Fiction

31 Ghosts 2018: October 9 – Berith

“I get called ‘evil’ a lot. It’s not true. It doesn’t bother me, mind you, but it’s also just not true. I’m no Casper the Friendly Ghost by any stretch of the imagination. I’m just filling a role – ‘doing the needful,’ if you will. Hey, if I didn’t do it, it’d happen eventually and it would be a lot uglier.

“Don’t believe me?”

He slapped a wool cap over his bald pate, “Tag a long with me – I’m going to pick up a new recruit today. Yeah, a funeral home – don’t look so surprised!” He leaned in and cupped his eyes against a plate glass window, then stood and gestured. “Here, take a look. See if you can pick him out. Here’s a hint: he’s the one who doesn’t look dressed for the occasion. Ha! I didn’t notice that guy! No, the guy in the Member’s Only jacket is actually a mourner. He’s just got terrible fashion sense, he’s not dead – not yet at least.

“Yep, you got it in two. The guy dressed in hiking clothes is our guy. Ranger Rick there died some twenty years ago. He was backpacking with his bros when his appendix burst in the middle of nowhere. His friends couldn’t get help in time,” he gestured down with his thumb and blew a raspberry.

“He was out there talking to his buddies about proposing to his sweetie – he even showed them the ring.” He stood silent for a moment, contemplative. “but he died. Didn’t get to propose. So, lo these twenty years he’s been hanging around his girl. It was the ring. He was all tied up with it. When death prevented him from giving it to her on bended knee, he couldn’t pass on. So here he stayed by her. He got the old ball and chain without even having done the deed!

“Ah, Figured that part out already?” he smirked. “Yeah, that’s her in the casket. Breast cancer. I fucking hate cancer. What? Don’t look surprised! Cancer sucks for everyone involved – me included. For the living, they have to watch their loved one waste away. For me, there’s generally enough time to make peace so they tend to pass over pretty easily. Fuck cancer.

“But, yeah, that’s her in the box. The guy in the black suit is her husband – yeah, she married eventually.” He shrugged, “time waits for no ghost. People gotta live, right?

“Anyway, our boy there – his name is Devin – just lost his anchor to this world when she passed. Only child, and his parents died in a car accident years before he did. His friends still raise a glass to him, but that’s not enough to hold him. So, really, he’s got no one. That’s where I step in.” He waggled his dark eyebrows and stepped through the door.

He casually sidled up next to Devin. “I’m truly sorry for your loss, Devin.”

Devin did a double take and then said, “You can see me?”

“See you, hear you… you’re as real to me as any of these people are to each other.” Devin gaped at the stranger. “Name’s Berith,” he extended his hand for Devin to shake. Devin tentatively reached for the outstretched hand and audibly gasped when his fingers closed around something solid.

“I… can’t remember the last time I actually shook a hand,” Devin said, shaking Berith’s hand a little too enthusiastically.

“It’s okay,” Berith smiled, “I get that a lot.”

“Do you?” Devin released the hand. “You look familiar. Who are you?”

“Me?” Berith shrugged, “think of me as a sort of guide.”

“Guide?”

“Sure. Now that Sarah has passed, what’s your plan?”

“Plan?” Devin looked confused. “I didn’t have a plan…”

“That’s a problem,” Berith nodded solemnly. “See, without a plan, without a guide,” he turned gracefully and caught Devin’s elbow in the crook of his arm and started to lead him back through the door. “You’re going to fall apart – quite literally.”

“Wait!” Devin protested as the started through the door. “I haven’t said goodbye!”

“Devin,” Berith admonished, “You’ve been saying goodbye for twenty years. See, this is the problem. She’s gone. Gone! Poof!” he spread his fingers apart to emphasize his point. “I ask you again, what are you going to do?”

“I… I don’t know. I hadn’t thought of that.”

“Then you’re lucky I came around. I’ve got a purpose for you.”

“Really? Shouldn’t I be moving on?”

“Devin, my boy, that ship sailed.” He cocked a thumb at the casket behind him, “If you didn’t get things settled when she was alive… it’s too late.”

