Skeptic

by Denise Mathew

  Then Nanny Flo's deeply wrinkled face, her eyes bright with amusement, materialized in my mind, and it was as if she were in the bathroom with me. The scent of her perfume that always reminded me of freshly peeled oranges, blocked out all the other unpleasant odors. A sense of calm washed over me, and I suddenly knew what I had to do to break the hold the ghosts had on me. I dove forward through the wall they had formed, and it felt like I had walked into a sub-zero freezer, but the sensation only lasted a moment, then I was exactly where I needed to be, the shower.

  I turned both faucets on full and stood beneath the pounding water, eyes still focused on the Elder witches. Nanny Flo had said more times than I could remember, that running water was believed by many to bring positive energy to any space, so it made sense that it could block the ghosts who were feeding on my fear. For a brief moment I thought that my ploy wasn't going to work, but then they started to melt away, their chants fading to a whisper, and I knew that I had severed the connection. I heard the lock click open, but I was too terrified to move. The ghosts continued to dissolve, until they became thin puffs of smoke, and eventually were gone. I brought my arms around my body and trembled uncontrollably.

  Seconds later, Dakota burst into the bathroom, with my obsidian mirror clenched in his hand. His face was wild and so white that I thought he might pass out. He struggled to stand, but he couldn't quite manage, and staggered as if drunk. I stepped out from the shower, and took the mirror from his shaking hands, scared that he might drop it. As soon as I had the mirror in my grasp, I felt what little energy I still had, slip away. Dakota grabbed me into his arms, and all I wanted to do was melt into his warmth, then the tears came, but this time they were tears of relief, because somehow I was alive, and I knew I had Nanny Flo to thank for it.

  8. DAKOTA

  Dakota had never felt as uneasy as he did in Elise's apartment. He couldn't put his finger on exactly what made him feel that way, only that he wanted to be out of there as quickly as possible. Now, sitting on the bed watching Elise, who in his opinion wasn't near well enough to be doing all her own packing, he felt as useful as a dull knife. But he knew Elise well enough, to understand that she wouldn't appreciate it if he forced his will on her. And for that reason alone, he held back and didn't get in her way.

  "You sure I can't do something?" he asked.

  Elise, who was neatly folding her clothes, and placing them methodically into her burgundy Samsonite suitcase, shook her head.

  "I'm almost done," she threw over her shoulder and moved to the bathroom.

  Dakota tugged out his phone, and punched in the number to the studio. He didn't think he would have any trouble getting time off, since no new taping would be done until Elise was back. He had already analyzed his data and passed in a report from their last job, minus the abnormal readings from the kitchen at Maple Plantation of course. But before the line connected, the bathroom door slammed shut, and he sprang to his feet, pressing the end button, as he moved toward the bathroom.

  "Elise, is everything okay?"

  When she didn't answer, he knocked on the bathroom door with the side of his fist, and tried to open it, but it was locked. For a moment he wondered if she just wanted a bit of privacy, but when he heard her piercing scream, he went from casually knocking, to trying to kick the door down. Unfortunately, breaking a door down didn't go quite as easy as it did in the movies, and his feeble attempts just left him with a bruised shoulder and ego. Seconds later, he heard her pleading for help, then she went silent, and his mouth went cotton dry. His first thought was that Tansy had found a way around the obsidian mirror barrier, but then he clued in. He hadn't bothered to bring up Elise's bag from his car, which meant she was defenseless.

  "Shit," he bellowed, giving the door a final kick.

  The last thing he wanted to do was abandon Elise when she was in trouble, but he knew that if he didn't get the mirror, Tansy would kill her. Breathless from attacking the door, he raced out of the bedroom, through the living room and out into the dimly lit hall. As he pushed the elevator button rapid fire, the beige sconce lights flickered a few times. For a brief moment he entertained the notion of taking the stairs, but bitterly admitted that there were too many floors between the parking lot and Elise's apartment.

