Out Of The Dark Part 4

Here here. Now where was my watch? I started to stand up. Nona reached out and pushed me back down with a hand on my shoulder. Ow.

"So the clearer the reception, the better the image," Rhonda said. "Well that's easy to understand. And I like it."

"So we see shadows because we're removed from their channel," Jemmy said. "So what would Zoe here see?"

I looked at them and blinked. See what?

"Good point," Rhonda propped her elbow on the table and her chin in her hand. "I think it would be a good experiment to have Zoe go OOB and take a look inside the restaurant. In Wraith form she's between worlds, and sees all sorts of things we can't see."

Blabbermouth.

Dags nodded. "I have the key and the alarm code. It's no big deal if we leave now and I get there early. They're used to me opening up to start the dinner s.h.i.+ft."

"Let's go," Rhonda stood up.

So did everyone else.

I banged on the table to get their attention. Well...what do you want me to do? Yell?

They all stopped and stared at me. I grabbed up the board and scribbled.

NOT LEAVE DANIEL ALONE.

Nona had her hand on mine. "Daniel's not alone, honey. He's being watched over. He'll be fine."

Watched over? What? I scribbled again. BY WHO?

"Whom." Dags said.

I glared at him. Watch it.

He put a hand to his head and closed his eyes. "I don't even want to tell you what image I just got in my head."

Heh.

"Honey," Nona said in a quiet voice. "Captain Cooper's with him. He comes in when you're not there. Asked me to give him a buzz when you left."

I blinked. Wha--? The Captain hated me that much that he didn't want to be there when I was?

"Now don't freak out. Captain Cooper's good for Daniel, and he's a good man himself. No--he's not too fond of you, but I'm working on him. I called him this morning and said I wanted you to get away for a bit and he promised to keep a close watch on Daniel. When we're done with these pesky shadow folk I'll take you back to the hospital myself. Okay?"

I looked at her. I mean I really looked at mom. And I saw a part of me staring back. And a part of her. I was the sum of part of her. And of dad. And I could see in her eyes that she understood the guilt and the pain I was going through--and she also understood how much I needed to get away from it all.

I needed to breathe for a while. And not the air of the sick and the dying.

"Zoe," Rhonda said and I looked at her, aware my mom was slipping her arm over my shoulders. "Look at yourself. Have you taken a good look? It's like--something's being sucked out of you. Or you're missing something. You look dried up and used. You need to get out of there."

And the truth was, I felt just like she said. I felt used and dried up. The constant spooks that appeared in that hospital--the ones I ignored as best as I could--the shades, ghosts, ent.i.ties, wisps--they were all there. Yammering at me. Trying to get my attention.

Day after day after day.

And how many times had I caught one of them in Daniel's room and I'd chased it out. All of it was taking a rather large toll on me.

And I'd finally seen it in the bathroom mirror a little while ago.

"Let's go see these Shadow Folk," Dags said and he got up and went to the coat closet by the front door to retrieve the pea-coat he'd been wearing earlier.

Mom hugged me. Really hugged me and I squeezed her back as hard as I could. She put her hands on my face and smiled at me. Blue eyes to brown. "Eat, Zoe. I'm not used to seeing you so skinny. And I worry. Okay? Me and Jemmy are gonna do a bit more research on Dr. Bonville. You go investigate the Folk."

I nodded and smiled. Sniffed. When had I started crying?

I disengaged myself and followed Rhonda from the table. As I pa.s.sed her I scribbled on my board and handed it to her. U MAKE 1 CRACK ABOUT CRY & I SUC UR SOUL THRU UR NOSE.

She stiffened but didn't say a word as we grabbed coats and left the Botanica and Tea Shop. Until we got outside.

"You do realize your spelling is starting to look a lot like LOLcats, don't you?"

Bite me.

CHAPTER THREE.

We took Mom's car. It was either that or somehow squeeze three people in Rhonda's Beetle (not comfortable) or Dags' truck. Of course once we got in the car, Rhonda and Dags sat in the back and started talking about weird stuff. Ghosts, spirits, the different planes, and me.

Not so happy with me being the subject. I was driving which takes up my hands. Retorting was out of the question unless we wanted to end up on the side of the road.