“So… now what?”

“Now you learn how to really make the living realize how lucky they are.”

“How do I do that?”

“Glad you asked!” he snapped his fingers and suddenly they weren’t in front of a funeral house, but instead inside a modest house, lights low, teenagers gathered around a Ouija board. “Here’s a great opportunity to get started. Look at these kids. You ever play with a Ouija board?” Devin nodded. “Fun, right?” Devin nodded again. “But it’s more than harmless little fun. They’re actively opening a portal into our realm.”

“So we warn them?”

“In a manner of speaking.” Berith walked over and leaned over the kids, pushing the planchette around to form letters of his choosing.

“Do,” the kids repeated the first spelled out word. “You,” they said. “Want. To. See. A. Ghost!” they looked at each other excitedly. The one acting as their spokesperson, a boy maybe 17, said “Yes! Yes, we want to see a ghost!”

Berith straightened, turned to Devin, spread his hands theatrically and said, “It’s showtime, Devin!”

“I… I don’t know what to do…”

“Come over here, Devin.” Devin crossed to stand next to Berith. “This boy just invited you in. Touch him and will yourself inside.”

“Isn’t that… like a possession?”

“Devin, he just asked for it! You heard him!”

Devin shook his head, “I don’t know, this doesn’t seem right…”

“Right? You died before you got a chance to propose to your beloved. Was that right? You followed her around while she lived, while she fell in love, while she married… was that right? And now she’s dead and you’re still here. Is that right?”

“…no,” Devin said tentatively.

“And now you’ve got what? Nothing.” Berith said flatly. “You’ve got nothing and no one. This boy just said he wants you to show yourself. Give him a show, Devin.”

“No one,” Devin repeated. “Nothing.”

“That’s right,” Berith said. “Go ahead.”

Devin reached out a hand and touched the boy’s shoulder, closed his eyes in concentration and in a moment, he disappeared as the boy’s eyes widened unnaturally and he became board stiff. The laughing conversation around the table silenced as the boy said in a deep, gravelly voice, “I am here! You wanted me here!” the boy raised his arms slowly and then slammed them down on the table with a crash.

“Toby, is that you?” one of the girls at the table asked.

“There is no Toby,” the boy croaked.

“Toby this isn’t funny….” One of the boys said.

Toby rotated his head towards the boy then opened his mouth and projectile vomited onto the boy. Shrieks erupted around the table as panic engulfed the other participants. There were more demonstrations. Toby cursed, drooled, spit, threw up at least twice more, and finally sagged forward as Devin slid out the back of the limp boy’s body.

“How was that, Devin?”

Devin’s face expressed both exhilaration and confusion. “So easy! So… wow. But that was wrong. That seemed wrong. Is he going to be alright?”

Berith looked at the boy whose friends had already rushed to his side to revive him. “Sure, sure, he’ll be okay.” Berith snapped again, and they stood on an empty street. “The important part is do you think his friends are going to try that again?” Devin shook his head. “Damn right they’re not. Good job. That was fun, right?”

Devin looked conflicted for a moment, but just a moment. “Yeah, that was fun. It really was. Did you see the look on their faces when that bile flew?!”

“Right?! We’re just getting started! Give me a moment here and then we’ll find another group of the living to torment, err, remind of the preciousness of life!”

“Sounds great!” Devin said with visible glee.

Berith took a few steps away from Devin and said more quietly. “There, was that evil? I mean, yeah, okay, it wasn’t nice, but what in life – or death – is nice. This kid has a purpose now. Granted that purpose is to wantonly torment the living… we started slow tonight, but Devin’s a quick learner, I can see it. Oh, don’t get all high and mighty on me,” Berith gave a dismissive wave. “If I’d left him there he’d have lost his way, wandered aimlessly, forgotten. Just another wraith wandering pointlessly. He’s got a reason for being now. No, it’s not bad, it’s not evil. It’s just another way of being dead.” Berith crossed his arms and stared menacingly, “Don’t knock it ‘til you tried it.”

