“Even if she does, I don’t think you’re at risk,” Steven said.
“Why do you say that?” Barbara asked. “You say it like you know for sure. What is in that house? Can you tell me?”
“You’d think we’re crazy,” Roy said.
“After what I’ve seen here?” Barbara asked incredulously. “You must be joking.”
“Let’s just say that some of what you experienced here is over there,” Steven said. “It didn’t come over here by accident. It was deliberately sent with your daughter. I don’t think that will happen again, because the person who sent it has had a change of heart.”
“Really?” Barbara asked. “And who is that?”
“Do you really want to know?” Steven asked.
“Yes, I do,” Barbara said earnestly.
Steven looked up at Roy, and he could tell from his father’s countenance that Roy felt sharing the facts with Barbara was a bad idea.
“It’s a ghost from a long time ago,” Steven said, remaining vague. “We simply convinced it to keep its rods to itself, or we’d come back and exorcise the place. I think it’ll keep to itself from now on.”
“Why not exorcise the place anyway?” Barbara asked. “Remove the threat entirely? That place is a menace to the whole neighborhood! I have half a mind to take a match to it. It’s a danger to everyone!”
Steven looked at Roy again, and Roy’s face told him that things were on the verge of getting out of hand.
“Actually, we did exorcise it,” Steven lied, trying to find a way to end the topic such that Barbara would be satisfied. “Not a religious exorcism, but our own method. It weakened the ghost severely. We could do exorcisms all day, though, and never get rid of it completely. Trust me, as it is, you won’t be bothered. It’s a good idea for kids to stay out of abandoned houses regardless, right? All those loose boards and nails.”
“Well, I’ll take your word for it,” Barbara said. “And I’ll make sure she stays away from there.”
Roy guzzled the rest of his coffee and stood up. “We’ve got to get back to Seattle.”
“I’ll bet you’re both looking forward to being home,” Barbara said, rising. “You’ve been out here for so long. It’ll be nice to sleep in your own beds again, right?”
“You’re absolutely correct about that,” Steven said as they walked toward the door.
“You sure I can’t reimburse you for your time?” Barbara asked. “Expenses?”
“No,” Steven said. “That’s fine. We don’t need it.”
“I want to thank you both again for everything you did,” Barbara said. “Brad spent all that money on that extermination outfit. What a joke! All that equipment and running around like they knew what they were doing. And you two walk in here, not wanting a dime, and have it figured out just like that!” She snapped her fingers.
If only it had been that easy, Steven thought.
“I can’t thank you enough,” she said.
“Call us if anything new develops,” Steven said. “And give our best to the girls.”
“I will,” Barbara replied as Steven and Roy walked from her front door to their car.
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Steven pulled his car up to the abandoned house. Just as he turned off the motor, they saw a small girl run out of it and hide in the tall bushes in the front yard.
“Wait,” Roy said, grabbing Steven’s arm to stop him from leaving the car. “Let’s just watch for a moment.”
The little girl paused, then made a mad dash across the road, into the brush on the other side.
“That was Georgina,” Steven said.
“And she’s headed back to her house, through that lot,” Roy said. “Apparently none of us have done a very impressive job scaring her away from here.”
They got out of the car. Roy walked to the trunk and removed a small carton, then they walked into the house, navigating through the first floor to the kitchen and down to the basement, working their way to the small room with the plywood. They found it raised, positioned against the wall.
“Do you think Georgina did that?” Steven said, motioning to the plywood.
They looked down at the grave, and the small fingers moved, wiggling in the dirt.
“Maybe,” Roy said. He sat on the ground and opened the carton. Then he sprinkled the dirt inside it over the grave.
“What are we going to say to her?” Steven asked, aware that Christina might not be happy to hear about the arrangement.
“It was my idea not to go after him,” Roy said. “So let me do the talking. You’re a bad liar.”
Roy began a trance, and after a few minutes the faint image of Christina appeared over the grave. Steven dropped into the River and saw that she was sitting on the grave, absently playing with her physical fingers that stuck up out of the dirt, just as she had the first time they saw her. He joined Roy’s trance and listened.
Christina? Roy said.
Oh! It’s you! the little girl said, seemingly delighted to see them again.
We said we’d visit you, so we’re back, Roy said.
Thank you for coming, Christina replied.
I imagine it’s pretty lonely here, Roy said.
Not so much anymore, Christina said. Ever since you fixed the vortex, Georgina comes to play with me. She came today, she was just here! Did you see her go?
We did. You and her play, down here?
Yes, she’s such a smart girl. She keeps me company. Sometimes we go up to the first floor. She’s too scared to go up higher.
