Janet McNulty - Mellow Summers 04 - Three Little Ghosts

by Janet McNulty

  “We need them as hostages,” said Clayton. “They can help ensure that the cops don’t come after us.”

  “Fat chance,” mumbled Scott. “We have the money. Let’s just take it and split.”

  “I do not take orders from you,” railed Clayton.

  “We only need one,” said Scott. “There is an old well out back. We can dump one of them in there.”

  Clayton thought about it.

  I wiggled my wrists allowing the rope to rub my skin raw in an attempt to free myself. I noticed Jackie doing the same.

  “Course, you know, I don’t need you anymore,” said Scott pointing his gun at Clayton.

  Big surprise there. I had a feeling they’d turn on each other.

  Jackie’s movements thumped the floor causing Scott to glance in her direction. The boom of a gun firing echoed around us.

  Shocked, Scott clutched his chest, dropped his weapon, and collapsed on the floor in a pool of blood.

  “Did you honestly think I’d share money with white trash like you,” spat Clayton.

  He looked at Jackie and I.

  “The thing is, he’s right. I don’t need both of you.”

  Clayton kneeled before me. “You discovered the money, which means you’re smart. But too smart for your own good. Nothing personal.” ‘

  His meaty hands picked me up like I weighed nothing.

  Why is it people always say “nothing personal” when they’re about to hurt you in some way? I take being murdered very personally. Wouldn’t anyone?

  I grunted as he carried me through the back door and to the abandoned well.

  “HMM, still water in it. Hope you know how to swim.”

  The eerie giggle of a little girl reverberated around us. Clayton paused momentarily glancing around. Nothing. “Who was that?”

  The giggle sounded again.

  Dizziness hit me as he turned in circles searching for the source of the sound.

  “Show yourself. I’m armed.”

  More giggling circled us darting about randomly.

  “I’ve had enough of this.” He threw me in the well.

  Air rushed past me as he tossed me in and the feeling of nothing below me took over. I hated the falling sensation that I sometimes got while sleeping. This was worse. Though it might have cushioned my fall, the water stung as I smacked into it and sank.

  Holding what air I had left in my lungs, I worked profusely to loosen the rope around my wrists. The small progress I had made in the house wasn’t enough. Water entered my nose and tickled down my throat causing me to gag.

  With each cough water entered my lungs causing me to choke on the cloth in my mouth. Twisting violently to free myself, I sank lower. As the water washed over me, I started to realize that this was the end. Drowned in a well. Not the way I wanted to go.

  My struggles lessened as I began to black out desperate for air. Slowly, I ceased my movements accepting my fate.

  Something splashed into the water beside me. I barely registered the hands that grabbed my arms pulling me to the surface. Fingers ripped the gag from my mouth. Water spluttered a bit from my lips as my head flopped around. The same hands tied a rope around my waist.

  “Stay with me,” said a male voice.

  Somewhere in the back of my mind the voice registered as being familiar. The fog in my brain prevented me from comprehending what happened.

  My stomach lurched as the rope pulled taut and lifted me and my rescuer out of the well. Gradually, we made our way upward.

  More hands grasped me under the shoulders hauling my limp form out of the well and setting me on the hard earth. Relief flowed through my arms and legs as someone untied the rope around my wrists and ankles. I barely registered the excited murmurs and stomping of feet beside me.

  “Mel!”

  Jackie? Was it really her or was I dreaming. You know when you are half asleep and half awake and sometimes think that the noises around you are a dream? That’s where I was. A bit ethereal actually.

  Something felt my neck. Then the determined pressing on my chest began.

  “Mel, come on.”

  Jackie’s voice sounded distant.

  More pumping on my chest.

  I don’t know what happened, but something broke the fog in my mind as I gasped for air taking a huge breath. At the same time, violent coughs racked my body as I spat up water. Immediately, someone lifted me into a sitting position as I spat out more water.

