Sticks and Stones

by Alexie Aaron

  Even though I think that your idea that it’s a virus is compelling, I think we should look at the poltergeists as being more than biological pests or the fruit flies of the paranormal world. They may just be a way for pockets of paranormal energy to burn off.

  Burt handed it to Mike and sat quietly waiting.

  “She backed up her theory with evidence. I wouldn’t discount it out of hand. Add it to your research, and see if you can test this out with the next incursion we deal with.”

  “I agree,” Burt said. “I’m not used to dealing with a mature Mia. She’s not shouting at me; she’s presented her ideas to me instead of blurting them out in front of everyone at a meeting.”

  “That can still happen,” Mike said. The computer dinged. Mike looked at the monitors. “We have activity in the living area.”

  “But Debra isn’t here yet.”

  There was a light tap on the side of the truck. “Burt, I just wanted to let you know that I’m here.”

  “Come on up,” Burt said, walking over to assist the homeowner into the trailer.

  Debra smelled the food. “Am I interrupting your meal break?”

  “Mia brought ribs from home.”

  “Is she here? I didn’t see her truck.”

  “She got dropped off. She’s walking around the neighborhood getting a feel for things. Mike, why don’t you let Mia know Debra is here. I don’t want Debra to go into the house alone.”

  Mike slid out and in the failing light searched for Mia. He found her studying the Carter house from across the street. She had a notebook with her and jotted down some figures as she studied the property.

  “Mia, Debra is here, and Burt would like you to accompany her inside.”

  “Sure thing,” Mia said and squatted and stared. “Do you see the tonal differences between the foundation and the second story?”

  “I’m not really sure?”

  Mia got up and pushed him down. “Stare straight ahead at the front steps.”

  “Okay.”

  “Now move around to your left and look at the corner of the house. You’ll see it’s rather murky because of the gloaming effect of sundown.”

  “Yes.”

  “Good. Now let your eyes move up slowly.”

  “Are you talking about how the further my eyes travel up the clearer the house becomes?”

  “Yes.”

  “But isn’t that just how it is for all houses?”

  “Turn around and look at this house in the same way,” she instructed.

  “It’s equally clear,” Mike said.

  Mia helped him to his feet. “I checked out the house directly across the street and saw a faint difference. But between this house and her neighbors to either side, there is a difference.”

  “What about radon? Can you see radon?”

  “I don’t think so,” Mia said. “I can, however, see ley lines.”

  “But I can’t.”

  “You’ve never tried,” Mia dismissed.

  Mike thought about it. “No, I haven’t tried.”

  “They’re easiest to see during the gloaming, or dusk as we call it here.”

  “Take me to an active ley line at gloaming, and I’ll do my best to put my skepticism aside,” Mike promised.

  “Deal.”

  “We better get to the trailer before Debra puts the moves on Burt,” he said.

  “You’re kidding…”

  “She’s not into me. I thought she was into you, but it’s Burt.”

  “Huh. Do you equate all human interaction as people seeking out other sex partners?”

  “Yes. I’m a guy.”

  “I noticed,” Mia said and walked across the street.

  Burt handed Mia her earcom. He waited for Mia to test out the volume before he asked Mike to watch the com so he could film the ladies as they moved through the house.

  “Mia, a little intro, please.”

  “Oh, sorry. I’m used to Mike doing this.” Mia cleared her throat and moved a long lock out of her face. “Hello, it’s Mia again. I’m with Debra, and she and I are going to enter her home. It’s the second week of PEEPs filming the activity.”

  “And cut,” Burt said.

  Debra opened the door, and the two walked into the foyer and stopped in the living room. The figurines were making a lazy circle of the room. The toilet paper roll rattled in the half bath under the stairs. Burt filmed as a long piece of paper moved like a Chinese dragon way down the hall and entered the circle of porcelain.

  “Sorry for being base, but I can’t help but reflect on those porcelain figurines and the toilet paper. Just minutes ago, it resided next to another porcelain fixture.”

  Mike groaned in Mia’s ear.

  Debra giggled.

  “I expect they will cut that out in editing.”

  The roll rattled again, and another large section floated out.

  “My son is fixated on toilets. He’s gotten his hand stuck in several, including a chemical marine toilet. He had a blue hand for a week.”

  “Do you think he wants to be a plumber?” Debra asked.

  “Time will tell. Plumbers make good money, so he could do worse,” Mia said.

  A new snakelike section floated by. This time, Mia caught it and tore it into squares. She tossed the pieces down, and within seconds, they floated upwards and moved along only slightly parted from the section before and behind it.

  “That I can’t explain,” Mia said. “Where is the clown?”

  “It broke.”

  “Did you keep the pieces?” Mia asked.

  “Why yes. I don’t know why. I know it can’t be repaired,” Debra said. She walked into the kitchen and came out with a sturdy wooden box.

  Mia took it from her, opened the lid, and waited. The pieces floated up, rearranged themselves, and the newly constructed clown joined the circle. Mia turned and looked into the camera. “This isn’t poltergeist activity. Watch.” Mia ran around the room and collected all the figurines and put them in the box. She next placed the box on the sofa and sat on it. Mia felt the cold hands reach under her and tug at the box. She pulled off a glove and grabbed one of the hands. Another invisible hand slapped Mia so hard it left a red welt.

