Awareness
Chapter 2
Two—Ghosts and Angels
Later that night, my mother kissed me goodbye and promised to be back early in the morning. I had to clasp my hands together to keep from grabbing her and begging her not to leave me. I didn’t want to be alone. But I was too old to act like a baby.
It was just all too crazy. I wasn’t prepared to handle it with people all around me during the daylight. How the hell was I supposed to handle it at night with no one—no one alive, that is—here?
Biting my tongue, I waved goodbye as she walked out the door. Then, I counted. One-one-thousand, two-one thousand, three . . . nothing. Maybe I had only been hallucinating. Nope, I had quit counting too soon.
“Hi there! Miss me?” His voice almost made me jump completely out of the bed.
Gasping, I turned to look at the boy I had seen earlier, now perched precariously at the foot of the mattress. “Don’t do that!” I growled. “You scared my heart half out of my chest!”
He tilted his head, considering my words and looking at the vicinity around my heart. “Still looks like it’s beating in place to me.”
I fought the urge to throw my pillow at him. Instead, I tried the calm, I-don’t-believe-in-you approach. “You are a figment of my imagination. I am going to sleep now and you . . .” I grumbled, pointing at him, “. . . are going to go invade someone else’s nightmares.”
He actually looked insulted. “Hey!” he pointed back, “I’m here to give you a quick lesson. You had better be nice, because I’m not going to help you at all if you’re gonna act like that!”
I groaned, shaking my head. “You are not real! I hit my head and I am just hallucinating!” I pointed, wagging my finger at him. “I don’t need a lesson. I need to get some sleep so tomorrow they’ll decide they can let me go home.” I rolled my eyes. “You’re younger than me anyway. What could you possibly teach me?”
He crossed his arms in front of his chest. “I happen to have died back in nineteen eighty two,” he said with a smirk. “That makes me older than you on so many levels!”
I stared at him in a mixture of stunned silence and growing panic. This was not happening! I couldn’t be sitting here in a hospital room, talking to a ghost who died the year before I was born! I had been born in ninety-three. I was sixteen. This ghost had died eleven years before I was even born. No! I refused to do the math! I hate math.
Instead, I shook my head. “That doesn’t mean anything. You died when you were younger than me. So, you are eternally younger than I am.”
It was his turn to roll eyes. “Oh brother. Chick, you are so frazzle-headed.” He sighed, hopping off the end of the bed, and moving to sit in the chair beside me instead. “Look, I’m sorry I can’t just throw off the kid personification and look like some gorgeous hunk you might take halfway seriously. But the fact is: I was chosen to show you what to expect.” He held up his hand to stop me when I opened my mouth. “I don’t know why they chose me. They just did.”
He hunched his shoulders and slipped down into the chair, looking up at the television, which had been left on. Bart Simpson was playing some trick on his sister. “I wish they’d bring back Fantasy Island. Now that was T.V. worth watching,” he mumbled, shaking his head.
Baffled, I formed an O with my mouth, before recovering. “What’s Fantasy Island?”
He glanced at me from the corner of his eye. “Well, obviously it was before your time.”
Now, I’d like to say I really didn’t give a damn. It meant nothing to me that I could see ghosts. I wasn’t that kid from Sixth Sense, and I would NEVER tell anyone, Hey! Guess what? I see dead people. That just wasn’t happening.
But I couldn’t help myself; I was curious. “Okay, so explain it to me then. I’m listening.” Maybe it would just be a fast explanation and then it would be over. I would be free to move on with my life. Please let me move on with my life!
He looked at me for a few minutes, and then sat up in the chair. I nearly laughed in spite of myself when his feet didn’t touch the ground. I mean, how do you take a prepubescent ghost seriously when he can’t even put his feet on the ground in an adult-sized chair?
“Now, you need to understand. Normally, you wouldn’t see me,” he stated simply.
“Nah, really?” I cut in with my usual snide humor. I would’ve laughed, but the look he gave me made me think better of it.
Luckily, he continued, instead of chastising me for interrupting. “Since the kind of accident you had was nearly fatal, the veil has been lifted, and you’ve come back with a certain . . .” He paused, as if searching for the right word. Then he smiled and continued, “. . . Awareness.”
I frowned at him, absently playing with the sheet on my bed. When he didn’t immediately continue his story, I queried, “So what? Is it permanent?”
He nodded. “I’m afraid so. Once a person’s veil has been lifted, it can’t simply be slid back into place. A change occurs, and there is no fixing it.”
This was NOT what I wanted to hear. “You can’t be serious! I don’t want to be like this. How will I ever fit in with my friends again?” I pouted, raising my voice without thinking.