31 Ghosts 2018 – Wrights Tunnel

I actually wrote a piece similar to this years ago. I’m something of a digital packrat, so I went looking for it and, to my surprise, came up empty handed. So, I went about recreating it – my mind’s eye remembers the other with less history and more ghosts, but who knows? For the record, all the historical information here is absolutely true, and the tunnel – as well as other tunnels that comprised the San Jose to Santa Cruz line – still exist, though they were caved in and many now reside on private property. Also, I tried to find a good, free image like one of the ones I’ve used so far this month, but none came close to the images of the actual place. Not having been able to get permission to use any of them I’m going picture-less for now. But the twin-waterfall thing? That isn’t a fiction.  —Jordy

When I stood before the open concrete maw of the tunnel I doubted whether I should have come at all. I thought of the delightful coffee shops in downtown Los Gatos I could easily get to in just a few minutes. Or, better yet, ten minutes hike back to the car, twenty minutes more and I’d be in Santa Cruz – both possibilities held much better psychic energy than this… Tunnel #3. Also known as the Summit tunnel and most commonly as Wright’s Tunnel, for a short period of time in the 19th century at nearly a mile long this was the second longest tunnel in California. But it didn’t come without a cost.

I passed the two waterfalls on flanking either side of the mouth of the tunnel dumping run-off from recent rains. Intended to open up the lucrative Santa Cruz mountains logging routes to the shipping ports of Alviso and Alameda, this tunnel – the most ambitious of the numerous bored through the hillsides in order to complete the run to Santa Cruz – began in December 1877. Hundreds of Chinese laborers were brought in to pick, dig, and dynamite their way through the mountain even as American attitude towards them soured dramatically; five years later the Chinese Exclusionary act was signed in to law. But despite the rising racist attitudes, the foremen knew the Chinese laborers were the best in the world. Unfortunately, they also saw them as disposable.

It’s mid-day under a cloudy sky as I cross into the tunnel. I know I won’t be able to go too far – the railroad ceased operations in the 1940s and this tunnel was subsequently dynamited at both ends shortly thereafter. Nonetheless, I turn to my flashlight as the sound of the waterfalls recede and darkness envelopes me. My light splashes onto graffiti on the walls – a leering caricature, elaborate tagging script. That’s when I hear the knocking.

It’s coming from much deeper into the tunnel and despite some foreboding, I quickly continue down. After all, the tunnel is collapsed in and there isn’t much further I can go. This is confirmed only a few moments later as the tunnel slopes upwards to the ceiling of the tunnel – the blasted cave-in. And yet, knocking continues seemingly through the solid earth.

Progress on the tunnel was slow going. The shifting geology of the mountain played havoc with picks and blasting. Sandstone and clay would slide back into the tunnels despite round-the-clock shits. Progress was measured at only five feet a day and the initial optimistic 10-month completion deadline was buried as a wistful pipedream under so much muck and mud. Methane gas started to seep into the tunnels, overcoming some workers. A year later and 2300 feet into the mountain, tar-like petroleum began oozing into through the cracks in the rock and were burned off every few minutes to avoid a buildup. Unfortunately, that regimen proved not to be enough, and in February of 1879 a foreman lighting a the fuse of a demolition dynamite charge instead set off a pocket of methane. The blast blew back out the mouth of the tunnel – past where I just walked – killing five laborers. Despite the explosion and loss of life, work continued. Another crew began boring north from the other side of the mountain intending to meet the larger contingent boring south from the town of Wright.

I turn away from the cave-in and head back for the light at the tunnel’s mouth when the sound of the knocking fades away, replaced by a rumbling noise. At first I think it’s a truck or low flying plane outside, but then I feel the rumble through the soles of my boots. I turn back to the cave-in, the direction the rumbling seems to be coming from and shining the light I no longer see the dirt rising to the roof of the tunnel but just an open chasm. Then, rushing up the chasm comes a wall of light and pure fire and fury. I close my eyes and fall to my knees as the light rushes towards me. I can see the light brighter and brighter through closed lids and I wait for the heat and searing burn as the roar overtakes me… but it doesn’t come. The light fades, the rumble dissipates. Silence. I struggle to regain my breathing. I turn back to the entrance, and, sure enough, I can make out the waterfalls at the mouth of the tunnel.

