saw her as this amazing girl that Burt had somehow stumbled on to. He liked Burt and kept his distance. He couldn’t however stop the attraction. He wasn’t used to guarding his heart and playing it cool. As a nerd that was more comfortable with his hands on machinery than on a woman, Ted was handicapped. They gelled. She was aware of his heartfelt feelings and was careful not to encourage him, but she didn’t shun him either. He took this as the crack in the cement of her relationship with Mr. Wonderful.
~
Whitney Martin was finishing up his paperwork from the graveyard shift. He had nothing much to report on, except the drunk driver who sat nursing one hell of a hangover in the lock-up. He would be the problem for the dayshift. Soon this law enforcement professional would be headed home and to bed. He looked at the clock and wondered if it would be too early to call Mia. He wasn’t quite sure if she was spending the night at Ralph’s after the hospital tests or not. He was only listening with half an ear when she gave him her schedule for the week. Last evening while on patrol, he drove by her place and found her house dark. She didn’t leave a message on his cell, but she didn’t normally, unless she was heading out of town on an investigation. Whit yawned and took it as an omen. He would head to his apartment and get some rest before calling Mia.
~
Angelo moved his face closer to the computer monitor. This was the tenth time he watched the footage Theodore Martin sent him. Gifted with the sight along with his other talents, he could see beyond the shadows to the souls of most entities. It didn’t matter if he was viewing them in person, seeing a photo or admiring a painting. He could see the essence of what came before death, but not this time. He shook his head in frustration. He got up and walked into his library. Once inside, he closed the door and secured the lock. Angelo took his time as he moved in front of the humidity-controlled glass cases that held the brotherhood’s collection of books and materials. He pondered whether this strange occurrence would justify the opening of the door that held the ancient scrolls and carvings.
His predecessors had passed down via the spoken word the list of the contents behind the ebon and amber door. At one point, someone had suggested they write down the items. This was quickly discouraged as once the contents were scribed, then they were vulnerable. They could be stolen, destroyed or used. He had a good working idea of what was there and, more importantly, what ideas the materials supported. He seemed to remember a small volume with papyrus pages that mentioned a dark stain that moved.
As he stood admiring the façade of books on shelves behind the amber glass, he weighed the life of the child against the risk of damaging the book. The child won. He walked over to the desk in the center of the room and opened the center drawer exposing a control panel. This panel managed the atmosphere in each bookcase and the air quality in the room itself. Angelo began the process of adjusting the library’s air to match the one being managed behind the ebon door. He would have to limit his breathing and read the ancient words quickly. The sulfurous fumes and heat would take its toll on the large man, but it needed to be endured.
He sealed the other cases with tape before he removed his clothing. He stood naked as he would before God. His only protection was the intricate tattoos that were always in constant motion on his massive back. The dark feathery lines moved back and forth as if they belonged to flapping wings.
He knelt and prayed before opening the door of the case. The illusion of bookshelves fell away, and he walked inside. The chamber was designed as if it were a nautilus shell. The massive stone and mortar halls that spiraled towards the center had many alcoves. Each space held a single item that was both a treasure and a curse. Angelo took a mental image of the items as he walked. Vibrations from navigating the chamber could possibly cause doors of inset cases to open and items to shift. The nearer he got to the center, the closer the walls were. If he accidently brushed up against one of the stored collections, he could damage the items with the salt from his sweating skin.
Angelo walked to the center of the chamber where a thick sulfurous cloud plumed out from the floor obscuring what was stored there. He reached inside the bubbling steam and drew out the book. It took him a few moments to remember the old tongue, but soon he was reading. He memorized the information before replacing the book. On the way out he noticed a door ajar. He took time to close the case where the other half of the Mayan calendar rested.
Angelo backtracked, and soon he stood outside the chamber and shut the door. He closed his eyes as the atmosphere of the room resumed to normal so he could hold the images of the book in his head. Without dressing, he moved quickly to the monitor and played the tape again. His memory was correct. The DTDs as Mia called them resembled something that had rarely been seen in the time of written word. The blackness was a stain left from the emotions generated from the primitive mind. The last part of consciousness that is left after all the good is stripped away. They are and aren’t aware of their surroundings. Their mission is to create fear. They are the most primal of entities. They have been around since the first thought was released into the universe. It began with the first anguish, growing slowly over time. It had a name that was different in every tongue. ATzxe was the closest spelling to the pronunciation of the title, although no one survived long after calling the name. Because in doing so you summoned them. The ATzxes were rumored to be the eater of souls.
They could be defeated, but a mystery had to be solved first. The puzzle of why at the moment of death, instead of manifesting into spirits or moving on to a different plane of existence, did the ATzxe go primal and bond together into one massive organism. Each incident had been different. One took an army to defeat, another just a tear from a repenting man, but until it was solved, the ATzxe would live in the shadows until strong enough to start taking souls. Once the souls were taken, they were not recoverable. “This Gwen, was she the first to be their victim or was she the last?” Angelo asked. This too would have to be known. He dressed quickly. He needed to reach out to a few sages before making the trip across the Atlantic. Until then, he would have to rely on Mia to be able to hold them off. Move the girl to protect her. The PEEPs team needed to gather as much information as they could. They were in a race to save a child and perhaps save themselves too. What he had seen on the video, that the others had not, was that when Mia touched the wall, she bonded with the ATzxe. She would be collected along with Gwen.
Chapter Five
“Angelo is coming. He told me, he sent Ted a list of things we need to accomplish, materials to gather and stressed the importance of starting right away,” Mia told Burt.
He groaned. Angelo’s help usually meant a favor. And favors would have to be repaid. Burt didn’t like his group being beholden to anyone from Father Santos’s group.
As if sh
e read his mind, Mia explained, “Angelo is under the assumption that PEEPs is doing him a favor. Evidently, what we are dealing with falls under his brotherhood’s realm of watch.”
He felt a chill run up and down his spine raising goose pimples on his arms. “Gee, I wish this information made me feel better.”
Mia smiled sadly. “I guess we are over our heads again.”
“When Mike and I founded this group, we were looking for ghosts. Garden variety ladies in white. Footsteps in attics. Poltergeists.” He took a moment to bring his thought into focus. “I wanted to explore the paranormal world, and if we were lucky, communicate with a few. Maybe get some answers about the great beyond or possibly find out what was their aversion to not going into the light. Put our findings on television, get sponsor support, and continue to investigate.”
“Well I think you have accomplished that.”
“Yes. But since meeting you here at the hollow, we have been put in situations that defy SciFi.”
“Did you ever think that maybe we were supposed to meet? That every haunt with a major twist to it brings you and the team closer to the explanations each of you seek? Hell, I’ve been communicating with Murphy for years, but I know there is more out there. I don’t regret that our paths crossed. You have brought me an occupation in which to use the gifts that made me a freak in most people’s eyes. You have challenged me to enter society instead of forever hiding out here.”
Burt looked at Mia’s sincere expression and smiled. “I don’t regret meeting you. I want you to know that. Do you think we should talk about the 800 pound gorilla in the room?”
“Are we mature enough to do so?” Mia said, miming an ape scratching its head.
“Probably not but here goes.” Burt patted the couch. “Sit down next to me.”
