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“Then come with me,” said Alma as she took
the card.

“All you’ve got to do is ask,” said
Paul.

“I’m asking,” said Alma. “Come with me to
Widowsfield. We can go with these guys, and tell them that we’ve
got final say on what footage they use. You can help me try and
figure all of this out.”

“Are you scared?” asked Jacker. Alma didn’t
answer immediately and Jacker elaborated what he meant. “I’d be
scared out of my mind. I admire what you’re doing, but if I were
you I’d be terrified of going back there.”

“Why?” asked Alma.

“I don’t know, I guess I’m just scared of
skeletons that want to be left alone in their closets.”

314

PART TWO :
RESPITE

CHAPTER EIGHT

Preparations

March 10th, 2012

Rachel snorted loudly when she awoke. There
was hardly a morning that passed where she didn’t wake up confused
and frantic, and she looked back and forth in an attempt to get her
bearings. She wiped the drool off her lips and then looked at
Stephen to see if he was still asleep.

Her phone was ringing and the shrill pitch
hurt her head.

“Crap,” she said as she slid out of bed. The
new, silk sheets were slick and she fell to the floor where she
cursed again.

“You all right?” asked Stephen without
moving.

Rachel bounded up, wearing only a pair of
underwear, and pulled the cover off the bed to wrap around herself.
“Where’s my phone?” Rachel was useless in the morning, and always
had trouble figuring anything out before having her first cup of
coffee. It took Stephen several months to get used to her manic
morning routine, but now he mostly ignored her.

Stephen was laying nude, face down on the
bed, and pointed lazily toward the kitchen. “In there
somewhere.”

Rachel ran off and nearly tripped over
Stephen’s discarded clothes. “Phone, phone, phone,” she said as she
searched. “Aha!” It was on the kitchen counter beside an empty
bottle of wine. The bottle was one of two that they’d finished the
night before.

“Hello,” she answered. The blanket fell off
her shoulder when she tried to hold the phone against it. “God damn
it.”

“Did I catch you at a bad time?” asked the
woman on the line.

“Depends,” said Rachel. “Who is this?”

“Alma, from the school and the restaurant
yesterday.”

“Oh, Alma!” Rachel tried to sound more
cordial. “I’m sorry, I just woke up. I am, without a doubt, the
worst morning person you’ve ever met. And to make matters worse,
I’m pretty hungover at the moment. Sorry.”

Alma laughed. “I understand completely.”

“What can I do for you?”

“Have you and Stephen left for Widowsfield
yet?”

“No,” said Rachel as she started to make
coffee. “We’re heading out today. Why?”

“Got room for two more?”

Rachel dropped the scoop of coffee grounds
as if she needed to give her full attention to the phone call. “You
want to come?”

“My friend and I wanted to go, if that’s
okay.”

“Oh my God, yes. Yes, yes, a thousand times
yes. We’d be happy to have you. Stephen is going to be ecstatic to
hear that you’re coming. We’ve been planning this for such a long
time.”

“Do you have room for both of us?”

“I think so,” said Rachel. “Stephen just
bought a shit load of equipment to take with us, but I think he’s
planning on renting a van. I’m absolutely positive we can make room
for you and… Who was it you were bringing?”

“My boyfriend, ex-boyfriend, kind of
boyfriend,” Alma struggled to encapsulate their relationship. She
finally just said, “Paul.”

“Sounds good. We’ll take you any way we can
get you.”

“I want to discuss some stipulations about
me coming though,” said Alma. “I’m still a little nervous about the
idea of airing all of this for the world to know. I’d prefer to
have final say on whatever you say about me or my past, and
whatever footage I’m in.”

“I’m sure Stephen will agree to that. You’ll
have to talk to him about it, but I’m sure he’ll be okay with
it.”

“Okay then,” said Alma. “What time do we
leave? Oh, and what sort of clothes should I bring?”

“Tell you what,” said Rachel. “As a thank
you, why don’t you let me take you out to buy some new clothes?
We’ll make a date of it.”

“You don’t have to do that,” said Alma.

“No, I want to,” said Rachel. “We’ll get you
something nice to make you feel good being on camera. Trust me, the
right clothes make all the difference.”

“Okay, you’re the expert.”

