The Garden (Haunted Series)

by Alexie Aaron

  “That is why you tell them it’s dangerous,” Mia said, getting to her feet. She held out a hand and Mike got up. “Forewarned is no lawsuit,” she said as she pushed past him and opened the refrigerator door. “Cool beans, is that chicken salad?”

  Burt stifled a laugh.

  “Chicken, tuna and salmon,” Mike said, regaining his composure.

  “Fancy,” Mia said as she grabbed a half of chicken salad on white and headed out of the kitchen.

  “She’s a trial, but she’s right,” Burt said, helping Mike to pick pieces of plate out of his hair.

  “You’re alright with her behavior?”

  “Yes, I’m getting used to it. Alan and Audrey seem like normal people. Don’t worry about your reputation so much. Relax,” Burt advised.

  Mia strolled over to the command console.

  “Minnie Mouse, you have Spode in your hair,” Ted pointed out.

  “Only the best will do,” she said as she continued to eat her sandwich. “This is good. Chicken salad.”

  Audrey walked over and picked out a few pieces of china and looked at them in the light. “He’s right, it is Spode.”

  “Ted knows his plates, or platters in this case. I’ll have to go back and clean it up.”

  “How close did it get? It was impossible to see from our angle,” Cid explained.

  “If Mike was standing, he would have been hit in the forehead.”

  “Ouch,” Alan commented.

  “You still hanging around?” Mia asked. “Brave guy.”

  “Well, football season has ended and there was nothing on TV,” he said in a bored tone.

  Mia finished her sandwich and nodded to Alan. “I’ll be back. I sense a broom and a dustpan in my future.” She walked off towards the kitchen.

  “She’s amazing,” Audrey gushed.

  Ted and Cid looked at each other but maintained a professional attitude.

  “I was a bit worried when she had the problem in the garden, but she seems like she has bounced back,” Alan pointed out.

  “I imagine it has to be hard to be a sensitive. We only have to deal with things we see in the world of the living. Mia’s got noise, feelings and visions coming at her from all directions,” Audrey explained.

  “Plus she has Ted for a boyfriend,” Cid added.

  “Poor kid,” Ted commiserated.

  This caused the three of them to break out in laughter. Ted winked at Cid while mouthing, “You are so dead.”

  “What is all this? You’re having too much fun,” Burt feigned outrage. “This is serious business. If you want comedy, look at the viewer. Mike and Mia are trying to work together to clean up the china.”

  The four of them squeezed in to view Mia sweeping while Mike tried to contain the dirt in the dust pan.

  “You’re over-sweeping,” Mike complained.

  “How the fuck do you over-sweep? I’ve heard of oversleep but…”

  “Wise ass, just push the pile into the dust pan. I don’t understand how a woman your age doesn’t know how to sweep?”

  “My age. Cut it out. I’m younger than you. Besides I didn’t live with my mommy up until a few months ago…”

  “Low blow, Mia.”

  “You wish, Dupree.”

  At this point Ted cut the sound. The others groaned in protest.

  “It was just getting good,” Alan pointed out.

  “Sorry folks, but we must maintain our PG13 rating,” Ted joked.

  “Well, since the show is over,” Burt began, “Audrey, why don’t we suit up and start our sweep of the upstairs?”

  Audrey wasn’t quite sure what he meant by suit up but nodded anyway. She already had her ear com in. Burt handed her a digital voice recorder and a small flashlight that she clipped to her belt loop.

  “You should take a sweater or jacket along with you,” Ted suggested. “Mia says it’s going to get cold up there.”

  Audrey grabbed her cardigan and wrapped the sleeves around her waist and tied it. She nodded to Burt, and they headed for the stairs.

  Mia and Mike finished cleaning up. Mia opened the refrigerator and grabbed the other half of her sandwich.

  “How do you stay so thin? You eat all the time,” Mike observed.

  “I’m also very active. That reminds me, did you find a gym in the city?”

  “Not yet. I’m looking for a place that has a spin class.”

  “I didn’t know you rode bikes.”

  “I don’t, but you meet a better quality of woman in spin class.”

