Chapter 28: Raging spirits
“Men. Always carrying on about recipes. Why don’t one of ya fetch me a beer and the paper?” I laid my southern accent on thick. The five men turned to look at me propped up against the cinderblock side of the concession hut my arms conveniently crossed under my boobs to emphasize them. “Then you can get back to your yakity yak.”
Jesse rolled his eyes. “All you read is the comics. “
“I’m not going to read the news. That’s just depressing.” I countered with a knowing smile. His gaze hadn’t strayed from the girls.
“And you don’t drink beer.” His eyes were saying suggestive things to mine now.
I pushed myself off the wall, with my hands on my hips. Playful disdain on my face I tugged on my husband’s shirt. “So, fetch me the funnies and a Mountain Dew like a good little husband.”
An OOO slipped out when I felt my phone vibrate in the inside pocket of my jacket. I gave a little extra jiggle as I pulled it out. Jesse’s eyes followed the path of my hand.
I moved closer to Jess when I saw Michael’s number on the screen. “Hello?”
The panicked tone of Michael coming across the phone had Jess jogging to get his truck and me hustling to find our child. Barefoot again, I ran across the grass. Most of the parents had migrated to the parking lot which lowered the chances of me getting cornered, but I didn’t want to risk sinking a heel into the dirt and face planting.
I followed the sound of giggling to where the bleachers fence opened up to the field. Sure enough there was a group of teenage girls hanging on every word a group of footballers dropped. I was saddened to see my daughter’s blonde head among the groupies. Jock boy was clearly enjoying they attention of all the girls surrounding him. Some one really needed to teach these girls some self-respect. It’s not like he was the quarterback.
“Vanna!” She looked at me with irritation clearly on her face. “Gotta go. Now!”
I turned around to backtrack to the parking lot. I heard her saying her goodbyes. The fact that I was jogging seemed to clue her in that something was a foot. “What’s up mom?”
“Tell you in the car.” I huffed over my shoulder. My lungs were not used to this much exertion.
A few moments later, we hit the parking lot. My Jeep was actually fairly close since I wasn’t technically in a parking spot. We hopped in the car and with a thump and some jiggling, we were on our way. I left some rubber on the pavement on the way out of the parking lot.
“Michael just called. The ghosts have become physical and aggressive. They attacked Libby.” I explained to my daughter as I floored the Jeep to pass her father on the highway. Savannah waved at him as I flew around him. He might have more horsepower, but he didn’t have my lead foot nor my need for speed.
I pulled into the drive with Jesse’s Ram right on my tail a few moments later. The three of us scrambled out of the vehicles. My husband shot me a dirty look as we jogged towards Michael and Libby standing out by the curb. Libby, who was so pale she could be a ghost, was curling into herself while cradling her right wrist. Michael had his arms around her.
Jesse and Savannah’s eyes were locked on that right wrist. To me it looked perfectly normal. Since looking at it wouldn’t tell me anything of interest. I turned to glance at the house. In the window of the gym bedroom were two figures. Without consulting the psychics, I started for the house.
“What the hell did you two do?” I demanded. For a second, I could have sworn I saw remorse on their faces before they shimmered away. These two didn’t strike me as evil or aggressive. Noticing that I had reached the porch without being stopped, I glanced backwards. My husband was actually about two feet behind me. “You getting anything?”
“Anger. Rage. Love. ”His brow was furrowed in confusion. He reached around me to open the front door. Silently we walked down the hall to the master bedroom. I paused at the end of the hallway to look back at Jesse with a raised eyebrow. I could feel the energy here. Couldn’t quite make out what kind of energy, but it was strong if I could feel it. “Anger. Think you trying to load a program on your old laptop.”
I looked at him in horror. “I don’t know what you mean by that.”
He snorted. “You have apparently forgotten the reason you have a new laptop is because you got so mad trying to load Zoom on your old one, you threw it across the room. Barely missed my big screen TV.”
“I told you, it slipped!” Disdainly, I threw my head back before walking into the master with all the dignity I could muster. I didn’t really remember how the laptop became airborne. One moment I was beating on the keyboard, the next its innards were ricocheting around the living room. I stuck my head in the closet. Expensive shoes perfectly stacked and the creepy figurine was sitting like the star on top. “Huh.”
“Rage is wrapped around the figurine. Reminds me of you on 635 when lanes are shut down.” Jesse slid past me to circle the shoe tree. A shudder slid down my back. That was some serious rage. I’d been known to punch things in my car and swear more than Samuel L Jackson when I got stuck in that kind of traffic. Jesse and I walked the rest of the house. The energy was the strongest where Libby had been attacked. In the gym Jesse noticed some subtle energy that was apologetic or remorseful. The energy was too faint to be sure.
We were heading to the front door when a zing went down my back.There was a ghost in the house. A glance over my shoulder revealed Jesse was looking towards the kitchen.