CHAPTER SEVEN
The police building was old, built back in the eighteen hundreds, the hanging pole still fixed on the front wall. I looked up, a body swinging from the noose. Blinking I stopped and stared at it, like an idiot. The head looked down to me, a hand waving at me. “Could you get me down?” it asked. I was so freaked out, I ran inside the building. Shit I thought. I’m dead but still freaked out. I can’t leave him there though. What should I do? I walked as calmly as I could past the front desk and headed for the cells at the back of the building. Walking past the guards, I headed through the metal door and into a corridor, cell's either side. Their occupants mostly held my noisy neighbour and her party goers. They were still clutching at the heads, some rocking back n forth, others just crying. Shelby was one of those. I moved closer, causing my chill to make her shiver. She looked about in a panic, and I made my form to come into view for a few moments. Now you see me, now you don’t, I giggled as I fluctuated in and out of view.
She whimpered as she stared at me. I laughed. The other inmates looked up at me, and started screaming, causing the guard to bang on the door. “Quiet!” he shouted, but they continued, and so he unlocked the door and walked into the corridor, one hand on a night stick. “Oi, quiet I said!”
I appeared behind him so it made them all look in his direction and scream again, even the other inmates joined in. As he turned around I disappeared again. “You lot are messed up! Now quit it!”
“Make her go away, tell her to leave us alone!” one of the party goers cried. “Take this music from my head, please, please, it’s crazy!” The guard curled his lip in disgust.
“You lot need your heads lookin’ at. That or those drugs you took were clearly spiked with something else.” He shook his head. “Now be quiet!” He turned and left, leaving the stricken inmates to cry after him.
I decided to give them a little more to think about, so I appeared inside one of the cells, the three men inside, sucked in their breath and backed up against the wall, wide eyed. The cell opposite that held the women looked on through their bars, watching, whimpering. “Don’t hurt them, please, don’t. They did nothing wrong!” My face spun to them, my eyes were burning black holes of nothing to them and I bore into each of them. I smiled a grim smile, lips curling at the edges, showing no laughter, but hell for them. I made a deep laugh, my mouth opening wider so all they could see was blackness within me. I was going to scare the shit out of them for what they did to me for two years. Oh yes, revenge is sweet. I forced my body to shimmer, and the air went cold, the breath from the inmates showing as white fog from their mouths. “No, no, no, no” they started to mumble.
My eyes locked with one, and I sped forwards straight into them. I stilled inside him and felt his body convulse as the chill froze him from the inside. I moved out again, my face inches from his. His eyes focused on me, his cell mates had retreated to the other end of the cell shaking with fear. I vanished before him and reappeared next to Shelby. Time to make you pay for what you did to me. She screeched and fell to her knees; I moaned deeply, and she covered her head with her arms, frightened. I reached out to her head with one of my hands and sunk it into her brain, she convulsed violently. I wouldn’t kill her, but harm her I would. I squeezed part of her brain matter and sent shocks through it a little at a time. I sneered, payback was fun. Shelby’s face contorted in horror as I set a memory to repeat in her dreams, one of me, and her constant booming music, over and over. I left the background bass to boom in her head as I did the others, she grabbed her head, and her face fell slack down one side. She lost control of her bladder. Job done, I released her, letting her fall sideways to the ground. I let out a piercing scream for the rest of them to remember me by, and vanished just as the guard returned to find Shelby passed out on the floor in her own piss.
Serves you all right I mused. Now for the hanging corpse. I made my way upstairs to the tower where executions used to be held. The accused were tied here, one end on the hangman, and they were pushed out the window here, left to hang and die. This one though, appeared to be stuck. I walked out onto the narrow beam and knelt down as best I could to reach the rope. It was tied well, too well, but I couldn’t leave the man here for eternity, no matter what he had done in life I’m sure he deserved to move on by now. I touched the rope with my fingers and let out some of my energy in sparks at it, gradually cutting into it slowly. “Brace yourself,” I shouted to the hanging man. The rope snapped, and the corpse fell to the floor. I jumped off, slowing my decent to the ground.
