Beyond Dead

by Jordaina Sydney Robinson

  “Ah, are you consulting again?” Sabrina supplied.

  Barry jumped on it. “Yes. Yes, I am. For the …” He trailed off again and continued sifting through his papers.

  “In that case, we’ll leave you to it.” Sabrina stood up and I followed. “Looks like you have a lot to get through. Congratulations again.” Sabrina smiled before we beat a hasty retreat through the busy bar. “Was it me, or did he not know he was dead?” she asked as we positioned ourselves in the shadows to watch Barry. Our backs pressed to the wall, in a small alcove of a staircase near the entrance of the bar. Barry was sifting through documents and scribbling notes as if he really did have a consulting job.

  “And we’re sure he is dead?” I asked.

  Sabrina checked the points off on her fingers. “Well, he couldn’t see you when he was alive and now he can. Madame Zorina says he’s dead. My hand didn’t slip through his. He has a file at the bureau. And he couldn’t say why he was here. My opinion? The guy’s as dead as a dodo. He just doesn’t know it yet.”

  “Great.” I blew out a breath. I just wanted an easy afterlife. “So how we going to find out who killed him?”

  “The old fashioned way.” Sabrina grinned, her eyes twinkling with excitement as we headed back across the foyer.

  “Ladies.” A short, chubby man smiled and stretched out his arms in a deceptively welcoming gesture that blocked our path.

  “Is there something we can help you with?” Sabrina fixed a smile to her face. Two brawny men, both wearing white coats, had flanked us.

  “Actually, there is. You can tell me why you’re harassing my patients. And illegally haunting hapless live staff members.” He looked directly at me.

  “Ah, now, that,” I said and held up a finger as if that was going to stop the accusation, “that was an accident.”

  He arched an eyebrow. “Really?”

  “I’m sorry, Doctor Fatal,” Sabrina read from his name badge without a hint of amusement. “I think there must be some sort of misunderstanding. My friend and I were—”

  “It’s Fatal.” He brushed imagery dirt from his name badge. “And I know exactly what you were doing.”

  “Really?” I glanced at Sabrina, who shook her head and stepped closer to me to hide her grip on my wrist.

  “You were trying to break your friend out. Without thought about how dangerous that would be. How damaging to his mental health. And you can’t tunnel inside these premises, Miss. Felix, take them.”

  Felix, the goon to the right, spread his arms out wide, ushering us back across the foyer and towards the corridor opposite the entrance to the bar. The surplus unnamed goon and the doctor followed, corralling us. Sabrina squeezed my hand and subtly nodded towards the bar. I turned, expecting to see something, perhaps Barry coming out, but the walkway was empty.

  In the three seconds it took me to check behind us and turn back, Sabrina had already incapacitated the unnamed goon. He was on his knees, cradling his personal parts, his face contorted in agony. Sabrina whirled around in front of me and let loose a vicious kick that connected with Felix’s knee. He joined the unnamed goon on his knees. I stared at her in equal parts disbelief and admiration.

  “Run!” Sabrina grabbed my hand and dragged me towards the entrance to the bar. She hauled me into the staircase where we’d hidden to observe Barry only minutes earlier and up two flights of stairs before I managed to break free of her grip.

  “What the hell are you doing?” I panted, and bent over to take off the flip-flops Petal had loaned me. They were not conducive to a quick getaway.

  “It’s called escaping.” She peered down the centre of the stairwell. “Did you forget how many laws we’ve broken tonight?”

  “Yeah.” I jabbed my finger towards the two flights of stairs we’d just run up. “And now you’ve added assault to the charges.”

  “Oh, right.” She threw her arms up. “You think they were just going to give us a stern talking to and let us be on our way?”

  “I figured maybe if we explained we just wanted to check Barry was okay—”

  “They might not imprison us for the rest of our afterlives?”

  “Well.” I shrugged. “Yeah?”

  “Do you really want to take that chance?”

  Debating, I peered down the centre of the stairwell and saw Felix’s red face, twisted in anger, staring back up at me.

  “Stay there,” he growled, his voice bouncing off the walls around us.

