CHAPTER SEVEN
Jess felt her face heat. She’d wanted to hear everyone else’s story. But she hadn’t really thought about what it meant to share her own experiences and innermost thoughts. She hadn’t realized it would make her feel so vulnerable.
It’s best to leave off the part about Gram’s warning, Jess. And it’s best not to tell everyone that after years of seeing ghosts, you feel cheated because they all just stopped showing themselves, and now, you’re obsessed with them. No one else is particularly happy about what they’ve experienced. Just you. For you, this study is one of the best things that’s happened in years.
Everyone was patiently waiting on her.
What the hell. Just tell them. Tell them everything. Almost.
She stared down at her plate. “A few months after my dad died, the ghosts just stopped showing up.”
“So, you can’t see ghosts anymore?” Gage asked. “Then why are you here?”
Jess sucked in a deep breath. “Because I’m obsessed with them, okay?”
Because my psychiatrist knew a guy who knew a guy, and they paid me a hefty amount, that’s why. I’m here because of my shrink. And the money. Let’s not forget about that. What a way to pay for tuition.
“And I miss my dad,” she added, trying to put the rambling thoughts in her head into some sort of perspective—some context she was willing to share. “He died of cancer. So, if this place is a conduit, I might get a chance to see him. Talk to him. And I hope the others will come back, too. That’s why I’m here. A grief counselor helped me talk my mom and stepdad into it.”
It surprised her how easily the white lie slipped from her lips. She waited for Dr. Brandt to correct her, to tell them all that a psychiatrist who dealt with people claiming to see or talk to the dead had suggested she come here, but he didn’t.
More surprisingly, Gage didn’t say another word. In fact, he nodded as though her explanation made sense.
“I’ll go next,” Bryan offered, setting down his drink. “My father disappeared. Just vanished.”
“Your dad left you?” Allison asked softly. Jess suspected Allison was thinking of her own father—well, both of her parents, actually. Sadly, they’d both pretty much abandoned her.
“I wish,” Bryan scoffed. “No, he…um, disappeared. He and mom were fighting again. They always fought when he was drunk. He hit her like he sometimes did. I knew something was up when he came home that night. He looked worse than normal. Angrier, more drunk, and he had this look in his eyes I can’t explain. Murderous, I suppose. Insane.” Bryan’s jaw tightened as he stared at the table.
He paused and swiped at his mouth as though brushing away the words he probably wanted to say. “A car door slammed in the driveway, which meant my sister was home from her date. She was an hour late and I knew she was going to be next. She’s sixteen—almost two years younger than me. Dad had set her curfew at nine. Not that it mattered. Even when she came home on time, Dad would give her a hard time about stuff. It was worse if she had a date. He’d ask her all sorts of questions. Except they were more accusations than questions.
“Anyway, Dad stormed down the hall, ready to give her hell. I ran after him, hating him even more than usual and wishing he’d just go—that he’d leave us and never come back. I wished it with all my might.”
Bryan tensed and the tendons in his neck began to stand out. “I’d had it, you know? I’d just reached my limit with him. I swore then that he’d never lay a hand on any of us again. Never! So, I grabbed a baseball bat I’d hidden in my room, and I ran downstairs.
He paused, cracking the knuckles of his left hand. He shifted his eyes down to the table again, not looking at anyone.
“He was screaming at my sister before she’d even walked in the door, threatening to teach her a lesson about coming home when she was told.” Bryan gave a cynical laugh. “Like he didn’t stay out until all hours, or not come home for days without an explanation. In fact, he’d get pissed if any of us asked where he’d been. Anyway, I had the bat in my hand when I got downstairs. But he wasn’t in the living room like I’d expected. I thought maybe he’d gone out the front door after my sister. But when I got outside, he wasn’t there either, and my sister was asking if I’d done something to him. I told her I hadn’t.”
