Chapter Five
If I thought I would be met with an eerie interior of dark walls, lit candles, dreary heavy drapes, incense lit, a skull laying about, or even a crystal ball on a round table, as I walked in-I was proven wrong.
Utterly wrong.
The scent of bubblegum hit me along with the colour of the walls, which were of a bright green; reminding me somewhat uncomfortably of Cole's eyes.
Though the blinds were drawn, they did nothing to lessen the intensity of the colour that ran throughout the room.
My eyes caught sight of the ceiling where many fairy lights hung, glittering in the dark like tiny stars, small pulses of warm yellow bouncing off the walls.
I blinked a couple of times, quite taken aback by the intensely bright interior. If I hadn't looked up this place, I would have been fooled to believe it was anything but a supernatural business
Weak sunlight filtered through the windows as the enigma of a man dubbed Mr M, drew the blinds back from the stores windows, with slow and steady movements.
"I do apologise for not being prepared. It's not often I get customers so early in the morning." Mr M said as he walked towards the front of the shop where a granite counter lay with papers haphazardly strewn across, as he finished drawing the blinds.
"It's fine." I answered as my curious gaze caught sight of the glass shelves taking up every inch of space on the walls, with the most random objects placed on them; from books to scented candles. I even spotted a couple of packets of seeds on the shelves nearest to me. When the sunlight hit the glass, they twinkled and shone as if glitter had been scattered on the surfaces.
Looking over at Mr M who had began shuffling the papers with curious raised bumps into a neater pile, sunglasses still on, I wondered if I had made the right decision in coming here.
But Mr M didn't allow me to dwell on my thoughts as he motioned for me to come forward with a flick of his hands.
"You're new to this town, aren't you?" He asked as I stood in front of the desk, his fingers tapping a rhythm on to its polished surface.
"Yes...how do you know?" I asked cautiously, a little thrown off by the random question.
A small smile lifted from the corner of his mouth at my question, "RiverEnd is a small town where everyone knows everyone. It's not often we get people moving in." He answered. "So tell me, how can I help you?"
I took a deep breath. Although I was wary about spilling my ghost problems to a total stranger who I had just met for five minutes- heck I didn't know if he was a fake or not- but I had no one else to turn to for help so it was now or nothing.
"Well, I have a bit of a ghost predicament I'm in and I need your help getting rid of it." I said, careful not to mention my own ghost seeing abilities. I wasn't about to wholeheartedly trust the strange man in front of me with that information.
I was met with another small smile. "Care to elaborate?
I took in another deep breath of sweet smelling fragrance.
"Well, I've just moved into a new house and I have seen things moving in thin air with no logical explanation to those occurrences apart from a supernatural cause. I feel like I'm being watched but I'm always alone. It's freaking me out." I said, trying to sound convincing as possible by adding a little fear into my voice but I doubt I pulled it off. Drama was never my strongest subject in school.
It was a sad cliché story, but all I had at that moment. I felt frustrated at myself for not thinking of a plausible story without revealing too much.
Mr M raised an eyebrow in question, "Is that so?"
I wished he'd take his sunglasses off indoors, so I could see the expression on his face but he gave nothing away.
"Yes, so could you please help me get rid or whoever is haunting my house?"
Mr M rested his elbows on the counter as he tapped a finger to his chin, "Hmmm, well this is quite a difficult situation as you can't see nor hear the ghost...can you?"
Something about the question made me feel as if I was being tested. As if he didn't believe me. It had my guard up.
"No, of course not." I said a bit too fast. I tried to smooth it over with another lie. "Until I moved here, I didn't even believe in ghosts."
"Well, I'll help you to the best of my abilities." He said as he chuckled a little. What he found funny, I'd never know.
"There are a few methods you can try but be warned, trifling with the undead is not without it's consequences. So be careful and always be alert. My advice would be to you to leave the ghost alone if it isn't bothering you. Some linger for a little while before passing on, and if you wait a little, your ghost might simply disappear."
"That's not possible. It's an old house so I think the ghost has been haunting it for a while."
He raised an eyebrow, "That's quite an assumption, for someone who didn't believe in ghosts until just recently."
I tried to keep my face straight. This guy was something else.
"Are you going to help me or not?" I asked, disregarding his earlier statement as I had no way in answering it.
Another little smile before it vanished and he straightened up, adjusting his sunglasses with a nod of his head.
"Well, I can help you but-"
"I'll pay whatever the price is." I said cutting of his sentence. I just hoped it would be a reasonable price. But then again, this wasn't a business many people would associate with the word reasonable.