  After what seemed like forever, the elevator dinged and the polished steel doors eased open. He boarded the elevator and punched the basement level button at least fifteen times, before the doors finally shut. Then, painstakingly slow, the lights for each floor illuminated in reverse sequence, as the elevator descended. By the time he reached halfway down the numbers, he was drenched in sweat, as if he had just done a full workout, and though he tried to calm his nerves, all he could think was that it was happening all over again.

  All the emotions that had raced through him when he had thought Elise had been dead, returned, leaving him nauseous with horror, and the thought that this time she might not be so lucky. He shook his head to clear his mind, and pulled his focus to the square lights that counted down laboriously slow. He prayed that no one on another floor had pressed the button for the elevator, because in the state he was in, he might have punched the unsuspecting would-be passenger for making the elevator stop. Thankfully, the lights kept decreasing until the door slid open on the parking floor. He vaulted out. As his legs pumped, he fumbled in his pocket for his car keys, repeatedly tapping the key fob button, long before he was even in range of the car.

  When he reached the lot, and heard the peeping of his car, he almost collapsed with relief, and picked up his already breakneck pace. His chest burned from exertion, and he felt his heart hammer against his ribs, but he didn't slow. He spotted his car, and in three long strides closed the distance. He threw the car door wide, so rapidly, that its metal edge smashed into his thigh, leaving what he was sure would be a massive bruise.

  The navy bag was in the foot well of the back seat and he snatched it up. The strap caught on the seat lever, and he tugged it with so much forced that it snapped off and the bag shot free. He threw the car door closed, then sprinted back to the elevator, all the while hoping it hadn't gone back up. When he was a few feet from the elevator, he glimpsed that the elevator light still read B. He jammed the up arrow, his breathing coming in winded gasps, making him feel light headed. It was then that he took the opportunity to sift through the contents of the bag, and retrieve the mirror. He glanced down at the seemingly benign piece of stone, and prayed that he hadn't made a mistake by leaving Elise to retrieve it.

  As before, the trip up was too long, yet mercifully unbroken, and when he was back on Elise's floor, he shouldered his way past the partially closed front door, back to the bedroom, and then to the bathroom door. He tried the knob again, but it was still locked. He knew that he somehow had to get the mirror to Elise, but he wasn't sure how. Before he could come up with a plan, he heard the lock click. A surge of relief coursed through him, but then a morbid thought entered his mind, what if Tansy had already killed her?

  He flung the door wide.

  "Elise," he croaked, his lungs searing from effort. And when he saw her standing fully dressed, shivering in the shower, water pouring over her as if that was how people showered, he might have laughed, if he hadn't been ready to pass out. His body finally gave out, and he bent at the waist, panting.

  "What...are...you...doing?" he said between puffs.

  He tried to straighten, but a stitch in his side forced him back into his original position. He leaned against the wall for stability, and Elise sprang from the still running shower, plucked the mirror from his shaking hands, and held it against her chest. He straightened, and that was when Elise broke down, and touched her trembling fingers to her lips. With her arms in front of her, Dakota spotted the fresh bleeding gashes that peppered her forearms. He forced his body up, and Elise practically jumped into his arms. With a free hand, he snatched a couple of fluffy cotton towels off the burnished steel towel rack, and draped one over her shoulders, even as she hugged the
mirror to her chest.

  "Did Tansy do this?" Dakota said.

  The absurdity of the question made him feel giddy. Elise shook uncontrollably, and he kissed the top of her saturated head, then brought her as close as she could get with the mirror still clutched in her arms. She buried her face into the crook of his neck, her nose cold against his overheated skin. He stroked her wet hair, planting kisses on her forehead, her closed eyes, and her smooth cheeks, until he started to calm down.

  In an unexpected move, she tipped her face to his and kissed him hard, and though Dakota was shocked by the rapid shift, he responded. Her mouth was hungry for his, and even though her chest heaved against him, like she was having difficulty breathing, she continued kissing him like it was all that mattered. Worried about her, he tried to pull away, but Elise fought to hold them together. He felt her fingers slip beneath his shirt, then run across his ribs and up to the muscles of his chest, and he was surprised at how easily terror had transformed to lust. Closing his eyes, he moaned, as she trailed her hand along the top of his jeans along his hipbone.