I take few steps towards it, though and the light at the end of the tunnel is blotted out by bodies running into the tunnel. Dozens of men running towards me, yelling. I shine my light on them and see they are Chinese. I turn and follow them with my gaze as they rush past me. I see them coursing into the tunnel, back down from where the explosion came from. Suddenly, a massive rumble sounds again more ferocious than the first, and again, a sheet of light, fire, and flame roils up engulfing the men that just passed me, flowing over and through me without touching me, and flowing out the opening in the mountain.

There were two blasts, they reported. The first, just before midnight in November 1879, when completion seemed close at hand – indeed the north and south tunnels were thought to be separated by less than a thousand feet – ignited a pocket of gas nearly 2,700 feet into the south bore. Twenty-one men – mostly Chinese laborers, naturally – died in that initial blast. Their fellow miners did indeed rush in to try to rescue any survivors, only to be caught in a second, more massive blast. The explosions cost a total of 32 lives and caused construction to grind to a halt – mostly due to the Chinese laborers refusing to go back in. Cornish miners were brought in to try to finish the tunnel.

When the Cornish emigrated from Great Britain they brought with them the story of the “Tommyknockers” – imps who would pester miners. As they worked their way through the mines of the West, however, the term evolved from its faerie past into a more paranormal phenomenon. Miners would report hearing pick axes and shovels down abandoned mine shafts. “Tommyknockers,” they would say. Perhaps it’s the Tommyknockers I hear as the roar dissipates to silence to that eerie knocking beyond the cave-in. After the blast, the sound of the ghosts digging is welcome, albeit something that makes my skin crawl.

Alas, unhappy with the pace of the Cornish miners – just half of the 8-feet-a-day the Chinese managed – the company raised wages and brought in a new crew of Chinese workers unfamiliar with the carnage they would be tunneling through. March 13th of the following year, the Chinese and Cornish miners punched through the last of the rock, joining the south and north bores into the single tunnel.

As I make my way past the waterfalls, the echoing of the phantom blasts still ringing in my ears, I think of the relative futility of all the effort. The railroad opened in 1880. Just over 25 years later the tunnel would close due to the 1906 quake which shifted part of the mountain five feet northwest. The tunnel re-opened three years later, but operation would fall off with the rise of the automobile and the completion of the Glenwood highway over the hills. By the time the big storm of 1940 washed out a section of track, the decision was made to abandon the line and seal the tunnels.

Just as time and Progress marched on, leaving the tunnel entrance to water runoff and graffiti, so do I scramble up to the roadside where my car is parked, and I head back to the highway that ultimately bypassed the tunnel.

31 Ghosts 2018 – Haunted, part 3

The conclusion to the story I started Friday. If you haven’t read parts 1 or 2, I recommend hitting those – this is longer than both of those, but it finished nicely I think. Off to work shortly! Thanks! —Jordy

A banging came from the door leading down to the basement from the outside causing Ricky to jump with a start and Jose hid the pipe he had just taken a hit from. Eyes bugged out he wondered whether he had time to exhale – he did and then furiously swatted at the cloud of smoke as Ricky yelled, “Who is it?”

No response.

“Dude,” Jose said after a moment of silence. “Maybe it’s a ghost.”

As if in response, the door flew open with a crash as it rebounded against the far wall. No ghost, Jason bounded down the stairs.

“Whoa!” Ricky yelled. “I locked that! How’d you get in?!”

“Key,” Jason held it up. “Under the mat?”

Jose erupted in a peel of giggles.

“Oh yeah,” Ricky nodded in recognition.

“Guys, this is an emergency!” Jason said waving his arms.

“Dude, you need to chill!” Jose replied.

“No, I’m serious guys! Jade’s in danger!”

“Jade?” Ricky asked.

“That supposed chick ghost Jason wants to psychically bang.”

