one side and looks at me like she’s got a question.
Before she can even speak, I stop her. “Don’t talk, just listen. If anyone needs me that isn’t you or Frank, I’m dead or not here. Nothing disturbs me, or gets me out of the shower or the bed until tomorrow. Nothing.”
I don’t look back, but I can feel her bewildered stare on me as I continue up the stairs. Right now, I really don’t care.
The moans coming from the rooms I pass in the upstairs hallway usually conjure deliciously wicked mental images in my head.
The sounds of this place make me love what I do. Now they only take me back to where I was this evening and make me want to wretch.
I really can’t get to the shower fast enough.
CHAPTER 10
THE SIKES FUNERAL HOME HAS never been one of my favorite places. Not under the best of circumstances. It’s older than me, and full of energy that can be felt radiating off of it like a giant Tesla coil. It gives me the creeps and I have to stand outside for more than fifteen minutes just to build up the nerve to go in.
I find the side door on the rear of the building unlocked as always. That much is familiar. The light switch inside the door does nothing, so I stand still for a moment letting my eyes adjust. I can feel something watching me, like an animal in the darkness, and I am suddenly aware of every hair on my body. This is what they’re talking about when they say a hunter is hunted.
It takes only a moment for my eyes to adjust to the lack of light in the building. The doorway to the main parlor is plainly in view. Moving forward, my hand finds the knob and turns slowly to avoid making any unnecessary noise.
Inching into the room, it’s clear something is wrong here. There’s a tingling sensation up my legs and back before I can even really focus on the parlor’s details. There are silhouettes of people, but I can see through them. It’s like shadows were cast and left behind to do as they please. Lost in the surreal sight of them for a moment, I inch further into the room without noticing that some were now moving behind me.
There is no warning. I’m suddenly in the air, and moving backward rapidly toward the wall. It’s almost a full second before my body registers the actual pain of the blow my stomach just took. Being hit by a car doesn’t even compare to this, and I didn’t even see it coming.
“For a shadow, you hit like a sledgehammer!” The words barely escape before something else slams into the base of my skull, imbedding most of my upper body in the wall and all but removing my head. These things are like Lucy; the disembodied dead who haven’t moved on. I’ve never met others that can actually touch things physically; they must be fairly potent.
I pull my face out of the hole it had been planted in, letting plaster dust fall, coating my chest and legs like snow. Looking around quickly I try to gauge my surroundings. I can’t see them, but I know they’re there. Is one easy night without a huge dry-cleaning bill too much to ask for these days?
I only have time to dwell on it a moment before my head is bouncing off the hardwood floor; once, twice, and then a third time in quick succession. Now ‘pick splinters out of my forehead’ can be added to my Saturday night to-do list. Damn it, this is not going as planned.
I drag myself up and stand, shaking with rage, in the center of the room. The shadows are moving all around me. “Look!” I yell. “I’m not here to disturb you… whoever you are. I don’t want any trouble. I’m looking for a little girl named Rachel. I’m friends with Lucy. She comes here off and on to meet other spirits. She told me that. I can’t find her lately either, and I’m worried. If you know anything that can help me, I’ll thank you and be on my way.”
The shadows start to close in like the lights in the room were a dying fire. There’s a chill in the air around them and I can feel the temperature dropping drastically the
Before she can even speak, I stop her. “Don’t talk, just listen. If anyone needs me that isn’t you or Frank, I’m dead or not here. Nothing disturbs me, or gets me out of the shower or the bed until tomorrow. Nothing.”
I don’t look back, but I can feel her bewildered stare on me as I continue up the stairs. Right now, I really don’t care.
The moans coming from the rooms I pass in the upstairs hallway usually conjure deliciously wicked mental images in my head.
The sounds of this place make me love what I do. Now they only take me back to where I was this evening and make me want to wretch.
I really can’t get to the shower fast enough.
CHAPTER 10
THE SIKES FUNERAL HOME HAS never been one of my favorite places. Not under the best of circumstances. It’s older than me, and full of energy that can be felt radiating off of it like a giant Tesla coil. It gives me the creeps and I have to stand outside for more than fifteen minutes just to build up the nerve to go in.
I find the side door on the rear of the building unlocked as always. That much is familiar. The light switch inside the door does nothing, so I stand still for a moment letting my eyes adjust. I can feel something watching me, like an animal in the darkness, and I am suddenly aware of every hair on my body. This is what they’re talking about when they say a hunter is hunted.
It takes only a moment for my eyes to adjust to the lack of light in the building. The doorway to the main parlor is plainly in view. Moving forward, my hand finds the knob and turns slowly to avoid making any unnecessary noise.
Inching into the room, it’s clear something is wrong here. There’s a tingling sensation up my legs and back before I can even really focus on the parlor’s details. There are silhouettes of people, but I can see through them. It’s like shadows were cast and left behind to do as they please. Lost in the surreal sight of them for a moment, I inch further into the room without noticing that some were now moving behind me.
There is no warning. I’m suddenly in the air, and moving backward rapidly toward the wall. It’s almost a full second before my body registers the actual pain of the blow my stomach just took. Being hit by a car doesn’t even compare to this, and I didn’t even see it coming.
“For a shadow, you hit like a sledgehammer!” The words barely escape before something else slams into the base of my skull, imbedding most of my upper body in the wall and all but removing my head. These things are like Lucy; the disembodied dead who haven’t moved on. I’ve never met others that can actually touch things physically; they must be fairly potent.
I pull my face out of the hole it had been planted in, letting plaster dust fall, coating my chest and legs like snow. Looking around quickly I try to gauge my surroundings. I can’t see them, but I know they’re there. Is one easy night without a huge dry-cleaning bill too much to ask for these days?
I only have time to dwell on it a moment before my head is bouncing off the hardwood floor; once, twice, and then a third time in quick succession. Now ‘pick splinters out of my forehead’ can be added to my Saturday night to-do list. Damn it, this is not going as planned.
I drag myself up and stand, shaking with rage, in the center of the room. The shadows are moving all around me. “Look!” I yell. “I’m not here to disturb you… whoever you are. I don’t want any trouble. I’m looking for a little girl named Rachel. I’m friends with Lucy. She comes here off and on to meet other spirits. She told me that. I can’t find her lately either, and I’m worried. If you know anything that can help me, I’ll thank you and be on my way.”
The shadows start to close in like the lights in the room were a dying fire. There’s a chill in the air around them and I can feel the temperature dropping drastically the
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