Unliving Love

by Jason A Grimm

  Chapter 28

  Supply Run

  “I’ll make a list.” Tracy grabbed her book and began flipping through the pages. “I need some paper and a pen.”

  “I’ll get it.” Mike stood up and disappeared through the door. He quietly walked into his room down the hall and began searching for pen and paper on his old desk. It wasn’t hard to find and he was back in the room with everyone else in no time at all. “Here ya go.” He said as he handed her a notebook and pen.

  “Thanks.” She flipped open the notebook to the first blank page and began to write stopping here and there to flip the pages of her large spell book. “We are going to need a lot of stuff.” She jotted a few more things down and finally closed her book and sat the notebook and pen on top of it. “Not going to be cheap and some of it will be tricky to find.”

  “Not a problem we can use tomorrow to get everything ready and then plan to do it the next day. What do you think?” Mike picked up the notebook and tore the paper out of it.

  “Sounds good.” Tracy picked up her book. “We should get some sleep.” She stood up stepped over to her bag and put the book away.

  “Agreed.” Jen followed suit and stood up.

  “Ok so we’ll get some sleep then meet down stairs in the morning and go from there.” Mike got to his feet. “Just meet down there when you get up no point and getting up at a certain time.” He took Jen’s hand and they made their way out of the room, down the hall, and into his old room.

  Jen closed the door behind them then took off her bra and tossed it on the desk. “Do you think any of this is going to work?” She asked as she slid her pants to the ground and stepped out of them. “I mean it’s all so much.” She pulled the covers down on the bed and crawled in.

  Mike took off his shirt and pants and joined her in bed. He pulled the covers up over them and then laid back in the bed. “I don’t know… a few days ago no, but after everything that has happened I think it very well could.” He wrapped his arm around her as she snuggled up next to him and placed her head on his chest then draped her arm over him. “Tracy seems pretty sure it will or it’s possible anyway and we have to trust her.”

  “Yeah, it’s just all so much.” She began to rub her hand across his chest. “Did you decide if you were going to say anything to your mom and dad?”

  “No I haven’t. I don’t see much point in saying anything. Not to mention if I do then they will just think you told me and that will cause problems so I’ll probably just wait a while and see what happens.”

  “That’s true. I was pretty adamant on them telling you so they probably would jump to that conclusion.”

  He began to stroke her hair as her head laid on his chest. “Get some sleep we have another busy day tomorrow.”

  “Yeah I suppose we do.” She lifted her head and kissed him on the chest then laid her head back down. “Love you.”

  He leaned up and kissed the top of her head. “Love you too.”

  They laid there for hours both wishing they could fall asleep but both too busy thinking about what had happened and what could happen the next day. It wasn’t till a couple hours later that sleep finally took her and he wasn’t long after.

  When Mike woke, Jen was still sleeping but at some point she had rolled off him and over on her side of the bed. He climbed out of bed as quietly as he could, trying hard not to wake her. He pulled on his pants and walked over to his bag of clothes and dug out a fresh shirt then made his way out the door quietly closing it behind him. He pulled his shirt over his head as he began to walk down the hall and then down the stairs. He saw that he was the first one up so he went to the kitchen and heated up some leftover food from last night and put on a pot of coffee. He took his plate of food to the table and sat down to eat. He was about half way done when he saw Tracy come down the stairs.

  “Good morning.” She said as she joined him at the table.

  “Morning.” He replied. “Hungry? Coffee?”

  “Coffee sounds good. I can get it.” She said as he began to get up. She made her way into the kitchen. “Did you want some?”

  “Please.” He took one more bite finishing off his food.

  “Black right?” She asked as she poured the coffee into two cups she had gotten out of the cupboard above her head.

  “Yeah, sugar is in the jar right beside the coffee pot and milks in the fridge if you want it.”

  “Ok.” She ladled a few spoons full of sugar into her cup then walked to the fridge and topped her cup off with some milk. She joined him again at the table and handed him his cup of coffee. “Don’t know how you can like it black.”

  He smiled as he took a sip. “Like is a strong word.”

  She laughed. “If you don’t like it why drink it like that?”