“Thank you ma’am” he tipped his worn hat to me. “I dun know how long I been there, but the view was getting mighty borin’” He started to fade before me. “Thanks again miss.” He vanished.
I think that’s it for tonight. I felt drained again, though not as much as before. Rest would do me good I decided. I hopped back on the wind train back to my former home, and let myself in. I sighed, thinking of all I had achieved today, of all I had learnt about who I was and what I had become. It frightened me a little realising how much I had enjoyed torturing my hapless neighbours and her friends, but they deserved it, right? I shook my head vigorously. I cannot think like this, I must not. What I did I felt was right, no second guessing myself. I’m here for a reason, and I did it. I’m a Daemon. Or should that be Demon? NO! I started to doubt my actions. Did they really deserve what I just did to them? YES, NO, YES. Whatever I did, it is done now. Do I feel better for it? I don’t know. It’s been a long day, maybe the answers will come on the morrow? I sunk down into one of the sofas, my mind going over the day, and my intrusive damage to Shelby’s brain. I had no sympathy for her, not after what she did for so long. If she didn’t care then I shouldn’t either.
Curling up, I rested my eyes, not entirely convinced.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Time slipped by quickly as I waited for the dawn to arrive, the moon setting, and the sun rising. For all the time I had lived, these were the things I had missed in life, simple, but beautiful, the world spinning on. An alarm sounded, bringing me out of my reverie, and the creaking of floorboards above informed me that the house residents were waking up.
I felt better for resting the night, I must have exerted quite a bit of energy yesterday, or whatever it was that held me together; that made me what I was. Steve was the first to appear wearing nothing but his boxers, checked pattern. He sat down on the opposite sofa to me, a hot steaming coffee in his hands. Carefully he placed it on a coaster on the coffee table, and leaned back, stretching his muscular arms above his head. Who cares if I’m lookin; besides he can’t see me!?” Michael emerged moments later donned in a blue snuggly looking dressing gown and slippers. He saw me first and waved a morning at me, and then to Steve, who just grunted. Definitely NOT a morning person I mused.
Michael headed to the kitchen and came back with a coffee almost immediately. Coffee maker I realised. And a timed one, nice.
“So Sharon,” Michael began,” what’s on the agenda today?”
“I thought I would check out the other forum members; see if I can help them with their problems too? What do you think?”
Michael nodded, hands clasped around his mug of coffee. I sniffed the fumes. Mmmmm. Shame I’m dead; I would kill for a coffee right now! I sighed inwardly. “Shame we can’t come with you. Would be great to watch you in action.” He chuckled, as his mind imagined various scenarios that were obviously amusing to him. I smiled shyly. “But you can travel faster than us, and god knows where you’ll end up!” He looked at me, eyes shining with amusement.
“What?” I made a serious face.
“Was just thinking, it’s a shame you’re a ghost, you seem pretty cool, woulda been nice to have known you when you were alive.”
“Really?” I replied, surprise on my face.
“Course.” He nodded. “Most people are assholes now, can’t even have a decent convo from half of em. My most engaging convos to date have been with a dead chick!”
“OI” St
eve made a hurt expression.
“I’m just kiddin’ dude!” Michael raised his hands palms out.
Steve laughed, and tilted his head to him. “Made you feel guilt!” And went back to his own thoughts.
Michael shook his head, as did I. “You two are big kids really!” I exclaimed. Michael laughed. “That’s true” and he sipped some coffee. “Let’s boot up the ol’ laptop then and see how much mischief you can get into today!”
“Hey!” I made a hurt expression, echoing Steve. “Well, ok, maybe a bit of mischief. But justice too!” I quickly added.
Michael raised an eyebrow, with an “I don’t believe you for a second” look and hit the power button. Discs whirred into motion as the Windows OS booted up. Logging in to the forums took mere seconds, and I started scrolling through the new posts.
