tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-84726808938886881382024-03-05T02:36:14.004-08:00Raven's AnnexThe Raven James ChroniclesB.H. Wydevenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18442986404848605042noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8472680893888688138.post-8115943001993953592015-12-15T12:12:00.003-08:002015-12-15T12:12:37.785-08:00My debut novel: Drowning Demons: A Raven James Novel is available for pre-order<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheuhSJDXroJmONbLX0ACFyEV-dcRMXryblNCi8aJxbZucM5Zdwc_T9LW-GUDj5RdunZy15xDqPpLNiGlgXjYiPFQelwLtn8Ic-K7NsvZtahFiqLG9Q9TacCfFZO4XG7VmoZ7xAh7h5iYQZ/s1600/jarrodandIforthemedium.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="204" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheuhSJDXroJmONbLX0ACFyEV-dcRMXryblNCi8aJxbZucM5Zdwc_T9LW-GUDj5RdunZy15xDqPpLNiGlgXjYiPFQelwLtn8Ic-K7NsvZtahFiqLG9Q9TacCfFZO4XG7VmoZ7xAh7h5iYQZ/s320/jarrodandIforthemedium.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><i><span style="font-size: small;">Shooting Cinema 13 in 2006</span></i></b></td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="line-height: 15.456px;">Eight years ago, Two life changing events occurred: I moved to Madison, Wisconsin and I began writing my most ambitious full length novel to date: A novelized reworking the failed film attempt of what was previously know as </span><i style="line-height: 15.456px;">"Cinema 13</i><span style="line-height: 15.456px;">." Off and on, I would tweak it carefully... I intentionally took my time. I found through writing the novel, there was something profoundly personal about this particular story. Over the years, I got A LOT of constructive feedback and made an endless amount of revisions. At times, the novel collected dust for more than a year at a time.</span></span></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: red;">But I did not quit.</span></b></div>
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In 2010, inspired by a personal experience told to me over a campfire by Corey Eckes, I wrote <b><a href="http://ravensannex.blogspot.com/2010/08/hot-summer-chill.html" target="_blank">A HOT SUMMER CHILL</a></b> as a short story set in the same world as the novel. This was followed by a total of seven short stories with smaller tales taking place a few months before the novel. It allowed me to explore the main novel characters without the fatigue of revising a 200 page novel.</div>
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Four years later, I would adapt <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L484YXhBMRU" target="_blank">A Hot Summer Chill</a> into a short film. It was quickly followed by <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-2yRKwgnlU" target="_blank">Reflections </a>(an adaption of the Drowning Demons' prologue), <i>The Waiting Room & Demon in the Waiting Room</i> - both originally short stories - followed the film adaptation trend.</div>
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In 2016, we will follow suit with <b><span style="color: red;">MOURNING IN THE CEMETERY</span></b>, the last chapter in <i>The Raven James Chronicles Volume One.</i></div>
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This will of course be followed by <i>Volume Two</i>, which will feature contributing writers to the series.</div>
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Also in 2016, my journey of writing my phoenix novel (the novel emerged from the ashes of an unfinished film) will end.</div>
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That novel is <i>DROWNING DEMONS</i>. Starting today, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/author/benwydeven" target="_blank"><i>Drowning Demons: A Raven James Novel</i> is available via pre-order on Amazon</a></div>
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<i>Drowning Demons</i>, my debut novel, will be released on March 15th 2016, nearly 9 long years after I began writing it, and a FULL DECADE after our initial attempt to make Cinema 13.</div>
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For those of you who have been with me on this journey (in both the films and the novel), I am eternally grateful.</div>
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I am especially proud of these stories because they span over two different mediums (no pun intended). It is a dream come true to tell a story through both novel and film.</div>
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<span style="color: red;">I'm just getting started.</span></div>
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<span style="color: red;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSsR4-F84gwPeKYLwddP7Gr4NKY5-n_bGajrPYTo9vCXlHJcIZwOSkSkRLW3zHp0QoS4a8oR7DDwh5BTahrnLLbdjgheVimXy-lH4kbzuDgOgPij04Ju_LhIlESBsanDn5mgqf3bUYd4-O/s1600/10+IMG_7611+DROWNING+DEMONS+COVER+2015.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSsR4-F84gwPeKYLwddP7Gr4NKY5-n_bGajrPYTo9vCXlHJcIZwOSkSkRLW3zHp0QoS4a8oR7DDwh5BTahrnLLbdjgheVimXy-lH4kbzuDgOgPij04Ju_LhIlESBsanDn5mgqf3bUYd4-O/s320/10+IMG_7611+DROWNING+DEMONS+COVER+2015.jpg" width="213" /></a></span></div>
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<a class="_58cn" data-ft="{"tn":"*N","type":104}" href="https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/theravenjameschronicles?source=feed_text&story_id=10156310946715183" style="cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;"><span aria-label="hashtag" class="_58cl">#</span><span class="_58cm">theravenjameschronicles</span></a> <a class="_58cn" data-ft="{"tn":"*N","type":104}" href="https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/drowningdemons?source=feed_text&story_id=10156310946715183" style="cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;"><span aria-label="hashtag" class="_58cl">#</span><span class="_58cm">drowningdemons</span></a> <a class="_58cn" data-ft="{"tn":"*N","type":104}" href="https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/paranormal?source=feed_text&story_id=10156310946715183" style="cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;"><span aria-label="hashtag" class="_58cl">#</span><span class="_58cm">paranormal</span></a> <a class="_58cn" data-ft="{"tn":"*N","type":104}" href="https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/ghoststories?source=feed_text&story_id=10156310946715183" style="cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;"><span aria-label="hashtag" class="_58cl">#</span><span class="_58cm">ghoststories</span></a></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05564026601549950141noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8472680893888688138.post-6984925820910079552014-03-21T15:07:00.001-07:002014-03-21T15:10:38.457-07:00A HOT SUMMER CHILL film adaptation to be release date announced!<div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
March 21st, 2014 - Makeshift Media Group is pleased to announce that the film adaptation of The Raven James Chronicles: A Hot Summer Chill will be released on Saturday May 3rd, 2014 in Madison, Wisconsin.</div>
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The world premiere will take place in the Badger Bowl cabin room and will include live musical performances by featured artists Stereo Side Effect, Joey Broyles and Karen Wheelock.</div>
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Cover is $10 at the door and includes snacks and beer. Members of the cast and crew will also be in attendance.</div>
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The original story, which was written in 2010 can be read on the <a href="http://ravensannex.blogspot.com/2010/08/hot-summer-chill.html">Raven's Annex</a> blog. A Hot Summer Chill is a short story which introduces the main characters of the novel Drowning Demons.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3dci6hB-yQcBfIf-522rnxbKWv_sR1MuVDx1gDwVPoxlNgsfGOynlOTKSn-zcLqXzxfNp8XImkEC5FLyFsQRkft4dm28upe4IPsrEyejvcjtkZuOoEgNDQ0XyBjG2w_0eTkg9u-zltY0/s1600/RAVEN+LOOKS+OUT+THE+WINDOW.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3dci6hB-yQcBfIf-522rnxbKWv_sR1MuVDx1gDwVPoxlNgsfGOynlOTKSn-zcLqXzxfNp8XImkEC5FLyFsQRkft4dm28upe4IPsrEyejvcjtkZuOoEgNDQ0XyBjG2w_0eTkg9u-zltY0/s1600/RAVEN+LOOKS+OUT+THE+WINDOW.jpg" height="223" width="400" /></a></div>
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The film stars Daniel Harris as alcoholic spiritual medium Raven James and follows his struggles with the trauma that the spiritual world endures. Nathan Lowe, Tim Towne, Katrina King, Bennett Schneider & Erica Washa round out the supporting cast.DVD's of the film will be on sale, as well as the soundtrack featuring an original score by Justin Bright & Tony Larson, as well as original songs by artists such as Joey Broyles and Karen Wheelock will also be available for purchase.</div>
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B.H. Wydevenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18442986404848605042noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8472680893888688138.post-76298787828860960342013-08-13T13:03:00.000-07:002014-03-21T14:45:52.811-07:00Film Adaptation of "A Hot Summer Chill" is in the works<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I am pleased to announce that after nearly 6 years since I began writing<i> Drowning Demons, </i>we have adapted the short story <a href="http://ravensannex.blogspot.com/2010/08/hot-summer-chill.html">A Hot Summer Chill</a> into a film.</div>
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We have cast Daniel Harris as the alcoholic spiritual medium Raven James, and Nathan Lowe as the sober bartender and aspiring ghost hunter.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgybamkl_lAraFqeRYaj4vpK81x1gimUnwYIxhUySa0bbd59GpkjJxiX-rGoZw3nbv8Omb2RnO-iZbQeQ3sD_Ya-y_MK8uM5CEjnMI35tKFo3F9Cwkbi4Ch1yy1iMM-vH_mAngDdzoP77s/s1600/Image8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgybamkl_lAraFqeRYaj4vpK81x1gimUnwYIxhUySa0bbd59GpkjJxiX-rGoZw3nbv8Omb2RnO-iZbQeQ3sD_Ya-y_MK8uM5CEjnMI35tKFo3F9Cwkbi4Ch1yy1iMM-vH_mAngDdzoP77s/s320/Image8.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">(from left to right ) Daniel Harris as Raven James, Tim Towne as John McWalters and Nathan Lowe as Benny Cavoto</td></tr>
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Principal photography began <b>August 18th, 2013</b>, nearly 3 years to the day that I released the short story here on <b>Raven's Annex</b>.</div>
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We've come a long way to get to this point, and I am very excited to see the characters from my novel come to life! It is very unique experience to be doing a short film involving characters with such a deep history. While it makes telling a small slice of a big story challenging at times, I hope to leave our audience wanting to know more about these characters.<br />
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To help cover the cost of food and props, we have set up a Kickstarter fund. If you enjoy the stories of Raven James and would like to support our small production, please consider donating. Every little big helps.<br />
<br />
As a backer, in addition to the <a href="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/benwydeven/the-raven-james-chronicles-a-hot-summer-chill">rewards listed</a>, you will also receive updates and news, exclusive to our backers.<br />
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We plan to release<i> A Hot Summer Chill </i> in the spring of 2014.</div>
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<u style="color: #0000ee; font-size: 13px; text-align: right;"><iframe frameborder="0" height="380" src="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/benwydeven/the-raven-james-chronicles-a-hot-summer-chill/widget/card.html" width="220"></iframe></u></div>
<br />B.H. Wydevenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18442986404848605042noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8472680893888688138.post-10517780791866953232011-12-04T01:20:00.000-08:002014-03-21T14:44:17.621-07:00SALT WATER<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">From </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The Raven James Chronicles</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> by B.H. Wydeven</span></div>
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(Continued from "<a href="http://ravensannex.blogspot.com/2011/08/salt.html">Salt</a>")</div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
Raven gasped, a cold sweat covering
his face and back. He fidgeted uncomfortably on Benny's living room couch,
where he had been sleeping for the last week. Things had stayed quiet since he
had begun crashing on the couch. After last week's encounter with the entity in
the guest bedroom, Raven and Benny had surrounded the entire house with salt,
which, as Raven had explained to him, worked modestly as protection from
wandering spirits.<o:p></o:p></div>
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As Raven opened his eyes, he heard
a gentle scratching and thumping sound against Benny’s big picture window. But
it was the heavy breathing that had torn him out of a sound sleep.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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The living room was dark and full
of moving shadows. It was early morning and the slightest touches of dawn were
illuminating the room. The furniture in the room was reduced to mere shapes
with no dimensions. Raven sat up, tense with the feeling of a second unseen
presence.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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Raven absolutely hated waking up
this way. He had built that waiting room in his subconscious for a reason, but
the metal gate didn’t always hold up.<o:p></o:p></div>
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He was still pretty drunk. Having
been on a steady diet of whiskey and teenage scotch the night before, Raven
felt his stomach gurgle. His muscles ached and his back was itchy from meshing
with the rough texture of the couch cushions. He blinked until his eyes
witnessed solid shapes, albeit spinning and blurry shapes.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Suddenly something rapped against
the window with a rapid knocking pace. Raven quickly sat up on the couch. Next
to the living room window of Benny’s house was a tall fir that enjoyed slapping
the glass pane like scratchy brush stroking along a pallet. It’s eerie rapping
filled the otherwise peaceful living room. Raven closed his eyes again and
listened to the wind dance with the trees, creating a hiss through the branches
and the fine fabrics of the needles. Soon, a steady but gentle rain began
pattering on the brick sill, building into a steady hiss.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Springtime was tuning up its
instruments.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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Inside, the living room was cold
and the air was still, as if waiting for a more violent storm. The house
creaked as the wind picked up its pace.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Then he caught sight of the woman
in the room.<o:p></o:p></div>
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She appeared to be middle aged,
dark brown hair with strands of silver. She stood at the far end of the living
room near the door; her figure was very faint and she appeared to float into
the room without legs. Her eyes sockets were empty, nothing but two holes in
her head.<o:p></o:p></div>
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She didn’t pose a threat, but her
heart beat was loud in Raven’s ears as if her heart was lodge somewhere in his
brain. Her breath seemed sporadic and panicky; suddenly she began panting like
a dog, building up into a rapid rhythm parallel to the thunderous beating
inside Raven's skull, until finally she let out a loud gasping scream, as if
being tortured.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Raven shuddered and cupped his ears
but the noises had already given him a horrible headache. He opened his eyes to
relieve his most focused senses from the terror.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The woman
approached Raven, gliding up to him as he sat upright and reluctantly wide
awake on the couch. She stopped just before the coffee table and looked down at
him. The overcast sunlight glowed through the two round holes in her head.<o:p></o:p></div>
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She
whispered something softly but Raven couldn't understand her. As she hovered
over him, Raven slowly reached under the couch and pulled out a container of
salt and hastily poured a thin line across the coffee table. Pursing her lips,
the woman turned and faded away.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Raven took
a deep breath. <i>Not when I'm sleeping, bitch. </i>He said to himself.<o:p></o:p></div>
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His mind
searched the room for the possibility of more lost souls who had managed to
intrude the house, but in his groggy haze, Raven seemed to be alone.<o:p></o:p></div>
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He had
gotten lucky.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Supporting himself on the arm of
the couch, Raven stood up and stumbled his way to the front door. Outside, the
air was cool and the rain came down in steady drifts of thick drops. The angled
siding tossed the cold rain into Raven’s face, stinging his cheeks and tickling
his neck. He lifted the welcome mat and found a scattered array of white salt.