  “Healthier.” He took another sip. “I am usually very picky about what I put into my body especially during the season so I just got used to drinking it this way.”

  “Makes sense.”

  “Yeah it’s just a habit.” He spun in his chair to face her. “Do you think this plan is going to work?”

  “In theory… Yes.” She took a sip of her coffee. “I have never done any of this before but I am going to try.”

  “Well it’s worth a shot either way.”

  “Yeah I would be lying if I said I wasn’t excited about trying these things but I can’t guarantee anything.” She opened her mouth to say something then stopped and took a sip of coffee.

  “What is it Trace?” He asked noticing her sudden pause.

  “We need to have a backup plan. I didn’t want to say anything in front of Jen she is already worried you know.” She sat her cup down on the table. “I mean just in case something doesn’t work or something goes wrong.”

  Mike nodded. “I agree, if all else fails and people are in danger then I don’t think we won’t have much of a choice but for you to use the banishing spell.”

  Tracy nodded her head. “I don’t think they would want anyone else to die so I think that is for the best.”

  “I actually did have a question.” He began to swirl is coffee around in his cup. “I thought about it last night. Now if I am disconnected from my body will you be able to see me, can I get caught in the box, and if we have to resort to our backup plan will that affect me?”

  “I should be able to see you but I can’t say for sure. You will exist in the same realm as them but you will be different. You will still be tethered to your body so we will have to put your body somewhere in the house because you will only be able to move so far away from it.”

  “Ok so I won’t be affected by the spells then.”

  “No it’s for untethered spirits.”

  “How will you do what it is you are going to do to separate my spirit from my body? I didn’t really read that far.”

  “Well I have to make a potion which you will have to drink and then say an incantation and it should work.”

  “A potion?” Mike smiled. “Like eye of newt and wings of a bat type potion.”

  Tracy smiled and gave him a half dirty look. “Ha, Ha, Ha.”

  He started to laugh. “Sorry I couldn’t help it.”

  “I’m sure.” She began to laugh too.

  “What’s so funny?” Jen asked as she stepped off the bottom step and into the hall.

  “Oh I’m just an ass.” Mike said as he stood up and walked out to the kitchen.

  Jen made her way to the table and sat down in Mike’s empty seat. “I agree.”

  Tracy smiled. “I said something about a potion and he made fun of it.”

  “I’m not surprised.”

  He brought a fresh cup of coffee out and sat it in front of Jen and kissed her, then sat in the chair across from her. “Morning babe.”

  “Morning.” She blew on her coffee trying to cool it down enough to take a drink. After a few attempts she was finally able to take a small sip. “Am I the last one up?”

  “No Grant isn’t down here yet.” He said as
he grabbed his half empty cup of coffee.

  “He got up a couple hours ago actually.”

  “Where is he?” Mike was surprised he hadn’t seen him all morning but he only got up maybe an hour ago himself. “I didn’t see him when I came down.”

  “He said he was going to get his car but when he got there he text and said he was going to hang out at the house for a bit.”

  “Did he take the key?” It just occurred to Mike that he never picked up the key off the coffee table where he sat it last night after he brought Jen back. He stood up and looked towards the table and sure enough the key was gone. “Looks like he did.”

  “I hope that’s ok.” Tracy said. “He gets impulsive when we are in the middle of regular investigations and considering this is something completely different I am honestly surprised he stayed in bed at all last night.”

  “Are you now!?” Jen asked as she whipped her head around to face Tracy. “And what exactly did you do to keep him in bed?”

  Tracy’s checks became red. “I didn’t do anything.”

  “Well then what did he do to keep himself in bed?”

  Tracy picked up her cup of coffee and took a large gulp of it. “He didn’t do anything either we just laid there.”

  Jen smiled as she took a drink. “I get it.” She shot Tracy a wink. “You can tell me when he leaves the room.”

  Mike smiled and shook his head. “Anyway...” He said to change the subject. “Do you want to text him and tell him we are all up?”

  Tracy nodded and reached into her pants pocket and pulled out her phone. Her thumbs began to dance around the phone and a few seconds later it beeped indicating she got a text. “He said he’d be right over.”