He brought his finger to his lips, shushing me. Only after I’d been quiet for almost a full minute did he answer. “Did you ever consider maybe instead of fitting in, you were meant to stand out?”
Huffing angrily, I muttered. “I hadn’t considered much else past getting an apartment after graduation next year and applying to colleges.” As soon as I’d spoken, images of ghosts following me through the college halls floated through my mind and I sat up, panicking.
“No!” I reached for him but my hand only closed on empty air. “There has to be a way to get rid of this. I-I can’t function like this!”
The boy sat back in the chair, looking me over worriedly. “Girl, you honestly don’t have a clue, do you? Ghosts,” he chuckled humorlessly as he gestured to himself, “are just the tip of the iceberg here.” He crossed his arms over his chest again. “You haven’t even seen the rest yet.”
Deflated, I fell back against the headboard. “There’s more?” Oh, whichever Angel might be closest, please help me. I had to have lost my mind. That was the only sane answer.
If I had thought ghosts were beyond the realm of sanity, that I knew no way of coming to terms with what came next. Just because I called out to an Angel didn’t mean I actually wanted one to appear!
“That’s all right, Mark. I’ll take it from here,” a deep male voice interrupted softly.
Turning toward the voice I dropped my jaw when a guy that looked closer to my age, with shoulder length blond hair, dark blue eyes and huge white wings stepped out of the shadows. I would have screamed, but I was interrupted by the boy who had been sitting in the chair.
“Well, I tried, Zeke. She just isn’t open to accepting it yet.” He stopped and looked back at me accusingly, lowering his voice. “I know the Big Guy never makes a mistake, but do you think He didn’t think this one through?”
Zeke continued making eye contact with me, but smiled at the boy’s question. “Of course He did, Marky. He always has a plan.”
Mark huffed and rolled his eyes. “Well, I’m glad He has a plan, because I’m a little short on faith for this one.”
Looking from the Angel guy to Mark, I stuck my tongue out. Who had asked him, anyway? I was still pretty sure this was all a dream.
Turning my eyes back to Zeke, I gave him a half-hearted smile. Yeah, this was definitely a dream. But with the winged Adonis suddenly here, I was a little less intent on waking up.
When Mark disappeared, the Angel, if that is what he really was, moved to sit at the foot of my bed. He offered me a kind smile and surprised me with a question. “Becca, do you believe there are people in this world who are gifted with psychic abilities?”
Now, I hadn’t been expecting that. Okay, so I hadn’t been expecting any of this. But that? No, definitely not on my list. And when did I tell him my name? I sighed, running my hands through my bed head hair. Did I believe there were people with psychic abilities? Hmm . . . let me think.
I looked at him and nodded slowly. “Well, yeah. A little, I guess.”
His smile grew. “And do you believe there are things in this world you cannot see?”
What was this, twenty questions? “Sure,” I responded flatly.
“Really?” he asked with a raised eyebrow.
I groaned loudly. “What does this have to do with anything?”
He leaned a little toward me, and I felt suddenly drawn to his eyes. No, drawn isn’t the right word. Hypnotized was closer to how I was feeling; drawn in, surrounded, embraced. He had such pretty eyes. They were the most beautiful color of blue; such a deep color of blue, they were almost purple. My favorite color is purple . . .
I felt myself leaning toward him. I could handle getting closer. I wasn’t feeling quite as panicked now. No, I was more relaxed and not bothered in the least bit about being able to see ghosts. What was the big deal about that anyway? No, getting closer to this relaxing, cozy person with the gorgeous eyes was fine with me; a really nice idea, in fact. But then . . . he had to say something and go ruining the moment.
“The only difference between psychic people and non-psychic people is that a portion of the psychics’ brains that are, for one reason or another, unlocked.”
Understanding dawned. He was explaining what was happening to me. Why hadn’t I realized that to start with? “Oh! I get it!” I smiled, sitting back a little and preparing myself. “Well, let’s fix it then.”
He quirked an eyebrow at me, “Fix what?” he asked.
I now had another one of those sinking feelings in the pit of my stomach. “Me.” I answered. “Aren’t we going to lock whatever got unlocked so I can get back to normal?”
Zeke sighed, shaking his head. “Becca, you are supposed to be this way. You’ve been chosen for a very special future, and you cannot have it without this part of you being unlocked.”
Well, wasn’t this just peachy? First, I discover that not only are ghosts real; but so are psychics. Oh, and guess what? I get to be one.
Unsure I really understood, I asked, “What special future?” I shook my head. “I didn’t ask for any special future. I just wanted to get my diploma, find a good college, and get on with my life.”
