Darkwood Falls Paranormal Investigators Book One: The Dead Truth

Chapter Fifteen

"The truth.  It is a beautiful and terrible thing, and should, therefore, be treated with caution." - J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.

     I was officially a paranormal investigator.  It was hard to believe even after a few days of thinking about the events that had transpired.  A feeling came about that I had never experienced before; I felt useful, excited, and inspired.  I finally found something I was passionate about.  Instead of doing whatever someone told me to do, I was doing something I loved.  I got to help people, alive and dead.  I had great co-workers, who were now my friends, and Richard was the first boss I ever had that I treated me well.

     The thing is, when things actually seem to be going well for me, it never lasts long.  That's why I've always been afraid to be happy; because I know the inevitable is coming to cut me down.  It seems to hurt more when you're feeling so good, and life suddenly does a 180 and turns to rat shit.  You feel like a fool. When I got hit by the unexpected, I felt like my mind had been fucked by a rake from behind.

     It was only a few days after we helped the Martins and Vanmeters.  After a day's work, we were all about to leave the office.  Brandon went to talk to Richard for a few minutes before we left.  As Nick and I entered the lobby, there was a strange man standing at Ruby's desk.  He was tall, cute, but had a pretentious frat boy look to him.  He looked vaguely familiar to me.

     "Hey, guys!  Shawn, this is Jake, my fiance'!" Ruby said.

     "Oh, yeah!  Ruby showed me a picture of you.  That's where I've seen you before," I said.

     He gave a quick half-hearted smile and held his hand out to shake mine.  "And you are . . . ?" he said.

     "Shawn Nelson," I said, taking his hand.  He gripped my hand hard.  When I tried to pull it away, he held on to it.  He then looked me up and down like a lion about to indulge in its prey.  I felt my skin crawl, and I immediately got bad vibes even though I had only been in the same room as him for less than a minute.

     "Nice to meet you, Shawn," he said, staring intensely into my eyes.

     "Yeah," I said, yanking my hand back quickly.

     "Jake came to pick me up," Ruby said cheerfully. 

     She was obviously completely ignorant to the fact her boyfriend just ogled me with his eyes, and that I already deeply despised him. She came around the desk to stand with the rest of us.  As she hugged Jake and they were both distracted for a moment, I looked up at Nick to see if he had noticed what I had.  He gave me a look that clearly said, "What the fuck?!"  It made me feel validated that my creep-radar had just gone off the charts.

     Ruby and Jake both turned their attention back to us.  "We're going out to dinner," Ruby said.

     "Yes, would you two care to join us?" Jake asked.  He was looking directly at me, not Nick.

     "We have plans," Nick said.

     "Oh, are you two together?" Jake asked, finally tearing his eyes off me to look at Nick.

     "Not like that," I said quickly.  "You know, I'm going to go check and see what's keeping Brandon so long."

     I made a dash for the door that led into the hallway.  Relief washed over me as soon as the door closed and I was out of the same room as Jake.  What a fucking disgusting creep.  I had to find a way to tell Ruby her fiancé was a psycho douche, but was it really my place?  I made a mental note to discuss it with Nick later.  I heard footsteps approaching and I glanced down the hallway to see Axl heading my way.