Haunters Anonymous
WC:
1213
“I was stabbed in the neck.
Several times,” I said and no one batted an eye. It wasn't the craziest death out there by any
stretch of the imagination. I saw Stu
yawn. He’d died in a plane crash, half
his face was missing. His mouth was
always open and the charred bits ruffled as he exhaled. He was one second from getting up.
“I’m sorry,” I said stopping, “My
death really doesn’t matter.”
Jill, the counselor, who said
she died at her own hands but had never exactly said how smiled to me, “Keep
going. That’s what we’re here for. How can you expect to get better if you don’t
talk about what’s plaguing you? You have
to get to the root of your haunt.”
My head dropped into my
hands. I could hear Jill continuing with
her jargon. The others just sat by
fading in and out because some itched to return to their haunt more than
others. I remember then. The pain of each jarring shrill of the knife
as it sliced through muscle, tissue, my throat warmed by the blood coursing down
it.
“That’s why I’m here,” I said as I lifted my head. My eyes narrowed and tilting my head
revealed the scars of my death. “You
see, it was my daughter. She was only 8.”
I noticed some ears, or those that had them, perked but feigned
interest. I joined this group months ago
and watched them, waiting for this day.
“I believe, no I know, my daughter was possessed. No one believed me then but it’s no
coincidence that I’m here” I look around our trust circle then. They still don’t know. They still haven’t figured it out.
“She stabbed me so many times I lost count but you see I was still
there. I watched her. I watched her eyes become hers again. I watched the horror spread across her face
as she saw the blood, the knife, and she dropped it then. She returned to me and I held my girl for one
brief moment before I was gone.”
Maise doesn’t look at me but her eyes blink rapidly. She doesn’t reach for the box though, none of
them will because they’ve heard much worse.
“But just as I died. As I held my
baby girl I made a wish. I wanted to
know who had possessed her. And why, why
her…”
Jill goes to stand then. I raise
my arm and bring it down with force. She’s
back in her seat.
“You see I made a deal with the devil. Or whatever it is. I wanted to know and
so when I died I woke up here. I’ve been
in this group since that time.”
W laughed. I’ve always
wondered if it might've be him. He’s the
quiet one of the group. No one really
knew how he died but he’s the worst when it comes to ‘kills’ with haunts
according to the “Chronicle”, the ghost worlds obituaries except it list places
that were recently haunted and the known
deaths associated with it.
The white light flickers and I’m sure it’s W’s manipulation. Perhaps he’s made a deal of his own. “The irony,” W has turned his eyes to the
rest of the circle. They don’t seem to
know what to make of his bright yellow teeth and his purple gums that seem to
have a dash of red caught in every other tooth.
Jill has dropped her pad. “Oh W,”
she quickly has fetched the pad, rubs down her skirt suit and smiles, “Would
you like to share today?”
“I wasn’t done,” I announced and wave my hand forward closing the two
doors to the side and latching their locks.
W laughed again, “Oh Jill, just give it up. No point in talking. The Haunters are being haunted.”
I closed my eyes then. I’m still
aware of the seven members of the room.
Stu gets up to try the door. Jill
closes her eyes and tries to dash out but I’ve already summoned all the power I
could. I've made my bed and now I’m going
to lie in it one final time.
I just want to know who.
They all take pause. I’m in their
head, just where I want to be. W has
bust a gut and is doubled over. I can’t
discount him but something tells me possessing 8 year old girls to kill their
mother isn’t his forte.
You know who it is don’t you.
Maise covers her ear and begins rocking.
Stu ducks under his chair with a mock radio in his hand, “Mayday, mayday
we’re going down. I repeat. We’re going down.”
The room enters into complete chaos.
The twins Brandon and Brandy, teenagers at the time of their death run
to the stock closet and hide in there, seeking comfort in the same place they’d
been found.
I had been so consumed with this moment, that finally the time had come I
hadn’t taken the moment to hear her as she pleaded, “Mom, stop, please. You don’t have to do this.”
I didn’t have to. I hadn’t always
been like this. The first few days I had
thought I’d learn to let it go but then my daughter arrived to the same
place. Dead for reasons I hadn’t known
but I suspected the same spirit that took hold of her once hadn’t been
done.
“It’s okay,” she cried out.
But it’s not. It
never will be.
“It was me,” Brandy shouted from the closet.
“No, it’s been meeeeee,” Maise tries to say even as her breath gets
caught on a wheeze. Stu has radio in, “roger
that, I possessed that small girl at 0100 hours.”
W has stopped laughing, “I’m in.”
“Stop it Mom.”
“Me tu tut tutooo,” Brandon stuttered as he emerged from the closet. Brandy close behind.
My daughter finds me and stares into the beam of light I’ve perched
myself on, “It’s okay, I forgive them. “
She closed her eyes then. I felt
the power I’d amassed slowly fade but I’m not done. I won’t be able to hold out much longer. I release the hold of the room and Jill jets
out. She runs to the hall and breaks the
glass to signal trouble. The rooms don’t
empty out immediately. It’s just me and
her. And she knows it. Her lips trembled then and finally tears fall
freely as she slides down the wall.
”MOM!”
But this knowing. I always
suspected but I still don’t know. I
still don’t have the closure. My wrist
have started to tingle and I could use the final trick up my sleeve but she still
hasn’t admitted. I still don’t know
why.
It’s not over.
I left. My daughter hadn't followed. And I don't expect her to. The rooms have emptied out. My daughter has joined Jill out in the hall
and tries to sooth her. I know she
promises to protect them.
In the time that I’ve been here I have realized I came here with a
purpose but so did my daughter. She’s
the light to my darkness. Protecting the
one that brought this hurt to our lives but also trying to save me in the
process.
I just wish I could be saved.