  “Oh bullshit you two didn’t do anything last night. Yesterday he didn’t answer after you called him over and over, and today after one text he jumped right to it.” Jen began to laugh. “You are such a slut.”

  Tracy’s jaw dropped. “I am not.” She let out a small laugh. “We just laid there and talked till I fell asleep. We were cuddling and he didn’t want to wake me so he laid there till I woke up.”

  “If you say so.” Jen took another drink of her coffee.

  “So do you have that list?” Mike asked Tracy. “I left it in your room.”

  “Oh yeah…” She reached into her pocket and pulled out two sheets of paper.

  “Wow we need that much?” Jen asked as she eyeballed the two sheets of paper as Tracy unfolded them.

  “No I just divided it up” She slid one of the lists to Jen. “That half of the list is stuff that you’ll probably have to get from a home supply place. The full length mirrors and stuff like that.” Tracy flattened out the list that sat in front of her and showed it to Jen. “This stuff I have to go to a specialty store and I found one about an hour from here.”

  “Ok so we will get our stuff and you guys get yours and do we meet back here or Wes’s?” Mike reached into his back pocket and pulled out his wallet. He opened it up pulled out a silver Master Card and handed it to Tracy. “Code is three four three four. There is plenty of money on there so don’t worry about spending too much. Either use it at the store or get cash out doesn’t matter.”

  Tracy reluctantly took the card. “Thank you.”

  “Don’t need to thank me Trace. You’re doing all this for me so Thank you.”

  Tracy smiled. “You’re welcome.”

  The front door opened and Grant walked in. “I forgot to tell you Tracy, before I left last night I turned all the cameras and stuff on and let them run all night. I just watched some of it.”

  Tracy’s face lit up with a smile. “You’re kidding? Was there anything on it?”

  “Let’s just say you should pass the class with flying colors.” Grant smiled as he made his way to the table and sat down across from Tracy. “The camera that was dragged up stairs caught some full bodies and some more of the eyes, which is insane since it’s not even hooked up. The one in the little room with the drawings, well apparently Emily went in there and sat in the middle of the room for a while.” His smile faded from his face as he turned to face Mike. “We don’t have to use it though if you don’t want us to. There are plenty of other things on camera and we even got some sounds and I think a little speech. Some of that I think was Emily so we don’t have to use that bit either.”

  “Well even if we didn’t have other stuff we still wouldn’t use it.” Tracy said. “I’m sure that was a private moment for her and I wouldn’t show it to my class.”

  Mike smiled. “You would have to ask her that. If we rescue Wes I’m sure she’d be more than happy to let you use it.”

  “That’s a good point. I guess she has the final say.” Tracy smiled. “But back to business.” Tracy said eagerly. “When you get back to Wes’s don’t unload anything till I get there I have an idea on how we can hide what we are doing till the last moment.”

  “Sounds good.” Mike said. “Use that card to get something to eat too if you two get hungry I don’t know how long it is going to take you to get everything and if the drive itself is an hour.”

  “Thank you.” Grant said with a smile. “We better get started. We have a lot to do and the day is fading.”

  “Agreed.” Mike nodded.

  Mike, Jen, and Tracy finished getting ready and about fifteen minutes later they were all out the door and pulling out of the drive. They drove the same way for a while until Grant and Tracy turned off onto the highway while Mike and Jen kept on the road they were on until they reached the main street of the town. Stores and restaurants lined the street and it was clear they had reached the business center of town.

  “What all do we need to get anyway?” He asked as he pulled out onto the main street.

  “Lots of full length mirrors, a hundred feet of thick rope, ten feet of twine, an outside turkey deep frying set, propane gas, and a few other little things.”

  Mike couldn’t help but smile at the list of needed items. “Turkey fryer, what does she need that for?”

  “I don’t know but it’s on here.” She folded the list back up and slid it back into her purse. “Well where do we start?”

  “Well, I’d say the Home Depot. I imagine we’ll be able to knock it all out there. Depending on what the other things are I guess.”

  “Things we can get at Wal-Mart.”

  “Well to Home Depot we go then.” He said with a smile.