He smiled at me as if humoring a stubborn child, and despite his beauty, I was really starting to get peeved. The next words out of his mouth cinched it.
“You will understand it all, in time.” With that, he got up, offered me a farewell wave, and I felt the worry coming back. I reached out to him in a plea not to leave but it was too late. He had already disappeared. Like, poof! Gone! Never really there to begin with!
For a moment I just sat there, staring after him, feeling very alone and more than just a little frustrated. Growling, I tossed the extra pillow on my bed at the wall closest to where he’d been standing. Looking around for a few minutes, I waited to see if someone else was going to come in and invade my world. When nothing happened, I said aloud, “Don’t come back! Any of you!”
I glanced at the clock. The time was twelve-thirty. And these people in this hospital would think I should willingly wake up for breakfast at seven in the morning! UGH!
Turning, I lay down in the bed and hugged the remaining pillow to me. Breathing deeply, I released a pent up sigh of frustration and closed my eyes. I must still be delirious. I’d feel better after I got some sleep. Right?
The shadows that had danced along the walls earlier came back that night. They were joined again by voices . . . so many voices I decided I was going to be crazy before morning.
All night they danced across the walls, having conversations I didn’t want to be privy to. I covered my face with the pillow at one point, praying for sleep to come. Surely I could get some sleep. Didn’t I deserve some?
I had always believed it was the normal sounds that kept people awake at night. Like the beeping noise that comes when someone uses the button to summon a nurse. What’s that called again? Oh yeah, a call light. Man, what I wouldn’t have given for a call light going off right about now. I could have slept through that.
Instead, I was bombarded by these voices. They were speaking right in my ear, overwhelming and confusing me; and they were loud and obnoxious. Not in the background somewhere. How could I possibly ignore them? I didn’t have an inkling of a clue.
It wasn’t even like they were trying to make me understand them. No, they weren’t even taking turns. They were all just speaking in my ear. Imagine going to a retail television store. Now, imagine every set on a different station and the volume turned all the way up on all of them. Sheesh! No wonder I couldn’t sleep!
Finally giving up, I turned the television back on and tried to focus on it instead. Somewhere in between the reruns of Family Matters and The Cosby Show, I finally dozed off.
Chapter 6
So, after I had washed up and gotten dressed, I met my
mom in the kitchen. The smell of fresh pancakes and bacon made my stomach growl
in appreciation. I smiled as I moved to where she stood beside the
stove.
Impulsively, I wrapped my arms around her from behind and
hugged her tight. “I love you,
Momma.”
She chuckled and returned my embrace. “I love you too,
cutie.” She patted my cheek. “Now sit down and I’ll serve you some of this food
and we can eat before I have to
go.”
My head tilted in alarm. “You’re leaving?” I didn’t mean
for that to sound as desperate as I’m sure it
did.
She gave me a funny look before nodding. “Well, yes,
Rebecca. I have to get back to work. I’ve already missed a week with you in the
hospital and all.” She put the platter of pancakes on the table next to the
bacon and moved to pour me some juice. “They aren’t going to hold my job
indefinitely.”
“Oh.” I tried not to sound desolate, but I was anything
but excited at the idea of being left to my own thoughts and the voices of the
unseen all day. Sitting down, I reminded myself that Mom had cooked especially
for me, so I had to eat it now. It didn’t matter if my stomach was
churning.
Nonchalantly I asked, “So what time will you be
home?”
She looked up to meet my gaze as she poured her syrup.
With a perplexed smile, she answered,“The usual time. Around five-thirty.”
Setting down the bottle, she asked, “Are you sure you’re okay? You’re starting
to worry me.”
I recovered my nerve. “Oh, I’m fine, Mom. I just . . . I
guess I was looking forward to spending a little more time with you before
everything had to get back to
normal.”
That was a joke! Things would never ever, ever
be normal again. But I couldn’t tell her that. I couldn’t burden her with the
craziness that was now my life.
She offered me a pouty look and sighed. “I know, honey,
but you don’t have to stay alone. You can call one of your girlfriends over. I
bet any one of them would love to come be with you
today.”
Not
if they knew what I could do now,
they wouldn’t, I thought with
disgust. Oh, well, Rachel might be fine with it. But I didn’t want to burden
her. Inwardly, I cringed.
Outwardly, I nodded. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.” I
forced a smile onto my face and took a big bite of sickly sweet pancakes. YUM!
