SEEING DEAD THINGS: A Paranormal Women’s Fiction Novel (Roxie’s Midlife Adventures Book 1)

by Leigh Raventhorne

  Seeing

  Dead Things

  A Paranormal Women’s Fiction Novel

  Roxie’s Midlife Adventures book 1

  Leigh Raventhorne

  The characters and circumstances in this story are a product of the author’s imagination, and represent no real person, living, dead, nor undead. Any real public places or names are used only to build atmosphere for the reader’s mind.

  Copyright © 2020

  Leigh Raventhorne

  All Rights Reserved

  No part of this story may be reproduced in any way without prior written consent of the author.

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 1

  I walked out through the sliding glass door that led from the family room to the back deck, and then down one step to the pool level. Okay, stomped out might have been more like it. I was furious. I wanted to cry, I was so hurt, and I needed some air.

  How much longer you going to put up with this crap Roxanne Bonacci-Bell?

  We’d had yet another disagreement turned shouting match over Her Royal Highness Michelle, Steven’s spoiled twenty-two year old daughter from a previous relationship. She’d recently graduated from Ferris State University—barely—with a degree in partying as far as I could tell, and had moved in with some guy with a philosophy major, who was having trouble finding work in his field in Michigan.

  Imagine that!

  Fast forward a few months, and they’d been evicted from his apartment, wherever that was, and had shown up here unannounced. Without even bothering to ask me what I thought about it, Steven had offered for them to stay here in her room for as long as they needed, to “get back on their feet.”

  Stunned, I threw the brakes on at that. “What? Hold the phone everybody,” I announced. “Don’t you think you and I need to talk about this Steven? In private?”

  “No, I don’t,” he answered bluntly. “My daughter is welcome in my house anytime. I don’t need your permission for that!”

  Oh, I may just light him on fire for that! I thought. He said that in front of them too. His house? I don’t think so. And I don’t even know Pencil Neck’s name.

  “Oh, I am so not listening to this shit,” Michelle spouted. “C’mon Brad, let’s go upstairs and let Dad’s wife throw her little fit.”

  There it was. Brad. “Get the hell out!” I shouted, moving between her and the staircase, pointing at the door. Brad’s eyes got wide, and he immediately headed for it.

  “Now see what you’ve done, you bitch?” Michelle screeched as she followed him.

  She’d always sassed me, and Steven had always let her get away with it. I’d married him almost ten years ago. I was thirty-one then. He was thirty-nine. Michelle had lived with her mother and had visited us every other weekend while she was ‘growing up’. The weekends from hell is how I eventually began to think of them, but I’d kept my mouth shut. For the most part. If I said anything, I’d get blasted with, “You’re not my mother. You can’t tell me what to do! Daddy!!” and the crap-show would start. It wasn’t worth it, but I told myself it was only every other weekend and a few holidays. I could get through this for a few years. Things would get better, right? Not. Steven and I hadn’t been happy for years. Most of that was centered around Her Highness, but it seemed that nothing I did pleased Steven anymore, either.

  We bought this place the year Michelle graduated from Grand Blanc High School. Go Bobcats. Steven thought that more room to spread out, and the beautiful pool out back would make life more fun for all of us. But Michelle had never lived here. She’d only visited. And when she did, all through college, she brought a gaggle of girl friends and their almost non-existent, teeny bikinis with her to lounge around the pool all weekend. I evolved into the maid on those weekends, waiting on Princess Michelle, her entourage, and my husband—who needed his eyes glued back in his head. He seemed to enjoy the scenery just a little too much.

  All that ran through my head and refreshed my memory as to why I didn’t want her moving in here, especially now! I wouldn’t be caught dead in anything other than a one piece swimsuit these days. No way was I going to be made to feel self-conscious of my forty year old body in my own home.

  Steven shot me a look, and chased after them. I heard some words exchanged, a car engine started, and the car drove away. He came back inside and slammed the door, his angry eyes cutting straight to me.

  That’s when I decided to go out back for some air. I just needed space to breathe. Steven and I didn’t normally argue much, but when we did, it almost always centered around Michelle. Of course, we also had the usual disagreements about money and all of the things that most couples experienced. We would get it out of our systems, cool down, and move on. In the early years, there was even great make-up sex after. These days, not so much. We had progressed to polite cohabitation—mostly.

  However, the look on his face as he threw open the sliding glass door so hard the screen fell off its tracks, told me this wasn’t going to be one of those times. In fact, it kind of scared me a little, but I’d be damned if I would let him know that. He practically ran over to where I stood, but I held my ground, arms crossed to show my disapproval.

  “Who the f*ck do you think you are, running my daughter off like that?” he screamed in my face. I could feel his breath and tiny droplets of spittle hitting my skin, he was so close. “I am sick of your fat ass enjoying the free-ride around here and treating Michelle like sh*t whenever she’s here. Those days are over! Do you hear me? Over!”