The weather was so-so. Overcast. Cold. Rainy. Sort of reflected my mood. I did not want to do this. I checked my watch. I wanted to get to the hospital, grab my snacks and sit in my chair in Daniel's room. I was still terrified he was going to wake up and I wouldn't be there. I wanted to be the first thing he saw when he opened those eyes.

Hrm...might consider a facial. All the blubbering and bad eating I'd been doing was taking a toll on my skin.

The Livery Bar and Restaurant was in Roswell, a quaint little historic town up north of Atlanta. About a forty-minute drive with traffic. Less than ten minutes if Mom's driving--but then she thinks she's descended from Speed Racer. Eh...what did that make me? Spridle or Chim-Chim?

I took the more scenic route--not because I wanted the scenery but because I really wasn't paying attention, my radar on autopilot. I drove Elizabeth up Roswell Road which became Atlanta Road as we entered the city limits just over the river as a wild wind blew a lot of debris over the street. Roswell Square came into view real fast.

The Square was an actual square, complete with a sort of park in the center. Shops surrounded the park--from antique places to a camera shop on the corner near the Restaurant. As we drove in, the park was on my left and the Livery was on the right, nestled beside the Roswell Chamber of Commerce.

The square was filled with green gra.s.s, picnic areas, cla.s.sic southern gnarled oaks and a gazebo to the right, directly across from the Livery. I pulled the car up to the curb on Dags' suggestion, in front of the restaurant. It wouldn't open for official business for another three hours, and parking at the curb would be okay for now.

He had a key and we went inside the front door.

The fun stuff about old buildings in Georgia in general was usually their history--which leant itself to all sorts of crazy stories.

"This building started out as a general store, back during the Civil War," Dags said as he took his coat off and stepped in ahead of us. "The main business was taken care of down here," he pointed to the steps that obscured the view of the rest of the lower dining area. "Up there was where all the grain and supplies were stored."

The place did have an odd shape to it. Aged brick made up the walls all around. There was a mini-bar to the right a ways in, and a path that lead to the bathroom. I a.s.sumed it lead to the kitchens as well. Looking up, just to the right of the stairs, was a hole in the ceiling, a cut-through that allowed desert diners up stairs to gaze down on the dinner people below.

But what made it fun was all the Christmas decorations. Silver and red tinsel was wound around every banister or pole visible to the eye. A tall, skinny tree decorated in white and gold ornaments and surrounded by presents sat to the right. I was sure when it was turned on it had only white lights too.

And I could smell it. It was a real tree!

"When this place was a funeral parlor," Dags continued, after tossing his coat on a nearby chair. All the tables were square, made of dark-polished wood. "They kept the coffins upstairs and that hole is where they would lower them down."

I looked up again. Ew.

"Are there any actual stories about ghosts with this place?"

"Oh you bet," Dags smiled. "Civil War Romeo and Juliet. The owner of the general store had a daughter, who fell in love with a soldier from the North. They carried on a torrid affair for a long time, until they were discovered. He was hung in the square for treason and it was reported she took her own life in the attic."

"She hung herself?" Rhonda asked.

Dags shook his head. "No one knows, really. Some say she threw herself off the top of the building, some say she hung herself. But it's up there where the real freaky stuff happens." His smile vanished. "Be careful, okay? This is where Jamie Reed had her accident and the jerk manager won't pay for workman's compensation." He looked away. "This is also where I last saw Maureen."

Yikes. I immediately started looking around for Maureen's ghost. They seemed to follow me around lately--but there didn't seem to be any sign of one. In fact, I wasn't seeing anything weird.

"But you said she disappeared." Rhonda frowned at him. "You're thinking disappeared is dead?"

Dags nodded. "She's dead. It's just the last time she was seen was here--I saw her. And then she was found dead in the square."

"When you say you saw her here," Rhonda said, leaning her head toward him. "You mean you saw her ghost here before she was found dead? Or you saw her alive here before she was found dead."

He frowned at her and blinked. "The first one. Only, I didn't know she was dead, 'cause she looked alive to me. But they said she'd been dead for twenty-four hours, which meant she'd already been dead."

There was a very odd pause. No one said anything.

I waved at him to get his eyes off of Rhonda (and because word problem always gave me a headache) and pointed upstairs. Are we okay to go upstairs?