“What? No, that’s not… no… it’s not like that…” Jason stammered.

“Me thinks he doth protest too much,” Ricky said with a huge grin and fist-bumped Jose.

“Guys, come on!” he pleaded. “I need your help. She needs your help!”

“What’s going on?” Ricky said.

“So, I went by there earlier this evening–”

“I’m shocked!” Jose interrupted in mock surprise.

“And she called to me from the street! I went in and she threw her arms around me and pleaded for me to save her from this demon thing that’s trying to swallow her soul.”

“Threw her arms around you?” Jose asked suspiciously.

In reality, Jade did call down to him, but specifically it was, “Jason, you good-for-nothing ass! Get up here!” He did, naturally, and she greeted him with, “Where the fuck have you been?!” After that, though, she did admit she was grateful to see him because she needed his help. She explained about the darkness-cloaked thing and how it had managed to get halfway up the stairs – each stair seemed exceptionally difficult for it to climb. But it seemed to be getting angrier, louder, and more insistent with each step. Jason said he did notice an icy cold spot coming up the stairs but couldn’t himself hear the howling. He asked how he could help and Jade didn’t have any ideas, but then something struck Jason…

“Her mom? Isn’t she dead too?” Ricky asked.

“Yeah, I thought that at first, too, but then I thought back our discussions – she had mentioned her dad—”

“Baby Daddy,” Jose clarified.

Jason rolled his eyes, “Jade’s real dad who ran out on her and her mom, and of course her step-father who killed her and himself rather than let her mom get a divorce…”

“But no mention of her mom?” Ricky asked.

“Right! I pulled up the news story while we were up there and sure enough, it mentioned the mom wasn’t home – she survived.”

“How’d Jade deal when you mentioned her mom?” Jose asked.

“That’s the thing, she teared up!”

“You’ve said she’s a pretty hard chick, dude,” Ricky said.

“Right?! I’m thinking we’ve got to find her mom and get her to the house because that’s what Jade’s been hanging around for – that’s why she hasn’t crossed over!”

Jose looked at Ricky. Ricky looked at Jason. Jason looked back and forth between them.

“Shit, bro, that’s some paranormal problem solving! That’s why we made you Elmwood High Paranormal Society President!” Jose nodded and all three traded fist bumps.

“How do we find her? I’m guessing we need to find her like… yesterday.”

“Right. That’s why I need you guys…”

“On it…” Jose said, laptop already open and typing.

“Dude, you’re higher than hell,” Ricky remarked.

“That’s when I get my best work done,” Jose intoned flatly as he focused on his search. Five minutes later, he had a phone number.

“Hi, ma’am,” Jason started into the phone. “You don’t know me, but I was a friend of your daughter Jade’s…” he looked quizzically at the phone in his hand.

“What?” Ricky asked.

“She hung up on me!”

“That’s her then,” Ricky declared.

Jose started typing and muttered, “no…. no…. that one’s bad…. Yep. Yeah, got her address.”

“Really? That fast,” Jason asked incredulously.

“Bro, I’ve got supernatural herb-enhanced hacking powers. Do not doubt my key-fu!”

Jason fake bowed, “we’re not worthy!”

Ricky brandished a keyfob and key, “To the Mystery Machine!”

“You’re driving?” Jason asked with an arched eyebrow.

“We’re not taking your skateboard, doofus,” Ricky replied.

“Yeah, no, but will your van start?”

“Ah, that’s they Mystery!”

It did start. They denied Jose’s request for another “Scooby Snack.” Jason called shotgun. In fifteen minutes Jason and Ricky crowded in front of the door of a second story apartment. Jose stood behind them, hands on the railing, staring  mesmerized at the pool in the middle of the complex, glittering with reflected moonlight.

Jason knocked and then cast a look back at Jose. “He’s okay, yeah?”

“Jose? Yeah, he’s just chillin’. He’ll be cool when we need him.”

The door opened a crack, security chain in place. “Who is it?” the woman asked.

“Ma’am,” Jason started, “I called you a few minutes ago. It’s about your daughter, Jade.”

