Thunking my fight song
Thunking my fight song
Jesse pulled the truck to a smooth stop in front of the gray brick house. My boots made a thunking noise as I hopped down from the truck. For a moment I stood tall staring down my adversary, tapping my boot to a random beat in my head. These ghosts were going down. The front of the house seemed calm. The shiver running up and down my spine said otherwise. My boots continued thunking out a tempo that I decided was my war song while I stalked up the driveway. My stride was full of determination as I strutted to the front door. I was settling this issue today.
On the porch I raised my hand to knock on the thick wooden door. Libby swung the door open before I could knock. Quickly adjusting to the change, I lowered my arm as I charged through the door with my game face unwavering. My boots thunking on the cheap laminate flooring continued my war song until I stopped in the middle of the living room.
“All right! Show yourselves now!” The command echoed in the mostly empty room. Looking around, I realized all the knickknacks and wall décor was gone. Curiously, I turned to Libby. “Redecorating?”
Libby gave me a disbelieving look. Her brow furrowed above her flashing brown eyes. “I didn’t know what else might have some ghastly attachment to it. I chucked everything out.”
A glance around the room revealed my husband and child were missing. Odd. It wasn’t like him to leave me unattended in a haunted house. Michael wasn’t there either. “Did you notice where my posse went off to?”
She walked towards the back door beside the fireplace. Her eight-hundred-dollar shoes clicking all the way. “I wanted to throw all the possibly haunted junk in the trash. But Michael wanted to keep it.” She rolled her eyes. “Michael is out there now. I saw your husband and daughter go to the side gate.”
On the other side of the door was a beautiful screened in covered patio that ran the length of the house. At the center of the patio was a screen door that we went through. Obviously, Libby was a pro at wearing heels. She stayed on the stone path. My boots wouldn’t sink into the ground like her stilettos would, which allowed me to walk beside her. We seemed to be heading for the small barn shaped shed in the back corner of the yard. It sat in the furthest point from the house with its two sides touching the six-foot privacy fence and appeared to have had recently been installed. The gray plastic sides showed no dirt that I could see. The double doors were open. My war song returned for a few beats when I stepped on to the small porch. There wasn’t enough room for me to join the trio already inside, so I stopped when I was close enough to stick my head in the door.
Inside the shed Michael was vigilantly wrapping a beautiful blue bell that had probably been hand painted in bubble wrap. Once it was protected, he carefully placed it inside a huge tub with wheels that sat beside him. A Lego looking lid laid next to the tub. For a moment wondered how much the tub had cost. My Halloween/Fall décor had outgrown its current containment system. I gave an internal sigh; this wasn’t the time. Beside him was my family. Savannah was pulling bric-a-brac out of trash bags. Jesse was meticulously wrapping framed pictures in blankets. Beside him was a shelving unit that other pictures had already been slid into. I wasn’t a psychic like my family, but even I could feel the sadness sweeping though the small building. Libby settled herself on a camp chair on the deck. In the drink holder was a stemless wine glass. I assumed the pinkish liquid in it was wine.
“Who’s the lady in the aqua robe? Name starts with H?” I used my mommy voice. One of these two people knew who she was. I knew it. Michael shook his head negative without looking up from the Beatles plate he was wrapping. Libby gave an indifferent shrug. An agitated sigh escaped me. I pointed a finger at each of them. “One of you know. She is connected to you. Spill.”
With the Beatles plate secure, Michael looked up at me. “She could be a friend of Ruby’s.” He made a helpless hand gesture and shrugged. “I have no idea why they would haunt us like this.” After giving himself a shake, he took a figurine from Savanah which he began wrapping.
“Aqua robe lady popped by our house this morning.” Quickly I gave them a rundown of what had happened this morning. Minus the dirty parts involving my hubster. “I know the vibe I got off her. It’s the same one I get from my MIL. She’s one of your mother’s, MIL, or an overly protective aunt.”
“Your mother-in-law would break your TV with your designer shoe?” Libby’s tone was close to sneering. I was really beginning to not like her. She had come off as a decent person every time I had met her. However, today she wasn’t so likeable.
“Of course not. That would upset her precious baby boy and that isn’t allowed. Nah, she has better ways of dealing with an interloper like me.”