  “Ah, still looking for Miss One Night Stand?”

  “I’m young, I’m handsome and I’m rich.”

  “You mean your ma is rich,” Mia corrected.

  “I’m her only child,” Mike pointed out.

  “She could remarry, and then where would you be?”

  Mike paled and looked ill.

  Mia felt bad. “On the other hand, Glenda may play the field like her son.”

  This made Mike turn a little green.

  “I’ll shut up now. I think I hear Ted calling me.” Mia scooted out of the kitchen.

  Burt and Audrey had reached the attic stairs when the temperature began to drop. They quickly donned their respective sweatshirt and sweater. Burt flipped open the infrared and moved the camera slowly around. Down at the end of the hall was an image.

  “Look.”

  Audrey didn’t see anything. She backed up and looked through the viewer of Burt’s camera. Sure enough, there was a form that appeared to be leaning out of one of the doorways. It moved back in.

  “Shall we?”

  Audrey nodded, and they quickly moved towards the room in question. Burt led with the camera, but nothing registered on the film. He walked in and circled around, but the camera still didn’t pick up anything.

  Audrey walked into the room. It was a large room with two twin beds in it. The wallpaper was youthful. “This looks like it was a nursery at one time,” she observed.

  Burt closed the camera he was using and took the lens cap off of the still camera. “Flash,” he warned as he began snapping shots.

  Audrey made the amateur move of looking at the camera. She was punished with blue dots appearing everywhere she turned her head.

  Footsteps sounded overhead.

  Burt touched his com. “Ted, over.”

  “Ted, here, over.”

  “I’m hearing footsteps in the attic. Do we have a team up there?”

  “Negative, the whole group is down here at the command center, over.”

  “We’re heading up to the attic, over.”

  Burt moved quickly past Audrey, and she had to run to keep up with him. He threw open the attic door and charged up the stairs. Audrey didn’t know if she should turn on the light.

  “Ted, this is Audrey, over.”

  “Go ahead, over.”

  “Should I turn on the stairway light? Burt just ran up blind.”

  “You could shine the red part of your flashlight at the steps, but I’d recommend if Mayor McCheese wanted light, he would have turned it on, over.”

  “Thanks, over,” Audrey said and followed Burt up the stairs. When she reached the maid’s quarters, she found it empty. She moved to where Cid had opened the wall and cautiously stepped through. “Burt,” she whispered. Silence greeted her. “Burt, where are you?” she said louder. Still no answer. Audrey turned on her flashlight and scanned the attic. Nothing moved in her sight. “Ted, I’ve lost, Burt, over.”

  “Stay where you are, over.”

  Audrey waited.

  “I can’t reach, Burt. I’m sending someone up to guide you down, over.”

  “I’ll meet them in the maid’s quarters,” Audrey informed him. She turned around and walked quickly towards the opening. She brushed against something and stopped, thinking maybe it was Burt. She directed her light towards it.

  A horrendous image assaulted her eyes. A grotesque face leered at her. Its hands wrapped around her legs as she moved. Audrey screamed. The
more she moved, the closer the horror came. She screamed again.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Mia pounded up the attic stairs with Mike close behind her. She pulled back and let Mike, who was already familiar with the house, take the lead. He moved quickly through the opening, using Audrey’s screams to guide him. Mia had found the light switches and began flipping them all on. The illuminated stored items of the attic cast ghostly shadows.

  Audrey was on the ground tangled up with a large Punch marionette. Her feet and legs were wrapped up in the string. She was in full panic mode.

  “Audrey,” Mike cooed as he reached her. She was still fighting the papier-mâché hands. The more she moved her feet, the higher the hands seemed to climb. “It’s a puppet, a child’s toy,” Mike said in his softest voice.

  Mia knelt down and began cutting away the strings with a small blade. “Hold on, Audrey, I’ve almost got you freed.” Once she had done so, Mia left them and began searching the attic for Burt.

  “Ted, send Alan and Cid up, over,” she instructed.

  “Done and done. Tell me what’s going on, over.”

  “Audrey got caught up in a large string puppet thingy. It was horrible looking, I can only imagine how horrible in the dark. I haven’t found Burt yet. I’m heading into the storage area over where they first heard the footsteps.”