On the ground trailing the edge of the house, the white minerals were thinly
scattered. Much of the line had submerged by a shallow moat where the rainwater
was pouring off the house.<o:p></o:p></div>
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His protective salt from the
supernatural had been defeated by nature. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Raven looked up at the sky. The
clouds were gloomy swirls of gray and white; no sign of clearing up.</div>
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<b style="text-align: center;"> † † †</b></div>
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<b style="text-align: center;"><br /></b></div>
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“Raven, what happened to the
salt?" Benny said. “I was going to make pancakes this morning. All I need
is a teaspoon of salt, but I’m completely tapped out!”<o:p></o:p></div>
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Raven reached under the coffee table.
"Here," he said, tossing Benny the carton of salt. "The spring
rain washed my salt away."<o:p></o:p></div>
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It had only
been a week since Raven had told Benny about his ability to see ghosts and
every since then, Raven had been expecting some kind of normal reaction from
Benny; a dirty look, a "you're insane," or even the inevitable
"get the hell out of my house." Even a question or two from Benny
would seem reasonable for a normal person to ask.<o:p></o:p></div>
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"How
many pancakes do you want?" Benny shouted from the kitchen. <i>Not the
question he expected from a normal person.</i><o:p></o:p></div>
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Then again,
what the hell did he know about being normal?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
"I'll just have a Bloody
Mary."<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
"That's
it? You sure?"<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
"Fine.
I'll take two."<o:p></o:p></div>
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Benny was
so preoccupied with making pancakes that he didn't notice Raven pass through
the kitchen and into the garage. There, on the shelf as he had left them, were
two gallon jugs of holy water.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Raven hoped
he had enough salt.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The sizzle
of pancake batter on the hot skittle filled the warm, buttermilk smelling air
as Raven set the jugs on the kitchen table.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
"What'd
you do with that carton of salt?"<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
"Right
here," Benny said, barely glancing away from the stove. He did a double
take when he saw the jugs. "What do you have those out for?"<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Raven
removed the cap from the first jug and poured in a generous amount of salt.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
"I'm
making salt water," Raven explained, watching the salt disperse into the
water. "Hopefully, with the salt fully dissolved into the holy water, no
force of nature will be able to get through."<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Raven
recapped the jug and shook. "I should have thought of this a week
ago," he said, holding the top and bottom of the jug and jostling it back
and forth. Slowly, the salt dissolved, leaving the water looking cloudy.
"There."<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
"Cool,"
Benny said carelessly. Raven looked back at him and tried to read the
expression on his face, but he seemed unpretentious to what Raven was doing or
the potential dangers. Normally, Raven hated it when people asked him questions
about his abilities or the actions he took because of them. But in this case,
he was almost zealous to answer some questions.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
With the
skillet sizzling on the stove, Raven silently continued with the second jug,
then quietly went outside in the rain and carefully distributed the fully
dissolved salt water around Benny's house.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
He returned
inside about fifteen minutes later, soaking wet. Benny poked his head out of
the kitchen when he heard the door open. "Where've you been? Pancakes are
sitting in the oven."<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Raven
frowned. Ringing his long wet hair with a hand, Raven followed Benny - and the
smell of pancakes - into the kitchen.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
"You
want some orange juice?"<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
"Orange
juice and vodka?"<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
"Coming
right up. Have a seat."<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Benny
opened the oven and placed 2 pancakes on a plate for Raven, and 2 for himself,
then prepared 2 orange juices - one with vodka, and sat across from Raven. The
whole chivalrous thing made Raven a little uncomfortable.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
"Thank
you," Raven said as Benny set the plates and glasses onto the table.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
"You're
welcome," Benny said, sitting down. Raven awkwardly reached out for the
glass of orange juice and took a sip.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
"There's
no vodka in this."<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
"Opps!"
Benny said with a chuckle as he swapped the glasses. "I haven't had any
alcohol since the accident. The booze almost killed me that night." Benny
smiled at Raven. Then silence.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
For one
hundred and twenty awkward and seemingly endless seconds, only the sound of
chewing occupied the room, broken only once by a single question from Benny. "How are they?"<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
"Good."<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This
continued until Raven had bottomed out his orange juice and vodka. Immediately Benny grabbed his crutches and
pushed himself out of his chair.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
"It's
okay, I got it," Raven said.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
"No, I
insist," Benny said, wincing as he slowly pulled himself up.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
"It's
ok, that leg isn't going to heal with you waiting on me all the time,"
Raven said, scooping up the glass and darting out of his seat as Benny
conceded. As Raven poured vodka into his glass, the ice cubes crackled and
slowly rose with the liquid. As he returned to the table, Benny's eyes followed
Raven's yellowish orange beverage. He finished swallowing the last of his
pancake, nodded to clear his throat then said: "Can you teach me how to
see ghosts?" There was a nervous tingle in his voice, as if the question
had been hanging from his tonsils for a week.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Raven took
in a refreshing sip of his orange juice and vodka - triple the potency as
Benny's mix - and shrugged.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
"Well,
everybody already has the ability to do it; they just have to be open to the
idea. But I don’t recommend it.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
"I
believe in ghosts."<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
"It's
more than just believing. You have to be an antenna. You have to unlock a part
of your body and your soul and your mind and allow that energy to reach you at
a level that most people can not accept exists."<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
"Have
there been any ghosts here, in the house, since last week?"<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Raven look a long look at Benny before he answered.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
"Yes,"
Raven said. "There was a woman. She approached me as I woke up. That's how
I knew the salt around the house wasn't working."<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
"Oh,"
Benny said. "Do you talk to the ghosts when they come to you?"<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Raven took a deep breath. "I try
not to unless I have to. There are so many of them, I have to turn most of them
away."<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
"Do
you like helping them?" Benny asked quickly.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Raven hesitated
before shrugging. "Sometimes. If I can bring them peace, yeah. Actually,
the only time I ever feel truly alive is when I've helped a spirit find it's
way. It's a very emotional process though."<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
"Could
we help them together?" Benny said, with a serious look on his face. It
was the look of a man who held the world on his shoulders, but still wanted to
carry another planet in his arms.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
"Possibly, if you’re careful.
Communicating with ghosts is not something I chose to do. I do it because they’re
always there if I’m not drunk. And sometimes drinking doesn’t even keep them away.
The attention whores are the worst. They’re the ones who try to fuck with my
head and sometimes even try to convince me that they’re demons.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
“It sounds a lot like bartending.
Sometimes I get the chill customers who keep to themselves, but then I get the assholes
that come in and are rude to other customers and make everyone in the bar feel
awkward.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
“Attention whores.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
“Exactly. So, what can I do to …hunt
ghosts?”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
“Start by never calling it that,”
Raven said, taking another long swig from his drink. “There are some devices
you could use to detect ghosts, if you want to equip yourself. Also, I don't
really like people knowing that I seeing ghosts, so you do need to be very discreet.
