Mercedes' Dirge Page 5

  He got up and started towards the door. “It’s unsettling. I’m glad I have someone to sleep next to.” His mouth closed suddenly after as he realized what he had said. “I suck.” He said quickly. “I didn’t mean it like that.”

  She shrugged and waved her hand at him. “Bah! So, I’m divorced. It’s a fact of life. It still hurts, but you can’t tiptoe around me forever.” The room again filled with expectations of tension. She hadn’t realized until it was out that it could have been taken as a criticism of Troy and Alexa’s way of coping.

  “We are batting zero, sister.” He laughed and the tension dissolved and he came back to lean over and hug her.

  “I think we do ok.” She said warmly returning the embrace. “So, I’ll sleep with apparitions. That’s fine, as long as it doesn’t snore.”

  He left and she thought hard about whether or not to close the door. Mercedes didn’t seem to stop at closed doors, and dark hallways could be as unbearably creepy as the psychological aspects of having a closed door to bar quick escapes. Ella decided to keep the door closed and switched on the TV before she could continue to engage her brain with anticipation of more paranormal happenings.

  The cacophonous tones of live studio audiences on sitcom reruns somehow became soothing and she fell mercifully into a deep slumber, lulled by it. She woke relieved when she not only saw light from outside, but saw that it was 9am and was grateful for a complete night of undisturbed and restful sleep. It renewed her enthusiasm for her new life.

  She started the day with a quick breakfast and then began on the room again. This time hanging up her own clothes in the now empty closet and they looked so lonely in the huge closet. Even if she had brought her whole wardrobe, it would not have stacked up to the amount and quality of Mercedes’ clothes.

  In the late afternoon she finally peeled off her activewear and took a long, hot shower. Nothing was quite as satisfying as getting clean after working so hard at getting dirty and grimy.

  When she stepped out of the shower she immediately bent over to wrap her hair up in a makeshift turban. When she had resumed a standing position she gasped. The steam from her shower had created a thick layer of fog on the large mirror. It was pristine and untouched except for the area closest to the shower. In thick, block letters were the words “Help me”.

  Ella instinctively knew that no one had entered the room. Besides not being that distasteful, Troy would never have risked seeing her naked. She was visible through the glass and would have seen anyone in there just as they would have seen her. The hairs on her arms stood on end as she scurried out of the bathroom. As she had suspected, the door was still locked.

  She sat silently on the bed and let it sink in. It seemed Mercedes wasn’t just randomly floating around. She had actually appealed for assistance and was specifically interacting with Ella.

  She shook her head as she pondered what on earth a dead person had to worry about. Was she being targeted only because she was in Mercedes’ room? Where the murder had occurred?

  Had she just been lurking around the empty house when it had been vacant? Or was she disturbed only by their presence in the house?

  Ella was uncomfortable in the room at the moment, and knew that her discomfort was written all over her face. She didn’t want to risk piquing Alexa’s interest as to her state of unease.

  Ella was at a loss as to where to go with this. What could she do to help? Certainly Ella had watched plenty of movies where a ghost appealed to a nice girl to solve her murder, but did that stuff actually happen? It seemed so cliché. But, perhaps it was such a time honored formula in fiction for a reason. I mean, what other help could a ghost want besides unearthing their killer?

  After nearly twenty minutes Ella finally felt like she could walk out of the room without looking like she had seen a proverbial and literal ghost.

  Alexa was nowhere in sight, but Ella was glad to see that Troy was in the backyard laboriously pulling weeds. He was dripping with sweat and had his shirt tied around his head, looking like an idiot. It looked like all the labor had already been beneficial to his physique and Ella smiled and wondered if Alexa saw that as a nice benefit to this endeavor. Troy had always been fun, handsome and downright adorable. His boyish good looks and broad stature had ensured that every last one of her friends had been taken with him, since she could remember. It was no wonder that it had ultimately been one of her friends to settle down with him.