He let out a short laugh, making my eyebrows scrunch up in confusion.
"We'll deal with the payment later. That's not important. What is important is the method you'll need. Do you understand?" He asked, looking towards me.
I nodded my head in reply, waiting for him to continue. Only he didn't, as he paused staring straight at me.
"Well, do you?" He asked after a short silence.
It was only then it hit me. The sunglasses, the slow and steady movements, the paper with the little raised bumps. It was braille paper.
"You're blind?" I blurted out in surprise.
Mr M's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "You didn't know?"
I started to shake my head only to stop a second later, realising my mistake. "It wasn't obvious."
He pointed at his sunglasses, a smile playing on his lips.
I blushed a little, "I thought you just liked wearing them indoors."
He let out another laugh, shaking his brown head. "Yes, I'm blind, but let's get back on the topic at hand." He said quickly shutting the subject down.
Although many questions were buzzing around my head at the new piece of information, I knew it wasn't my business to poke my nose into his.
"What people don't understand is that when helping or forcing ghosts to the other side, there isn't just one method like movies will have you believe but quite a few different ones." He continued on.
Oh boy. And here I thought it'd be a bit more simple than that.
"The bad news is, none of the methods are guaranteed to work. When dealing with ghosts, there are a load of variables thrown in. So even if you get the method right, if you don't have the ghost, it won't work."
I let out a small sigh as I listened. Mr M was now very serious as he described the methods.
"However the good news is, once you manage to trap the ghost, it's next to impossible for the ghost to break free of the trap before you send it to the other side."
"So, which method do you think would work for me?" I asked, before he continued on with his explanation.
He hummed thoughtfully, his fingertips tapping another light rhythm on the counter.
"Yours will be difficult, if what you say about the ghost lingering, turns out to be true. The stronger the connection to the place, the harder it'll be to get rid of the ghost. Sometimes, finding out the root cause of their refusal to pass over to the other side, is the only way to have them move on."
"I'm not going to play detective." I said firmly as Mr M nodded his head, brown hair falling over his sunglasses.
"Yes, in your case it would be near to impossible since you can't see nor hear the ghost."
"So, what can I try?" I asked, already afraid of the answer.
"Finding a priest to exorcise the place?" He suggested and I was about to laugh when I saw there was no humour evident on his face.
I thought back to the conversation of Cole about the previous owners trying that.
"Any others?"
"Well, normally a person who could communicate with ghosts would be called in to step in, because it's hard getting rid of something you can't see. But unfortunately, apart from me, there's no one I can refer you too. And I'm afraid my ghost hunting days are behind me."
"What other methods can you tell me about, abilities or no abilities?" I asked, biting my lip in thought. Did that mean he could have seen ghosts before he became blind? Which raised another uncomfortable question in its wake. How did he turn blind? Did it have anything to do with the nature of his business?
Mr M hadn't finished with his explanation which was good since I needed distraction from the direction my thoughts were heading in.
"Well, there's one that may be of help to you. You need to create an electromagnetic field which should be strong enough to trap the ghost. Since ghosts are not of this world anymore, objects can't hold them in. The force of the electromagnetic should interfere with their o-"
"Wait." I said stopping him, as my head whirled with this new piece of information. "An electromagnetic field? How do I create that?"
Mr M did one thing that I had least expected in this situation.
He laughed.
I raised my eyebrow in surprise, my mouth forming a small O.
"I wish I could have seen your face." He said, chuckling.
"This isn't funny. It's serious." I said, pursing my lips in annoyance.
He nodded his head, still chuckling, "I'm sorry." He said not sounding sorry even a little. "You should lighten up a little. It's no good to always be worrying."
"I'll lighten up when I get rid of the ghost." I replied, crossing my arms in front of me. "Now please tell me how to exactly do that.
"Yes, yes. Well, if you do live in an old house and you think the ghost has been there for quite a while, then it may be very likely there may be objects that may mean something to the ghost residing in your home. If you can find such an object, the attachment the ghost will have may draw the it out. When you know the ghost is in the room with you, you must trap it within an a salt or soil barrier. You then must ask the ghost to leave. Words have a powerful effect especially when coupled with ghost barriers."
"So, a circle of soil or salt is all I need?" I asked, hardly believing it to be that easy.
Mr M nodded his head solemnly, and as if hearing my thoughts, he let out a little chuckle, "Sweetie, let me give you a little warning when it comes to dealing with the supernatural. If it appears to be simple and straightforward, I can assure you ninety-nine percent of the time, it is anything but. You're way out of your depth here. I can't see you, but by your voice, I assume you're young. Too young to be trifling with the spirits. I'm still all for calling a priest in."