  "Make love to me," she whispered into his ear, then bit his earlobe.

  Any other time he would have scooped her into his arms, and did exactly what she had asked. But when he opened his eyes again, saw the fresh blood on his t-shirt, and her bruised and bandaged face, he knew he couldn't.

  "You're hurt, and it's not safe here," he said.

  He grabbed the towel that had fallen from her shoulders, and dabbed it against her seeping wounds, but she pushed his hand away, and tried to kiss him again.

  He shook his head. "Elise we can't, not now, not here..."

  She stepped back, one hand still clasping the mirror, then swallowed. Elise dropped her gaze to the floor, as tears streamed down her pale cheeks.

  "I...I don't want to die without making love to you Dakota," she said between sobs.

  Her words touched him deeply, and he took her chin in his hand and angled her face to his.

  "That's not going to happen, we'll make love someday, and when we do, it will be right, not like this. I won't let that bitch Tansy take any more from you than she already has," he said.

  "But," Elise started to say, but Dakota laid a finger against her quivering lips.

  "You're not going to die, I'm going to make sure of that."

  Yet even as he said the words, he had no idea how he could protect her. He was just an ordinary man, and what was happening to Elise was far out of his comfort zone. He didn't even know what he was fighting against, so how could he possibly hope to protect her?

  For the second time in less than a week he had almost lost her, and he was certain that Tansy would try again. For now, all he could do was hope that they could get to Elise's grandmother, before Tansy got to Elise.

  9. ELISE

  As soon as I calmed down enough to function, I changed into dry clothes, and gathered the last bits I needed to take with me. For the most part I avoided Dakota, embarrassed that I had actually begged him to make love to me. I knew I was a grown woman, but for those few moments, I felt like a teenager, complete with all the uncertainty and self-consciousness that went with it. I could lead an investigation of a haunted house, sit comfortably in a meeting with all the studio executives, and hold my own at a dinner party, but when it came to being intimate with Dakota, I was a mess. I almost regretted keeping my promise to Nanny Flo all those years ago, because it had made sex, something so natural, become so much bigger than it ever had to be.

  "You ready?" Dakota asked, touching my shoulder, and pulling me out of my thoughts.

  "Yeah," I said, sighing.

  He grabbed my tote bag, and the mid-size suitcase I had packed, and we started toward the door. It seemed peculiar that the place I had spent more hours than I ever should have, coordinating and decorating to make perfect, was no longer a safe place for me. I stepped across the threshold of my apartment, and as I did, wondered if it would ever be safe again.

  The sun was already down when we arrived at Dakota's place. After the incident with the Elder witches, we planned for Dakota to pack a bag, and then for us to stay at a hotel for the night, reasoning that being in an unfamiliar place, might be safer than Dakota's apartment. Tansy had attacked Dakota, which meant she already had a taste for his energy, and so it made sense that his apartment, with all his personal things, might be a hotspot and beacon for her.

  When we stopped in front of his building, I wanted to go inside with him, but he insisted I wait in the car with my mirror close at hand. Now alone, I thought about Nanny Flo again, and wondered if she had actually been there with me in my bathroom, and somehow known I was in trouble. I laughed softly at the thought, because the question wasn't if, she had known I was in trouble, it was when, she had. I leaned back against the seat of the car, and closed my eyes. The drive that had kept me going all day, and muted the aches and pains from my car accident, had vanished, leaving me sore, and longing for a bed to sleep in.

  The car door opened and I glanced over at Dakota. He had changed into a navy t-shirt with a black leather aviator jacket, and a new pair of faded blue jeans. I also noticed an accessory that I had never seen him wear before, an inch high carved wooden Celtic cross dangling on a leather thong, that fell to just above his mid-chest. He grinned, his pale eyes, falling into his familiar bad boy squint, and my heart skittered. His scruffy beginnings of a beard, gave him an edgy look, that made me feel, that no matter what came at me, Dakota would protect me. The wind whipped at his hair, and pushed it over one eye, as he tossed his black duffel bag into the back seat. His one bag was probably as big as what I carried my makeup in, and I marveled at how men could travel so lightly.