  My eyes fluttered open as Jackie’s face slowly came into focus. “What happened?” I asked.

  “You nearly drowned.” I turned my head in the direction of the voice. Father Hillard stared back at me. He helped me to my feet as Jackie plowed into me with a giant hug.

  “I thought I lost you,” she whispered.

  “Not today,” I told her. “How did you know where to find us?”

  “When your vestments go charging down the aisle of the church on their own, it tends to get your attention.”

  “What?” I asked, confused.

  “Well, I had to do something,” said Sarah appearing by my side so that only I could see her. “You were in trouble. Alana and Freya came here to try and stop the bad man.”

  “Get me out of here,” yelled Clayton. Detective shorts and a couple of officers had him in handcuffs. “This place is haunted! Those girls. Did you see them?”

  “Get him out of here,” ordered Detective Shorts.

  “I’m telling you,” shouted Clayton, “This place has ghosts!”

  The police dragged Clayton out of the cabin.

  “Are you alright?” asked Detective Shorts.

  “Yeah, I’ll live,” I replied.

  He waved a paramedic over who wrapped a blanket around my shoulders. “You should get checked out anyway.”

  “So you came out here by yourself to save us?” I asked Father Hillard.

  “You should have seen him, Mel. He charged in here with a 12 gauge, punched that janitor in the mouth, and then jumped in the well to get you.” I had trouble following Jackie’s animated movements as she acted out her tale. “He was like Rambo with a collar.”

  “She exaggerates,” said Father Hillard. “The police weren’t far behind. But when a ghost demands your help you tend to listen.”

  “But I thought priests didn’t believe in such things,” I said.

  “Need I remind you about the flying vestments?”

  Sarah’s disembodied giggle filled the area causing many present to glance around.

  “I wasn’t always a priest,” continued Father Hillard, “and I have seen some things in this world that you can only imagine.”

  “Ex-Army and served in Vietnam,” said Detective Shorts, “That should sum it up for you.” He turned to go. “Oh, and I need all of you to come to the station and sign some statements.”

  We allowed the police to accompany us to the station. After several hours of answering questions, Jackie and I signed our statements looking forward to going home. I wanted a hot shower. Father Hillard waited for us in the lobby.

  “Take this,” he handed Jackie and I each a sacred metal.

  “Uh, we’re not—” I began.

  “It doesn’t matter if you are. But considering your brush with death earlier, you could probably use the extra protection. Besides, Detective Shorts has told me a lot about you. Now, if you two are through getting into life threatening situations, I have a Mass to say.” He marched out the door.

  “Mel!” Greg ran for me. “I’ve been waiting forever. Are you okay? Here,” he wrapped his arms around me helping me out the door and to the car.

  “I so need to get a boyfriend,” muttered Jackie as she trailed after us.

  “What happened to you?” I asked Greg.

  “They locked me in the basement of the church,” he replied. “Sarah found me. I told her about you and that she had to find a way to help you two.”

  “And she just left you there?”

  “Your situation was more dire than mine
. I managed to free myself. Hey, you’re shivering.” Greg rubbed my shoulders to warm me up.

  “You two think we could go home now?” asked Jackie. “I’ll drive.”

  Chapter 15

  “What are ya doing?” asked Jackie as she walked into the living room.

  I sat on the couch with my laptop logged onto the college’s website. “Checking my midterms.” A few days had passed since we had found the money and I almost died. The same few days since I had taken my exams. Luckily, the college offered a way for teachers to post grades online; all a person needed was their student ID number. This saved me the shame of announcing to the world how horrible I did. “Checking grades.”

  “OOO, how’d you do?” Jackie climbed over the back of the couch and put her nose to my computer. Okay, so I’d have to share the bad news with her.

  I passed my acting class and squeaked through my filmmaking techniques class. Dreading my grade in History of Filmmaking, I clicked open the page. I managed a C. Not bad. That means I didn’t totally flunk the exam even though I didn’t finish it.

