The Reaper Within

by Stephanie Jackson

  “No,” he said, and took the phone from her so he could have a better look. “I mean I know these pictures.”

  He used his finger to scroll through the pictures just as he’d seen Mel do. Oddly enough, the phone responded to his touch.

  “That’s Anna Fowler, Rosie Thomlin, and James Radcliff. I think these were some of my old cases. No, I’m sure they were. I remember how upset Rosie’s mother was when she came in to file the report.”

  “Well, the only connection I found was the hospital,” Betty said. “Anna Mai worked at Baptist Memorial, and Rosie went there for chemotherapy to treat her leukemia. Does the hospital connection sound familiar to you, Jack?”

  “It does, actually,” he said and then growled in frustration. “But I can’t remember why.”

  “Keep thinking on it,” Mel said, taking the phone from him. “Maybe it’ll come back to you.”

  “Hey, Mel, can you send me a picture of Jack? Since I can hear him, I’m kind of curious if you can photograph him, too.”

  “Damn, it hadn’t even occurred to me to try. I’ll do it now. Hold on.”

  She pulled the camera up on her phone, pointed the phone at Jack, and snapped a picture. She could see him on the photo, so she picture messaged it to Betty.

  “Did you just take a picture of me with your phone?”

  “Yeah.”

  He shook his head in wonderment. “Amazing.”

  “Can you see him in the picture you took?” Betty asked.

  “I can see him just fine, why?”

  “Because all I can see is a mist floating in front of a refrigerator,” Betty said and yawned into the phone. “And I can see something blue inside the mist.”

  “Jack’s shirt is blue. Let me try another one.”

  She held up the phone again and aimed it at him. Jack, knowing that his picture was being taken this time, smiled and held up his hand to wave at Betty.

  She snapped the picture and looked at the photo. She could see him just as clear as crystal on her screen. She sent the picture to Betty.

  “Okay, I’m looking at it now,” Betty said. “It’s pretty much the same as the first. Wait, I think I see the shape of a hand in the mist. Is he…is he waving at me?”

  Mel smiled at Betty’s obvious excitement over some mist and the shape of a hand. “Yeah, he waved.”

  Betty giggled through the phone, and then yawned again. “This is so cool.”

  “Betty, why don’t you go get some sleep,” Jack said. “And don’t let the fact that you talked to me again keep you from getting some rest.”

  “You don’t scare me anymore, Jack. You’re a friend now. Mel, call me if you need anything else.”

  Betty hung up, and it was just Mel and Jack again. Mel was about to ask him if he wanted anymore of the crackers when a loud crash rang out from upstairs.

  ***

  They raced up the stairs and found that the crash had come from her bedroom. Her laptop had been smashed to the floor and had a big hole driven through the display. Standing next to the busted computer was a pissed off ghost. The man was somewhere in his fifties or sixties with longish, gray hair and had a dirty, unkempt look to him… and he was holding a fireplace poker in his hand.

  She didn’t know where the ghost had gotten the poker; she hadn’t seen one on any of her trips through the house, but that didn’t really matter now. He had it, and he had used smashing the laptop as a way of getting her up here so he could use it on her.

  She wouldn’t swear to it in court, but she was pretty sure she’d found the ghost that had tossed the man from the stairs. She had no idea why this man was so enraged, and he didn’t give her any time to question him about it.

  He gripped the fireplace poker like a spear, gave an evil, hair raising hiss, and rushed at her. She was going to have to grab him by the legs if she was going to have any chance of crossing him over and coming out of the situation un-stabbed.

  Just as the man was getting close enough to her that she could make the dive, Jack pushed her to the side, deflected the raised poker with his left arm, and punched the ghost in the throat with his right fist.

  The blow drove the spirit to the floor, and Mel jumped on him and reaped his soul. The burning pain was immediate and nearly unbearable. She fell face first onto the floor, curled up in a fetal position, and waited for her organs to stop boiling.

  “Mel!” Jack yelled and dropped to his knees beside her.

  He scooped her up into his arms and held her against his chest. He rocked her slightly and kissed the top of her head. She stayed against his chest until the pain started to fade away, and she could take a breath without feeling like her lungs were on fire.

  “I’m okay,” she said in a hoarse voice and tried to push away from him, but he wouldn’t let her go.

  “Just be still for a minute; let the pain pass before trying to move.”

  She listened to him; partly because her insides were still burning and she didn’t want to move yet, but mostly because she liked the feeling of having his arms around her. She wasn’t used to taking comfort from anyone. It was kind of nice.

  She pushed back against his chest when the pain had passed, and she no longer had an excuse to remain in his arms. He loosened his hold but didn’t put her down. She looked up at him to tell him she was okay now, and he kissed her again.

  She let him. It was a wonderful kiss; full of gentleness and passion at the same time. She moaned and let herself melt against him. So much for not forming a deep emotional attachment to him; that ship had sailed. It was going to crush her when the time came to cross him over.

  The thought of reaping him sent an alarm bell off in her mind, and she broke off the kiss. “Let me go, Jack.”

  “I don’t want to,” he said, and laid his cheek on the top of her head.

