by Y G Maupin
Carla moved among the people standing around. No one on the verge of dying, nothing around to use to make someone kill themselves. She saw a couple of men with guns on belts but she had tried that the first night. Shit, it took her and Todd eight hours just to get those two to shoot at themselves and she got shafted. She recognized one of the women standing around the edges. She had been a nurse at the doctor's office that had tried to get her in trouble. She totally deserved to die. Inching closer she noticed she was holding a little boy's hand. Carla stopped. She knew that the couple they had killed earlier had kids, They had argued about them with each other. But this was different. She didn’t want to make the little boy cry.
Pissed she walked closer to town until she got to the town square and decided to loiter in the little veterans park in the middle. All four sides of the square had small store fronts. A barber shop, a few boutiques and a sandwich shop. A few were shuttered with Coming Soon signs in the dusty windows. Mac Johnson, Realtor was the one responsible for not having placed tenants in the buildings. She noticed that the realty office was also located in the square. She sat on the edge of the empty water fountain. It would be running again in a week. For now it was still full of dry dusty leaves that hadn’t been emptied since winter had ended. She decided she would wait for something else to happen nearby or for the sun to have gone down, whichever happened first. Killing was easier in the dark, she thought. Even though no one could see her, the process of finding your target and getting the task done just felt right in the dark.
Carla thought about what she might come back as. No one had any idea where they landed once they had been successful and made the jump. But also no one had said there would be others on this side trying to stop them, and that these others had powers. That fat pharmacist had been something else. Would have never guessed she had some kind of supernatural powers. But instead of her head spinning, her whole body went for a ride. Carla had had enough of that mess and had moved on. She didn't want to come back as a baby and have to do the whole school thing again. But she also didn't want to come back as some middle aged woman like the one she had watched die. She had looked miserable and like she had given up on life anyway, so it was good that they had picked her to die. Carla hoped she was rich when she came back, and if she wasn't, she knew how to get rich. Be a woman. She hoped that whatever she came back as, that she was still a woman. She didn't want to have a penis and work. She would rather have a lovely vagina that men would fight over and lay around eating candy and getting pedicures. That was the whole point, wasn't it? To live a good life, given the chance again. She sighed and looked at the clock tower in the square. It was 4:15 and the sun would be setting in half an hour. She would be ready by then.
Sarah entered the downstairs room to find Alice changing the sheets. “ What on earth are you doing with those sheets, my love?” she asked as she watched Alice move around like a fury.
“Godfrey is very particular about where he sleeps. I was making sure we had a higher thread count sheet set on here.” she huffed as she struggled with the fitted sheet. Sarah helped her from the other side.
“I find it interesting that you know his sleeping preferences,” Sarah joked, knowing full well the past that those two had shared.
“Oh please, I remember passing up many suitable hotels on our way to Memphis for a conference with him because he knew which hotels had the best linens. Longest car trip of my life,” Alice muttered. Sarah sat on the stuffed bench at the end of the bed.
“And just what do we expect him to help us with?” she asked, looking for clarity. Alice waved her arms in the air in great circular motions as if she was gathering reasons to share with Sarah.
Exploding she replied, “Well we need more help, Sarah! He’s the only one at the present time I feel safe discussing this with. Do you think that it's that simple to call someone up in the Metroplex and say, hey fellow crafter, do you happen to have some time to drop what you're doing and come out to the country and help us with some spirit work? And by the way while you’re helping us, which we don't know what we need to do or how to find out how to do it, your life may also be in danger. How does that sound?” she replied.
Sarah just stared at her partner. “You’re right. How is it that our community could be so vast and diverse yet we keep to ourselves and hide away our problems?”
Alice replaced pillowcases. “All communities do that. The higher the price of pride, the harder it is to seek assistance. It's detrimental to the advancement of us all. The human race may soon come to an end because of it.” Realizing her words she stopped, walked over to the slim woman at the end of the bed and gently kissed her cheek. “We are going to find something. We just need to understand that there may be sacrifice and loss along the way. We need to be ready for that too. Whether it's between us, or one of the women downstairs. Now help me move this table and chair over away from the windows, He doesn't like to have open windows. He prefers the curtains to be drawn.”
“What, is he a vampire?” Sarah laughed.
Alice stopped pulling on the shutters and slowly turned around. “I don't believe he is. I distinctly recall him playing beach volleyball in the nineties in Miami ,when we served on the press panel for that pagan conference in the Keys.”
“Well you know him best, I guess,” Sarah said, leaving the room, “I’ll go polish the silver.”
T had driven home to change and pack a few essential things to take with her back to the house in town. She still felt it would have been better for them to do the ritual here, especially since there would still be police investigating across the back yard at Olive Henderson’s murder scene.