When we finished eating, Mom went to work and I kept
myself calm by doing the dishes. I focused on the task, using it as a way to
keep myself from hearing the voices any louder than I already was. Maybe
I should call Rachel--
A loud banging noise came from my room. I jumped and
turned to stare at the bedroom door, which was now closed. I had left it open
when I went to sit with mom for breakfast. I knew I
had.
Slowly, I moved toward the closed door, holding my
dishtowel in a defensive position. Okay,
so I had no idea what harm I could do a ghost or whatever with a dishtowel, but
come on . . . Would you be
thinking straight if you were so scared your teeth were
chattering?
I stopped when I reached my door. I stood there, frozen,
just staring at the doorknob. What if it was the thing from last night? What if
it was another thing I didn’t know anything about yet? What was I supposed to do
to fight it? Armed with a dishtowel? I
mean, seriously!
I stood for several more seconds, pondering throwing open
the door and facing my fears. But, in the interim, I decided to leave the door
closed. I wasn’t ready for anything else to jump out at me
yet.
Resolutely, I turned and made my way back to the kitchen.
With a sigh, I hung the towel up and started to turn, just to have my heart try
to stop on me for the second time in twenty-four
hours.
“Hey! She can
clean!”
I tried to scream for all I was worth, but I sounded more
like a squeaky toy. Blindly I grabbed for the first thing I could find. It
wasn’t much better than the dishtowel. I mean, let’s be real! A Mickey Mouse
coffee cup wasn’t going to intimidate anyone. I felt a second of building
hysteria before it dawned on me who had
spoken.
I was enormously relieved to see Marky sitting on the
cabinet, looking at me with a ready smile.“So? How was your first night back at
home?”
I fought the tears that were already beginning to pool in
my eyes. “Lousy!” I growled. “I spent half the night up staring at the
television in the living room because I couldn’t be in my
room.”
He gave me a confused look. “But when I left, you were
sleeping so well. What
happened?”
I sank into the kitchen chair and told him all about the
night before. He sat listening and remained silent for several more minutes even
after I finished by telling him about my bedroom door slamming just minutes
before. I had to keep looking to make sure he was still there, he was so
quiet.
When he spoke, it was with a soft voice devoid of his
usual humor. “I should have stayed.” He felt guilty. I could
tell.
I sighed. “Don’t feel bad, Mark. It wasn’t your fault. I
just need to find out what that thing
was, and what I need to do to keep it from coming back.” I shuddered at the
thought. “I don’t want it to come
back.”
He hopped off the counter he’d been sitting on and made a
‘come on’ gesture. “Well, let’s start by checking out your
room.”
I dropped my jaw at him and shook my head frantically.
“No! What if . . .” I lowered my voice, suddenly worried it might hear me. “what
if it’s in there?”
Marky gave me a patient smile but spoke gently, as if
soothing a child. “Then we call Zeke.” He chuckled. “Trust me, if he isn’t
available, he’ll just send someone
bigger.”
I would have argued, but he had already turned and was at
my door before I could think of an appropriate response. “Come on, Becca. The
best way to overcome your fear, is to face
it.”
Even as I moved to stand beside him at the entrance to my
room, I smirked. “That was all easy for him to say. He could poof out of
whatever trouble he got himself into. Me? I couldn’t even scream
properly!
Squaring my shoulders, I took a deep breath before
releasing it and twisting the knob. As the door swung open, Marcy and I were
greeted by nothing. No bad smell. No dark shadow, nothing there to even slightly
seem intimidating. What the
hell?
Marky kept me company for the rest of the day. He stayed
close to me and helped me keep from getting freaked out when I would feel a
spirit come close. It still unnerved me, but it was easier to bear with him
there. He helped keep the mood light and cracked jokes to keep me from feeling
too overwhelmed.
When my mother finally got home, I was feeling much
better. I had taken it upon myself to straighten the living room and then start
fixing supper and was just finishing the noodles for the spaghetti when she came
in.
“Oh, something smells wonderful,” she exclaimed when she
entered the kitchen.
I laughed,“That’s the garlic
bread.”
She dropped her purse on the table. “So how are you
feeling? Better than this morning, I
hope?”
I glanced at Marky who was at the opposite side of the
kitchen. He made a zipper sign across his mouth, whispering, “Remember, I’m not
here.” he winked. “I’ll be back later.” With that he was gone. Poof! Just like
he always seemed to like to do.
I smiled before turning back to her. “I’m great. I did
better than I thought I would, being home
alone.”
She smiled and moved to sit at the table as I brought the
food to it. “Well, I see you straightened up the house. Thanks for that. You
didn’t have to.”
I shrugged.“That’s okay. It helped to keep me
busy.”