  “Let me go,” she repeated.

  He stood up with her still in his arms and sat her on her feet. She stepped away from him and walked over to pick up her laptop.

  “Damn it! I just bought this thing three months ago, and I’m pretty sure the warranty isn’t gonna cover this. I knew I should have sprung for the accidental ghost insurance.”

  “You almost just got stabbed to death by a ghost wielding a fireplace poker, and you’re worried about your computer? You should be a crying, blubbering, ball of a nervous wreck right now.”

  “There’s always a fireplace poker, or a flying lamp, or a thrown table in my job. If it doesn’t kill you, then you give your thanks to whatever God you believe in, and you walk it off. Or I guess in this case, I should be giving my thanks to you.”

  “Don’t mention it. I didn’t even know I was going to do it until it was done. I may not be like most spirits, but apparently I’m just enough of a ghost to knock the piss out of one.”

  “Well, thanks.”

  She stuffed the broken laptop into her bag. She was going to have to have Betty order her another one. If she ordered it tonight maybe it would be there by the time she got home.

  “Was that the last ghost here besides me?”

  “No.”

  “How do you know?”

  “Because I can feel it. I don’t know how many souls are left here. It could be one or a hundred, but I’ll feel it when the house is empty.”

  Thunder boomed outside hard enough to rattle the window, and a flash of lighting lit up the sky. She could hear the wind whipping through the trees that surrounded the house. The storm was starting to pick up.

  “I won’t do to you what that man and Anna Fowler did. When it’s my time to go, I’ll go willing. I wouldn’t put you though that kind of pain for anything.”

  “The pain’s not so bad. It’s just part of what I do.”

  “You’re not the one watching someone you care about writhe on the floor in pain while you stand there powerless to stop it.”

  “There’s usually nobody around to see it when it happens.”

  “That doesn’t make it any better. I wish there was something I
could do to help you.”

  “You did help me. The pain that I went through from reaping that spirit was bad but is was quick. A lot quicker that trying to heal from being stabbed with that fireplace poker or clubbed over the head with it.”

  “How did he do that anyway? I thought you said that ghosts that moved something the way he did your computer used up all of their energy and disappeared for awhile. He didn’t disappear; he was standing here waiting for you to come upstairs.”

  “I guess what I should have said was most ghosts disappear; but the longer they linger, the stronger they become. He’s been here for twenty years or more, plenty of time for him to build up that kind of strength.

  I bet he was the one that threw the construction worker from the second floor.”

  “Damn! Was the man okay?”

  “His back was broken, but he lived.”

  She walked past him and headed for the door.

  “Where are you going now?” he asked.

  “To do my job.”

  “Not without me you’re not.”

  He picked the fireplace poker up from the floor and followed her out the door.

  Chapter Six

  They were in the small family dining room awhile later when Mel heard the deep growl of a dog. She spun and found a large Rottweiler standing not ten feet away. It was wearing a silver, spiked collar and had his upper lip pulled back so they could see its teeth. Drool was dripping from its mouth but disappeared before it hit the floor.

  It took a step towards them, and Jack raised the fireplace poker he was still carrying to strike it.

  “Jack, put that down on the floor. He sees it as a threat.”

  “Good, because it is a threat.”

  “Put it down.”

  He didn’t look happy about it, but he reluctantly dropped the fireplace poker to the floor.

  Mel knelt down on her knees and talked to the dog. “Hey there puppy. What are you doing here?”

  The dog stopped growling and tilted its head to look at her. Its eyes were dancing with curiosity.

  “Come here, boy,” she said and patted her thighs.

  The dog trotted across the room and sat down in front of her.

  “Good boy,” she said and scratched his head, reaping him as she did so. “That’s a good boy.”

  She stood up when the dog faded away.

  “So…you reap animal souls too?”

  “On very rare occasions. They don’t seem to get stuck on this side as often as people do,” she smiled when a memory came back to her. “When I was eleven years old, I once let a Chihuahua follow me around for two weeks. I called it Chauncey. I’d always wanted my own dog; but being a foster kid, I was never allowed to have one. Having a dog was awesome. The only problem was that I had to be very careful not to touch it.

  “Then I was sitting at my desk at school one day, and Chauncey leaned against my leg and vanished. It was the only time I’ve ever had a pet.”

  “That’s…fucking sad, Mel,” he said, and took her hand, twining their fingers together.

  She laughed. “It wasn’t supposed to be. I was upset at the time, but it’s kind of funny now.”

  “You should get a dog and take it with you on your jobs. It would be good company for…”

  The lights dimmed, and Jack was gone again. The remnants of the chicken salad and crackers he’d eaten fell to the floor where he’d been standing. There was no fluid involved this time; so it was a dry mess.

  She had come prepared. She pulled a couple of paper towels from her pocket, cleaned up the food, and then wadded them up and stuck the paper towels back into her pocket. She picked up the fireplace poker, and then walked out of the room to continue her search of the house.

  ***

  She’d made three more rounds of the house after Jack had vanished. She didn’t find anything so she went upstairs to the third floor to look through more of the paperwork until the ghosts decided to come out and play.