“You boys get out of here before I call the cops! Can’t you leave me alone?!” She started to slam the door but Ricky got his Doc Martin between the door and the Jam.

“Please, ma’am,” Ricky asked more respectfully than Jason had ever heard him. “We’re very sorry to bother you. This is really important. Jason here,” he pointed to his left, “he’s been… communicating with Jade. And she’s in trouble. We think you’re the only one who can help her.”

The woman’s face gradually softened as she let the words sink in. “Jade? What do you know of her?” she said to Jason.

“She’s, err, well, her ghost is still back at the ruins of your old house. She’s stuck there. But tonight she said something is trying to get her, trying to…” he struggled to phrase it right, “trying to take her soul.”

The woman’s expression teetered briefly between belief and incredulity before pitching hard into belief. “And how am I supposed to help?”

“I think she needs to see you again,” Jason said. “To cross over, that is…” he added. “We’ve talked a lot and when I asked about you she got really sad – she never gets sad like that.”

Tears visible, she barked out a laugh at that. “My Jade was always pretty hard,” she smiled sadly.

“Ma’am?” Jason said gently, breaking her reverie. “We really need your help – she really needs your help. And we have to go now. She’s in real trouble.”

The woman closed her eyes, took a slow deep breath before saying, “Okay. Okay, let’s go.”

Ten minutes later Jade watched the headlights approach from the road heading directly for the house. Unlike normal car headlights that then made the dog leg right turn with the road, these careened down the dirt driveway before power-sliding to a stop on the weed-patchy lawn in front of the front door.

“Epic!” Jose said to Ricky as they piled out of the van.

“Sorry, Mrs. Riley,” Jason said to the woman climbing out of the passenger side. The woman… even in the wan tree-dappled moonlight Jade thought she recognized her.

No, couldn’t be… she thought. “Jesus Christ, Jason! Took you long enough! I hope you have something!” she yelled down.

“Oh, we’ve got this!” he yelled back. Then explained to the woman “she’s glad we’re here.”

“That’s not what I said, fuck-nut! Get you and the Scooby Gang up here pronto! That fucker’s like two steps from the top!”

“We’re on it!” Jason yelled back, then translated, “she wants us to hurry.”

All four hurried past the caution tape over the front door and carefully up the brittle, burned stairs. Each and everyone shivered violently as they passed the second step to the top. Jason reached Jade in her room first.

“Jade! You’re okay!”

“Brilliant deduction, Sherlock,” she said, arms crossed, but Jason could see relief in her blue eyes.

“Whoa, shit!” Jose staggered around a dark streak just inside the door. “Is that.”

“Where I bled out? Yeah, thanks for pointing out that painful memory, asshole,” Jade sneered.

“Yeah,” Jason nodded in translation.

Ricky bounded in behind him and stepped right through the spot. “So, umm, where is she?”

“Right here,” she said flipping Ricky her middle finger.

“She’s right there,” Jason said, pointing to where the invisible Jade stood.

“So?” She asked Jason, “Now that the Extraordinary League of Fuck-offs has convened, what’s the brilliant plan to get this demon off my ass?” She asked. As she finished her sentence, Mrs. Riley tentatively entered the room, hands shaking, tears running unchecked down her cheeks.

Jason looked from the shaky woman to Jade. Jade’s hard countenance sluiced away like melted ice. Her confrontational folded arms dropped to her side, and her eyes welled up. “Mom?” she asked.

“She sees you, Mrs. Riley.”

“She does? Are you sure it’s really her?”

“Jade, what’s something only your mom would know?”

“Isn’t that personal?” Jade asked.

“That’s the point.”

“Tell her… I guess I’m overdue.”

“Really?” Jason asked quizzically. Jade arched an eyebrow. Turning to Mrs. Riley, Jason said, “She says to tell you she’s… overdue?”