Don’t advertise it."<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
"Of
course."<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Benny took
a sip of his orange juice. Raven waited for the next question.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
"Raven?"<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
"Yes?"<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
"Thank you."<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>† † †</b></div>
B.H. Wydevenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18442986404848605042noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8472680893888688138.post-20879908176911968942011-08-15T13:47:00.000-07:002014-03-21T14:44:25.577-07:00 SALT <div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">From </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The Raven James Chronicles</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> by B.H. Wydeven</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
When Raven drifted through the door of Mickey’s Place for the first time, Benny was hobbling behind the bar on crutches, a white dishtowel slung over his shoulder. He smiled with delight as soon as he recognized Raven.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Mr. Raven, good to see you again,” Benny replied as Raven approached the bar. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“I’m impressed that you remember my name after that accident. How’re the legs feeling?”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Well I’m still here, a thanks to you. The legs will heal and so will the memories.” Benny dropped a coaster onto the bar. “What can I get you?”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
Raven shook his head.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
“Please. It’s on me. You saved my life. Let me at least buy you a drink.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Raven shrugged. “I’m feeling like a brew.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“How about a dark ale?”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“I’d prefer something light. I don’t like to chew my beer." </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Benny chuckled. “So what brings you back to Lafayette?”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“I never left.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
“I thought you were traveling the countryside.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
“I was. But I was traveling the countryside looking for a job and I decided to stick here in town for a while. I’m kind of broke.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“I can get you a job.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“You can?”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
“Yeah. Ever been a bartender?”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“No,” Raven said. “But I know my way around the bottle.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Where are you staying?”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Nowhere yet.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Stay at my place. I got a whole house to myself," Benny said with a smile. "It’s quiet and peaceful.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Somehow I doubt it,” Raven mumbled, taking a seat at the bar. Benny placed a glass of light yellow beer in front of him.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
"There you go. Domestic light. After a few they taste like water."</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Raven lifted the glass with no reserve and took a long drink, as if it were the first drink he had taken in weeks.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
"So, where are you from?" Benny asked. Raven continued downing his beer until two-thirds of it was gone. He waited a moment for a response but never got one. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A group of four twenty something's entered the bar and Benny spent the rest of the night keeping up with orders. Raven spent the rest of the evening people watching and drinking light beer. Periodically, Benny would refill Raven's glass without so much as a pause to see if he wanted more. Benny could tell by the tired look in Raven's eyes, he needed to forget something that happened somewhere.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Most everyone who entered his bar had that look.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But Raven had saved Benny's life.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
By about 12:30 a.m. the crowd began to dwindle and Raven seemed well acquainted with the light beer he had been drinking all night, downing a glass every fifteen minutes or so. By 1 a.m. Raven was leaning over the bar like a top heavy palm tree about to collapse. Occasionally, his head slumped over, the tips of his long hair dancing on the bar top. Once or twice, a few strands dipped into his glass, although he didn't seem to notice or care. As Benny refreshed Raven's glass, he managed to get in a question.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
"How did you save my life?" Benny asked. Raven hesitated at the question for a moment. There were still a lot of people in the bar, and he didn't particularly want anyone to know he could communicate with ghosts so well it had driven him to a strange bout of alcohol dependency. He leaned into the bar towards Benny.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
"Can you keep a secret?"</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Benny leaned back as Raven leaned in, the smell of light beer on Raven's breath. "Sure."</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
"I can see ghosts," he slurred, letting the S drift through his teeth into a hiss, "It's why I drink."</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
"Drowning your literal demons. How poetic."</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
"Not demonssss." Raven squatted the idea of out the air. "Ghosts. Restlesss Sspirtss who want my help."</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
"So I was a spirit?"</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
"Not quite," Raven said, then slumped face down onto the bar.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
By the time 2 a.m. rolled around, Raven was still slumped over the bar, one arm extended over the bar and his long dark hair piled in a heap. Benny shook him awake and he slowly opened his eyes to the bright ceiling lights.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
"You alive?"</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
"Eeh," came the response from under the hair pile.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
"Ready to see the house?" Raven slowly lifted his head, his hair lifting up like strands on a mop.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
"Sure."</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<b>† † †</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
To Raven, the taxi ride back to Benny's house was a blur. When they got to the house, Benny, whose right leg was in a cast, mostly hopped up to the door, while Raven lurched toward the house on two staggering feet.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
The ranch style house looked small from the outside, it's convex picture window in the middle reflecting the lights of the taxi, giving it the appearance of a Cyclops with one glowing eye. Benny reached the front steps before Raven did.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
The living room was plainly decorated. White walls, an old reddish brown recliner and a long gray couch. Raven's first impression was that the house was cozy, and not haunted.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
"Most of the furniture was my dad's," Benny explained. "I got the house when he died, I just kind of moved in."</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
Benny went to the back of the house and switched on the light in a small hallway. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
"In here is the guest bedroom. Might be a little dusty, but it's all yours. The bathroom is right next door." He switched on the bathroom light. Raven meandered into the guest room and collapsed diagonally onto the bed, face down.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
"I'll leave the bathroom light on in case you..." Benny stopped short when Raven began snoring.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<b>† † †</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
Raven awoke several hours later to a cold breeze on the back of his neck. It felt like someone had walked past him quickly and distilled his hair. Having forgotten where he was, Raven rolled onto his back and looked around.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
The room was dark and chilly and he was laying diagonally on the lower half of the bed, his feet dangling off the edge and his shoes anchoring his legs down so much he couldn't feel his feet. He could barely see the outline of the door, but he knew where it was. The window on the other side of the room was a distorted square of light which projected shadows on the walls.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
But that's not what gave him the Goosebumps.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
At first, Raven thought he was seeing a bizarre design of shadows against the wall between the door and the window. But when the entity moved away from the wall and he saw its scarlet eyes, <i>he knew</i>.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
The entity was 10 feet tall with arms that stretched down to the floor. Its head was oblong, roughly the shape of a balloon. Its eyes were a harsh glare of red, they had no depth or pupils.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
Raven froze as he lay sprawled on the bed, staring at the entity, wondering what it wanted or even what it was. It made no sounds, but it’s presence alone created an intensely hopeless sensation that made Raven feel strangely depressed, merely out of suggestion.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
But he knew better.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Looking around the room, Raven attempted to repress the entity’s persistent influence. To his left, the single window let in stray streaks of moonlight, yet the entity’s figure was not illuminated.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
Suddenly, the entity raised its arm, a long stiff limb with three pointy fingers which reached out and completely covered the window, turning the room almost completely dark. Before he could jump out of bed and vacate the room, Raven felt an intense pressure on both his arms and chest. His entire body was paralyzed. He couldn’t even move his jaw. His tonsils pulsed silently as he tried to shout. He felt a cold breeze drift over his body as the presence dominated him and the door gently clicked shut, pinching out the last sliver of light the room had left. The only thing Raven could do was close his eyes.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
Raven was safer in his subconscious than he was with his eyes open. He was running through the waiting room to the hallway. As he rushed through, dozens of entities began shouting and whispering, the residuals meandered around him like inmates in an asylum. Raven didn’t make eye contact with any of them as he ran through the open gate, slammed it shut, wrapped the chains and locked the padlock.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
He hurried down the hall, past the doctor’s office to the third door on the right. The door opened to an empty room with white walls covered with phrases. He moved around the room looking for a specific phrase; he read it out loud, in latin: <i>Whoso dwelleth under the defense of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say unto the LORD, thou art my hope, and my stronghold; my God, in him will I trust.</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
Nothing happened. He repeated the phrase louder this time.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
The feeling of hopelessness was the first thing to leave him, then eventually the pressure on his chest. He let in a long gasping breath of air. Suddenly, his entire body shook and someone was shouting his name.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
Raven opened his eyes to a bright light and an unfocused face peering over him. He heard his name muffled in his ears as if from a distance. Slowly his senses came back into focus and the blurry image of a man standing over him took shape. The bright, blurry shape became Benny's husky frame back lit by the ceiling light. He was holding onto a crutch with one hand and shaking Raven's shoulder with the other.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<i>“Raven! Raven wake up! You’re having a nightmare!” </i>Benny was screaming. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
Raven took in the white walls and brown closet doors in the room for the first time. The bedspread he was laying on was waves of light blue with round swirling streaks of dark blue. To Raven it looked like the ocean.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
The corner where the entity had stood was empty.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
“You were screaming something in a foreign language. ” Benny explained. “You were so loud, I was afraid the neighbors might call and complain. Are you okay? You're freezing man! Do you want some blankets?”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
Raven rubbed his eyes. His face was cold.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
“I’m not sleeping in here anymore.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
“Why not? What happened? Is it a ghost?”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
“Do you have any salt?”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
Benny crinkled his nose. “Salt?”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
“Yes, salt. Regular good old table salt.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
“Let me go and check.” As Benny disappeared into the kitchen, Raven ripped the sheets off the bed, grabbed a pillow and retreated to the living room couch. In the kitchen, a cupboard slammed.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
“Looks like I got about half a container,” Benny said, shaking a carton of salt. Raven got up quickly and without a word, grabbed the carton, walked up to the entrance of the guest room and without hesitating or explaining, he poured a generous amount of salt in a line at the doorway of the bedroom. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
"What the-" Benny stammered.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
Raven looked at the corner of the room where the entity had stood. He could still feel an intense energy coming from that spot. Glancing down at his feet, Raven watched his salt line gently scatter in the cold draft.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
“Do you have any packaging tape?”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
“Raven, buddy, it’s 3 o’clock in the morning. Why the hell are you pouring salt onto my carpet?”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
“There’s an entity inside that room,” Raven explained. "Relax, I can get rid of it. But no one goes in until I say it’s clear, okay?”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
Benny closed his eyes, trying to find his words. He swayed a bit, feeling the comforting invitation of sleepiness numb his body. With his mouth gaped open, Benny watched Raven kneel on the floor, scrapping up strands of salt out of the carpet and create a solid white line across the doorway of the guest bedroom.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
"Where's that packaging tape?" Raven said, frantically glancing up at Benny.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
In that moment, Benny wanted to just call Raven crazy outright. But the look in Raven's eyes was not of a crazy person's. He was wide awake, his eyes large and alert, and yet only hours ago, Benny had seen this guy barely walk to the front door. Something had scared him sober in a hurry.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
“You really do see ghosts don't you?”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
"They're fucking assholes. But Benny." Raven grabbed a hold of Benny's crutch. "Right now, I need some tape to keep the salt on the floor. It keeps the entity in the room and away from attacking us.” Raven spoke with such convention and sincerity that Benny immediately went back into the kitchen and rummaged through the drawers until he found some clear packaging tape.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
“What were you saying in your sleep?” Benny asked. “Do you even remember?”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
“It was Latin. I was shunning the entity from this house.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
“Will it work?”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
“I hope so,” Raven explained. He didn’t want Benny to know just how dangerous this negative entity could be. He wasn't sure if he could trust Benny with his most coveted secret yet.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
The spirit that had been dwelling in the corner was most likely there because of Raven. He had found out a long time ago that earthbound spirits are drawn to him, a curse he shared with his late mother.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
As far as he could tell, the entity was powerless; Raven had shunned it into the waiting room of his subconscious. But if he wasn’t careful, it could escape or worse, invite more of its kind.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
Raven needed more salt.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
“Tomorrow we need to go to the grocery store and buy more of this stuff.”</div>
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“Why?”</div>