  When they got there they each grabbed a cart and began their search for all the items on the list. As it turned out they actually were able to find everything they needed but a handful of items in one stop. They began loading their carts with all their supplies and then some. When they filled both of their carts and the list was only half way done they both became aware of the problem they were about to have.

  “There is absolutely no way all of this is going to fit in the car.” Mike said as he stuck the turkey fryer in his cart. “What are we going to do?”

  “Can we rent a truck?” Jen checked the turkey fryer off the list. “We still have at least another cart worth of stuff yet. It’s not so much the quantity it’s that everything is so big.”

  “How did we overlook this small yet important aspect of the list?” Mike peeked at the list in Jen’s hand. “A fire pit? What do we need a fire pit for?”

  “I don’t know sweetie but it’s on the list so it’s in the cart.” She started pushing her cart and he followed. “We need to rent a truck though there is no other way around it.”

  “Yeah let’s see if we can stash these somewhere and go do that, then come back and pay for it.” Mike followed Jen up to the front of the store where they made their way to the customer service desk. After explaining their situation to the lady at the desk and she was done chuckling at it, she was more than happy to let them set their carts to the side and return to get them.

  They began calling around trying to find a rental place that had a truck available right now and after calling the third place they finally g
ot lucky. An hour, a long drive, and plenty of paper work later Mike was following Jen back to Home Depot.

  They made their way back into the store and the lady waved at them as soon as they walked through the doors. They grabbed their carts checked out and took it all out and loaded it into the truck.

  “Well that’s round one.” Mike said as he shut the tailgate of the truck. “Now for round two.”

  They only ended up needing the one cart this round. Turns out most of the other things weren’t as bulky as the stuff on the first part of the list.

  “We only need thirteen mirrors.” Jen said as Mike piled mirror after mirror in the cart.

  “I have an idea though and I figured a couple extra just in case couldn’t hurt.”

  “Whatever you say dear.” She said in a condescending tone. “Whatever you say…”

  “Trust me.” He put the last mirror in the cart and they made their way up to the register to check out.

  As they got to the register the cashier gave them a strange look obviously wondering why they were buying thirty full length mirrors.

  “He loves to look at himself.” Jen said in response to her look.

  “Can you blame me?” Mike said with a smile as he flexed his arm. “I am just Oh So Pretty.” He kissed his flexed bicep.

  The cashier laughed as she began to ring them up and a couple minutes later they were on their way out of the store for the last time. They made their way out to the truck and Mike carefully piled the mirrors in the back. The trip they thought would only tank one hour, was now going on to its third.

  “What all do we need now?” He asked when he returned from dropping off the cart in the return. “Can’t be much left.”

  Jen pulled the list back out and began to check what was left. “We need six gallons of water and some fresh herbs.”

  “That’s it?”

  “Yeah that’s it. We could just go to a grocery store for that.”

  Mike nodded and they both climbed into their respective vehicles. Jen pulled out and Mike followed. They made their way to the grocery store and were in and out in minutes as opposed to hours with the last stop. They even had time to grab a quick bite to eat from the little café that was inside the store. Once everything was put away in the car they climbed into their vehicles and made their way back home.

  When they pulled in the drive at Wes’s, Grant and Tracy hadn’t made it back yet.

  “Wonder when they are going to make it back?” Jen was standing by the truck waiting for Mike to climb out. “I’d text but think they need their alone time.” She said with a smile. “If they aren’t back soon then I’ll call.”

  “Sounds like a plan to me. It’s only two so we have plenty of time. We can take the car to mom and dad’s house then walk back so the drive isn’t full.”

  She nodded and after he emptied the supplies out of the car and into the truck they climbed in and drove to his parent’s house. By the time they dropped the car of, did a couple things in the house, and talked to Mike’s parents for a bit, Grant and Tracy were ready and waiting for them when they got back.

  “Well how did it go?” Mike asked

  “Great got everything we needed.” Grant answered. “How about you two?”

  “Well once we got this baby.” Mike pointed at the large truck. “It went pretty smooth.”

  “Well is everyone ready to get started?” Tracy looked around at everyone. Once she got nods and or yeses from everyone a smile came across her face. “Ok hand me the rope.”