Mrs. Riley laughed a crying laugh at that. “We used to have dinner picnics outside the Elmwood Public Library,” she explained. “When we’d get there after they closed she would say, ‘I guess we’re overdue’.” Her face contracted as she fought a sob. When she opened her wet eyes she asked, “Where is she?” Jason pointed to where Jade stood. Mrs. Riley crossed so she stood a few feet from her daughter. “Oh baby,” she cried, “I’m so sorry! I’m so sorry! I should have been here! I should have… it’s my fault, baby!”

“No, mom, no. It’s not your fault. It’s that asshole’s fault. He’s probably burning in hell already. It’s not your fault, mom!”

“She says she doesn’t blame you.” Jason translated. “She blames him completely.”

“That goddamn coward,” Mrs. Riley bit the last word off with more venom than Jason had ever heard.

“Oh mom, I missed you.”

“She said she’s missed you.”

“Oh, baby… I’m so sorry! I didn’t know you were here. I would have come sooner, baby! I’m so sorry. I guess I’m the one overdue.”

“Mom, it’s okay. It’s okay. You’re here now. You’re here now.” Suddenly, what looked like sunlight back lit Jade. She turned to regard the source of the light. “Whoa… is that?” She turned to Jason, “Seriously, is that the fucking light they always talk about?”

Jason shook his head. “I don’t know, but it makes sense…” He turned to Mrs. Riley and the guys, “There’s bright light shining on Jade. She thinks it might be the light.”

“Heaven,” Mrs. Riley mouthed.

“Yeah, I don’t know if I deserve that…” Jade said to Jason, “but it sure feels warm. Should I?”

“Sounds like a better offer than that soul-sucking thing you said’s almost upstairs.”

Jade nodded, “Yeah. I think so.” She crossed to stand in front of her mom and put her arms around her mom. Her mom gasped as she did, then gasped again as Jade’s lighted figure solidified into view as she hugged her. Her mom stared at her as she closed her arms around her daughter for a last hug.

“Holy shit, dude!” Ricky said.

“Fuck, dude, what was in that edible,” Jose asked as they both stared at the now-visible thin girl with long black hair hugging her mom.

When they finally broke the hug, her mom kissed Jade’s forehead hard. Jade smiled and kissed her mom’s forehead in return and then stepped back. “I love you, mommy,” she said with a wide smile. “I have to go now,” she said as a sob wracked her body.

“I know, baby. I know. You’ll be at peace. I’m so sorry! I love you.”

“It’s not your fault, mom. Please don’t blame yourself. Please let it go. Let me go. I will always love you.”

Her mom nodded as she cried.

Jade stepped back and turned to Jason. “Thanks, asshole!” she said with a smile then moved in and kissed him on the cheek. “You were more than a little stalkerish – think about shit – but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t appreciate the company.”

“Thanks,” was all Jason could say as he blushed and smiled back.

“And thank you, she gestured to her mom. You really did come through for me.”

“Eh, it was nothing,” Jason said.

“Don’t get cocky, kid,” she smiled back. She turned towards her mom, “Okay, mom, I’m going to go I think. I love you!”

“I love you, baby!”

“Bye!” she said and stepped backwards where her already brightly lit figure appeared to be absorbed by light which brightened and then winked out, leaving the people in the room blinking in the darkness.

Before anyone could say anything they felt the shuddering of the floor and heard the creaking of the fire-damaged wood. “Earthquake!” Ricky yelled. “Let’s get out of here!”

Everyone hurried down the rickety stairway as the shaking intensified. The strairway itself collapsed as Jason, brinigng up the rear, was three steps from the ground floor. He fell forward and Jose caught him. Mrs. Riley burst into the front yard first, followed by Ricky and Jose helping a staggering Jason. As soon as they made it out to the van, they turned and watched as the house began to collapse, attic falling into second story, floor giving way. Jason looked up at the window he had seen Jade staring out every night these last months as the wall folded in with a crash. The four stepped back as the bottom floor collapsed, the mass of blackened, broken wood and drywall fell with an enormous crash into the basement.

Everything went silent after the din. Neighbors came out to see what happened.

“Dude! That was epic!” Jose broke the silence. “Who’s up for pizza?” he asked.