  “You want to surrender to him?” Sabrina asked, jerking her thumb in the direction of the angry goon below.

  “Hell, no.” I darted around her and charged up the stairs.

  Six flights later we dashed out of the stairwell and onto the eighth floor. Felix’s heavy, uneven steps paused behind us as he shouted our location into his radio.

  “Great.” I spun in a circle, looking for an escape. “What now?”

  Sabrina headed along the corridor at a jog. “We need to get back outside so we can tunnel.”

  “Do you know where you’re going?” I called after her, hoping there wouldn’t be more stairs involved. If there were I might just surrender to Felix because the exertion was likely to kill me anyway. First time killed by tripping, second time killed by some stairs. These lives were just not going my way.

  Sabrina grinned over her shoulder. “I memorised the floor plan in case things went awry.”

  “Why does that not surprise me?” I wheezed, cradling the stitch in my side and following her along the corridor.

  A series of turns later we were welcomed by two lifts. Sabrina jabbed the buttons repeatedly to call them to us.

  “Won’t the other guy be coming up in the lift?” I asked, taking the momentary reprieve to put my flip-flops back on. I almost sighed in pleasure as the foam soles created a blissful cushion between my sore feet and the hard carpet. Dashing up six flights of stairs was not gentle on bare feet.

  “Maybe.” Sabrina pressed the buttons again. “But we’ll deal with that if it happens.”

  Pounding footstep echoed along the corridor just as the doors to the right-hand lift opened. It was empty. We darted inside and Sabrina frantically stabbed at the buttons to close the doors. With less than a couple of inches before we were sealed in, a massive hand darted into the gap, preventing them from closing. The doors recoiled from the hand and slid back open. The doorway framed Felix, the second goon and the doctor.

  “Ladies.” The doctor smiled, much less pleasantly than earlier. “Shall we try that again?”

  Sabrina turned to me. “Any suggestions?”

  As if on cue, I felt a gentle tickling at the back of my brain. I grabbed hold of Sabrina’s hand and hoped it worked like tunnelling. I gave the trio a happy little-finger wave then allowed the summoning to connect.

  I woke feeling as if I’d spent half an hour in a tumble dryer on high heat. Even though my vision was blurred, I could still recognise Jeremy’s smug face smiling down on me.

  “Told you I’d call if I needed you.” Sweat beaded his forehead and upper lip through his stage makeup and his breath was coming in ragged gasps.

  “Is that what being summoned feels like?” Sabrina was on all fours next to me, resting her forehead on the floor. “And I thought having a shoulder through my chest was bad.”

  I climbed unsteadily to my feet. “What is it?”

  “Since you obviously messed up with my messages earlier, I need you to go and eavesdrop on my fans.” Jeremy turned back to the mirror to dab his face and hide his exertion. “About ten individuals. I need to know who they’ve lost, names, relationship to the deceased, why they want to contact them, and something personal about the deceased.” He turned back to me. “Do you think you can handle that, sweetheart?”

  “Absolutely, Jeremy.” I nodded and then instantly regretted the movement as the room tilted. “Would you like me to bring you some sparkling water straight from the Alps too? Perhaps a bowl of jelly babies without the yellow ones? How about some diced wat
ermelon with all the seeds removed?”

  “Now, now, Jenny.” He playfully wagged his finger at me. “Don’t get feisty. If you run, I’ll just summon you again. We can do this all night. These people are so desperate they’ll wait hours for me. Just do what I said, get it over quickly and the rest of the night is your own.”

  “Is this guy for real?” Sabrina asked, mouth hanging slightly ajar. “What a douche. And why’s he calling you Jenny? Please don't tell me that's your professional name. That’s such a wasted opportunity. I’d have used my superhero name.”

  “Unfortunately, Jeremy, I have plans for this evening.” I straightened my jumpsuit and neatened up my ponytail. “But thank you for the offer.”

  Jeremy stepped closer. “You will do it. If I have to summon you back for the next four hours, so be it, but you will do it.”

  “Good luck with that.” I winked at him. “Oh, and remember, Sarah is very proud of Ian. Very proud.”