We talked about nothing in particular as we ate. She had
met with the doctor for lunch. He had showed up at her work and insisted on
taking her out. I was happy for her. She was a beautiful woman, and she had
never dated after Dad died. I think some part of her had always felt it would be
cheating on him to move on.
Thoughts of Dad made me curious. If I could speak to the
dead, would I ever see him? I decided that was something I was definitely going
to ask when I was alone with Marky
again.
After we finished supper, we cleaned up together and
watched a movie. It was a rerun we had seen a million times, but it was good, so
we didn’t care. We even made some
popcorn.
She yawned as the news came on, and I knew I was fixing
to lose my company. “You tired,
Mom?”
She cast an apologetic glance at me. “Is it that
obvious?”
I chuckled.“It’s after ten o’clock. You’re usually
running off to bed at half-past nine.”Nudging her, I gave my permission. “Go on.
I am tired, too. I think sleeping half the night on the couch was not a good
idea for me.”
She wrapped me in a hug and kissed my forehead. “I love
you, baby. You get some rest,
okay?”
“I will,” what I meant was:
I’d try.
After she’d left for her room, I finished turning off the
lights and headed for my own room. Pausing at my door, I uttered a silent prayer
that any and all demons would be refused entrance into my house. Maybe God was
listening tonight.
When I opened my door, it wasn’t a demon I found. No. It
was a prince. Sitting stiffly at the foot of my bed and thumbing through my CD
collection.
His long hair was loose and I was shocked to find he
actually was wearing a t-shirt and blue jeans. He almost looked human. If it
hadn’t been for his ears sticking out through his hair, he would
have.
He stopped his perusal of my music as soon as he realized
I was watching him. Instead, he turned to look at me and we simply stared at
each other for what seemed like
forever.
Then he gestured to one CD specifically and smiled. “I
like their music. They have a unique
sound.”
Now, I am not a person who’s struck speechless often. I
always have a comeback. My sharp wit and sarcastic tongue have always been easy
for me to find. But standing there, looking down at the Elf who had only
yesterday made me so mad I could spit, offering a compliment to my taste in
music was enough to make me
mute.
With a sigh, I moved to sit on the foot of my bed and
take the case from him. As I looked it over, I couldn’t help but smile.
Evanescence. Yeah. They certainly did have a unique
style.
Looking back to him, I found myself asking, “Have you
ever listened to Nightwish?”
He arched an eyebrow at my question before shaking his
head. “I do not believe I have heard them,
no.”
I nodded. “They have a similar style, and their music is
really cool.”
He returned my smile, before taking the disk and putting
it back in its holder. “Now, tell me about your unwelcome guest last
night.”
As if he had called the presence into the room, I
shivered. “Do I have to?” I asked softly. I’d just started to get myself to a
point where I could forget the incident. I really didn’t want to go over it
again.
He stood and moved to sit beside me on the bed. “You must
tell me so I can be sure I know what we are watching
for.”
I smirked. I couldn’t help it. Biting my bottom lip for a
moment, I considered how to explain it to him. Well, no better way than to just
dive in. “I didn’t see him. It wasn’t like it was a solid thing I could take a
picture of.” I groaned before continuing. “This was more like a change in the
atmosphere. I woke up feeling like I was going to be murdered in my bed. Whoever
it was in here with me was cruel and wanted to cause me pain.” I met his gaze
and was surprised to see his eyes lit with compassion. Was this even the same
guy who had been such a jerk the night
before?
“But, the craziest part,” I continued, “was the
smell.”
“Sulfur?” he asked
softly.
“Yes,” I answered with a nod. “That’s exactly what it
was.” I released the breath I’d been holding. “I thought the house was on fire,
it was so strong.”
He nodded. “Yes, their smell is rather
strong.”
I turned to meet his gaze. His beautiful green eyes
seemed to soften when I asked, “You know what it was? Was it dangerous? Or was
it just something that wanted to scare
me?”
He seemed almost reluctant to answer me. “Yes, it wanted
to frighten you. And yes, it is dangerous.” At my quick intake of breath, he
reached out a hand and touched my shoulder and I felt an electric shock run
through me.
He must have felt it as well, because he let go of me as
quickly as he had touched me. As if he’d been burned. I almost asked him what
had just happened, but he started speaking almost immediately. “They are like
demons. But they are lower level and can’t do anything much besides torment
you.”
“Oh, so they are just pests, in other words.” I said with
a nod.
He agreed with a small smile. “Yes. They can do no damage
to you, unless you give them the power to do
so.”