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“We need to surround your entire house with it. Spirits will find me. But with the salt, they won’t be able to enter this house without our permission.”</div>
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<b>† † †</b></div>
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<br /></div>
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The next day, as planned Raven and Benny went to the grocery store. Just before they left, Raven cleaned out two gallon milk jugs and brought them along.</div>
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“What are those for?”</div>
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“Just in case,” Raven said.</div>
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He picked the church because of its giant angular front doors and tall steeple.</div>
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He entered the church with the two empty milk cartons, a bible and a cross. Father Peter came out to greet him, glancing over Raven curiously.</div>
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“You are not here for mass, are you?”</div>
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“Sorry, no,” Raven said. “I need two gallons of holy water.”</div>
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Father Peter raised an eyebrow.</div>
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“What is this for?”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Just in case,” Raven said solemnly.</div>
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<b>† † †</b></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<b>TO BE CONTINUED IN '<a href="http://ravensannex.blogspot.com/2011/12/salt-water.html">SALT WATER</a>'</b></div>
B.H. Wydevenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18442986404848605042noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8472680893888688138.post-90407875781682746152010-09-10T16:10:00.000-07:002014-03-21T14:44:34.723-07:00 DEMON IN THE WAITING ROOM<div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</div>
<div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;">
<b></b>From <i>The Raven James Chronicles</i> by B.H. Wydeven<br />
<i>(reader discretion is advised) </i></div>
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No more than 15 minutes after Benny had locked up his bar for the night, Raven was on the bathroom floor, curled over the toilet, squeezing out an evening’s worth of stomach burning whiskey shots and a handful of sugar coated mixed drinks.<br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">Since they had met nearly two months ago, Benny had seen this self-destructive routine nearly every night, but this time something was wrong. Normally, Raven would come home, pass out, wake up an hour or so later and puke with ease and go back to bed. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">But there was no routine tonight, just painful purging.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">At each extraction, Raven’s entire body convulsed like a centipede, purging, gagging and heaving, followed by a rumbling cough that ignited into spitting; more coughing and more heaving until his throat was raw.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Raven’s shirtless body resembled a tube of toothpaste being squeezed until it was almost flat in the middle. As Benny watched this horrendous act, he became suspicious that there were other forces at work.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">When it was all over, Benny, terrified for his friend’s health, rushed to Raven’s side to help him to bed, the living room couch. As Benny struggled to transfer him to the far side of the living room, Raven’s head slumped and his legs dropped like lead. Benny readjusted the leverage on his crippled legs and strained to keep his friend upright and forward moving. As a bartender and owner, he had seen countless shades of drunkenness, but Raven’s was particularly unique, the only one he was reluctant to cut off. The alcohol, Benny had learned shortly after taking Raven in, keeps the literal demons away.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Eyes shut and tuned to a spinning bliss, Raven’s subconscious returned to that comfy couch in the doctor’s office just down the hall from his protective steel gate. But when he opened his eyes, Raven was overcome by a single level of darkness. The room had no dimensions; not even a window for the moon nor a thin glow creeping under the door from the hall. Nothing.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Something was not right.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">The room should have been bright and warm and peaceful, just as Raven’s subconscious had designed it. But instead it was cold and dark and full of hate. There should have been no sounds, just peaceful room tone. Instead, a gurgly hiss gave the darkness its only depth.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">As the hissing got louder, Raven quickly sat up straight and touched his face; his hands were clammy and his face was cold. The room was getting colder. Raven tried to calm himself and attempted to map out the perspective of the room, but it was the red eyes that came from the hiss that made his heart pound.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">The eyes only appeared briefly from behind the doctor’s desk, and quickly they were gone. The hiss was rhythmic, fading in and out like a heavy breath. This was followed by a rapid tapping which sounded like long finger nails on the surface of a wooden desk.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">The scratching and tapping was followed by a deep growl, one that suggested whatever was making the noise was creeping closer. Raven stilled his shudder breath and resisted against the terrifying images his mind’s eye created in the inky blackness. His imagination painted a crude silhouette of a demon-like creature with wide red eyes and yellow drool dripping from its teeth as it crawled over the wooden desk. Raven felt his heart beat pound in the side of his neck. The demon’s claws were similar to a hawk’s sharp talons and its skin resembled blackish brown bark. It crawled with its legs and arms spread far apart like a beetle with long jagged limbs. Its nails continued to click against the wooden desk’s smooth surface and it hissed like an angry cat.</span></div>
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<b><br />
</b></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">CLICK CLANK.</span></b></div>
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</b><br />
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<b><b><span style="font-size: large;">CLICK CLANK.</span></b></b></div>
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<b></b></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: large;">HISSSS!</span></i></div>
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</b></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">CLICK CLANK.</span></b></div>
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<b><br />
</b></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">CLICK CLANK.</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Instinctively, Raven leaned as far back as he could, but he could still feel the creature’s cold energy closing in on him. Suddenly, three feet from his face, Raven saw a pair of red eyes.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">He could barely see them in the complete darkness, but the hissing told him they belonged to the same creature. As the creature’s red eyes glided within a foot of Raven’s face, he began to wonder who this bastard was.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">“Who the fuck are you?” Raven shouted, his voice slurred, but his tone was harsh to maintain his dominance over the entity. Few spirits got past the metal gate, and when they did, it meant they were especially pissed off and neglected.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><i>“I am Sonneillon, </i></span><span style="font-size: small;"><i>the </i></span><span style="font-size: small;"><i>demon of hate!” </i>The creature growled in a deep, hoarse voice. <i>“I feed on the flesh of the living! Cower before me and feed me your soul!”</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Raven froze. The cold air made his body shiver, but he did not let his breath crack the air with the sound of fear. The darkness lingered. Even though his mind drew up the image of a nasty creature and the adrenaline in his blood made him tremble, he refused to believe there was a demon lurking before him.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><i>“Demons don’t exist,”</i> Raven reminded himself as his jaw trembled. He gritted his teeth and leaned forward.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">“NO!” Raven screamed. The red eyes widened and blinked. “You are no demon! You are just a coward hiding in the darkness! I am not afraid of a coward! SHOW YOURSELF!!”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Suddenly, Raven felt his chest become heavy. His lungs seized and stopped taking in air. The red eyes were directly in his face. The creature Raven’s mind had drawn was now perched on his chest, claws digging into his soft belly.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Still, Raven had the strength for a single retort.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">“LEAVE ME COWARD OF DARKNESS, FOR I AM A CHILD OF GOD!”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">The creature froze. The fingernails loosened their grasp on Raven’s soft skin and he felt the weight ease off his chest cavity. With a loud, more human-like growl, the creature cowered away.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Suddenly, the bright white lights returned and illuminated the room the way it should have been, a dull doctor’s office with a wooden desk, a chair and a couch. Raven could hear the creature hiding under the desk, its breath reduced to heavy panting. Looking over the desk, Raven found a pair of painful red eyes, which belonged to a boy of about 17, but his unusual fashion caused Raven to do a double take. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">The boy’s hair black dyed hair was wet and dripped over his eyes. Some of the dye was even fading out, disclosing patches of dark brown. All his clothes were black and soaking wet. He had a lip ring, two earrings in one ear and a studded nose ring. Even his pants had nickel-plated rings down each side. His long fingernails were painted black, although some of the paint was scratched and worn. Rings of black eyeliner seeped out of his eye sockets and past his bloodshot hazel eyes.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">“That’s what I thought,” Raven said, glaring at the kid. “Who are you and why are you trying to fuck with my head?”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">“I thought I could scare you.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Raven laughed. “By telling me you’re a demon? Kid, I don’t believe in demons, no matter how many times you pissed off dead people try to convince me with your manipulation of energy. Now what do you need? Because I need to sleep.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">“I just need your help. My name’s Jason.”</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">“Well why <i>the fuck</i> should I help you, Jason? You’ve been fucking with me all night. Do you know what it feels like to cough up vomit until your throat is dry? I expect to throw up almost every night, but not like that!”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Standing vulnerable without the shadows to deceit, Jason looked like a typical, shy kid experimenting with fashion. He lowered his head as Raven screamed at him; his long hair concealed the shame in his eyes.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">“I’m sorry I hurt you,” Jason said. “But I’ve been waiting in that room for a long time for someone to help me. I never made it to 18, and I don’t remember ever drinking alcohol. I just need your help.” Raven hated dealing with attention whores and Jason was no exception, but the boy’s sympathy was sincere. Still, the makeup dripping down the kid’s face and the many many piercings made Jason appear macabre.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">“Are you a Satanist?”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">“No.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">“Pagan?”</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">“I’m Goth, but I believe in God and shit like that.”</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">“Right. What do you need help with?”</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">“I want to tell my family I’m sorry.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">“How did you die?”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Jason lowered his head. “A few months before it happened, I sliced open my wrists.” He rolled up his sleeves and held up his arms, so Raven could see the crisscross of long scars up and down his forearms where he had hesitated. One large cut near his wrist was laced with stitches and dark red with infection. “One time I cut myself so bad, that I passed out right away. My mom found me and rushed me to the hospital. The first time, they thought I had done it by accident. But this time,” he pointed to the stitching. “They made sure I never cut myself again.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-size: small;">“All my life, I had always been angry at everyone around me and the world. I hated my parents, my teachers, authority. I hated my father for going to prison. I blamed everybody for the way I felt and the way I was. But now that I’m dead and I had to see my mom look down at my casket, I can only be mad at myself. I thought being alive was so lonely, but being dead and seeing all of the people I once knew live on…”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">“…it’s hell,” Raven said.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">“There are no demons or devils, but it’s the worst hell you can possibly imagine,” Jason explained. “I didn’t die by cutting my wrists. My mom and my therapist made certain of that. I spent a month in a mental ward and another three weeks out of school so my mom could watch me, and my therapist could ask me a million questions. But I had to find another way. One that couldn’t be stopped by them. So I jumped off the Thomas Street Bridge. I did it at night, when I could sneak out of the house and no one could stop me.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">“But it worked so well, that they never found my body. The casket my mom mourned over, was <i>empty</i>. She had them bury an <i>empty</i> casket so she’d be at peace. But she’s not.”</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Jason looked up at Raven with his greenish red eyes. In those eyes, Raven saw an intensity of sadness, but he also felt a fury of anger. It rose off Jason’s body like hot steam.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-size: small;">“They’ll never find your body,” Raven said. “Even if they dredge the river, you’ve been gone too long. The Thomas Street Bridge was torn down 10 years ago. Even if they went looking for your bones, they’d be scattered-.”</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-size: small;">“I know. My body’s long gone. I just want you to do one thing for me.”</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-size: small;">“What’s that?”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">“Tell my mom what happened.” Jason said. “And make sure she gets into heaven.”</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Raven’s stomach churned. “I’ll do that.” As Raven laid back onto the couch, Jason smiled a painful but relieved smile and showed himself out the door. As he drifted to sleep, Raven heard the metal gate open and close, the chains jingling against the bars. The last thing he heard was the fat padlock clicking securely into place.</span></div>
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<b><br />
</b></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><b>† † †</b></b></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"></span></div>
B.H. Wydevenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18442986404848605042noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8472680893888688138.post-74010742199347356152010-08-27T12:37:00.000-07:002014-03-21T14:44:44.254-07:00 THE WAITING ROOM<div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</div>
<div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;">
<b></b>From <i>The Raven James Chronicles</i> by B.H. Wydeven</div>
<div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
Raven awoke on a small couch in a doctor’s office. He felt dizzy, like he had just gotten off a roller coaster. As he slowly sat up, his weary eyes failed to focus. The white lights in the room were so bright, he was practically blind, but his auditory senses seemed significantly heightened. He could hear chains gently rattling in the distance. Using the walls for support, he worked his way to the door and carefully opened it a crack.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Outside the room was a long hallway with barren white walls. The overhead florescent lights flickered and several were dead, leaving sinister blotches of gray shadows along the walls, and deep black voids on the floor. At the end of the hall, about 20 feet from the office where Raven awoke, was a steel gate with large metal chains and a fat padlock sealing the hallway from the room behind it.</div>
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As Raven slowly made his way down the hallway toward the gate, the big round padlock knocked gently against the bars and echoed its steady tone down the hallway like heavy wind chimes.</div>
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<b><br />
</b></div>
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<b>CLANK </b></div>
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<b><br />