  "You okay?" he said.

  I nodded.

  "As long as there's no sign of you know who, I'm fine," I said, trying for a smile, but with everything that had happened it was a tough feat.

  Dakota started the engine, and as soon as he had pulled out of the parking lot, his hand was on my knee. I was thankful for his touch, because it somehow made all the craziness around me, easier to bear.

  We checked into a hotel just outside of town, and I vowed not to let my mirror out of my sight before I reached Nanny Flo's house. As far as I knew, it was the only thing protecting us, so we slept in the hotel room, with the mirror positioned between us.

  The next morning, and after much deliberation, we decided that driving to my hometown was better than flying. I reasoned that Tansy had first met me on an airplane, and the last thing I wanted to do, was be back up in the air, and make myself a sitting target again. Dakota wanted to fly, saying that Tansy could get to us in a car, as easily as in an airplane, and a flight would be much shorter, but I was steadfast in my decision, not even Dakota could sway me. We were going to drive the eighteen hours it took to get to Nanny Flo's house, and that was that.

  The drive was a blur of fast food restaurants, gas stations, and rest areas, but since I slept most of the time, I didn't mind it as much as Dakota probably did. We decided to spread the trip over a few days, since my tender ribs made it impossible for me to share the driving, and after eight hours straight, Dakota was as exhausted as I was.

  The farther south we drove, the warmer the air grew, and soon we spotted trees still fully dressed with bright green leaves, something that I hadn't seen for a couple weeks at home. Though the deciduous trees would soon turn crimson and gold for the fall, they did so a lot later than farther up north.

  Until then, I had never driven that far, so it was amazing to watch how the landscape changed so dramatically. When I glimpsed a group of palmetto palms clustered together, I knew we were close to home.

  Home, the word seemed so foreign after all these years. A twitch of fear that I had so far managed to stuff down, touched my stomach, because it had been so long since I had spoken to Nanny Flo.

  Ambition had a way of making you forget everything, but the drive to succeed. I had always reasoned that I would call her when I had the chance, yet tha
t opportunity never seemed to be right. It was easy to put people on the back burner, take them for granted, to imagine that like a bookmark in a book, they would stay the same, and always be there waiting for you when you needed them. But now, just hours away from seeing the woman who had sacrificed her whole life to raise me, I was beyond nervous.

  "What are you thinking about?"

  Dakota's voice brought me back, and I glanced over at him. He had shed his leather jacket, and was sitting in just a t-shirt and jeans. The muscles in his biceps and forearms flexed as he gripped the wheel, and my eyes fell on his scabbed over scratches. An involuntary shiver ran through me. For a few minutes, I had actually forgotten about Tansy, and it had felt so freeing that I was almost irritated at Dakota for inadvertently reminding me, that no matter where I was, Tansy was just a heartbeat away.

  "Nothing," I said, not wanting to explain.

  "Are you nervous about seeing your Nanny Flo again, after all this time?" Dakota said, zoning in perfectly on my unspoken fears. It wasn't the first time that he had done that to me, said the exact thing I was thinking, so matter-of-factly, that it was as if he had tapped into my thoughts.

  "Yeah," I said, and there was coolness in my tone, that I immediately regretted. Dakota had been amazingly supportive, and didn't deserve anything but my appreciation.

  If he was offended, his placid expression didn't give him away, still, I noticed a hint of tension in his shoulders, that hadn't been there before.

  "I've been a real jerk about keeping in touch," I said, lightly massaging the space between his neck and shoulder. He tilted his head toward my hand, and his hair tickled my skin, and brought a smile to my face.

  "You could never be a jerk," he said, brushing his lips against my fingertips, and it sent a tingle through me, leaving me bewildered at how such a small act, could leave me as fluttery as a school girl on her first date. I kneaded the muscles at the base of his neck, and he sighed with pleasure.