Chapter 3 #3
Gabriel smiled. “I am. This is less of a tour,” he admitted, “and more of a long walk with a lot of me rambling. I hope you’re okay with that.”
“Sounds like a tour to me.”
“Just don’t expect me to stop and take your picture anywhere.”
“Damn it,” Drew joked, drawing another smile from Gabriel. That felt like a win. Gabriel had a lovely smile, wide and unabashed.
“Maybe I will,” Gabriel conceded, “if you ask nicely.”
“I can be very nice.”
“I believe it.”
Again, Drew felt an internal shiver. Gabriel was very attractive and very confident.
Drew couldn’t tell for sure if Gabriel was queer.
He tried not to assume one way or the other, but he noticed several bracelets on Gabriel’s left wrist. One looked like prayer beads, one was a braided hemp cord, and one was a leather strip with seven glass beads in the colors of the rainbow.
It might be a Pride bracelet, or it might just be a pretty accessory.
“I’m ready for your rambling,” he said.
“You’re going to regret that,” Gabriel responded. “I could talk your ear off.”
“Doesn’t sound like a bad thing to me.”
“If you say so.”
As they wandered through town, Gabriel started by giving Drew the history of Orion.
Two hundred years ago, before the first European settlers, Orion had been the location of an Odawa village.
It had a long history and was a center of trade.
The village sat on a river that flowed into Lake Michigan and was a great place for fishing.
Europeans—French, first, later the Dutch and English—settled in the area in the 1830s and over the next few decades built it up into a European-style settlement, pushing the Native peoples out.
“Our ancestors built without any regard for the local communities, their history, and their sacred spaces,” Gabriel said.
“That’s terrible, obviously, and the commercial ghost tour uses that as the foundation for their stories.
They saw that the town is haunted by the spirits of angry Natives because our town hall is built on a burial ground. ”
“Is it?”
“It might be. There is no archaeological record to support or to go against it. But that story takes the very real and tragic history of the Native communities here and turns it into something commercial for White tourists to enjoy, rather than forcing us to confront the violence of the past. I think that’s wrong. ”
“So, you don’t think this place is haunted by ancient Native spirits?”
Gabriel paused. “I think that people who say it is are ignoring the truth of Native experiences in exchange for a story that sells. We can learn from the history and the truth of the Odawa without projecting modern stereotypes on them. So much of what the commercial ghost tour says is just Western ‘Magical Indian’ bullshit that completely ignores the real culture.”
“You seem passionate about this.”
Gabriel looked almost defensive. “And why shouldn’t I be?”
“I’m not saying it’s a bad thing. I respect it.”
“Oh, thank you.”
“Where do you think the hauntings come from, then?”
“Like I said, I believe the spiritual world is all around us, and some places are just closer to it than others. Orion, I think, is one of those places. If there’s a veil between this world and the supernatural, the veil is thinner here.
I don’t think that’s because of any group of people that once lived here, though perhaps we could guess that others who came before recognized it long before we did. ”
Drew nodded. “That seems fair.”
“Have I convinced you to believe in the supernatural yet?”
“No, but you can keep trying.”
“I will. What will convince you?”
“Hard evidence.”
“Good luck with that,” Gabriel said. “Turn here.”
They had left the main town square and were in a neighborhood now with old Victorian-style homes.
“This is the historic Heritage neighborhood,” he said, pointing to various houses.
“My parents live in this area. Many of these homes were built in the 1800s by rich European-Americans who worked in the fur trade or the logging business.” He paused by a peach-colored Victorian house.
“My parents live here. The house is a hundred and fifty years old, and I grew up behind that window.” He pointed to a window on the second floor.
“I saw and heard lots of things I couldn’t explain when I was growing up, and I always had very vivid dreams. Sometimes, in my dreams, I saw things that I shouldn’t have known.
Like visions of history, or things that ended up happening in the day when I was awake. ”
“That just sounds like your subconscious mind picking up on things you weren’t consciously aware of yet.”
“Ye of little faith,” Gabriel said, shaking his head. “Let’s keep walking.”
“Okay. I don’t have little faith. I’m just skeptical.”
“I can tell.”
“Is it annoying?”
Gabriel grinned at him, his blue eyes flashing. “No. It’s exhilarating. I’m going to convince you.”