“Do you still have my card?” asked Rachel.
“Of course you do, otherwise you wouldn’t have this number. You see
the address on the card?”

“Yes.”

“Meet me there at ten, if that works for
you.”

“Sounds good to me,” said Alma.

“Great! I’ll see you in an hour then.”

Rachel squealed in delight and spun in a
circle with the phone held above her head. The blanket fell to her
feet, but she was too excited to mind. She bounded into the bedroom
and leapt on the back of Stephen’s legs.

“Guess what!”

“Oh Christ!” Stephen put his head under a
pillow and covered his ears, clearly a victim of their celebration
the night before.

Rachel put her phone on the bed and started
to spank both of Stephen’s butt cheeks independently. “Get up,
sleepyhead. Butt bongos, butt bongos,” she gleefully continued to
slap him like an instrument.

Stephen swung the pillow back at her
haphazardly and laughed when he asked, “What’s gotten into you? How
are you not hungover?”

“I am, actually, I think I might still be a
little drunk. I don’t know, but that’s not the point. I’ve got
great news. Huge news!”

Stephen started to turn and pushed her off
the back of his legs. She bounced on the bed beside him and he slid
partway over her, as if trying to pin her down with a sleepy
wrestling move. However, when he realized she was partially nude he
perked up.

“Are you running around the house naked?” he
asked, though he didn’t seem to mind.

He groped her, misinterpreting her morning
surprise, and she pushed his hand away. “Stop it.”

“What?” He tried again.

“Oh my God, stop it. We don’t have time.
Someone’s meeting me here in an hour and I’ve got to get
ready.”

“An hour?” asked Stephen. His eyes were
barely more than slits and he had a goofy drunken grin as he
lecherously stared at Rachel’s breasts. “That’s way more time than
I need.”

“Aren’t you even a little curious who’s
coming over?” asked Rachel as she relented and let Stephen play
with her breasts.

“Sure,” said Stephen for her benefit as he
started to lick around her nipple.

“You’re horrible,” said Rachel, although his
attention had started to arouse her.

“Yeah,” said Stephen as he kissed his way up
her neck.

She closed her eyes and enjoyed his
foreplay. She’d learned to enjoy it whenever he took the time,
which wasn’t as often as she would’ve liked. He climbed over her,
already erect, and opened her legs. Rachel pushed his shoulders up
as he had his lips suctioned to her nipple, and forced him to look
at her. “Alma’s coming with us to Widowsfield.”

Stephen’s eyes grew wide and a boyish
excitement overtook him. “Seriously?” He sat up straight, seeming
to lose all interest in intercourse.

“Yes, that’s what I was trying to tell you.
That’s who’s coming over. I’m going to take her out to buy some
clothes before we head out.”

Stephen put his hands on his head and looked
like a child on Christmas. “This is great! Rachel, this is
huge!”

“I know. That’s what I was trying to tell
you before you started trying to do me.”

“What made her change her mind?”

“I don’t know,” said Rachel. “She just
called and said that she’s willing to come as long as we let her
boyfriend come too.”

“She can bring the philharmonic for all I
care.”

Rachel chuckled. She liked seeing Stephen
this excited. “She wants to have final say on what footage airs,
and what we talk to her about, but we were going to give her that
anyhow.”

“Sure, that’s fine by me.” Stephen got off
the bed and started to gather his clothes.

“Hey,” said Rachel as she lay on the bed,
watching him get dressed. “What are you doing? You’re just going to
get me all ready to go and then leave me cold?”

He looked at the alarm clock to check the
time. “Don’t you have to get ready?”

She gave him a derisive grin. “I’m pretty
sure we can fit in the few minutes you need to finish up here.”

“Few minutes?” He crawled back onto the bed
and over her. “Baby, you’d better get ready for at least, like,
five minutes of heaven.”

Rachel laughed and then squealed as he dove
over her and started to bite playfully at her neck.

* * *

“Come in,” said Stephen when he answered the
door.

Alma was nervous as she looked in at Rachel
and Stephen’s gorgeous apartment. It was on the north side of the
city, on the first floor of a converted duplex. The old, stone
edifice was gated with delicately crafted wrought iron and the
façade was replete with lush ivy. The wood floor looked old, but
beautifully so, with dents and scratches that gave it character.
All of the furniture inside was white, with black legs, and looked
as if it had been set in place with the purpose of being used for a
magazine photo shoot. Even the haphazardly tossed magazines on the
glass coffee table looked as if they’d been purposefully
disheveled.