Steven shuddered, remembering the horrific climb up the stairs in the house above them. I don’t blame her, he thought.
Yes, it is rather frightening, isn’t it? Christina said. My mother keeps it at a very high level of intensity. Most kids from the neighborhood can’t make it all the way up to the second floor — they run away screaming. Then again, most can’t make it down here, either. The ones that do, they see my fingers and scream. Georgina’s not like them. She’s nice, and now she stays to play. I like her.
She’s been coming to visit you often? Roy asked.
Seems like every day. I like her, because she’s funny. She’s fun to talk to.
Well, that’s just swell, Christina, just swell, Roy said. Well, guess we’ll be going. We just wanted to stop in and see how you were doing. Looks like you’re doing fine.
Yes, I’m not nearly so lonely, Christina said.
Good, Roy replied. We’ll stop by down the road sometime and check in on you.
OK, Christina said, smiling.
Roy ended the trance and rose to his feet.
“Come on, let’s get out of here,” he said, grabbing Steven by the arm. They walked quickly back through the house and didn’t stop until they’d landed in the car.
“Do we stop by Barbara’s and tell her about Georgina?” Steven asked, starting up the car.
“Hell, no!” Roy said. “Christina is completely distracted by her. She didn’t ask a single question about Unser. I hope Georgina keeps visiting her, it’ll take her mind off her father.”
“Isn’t that a little risky for Georgina?” Steven asked.
“As long as Christina stays happy, that vortex will be fine,” Roy said. “And Georgina will be fine.”
“Until Christina becomes unhappy,” Steven said.
“Well then, I guess we’ll get a phone call,” Roy said.
“I don’t like it,” Steven said.
Roy sighed. “Damn it, boy, nothing makes you happy. You want to go tell Barbara? Rat out Georgina? She’ll lock her down, make sure she never goes back there. Then Christina will be lonely and upset. Then what?”
“We visit more often,” Steven said. “With Christina. That’s what we agreed to do in the first place.”
“And what if Barbara can’t control Georgina the way she’d like to? What if Barbara decides to make good on her threat? You could almost see the pitchforks in her eyes when we were talking to her about it. An old, abandoned, dilapidated hous
e that isn’t livable, is an eyesore and a danger to every kid in the neighborhood, goes up in flames — who would care? The neighbors would probably appreciate it. Then the body of Christina is discovered, and reinterred. Power source gone. No more vortex.”
“Who’s to say that doesn’t happen anyway?” Steven replied. “If Barbara finds out Georgina is still going there?”
“I’m not saying we don’t keep an eye on things,” Roy said. “I just don’t see how ratting out Georgina helps. Georgina may stop visiting Christina on her own, for all we know. We’ll have to check on things regardless. There’s a delicate balance that has to be achieved here.”
“I think you’re making my point, Dad,” Steven said. “You’re not considering the danger to Christina.”
“Nothing dangerous about it,” Roy replied. “I visited ghosts in abandoned houses when I was her age. Did it all the time. And look at me, I survived.”
“You’re trying to tell me it’s perfectly safe for her to be going into that abandoned house?”
“It’s not the risk you’re making it out to be,” Roy scoffed, waving his hands. “I did it hundreds of times when I was young. Seriously, your generation coddles kids. Safety this and safety that. Drives me bugfuck!”
Steven sighed and put the car in reverse. He backed out of the driveway, then turned and headed back to the main road. The abandoned house caught his attention in the rear view mirror as they drove off.
He’s right about one thing, Steven thought. This is a delicate balance. I suppose we’ll have to find the other two vortexes, too – the ones on property controlled by the Tacoma law firm. Make sure they’re stable, operational. See if there are any delicate balances to maintain there, too. And then there’s Eximere. Trusting that Unser – or whoever is on the other end of the arrangement – sticks to the plan.
He sighed again. Roy heard him.
“Oh, buck up,” Roy said. “It’s not as bad as all that.”
As they left Grays Harbor, both of them settled into their own thoughts, and silence occupied the car until they reached Olympia. Finally Roy spoke.
“How’s Jason?”
“He seemed fine,” Steven said, smiling to himself. “It was hard to see him again. I was glad to, but it was hard.”
“You weren’t meant to,” Roy said. “Wasn’t supposed to happen. They should have known better. Once you cross, that’s it. Whoever put him up to it was really taking a risk. If I’d been there, they would have received a piece of my mind.”
“Maybe that’s why he only appeared to me,” Steven said.
“They’d certainly have known we’d talk about it later,” Roy said. “What they did is almost unforgivable.”
Steven found himself torn between Roy’s protocols and the honest emotion he felt at seeing his son. “I got a chance to talk to him, to tell him I’m sorry.”