  “You passed,” said Jackie clapping me on the back.

  “He might just be giving me passing grades to get rid of me.”

  “Yeah, well, blurting out nonsensical things in class usually gets you a one way trip to the psych ward.”

  Bowls clinked in the kitchen. I heard the refrigerator open and close and the rustling of a box of cereal. Jackie and I went to the kitchen and watched as three bowls filled themselves with cereal and milk. Spoons dipped into the bowls and floated upward.

  “I don’t get how we are supposed to eat this stuff,” said Sarah.

  “I think it would help if we actually had a stomach,” commented Freya.

  “Always trying to be smart,” said Sarah.

  “Girls,” I said.

  “Mellow!”

  They all jumped out of their chairs and rushed me. Jackie dived out of the way allowing me to take the full impact of three exuberant ghosts. Way to back me up, Jackie.

  “We need to take a trip,” I told them, remembering their mother’s address that Jack had given me. “It’s time we find your mother.”

  “Want me to come with?” asked Jackie.

  “No I think I ought to do this alone. I’m about to tell an old woman that her daughters who died fifty years ago are still here waiting to say good-bye.”

  “Good point,” conceded Jackie. “I’ll keep my phone on.”

  I snatched my keys and led the girls to my car. They piled into the back seat.

  “Seatbelts.” I automatically reminded passengers in my car to buckle up.

  “We’re already dead,” Alana reminded me.

  I grinned at her bluntness and snapped my own belt in place.

  Reading the address on my slip of paper I made a mental map of how I wanted to get there. I decided on the freeway taking it to the far side of the city where an exit led me on the right path to the woman’s neighborhood. The trip didn’t take long.

  The small neighborhood had well-maintained homes with landscaped yards and flowerbeds. Not a bad place to live, I thought to myself. I checked the house number. Spotting it, I pulled up to the curb.

  “You three might want to wait here, while I go talk to your mother,” I told them, “Is there anything you want me to say to let her know that I’m not a complete nutcase?”

  Alana pulled out a piece of paper, a child’s drawing. “We drew this in school that day. It was supposed to be a present for her.”

  “Will you give it to her?” asked Freya.

  “We signed it,” added Sarah.

  I took the drawing studying it. It was a simple picture of flowers, sunshine, and stick people. Three names on the bottom in uneven print indicated that they had signed it.

  I strolled up the brick walkway past well-tended flower beds to the front door. A part of me hoped that no one was home as I struggled for the right words to say.

  I knocked softly on the door. It opened immediately.

  “May I help you?” asked the elderly lady on the other side.

  Well, here goes. Taking a deep breath I began my not so well prepared speech. “Mrs. Harpscoll?”

  “It’s Mrs. Gaord now.”

  ”Sorry. My name is Mellow Summers. I need to tell you something and it will probably sound crazy, but I need you to listen. Afterward, if you wish to slam the door in my face, you’re welcome to.”

  “Very well.”

  “You know the library downtown that used to be a school sometime back?”

  She nodded.

  “I was there some time ago and ran into three little girls: Alana, Sarah, and Freya. They gave me this to give to you.” I handed her the drawing. “They wanted me to tell you that they waited, just like you asked, so they could say good-bye.”

  The woman looked at the drawing tears welled up in her eyes. “Where did you get this?”

  “From them. I swear to you this isn’t a joke. If you don’t believe me, I understand. I barely believe it myself.”

  “Mother’s day was just around the corner when I took them to school that day. Oh, my beautiful girls. I miss them so much.”

  Tear jerker. I swallowed to get rid of the lump in the back of my throat as my eyes started to burn from the tears wanting to flow.

  I glanced to where Alana, Sarah, and Freya waited on the green lawn. A man walked up to them. My changed expression must have alerted Mrs. Harpscoll that something was up.

  “What is it?” she asked.

  “Uh—” I began.