</b></div>
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<b>CLANK </b></div>
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<b><br />
</b></div>
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<b>CLANK</b></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
The other side of the gate, a waiting room, was ridden with obscure shadows and dim light over an array of chairs and tables. There was just enough light to see that no one was there.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
When Raven reached the gate, he pulled on the padlock. The round heavy metal felt like a ball of ice in his bare hands. He let it drop and collide against its ringing chains and bars. A fine layer of frost shivered away as the dead metal clashed with the bars. Raven shivered and backed away from the gate.</div>
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<br /></div>
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A steady murmur came from the waiting room.</div>
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<i>“Excuse me, sir?”</i> Came a man’s raspy voice in a desperate tone. He wheezed and coughed in between pleas. “<i>Sir? Can you help me? I really need your help!<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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Suddenly a human form cloaked in a white sheet appeared on the other side of the gate. A hand quickly pulled away the sheet and disclosed a disheveled man with short grayish black hair and dressed in a crude hospital gown. His face was pale as if he had just bled to death and his eyes were sunken in and lifeless. Raven took an instinctive step back as the man took a step forward and grabbed the gate’s bars, causing the lock and chains to jangle and swing wildly.</div>
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<i>“Please!”</i> He pleaded. <i>“My name is David Fenton. I have a wife and two kids and I need them to know what happened to me!”<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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David was a burly man, about six feet tall with linebacker shoulders and a beer gut that tightened against the cheap hospital gown. As David stepped forward, Raven was able to see into the man’s soft light brown eyes and his soul; kind and frantically lost. </div>
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Suddenly David’s brown eyes widened and he let out a scream, but for some reason he was unable to make a sound. Looking painfully to Raven for help, he grasped the bars harder.</div>
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Something made him stop and look down at his chest.</div>
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A dark red stain had seeped through the gown. David watched in horror as the stain grew and grew until suddenly a large pool of blood had flooded to the floor, creeping towards Raven. David looked up at Raven with wide, reddened eyes, his lower jaw shivered under his gaping mouth.</div>
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“How did it happen?” Raven said finally, keeping his voice subtle.</div>
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<i>“I was supposed to have heart surgery,”</i> David explained. <i>“I have a condition, and I needed a triple bypass. They told me with my health as it was, there would be a risk of complications.”</i></div>
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Raven closed his eyes as the man spoke, and when he opened them again, the blood on the floor was gone and so was the stain on the gown.</div>
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“What does your family need to know?”</div>
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The man shrugged. <i>“Everything! I wasn’t supposed to die. I have a will but-.”</i> The man stopped to let his lungs catch up. <i>“Why am I still like this? I thought when you die, your body goes back to being perfect?”</i></div>
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“Not if you have loose ends,” Raven said.</div>
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<i>“Loose ends?”<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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“Do you have unfinished business with someone?”</div>
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The man’s face wrinkled with sadness as everything that he ever wanted to accomplish and all the people he left behind rushed to the tip of his tongue. <i>“I was supposed to give away my youngest daughter in three months.”</i> Instead of turning red, David’s face instead turned pale and the bloodstain reappeared at his chest. He grabbed the bars on the gate to catch his fall, gasping in a single labored breath for a lungful of air that never kept its course.</div>
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Raven leaned into the gate, glancing over the rest of the waiting room, but all he saw was darkness. To David, he said quietly, “Listen, I can help you, I just need you to do me a favor.”</div>
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<i> “What’s that?”<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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“Guard the gate while I finish sleeping.”</div>
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The blood stopped erupting from David’s chest. <i>“You’re asleep?”</i> Raven shushed him and nodded.</div>
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“That’s what the gate is for. But you’re turning my dream into a nightmare. You see, every night, I get myself good and drunk so I can fall asleep. Because while I’m asleep, ghosts like you won’t hesitate bother me and pester me. When I’m drunk, this gate is solid steel and protects me. But I didn’t drink enough last night so I have this.”</div>
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Raven grasped one of the steel chains with both hands and it gently bent with ease with his effortless force. It made a crackling sound like Styrofoam.</div>
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“I’m sobering up too quickly,” Raven whispered through the bars. “Tell me something, who else is in that waiting room with you?”</div>
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David looked around. “Just a few folks here. I actually thought I was alone until I looked around just now. Everyone in here is just being quiet, keeping to themselves.”</div>
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“That’s because they think I’m drunk. They see this gate and this lock and chains and they know I can’t be bothered. Some of the bastards in there have been waiting on me for months. But I don’t help the attention whores. They can fuck with someone else’s subconscious.”</div>
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<i> “You do this a lot?”</i> David asked.</div>
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“Just about every morning,” Raven said with a tired smile. He could see the understanding in David’s eyes. Raven could sense that David was in a lot of pain and that his family was going through a terrible shock over his sudden death. David’s pain hung heavily on Raven’s shoulders, but as long as they interacted within his self conscious, so did fatigue. The longer they talked, the weaker Raven got.</div>
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But despite his pain and desperation, Raven saw a kindness in David too. He looked forward to helping the man do whatever he needed to heal the wound in his heart and bypass the plane between the living world and the waking dead.</div>
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He just needed David’s protection until he woke up in the morning. </div>
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<i>“I’m sorry I bothered you,”</i> David said. <i>“I just didn’t know what to do. I thought you were an angel or something.”</i></div>
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“Not even close,” Raven said. “But I do help people who have died. But this time, I need your help.”</div>
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<i> “Anything.”<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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“All I need you to do, is watch the gate for me. Just hang by it and don’t let anyone near it. If you have problems, shout for me. Hopefully I’ll wake up.”</div>
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David stood up straight. <i>“I can do that.”</i></div>
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“Thanks,” Raven said, turning back to the office down the hall. “Look me up in the morning and we’ll find your find your family.”</div>
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David smiled and took a deep breath, then exhaled smoothly.</div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><b>† † †</b></b></span></div>
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B.H. Wydevenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18442986404848605042noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8472680893888688138.post-83033017170629711862010-08-21T14:55:00.000-07:002014-03-21T14:45:07.346-07:00A HOT SUMMER CHILL<div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
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<b></b><span style="text-align: center;"> From </span><i style="text-align: center;">The Raven James Chronicles</i><span style="text-align: center;"> by B.H. Wydeven</span></div>
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Raven awoke with malaise; the skin on his forehead felt stretched like a giant rubber band over his skull. His long dark hair was gnarled in a mess atop his head, bundled over his ears and tickling his neck. Sweat dripped into his eyes. He twisted his body, his bare back sticking to the couch with an adhesive of sweat.</div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">It had been this way for the last three weeks as temperatures climbed into the high 90’s. The heat had become unbearable to sleep in and nearly impossible to keep down enough liquor to resist the haunting imagery he endured night after night. Raven peeled himself off the couch and made his way into the kitchen for a tall glass of water, then returned promptly to the couch, chugged and curled back onto the sweaty cushions.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">A few seconds later, Benny came barreling in through the front door; his plump face was beat red and his forehead shiny with sweat. Then Raven felt it: the humid air barreled in like a hot oven.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">“Good afternoon,” Benny said cheerily, slamming the front door with his cane. His eyes were glazed over and watery. His tank top was sticking to his plump build and his polyester jogging shorts clung to his thick thighs. He looked like a polyester - wrapped chicken.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">“I made it to the end of the block today,” he exclaimed with a rough breath as he crossed the living room and into the kitchen. The frig door opened and slammed. Raven heard the crinkle of plastic as Benny opened and chugged a bottle of water, the thin plastic slowly impeding as the contents drained out. The bottle swooshed into a paper bag, and crackled some more.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">“Man it is miserable out there,” Benny said, sliding into his recliner. “You just get up?”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Realizing sleep in the heat of the day would be ruthless, Raven slowly sat back up and wiped the heavy, sweat soaked hair out of his eyes.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">“Yeah, it’s a hot one.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">“Hey so, I’m taking off today. I got the new guy watching the bar. My friend John and his family just moved down the street and he’s invited me to a barbecue tonight. It’ll just be a small group, you me, and his family. You okay with that?”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">“Why don’t you take Sarah?”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">“Well this is kind of last minute and Sarah has to work." </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Raven wiped the sofa lint off his sopping back. “I’m not much for socializing.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">“Nah, you’ll like John, he’s a bartender at Franco’s Martini Bar. Besides, they have a pool and central air.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Raven got up and took his glass back into the kitchen for a refill. Benny followed.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">“Does he think I’m going?” Raven asked.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">“I told him I’d be bringing a friend.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">“Did you tell him my name?”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">“Not yet.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">“Well just- introduce me as… James,” Raven set the glass in the sink and cupped some water into his hands, splashing it into his face. Benny took several steps back, just in time for Raven to shake his head, firing off beads of sweat in every direction.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">“This is why I don’t have a dog,” Benny said, wiping his face.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Raven opened the frig and poured himself a Bloody Mary.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">“Go easy on my booze,” Benny said with a smile. “John likes to serve high shelf liquor.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">† † †</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">John and Dana McWalter lived only six blocks down from Benny’s in an old, two-story, red brick house. As they pulled up to the house, Benny looked at Raven with a questioning gleam. Raven shook his head.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">“I’ll let you know if it’s infested,” Raven sighed.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">John greeted them at the door. “Come on in guys, I was just about to put the steaks on the grill.” John was tall and slim and had short black hair. He looked like he was about to go swimming; he wore a half buttoned Hawaiian T-shirt and long blue swim trucks.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">“John, this is James, a friend of mine. He’s staying at my house for a while.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">“Nice to meet you James,” John said with a smile. "Do you like steaks? I’m making New York strips.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">“I love steak,” Raven said with a smile.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">In contrast to the aging brick outside, the interior looked fully remodeled and lively. Raven felt that undeniable central air hit his face as they entered the foyer. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">“Guys, this is my wife Dana, John jr. and Olivia. J.J. just turned six and Olivia is eight months,” John said as they passed through the living room.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">On the living room rug, the boy was playing with a Jack-in-the-Box, rapidly winding the hand crank. Each time Jack popped out and said a phrase, J.J. would quickly push his head back into the box and wind him up again to see how quickly he could repeat the process.<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3w-l6M02bgOhwKBbB4aPArWiv-xLMhR8izrPp3w1dObW82COh-7B9-HrvJ_gIHqB-bxfXrDE4JmsM0rMz-D9K6zVMr8itNYzLV9ZRUMvaG4rX3feL9k0k8FYiGx6mbXx9XOnUaiHMyGs/s1600/vintage+Jack-in-the-Box+toy+tall.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3w-l6M02bgOhwKBbB4aPArWiv-xLMhR8izrPp3w1dObW82COh-7B9-HrvJ_gIHqB-bxfXrDE4JmsM0rMz-D9K6zVMr8itNYzLV9ZRUMvaG4rX3feL9k0k8FYiGx6mbXx9XOnUaiHMyGs/s320/vintage+Jack-in-the-Box+toy+tall.jpg" height="320" width="200" /></a></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">The spring-bound puppet that emerged had a white clown face with simple red shapes for facial features; eyebrows for triangles, an upside down heart for a nose and lips, a wide red curvy smile with round dimples. It had a tiny red hat and a dirty white shirt that looked to Raven like a bizarre straight jacket decorated with little green diamonds. The toy looked far from new and the voice box sounded distorted as if the next time it chimed would be it's last.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">J.J.’s efforts were overshadowed by a very cartoonish show playing on the TV behind him, featuring what looked like people dressed as life-sized stuffed animals, dancing and singing.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Dana was seated on the couch with little Olivia on her lap. The little girl bounced on her mom’s knee, clapping and cooing to the sing-a-longs. J.J. seemed to be deeply engaged in the Jack-in-the-Box’s limited phrases.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">J.J. looked up when the guys passed through and his eyes went directly to Raven’s, but his hand never stopped winding. J.J. had brown eyes and dark brown hair that covered the upper half of his ears. He looked at Raven with a neutral expression, his mouth a straight line across his face, and his big brown eyes gaping wide.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><i>Let’s jam! </i>The Jack-in-the-Box exclaimed as Jack popped out, laughing hysterically. J.J. pounded Jack in the head with his fist, flattened the top with a click, and repeated, all the while his eyes never left Raven’s. It was as if he was testing Raven’s reaction to the odd routine.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">John led Benny and Raven into the kitchen where a stack of raw steaks sat on a plate. The kitchen was designed to look like a bar. Above the counter island were a variety of glasses hanging from the ceiling. A wine rack was mounted to the inside wall and three bar stools sat snug underneath the lip of the counter. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Outside, Raven could see smoke coming from the large deck where the grill was warming up. The patio door was open and Raven could smell the intoxicating aroma of charcoal ready to cook. Adjoining the deck was a big, above ground swimming pool.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">“Can I get you guys something to drink right away? You name it, I got it!” John said with a smile.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">“I’ll just have soda water, John,” Benny said. John nodded.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">“James? What can I get you?”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">“Smoky martini,” Raven said.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">“Ah, good choice. I got some Johnny Walker Gold for it.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Raven’s face inhabited a large grin. “Excellent,” he said.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">As John mixed Raven’s drink, the TV show in the other room went quiet, but the Jack-in-the-Box continued it’s steady jingle and phrase routine.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><i>Let’s Dance! </i>Raven heard it say, more laughter, the wind up jingle then, <i>Let’s Sing!</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">“Here you are,” John said as he set the drinks on the counter and grabbed the plate of steaks and led the way to the deck.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Outside, the backyard was scattered with toys. Parked at the bottom of the gradual hill was a toy car tipped over on its side. A giant inflatable ball drifted gently around the pool. Inside, Raven could still hear the Jack-in-the-Box routine.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">It was much cooler out than it had been when Raven first woke up. The sun was crisp orange behind the trees. In the distance neighborhood kids screamed and shouted, followed by a dog barking.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">“It’s a nice house.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">“Oh it’s fantastic. Dana and I got lucky with this place. We got it on foreclosure for 65. We’ve been here three weeks and we couldn’t be happier. How are you holding up?”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Benny shrugged and tapped his right leg. “Living it day by day. I’ve been trying to go for a walk everyday, even if it’s just to the mailbox and back. On a good day, I can make it around the block without falling.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">“Fantastic man! What are the doctors saying?”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">“The bone’s healing well so far. I go back in next week for a follow up.” </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">“Great, great,” John smiled through the charcoal smoke. The steaks sizzled and crackled, like scented candles to the summer stench.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">J.J. came out onto the deck and ran down the steps to the toy car. He picked it up, climbed in, and tried to ride it up the hill. After a few attempts, he turned around and drove down the hill. Realizing this took little effort; he got out of the car, and dragged it to the top of the hill near the edge of the house, got back in, and coasted down the hill to great success.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">About 15 minutes later, Dana came outside, carrying a baby monitor and a can of cola. She strolled passed her husband kissed him on the lips and said softly, “I got Olivia to sleep.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">“Good timing. The steaks are ready. Honey, you wanna go get the plates?”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">As the last of the sun sank into the hazy horizon, they enjoyed their steaks on the patio table next to the pool. J.J. scooted up next to Raven, who was almost on his third martini.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Raven quietly drank his Martini and J.J. sat beside him, also in silence. As the adults spoke amongst themselves, Raven noticed that Dana and John were very keen to their choice of words in front of little J.J. He seemed unusually perceptive for a 6-year-old, a trait Raven encompassed when he was a kid. In fact, Raven was surprised at how closely this boy resembled himself.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">The entire time, J.J. hadn’t said a single word. But as soon as his dad went into the house to restock the martinis, J.J. straightened himself up, looked up at Raven and said with a nervous smile: “Hey.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-size: small;">“Hi,” Raven said, trying to sound as unslurred as he could to the kid.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-size: small;">“I have a girlfriend.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-size: small;">“Yeah?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-size: small;">“Yeah. She sleeps in my closet.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Benny and Dana had suddenly turned their attention to J.J.’s unusual comment. J.J. didn’t seem to notice the odd expression on his mom’s face or Benny's look of perplexity. Instead, he seemed wholly fascinated by Raven for some reason, kneeling in his chair and making himself as tall as he could, so he could be almost the same height as the adults.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-size: small;">“Really,” Raven said, playing along, noticing that their conversation was at the center of attention. “What’s her name?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-size: small;">“McKenzie.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-size: small;">By this time John had just returned.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-size: small;">“Who’s McKenzie?” John asked.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-size: small;">“J.J.’s imaginary friend,” Dana said, a hint of embarrassment in her voice.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-size: small;">“She’s not </span>imaginary<span style="font-size: small;">,” J.J.’s voice got louder. “She talks to me. And we play games.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-size: small;">John chuckled, handing Raven his drink. “Kids,” he sighed merrily. “Full of imagination.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-size: small;">“She tickles my feet when I’m in bed. She plays with Olivia too.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-size: small;">John stopped laughing. The fun dripped off his face like heavy sweat; his eyebrows curled and his cheeks inverted. It was clear he didn’t want his son telling silly stories to his company. But he hid the embarrassment better than his wife did and rearranged his face with a smile. “Okay buddy, I think its time for bed.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-size: small;">“But I’m not tired.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-size: small;">“Don’t make me count to three.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Scoffing, J.J. clambered off the chair and retreated toward the house. Before he opened the sliding screen door, he turned to look back at Raven as if to say <i>‘You believe me, don’t you?’</i> Instead, his little voice cracked as he said, “Good night.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-size: small;">“Good night,” Raven said.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-size: small;">“I’ll be in to tuck you in, in five minutes,” Dana called after him.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-size: small;">“Sorry about that,” John said. “The kids haven’t really settled into the new house very well,” John explained. “They both seem to have trouble sleeping. We listen in on Olivia with a baby monitor because she usually wakes up several times a night.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-size: small;">“She wakes up giggling in the middle of the night,” Dana explained. “It’s so strange.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-size: small;">“Do you think J.J. sneaks in to tickle her?” Raven asked.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-size: small;">“J.J. doesn’t sleep upstairs,” John said. “His room is downstairs, next to the kitchen. If he were sneaking up the stairs, we’d hear him. The entire house is covered in wood flooring, the staircase is the worst. Every footstep makes a loud creak.” He laughed, then added, “Dana thinks the house is haunted.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-size: small;">“It’s not funny,” Dana scolded at her husband.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Benny looked at Raven, eyes popping. Raven tipped his martini glass back and finished off Smokey #4. He had anticipated a ghost free evening.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-size: small;">But he knew it was naïve.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyTextIndent">
<span style="font-size: small;">Suddenly, a familiar jingle began playing in the living room. It made everyone except for Raven jump.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><i>Let’s Dance!</i> Sang the wind up toy.</span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyTextIndent">
<span style="font-size: small;">John bolted out of his chair and ran into the house. “J.J.’s playing with the damn Jack-in-the-Box again!” He grumbled, booking down the hallway. “God I hate that thing!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><i>Let’s Sing!<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyTextIndent">
<span style="font-size: small;">Benny stood up quickly. Comfortably drunk, Raven slowly followed.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-size: small;">“We should get going,” Benny said with a disappointed smile.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-size: small;">“I’m so sorry,” Dana said. “J.J. is not usually this misbehaved.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-size: small;">“Oh, don’t worry about it, we had fun, right Raven?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>“J.J.?” </b>John shouted down the hall. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-size: small;">As Dana, Benny and Raven entered the house, J.J. suddenly wandered into the kitchen from the other side of the house, wearing his pajamas. The Jack-In-The-Box was still jingling in the next room.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-size: small;">“J.J. Stop playing and go to b—” John shouted from the living room.</span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyTextIndent">
<span style="font-size: small;">“Dad?” J.J. said sleepily.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><i>You’re going to die! </i>The Jack-in-the-Box said with its sinister laughter.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-size: small;">“John!” Dana shouted. “J.J. go back in your room!” The Jack-in-the-Box was getting closer. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-size: small;">John appeared around the corner, the Jack-In-The-Box cackling in his shaky hands. J.J. retreated half way through the kitchen then stopped and looked back when he saw his father with his favorite toy.<i><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyTextIndent">
<span style="font-size: small;">“GO BACK IN YOUR ROOM J.J.!!” John shouted.</span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyTextIndent">
<span style="font-size: small;"><i>I’m going to kill you! Get the hell out of my house. </i>Jack-In-The-Box chanted gaily, repeating the phrase with a rapid repetition that turned John angrier and angrier at every word. </span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyTextIndent">
<span style="font-size: small;">John’s face turned as red as an apple and his hands shook as he debated what to do with the jeering toy. The Jack’s head swayed cheerfully as it chanted it’s derailed words.</span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyTextIndent" style="text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"> “John what’s going on?” Dana shrieked.</span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyTextIndent">
<span style="font-size: small;"> “GOD DAMN TOY!” John shouted, throwing the screen door out of his way, the frame grinding furiously on its delicate tracks. John hurried to the edge of the deck, and with no hesitation or emends, threw back his right arm and sent the heckling Jack-In-The-Box flying through the air. It disappeared into the darkness, but seconds later they heard it crash into the swimming pool with a single lifeless splash.</span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyTextIndent">
<span style="font-size: small;">Dana turned on the backlights. John was kneeling near the pool, completely motionless. The Jack-In-The-Box cried out with a distorted dying laugh, submerged at an angle, Jack’s plastic head bobbing above the water. The beach ball bumped against the edge of the pool in the gentle wake. No one moved or said a thing for several minutes.</span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyTextIndent">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyTextIndent">
<span style="font-size: small;">A terrifying shriek broke the stale silence. Immediately, Dana’s body came to life as she recognized her youngest child’s cries. But it was not like any scream a little baby should ever cry- it was the loudest, most bloodcurdling sound any of them had ever heard, and it jolted everyone into the impulse to hurry upstairs, Dana taking the lead. John rushed back into the house, racing down the hall to his daughter’s rescue.</span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyTextIndent">
<span style="font-size: small;">To Raven, the baby’s cry was as sobering as a horse kick in the face. He wasn’t sure how to handling the situation: a family slammed with poltergeist chaos, and he was too drunk to do anything about it. Benny, cane in hand, took up the rear, climbing the winding staircase slowly with his bum leg. Raven stopped and waited for him.</span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyTextIndent">
<span style="font-size: small;">“Go!” Benny hissed. “You can help them.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyTextIndent">
<span style="font-size: small;">“No I can’t,” Raven said. “I’m drunk. John’s martinis were dirty strong.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyTextIndent">
<span style="font-size: small;">“You can’t pick up anything?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyTextIndent">
<span style="font-size: small;">Raven shook his head. “I’m not here to investigate a frickin’ poltergeist!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyTextIndent">
<span style="font-size: small;">Olivia’s bloodcurdling cries continued above them. As Raven hurried up the old wooden stairs, he caught the brief odor of burning wood. He realized then that he wasn’t drunk enough to completely deflect the spirits’ signs.</span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyTextIndent">
<span style="font-size: small;">When Raven reached the baby room, he found Dana and John embraced with Olivia in her mother’s arms. Both mother and baby were crying intensely. As soon as Raven stepped into Olivia’s room, he felt a drop of about 30 degrees from the hallway, but it wasn’t the central air. He took a deep breath, leaned against the doorframe, and closed his eyes, honing his senses to the room’s untamed energy.</span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyTextIndent">
<span style="font-size: small;"><i>Something negative was in this room.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyTextIndent">
<span style="font-size: small;">For several minutes, Raven stood motionless in the doorway, observing the energy in the house. </span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyTextIndent">
<span style="font-size: small;">As he toned out the mother - daughter crying, he heard Benny climbing the stairs, one step at a time. He focused his senses around the baby’s room: there was a closet to the right of the entrance. On the opposite end was the cradle and against the wall to Raven’s left was a playpen and a toy box. And in that corner came a voice…</span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyTextIndent">
<span style="font-size: small;"><i>Get out of my house.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyTextIndent">
<span style="font-size: small;">The Raven did not recognize the voice. He tried to sense someone else in the room, J.J.’s girlfriend McKenzie, perhaps, but it was just the four.</span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyTextIndent">
<span style="font-size: small;">The fourth one, a middle-aged man who smelled like burning wood, was angry.</span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyTextIndent">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyTextIndent">
<span style="font-size: small;">“Is he alright?” John said. The crying had simmered down. Raven opened his eyes.</span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyTextIndent">
<span style="font-size: small;">“The name of the man haunting you is David. He and his daughter McKenzie lived her.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyTextIndent">
<span style="font-size: small;">“What-.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyTextIndent">
<span style="font-size: small;">“David is very possessive of this house but I’m not sure why. I think he may have died in a fire in the house. He wants you to leave.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyTextIndent">
<span style="font-size: small;">John took a step forward. “James, what the hell is going on?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyTextIndent">
<span style="font-size: small;">“Your house is infested with a pissed off ghost.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyTextIndent">
<span style="font-size: small;">“And you can see this ghosts?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyTextIndent">