  “How could I not hear you Steven?” I fired back, but reservedly. “I’ll bet the neighbors over on the other side of the subdivision heard you just fine. Lower your voice, and you watch your mouth, mister!”

  It was far from the first time he’d said mean things like that to me while angry, and the frequency had noticeably increased of late. But he’d never really frightened me before. Not like this time. I unconsciously found myself taking a half-step backwards, uncrossing my arms, and planting my hands on my hips instead for a little more balance. That decision prevented me from reacting in time to something he’d never done before.

  Almost like it was happening in slow motion, his body leaned back a bit from me and turned slightly away from me to his right. My mind didn’t process what was happening until it was too late. I saw his right fist approaching my face, then stars exploded in front of my eyes! I didn’t really feel anything at first. I did notice that spit, and I guess some blood went flying out of my mouth as my head snapped backwards. Quite a bit of blood actually. I could feel myself falling backwards, my hands still at my sides. One of my hands came up belatedly to try to protect my face. There was no way I was going to be able to break my fall. I do remember that thought flashing through my mind.

  Please don’t let me fall in the pool and drown!

  It was close. I hit head-first o
n the cement coping that edged the built-in pool. That made another round of stars explode in front of my eyes. My whole body bounced, but at least I didn’t go into the water.

  Thank God!

  My vision blurred, but I could still see Steven. His face looked horrified at what he’d done. No...maybe not! Something big, dark, and very fast flew over the top of me with a tremendous snarl and flattened Steven where he stood. That’s what had horrified him. He’d seen it coming.

  Asshole! You deserved that! I hope it really hurt too!

  Then the pain kicked in. I spit out blood and drool with my last conscious thought. Blurriness filled my entire range of vision, and blackness followed. Lights out!

  I vaguely remember hearing a yell and loud noises. I remember being dragged away from the pool by the sleeve of my blouse, until it ripped.

  I can’t believe he hit me!

  That was it. All I remember. Good night.

  Chapter 2

  I woke to a rhythmic beeping noise and a voice that sounded familiar talking quietly in the background. Everything hurt, and it was dark. My head felt like it was in a vice. Like literally in a vice—I couldn’t move it! Panicking, I tried to open my mouth to call for help but the sound that came out was little more than a moan.

  “Rox? Oh my god! Are you awake, Rox? Tess, I’ve gotta go, Roxie’s waking up.”

  That voice. I knew that voice.

  “Roxie, I’m here girl. You’re in the hospital. Everything’s okay. You’re going to be okay. Just try to stay still.”

  That was Sam’s voice. Thank god! Wait, what did she mean stay still? I couldn’t move for Christ’s sake! And why was it so dark? My face felt odd and—wrong, somehow. Why couldn’t I make anything but these weird moaning noises? And why was that beeping noise getting faster.

  “Hey Roxie, can you open your eyes, sweetie?” Sam asked softly. She sounded like she was right next to me. I could feel her brushing my hair back from my face.

  Why can’t I open my eyes? Why can’t I talk?

  I tried turning my head toward her voice but I still couldn’t move it. My neck hurt something awful. I heard a hissing noise and felt pressure on my leg. What the hell was going on? Scared and angry all at once, I did the only thing I was pretty sure I could still do. I started crying.

  “Mrs. Bell? I need you to calm down,” an unfamiliar voice said. “I know you are probably confused. You’re in the hospital. My name is Connie and I’m the nurse assigned to you for this shift. You can’t talk right now because you suffered a broken jaw. We had to do some minor surgery and wire it shut. You’re going to be fine, you just need time to heal. I need you to calm down and breathe. Your blood pressure is a bit high right now, but we don’t want to give you any meds for that if we don’t have to.”

  I felt, well, I didn’t know how I felt. Scared, for sure. But why couldn’t I open my eyes? It felt like they were glued shut.

  “I’m going to lay a warm washcloth across your eyes for a minute,” Connie went on. “Your eyes are probably dry and might be difficult to open. This will help.”

  A few moments later I slowly opened my eyes. Everything was a little blurry. The nurse—Connie—was standing off to one side, checking over an I.V. bag filled with—something and hanging it up somewhere out of my range of sight. Sam’s face suddenly appeared, blocking out everything.

  “Way to scare a girl, Rox,” she said. “Do you remember what happened?”

  I felt, rather than saw, Nurse Connie shake her head in my periphery.

  I made a noise that sounded more like a grunt than a moan. I must have injected just enough derision in it because Sam had the grace to look a bit sheepish.

  “I’m sorry, Rox! Sheesh. We have to figure out a way for you to communicate. Connie, can we undo her hands for a little while?”

  “Let me check with the Doctor and we’ll see. We have to keep her hands away from her face and head right now, so she doesn’t unintentionally do more damage or dislodge anything. It might not happen today, since visiting hours are almost over, but maybe tomorrow.”

  I must have blanched, because Sam immediately tried to reassure me.

  “You are going to be fine, Roxanne. You’ve got a concussion and we had a bit of a scare that there was minor brain damage from bleeding and some swelling. Your jaw is going to heal, but like the nurse said, it’s going to take time.”