  I watched at the man approached the girls with a broad smile on his face.

  “Daddy,” they screamed and ran up to him.

  Daddy? That’s right. Their father died in 1982. He knelt down embracing all three in his arms. “You three ready to go home?”

  The girls nodded excitedly.

  “Thank you,” he said, turning toward me, “For looking after them.”

  I just nodded.

  They all disappeared, no doubt going where they belonged.”

  Suddenly, I realized that Mrs. Harpscoll stared at me with a curious expression on her face. “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing,” I said, “They went home.”

  “Would you like some tea?” she opened her door wider.

  Accepting her invitation I stepped inside and sent Jackie a quick text informing her that it might be awhile before I got back.

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  Look for Book 5 in the series:

  Oh Holy Ghost

  About the Author

  Ms. McNulty began writing the Mellow Summers series last year. The fifth book in the series is expected to be published before the end of 2012.

  Ms. McNulty has a fantasy series Legends Lost: Amborese (2011) and Tesnayr (2012) both published under the pen name Nova Rose.

  Follow on Twitter: JMRUL

  Look for the first book in a new series by Janet McNulty:

  Dystopia

  The eyes are always watching

  Imagine living in a world where everything you do is controlled.

  In the distant future the United States has been split into two regions separated by a barren wasteland; this is the country of Dystopia. Here the individual is discouraged, freedom is an illusion, food is rationed, and everything you do is tracked by a chip implanted in your arm. This is Dana Ginary’s world.

  At age seventeen, people receive their career assignments chosen for them by a government body. Forced to work at the Waste Management Plant because she was declared too individualistic, Dana finds herself surrounded by death and brutality. Knowing her days are numbered, she looks for a way to leave the plant before she, too, becomes one of its causalities..

  It is then she meets a man named George and soon finds herself caught up in a cat mouse game between the resistance and the Dystopian government. Dana finds herself faced with an agonizing choice of whom she will betray and whom
she will save: her friend George, her parents, or herself.

  Enter the world of fantasy with the Lands of Tesnayr

  1,000 years before the birth of Amborese is a far greater story. The legend of Tesnayr. Before the lands of Tesnayr existed, there were five distinct kingdoms. Each proud and constantly at war with one another. But all that changed… A stranger washes upon the shores of Sym’Dul, beaten and barely alive; the only survivor of a devastating war in a land far across the sea. Nursed back to health, Tesnayr makes a new life for himself and begins to think that his past is behind him. Then the orcs arrive led by Galbrok. They quickly ravage the land. Faced with a terrible choice, Tesnayr forms his own army to stop them and quickly draws the attention of each of the five kings. Yet, Tesnayr’s past refuses to release him. Can he unite the five kingdoms before Galbrok annihilates them? Can a lone man from across the sea achieve what all believe to be impossible?

  The second great legend of the lands of Tesnayr.

  Amborese thought she was a peasant’s daughter until one night dark creatures murdered her parents and pursued her into the forest. Saved by a talking cat and her friend Zolo, she fled for her life only to learn that she was heir to a throne that has sat empty for over 300 years. Pursued across the five lands of Tesnayr by an evil wizard’s army, Amborese discovers a world full of senseless war and powerful magic.

  Joined by the most unlikely of friends, Amborese must unite the five lands of Tesnayr and restore them to their former glory. Yet, she harbors a power that even Zolo is unaware of; the magic of the phoenix. But can the daughter of a peasant overcome her doubts and become the queen she was meant to be?

  500 years of peace have reigned in the lands of Tesnayr, but the princess Nylana is forced to watch her brother Galdin meet what all believe to be certain death..

  25 years later Nylana is sent on a mission to a neighboring kingdom where she is rescued from slavery by her lost brother. Reunited they travel back to Tesnayr and find that barbarians have invaded from the north and the alliances between the five lands are strained once again. But all is not as it seems as something elusive and more sinister taunts them.