Funny, but the impression I got from that thing the night
before really didn’t fit in with the word, pest. But, I stayed calm. With a nod,
I stood and moved across the room to look out the window. “So I guess there
really is no reason for anyone to guard me.” That should be a
relief.
As soon as I spoke the words, I turned to face him and
saw something flicker in his eyes. Uh-oh, that sinking feeling was coming
back.
“I actually think we will need to keep a very close eye
on you. For a while, at least.” He moved to stand beside me again and I could
feel the electric shock thrumming between us. Once again I backed
up.
“I really don’t want to be a bother. I’d hate to take you
or any of the others away from their normal duties.” Why was he affecting me
like this? I felt all shaky, and his eyes watching me made me
nervous.
He smiled at me again, as if he felt my sudden
discomfort. “You are important, Rebecca,” he said softly. “It is our duty to
protect you.”
Okay! I hoped sincerely that I didn’t look like I had
swallowed something bitter. But, who was this guy and what had he done to the
snob from last night? And why had the temperature in the room just gotten ten
degrees hotter?
I was not a coward. I knew something was going on between
this Elf and me. Being the brave, in-your-face, honest person I was, I did the
best thing I could do in that situation. I made an excuse for going to the
bathroom and once inside, I locked the
door.
mom in the kitchen. The smell of fresh pancakes and bacon made my stomach growl
in appreciation. I smiled as I moved to where she stood beside the
stove.
Impulsively, I wrapped my arms around her from behind and
hugged her tight. “I love you,
Momma.”
She chuckled and returned my embrace. “I love you too,
cutie.” She patted my cheek. “Now sit down and I’ll serve you some of this food
and we can eat before I have to
go.”
My head tilted in alarm. “You’re leaving?” I didn’t mean
for that to sound as desperate as I’m sure it
did.
She gave me a funny look before nodding. “Well, yes,
Rebecca. I have to get back to work. I’ve already missed a week with you in the
hospital and all.” She put the platter of pancakes on the table next to the
bacon and moved to pour me some juice. “They aren’t going to hold my job
indefinitely.”
“Oh.” I tried not to sound desolate, but I was anything
but excited at the idea of being left to my own thoughts and the voices of the
unseen all day. Sitting down, I reminded myself that Mom had cooked especially
for me, so I had to eat it now. It didn’t matter if my stomach was
churning.
Nonchalantly I asked, “So what time will you be
home?”
She looked up to meet my gaze as she poured her syrup.
With a perplexed smile, she answered,“The usual time. Around five-thirty.”
Setting down the bottle, she asked, “Are you sure you’re okay? You’re starting
to worry me.”
I recovered my nerve. “Oh, I’m fine, Mom. I just . . . I
guess I was looking forward to spending a little more time with you before
everything had to get back to
normal.”
That was a joke! Things would never ever, ever
be normal again. But I couldn’t tell her that. I couldn’t burden her with the
craziness that was now my life.
She offered me a pouty look and sighed. “I know, honey,
but you don’t have to stay alone. You can call one of your girlfriends over. I
bet any one of them would love to come be with you
today.”
Not
if they knew what I could do now,
they wouldn’t, I thought with
disgust. Oh, well, Rachel might be fine with it. But I didn’t want to burden
her. Inwardly, I cringed.
Outwardly, I nodded. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.” I
forced a smile onto my face and took a big bite of sickly sweet pancakes. YUM!
When we finished eating, Mom went to work and I kept
myself calm by doing the dishes. I focused on the task, using it as a way to
keep myself from hearing the voices any louder than I already was. Maybe
I should call Rachel--
A loud banging noise came from my room. I jumped and
turned to stare at the bedroom door, which was now closed. I had left it open
when I went to sit with mom for breakfast. I knew I
had.
Slowly, I moved toward the closed door, holding my
dishtowel in a defensive position. Okay,
so I had no idea what harm I could do a ghost or whatever with a dishtowel, but
come on . . . Would you be
thinking straight if you were so scared your teeth were
chattering?
I stopped when I reached my door. I stood there, frozen,
just staring at the doorknob. What if it was the thing from last night? What if
it was another thing I didn’t know anything about yet? What was I supposed to do
to fight it? Armed with a dishtowel? I
mean, seriously!
I stood for several more seconds, pondering throwing open
the door and facing my fears. But, in the interim, I decided to leave the door
closed. I wasn’t ready for anything else to jump out at me
yet.
Resolutely, I turned and made my way back to the kitchen.
With a sigh, I hung the towel up and started to turn, just to have my heart try
to stop on me for the second time in twenty-four
hours.
“Hey! She can
clean!”