  “Murph!” she called.

  Debra yelped as Murphy appeared.

  “I know you’re traveling in a different veil. Find the one this loser is in. He just smacked me.”

  Murphy set his jaw and disappeared.

  “Mia, what’s going on?” Burt asked.

  “You have to admit that this activity has really gone on for too long,” Mia said. She handed the box to Debra. “I’ll buy the broken clown off of you.”

  “Why would you want a broken clown?”

  “I have this friend who would love to have the head to put in a puzzle box.”

  Murphy reappeared with a hand on the nape of a teenage boy’s neck. He was wearing clothing from this decade. He had to have died recently. Mia’s immediate impression was that this was a teenager who, in life, was well provided for. Also, Murphy must be generating enough power because it was very evident that Debra and Burt could see the ghost.

  Mia was momentarily at a loss for words. She thought that poltergeists were thought to be generated by teenage angst, and here was a teenager. But this was an active haunt and not a poltergeist incursion.

  Burt cleared his throat.

  Mia came around. “Hello, I’m Mia from PEEPs. Can I help you?”

  “You can tell your goon to let me go!”

  “As soon as you answer some questions.”

  “Ef off, lady,” the teen spat.

  Murphy shook the teen.

  “Okay, I’ll answer.”

  “Why are you haunting this nice woman?” Mia asked.

  “I thought it would be fun.”

  “Where did you come from?”

  “I got sucked into this chute, and when it stopped, I looked around
and saw all these pretty things to play with.”

  “Did you follow Ms. Carter to the hospital?” Mia asked.

  “Yes. I thought she’d be lonely without me.”

  “For all that’s holy, why are you haunting me?” Debra asked.

  “I’m bored,” the teen whined. “There’s nothing to do. No video games. You’re too cheap to have cable. I’m not going through eternity watching Masterpiece Theatre!”

  “How did you know how to duplicate a poltergeist haunt?” Burt asked.

  “I watched a lot of television and YouTube whenever I was suspended from school.”

  “If you’re so bored, why didn’t you go into the light?” Mia asked.

  “Dunno.”

  “Did you know about the demon downstairs?” Mia asked.

  “As long as I stayed in my veil, it left me alone,” the teen said.

  “What’s your name?” Mia asked.

  “What’s it to you?”

  “I’d like to call you something other than hey you or dead boy.”

  The teen brought his hand back, but Murphy caught it before he could slap Mia again. “You do that again and I’ll end you,” Murphy threatened. “You never ever smack a woman.”

  “I’m Warren Brower,” the teen said.

  “How long have you been dead?” Mia asked.

  “Dunno?”

  “How did you die?”

  “Does it matter?”

  “In the long run, maybe,” Mia said.

  “Storm-drain surfing.”

  “I can see why you connected to a spur of demon ley line,” Mia said, feeling a Baxter type of migraine forming. “Was your body recovered?”

  “Dunno.”

  Murphy looked at Mia.

  “Do you remember a funeral?” Mia asked.

  “No.”

  “A hospital?”

  “No.”

  “Mike, we need to do some careful inquiries referencing a Warren Brower,” Burt said.

  “On it. I’m sending it through to Jake, and he’ll decide whether Audrey should become involved.”

  “Warren, may I be frank with you?” Mia asked.

  “Yeah, why not?”

  “You said you were able to go to the hospital with Ms. Carter.”

  “I took a ride in the ambulance and listened to her shrink. I decided to stop the lecture the old lady was getting. I played with the drapes and knocked on the windows. Then I got sucked back here. Now that was a wild ride. I can leave here whenever I want to, but I always get sucked back.”

  “Interesting.”

  “Stop looking at me like I’m a bug,” Warren complained.

  “Sorry. Warren, I do believe you’re an anomaly. Normally, ghosts are tied to their remains. But you’re anchored to the end of the chute.”

  “Unless…” Burt started. “Mia, do you think it’s possible that it’s more than a spur line. Maybe it’s an old ley line that a drain field was built into. These old mansions may have needed to move the water away from the foundations of the house. When the sewers were put in, the drains were blocked off.”

  “And they could still be under this house. So that means…”

  “I may have a dead kid rotting under my house,” Debra sighed.

  “And his spirit is all powered up on the energy left from the ley line.”

  “Burt, Warren Brower is listed as missing,” Mike said. “Last seen walking away from home with a boogie board. His friends and he were to meet up and surf the flooded streets. Warren never made it. I wasn’t in the country at the time, but I believe two months ago there was a hell of a flood.”

  “Debra, was this area flooded two months ago?” Mia asked.

  “Two streets down were under two feet of water, but the water crept up the hill or seemed to,” Debra answered.

  Burt tapped his chin as he spoke. “If the storm sewers were overburdened, then it’s possible the water and whatever was in it could have floated this way, and when the water went down…”

  “It left Warren’s body,” Mia said.

  “Your poor parents,” Debra said. “I’ll have the drains opened.”