  “Hey, dumbass.” She greeted as she bent over and started gathering some of the loose weeds to throw away.

  “Hey, weirdo, how’s it going?”

  “Um, it’s going in a strange direction. That’s how it’s going.” She remarked, tossing the browned, dangling strands into the can he’d pulled up.

  Troy stopped what he was doing and regarded her. “You want to talk about it?” He seemed to know exactly what her cryptic statement was in reference to.

  “Yes, I do.” She handed him a towel she had grabbed before walking outside. “Break time?”

  He nodded and wiped off as they walked to some shaded chairs on the back patio. He had a cooler with a waters and soda waiting. They both grabbed a drink and sat down, where Ella immediately regretted not wiping off the chair first as she saw a small poof of dirt rise up as she sat. She could only imagine the state of her jeans right now, certainly no longer utilitarian chic but more like vagabond wrecked.

  “I saw her.” She blurted out.

  Troy coughed and stared at her. “What?”

  “I saw Mercedes. She appeared in the mirror behind me as I was looking at my reflection. I didn’t say anything before because…well, I don’t know why. It just seemed to make the situation too real.” She played with the label on her water bottle nervously.

  “Are you sure? I mean, it couldn’t have been dust or something?”

  She stared at him for a beat. “Seriously? Yes, I guess if the dust looked exactly like Mercedes, then suuuure.”

  He threw his hands up. “How do you expect me to react? You are telling me that you are seeing the apparition of my murdered sister-in-law in the house we just invested everything in. It’s a little weird and troublesome to say the least.”

  “You’re telling me. But that isn’t even the end of it, she wrote on the steam from the shower to help her.” She told him matter of factly.

  “Help her what?”

  “Don’t you watch movies or read books? I’m assuming she wants me to point out her killer-or bring him to justice, or something.” She snorted in disgust. “How am I really supposed to know? I’m not Nancy fucking Drew or even Scooby doo!”

  He managed a small grin. “Hey, but you’re a poet and you just don’t know it.”

  She smacked his arm with her cold bottle. “Be serious.”

  He nodded and looked straight ahead seriously before quietly adding: “Does this make me Shaggy?”

  Ella shook her head and laughed in spite of herself. “Worse, you’re Scooby’s annoying little dog cousin whose name I can never remember.”

  They both dissolved into laughter, but as it faded, the air felt heavy and ominous again.

  “What should I do, Troy?”

  “Nothing.” He shrugged. “Like you said, you aren’t a detective.”

  Ella sighed. “I’m supposed to ignore that? Look, the room is big, but not big enough for me and an angry ghost. I know she isn’t trying to scare me, but if she is helpless and looking for assistance and if I ignore it, how will she feel?”

  “Why do you assume that she has any real emotions? I mean, that are interactive? What if it’s just the energy imprint just stamped into the house, where the tragedy occurred?”

  “It just feels interactive, Troy. I can’t explain it. Now, where do I start?”

  He guzzled down his water and avoided her eyes. “I won’t support you in this, Ella. It feels wrong. Feel free to tell me about your experiences, but you won’t get anything from me in the way of help. It’s insane. We all know Nick did it.”
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br />   She slapped her hands onto the armrests dramatically as she lifted herself up, instantly regretting it, as more dust rose in response. “Fine, I’ll go it alone.”

  “Ella-” He started, but she had already walked inside. She grabbed her laptop and walked back up to her room. She was glad to see that nothing had changed and there were no surprises waiting for her. She had to have her own way around, so she began looking in the classifieds for cars. She refused to continue to be dependent on the family car to leave.

  She briefly considered leasing, but with no income in San Diego, and her decision not final, it didn’t seem like a viable option. Why hadn’t she just driven from Oregon?

  She heard a knock on the door and grudgingly called “Come in.”

  Troy walked in, looking contrite, which pleased her. He sat down on the bed and stared at her. “I’m sorry, this situation is really strange. Of all the possibilities of problems that I entertained when trying to decide to move it here, this one never even occurred to me.”