Panda’s Pandemonium
I noted a new post from Panda. She has been living with neighbours from hell for more than a decade, being fobbed off by her local council, the environmental health department, her MP. She managed recently to get a house swap, but ended up going from the frying pan, into the fire, even though she was told this new flat would be quiet. I scowled. If you can’t rely on the authorities to help who can you turn too? I grinned slowly. Me.
Turning to Michael I spoke quickly. “Ok, I know where I’m going next. Wish me luck!”
Michael nodded. “Good luck Sharon. Don’t wear yourself out though before you can make it back!”
“I’ll try!” I replied and with a wave, I disappeared inside the laptop, found the line to Panda’s message and followed it.
Zipping down the broadband line was a strange sensation, very tingly. I also picked up on thousands of telephone calls, unable to distinguish between any one conversation; it was like a million voices in my head all at once. I hope I won’t have to do this too often, it will send me crazy! Reaching the end of the line I hopped off at my destination. I took in the room I stood in. Unpacked boxes still lined the walls but a TV, music system, sofa, small table, and pc at a desk were crammed into the space. I walked over to the window where there was a small balcony. Top floor flat, with a decent view of the communal gardens and surrounding residential area. Not bad. I checked out the rest of the flat.
There was a small kitchen, basic, and in need of some TLC just like the living room, but it was clean. I found one medium sized bedroom, again with unpacked boxes. It appeared she was still living from her suitcase. I recall reading some of her posts, and that she refused to unpack in this place as she was going to have to move again because of the bed bugs and noisy neighbours. Eww bed bugs. I checked out the bed. I couldn’t see the little mites, but I could sense them crawling about. I made an involuntary shiver. Thinking about her posts, I remembered her mentioning they had had a bug man come over and sprayed the mattress and floors and walls. He had told her he thinks they were coming in from another flat, but that also she had seen the street filled with mattresses. Maybe the whole area was infested. I should check it out.
I wandered out into the communal hallway and followed the thumps and thuds of banging doors. This must be the neighbour that she mentioned bangs about a lot by slamming doors at all hours. I walked through their front door, which opened into a long hallway, doors opening from either side. There was banging coming from the far end so I went to investigate. Walking through the inner door at the end of the hall, I entered a good sized kitchen. Units and appliances were arranged pleasantly around the walls, with a family sized dining table in the middle. At one end of the table sat a woman, reading a magazine, whilst a child sat on the floor playing with his toy cars. The noise wasn’t coming from the child or the lady, yet I could still hear the banging. Looking about I noticed the kitchen window was slightly ajar. I took note and headed back down the hallway to the other rooms. Sure enough, there was a window in each room apart from the children’s, slightly open. In the master bedroom, the wardrobe door was opening and closing in the through-wind. Surely they can’t have these open all night? I wondered. I pulled the bedroom window to, and the wardrobe door stilled. And this wasn’t driving her mad? I couldn’t fathom it. That would surely drive anyone nuts!
As I headed back out to the next room, the woman at the table had taken note of the silence, and was now heading back to the bedroom. I watched in disbelief as she reopened the window and let the wardrobe door start banging again. Was she doing this on purpose? To deliberately make a noise to annoy the neighbours? As she left the bedroom I pulled the window closed again, and the noise stopped. The woman appeared again, looked about the room and opened the window again. This time she walked through me, which gave her an icy chill, but even the cold wouldn’t dissuade her. Opening the window, she backed away from it, watching it to make sure it was firmly open on the latch. Once she was satisfied she headed back to the kitchen. THUD, THUD, the wardrobe door went. I closed the window again. Silence.
