Chapter 2
The home resided on the outskirts of town and was nestled into a wooded lot. It had an impressively arching A-frame and large windows. The side was graced with a fireplace and a deck overlooking the steep hill which rode along the side of the home. From there, the property seemed safe to Aaron, but the back yard with the thick wooded lot was a bit too concealed for his liking. The fencing, however, was high enough to at least provide any trespassers with a six foot obstacle to climb over. Brandy never seemed to think of such things and if Aaron ever brought it up she would automatically pronounce him paranoid. But this time, Brandy was seeing the rationality of Aaron’s imagination, if only for this instance.
The Vermeer family all collectively hobbled drowsily into the new home. Aaron and Brandy immediately piled all of their baggage onto the lobby table, leaving everything to be deferred to the next morning. The children found a new source of consciousness as they begged to see their new rooms. Like an excited puppy, Chris went to and fro tugging on his parents in excitement while Mel was only following her brother’s lead. The children had no sense of the dire situation just miles away. Aaron and Brandy silently looked to each other and relented. They each grabbed the hands of one of the children, Brandy with Mel and Aaron with Chris and the four made it up to the second floor.
Despite her excitement, Mel quickly grew weary of the shadowy contours of the home. She clung closer and closer to Brandy to the point of annoying her. Brandy had no patience for the needy, but there she was catering to her youngest child, loathing ever having children to begin with. Her thoughts on the matter soon turned to a tinge of guilt. She looked down to Mel, “C’mon baby, your room is right up here.”
Aaron could barely escort Chris as he haphazardly ran down the hallway. As if with a sixth sense, the boy immediately found his room. He really is like a puppy, can he smell his own effects? Aaron thought. All the rooms had already been furnished by the movers, save for a few wall decorations and items Chris would prefer to be on the wall, such as his favorite comic book heroes, and video games like Minecraft, and the newer generation of Pokemon (a fad which Aaron thought had run its course, but apparently not). He left Chris alone since he knew not what to do. Chris was already meandering through his possessions and making all kinds of childish announcements to himself, “It’s game time! Woah, look at that window! This is the perfect spot for my bed!”
Aaron and Brandy reunited in the hallway. Brandy was silent, both verbally and physically. Aaron struggled to think of something to say, “So, what do you think about dinner?” Brandy let a few seconds go by as they descended the open staircase, “I was going to cook but it seems to be too late for that.”
“I agree.” said Aaron. They decided on pizza, so Aaron made the call. The phone rang until a messaging machine clicked on. He tried a few more times, but got the same response. He tried another pizzeria, this one a “ma and pa” place, as indicated on their home page. The phone rang once then click- this time there was no machine but an abrupt hang-up. He tried once more but received the out of service tone, we’re sorry, but— click. Now it was Aaron’s turn to abruptly hang up. He turned to Brandy, “No luck.” She shrugged with a clear look of annoyance. “Chinese it is.” he decided for them, with a tone that was clearly out of place.
He got an answer, but this time the background was flooded in angry Cantonese bickering. “Bat po, chee lun seen! …uh, hello?”
“Hi, uh, can I order delivery?”
“Yes? You want something order?”
“Uh, yes please, delivery for four.”
“Okay… sir, please hurry, we’re closing.”
Aaron hurriedly recalled the list he memorized for the family. He wasn’t sure if it was all correct, but Brandy didn’t correct anything like she usually would. Perhaps she’s letting mistakes slide, given the situation. He thought. “Thank yo—“ click. They hung up.
***
At this time, Chris was in his own world of imagination. He was playing on his bed with his tablet precociously making new accessories to his Minecraft home. An enemy called a “creeper” attacked him in the game, but he successfully protected himself. Thunk. Just then a noise jarred him to reality. Thunk… Chris paused his game and blacked out the screen. Thunk, thunk…The ceiling sounded as if there were someone in the attic. The young boy investigated the ceiling. Thunk. His ceiling lamp swayed in a circular motion. Then the lightbulb began to blink with a rapid flicker. Soon silence filled the room, and he could only hear the sound of the bulb filament going haywire.
A cylindrical piece of the fixture slowly unscrewed itself before his very eyes. The bulb busted, which made Chris wince, and freed the cylinder to allow it to roll upon the floor and then wheel its way into the hallway. To Chris it seemed the metal ring was being rolled by some invisible person. Chris wanted to scream but was frozen in shock. Mel then walked out into his doorway looking at the cylinder. She looked to Chris who was still frozen in fear. The room was dark, but Mel focused on something behind Chris in the streetlight which cast through the window.
Mel saw a figure rise from behind Chris. Mel screamed, breaking Chris out of his trance, and they both saw what looked to be a pair of small eyes glistening in the shadow. Mel took off running toward the stairs, Chris followed suit. The figure remained in the darkness of the room, tilting its head and then submerging into the surrounding darkness.
Of course Aaron and Brandy were already heading up the stairs when the children got there. Aaron was detective number one, “What’s wrong, Mel?” He immediately noticed Chris was flustered, That’s rare... he thought. “Chris? Can you tell me what happened? Why was Mel screaming?” Everyone was silent, but Mel could be heard sobbing behind them. Chris was facing the floor keeping his back to the bedroom door, but then looked to Aaron. “Chris?” Aaron beckoned again as Aaron and Brandy escorted the kids back to the second floor hallway. “Dad, my light broke and that rolled into the hallway.” Chris pointed at the light fixture ring on the ground. “We saw a ghost.” Mel let out. Aaron and Brandy looked to Chris who nodded to confirm.