<span style="font-size: small;">“No, but I can feel that they’re here,” Raven explained. “You need to either get this house blessed by a priest, or move out as soon as you can.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyTextIndent">
<span style="font-size: small;">“No way!” John shouted. “I love this house. I’m not leaving here.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyTextIndent">
<span style="font-size: small;">“Whatever you decide is up to you, but I’m not going to stick around to find out what you do,” Raven said, letting his slur slip. “I’m sorry this happened to you guys, you’re nice people and I had a good time. The poltergeist wasn’t your fault. Thanks for the martinis and steak.” Raven turned and hurried back down the stairs. </span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyTextIndent">
<span style="font-size: small;">“Raven wait!” Benny called after him, but Raven didn’t slow down. Instead, he hurried out the front door and began walking down the street. Several minutes later, Benny’s van rolled up after him.</span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyTextIndent">
<span style="font-size: small;">“I’m walking back,” Raven said. “It’s a warm night and I need to burn off some room for a six pack.</span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"> </span><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">† † †</span></b></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoBodyTextIndent">
<span style="font-size: small;">A thousand raindrops pounded against the picture window as Raven began to awaken. The humidity had dissolved into the drizzle. Raven rolled over on the couch to face what little morning sunshine had broken through the steady rain. Benny was sitting in his recliner, waiting for Raven to wake up. Among the empty beer cans on the coffee table, was a tall glass of Bloody Mary.</span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyTextIndent">
<span style="font-size: small;">“John called this morning,” Benny said.</span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyTextIndent">
<span style="font-size: small;">“Is he still pissed at us?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyTextIndent">
<span style="font-size: small;">“He’s not pissed, he just didn’t know what to think of everything. I think he was pretty disappointed and embarrassed of the whole evening. He did take your advice though.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyTextIndent">
<span style="font-size: small;">“Which part?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyTextIndent">
<span style="font-size: small;">“The moving out part,” Benny said. “He’s moving this weekend. For now they’re staying at Dana’s mom’s. The house has a For Sale sign up already.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyTextIndent">
<span style="font-size: small;">“Damn.” Raven sat up. “That was quick. I feel sorry for the kids to have to go though that. Seeing a ghost and not being able to tell someone can really mess a kid up.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyTextIndent">
<span style="font-size: small;">“What was your childhood like?” Benny asked as Raven took a long sip of the Bloody Mary.</span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyTextIndent">
<span style="font-size: small;">“Not today,” Raven said in between sips.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<b><br />
</b></div>
<div align="center" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><b><b>† † †</b></b></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"></span></div>
B.H. Wydevenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18442986404848605042noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8472680893888688138.post-41626904366554560702010-08-14T15:13:00.000-07:002014-03-22T00:02:57.442-07:00Author's NoteAll of the short Raven James stories featured in this blog are set chronologically within six months before the events of my novel <i>Drowning Demons</i>. The shorts are intended to explore smaller paranormal investigations that Raven and Benny encounter together.<br />
<br />
While some character details may not make sense at this point, rest assured, they will with the novel. Also, the stories are not necessarily being released chronologically- for their correct chronological order, please rely on the "links and stories" list to your right. Enjoy.<br />
B.H.W.<br />
<br />
<i>P.S. Keep in mind, if you've seen my short film, <b>The Medium</b>, these stories follow a rebooted incarnation of the characters, similar to the way Christopher Nolan's Batman series was rebooted after the Tim Burton </i><i>series</i><i>.</i><br />
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><i>Legal Stuff: All stories published in this blog are original stories by B.H. Wydeven. All rights reserved. Publishing these works to other sites without the express written permission of the author is prohibited.</i></span>B.H. Wydevenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18442986404848605042noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8472680893888688138.post-84619927728229998452010-08-14T14:40:00.000-07:002014-03-21T14:45:20.319-07:00DELIVERY FOR BENNY CAVOTO<div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</div>
<div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<b></b><span style="text-align: center;"> From </span><i style="text-align: center;">The Raven James Chronicles</i><span style="text-align: center;"> by B.H. Wydeven</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
A pounding on the front door jolted Raven out of a deep, intoxicated sleep, but he remained curled up on the couch, eyes shut. He listened for Benny to move through the house and answer the door, but the sound never came. Rolling over slowly, bracing for the glare of morning sunlight, he listened again. The house was completely absent of any sound.</div>
<div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>BANG! BANG! BANG!</b></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
As Raven allowed his eyes to open, his eyelids stuck to his pupils opening halfway just long enough for him to hesitate, close them again and snuggle into the pillow. Without opening his eyes fully, Raven could tell the day was going to be overcast- the sun wasn't burning through his eyelids.</div>
<div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>BANG! BANG! BANG!</b></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
This time, his eyes blasted open and Raven sat straight up on Benny's couch. The pounding was getting heavier and Benny wasn’t responding. With a groan, Raven pushed himself to his feet, wiped his face with one hand and brushing his long hair out of his eyes, then sauntered to the door. He wondered where Benny was.</div>
<div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
As Raven reached for the door handle, a surprising feeling overcame him. The person at the door, the person Benny didn't hear pounding….</div>
<div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<i> (Raven opened the door)</i></div>
<div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
…Wasn’t dead.</div>
<div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
Standing on Benny's little stoop was a man in a brown uniform, holding a package under one hand and a clipboard in the other.</div>
<div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
"Delivery for Benny Cavoto. Sign here please," he said.</div>
<div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
Raven signed for the package, scribbling something completely non descript onto the line, thanked the man and quickly shut the door.</div>
<div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
The package appeared to have some weight to it, about the same as a good-sized encyclopedia. Raven shook the package gently to see if it rattled. The label on the top said E-Bay.</div>
<div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
"Benny?" Raven shouted into the adjoining kitchen. No answer. He made his way though the back of the kitchen, past the dark basement and up to the garage door, where a steady rumble of death metal bass rocked the worst of Raven's hangover back into consciousness. Raven paused at the garage door to grab the wall and halt a twirling dizzy spell.</div>
<div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
In the garage, Raven found Benny working under his van, an old soccer mom-mobile that Benny had bought recently.</div>
<div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
The music rattled throughout the two-car garage, a jack hammering rhythm of bass and drums. Raven closed his eyes and slowly walked around the van until he reached the source of the noise, an old radio with a cassette player, and turned it off. The music reverberated off the unfinished sheet rock walls a half second after Raven hit the switch, then faded into an echo.</div>
<div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
"Raven?" Came Benny's voice from under the van.</div>
<div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
"You got a package," Raven shouted out.</div>
<div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
"Alright!" Metal clanked against the concrete floor as Benny dropped a wretch and slid out from under the van, the sheet of cardboard cushioning his back scratching against the floor under his thick midsection. He took his time getting to his feet, slowly straightening his knees, and using his walker to balance his large frame. While his right foot was no longer in a cast, he still couldn't depend on it for support. As soon as he was on his feet, he pushed the walker aside and grabbed his walking stick. He hated the walker. He detested the idea of needing one while he was still in his thirties. He had once made Raven swear not to tell anyone about the walker. "I can't believe it's here already!"</div>
<div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
"Which one is this?"</div>
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Benny took the package and placed it on the hood of the van. He took a penknife out of his pocket and eagerly sliced the package's brown tape, ripping the flaps open and digging through the white packing peanuts. He removed a zip lock bag with a bundle of rubber coated cable with a small sensor and a red tip. "It's the EMF meter," he said, taking the sensor out of its plastic, giving it a brief curious look and dug back into the box, shoveling away packing peanuts like a kid at Christmas. He removed the main unit, a black rectangular device about the size of a standard bible. On the face of the device was a meter with a series of numbers, some increments of 5 and 10, one level went as low as .5. A long red needle bounced slightly on the far left side. Benny turned the device over and found the battery compartment empty.</div>
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"How do you use this thing?"</div>
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"I don't know," Raven said. "I've never had to use one."</div>
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“From what I've read, this thing is normally used to detect changes in the electromagnetic frequency.”</div>
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“Right. Which means if a spirit is using energy, it’ll make that needle move.”</div>
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Benny looked up from his new toy, a big grin on his face. "Wanna help me try it out?"</div>
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"Not until I've had breakfast," Raven said. "And you should probably finish changing the oil."</div>
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"Give me another fifteen minutes on this. There's still some Bloody Mary mix in the pitcher. Any visitors this morning?"</div>
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"Just the delivery guy, but he was alive."</div>
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"So where's a good place to go to find ghosts?" Benny asked as they pulled out of the driveway. "The cemetery?"</div>
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"You're not going to find a ghost in the cemetery. Not unless there's a funeral."</div>
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"How about a church?"</div>
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Raven took a deep breath. After two Bloody Mary's, he was feeling pretty good, but not good enough to block the communication of lost spirits.</div>
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"Let’s just drive around for a bit," he said looking out the window. It was early afternoon, Sunday morning and Raven was glad the sun still hadn't fully bloomed.</div>
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There was no ideal place to find ghosts, ghosts were everywhere. As Raven watched the people bustling along on the sidewalk, he suddenly realized where they should look.</div>
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"Benny where's the nearest park?"</div>
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"Well we got the square just down the street here-."</div>
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"Let's go there."</div>
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They parked across the street from a series of older buildings on 4th Street. The road was covered in red brick and the street lamps looked old fashioned, giving the street a sort of nostalgia look. As they walked up the street to the square, Raven noticed one particular building, which looked like it had been an old movie theatre. Now it had a green and white vertical marquee that said "Fillmor."</div>
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A half a block down the street, Raven saw a block made up of concrete paths, park benches and young trees. There wasn't much else to it.</div>
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"This is a park?"</div>
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"There used to be a factory on this block, but they tore it down. I think the city plans to do something else with it soon."</div>
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"Great," Raven said. He had been hoping for more of a quiet spot with swings and a baseball diamond, a peaceful place for peaceful ghosts with peaceful problems. Old factory sites brought horrible factory deaths. And God knows how many people had died suddenly in the old factory.</div>
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"What kind of factory was here?" They began walking down one of the wide concrete paths.</div>
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"I think they made chocolate."</div>
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They sat on a park bench in the center of the square, where the four walking paths came together. Benny began tinkering with his EMF meter, while Raven watched pedestrians walk by. Benny plugged in the sensor and flipped a switch on the main device. Nothing happened.</div>
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"Any ghosts yet?" He asked, the anticipation glowing in his eyes. Raven shook his head, glancing the needle; nothing.</div>
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"Did you put batteries in it?"</div>
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"Of course," Benny said. "Why?"</div>
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"Because if we do ever encounter malicious spirits, you're gonna wanna bring a lot of batteries. They drain everything. That's why we got flares instead of flashlights."</div>
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"We gotta go easy on those flares though, they're kind of expensive."</div>
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“So is getting arrested for performing an exorcism.”</div>
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Suddenly the EMF's needle twitched, causing both Raven and Benny to jump.</div>
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"Wooh!" Benny said, but Raven shushed him. Raven put on his sunglasses. If a ghost did pass by them, he needed to avoid eye contact. If they did, then the ghosts would most likely bug him for help.</div>
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Raven was not interested in helping a lost ghost today.</div>
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From their right side, a woman with shoulder length brown hair and brown eyes walked past wearing tight nylon sweatpants, her slim body molded tightly around the stretchy sportswear. But there was something off about her. Her hair was greasy and her face looked like a wave rippled beach. As she passed their park bench, the needle twitched, then spiked, peaking around the middle of the meter. Benny shivered and quickly looked at Raven, whose face had gone rigid and pale.</div>
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Raven grabbed the sensor from Benny and held it out, pointing the woman's direction. The needle flickered into a steady decline as the woman got further away. Raven had noticed distinctive red marks up and down the woman's arms.</div>
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"It works," Raven said quietly, shaken by what he had seen.</div>
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Benny shrugged. "What was it? What did you see?"</div>
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"A young woman, maybe in her twenties, needle injected drug overdose. I don’t wanna know any more."</div>
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"Well how close did she get? What kind of range can I get on this thing?"</div>
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"She came right past us, within maybe two feet or so," Raven sighed. “She got pretty close. Too close. I was afraid she was going to stop.”</div>
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"Damn. So I can detect ghosts now too."</div>
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"Sort of."<br />
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B.H. Wydevenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18442986404848605042noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8472680893888688138.post-49275201321699151672010-08-08T23:16:00.001-07:002014-03-21T14:45:34.357-07:00The Cat Lady<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: left;">