  Sam was going into full-on lawyer mode, I could already tell. I was still in shock that I was in a hospital.

  What the hell happened to me? Had I been in a car accident?

  “You’ve been in an induced coma for almost a week now, until they could get the swelling under control,” she continued. “Between that asshole hitting you and the knock your head took on the side of the pool, you were in pretty rough shape. Do you remember any of that?”

  “Ma’am, she may not remember much of what happened to her right away. That’s very common for head injuries like this. And that’s okay,” Connie said as she moved into my line of vision.

  “It will probably all come back to you, but we don’t want to push you too hard in the beginning,” she continued, slanting Sam a stern look. “These things take time, you can’t force any of it.”

  “Roxie, that bastard will get what’s coming to him. When I’m done with him, he won’t have a pot left to piss in!” I had never heard my best friend sound so furious! She was renowned in the courtroom for being cool under fire.

  “Ma’am, please!” my nurse warned.

  I didn’t know what to think at this point. My vision was clearing up some. Things weren’t as blurry now—but I was confused. And I still hurt all over.

  “I’m going to angle your bed up a little more, Mrs. Bell—”

  “Not for much longer!” Sam interrupted.

  The nurse just sighed and continued, “Ma’am, can you blink your eyes for me?”

  I did as she asked.

  “Good. Now, are you in any pain?” she asked. “Blink for me one time if you are, two times if you feel your pain level is tolerable.”

  Well, this felt cliché. I blinked once.

  “That’s normal for what you’ve experienced. I’m going to give you a pain reliever in your I.V.. It will make you feel sleepy. And your friend here will need to leave shortly.”

  “Wait!” Sam looked at me, flustered. “I still need to talk to her!”

  My eyebrows rose. At least, I think they did. My whole face hurt, so it was kind of hard to tell. Weren’t pain meds supposed to kick in fast through an I.V.? No sooner had the thought crossed my mind than my eyelids suddenly felt heavy. I vaguely heard Sam talking to the nurse as I floated into darkness again.

  ***

  I came to with an odd sense of deja vu. The pain wasn’t nearly as bad and I could open my eyes, at least. I could see Sam pacing at the very edge of my field of vision, her phone to her ear.

  “I don’t care what other cases have to be moved, Tess, just do it. Clear the rest of my docket and give all of the associated files over to Frank. He should be able to handle my clients for the next week or two just fine. Lord knows I’ve had to do the same for him more than once.”

  Sam, you’ve never missed a day of work. What are you doing?

  I must have made some small noise because her attention snapped right to me.

  “Tess, I’ve gotta go, Roxie’s waking up again. If anything more comes up or if Frank gives you any crap, text me,” Sam instructed her assistant. “I’ll let her know. All right. Yes. Bye.”

  Sam slid a chair over closer to my bed, angled so that I could see her.

  “Hey, Beautiful. How you doing today? You look more alert,” she said brightly. “You’ve been in and out of it for the last few days.”

  What? Days?

  It felt like only hours ago. I remembered waking up and some, if not all, of what she and the nurse had told me.

  “Unh!” Shit. That seemed to be the extent of my current vocabulary.

  “Oh, and Tess says ‘he
y’,” she went on. “She says to hurry up and get better. She has a new recipe for wine slush and can’t wait for you to critique it.”

  “Unh?” Ugh! This was already tedious!

  “Rox? The nurse should be back in here in just a few minutes . . . they don’t want me to push this right now, but I’ve got to ask,” she paused, chewing on her lip. “Do you remember any of what happened?”

  “Unh, unh,” Was she kidding me right now? How the hell was I supposed to answer her? My freaking mouth was wired closed.

  I paused my thinking for a moment. What did I remember? Not much. The harder I tried to remember, the worse my head hurt. I started to shake my head but it was still immobilized. So I did the only other thing I could think of—I blinked twice.

  “That’s okay, it will come back. In the meantime, we just have to work on getting you out of here.”

  At that moment another nurse came in. She looked over a whiteboard on the wall, checked the monitors, recorded something in the computer, and then finally looked over at us.

  “Well, it looks like our patient is finally awake again! And her vitals are so much better than they were a few days ago,” the young woman said. “The doctor also said we can undo your arm restraints. Just try not to touch your head or your face.”

  After she undid the straps, I slowly reached over and massaged my wrists. I hadn’t even realized they bothered me. Of course, I immediately wanted to touch my face to figure out what was going on there. I huffed out a sigh and would have rolled my eyes if I hadn’t thought it would probably hurt.

  “When will the doctor be back in to see her?” Sam queried.

  “I believe he should be making his rounds within the hour.”

  Paying only partial attention to Sam talking to the nurse, I turned my mind back to Sam’s earlier question of me. I closed my eyes for a moment and tried again to remember what happened. There was an angry face for just a moment, something dark and fast, then . . . nothing.

  Steven! Where was he anyway?