Aaron stood up to investigate and then noticed the cylinder standing tip-side up. Odd. He bent over to look at it, and then peered into Chris’s room. The room was dank and cold. The heat in the room seemed to be out. He peered toward the window but couldn’t focus on any given thing. Bzzt. Aaron flinched. Knock knock knock. “Huh, Chinese is here.” Aaron turned to the kids and smiled, “Let’s go eat, it’ll be okay. You were probably just spooked by shadows. The light’s probably old. I’ll look at it later.” The four of them descended the stairs and Aaron left the others at the dining table while he retrieved their dinner.
The Chinese youth was cursing his parents for sending him on this run. Don’t these crazy white people know what’s going on? They could only be white he deduced, because they lived in the suburbs and ordered Chinese food during a crisis. To him, they had no souls for doing this. He gave another loud ATF type of knock, urgently tucking his free hand into his hooded jacket.
Aaron opened the door. “Sorry I was—“
“Yeah, $39.95!”
“Okay, just a moment.”
The Chinese youth clicked his tongue to his teeth leaning his head back. Agitated, he surveyed the side yard of the house with a shady look on his face. “You just moved in, didn’t you?”
“Well, yeah…”
“Go figure.”
Aaron finally retrieved two twenties out of his wallet. He held it up for the kid. The kid then swung the hefty bag of assorted noodles, rice, sauces and meats and snatched the money from Aaron’s hand.
The youth opened his car door, then Aaron shouted to him, “Hey, don’t you want your tip?”
“Keep it man, (ding lei gor see fut long),don’t your rich ass know what’s going on?” With that, the youth got into his ’98 Mazda and veered down the road with reckless abandon and seemingly no caution for the law. Aaron was speechless. He marked off the youth’s attitude as he could guess at why he was being so abrasive. He proudly hefted the food to the dining room table like a hunter bringing his field-dressed game from a successful hunt.
As Brandy pulled the separate items from their paper sack, Aaron occupied himself with his dying smartphone. He urgently searched for local news of the area since the cable and internet of the house could not be put on any sooner than the following Tuesday. He searched --Pisgah, crisis, local news-- but got nothing except an old 2009 article from Haaretz reporting on the Israel-Gaza incident and some facts about the area of Mount Nebo which presently resides in Jordan, a haven for some Palestinian rebels, as it was the original “Pisgah” of biblical times. Aaron muttered to himself about the inadequacy of online local news.
Brandy had the children sit at the table, which was missing its center extension and conjoined to make a smaller family round table. They all began to eat, and Aaron was trying to show Chris how to use the bamboo chop sticks like he was, but to no avail. Brandy was annoyed, even though she could use them herself; she preferred the “boys” stopped playing with the food and behave themselves. Aaron quickly noticed the tension from her side of the table.
Mel wasn’t eating her food. She showed no interest or sign that she was going to eat. Aaron attempted to encourage her, “What’s the matter honey? It’s chicken, just like the tenders you like to eat so much.” Mel replied quietly, “My tummy doesn’t feel good.” Aaron nodded and slowly rescinded his attempt. Brandy clanked her fork onto the plate, reminding Aaron she was there. He needed no reminder, but felt she wanted him to pay her attention.
“Brandy,” Aaron started, “I don’t know what is going on, but that Chinese delivery boy just blew me off.” Brandy raised her head, “Well, it probably has to do with the traffic incident.” The both of them fell silent again. They ate a bit more, but stopped short. Aaron stood up, “Well I think I will begin tomorrow instead of waiting, there’s no sense… plus I have a better chance in finding out what’s going on downtown at the hospital.” Brandy flinched and looked up at him, still seated. When she knew he was looking at her she glowered. Aaron learned to fear this look and it always filled him with anxiety.
Aaron put the children to bed. Chris and Mel were sharing Mel’s bed for the night, as the both of them were too afraid to sleep alone, and even more afraid of Chris’s room. Brandy was in no mood to handle that situation; to Aaron it was because she seemed to have wits of steel, but if Aaron was to think truthfully of the matter, he would admit to himself that he thought she was simply a cold-hearted and selfish person.
The two of them had an argument that night. Of course it was done in hushed tones, since Brandy preferred discretion as she slipped her sharp, treacherous claws into Aaron’s side. She objected to the initial move to Pisgah. She wanted Aaron to prolong his career at St. Jerome’s. Aaron knew he couldn’t reason with Brandy now, but he had to fire back, he had to show her that he did all of those things to help. He explained the better wages and that the prospects of the open promotion spot there at Pike’s Peak coupled with the small town and schools was ideal for raising their kids. Soon, though, the argument grew bitter. Brandy preferred to say, “your kids” and mentioned something about her family back in Ashfield. These choice words bothered Aaron deeply and he simply couldn’t handle the underhanded hints at separation. With damp eyes and a sore heart, Aaron left the room and ventured into the hallway leaving Brandy in the master bedroom.
Brandy fired through the door, “Good, well maybe you can sleep out there.” Aaron trudged on.
Before returning to the master bedroom to grab some blankets, Aaron stepped into Chris’s room. Aaron assessed the lamp by sweeping his hand along the light fixture. The rivets were intact.
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