Bryan raked a hand through his hair. “I was so sure he was hiding, waiting for us, but we searched the whole house—even the garage. His wallet and keys were still upstairs on the dresser. It was winter and he hadn’t taken a coat. I swear, it was like I wished it and he was...gone.”
“You’re saying you made him disappear?” Gage asked. “As in poof, he’s gone?”
“Yeah. That’s exactly what I’m saying.”
Gage rubbed his chin. “Is there any chance he just bailed, like you wished for? Maybe he saw you with the bat and left through another door?”
“If I hadn’t made other things disappear before and after that, and if he hadn’t left his wallet and keys behind, then yeah, I’d say you might be right,” Bryan replied. “I can’t control it, so don’t ask how it works. For whatever reason, it just happens, and not all the time. Before that night, I’d made a bottle of his whiskey disappear. Got knocked around good for that one. He swore I’d hidden the bottle and he wanted it back. But mostly, it’s been small stuff. Pens, books, shoes. I can’t do it all the time, either. Sometimes nothing happens, no matter how hard I concentrate. And I’d never made a person disappear before, or since. I guess I’m here because the cops put what I said about him vanishing into thin air in their report and all. Somehow, this agency Dr. Brandt mentioned got hold of the report or something. No idea. But, here I am.”
Car keys, Jess thought, remembering the scene in the hallway when they’d first arrived.
All eyes turned to Gage.
Gage set his knife and fork down, and straightened. It looked like an attempt to appear more confident than actual arrogance. “My folks think I’m a necromancer,” he said with a simple, matter-of-fact shrug. “They, um…think I can bring back the dead.”
Jess’s breath caught. Gage had everyone’s attention, and why not? He had to be lying.
But, what if he could? Could he bring back her father? Grams?
No one could bring back the dead. Still, who wouldn’t want the chance to bring back someone they’d lost?
Dr. Brandt shifted in his chair, hanging on to Gage’s words, probably aware that the rest of them thought he was psychotic, or at least lying. “Tell us what happened, Gage,” he encouraged.
“Look. I don’t think I’m some necromancer. I don’t know what to think. I was only seven the first time I did it.” He lowered his voice. “My pet, Leo.”
“You brought back the family cat?” Jess asked.
“Not exactly,” Gage admitted.
“So, you didn’t resurrect him?” Allison clarified, confused.
“No. I mean, I did, but Leo wasn’t a cat,” Gage answered, looking a bit uncomfortable for the first time.
A grin crept across Jess’s face. Good to know Hot Shot could be knocked down a few pegs.
“So, he was a dog, then?” Bryan pressed. Even he seemed to sense Gage’s discomfort and was playing it to the hilt.
Gage coughed and spoke softly. “Hamster.”
“A hamster?” Bryan repeated with a laugh. Jess had to refrain from joining Bryan, and even noticed that Allison had cracked a smile.
Bryan shook his head. “Sorry. I’m just picturing you with a hamster as a pet.”
“Hey! I didn’t buy him, okay? I was a kid,” Gage said. “He was, well, he was sort of lying on his side, and I picked him up. My best friend Stu said I should give him CPR. So, I did. Not like I had a clue how to give CPR, but damn if it didn’t work.”
Bryan laughed openly. “CPR? On a hamster?”
Gage gave him a hard stare. “It was twelve years ago. Lay off me. I know my story sounds weird. Anyway, the next time, about a year ago, it was my brother’s dog. Some wire-haired mixed breed that followed him home one day. Ben named him Max. About a month after that, Ben got real sick and the doctors diagnosed him with an aggressive form of brain cancer. I found Max dead in the back yard. Ben loved that dog. We swore my brother was only hanging on because of Max.”
He paused and took a sip of his drink.
“Max was completely cold. Lifeless. I hated that my brother was dying, and now he’d just lost the one thing he loved most. I don’t know why, but I remembered the thing with…”
“Your pet hamster?” Bryan added with a snicker.
“Are you going to let me finish?” Gage nearly shouted.
Bryan held up a hand in truce.