  “Be careful, Robin, Batman needs you, over.”

  “Will do.” Mia pulled out of her pocket a few of Ted’s super lights and lit them. She searched all the open areas and examined the dusty floor. She found one of Burt’s shoes. “I found a shoe. I’m seeing drag marks. Whoa, blood, there’s blood, not a lot, but it’s fresh, and I fear it’s Burt’s.” Mia backed up and found where Burt fell and followed the drops of blood to a standing closet. “I’m going to open the closet.” She opened the doors expecting Burt to fall out but was surprised by nothing. “It’s empty.” Mia began tapping the walls and opened the bottom drawers. “Nothing. Fucking hell.” She moved to the back of the piece of furniture and found it snug against the wall. “Think, Cooper, think.” She got in the closet and ran her hands over every inch. She stood up reaching for the clothes bar to steady herself. The bottom dropped out.

  “Fucking hell! I’m in trouble,” she said as she clung to the side of the opening. She maneuvered her legs so she could walk them up some kind of ramp. “Ted, I’m almost up.”

  Footsteps pounded over to her, and Cid’s hands grabbed hers and pulled her up.

  “I got her, Ted, safe and sound,” he said into his com.

  “What happened?”

  “I opened up a secret passage,” Mia explained. She was now on her stomach, leaning over the opening. She flashed her light down and saw blood. “Burt went down this way. Do we have a rope or something?”

  “You’re not going down there,” Ted ordered.

  “Burt’s hurt, and I’m the smallest,” she reasoned.

  “Mike and Alan just brought Audrey down. I’ll send Mike up with a rope from the truck. Do not go any further.”

  “Yes, sire,” Mia said in her most obedient voice.

  Cid rolled his eyes. Mia got up and rolled her neck and stretched before she picked up the LED lights and pocketed them once more. She took off her hoodie.

  “Mike’s winded. I’m going to give the com to him. Wait for me, Mia, don’t go any further.”

  “Hurry, I don’t have a very good feeling about this.”

  “Mia, this is Mike, Ted’s on his way.”

  Ted made short work of the two sets of stairs and distance across the attic. Soon he was there forming a sling with the rope. He slid it over her head and arms. “This is just in case the bottom drops out somewhere. We only have two hundred feet of rope. I’m sorry, but if he is further down than that…”

  Mia nodded.

  Ted leaned down and kissed her. “Be safe, I’ve gotten used to getting laid,” he said.

  Mia laughed in spite of the serious situation. She walked over to the closet and tossed a lit LED down. It hit and started to slide away from her eyes. She sat on the edge of the closet and turned on her stomach. She wiggled until she could lower herself with her arms. “My toes are brushing something. Be prepared, you have my weight now.” Mia let go and found herself on a forty-five degree incline. She bent her knees and slowly walked down. She concentrated on the light that had settled fifty feet from her. She reached the light and tossed it down the ramp. “Mike, I’m in a passage of some kind. It angles down, turns and angles the other way down. Like something I remember as a kid. Mousetrap.”

  “Do you see Burt?”

  “Not yet. I’ve tossed the light down, and there appears to be a landing of some kind. Mike, something bothers me about this.”

  “Go ahead, I’m listening.”

  “Entities can manifest and can do some amazing things. Hell, at Lucky’s they were strong. But that’s kind of an exception as they were fueled by all that anger. Shit, big spider. Where was I? K. Burt’s a big guy. I can’t see a spirit being able to move him even with the aid of this ramp. I’m thinking we have a human involved.”

  “It would have to be a strong one. I wonder what the heirs look like?”

  “We are of one mind, Dupree,” Mia said. She rounded the landing and picked up the light and tossed it again. It landed a facedown a few yards from her. It also groaned. “Fuck me and leave me a rose, Mike, I think I found Burt.”

  “Is he alive?”

  “He groaned when I hit him with the light. Hang on.” Mia carefully moved down the ramp to where she found Burt. She dug in her pocket and turned on her flashlight. “He’s jammed sideways. His bottom is down and his head, arms and legs are up. Burt, wake up, Burt!” Mia increased her volume until she got Burt to respond. He opened his eyes and began to struggle. “Stop. You’re wedged in the wall.”