  “I didn’t ask to be in this situation, and also certainly never added a ghost in on my pros and cons list for coming out here.” She shrugged.

  “I know, and I would think you were completely nuts if she hadn’t made her presence somewhat known before you even got here. I just feel like you haven’t thought this through. I mean, you don’t know if a spirit maintains the same personality after death. Why do what she says? What if it means trouble for you? What if being dead means she has no regard for your safety? You think it sounds safe to go hunting down a killer who has thus far eluded the police? That’s if you could ever even uncover any info that hasn’t already been uncovered. What is she going to do? Help you and give you hints?”

  Ella couldn’t deny the validity of these statements. It was all true. It was a bunch of unknowns and she certainly had no special nose for investigation and the prospect of working with a ghost, even one she knew, was not appealing. Not that she really even believed that Mercedes would or could actually help her.

  Troy smiled. “Silence? Really? Does that mean I have a point?”

  “Just on the top of your head.” She shot back.

  “Hardy har!” He mocked.

  She lifted her hands in defeat. “Fine, dumbass, you’re right. I won’t pursue anything.”

  “Thank you.” He said nodding happily. “We don’t need anymore tragedy.”

  “I’ll agree with that as well.”

  He leaned over and tried to spy on what was on her laptop screen. “What are you up to? Internet dating?”

  She smiled and turned it around for him to see. “Looking for a car.”

  “Why would you do that?”

  “Oh c’mon! You don’t want to have three people all dependent on the same car either.”

  “I hesitate to say this, but you can use Mercedes’ car.” He offered.

  “Oh god, I don’t know, Troy. That seems like a bit much.” She hadn’t even known that was a possibility.

  “It’s up to you.” He shrugged. “Alexa won’t drive it, but I feel like she may become less resistant to the idea if she sees it being used.”

  “Will it even work? Has it been driven in twelve years?”

  “I’m a bit surprised that you don’t know that mom and dad have been maintaining it for us. It’s a nice Mercedes and no one could imagine it rusting in the garage here.”

  “A Mercedes for Mercedes? Wow.” She pondered it for a bit, wondering why she was turning down a car. “Ok, I guess. I’ll give it a shot.”

  “If anything freaky happens, or it’s just too macabre, you can always go back to finding some old crappy beater online.” He offered.

  She agreed and within a few hours they were collecting the car from her parent’s house. She was pleased that the car had been stripped of any of Mercedes’ personal effects and it had clearly been meticulously kept up by her father. It was 13 years old, but was still the nicest car she’d ever had, even if it didn’t have all the newer bells and whistles.

  She visited with her parents and tried to ignore all their pressing questions and observations about her divorce, though parents seem to be great at disregarding the discomfort you are feeling and digging even deeper. Hers were certainly no exception, and she felt two pair of searching, opinionated eyes and it spurred her to leave sooner rather than later.

  She soon got over the hesitance of driving Mercedes’ car and began to relish having unmitigated freedom again. She didn’t foresee hitting the town often, but it was nice to have it as an option without having to ask permission.

  She was relieved to note that the light was off in her room and the house seemed slightly less foreboding. Troy’s yard work was starting to pay off, at least in the realm of the houses appearance lending to a less ominous feeling. In the daylight it was beginning to resemble a welcoming, beautiful estate rather than a foreboding, spooky ghost nest.

  Ella said her pleasantries to Alexa and Troy, but soon realized how the day had taken a toll on her. She wasn’t in the mood for company and wanted to try and get another good night of sleep. She felt a sense of relief over her decision to drop the idea of “helping” Mercedes.

  Ella was in her room doing a little more organizing when Troy popped his head in. “Hey, we’re going down the hill for some dinner. Do you want to come along? We all need to blow off steam.”