“Your apartment is gorgeous,” said Alma.

Paul walked in behind her, and even the
sound of his boots clopping on the floor was out of place. Alma
knew he was uncomfortable without even looking back at him.

“Thanks,” said Stephen. “That’s all Rachel’s
doing. When she moved in, she made me chuck out all my stuff. She
likes to pretend she’s the one that picked out everything, but
don’t let her fool you. Her father is an interior decorator. He’s
responsible for all this.”

“Well he can come over to my place anytime,”
said Alma.

“Hi, I’m Stephen.” He reached out his hand
to shake Paul’s

“Paul.” The gruff, one word answer would
have to do.

“Come on in, sit down. Can I get you some
coffee or something?” Stephen was wearing a pair of tight fitting
jeans and a Northwestern t-shirt. He was barefoot, and his steps
didn’t seem to make a sound as he padded through the room. However,
every step that Alma and Paul took seemed to echo like hammer
strikes on the wood.

“I’m fine,” said Alma.

“Same here.” Paul stayed behind Alma, as if
more nervous than she was. He slipped his index fingers through
belt loops on either side of her waist and stayed pressed against
her back.

“Rachel’s just finishing getting ready.”
Stephen picked up a wine bottle and smiled as he held it aloft. “We
might’ve been a little too liberal with the wine last night during
our celebration.”

“What was the celebration for?” asked Alma
as she stood with Paul just past the foyer.

“Besides the fact that it was Friday?” asked
Stephen with a smile. “Yesterday was Rachel’s last day at the
station. Yours was her last story.”

“Oh wow,” said Alma. “She didn’t mention
that before.”

Stephen tossed the empty wine bottle into a
trash can that had been set aside for recyclables. “That’s because
she didn’t know it at the time. She didn’t decide to take the
plunge until we got home from the restaurant. We got our first
deposit from the online ads from our video yesterday. It was more
than twice what Rachel makes per month.”

“Nice,” said Paul.

“You can say that again. And I’m an
independent contractor for the station, so I can keep pulling in an
income while we focus on the site. I don’t have to work full time
for them if I don’t want to,” said Stephen as he walked to the
living room. “Come on in, sit down.” He waved them over to join
him.

“Should I take off my shoes?” asked Paul. He
looked hilariously out of place amid the designer decorations that
surrounded them.

“No,” said Stephen as he waved off Paul’s
concern. “Don’t be silly. Come on in, have a seat.”

“I feel bad that you’re going to have to
rent a van to haul us,” said Alma as she walked to the loveseat and
sat down.

“I can ride my motorcycle if you want,” said
Paul as he sat beside Alma.

“It’s no big deal,” said Stephen. “I went
out and bought a ton of equipment to take with us, so it’s my
fault.”

“Camera stuff?” asked Paul.

Stephen leaned forward and had a glint of
excitement in his eyes. He was a handsome guy, and when he was
happy his smile was endearing. “Even better. Rachel would kill me
if she knew how much I spent on it, so don’t say anything.” He
glanced over his shoulder to make sure the bedroom door was still
closed. “I found a Paranormal Investigation company in Kentucky
that was closing up shop, and I bought all of their old
equipment.”

“What sort of stuff?” asked Paul.

“All sorts of cool things,” said Stephen.
Alma was reminded of two men at Christmas comparing gadgets they’d
been given. “An EMF meter, a thermometer, motion sensors,
stationary cameras, night vision goggles…”

“Awesome,” said Paul.

Stephen smiled wide and nodded, encouraged
by Paul’s appreciation. “They’re bad ass. I’ll let you check them
out when we get to…”

The door to the bedroom opened and Stephen
sat back in his seat, abruptly ending his excited recounting of his
list of new toys.

“Hi,” said Rachel as she came out of the
room. “Sorry I’m running late.”

“No problem,” said Alma.

Rachel looked exquisite, even in a simple
pair of jeans and a sweater. Alma was suddenly ashamed of herself
and looked down at her drab outfit. Rachel and Stephen were a
different class of people from herself and Paul, and she felt
incredibly out of place when with them.