  “How the hell did I get here?” he said breathing hard.

  “It’s a good question.”

  “Mia, I’m having trouble breathing. I need to get this compression off my lungs. I keep trying to move up but gravity and my ass are pulling me down at the same time.”

  “What if I pull your arms?”

  “Try.”

  Mia jammed her feet on either side of the ramp, bent down and wrapped her hands around Burt’s wrists and pulled. He started choking. She released him. She looked at him again. Her engineering mind worked on the problem until she had an idea. “I’m going to walk back up and take off my tether. Then I’m going to slide down and tie Burt’s legs together. I’m going to need Ted down here, maybe Cid too. We can then pull Burt’s legs up, releasing pressure on his back, and he should unbend. He’ll be upside down, but then we can slide him down to the next landing.”

  “Sending Ted and Cid down. I hope the structure can hold all of you,” Mike said.

  Mia climbed up and slid her sling off. She then slid down and worked on securing Burt’s legs. She heard them long before they arrived. Ted and Cid slid down the ramps. They were too tall to crab walk like Mia. She met them on the last landing.

  Ted and Cid picked up the rope. Mia straddled it and moved back down to Burt. “Take up the slack. Good. How are you feeling, Burt? Okay, listen. I want you to exhale all of your air on three. The boys are going to pull hard. Try to wiggle your butt as they pull. I’ll turn you as soon as you are no longer wedged in sideways. Okay, guys, on three. One. Two. Three!”

  Burt groaned as the pressure on his ankles was horrible, but he felt his legs move upward and the pressure on his lower back eased. Within minutes he was freed. Mia moved quickly and got below him. “Ease him down, let him slide,” she instructed. Once he was on the next landing she untied his legs and checked his limbs for breaks. “Mike, we uncorked the bottle, he’s going to be okay.”

  Ted and Cid slid down.

  “Thanks guys,” Burt said. He sat up and tried to get to his feet, but one of his ankles would not hold him.

  “We could slide him up or down,” Ted suggested.

  “
I don’t get it,” Mia said, examining the walls on either side of her. “What’s the use of this passage if there aren’t any exits?”

  Cid was figuring something. “I estimate that, give or take a few feet, we may be on the second floor.

  Ted touched his com. “Mike, send someone up to turn the lights on in the center three rooms on the second floor,” he instructed.

  “Alan’s on his way.”

  “How’s Audrey?” Mia asked.

  “Rallying. She’s sitting beside me watching the feeds.”

  “Cool beans.”

  Cid and Ted turned out the lights. A faint light filtered through the passage just a few feet from where Burt was sitting. Ted and Cid felt around, and Ted found a lever. “I’m going to pull this. It’s either going to open a passage or another trap door. Here goes.”

  With hardly a sound, the wall opened up in front of them. They were looking at a surprised Alan standing in the library. He quickly rolled the desk chair over to the opening. Cid and Ted lowered Burt into the chair. Mia hopped down and ran her hands through her hair looking for bugs.

  “Come here,” Ted ordered. He checked out her hair and her clothes. “No spiders. Now do me.”

  Mia checked him over. “You’re clear. Burt must have collected all the cobwebs.”

  “He’s clean.”

  “No way, even if the old lady dusted before she died, there would be cobwebs by now,” Mia pointed out. “Damn, I think we have a visitor in this house, and it’s a live one. Tell me, Alan, were any of the heirs strong men? Strong enough to subdue Burt, drag him into the closet and down the passages?”

  “Couldn’t tell you. I’ve only met their lawyers.”

  “Mia, I’m sending Audrey up with a few ice packs, over.”

  “Good thinking, over.” Mia walked to Burt. “Do you want to go to the hospital? We wouldn’t have to go to Green Ridge.”

  “Give me an hour. If the swelling goes down, then no.”

  “How about your head? It was bleeding,” she said as she fussed around the swelling at the back of his head. “They say if you black out, you probably have a concussion.”