  “What reason are you going to give?” Mia asked.

  “Odor.”

  “But we can’t smell anything.”

  “Believe me, contractors will believe the woman with the checkbook before their own noses,” Debra said sarcastically.

  “What happens to me?” Warren asked.

  “You sit tight and listen very carefully to Murphy’s rules on haunting. You broke a big one by tossing Debra out the window and slapping me.”

  “Sorry, my mother slapped me a few times when I called her names.”

  “I’m sorry to hear that,” Mia said. “But there is no excuse for slapping a woman.”

  “If you continue to harm the living, there are big consequences,” Murphy said. “Let’s go into the basement where we can talk in private.”

  Warren thought about legging it, but he thought about his parents and, for the first time, worried about them.

  “Warren,” Mia called. “If we do find your remains, you may get a chance to move on to where there are plenty of big waves to surf. What you do now weighs on where the light sends you. It allows for stupid teenagers. Listen to Murphy.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  Mia waited until they left before she sat down and sighed.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “Bad enough to be called lady, but ma’am?”

  Mike started laughing in the control room. Burt tried not to smile. Debra sat down next to Mia and patted her back. “You’ll get used to it.”

  Chapter Twenty-seven

  “Wakey, wakey,” Ted said, imitating Arlo’s Australian voice.

  Mia sat straight up and tried to focus in on what was being dangled over her head.

  “That better be a mega cup of coffee and unending rashers of bacon, mate,” Mia grumbled.

  “No, they’re skates.”

  “Ted, I’m not awake,” Mia said, sliding out of bed and running to the bathroom.

  “Don’t spend too long in the dunny,” Ted ordered.

  Mia poked her head out. “It’s not even light out. Crikey, mate, drop the Outback waiter lingo.”

  “You popped the poltergeist pimple, and Burt’s hot to move on to the next possible incursion. I need your help.”

  “I’m switching roommates,” Mia said, pulling on some clothes.

  Ted ended up carrying Mia over his shoulder into the elevator. He walked outside and sat her on the front step and put the skates on her feet.

  “Unless you’ve called upon the demon of roller derby to possess me, this girl is going to eat pavement.”

  “I’ll hold on to you until the garage. There I have some pads and a helmet.”

  “Oh joy, a male dressing me again,” Mia said standing up. “I thought Gates was going to be the spy?”

  “She is, but I need to work on making her skates better.”

  “Goodie for Gates. Why did you drag me out of bed? Where’s Cid?”

  “Having a wet dream or hoping for one.”

  “Ah, eager for another CoMA visit,” Mia said, allowing Ted to pull her along like a wagon.

  “I’m going to put you in front of the monitors. Jake has some instructional videos cued up. And I have a breakfast waiting.”

  “Food good,” Mia said. “Coffee better.”

  Ted laughed and pulled Mia into the office. “I remembered how you could view a bat flying and then fly like a bat. I’m hoping skating will be as easy.”

  Mia yawned. “I was OOBing.”

  “Jake, start the training videos,” Ted commanded and lifted the napkin up.

  “I see Little Debbie and Hostess made breakfast this morning.” Mia took a sip and focused in on the center video. “Physics, really?” Mia complained, but Ted wasn’t there. She rolled into the four-car garage to see him taping out a track
. To get the complete oval, he had the garage doors open. Half Mia’s track was in the parking lot. “Fuck me and leave me a rose.” Mia rolled back to the office and sat down.

  Jake watched Mia, and once she could focus, she took notes and took off the skates and looked at them. She put them back on and skated out into the garage.

  Ted watched Mia play a little with balance before she rolled up and put on the knee and elbow pads. The wrist guard went over her gloves. Finally, she put on the helmet. She took a trip around the whole track, adjusting for the slight texture difference of the drive and the garage floor. Her balance was amazing. She stopped in front of Ted. “The skates are too lively. Fix them.”

  “How?”

  “Sit down and study the video. I’m going for a run,” she said, taking off her skates before putting on her shoes and running off.

  Mia ran up the hill and continued until she reached the dip in the between. She circled the lake gathering information. She would ask Altair to come here with her so she could measure how much area of land on the ground was hidden by the between. She would repeat her survey at different times of the day to determine if it was a temporary phenomenon or a permanent one.

  Mia started back for home. She poured everything she had into her run. She was sweat soaked by the time she passed Cid and Murphy, who were questioning Ted’s sanity by taping out a skating track. Mia ran by them and into the garage. “Well?” she asked Ted.

  “I didn’t take your weight into account. I adjusted the angle and changed the cushion.”

  “Cool beans.” Mia flipped off her shoes and pulled on her pads and skates. She got up and took to the track.

  He watched her take on more speed. She angled her body and practiced adjusting her crossovers. She rolled into the office, watched for a bit, and rolled out again and moved on to turns. She worked like this until she could confidently maneuver around the track.

  “I think that Gates will need to come here and let you adjust for her weight and agility. But you’ve created an awesome skate,” she said. “I have to work on my core. I’m not dealing with the gravity well. I almost wiped out. I can’t imagine trying to do that with other people on the track trying to stop you.”