  I grabbed hold of Sabrina’s hand and tunnelled us back to the fort. We landed on the grassy hilltop overlooking the harbour. The sun was hanging low in the clear blue sky but it was still warm. I dropped to the ground, suddenly shattered after the events of the evening.

  Sabrina sat down beside me. “Why couldn’t he see me?”

  “You ask me like you think I have the first clue how this place works. He couldn’t see Pete either. Maybe because he didn’t summon you.”

  “Well, technically,” Sabrina said and lay back on the grass beside me, “he didn’t summon you either, Jenny.”

  “Good point.” I felt the tickle of Jeremy trying to summon me again but I ignored it. Huh. Guess it was pretty easy after all. As long as they didn’t know your real name. “How about we leave the question of your invisibility until later? Don’t you think we have enough to be going on with?”

  “Fair point. In regards to Barry, how about we check out Porscha tomorrow lunchtime?” Sabrina suggested.

  I nodded. “Sounds like a plan, action woman.”

  ∞

  Eleanor had called the meeting to a close not long after we’d returned. Everyone passed so Eleanor gave us permission to tunnel home alone.

  I made it all the way to my room without housemate interaction. All I wanted to do was sleep, and because I didn’t have to spend a good twenty minutes cleansing, toning and moisturising against ageing, or take off any makeup, I could just climb straight into bed. So far, that was easily my favourite thing about the afterlife. Without turning on the lights I stripped out of my jumpsuit and flopped face first onto my bed.

  Oz’s low voice spoke from the shadows. “Did you have a nice time?”

  “What are you doing in here?” I yelped, scrambling around on the bed trying to cover myself with the tangled duvet. “Don’t you knock?”

  “I thought we were making progress.” He tossed my Chanel bronzer in the air and caught it. “I thought we’d established a foundation of trust based on bribery.” He tossed and caught it again.

  “I trust you.” I watched him toss the thick, flat, glass pot in the air. It flipped end over end and he caught it again. “I’d trust you even more if you’d put that down.”

  “The thing is, Bridget,” he said as he flipped it again. “I can’t trust you.”

  “What makes you think that? I go to work. I go to my GA meetings. I do what I’m supposed to.”

  “Yeah, you do all that.” He tossed the bronzer in the air and caught it again. My nerves just couldn’t take much more of this. “But you also do more. Where specifically were you tonight when you were supposed to be at your GA meeting?”

  “I was at my GA meeting.”

  “Where were you while everyone else was taking their provisional tunnelling test?”

  Uh-oh. “I thought you could use our bond and find me.”

  “I tried. I ended up in Edinburgh outside some hotel, which I know can’t have been right. Especially since that hotel was some sort of afterlife facility and, since it was blocked, I couldn’t sense you inside.”

  I pointed to the floor between us. “I told you that first night this bond was broken.”

  “Answer my questions, Bridget. What were you doing there? How did you get there? Who were you with? What was the purpose of it? What made you panic?”

  “That’s … five questions. Are you going to empty your pockets out now so I can see if it’s worth answering them.”

  Oz pulled the lining of each pocket out to show me they were empty.

  “It’s all on order?” I asked.

  “We’re not bargaining. You can’t be trusted to obey the basic rules of this house. Why would I reward bad behaviour?”

  “Bad behaviour?” I stared at him. “Bad behaviour? What am I? A five year old?”

  “Well, you’re acting like one.”

  “Really? Oh, you’re totally right. I’m so childish. You should send me to bed with no tea. That would teach me a lesson.”

  Oz tossed the bronzer in the air and caught it once again. “I’m waiting.”

  “Okay.” I plumped up my pillow, turned my back on him and snuggled down under the duvet. “Night.”

  In a smooth motion, Oz yanked the duvet off me. He stood at the side of my bed, arms folded, staring down at me. I didn’t need to be empathetic to read the fury rolling off him in waves. Guess he wasn’t used to not being in control either.

  “This isn’t a game, Bridget. You don’t get to break the rules, make a few quips, flutter you eyelashes at me and think that everything is going to be okay.”