I tried to scream for all I was worth, but I sounded more
like a squeaky toy. Blindly I grabbed for the first thing I could find. It
wasn’t much better than the dishtowel. I mean, let’s be real! A Mickey Mouse
coffee cup wasn’t going to intimidate anyone. I felt a second of building
hysteria before it dawned on me who had
spoken.
I was enormously relieved to see Marky sitting on the
cabinet, looking at me with a ready smile.“So? How was your first night back at
home?”
I fought the tears that were already beginning to pool in
my eyes. “Lousy!” I growled. “I spent half the night up staring at the
television in the living room because I couldn’t be in my
room.”
He gave me a confused look. “But when I left, you were
sleeping so well. What
happened?”
I sank into the kitchen chair and told him all about the
night before. He sat listening and remained silent for several more minutes even
after I finished by telling him about my bedroom door slamming just minutes
before. I had to keep looking to make sure he was still there, he was so
quiet.
When he spoke, it was with a soft voice devoid of his
usual humor. “I should have stayed.” He felt guilty. I could
tell.
I sighed. “Don’t feel bad, Mark. It wasn’t your fault. I
just need to find out what that thing
was, and what I need to do to keep it from coming back.” I shuddered at the
thought. “I don’t want it to come
back.”
He hopped off the counter he’d been sitting on and made a
‘come on’ gesture. “Well, let’s start by checking out your
room.”
I dropped my jaw at him and shook my head frantically.
“No! What if . . .” I lowered my voice, suddenly worried it might hear me. “what
if it’s in there?”
Marky gave me a patient smile but spoke gently, as if
soothing a child. “Then we call Zeke.” He chuckled. “Trust me, if he isn’t
available, he’ll just send someone
bigger.”
I would have argued, but he had already turned and was at
my door before I could think of an appropriate response. “Come on, Becca. The
best way to overcome your fear, is to face
it.”
Even as I moved to stand beside him at the entrance to my
room, I smirked. “That was all easy for him to say. He could poof out of
whatever trouble he got himself into. Me? I couldn’t even scream
properly!
Squaring my shoulders, I took a deep breath before
releasing it and twisting the knob. As the door swung open, Marcy and I were
greeted by nothing. No bad smell. No dark shadow, nothing there to even slightly
seem intimidating. What the
hell?
Marky kept me company for the rest of the day. He stayed
close to me and helped me keep from getting freaked out when I would feel a
spirit come close. It still unnerved me, but it was easier to bear with him
there. He helped keep the mood light and cracked jokes to keep me from feeling
too overwhelmed.
When my mother finally got home, I was feeling much
better. I had taken it upon myself to straighten the living room and then start
fixing supper and was just finishing the noodles for the spaghetti when she came
in.
“Oh, something smells wonderful,” she exclaimed when she
entered the kitchen.
I laughed,“That’s the garlic
bread.”
She dropped her purse on the table. “So how are you
feeling? Better than this morning, I
hope?”
I glanced at Marky who was at the opposite side of the
kitchen. He made a zipper sign across his mouth, whispering, “Remember, I’m not
here.” he winked. “I’ll be back later.” With that he was gone. Poof! Just like
he always seemed to like to do.
I smiled before turning back to her. “I’m great. I did
better than I thought I would, being home
alone.”
She smiled and moved to sit at the table as I brought the
food to it. “Well, I see you straightened up the house. Thanks for that. You
didn’t have to.”
I shrugged.“That’s okay. It helped to keep me
busy.”
We talked about nothing in particular as we ate. She had
met with the doctor for lunch. He had showed up at her work and insisted on
taking her out. I was happy for her. She was a beautiful woman, and she had
never dated after Dad died. I think some part of her had always felt it would be
cheating on him to move on.
Thoughts of Dad made me curious. If I could speak to the
dead, would I ever see him? I decided that was something I was definitely going
to ask when I was alone with Marky
again.
After we finished supper, we cleaned up together and
watched a movie. It was a rerun we had seen a million times, but it was good, so
we didn’t care. We even made some
popcorn.
She yawned as the news came on, and I knew I was fixing
to lose my company. “You tired,
Mom?”
She cast an apologetic glance at me. “Is it that
obvious?”
I chuckled.“It’s after ten o’clock. You’re usually
running off to bed at half-past nine.”Nudging her, I gave my permission. “Go on.
I am tired, too. I think sleeping half the night on the couch was not a good
idea for me.”
She wrapped me in a hug and kissed my forehead. “I love
you, baby. You get some rest,
okay?”
“I will,” what I meant was:
I’d try.
After she’d left for her room, I finished turning off the
lights and headed for my own room. Pausing at my door, I uttered a silent prayer
that any and all demons would be refused entrance into my house. Maybe God was
listening tonight.