“Wasn’t supposed to happen,” Roy repeated.
“But it did, Dad,” Steven said. “It did.”
“Some things aren’t supposed to be said, or heard,” Roy replied.
Steven felt the positive feelings he’d developed about Jason’s visit slowly leave him, replaced by Roy’s reticence. It bothered him. The fact that they’d been arguing for a while added fuel to the fire, and he felt like keeping it going.
“I can’t tell my son I’m sorry?” Steven asked. “Really?”
“He crossed over,” Roy replied. “So, no.”
“He told me that he hung around for a few weeks after we buried him,” Steven said, remembering those sad days. “I thought I felt him once or twice.”
“But you didn’t talk to him then, did you?” Roy said. “I told you to, but you didn’t. Now he’s crossed.”
“I can’t see any harm in it,” Steven said. “I really don’t. I was able to tell him how sorry I was. It was closure.”
“Closure?” Roy said, his voice prickly with irritation. “Closure? Why the hell does everyone talk about closure like they’re entitled to it? God, you’ve got no respect. I thought I raised you better.”
“No respect?” Steven asked, confused. “What are you talking about?”
“No respect for the dead,” Roy said. “Jason is gone. Your window of opportunity to talk to him closed months ago. Now he’s unavailable. Things happen for a reason, and you need to learn to respect that. But no, you need closure, so those bozos use that against you, and against your son. They disturb his peace and force him back here, the last place he wants to be. No respect.”
“Maybe he wasn’t at peace,” Steven said. “Maybe he was OK with coming back.”
“They’re never OK with coming back if they’ve crossed over,” Roy said emphatically. “Never.”
Steven remembered Jason saying he’d have preferred to stay crossed over, and he considered dropping the argument with his father, but he couldn’t; not until his father realized how important it had been to talk to his son. “So you’re saying he wouldn’t have come to talk to me unless they had forced him to?”
“That’s exactly what I’m saying,” Roy said, “and that it’s your fault they did this to him. You’ve got to let him go, let him enjoy where he’s at now, and get on with your life. Once they cross, that’s it. It’s a holy thing. You’ve got to respect it.”
“Not something I would have expected you to say,” Steven said. “Being so anti-religious and all.”
“If there’s anything in this world that’s holy, it’s how you leave it,” Roy said.
Steven decided to drop it, and they continued to ride in silence. He thought he understood Roy’s point. But he wasn’t there, he thought. He didn’t see Jason, didn’t know how good it felt to be next to him, see him move, talk, smile. He didn’t lose a son by his own hand. He doesn’t know how it feels. The more he thought about it, the more he felt he still had to say something.
“You’re a stoic old man,” Steven replied quietly. “But I think we may have to agree to disagree on this one.”
“Fine,” Roy said. “Fine. I’m not getting through to you, anyway.” He sighed.
“Oh, buck up,” Steven said. “It’s not as bad as all that.”
Silence descended once again upon the car, and it rode with them until Steven pulled up to Roy’s house in Seattle.
###
Michael Richan lives in Seattle, Washington. He was born in California and raised in Utah.
You can contact Michael at www.michaelrichan.com.
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The adventure continues!
It Walks At Night
In the quiet town of Clearlake, something dark and evil roams the streets at night, searching for a victim to haul into the forest and kill. When it targets Eliza’s son, forces are quickly aligned to fight it. Eliza asks for help from Steven and Roy, her friends in Seattle who have “the gift,” an ability to see things others cannot by entering a place called “The River.”
Their battle will take them to dark mausoleums and haunted groves. The answer may lie in the hands of a reclusive woman, a specialist in death… or it may revolve around a stalker, a man intent on creating an abomination.
Eliza, Steven, and Roy have worked together before, but the creatures that walk the streets of Clearlake will challenge them, bringing them to the edge of disaster.
Order your copy at Amazon today!
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Have you read The Downwinders series?
The mysteries of The River continue downwind, where mutated ghosts and creatures inhabit the many caves and mines of Southern Nevada and Utah. Deem and Winn battle an evil force intent on destruction in Blood Oath, Blood River. Pick up a copy and enjoy this exciting series today!
The River series:
The Bank of the River
Residual
A Haunting in Oregon
>
Ghosts of Our Fathers
Eximere
The Suicide Forest
Devil’s Throat
The Diablo Horror
The Haunting at Grays Harbor
It Walks At Night
The Downwinders series:
Blood Oath, Blood River
The Impossible Coin
The Graves of Plague Canyon
The Dark River series:
A
All three series are part of The River Universe, and there is crossover of some characters and plots. For a suggested reading order, see the Author’s Website.
The Haunting at Grays Harbor (The River Book 8) Page 20