  “At what point did I flutter my eyelashes at you?” I scooted to the edge of the bed and stood. I wasn’t going to argue lying down and I wasn’t going to scout around to find something to cover myself with. That would be a sign of weakness, and my pride wouldn’t allow it. And, quite frankly, I looked damn good in my underwear.

  “I’ve given you more leeway than any of your housemates have had and you’ve abused it. Because this is a new bond and you found two dead bodies in your locker, I’ve tried to be understanding—”

  “Understanding? Leeway? You’re kidding, right?” I had to put my hands on my hips to stop from reaching for his neck to throttle him. “You wonder why I act like a child? Maybe because you treat me like a child. All you’ve done is tell me what I can do, what I can’t do and everything that I have to do. That might wash with everyone else in this house, but it doesn’t with me. You have no rights over me. I’m not yours to dictate to.”

  “You became mine to dictate to when you died.” Despite the tension in his shoulders and the muscle jumping in his jaw every time I spoke, Oz’s voice was still calm. I probably should’ve appreciated that he was trying to keep his temper in check and not yell back at me. But I didn’t. “Answer my questions and I’ll be lenient with your punishment.”

  “What? You’ll only ground me for the next decade instead of the next century. Or maybe you’ll put me on washing up duty for my entire time here. Or maybe you’ll just drag me over your lap and spank me like an errant child. I’m an adult! An adult. What gives you the right to say where I can and can’t go? What I can and can’t do? What makeup I’m allowed? How many times a week I have to cook for everyone else in the house? A house I don’t even want to live in. To break the heels off my shoes? To lock me in my room? You locked me in my goddamn room!”

  Oz arched an eyebrow. “Have you got it all out? Do you need a hug now?”

  I stared at him. I was bone tired. Tired of being dead. Tired of being bossed round. Tired of finding dead ghosts. Tired of not having my clothes. Tired of not having a hairbrush. Tired of being tired. My shoulders drooped and I lay back down on my bed and curled up on my side with my back to him. Blanket or no. I was done. Michael and I never argued. I’d always gotten my way so easily I was out of practice. I’d completely forgotten how tiring it could be.

  Oz remained quiet behind me. I couldn’t even hear him breathe but I still felt his presence at my back. Goosebumps formed on my arms and legs but I ref
used to get the duvet from the floor until he’d left. I’d freeze first. Oz moved away from the bed and I thought he was leaving. Then he draped the duvet over me. He leaned over and tucked me in.

  “We’ll talk about this tomorrow.” He softly flip-flopped to the door. “I don’t think you’re a child, Bridget. Even if you’re acting like one right now.”

  The door closed behind him. I waited for the click of the lock. It didn’t come.

  “Well.” Lucy crawled out from underneath the bed, arm over arm. “That didn’t go quite like I expected.”

  “Me either.” Pam stepped out from inside the wardrobe and walked across the room to pull out the dressing table chair so Petal could unfold herself from the tiny space.

  Pam turned on the lamp and all of us squinted in the sudden brightness.

  I pulled the duvet over my head. I just couldn’t do this right now.

  “Are you really going to sleep?” Petal asked, peeking under the duvet at my face.

  I spoke from under the duvet. “Do you people have no concept of privacy?”

  Pam folded back the top of my cover so she could see my face and they answered in unison. “No.”

  “We’re bored.” Lucy eased open each of my drawers and investigated the contents. There was nothing in them so it was a quickly completed task. “You’re new.”

  “We thought you could tell us all about yourself.” Pam smiled as she picked up my jumpsuit and hung it in the wardrobe. She turned my Chanel bronzer over in her hands, I assumed trying to work out what it was. Oz had left it.

  “Let’s start at the beginning.” Petal stood and pirouetted in the middle of my room. “How did your parent’s meet?”

  I looked between them. “Seriously?”

  Chapter Ten

  “How was your morning?” Sabrina asked picking up her third chicken salad baguette, gently squeezing it in its wrapper and returning it to the counter, much to the chagrin of the serving lady, who looked like your typical school dinner lady, and the rapidly forming queue behind us.