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">From </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The Raven James Chronicles</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> by B.H. Wydeven</span></div>
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Raven stared into the creature’s big round eyes, so bright and yellow. They stared right back at him, watching him curiously. Raven extended a hand towards the creature’s soft pointy ears, but it meowed and jumped off its perch from the sofa and dove into the kitchen.</div>
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“That was Jasper,” Mrs. Higgins said softly. Jasper, a yellow and orange tabby cat, was long gone, but in his place four multicolored felines approached Raven curiously, investigating the stranger seated on their couch palace.</div>
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“Your son said you heard the voices at night,” Raven said as the fattest of the feline gang hopped onto the couch next to Raven. He had shaggy orange fur and feet that were barely visible under his round furry body. If the cat had stripes, Raven imagined that it might be mistaken for a fuzzy basketball. Raven winced as the fuzzy basketball trampled his lap and settled in with Mrs. Higgins.</div>
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“That’s right.”</div>
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“And you’re sure it wasn’t one of the cats?”</div>
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“The cats stay downstairs. Except for Jasper. He likes to sleep at the foot of my bed. He was Jacob’s cat.”</div>
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“Your husband.”</div>
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“That’s right.”</div>
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“And you think Jacob still visits the house?”</div>
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“I know he does. I heard him whispering in my ear,” she said. “But never when I’m awake. I’m always asleep when he does it. It’s as if he knows I’ll always listen then.”</div>
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Raven felt something soft rub against his legs. This one was completely black except for a mark of white on the tip of his tail.</div>
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“How many cats do you have ma’m?”</div>
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“Oh I think there’s probably about fifteen now.”</div>
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Raven lightly shoed the black cat with a light push and glanced at his friend Benny Cavoto, sitting in a large arm chair with a big fat gray cat cradled in his arms. Benny had dragged him to this house of cats and strange old lady smells (and strange cat smells) because he believed Raven could help her. Benny owned a bar on the north side of town and more than a few people knew that he and Raven specialized in ghosts, or spiritual communication as it was called among the general population. </div>
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One of Benny’s regulars, a young conservative lawyer by the name of Neil Higgins, had spilled the embarrassing details to Benny about how his mom was convinced his late father was visiting her at night. What normally would have been a tight lipped secret spilled to the floor after a few speedballs.</div>
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<i>“Hey Cavoto, I heard you help people with fake ghost problems.” Neil had said to Benny as he polished off a Long Island ice tea, his third.” There was a lot of distress in the man’s voice, despite a conflicting comical demeanor. Benny glanced over at Raven, a lump of long hair slumped on his usual spot at the far end of the bar. It was almost closing time and Raven was right on schedule.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i> “That’s not really how I would describe it,” Benny smiled. “My friend Raven actually sees ghosts, and sometimes people really are hearing what they think they’re hearing.”<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i> “But most of the time they’re not right?”<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i> “Most of the time,” Benny explained with a grin. “People don’t really know what the hell they’re hearing.”<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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It didn’t take much effort on Benny’s part to convince Raven to meet with kind old Mrs. Higgins; Benny promised to get him drunk at the bar afterwards. Being drunk was Raven’s only remedy against the misery of his sixth sense. Helping spirits make peace with the ones they left on earth, usually rather suddenly, helped manage Raven’s aggravating headaches and night terrors.</div>
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But Benny never said anything about the damn cats.</div>
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“You’re the spiritual medium right?” Mrs. Higgins said to Raven. Raven nodded. “I don’t want anybody to provoke my Jacob to prove he’s here like on TV, I just want to know what he’s trying to tell me.”</div>
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“You don’t know what he was saying to you?”</div>
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“I can never remember. By the time I wake up, it always feels like it was just a dream. But then one time I awoke, I looked over and he was sitting in the rocking chair in our bedroom. And he was just sittin’ there, watchin’ me sleep. He looked so peaceful and content. It was just about the break of dawn, so his shape was all in silhouette, but I knew it was my Jacob. His silver hair was all curly and it glowed in the early morning light you know? When I saw him sittin’ there, I just couldn’t believe my eyes, but I couldn’t look away either. Finally, I blinked and he was gone. But the rocking chair, <i>the rocking chair was still moving</i>. Jasper saw it too. He was meowing all morning that day, telling me what he saw.”</div>
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Mrs. Higgins smiled a glowing glee as she recalled the encounter fondly. Her hair was short and her bright blue eyes revealed a hint of carefully reserved youth behind thick glasses. She seemed to be very convinced that her husband had visited her and she seemed very encouraging of Raven’s ability to discredit her claim. Her knowledge of spiritualism was better than most people he’s helped. Raven carefully considered that it was more likely that she wanted to see her husband’s ghost, but he couldn’t help but feel the positive energy living in her living room.</div>
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“How did your husband die?”<br />
“Heart attack. Died in his sleep. Nice and peaceful I say. He fought in World War II and there he could have gone slowly and painful. His brother Greg did, and many of his friends, but fortunately he didn’t. No, he came home and gave me three beautiful boys. He lived a good long life my Jacob did.”</div>
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“Could I see your room please?”</div>
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“Of course. That’s what you came here for isn’t it?”</div>
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As Mrs. Higgins slowly raised herself from the couch, a cat mewed and several balls of fur dashed about like flying bullets. The house was neat and surprisingly clean considering the amount of traffic. She led them through the kitchen to an old wooden staircase concealed by a door.</div>
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“Jacob put the door in to keep the cats downstairs,” she explained. “He didn’t want them getting into his study with all his old books. He collected first editions. I’ve given most of them to the boys but I don’t have the heart to part with his favorites. He was big fan of Hemmingway and of course Edgar Allen Poe. He had a first edition of Poe’s.”</div>
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At the top of the stairs, Raven unzipped his backpack handed Benny his EMF meter. The meter was about the size of a DVD case and was connected to a small red sensor. If Raven couldn’t feel the presence of Jacob Higgins, the EMF meter would.</div>
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The hardwood floor creaked under Raven’s feet as they entered the bedroom. Raven entered first and motioned Benny to wait at the door. The room had windows on two sides, letting in a healthy dose of sunlight. Beside the door was a small closet, closed, and in the far corner was the old wooden rocking chair, a lace sheet draped over the back. Raven rested his hands on the metal end frame of the bed and closed his eyes, inhaling with all senses the flavors of the room.</div>
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It was mid afternoon and the birds were chirping their rush hour chorus. The traffic was thin outside. Higgins lived on a quiet country road. Fifty years ago, the house was the heart of a dairy farm but now it sat just outside the town of Lafayette, in the former dairy land of America.</div>
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Carefully, his mind checked off all the noises outside the windows and moved closer to the ones within reach. A clock in the hallway tapped steadily, but soon his mind wandered to the rocking chair, which stood in silence in its corner, soaking in the afternoon sun. Raven gave the chair a moment to move if it wanted to. He listened carefully for a creak or a rock but the rocking chair had no comment.</div>
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Raven let go of the brass end board and held his hands before him, fingertips up, eyes still shut.</div>
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“Jacob Higgins, my name is Raven James. I am here to help you communicate with your wife.”</div>
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There was a light tap that sounded like a heater. It came from behind the chair. It tapped again six times in a rhythm. When the tapping finally stopped the room went quiet again.</div>
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A draft touched Raven’s long brown hair, tickling his ears and neck.</div>
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“Raven,” came Benny’s whisper behind him. “Full throttle.”</div>
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Full throttle meant the needle on the EMF meter had spiked. There was an unseen spirit in the room with them.</div>
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Eyes still closed, palms still up, Raven walked three paces forward, near the old rocking chair.</div>
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“Jacob Higgins,” he said softly. “Can you give us a sign of your presence?”</div>
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<i> “Yes,”</i> whispered a voice. <i>“But my name is not Jacob Higgins.”</i> Raven’s spine grew cold. This was no longer the peaceful encounter he thought it was. This man’s voice was deep and scornful, not the gentle sweet voice Mrs. Higgins had hyped. There was a strange tone to the room, the difference between baby blue and blood red. Opening his eyes, he looked around the empty room, and then turned to Mrs. Higgins. He opened his mouth to speak, but he couldn’t expel the words, the frustration that sat in the back of his throat.<i> Yes, your bedroom is haunted, but it’s not the man you were married to for 65 years</i>, he wanted to say.<i> </i>He only gave her a dirty look, that wrinkled face and bright eyes did not deserve a rude comment. <i>Or did they?</i></div>
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“Go get your cat,” he said finally.</div>
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“Which one?” <i>Oh that’s right. You have 15 fricken cats in this house.</i></div>
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“Jasper. The one who knows your husband.” Raven listened for Mrs. Higgins to descend the creaky wooden stairwell before whispering to Benny: “Who the hell is this woman?”</div>
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“I don’t know her personally,” Benny whispered back. “Her son Neil is a year older than me. All I know is what he told me. You know my meter spiked, right? Did you see him, Jacob? Is her house really haunted?”</div>
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“It wasn’t Jacob.”</div>
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“Then who is it?”</div>
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<i>Creak. Creak. Creak.</i> Raven’s eyes got wide as he heard the sound behind him. Benny’s eyes did the same and his mouth gapped as well as he looked behind Raven. Raven turned back to see the old rocking chair swinging slowly back and forth on its wooden crests. <i>“What is your name spirit?”</i> Raven insisted, loosing the soft calm voice he had channeled a moment ago.</div>
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<i>“Charles,”</i> the voice said. There was no apparition but Raven could feel the man’s presence turning the sunny bedroom into a walk in freezer.</div>
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The downstairs door opened with a creak, followed by slow footsteps up the old wooden stairs. Every single step made a loud creaking noise. At one point, Raven heard a dramatic meow.</div>
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“Let him in here,” Raven said when Mrs. Higgins had returned. She let Jasper down and he ran into the bedroom, hoping up on the bed. The rocking chair had since stopped. Everyone watched to see what the cat would do, but he remained seated at the foot of the bed, watching the motionless rocking chair as if someone he knew was seated there.</div>
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“Who’s Charles?” Raven said with bluntness, yet constrain.</div>
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“My brother,” Mrs. Higgins said surprised.</div>
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“Does he have sort of a deep voice?”</div>
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“Yes. How did you know?”</div>
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“He’s the one in your bedroom.”</div>
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“No,” Mrs. Higgins said quickly. “It’s got to be a different Charles. Charlie isn’t dead.”</div>
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Raven looked at her firmly. He wanted to know it was true. He hated delivering bad news. “When was the last time you spoke to him?”</div>
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Mrs. Higgins didn’t respond. Her face was grim and it was obvious that it was not an easy answer. It seemed the old cat lady was not as straightforward as she seemed.</div>
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He turned back to the rocking chair and closed his eyes. “Charles, we’d like to ask you some questions. Would that be alright?”</div>
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<i>Creak. Creak. Creak.</i> The rocking chair rocked again. Ms. Higgins let out a quiet gasp. Jasper meowed. Raven heard his paws click softly against the hardwood floor. Raven slowly opened his eyes to see an elderly man in a blue and white flannel shirt and jeans rocking in the chair.</div>
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<i>“My mother used to rock us to sleep in this chair,”</i> Charles said slowly. <i>“Tell Ruth that. She remembers.”<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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“That rocking chair was your mother’s,” Raven said without looking back at Mrs. Higgins. “She’d rock you in it.”</div>
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Mrs. Higgins slowly walked up to her bed on the side closest to the creaking rocking chair and sat down.</div>
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<i>“And Jasper,”</i> Charles continued. <i>“Was born at my house.”<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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“You got Jasper from Charles,” Raven said to Mrs. Higgins, who watched the chair rock hypnotically. “Why are you here Charles?”</div>
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<i>“To say goodbye to my sister,”</i> He said. <i>“We haven’t talked in years and I’ve been, well I’m on my death bed. Tell her Jacob is watching over her. He’s at peace. Just like I will be soon.”</i></div>
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“Charlie; your brother,” Raven choked. “Came to say goodbye. He wants you to know that Jacob is here too.”</div>
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Mrs. Higgins's weathered face grew dim, but her eyes stayed dry. “Charlie and I haven’t spoken in three years,” she said.</div>
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“It’s okay,” Raven said. “You don’t need to explain it to me. I’m not a therapist.”</div>
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“But I do! Because I need you to ask him something. It’s not going to make sense to you, but he’ll know what I mean.”</div>
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“He can hear you. Talk to the rocking chair.” The rocking chair stopped rocking but Charles did not disappear.</div>
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“Charlie, did you repent for what you did?”</div>
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<i>“Yes, Ruth I did. Tell her—tell her I repented to a priest and that I am truly sorry for what I did.”<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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Raven repeated the message. Ruth Higgins began to sob.</div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><b>† † †</b></b></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"></span>B.H. Wydevenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18442986404848605042noreply@blogger.com0