"Thanks for the concern, but I'll handle it." I replied softly.
What other choice did I have?
He cocked his head to the side, a curious expression coming over his features, "I'm sorry for being late on introductions, but what's your name?"
"I'm Zenith." I said, as he nodded his head.
"And where is it that you moved too?"
I opened my mouth to answer when we both were interrupted by the tinkling chime of the door as another person entered the shop.
A little old lady dressed head to toe in purple entered, throwing me a small, wrinkled smile when she caught sight of me. Her snow white hair spilled in curls around her shoulders from under the big purple hat she was wearing.
"How have you been dear? Eating well?" She asked, holding Mr M's hand in her own smaller one, as the scent of her sweet perfume tickled my nose as she came to stand beside me.
It was time I left.
"Thank you for your help. How much...?" I let the question linger as Mr quirked his lips into a smile.
"First consultation is free, sweetie. Best of luck to you. Do swing by again and tell me how it went."
I smiled a little, and bid my goodbyes to both of them before walking out the shop into the cool air.
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Just when I thought I had one ghost problem near enough to solved, another one showed up in it's place, as if life was mocking me for thinking that I'd ever get away from ghosts.
The sight in front of me made me falter in my steps and stop altogether, which would turn out to be a big mistake a few seconds later when it bought attention to me from the last place I needed attention from.
A pair of dull grey eyes stared into my own, wet with tears, surrounded by a halo of fiery red hair. They had been unfocused until they looked into my own and suddenly sharpened as the lady from yesterday got up from the ground, where she had been sitting in front of our door, eyes wide with surprise.
"How?" The wind carried her whispered words to me as if she had shouted them, taking a couple of steps towards me as I stood a couple steps away.
I could see her features more clearly as she stood opposite me. Her heart shaped pale face, eyes grey as the fog that began descending on the town, below me. Her lips were the only thing with colour on her face as she stared at me, not blinking once.
I cursed myself for not noticing her first, my entire attention on my thoughts as I walked home. Not until it was too late.
"How is it than you can see me?" She asked again, a littler louder, and although the wind was strong, not one strand of her long hair nor her pale blue gown stirred.
Suddenly my throat closed up and I had to focus on keeping my breathing even as my heart thumped painfully in my chest. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't afraid.
She took another step towards me, her eyes still wide and I could do nothing but stare back at her like an idiot, frozen to the spot, torn between running towards the house or running away.
"I had felt there was something different about you, but I could not quite put my finger on it. Now I know what it is, and what a wonderful surprise it turned out to be." She continued. "You are not like the other lady who came before you. She ignored my pleas. She refused to help me."
"The other lady?" I managed to choke out as I flickered my eyes towards the door, wondering how long it would take me to run there and unlock it. Far too long if she had the same powers as Cole.
The red haired lady nodded her head, "Yes. But it is fine now because you can be of aid to me."
Focus Zei. Stall. Stall until you can think of a plan.
"What is it you want?" I asked, trying to appear calm and collected, when internally I felt my confidence of getting out of this unscathed, slowly eroded away bit by bit at each of her words.
"I need to deliver a question to the owner of the house." She said simply, coming to stand a step away from me, her beautiful tear streaked face somewhat familiar to me but I couldn't put my hand one why it looked so familiar.
"The owner? My mum?" I asked, eyebrows knitted together in confusion."But she can't see you."
The woman shook her head, "No. The white haired owner." She looked behind her before turning to me again, "He is in there. He is dead like me."
This conversation was getting crazier by the second. I needed to do something before the woman's actions became as crazy as her words.
"Who are you?" I asked as I slowly took a step back.
Her face fell, fresh tears glistening in her sad eyes. "I don't know. I don't know who I am." She whispered, looking down at the ground, wrapping her arms around herself, looking like a fragile doll a whisper away from shattering. "All I know is that the white haired owner knows. He holds the key to my secrets."
She suddenly looked up at me, her eyes suddenly hard and determined, her mouth set in a straight line. I didn't dare to take another step back as the woman looked like she was on the edge of sanity. "But he will not grant me entry. He will not listen."
Then suddenly her red lips pulled up into a large smile. "But I no longer have to wait, for you shall grant me entry."
Things were beginning to spiral out of control. I knew Cole wasn't willing to see her, whatever her reasons and I wasn't ready to let another ghost roam inside, wrecking havoc when one was already doing a splendid job of that.