She really wanted to take a long bath. She loved the claw footed tub that Jackson had installed for them last summer in the master bathroom upstairs. It had been a pain to get it up to the second floor since the stairs were so narrow and tight that they eventually had to draw it up through the french doors of their balcony.
“Oh I love it, Jackson! It's so luxurious and large,” she exclaimed, when he had shown off the work they had done while she had been out of town.
“I'm glad you like it. I don't know what I would have done if I had to take it out,” he laughed, as she playfully socked him.
“You’re too good to me, Jackson Paget,” she murmured, pulling him close to her and kissing his soft lips.
“You’re worth bringing down the moon for, baby.”
T found a duffel bag that Sharon had brought back from Guatemala several years back and was surprised to find some maracas inside. She left them in there and added some clothes for herself and tossed it on the bed to finish finding some of her jars. Once showered and dressed, she placed her necklaces and rings that she had bought throughout the years that made her feel powerful and invincible. Dress the part and you will succeed, she believed, which is why she smiled when she had seen Birdie. There is strength in your glamour. The ability to bewitch. She needed everything she had in her arsenal to fight whatever fight was coming their way. The cat purred at her feet. Should she take her? Would that be a bad idea? No, she thought, but then yes. She would take her and scooping her up and slinging the duffel bag over her shoulder, she walked to the stairs, She passed the full length mirror and saw her reflection. She looked like a wild woman selling potions on the back roads. Winking at the mirror she went downstairs and out the door.
Twenty Six
It was a quarter to five and all but Sharon had made it back. Parking in the rear of the house near the alley, T ran into Sarah who was taking out trash. They walked in together slowly, so that they could share some quiet time before it became bedlam. It had been Sarah’s idea.
“She’s running around like a mad woman for a man, I try to forget that kind of life, but it's also funny coming from her.” Sarah smiled, telling T about Alice’s preparations for Godfrey’s arrival.
T smiled. She remembered being that way for Jackson. Running around the house, cleaning or setting the table when she had cooked so
mething special. But she had never really known what Sarah’s experience had been. She never talked about her past, but it was clear that it was painful.
“I’m sorry if this is inappropriate to ask, but did Alice ever have a relationship with a man before you?” T inquired, as they wound through the garden to the gate.
“Oh no, I think she knew which side her bread was buttered on from early on. She went to Catholic school when she was in elementary, so it was already ingrained in her to stay away from men and sex. It was a boarding school up north. I can’t be sure of it but in junior high is when the “experimenting” happened that she eventually had to change schools,” Sarah replied.
“Oh?”
“Well, yes. You see, Alice has never been one to back down from shame so when tickling turned to touching and then other things, the other participant got cold feet and pushed her away. That’s another thing you don't do to Alice; push her away. She confronted the other student in the school yard and they were mocked and bullied relentlessly. Oh, Alice, shrugged it off like she had always done but this little girl became a basket case. They both changed schools during the winter break and they never saw each other again. Alice’s parents could afford to move her around, which they did at least two other times in high school.”
“Wait,” T interrupted. “So you mean to say that Alice spent all her time away at boarding schools? What about the summers?”
“Summer Camp. Tennis Camp, Study abroad, when she was a teen. You see her parents knew she was different early on, in many ways, not just the sexual way. They didn't know what to do with her exactly when she was little. When she got much older, when they were able to see that she could converse and speak with discretion, she was invited home more often but she didn’t go. She would have loved to have gone home as a little girl. But by the time she was fifteen, she was already jaded about loving families and society’s expectations. She went home the summer before college and never returned as their child.” Sarah explained.
T felt a sadness for the woman. She could see how numbing herself to connections and family ties had helped her achieve success in her field several times over. But she could also sense some sadness and why she would seek out friendships like their little coven had become. T was grateful for it.
Inside the other women were sitting around the study. Birdie was talking with Beryl and Alice and Anesta sat to one side, alone.
T walked up to her. “How ya doin? Did she leave?”
Anesta nodded.
“Do you need some more time alone?” T asked. Anesta nodded again and T went to the other side of the room when Sharon burst in.
“Guys I mean girls I mean Ladies!” she was out of breath. “There have been at least ten other deaths since Olive and her husband last night!” The women exclaimed in surprise and shock, as Sharon made her way into the room, dropping her satchel at the doorway.
“Yes, Randall, you know my husband, was telling me that they are so short staffed, that they can’t keep up with the bodies. Most of them appear like suicides, but at first they were wondering if it was a serial killer but that quickly ended because so many times the bodies were found inside locked homes or they actually did kill themselves by throwing themselves from the roof or jumping in front of a train,” Beryl gasped.
“Oh yeah, “ Sharon continued. “That happened about an hour ago. Almost made the train derail to avoid hitting the guy. It was some realtor that’s all over town.”