This time, the woman came back, she didn’t look happy. She grabbed the window handle and shoved it open as wide as possible. Locking it into place, she brushed her hands down her jeans and flopped herself on the bed. She watched. I waited. After a few minutes, she decided she had finally gotten the window to stay open so she went back to the kitchen. I closed the window again. The woman got up and ranted. “What the fuck is going on!?” she shouted. Her child started to cry as she stormed back into the bedroom. She stood and stared at the window, knowing full well that it wasn’t possible to have closed by itself this time. I left her standing there confused and headed into the living area, pulling both windows closed with a bang. She ran into the room and wide-eyed realised these windows had now closed too. She headed into the kitchen to see that window still open. I went over to it and pulled it shut with a thud. She squealed, and grabbing the child, she ran back into the living room. She shut the door and put the child on the floor, and opened the windows again.
I had followed her into the room and was watching her. I knew she was getting spooked so I pulled the windows closed again, her eyes widened, scared. Surprising me she once again opened one of the windows, and stood before it, watching it, her brows creased. “Come on then,” she spoke to the window, “close now, I dare ya.” I smiled and left it alone until she stepped back and I took the moment to pull it shut, fast and hard. She jumped backwards from shock, but now, determined to have a window open; she pushed it open slowly and held it there, her arm out of the window. Interesting, my mind was laughing maniacally. Reaching over, I grabbed the handle and pulled into her opposing force. She was pushing back, but I had much more strength than any human would ever have. The window slammed shut, and bringing her arm to her quickly she brushed against me. I was fascinated how my form made people so cold. I didn’t feel it myself, but it was funny to watch these bullies, these inconsiderate assholes be affected by me, by my justice. My lip curled upwards in one corner. This woman is frightened now. I could see it in her larger than life eyes. She ran into the bedrooms and grabbing a suitcase packed some clothes and belongings, grabbed the kid and legged it out of the door. She didn’t even bother locking it, the front door slamming shut behind her as she left the building. I laughed.
One noisy neighbour down, one to go. Ah yes, Panda has two noisy neighbours. One that slams doors all the time, and the other that has door banging sessions and noisy evenings of screaming, arguing and loud music. I headed downstairs to the first floor; the other noisy neighbour as far as I was aware lived below her. Finding the flat in question I walked in. It was empty. Everyone’s out, maybe I should wait. I had a quick scout about the flat, finding it identical in layout to Panda’s upstairs, although the person who lived here, wasn’t living out of boxes or suitcases, and had a large surround sound system installed. I decided to wait upstairs so I floated upwards through the ceiling and back into Panda’s home. Walking over to the balcony, I peered out, and was shocked to find a pair of eyes staring at me. It was a black and white cat, fluffy tail, long hair, and a dainty pink collar. Cute. I pulled the door
to one side, and the cat came in. I remember Panda mentioning she had a cat. I hoped this was her one!
Sitting down on the sofa, the cat jumped up beside me, curled up and meowed. I casually stroked it behind its ear, and it purred happily. I’m not sure how long the cat and I were bonding for, but it was growing dark by the time I heard the rattle of keys at the front door. The cat jumped off the sofa and padded over to the kitchen, tail swishing side to side. It knows when its dinner time is I mused lightly. A lady I presumed was Panda entered the flat, making kissy noises to the cat.
“Hello Merlin, how did you get indoors?” she said, dropping her things off on the table top.
Shit, I forgot about that. I gave myself a mental head slap.
The lady stopped for a moment, and I recognised the nervous habit of listening for the nuisance neighbours. It was currently quiet. I left her to get herself sorted out and descended back downstairs. Nobody was home still, so I did some more snooping. In the kitchen I found a cork board with vouchers, tokens and letters pinned up. One was typed, and I recognised it to be the letter that ‘Panda’ had written regarding them banging their doors.
“My Dear Neighbours,
This is difficult for me as I believed we were on good terms, but I am wondering if in some way I have offended you, in which case I would be pleased to try my best to rectify what it is I have unknowingly done. I ask because the banging of your front door is becoming an awful disturbance to me, it’s even knocking plaster off the cracks in my walls. Perhaps you are unaware how disturbing it is. I know the side entry door is spring loaded, but with both being banged it is causing me distress.
With warmest regards….”
All Hope Lost Page 5