When I opened my door, it wasn’t a demon I found. No. It
was a prince. Sitting stiffly at the foot of my bed and thumbing through my CD
collection.
His long hair was loose and I was shocked to find he
actually was wearing a t-shirt and blue jeans. He almost looked human. If it
hadn’t been for his ears sticking out through his hair, he would
have.
He stopped his perusal of my music as soon as he realized
I was watching him. Instead, he turned to look at me and we simply stared at
each other for what seemed like
forever.
Then he gestured to one CD specifically and smiled. “I
like their music. They have a unique
sound.”
Now, I am not a person who’s struck speechless often. I
always have a comeback. My sharp wit and sarcastic tongue have always been easy
for me to find. But standing there, looking down at the Elf who had only
yesterday made me so mad I could spit, offering a compliment to my taste in
music was enough to make me
mute.
With a sigh, I moved to sit on the foot of my bed and
take the case from him. As I looked it over, I couldn’t help but smile.
Evanescence. Yeah. They certainly did have a unique
style.
Looking back to him, I found myself asking, “Have you
ever listened to Nightwish?”
He arched an eyebrow at my question before shaking his
head. “I do not believe I have heard them,
no.”
I nodded. “They have a similar style, and their music is
really cool.”
He returned my smile, before taking the disk and putting
it back in its holder. “Now, tell me about your unwelcome guest last
night.”
As if he had called the presence into the room, I
shivered. “Do I have to?” I asked softly. I’d just started to get myself to a
point where I could forget the incident. I really didn’t want to go over it
again.
He stood and moved to sit beside me on the bed. “You must
tell me so I can be sure I know what we are watching
for.”
I smirked. I couldn’t help it. Biting my bottom lip for a
moment, I considered how to explain it to him. Well, no better way than to just
dive in. “I didn’t see him. It wasn’t like it was a solid thing I could take a
picture of.” I groaned before continuing. “This was more like a change in the
atmosphere. I woke up feeling like I was going to be murdered in my bed. Whoever
it was in here with me was cruel and wanted to cause me pain.” I met his gaze
and was surprised to see his eyes lit with compassion. Was this even the same
guy who had been such a jerk the night
before?
“But, the craziest part,” I continued, “was the
smell.”
“Sulfur?” he asked
softly.
“Yes,” I answered with a nod. “That’s exactly what it
was.” I released the breath I’d been holding. “I thought the house was on fire,
it was so strong.”
He nodded. “Yes, their smell is rather
strong.”
I turned to meet his gaze. His beautiful green eyes
seemed to soften when I asked, “You know what it was? Was it dangerous? Or was
it just something that wanted to scare
me?”
He seemed almost reluctant to answer me. “Yes, it wanted
to frighten you. And yes, it is dangerous.” At my quick intake of breath, he
reached out a hand and touched my shoulder and I felt an electric shock run
through me.
He must have felt it as well, because he let go of me as
quickly as he had touched me. As if he’d been burned. I almost asked him what
had just happened, but he started speaking almost immediately. “They are like
demons. But they are lower level and can’t do anything much besides torment
you.”
“Oh, so they are just pests, in other words.” I said with
a nod.
He agreed with a small smile. “Yes. They can do no damage
to you, unless you give them the power to do
so.”
Funny, but the impression I got from that thing the night
before really didn’t fit in with the word, pest. But, I stayed calm. With a nod,
I stood and moved across the room to look out the window. “So I guess there
really is no reason for anyone to guard me.” That should be a
relief.
As soon as I spoke the words, I turned to face him and
saw something flicker in his eyes. Uh-oh, that sinking feeling was coming
back.
“I actually think we will need to keep a very close eye
on you. For a while, at least.” He moved to stand beside me again and I could
feel the electric shock thrumming between us. Once again I backed
up.
“I really don’t want to be a bother. I’d hate to take you
or any of the others away from their normal duties.” Why was he affecting me
like this? I felt all shaky, and his eyes watching me made me
nervous.
He smiled at me again, as if he felt my sudden
discomfort. “You are important, Rebecca,” he said softly. “It is our duty to
protect you.”
Okay! I hoped sincerely that I didn’t look like I had
swallowed something bitter. But, who was this guy and what had he done to the
snob from last night? And why had the temperature in the room just gotten ten
degrees hotter?
I was not a coward. I knew something was going on between
this Elf and me. Being the brave, in-your-face, honest person I was, I did the
best thing I could do in that situation. I made an excuse for going to the
bathroom and once inside, I locked the
door.