“Travis?” Birdie stepped in quickly, worried about her Mother.
“No, the other guy. Mac. They used to call him Big Mac because he was so short. Train ran right over him. The conductor was taken to the hospital with shock. No one else was really hurt, it was one of those freight trains. Anyway, this is blowing up, ladies. I mean, there are dead people popping up everywhere.” Sharon sat down to catch her breath.
Alice turned to the coven. “Witches. We need to prepare ourselves. Godfrey will be here soon and he will want to start right away.”
“Not without a drink first, you slave driver!” They all turned to the direction of the voice. A tall thin man with whitish blonde hair stood in the entryway.
“Godfrey, you devil! You really know how to make an entrance!” Alice exclaimed, and went in for a long embrace.
The man Alice had referred to as a Devil made quite a cutting figure perched at the end of an overstuffed high back chair. His slender fingers brought the delicate bone china tea cup to his lips, which Beryl could swear were lined with lip liner. He wore a dark gray linen suit with a deep purple pocket square and his socks were thin purple as well, so thin they looked like stockings, which they probably were.
Alice sat at the edge of an ottoman, chin in her hand and a crazy grin on her face.
“I can't believe I actually got you out here, you ol’ son of a bitch,” she smiled.
“Oh I can't believe it either. Trust me, I packed a few parasols, several bottles of misting spray, and even more bottles of malbec. Believe me when I say, I will embalm myself so as not to give the spirits any chance of killing me first,” he laughed.
“What time should we start?” Anesta asked.
Godfrey hooted.”Well, we are in a hurry, aren't we?” he laughed gently, setting down the teacup at the table beside him. “Tell me, what reason do you have for us to move forward so quickly with so little preparation?”
Anesta drew herself up and folded her arms. “Because my sister came across the veil to warn us all, and now she has gone back to retrieve more information and I'm hoping this wasn't a wild goose chase for her. I’m just hoping she makes it back.”
He looked up at her with confusion. “Your sister. You mean to say your sister crossed the veil from death over to the living side to warn you that this was about to happen? Is this a normal trip for your sister?” he asked perplexed.
“Coming to this side, yes. If it was to come see me. Going back with a mission to uncover more information to help us stop this, no. This is new.”
Godfrey sat back in the chair. “Ok. I want to know everything that everyone here already knows. Don't skip anything or leave anything out because you think it might not be important. The more information we have, the better off we are tonight. So sit back and relax for now. This is going to be a very long night.
The ladies and Godfrey took a break after 45 minutes had passed. Godfrey had needed a moment to digest the majority of what they had explained and the women needed to get up, walk around and refill their drinks before starting over again.
Godfrey was quietly conferring with Alice in a corner and everyone else had decided to go to the kitchen, so Sharon took out her cell to see if Randy had messaged her. Nothing.
She was worried about him since they had last spoken. Not only was he overworked and tired from the overload in work that the whole department was going through, but he was shaken along with the psychological factors of so many deaths in their town. She could see in his face that he was worried, mostly because he didn't know how to respond to so many unexplainable and random deaths along with watching his coworkers go through the same as well. They were a small town police department that only saw death maybe two or three times a year, mostly from car accidents or the occasional drug overdose. They were not used to people killing each other. Sharon decided to leave him a message. Voicemails were rarely ever listened to by anyone, but she wanted to speak these words to him, even though she knew he would be busy, maybe he would have a moment to hear it.
“Hi babe, I just wanted to leave you a message and let me start by saying, I’m ok, nothing’s wrong. I'm still here with the girls and we’ll probably just stay together tonight to keep each other company. We’ve all been through some bad times with everything that's going on but you already know that too. I know you are busy tonight. I’ll be home in time in the morning to hug and kiss you and make you a wonderful breakfast. Baby, I want you to know that I love you and I’m always here for you. Please be safe. Bye.”
Sharon hu
ng up and wondered if he would see that he had missed her call and would call her back instead of listening to the voicemail. Damn. She should have just texted. Oh well, she wanted to speak her words. Hopefully he was too busy to call at the time.
The police department was crowded with people. Mostly FBI field agents, a few camera and news people and a pizza guy. Trevor the pizza guy from Little Italy pizza was waiting on his payment at the end of the counter having just delivered five pepperoni, four specials and five salads. Ronnie the dispatcher finally got around to handing him the cash.
“Man, I’ve never been this busy. Even the night before Thanksgiving isn't this rough.” he said, folding the cash and sticking it in his pocket. His curly hair barely contained by his red Little Italy cap.
Ronnie looked at him with little sympathy. “Right. Try responding to everything that's been coming in these last forty eight hours. Nothing but crazies and the full moon isn't until tomorrow. It will probably be worse.”