Dags nodded. "Yeah, yeah. Let's go on up."

I nodded and looked up the steps. Well, so this is where the oogies hang out--let's go see.

The stairs were a straight, slanted shot up. I could just make out the back end of a baby-grand on the way up. As well as the back of a brick wall and a gold-framed landscape picture. Another tree--only this one was decorated in blue and green--gleamed at me against the far wall. The air felt different up here--not warmer like I expected 'cause you know--warm air rises. But more like...

Cold.

Just as I topped the first step something slammed hard into my right s.h.i.+n. I let out a silent whoosh of air much like a scream--only--not. I did tumble forward into the edge of the piano and knocked it with my weight.

"Zoe!" Dags was up the stairs and beside me, his hand on my arm.

"Did you see that?" I heard Rhonda say in a more than excited voice.

No I didn't see a d.a.m.ned thing. Though my shoulder connected pretty hard with the piano leg. Ow. That sucked. I could hear Rhonda behind me, her weight making the hardwood creak. But as I pushed myself up to be on hands and knees with Dags trying his best to be helpful but instead getting in my way, I did catch something--well--dark and fuzzy--out of the corner of my eye.

Now--seeing smoky, blacky, whispy things out of the corner of my eye had become a norm since changing into a Wraith--or whatever. I saw them all the time. Mostly it was always in the shadows of a place--though not in my home or my Mom's. I did see them a lot in old buildings, and in hospitals.

Sheesh. Hospital. Another name for Grand Central Station.

I rarely saw these things in the daylightand trust me--with the time of day and where the Livery's front faced--there was direct sun streaming into that loft. So I made sure that I stood up slowly, and cautiously, because whatever it was, it'd wasted no time trying to shove me into the piano.

"There it goes again!" Rhonda almost squealed with delight.

Well, I was glad someone was having a good time. Me? Not so much. I was getting a little unnerved by the whole thing. I didn't get the whole "wee.. we're chasing ghosts" fun that Rhonda was high on.

I straightened up and stood in front of the piano, the window behind me on the opposite side of the baby grand, the staircase down to my right. The cut-through was just a few feet away as well, surrounded by a waist high mahogany banister.

Taking in more of the place, smaller tables were s.p.a.ced out evenly about the area, though I could see where they could all be placed facing the piano. You know, just in case Billy Joel showed up.

The entire back wall was a bar. And I mean a nice bar. The wall was covered from ceiling to --well--it might go to the floor. The bar obscured it for me. Trimmed in s.h.i.+ny bra.s.s--it was impressive.

"Nice, eh?" Dags said as he moved away from me and then continued to the bar. "This is where I work most s.h.i.+fts. Maureen never came up here. Refused too--said there was something up here that gave her the creeps."

I snapped my fingers at Rhonda to get her attention and motioned for her to hand me a pen and paper. Okayso--yeah I should carry my own. But I hated carrying bags, much less a purse. Rhonda liked backpacks.

And she was organized. She kept a small notepad and pen in an outside pocket and handed them to me.

"You really should consider sign language," Dags said.

I scribbled. YOU KNOW SIGN LANGUAGE?

He nodded. "Sure."

Scribble, scribble. HOW MANY OTHER PEOPLE YOU KNOW USE SL?

He pursed his lips. "Good point. But--if you learn it and Rhonda learns it, then it's easier for her to interpret for you."

'Scuse me? Rhonda interpret? h.e.l.l no! She'd PG me!

"Interpret huh? I like that," Rhonda said with a smile. She moved away from the stairs, which made me feel a little better. "Maybe then I could get on a real payroll."

Phhhttt.

I turned the page. Scribble. SO--YOU SEEN THE BROWNIES UP HERE?

"I'm not buying the Brownies angle," Dags said. "But I've seen them out of the corner of my eye--just like a few seconds ago. There is no reason to trip up that step, Zoe. But you're not the first to do it. Almost everyone that's new up here does it. Customers are almost used to it happening. It's like a game."

I was watching him. I scribbled again. BUT YOU DON'T THINK IT'S A GAME TO THE BROWNIES?

He shook his head slowly.

"So, did you see it, Zoe?" Rhonda asked as she neared us. "When it tripped you?"

I shook my head, and then frowned. I pointed at her and Dags got what I was indicating.