“You’re not there yet.”
“Ah. Yet. I’m not the only one in Orion who has reported dreams that feel more like visions. Throughout history, we’ve had many mediums and psychics live here. More than most towns. You met Irma. She can read your palm and tell you everything about your life and your future.”
“I’ve had my palm read before. They just said a bunch of generic stuff that could apply to anyone.”
“So you’re immediately discrediting Irma because of some hack?”
Drew looked down at his feet, chastised. Gabriel was quick with his words, but not unkind. Even when he challenged Drew, he did so with a soft voice that spoke more to curiosity than to aggression.
“Maybe I could rethink that,” Drew said.
“Maybe you could.” As they continued walking down the street, Gabriel pointed out the houses of his various neighbors.
“Many of these houses have been in these families for generations, like my parents’.
It was my grandpa’s before it was my dad’s, and before that my great-grandpa’s, going back to 1900 when my ancestors moved here from Germany. ”
“They’ve been in Orion that long?”
“Yes, and my siblings and I were the first to move away.”
“But you came back.”
“I did. That wasn’t my plan, originally.
” He kept talking, turning the conversation away from his own story, though Drew was more interested in Gabriel’s history than the supernatural history of the town.
“With these houses being so old, they’ve had a lot of deaths in them.
Back in the old days, of course, hospitals weren’t the same, and so death often happened at home.
It’s interesting, studying the old etiquette of death.
The things you were expected to do in a house.
Many of my neighbors, and other people in town, have reported having dreams or seeing visions of their ancestors or deceased family members in their houses at night. ”
To Drew, it sounded like a form of mass psychosis, and he wondered if there was something in the water. He decided not to ask.
“I can sense your disapproval,” Gabriel said.
“Because you’re a psychic?”
“No,” Gabriel said with a small laugh. “Because you’re frowning.”
“Oops.”
“No, it’s cute.”
Again, an internal shiver. Drew felt a blush rise in his cheeks and internally chastised himself for that. He hadn’t come to Orion to flirt with a local boy, but to get over the boy who’d broken his heart.
If Gabriel noticed the effect his comment had on Drew, he ignored it.
“What I’m saying is that this town might not be haunted in the sense that there are malicious ghosts looking to cause harm and free themselves from the material world.
But it certainly is a mystical place. Even tourists who stay here often report seeing things they can’t explain. ”
“I can’t wait.”
“Is that sarcasm?”
“No,” Drew said after a beat. “I’m actually curious to see if I have any experiences I can’t explain. It might actually be nice to have some proof that the world is bigger than what I can touch and see.”
“That’s sounding like my job here is complete.”
“A job you’re not paid for,” Drew said. “Thank you for taking me on the tour, though. Are you sure I can’t pay you?”
“I do it for free,” Gabriel insisted, “because I like doing it.” They were back at the town square, now. “Though, if you wanted,” he said, “you could pay me by buying me lunch sometime. If you’re new to town, or here for the summer, I’d be happy to keep showing you around.”
Drew felt a clench of nervousness inside his gut.
Gabriel’s comment could be interpreted as subtly asking Drew out on a date, or at least opening the door for Drew to ask him out.
Drew knew he presented very masculinely, very traditionally “straight” (whatever that meant), and people rarely assumed he wasn’t.
He liked it that way. But…he was away for the summer, in a place where (so far) no one knew who he was.
What could be the harm in getting lunch with a cute local boy?
“I like that idea,” he said, shoving down the nerves that told him to say no.
“Can I get your number?” He pulled out his phone and typed in Gabriel’s number while Gabriel recited it.
He saved it under “Gabriel,” figuring if it became important, he’d ask Gabriel’s last name later.
He sent a short text, just saying “Drew.”
Gabriel checked the time on his phone. “I should probably get going,” he said. “This is fun, and I wish that working with Irma was my real job, but I have an actual job I need to get to, if I don’t want to get in trouble.”
“It was nice to meet you,” Drew said. “I’m looking forward to lunch.”
Gabriel started to cross the town square, headed back in the direction of Irma’s shop. “I am, too. Text me if you have any questions about Orion.”
“I will,” Drew promised. He watched Gabriel walk away and thought about how dangerous it was to have a crush on someone so soon after getting his heart broken.