So the question was, how did I tell her that without getting killed in the process?
She was waiting for me, her smile slowly trickling away at each second bled into another, "Well?" She asked, her eyes which were bright a second before, narrowed in suspicion. "Will you allow me entry?"
I took a deep breath.
"No."
It was if that word had flicked a switch inside her as her face froze before it contorted into something frightening, her eyes and mouth becoming black, gaping holes. In that moment, her beautiful face was replaced by something truly frightening.
Her hands clamped down on my shoulders painfully before I could move as she screamed, her voice deep and demonic. "GRANT ME ENTRY!"
The door to the house suddenly opened, and Cole came into view. I never felt relief like that before when I saw him.
"Run!" He shouted, locking eyes with me, his arm outstretched towards me, neither taking one step back nor forward.
Thankfully, it broke the concentration and grip of the woman as she turned to look at him. "YOU!"
I broke into a sprint, going past her as fast as I could, not wanting to give her another chance to grab me.
"Faster!" He urged, his eyes flicking past me, green eyes hard.
I didn't realise I was screaming Cole's name until it suddenly got cut off as I got yanked by the back of my shirt painfully, within inches of my hand grabbing Coles hand.
My breath was coming faster by the second, my heart thumping even faster as the lady tightened her clutch on my shirt. I really wished in that moment that I had some ghost powers to get myself out of this situation.
I didn't dare turn around to look at her. Her contorted face was forever imprinted in my memory, a nightmare that I would have to come accustomed to.
"Allow me entry inside and answer my questions, and I promise I will let this girl go." She said, now calm. The changes to her mood were alarming.
Cole never looked away from my eyes, his face a blank slate. Yet his eyes were a storm of emotions, anger raging strongest. At who, was unknown.
I struggled against her grip, both my hands locking around her wrists, trying to release her grip on me but her fragile wrist seemed to have an unknown source of strength since all I struggled to pry her off, didn't relinquish her hold on me a bit.
I looked back at Cole with his arm still outstretched towards me. Why wasn't he moving?
He opened his mouth, not breaking eye contact with me once, uttering only one word.
"Move."
Hesitating for only a second, I leaped forward again, my own hand reaching for his, and I could have cried in relief when my hand met his. With one strong yank, Cole pulled me towards him, the grip of the woman loosening from the unexpected action.
Cole didn't waste any time in slamming the door to her anguished screams, as we both stood still, hands still clasped, as my loud, ragged breathing filling up the silence between us.
Without a warning, my legs gave away and I would have fallen, had it not been for Coles arm holding me steady as he gently lowered me to sit down on the cold floor.
It was only when I felt his warmth, as he sat close to me, that I felt myself shivering from the nerves, tears gathering in my eyes. It had only been such a short amount of time moving into this supposedly peaceful town, and not once had trouble relented. I don't know how much more I could take.
I looked at the floor without really seeing anything as my tears fell like droplets of rain on the wooden floorboards.
I felt a light touch on my head, "Are you hurt anywhere?" Cole asked quietly.
I shook my head under his hand, not trusting myself to speak, embarrassed I was crying in front of him of all people. But the more I tried to stop them, the more tears fell.
I don't know how long we sat together on the floor, but when I finally did stop crying, I could no longer hear the woman.
Wiping my eyes again, I cleared my throat, finally looking up at Cole.
His green eyes steadily stared back, his hair covering the intense colour partially.
I was the first one to break the silence.
"Why didn't you come outside?" I asked.
I saw his hesitation at the question, but one look at my narrowed eyes, he sighed, running his hand through his thick hair, making it stand up in different directions.
"I can't cross over the threshold. Lord knows how many times I've tried. It seems like there's some sort of invisible barrier keeping me prisoner inside."
I tried to hide my surprise at that, storing away that information to go over when I was alone.
"And that woman. She said you had the key to unlock her secrets. Why won't you reveal them to her?"
He stood up, reaching down to grab my hand. I allowed him to help me up since my legs still felt shaky, frustrating me to no end.
"I think it will be best it you clean yourself up before your mother arrives." He said simply.
Before he turned around to go, he looked back at me, " And I think we should have a little chat. Don't you?"
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A/N- Hello Wattpad World. It is I again. I hope you liked the latest installment. I got a little late with the editing, so I had to push this update back a day. I sincerely apologise.
Do share your thoughts on the comments below :) I love hearing from you. You guys are amazing with your answers.
A question before I go.
Why won't Cole help the red haired lady?