“So, I tried the same thing with Max, and at first, nothing happened,” Gage went on. “Then, he just jerked awake, like he’d been in some deep sleep. Define irony, man. We still have Max. But Ben died four months later. Never came out of surgery. Damn dog still sleeps in his room.”
“You tried to bring your brother back, didn’t you?” Allison asked.
Gage looked like he wasn’t going to answer.
“Go on,” Dr. Brandt insisted. “It’s important to tell everyone, Gage. This experiment depends on each of us—”
“Yeah. I tried,” Gage interrupted, absently running a finger along the edge of his silverware. “Mom begged me to. How could I say no to that, right? Anyway, I would have tried to no matter what.” He stopped fiddling with the silverware, but he still seemed to be in some other place in his memories. He shook his head. “I don’t know what went wrong. Sometimes I wonder if I failed because I was afraid it wouldn’t work on a person. Maybe I’m limited to resurrecting animals.” He shrugged and gave a halfhearted smirk. “You’re probably thinking I should have applied to a vet school, right?”
Everyone stayed quiet. No witty comebacks, no teasing.
“Maybe I was too emotional and didn’t do it right.” Gage briefly closed his eyes. “My parents blame me that he’s still in the ground. They don’t come out and say it, but they keep asking what went wrong. Yeah, like I even know how I’m able to do it at all, and they want to know what happened? Like I don’t miss him, too. Once, my mother even asked what I had against Ben—that she loved us both. So, I sort of blame myself, too. I’m here because they think I can change what happened.”
“Have you ever read The Monkey’s Paw?” Allison’s voice had taken on that calm, almost trance-like tone again. “Even if you could bring him back, he’s been in a casket for a long time. You do know what you’d be getting back, don’t you?”
Bryan shook his head, his former playful expression nowhere in sight. “Allison’s right. Your brother would be a zombie, dude.”
“Or worse,” Allison said, still in that odd, detached tone. “You shouldn’t call upon the dead. None of us should.”
Jess glanced down at her plate. She’d assumed everyone just saw ghosts. She hadn’t expected this. The smallest prickle of fear crawled along her nape. She brushed at it, smoothing the hair against her neck.
“Allison, how about if we hear your story next,” Dr. Brandt said.
Allison sat for a few minutes, quiet. Dr. Brandt didn’t force her like he had Gage, and Jess didn’t think she was going to say anything at all. Finally, Allison blinked and took a deep breath, apparently no longer in whatever state of disconnect she’d been in. “I wish ghosts were the only things I had experienced. And I wish I could make things disappear like you, Bryan.” Her eyes darted to Gage. “I’m sorry for your curse. All of you, really. You’re cursed. We all are.”
Bryan frowned.
“My family is afraid of me. They’re afraid they’ll come back, or that it’ll happen again,” Allison said softly.
“What will happen again? What is your family afraid of?” Dr. Brandt encouraged. He seemed eager now, watching Allison with an intensity Jess found a bit creepy. It was as though she were some prized find under a microscope.
Allison shifted uneasily in her seat. “Demons. They’re afraid the demons will come back.”
Evil spirits. So this was what Allison had been talking about. Jess could see why her roommate might shy away from anything paranormal. Ghosts were one thing, but demons? Jess nearly shivered. Yeah, she could see where Allison might be freaked out about that.
“Demons?” Bryan asked. “You mean as in possession?”
Allison shrugged. “I guess. Evil spirits. Whatever. It was like they were crawling around under my skin. Then, it was like I was the one crawling around under my own skin, and they’d taken over. They’re everywhere, you know—the demons. You read about them in the papers all the time. Murderers, mostly.”
No one dared to ridicule Allison. It was on their faces—her story fascinated them. Jess was glad that all she saw were harmless ghosts. Allison’s story about the demons made her skin want to crawl.
“Are they still with you?” Dr. Brandt asked.
Allison scratched at her forearm. “Not at the moment. They’ve been gone for months. But once they’ve been let in, they can come back. They said so. They know how to find you.”