  She wasn’t thrilled by the idea of being home alone in the house, but also wasn’t up for leaving. She still had dirt on the butt of her jeans and felt all grimy and just wanted to take a shower and go to bed, hopefully sans ghost. She told him to go ahead without her and then hurriedly took a shower without incident and got into bed. She fell asleep quickly with the TV on.

  A soft, constant thud woke her out of a deep, dreamless sleep. She sat up bleary eyed and peered at her clock. It was past midnight and all wishes of going right back to sleep flew out the window as she continued to hear the sound. It was pretty unambiguously coming from the attic, above her room.

  She popped out of bed and looked out of the window to see that Troy’s car was still gone. She felt her heart start to race a little more as she turned on the light and sat at the foot of her bed trying to figure out what to do. After about ten minutes her frustration mounted as the rhythmic sound had not ebbed. She turned up the TV much louder than she usually would have and tried to drown it out. It worked for less than five minutes and then the thudding became much louder and faster with insistence, almost as though it was knowingly competing with the roar of the TV. Defiantly, she raised the volume even more. If there had been neighbors, they would have complained. Like clockwork the pounding above her hit a fever pitch and she screamed in frustration and turned off the TV. Immediately the thudding hit its original soft volume and cadence.

  Ella wiped away some tears and tried to decide whether or not she should call Troy and tell him to come home. She really didn’t want to raise alarm and was afraid if they were out this late that they may be at a bar and she didn’t want to encourage them driving home intoxicated. Plus, there was absolutely no guarantee that the ghostly noises would even stop when they got home. She toyed with the idea of leaving, but had nowhere to go at this hour.

  “Mercedes, are you trying to tell me something?” She spoke out feebly. The noises got a little louder for a minute and Ella realized in fear that she was going to have to go seek it out.

  Nervously she put on some slippers and reached out in the hallway to turn on the light. She resolved to turn on every light she could on the way up there. The more light the better, not that it seemed to dispel or even discourage Mercedes.

  The sound continued as she approached the stairs to the attic. She looked up and inhaled sharply. “Fucking attics,” she muttered to herself for strength as she climbed the stairs. She quickly realized that she didn’t even know if there was a light there and cursed herself for not grabbing a flashlight. Though, honestly she didn’t know if seeing what was up there might be better than darkness.

 
She swung open the door and hesitated. The sound continued but nothing jumped out at her and the attic was pitch black. In a flurry, she nervously reached her hands in and started patting the walls down, feeling for a switch. Waves of relief washed over her as she felt the promising little plastic nub. She switched it up and the attic was flooded with light. The sound continued and she steeled herself and made the last two steps up and entered the attic. As soon as she did, the noise ceased. It stopped so abruptly that she couldn’t even locate what part of the attic it came from. She looked around and saw nothing in motion and it looked like nothing had been moved for quite some time.

  She was glad that she’d had the foresight to put on slippers, because the floor was covered in detritus and particles that were not inviting for bare feet.

  She slowly advanced to the middle of the room and waited for anything to happen. “Ok, Mercedes, I’m here. You have my attention. What do you want me to know?” Silence was the only answer. She waited a minute, which seemed like an eternity as she counted the seconds under her breath. “I’m leaving now.” There was no objection so she ran down the stairs. She was careful to turn off the lights and glad to hear that the sound did not start up again.

  Defeated, she went downstairs and walked into the kitchen and made herself a drink. She was still shaking and knew that she was not going to be able to go back to sleep in her current state. She sipped a vodka and cranberry as she sat on the couch and switched through some late night television. She couldn’t concentrate on any of the programs but the act of switching mindlessly through the channels was very comforting.

  She heard a car in the driveway and tried to make herself presentable as Alexa and Troy came in the door. They were laughing as they came into the TV room but Troy took one look at her face and stopped. He could see the fear and panic written on her. Thankfully, Alexa didn’t seem to notice anything and plopped down next to her and took a swig of her drink. “What are you doing up?”

  Ella smiled weakly. “I couldn’t sleep. Did you guys have fun?”