  She found Abbott’s college graduation packet. He’d gone to Vanderbilt University on a full scholarship. Angie had been right and wrong. Abbott hadn’t gone to college to become a chemist; he’d gone to become a biologist.

  He’d gotten a Ph.D. degree in Biological Sciences but had minored in chemistry; so Angie had been kind of right. And he had graduated at the top of his class with a grade point average of 3.8.

  James had been right too. Abbott had been one smart cookie. She also found his hire letter from a company called Youth Eternal. It must be some kind of beauty product manufacturer, or maybe a pharmaceutical company, but she’d never heard of them.

  She also found a receipt for some metal canisters, copper tubing, and 280gls L.N., whatever that was, that had been delivered to the house by a medical supply company in 1991. She remembered Angie telling her that Abbott’s momma had died of lung cancer. The bill was for $17,468.93. She hoped Abbott’s momma had had medical insurance.

  She thanked the good Lord that she’d never started smoking and laid the paper on top of the pile she’d already read. She’d reached the end of the last box and hadn’t found anything helpful and no mention at all of the missing gold. She stuffed all the paperwork back into the boxes and stood up.

  She went back downstairs and was making another round of the house when she caught sight of Curtis again. She wished she could get rid of his echo for Angie, but she doubted anyone but her could see him anyway.

  She stepped into the library to have a look around. The old bookshelves still lined the walls from floor to ceiling. There was even one of those ladders that you slid around the bookcases to reach the books on the top shelves.

  There were no books here now, though. Whatever had been left here had been carried away long ago. The library must have been beautiful at one time, but now it had a smell of decay and neglect about it. She was off in her own little world and nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard Jack’s voice.

  “What are you doing just standing in here?”

  “Just wool gathering, I guess,” she said, relieved that he was back. “I was trying to imagine what the room might have looked like in its heyday.”

  He came over and wrapped his arm around her shoulder. “Did you cross anyone else over while I was gone?”

  “No, I can’t find anyone. I just have to wait and see who pops up.”

  “What do you want to do until then?”

  “Well, I don’t usually do this while I’m on a job, but would you like to watch a movie?”

  “And how would you suggest we do that? Neither one of us can leave, nor have I seen a television around here anywhere.”

  “We can watch one on my phone.”

  “Is there anything that your phone can’t do?”

  She thought about it for a second, and then shook her head. “Not a lot, no.”

  They walked into the entry hallway, sat on the floor and leaned back against the wall. The position gave her a view of the long hallway. If anything came out of any of those rooms, she would see it. She pulled up her list of movies and clicked the first one at the top.

  Jack took her hand just as Avatar started to play. They were only fifteen minutes into the movie when she realized that Jack was lost to her. He was staring at the screen, mesmerized.

  She hadn’t thought about it when she’d picked the movie, but there was no possible way that Jack had ever seen the kind of graphics that were being displayed on the small screen. She couldn’t imagine what his reaction would be if she was able to take him to a theater and show it to him on the big screen in 3-D.

  She imagined 3-D to him was where you wore the paper glasses with one red lens and one blue one. Times had changed. It hurt her that he’d never be able to see the things that she took for grated every day.

  Things like smart phones, iPads, and flat screen TV’s. He was robbed of his chance to experience the full life that he should have had, and she couldn’t tell him why. She didn’t usually bother herself too much with how a soul died; it wasn�
��t her concern.

  Her only concern was to get them into the tunnel. But with Jack she wanted to know. She wanted to know who had taken this man from the world, and she wanted to know why.

  She watched him out of the corner of her eye as he watched the movie, watching his reaction to everything

  that happened. Even though all of his focus was on the movie, he never let go of her hand.

  As strange as it was, it was really the closest thing she’d had to a date since she was nineteen years old. All they needed was some popcorn, and maybe a cushion under their asses, and she’d call it official.

  She saw some movement in the hallway a couple of times, but she didn’t get up to check it out. All of a sudden she wasn’t in a hurry for this job to end.

  The movie ended, and Jack’s face split with the biggest smile she’d ever seen on an adult. “That was the best movie I’ve ever seen in my lif…well, that I’ve ever seen. How did they create those effects?”

  “CGI, baby,” she said with a smile. “The wonder of the new media world.”

  “Are all movies like that now?”

  “No, not all of them. Mainly sci-fi movies and a few adventure and horrors. Most movies are still just people. But you should see some of the new cartoons and video games. They’d blow your mind.”

  She pushed up from the floor and padded to the kitchen to get something to drink. Jack followed behind her babbling on and on about the movie. She took a bottle of water from the fridge and took a long cooling drink.

  Thunder crashed outside, and the lights in the kitchen flickered. She looked over at Jack, but he was still there. She wondered again what could be holding all of these random people to a house they seemed to have no connection to.

  “What’s on your mind?” Jack asked, seeing the look on Mel’s face.

  “I was just thinking about this house, and what could have drawn you all to it.”

  “Could the house be sitting on some kind of energy vortex that attracts the dead? I’ve heard that such things exist. I never believed in that kind of crap before, but now…”