Chapter 6
Devon was surprised that the twins were thrilled about a barbecue with the neighbor. They’d all gone next door, and, although she’d been very hesitant about it, the twins had been eager for a burger at Camden’s.
They didn’t stay very long, just long enough to plow through a ton of food, then bounced a very oversized ball that she’d never seen in his backyard, while she helped clean up.
Then they’d all left to spend their evening at home.
But now, hours later as she sat in her bedroom, she didn’t want to go to sleep yet.
The kids were finally down, but Devon just wanted some time to process what was going on in her world. Lately it had seemed that, whenever she got some time to herself, it was late, when she was too tired to enjoy it. Then the mornings kept coming, and everything seemed to blend together.
She made herself a cup of herbal tea and stepped outside onto her back deck. One of the things that she absolutely loved about the house was the huge deck, where she could just sit and relax in the privacy of her backyard, enjoying the little bit of time and space and freedom she had here.
One of the other things she enjoyed about this house, being on this short street, making it its own tiny neighborhood, was how the neighbors pretty much kept to themselves. Devon sighed in relief as she was going through a probably overprotective season with these twins now in her life.
As she sat here, sipping her tea, watching the stars in the sky above, she caught something flickering beside her. She stiffened and slowly turned her head. Sure enough, that weird shimmer was there and appeared to be moving slowly toward her.
She stiffened and stared at it, looking to see if it was simply a reflection or really some spectral activity.
That was something she never thought she would have to ask.
When she heard a door open nearby, she realized that Camden was out on his deck too.
She had his phone number from the tire incident, so she quickly sent him a text message, wondering if he could see the image and could verify if, indeed, a ghostly visitor was beside her.
Out of the corner of her eye, she caught a bit of movement as Camden approached and looked over the fence. She waited and watched.
He didn’t do anything. Yet, now that he was here, Devon could relax somewhat. The weird shimmer seemed to hesitate, not necessarily because of the new arrival watching but more so because it didn’t really understand what it was doing and where it was going.
She didn’t sense any animosity.
She didn’t sense anything really ugly about it at all.
It seemed more curious than anything. That, in itself, made her curious as well.
When she called out to it softly, it’s not that it jolted, but it had this weird realization that she could sense it.
“Yes, … I can see you.” And again came this weird sense that anybody was aware of it.
She watched the jerky movements, trying to figure out what the hell she was even seeing, all the while knowing that Camden was nearby, seeing the same thing, which helped to some degree.
Yet the shimmer wasn’t giving her answers, and that was what she really wanted.
She felt her skin prickle at this strange phenomenon, and the last thing she wanted was for the kids to see it.
She glanced around but saw no sign of the twins. She wanted to get up, but Camden whispered over the fence, “Don’t move.”
“Are you seeing this?” she asked in an equally low voice.
“Yes, but definitely not something I’ve seen before.”
That made her sit back and settle in because, if he hadn’t seen it before, yet he had seen various things over the years, that fact alone was more than a little disturbing.
He hopped over the fence in a quick move that surprised her. She jerked at the sudden movement, and the energy around her suddenly froze, as if something new had come into its world, and it didn’t understand. Then, in the next second, it just blinked right out.
She groaned and called out softly, “Did you see it disappear?”
“I did,” he confirmed.
She glanced over at him. “Did you mean to scare it away?”
“It’s not so much that I meant to scare it away but I was looking to see what kind of awareness it had,” he clarified in a tone that puzzled her.
She got up slowly and walked over to him. “I don’t think I like anything about what you just told me.”
He shrugged. “I was just trying to figure out what we were seeing, whether it was something we needed to be worried about or not.”
“Thank you for validating that you saw it too,” she muttered, “because that was definitely a concern for me. Still, I didn’t sense any harm in its intent. Yet we can hardly just ignore this.”
“No, I’m not suggesting we ignore it,” he replied, “but I am wondering if you … Did you get any sensations or messages or even feelings from it?”
She frowned at him and then slowly shook her head. “No, but then I wouldn’t expect to,” she explained. “It’s not as if I’ve ever seen or done anything with ghosts before.”
“Some people have an automatic affinity to them,” he shared, his gaze still studying the spot where it had been.
She skirted that space, moved to where he was, and looked back where the shimmer had been.
“I have no affinity. That wouldn’t be me.
I’ve literally never had anything to do with this before.
” He nodded and didn’t say anything more, but she got the impression that he was thinking very heavily.
She frowned and added, “It would be really nice if you could share all those thoughts rippling through your head.”
Startled, he turned to her.
She shrugged. “It’s pretty obvious that you’re thinking something, and it has something to do with this, but you’re not really explaining anything.”
“I certainly can’t explain this,” he replied, as he motioned at the space behind her. “As much as I would love to think that I had an answer, I don’t. Something was very unusual about this one, and I don’t know what it is.”
“When you say this one …?”
“Yes, this one,” he repeated, “as in, I have seen others, but I’ve never seen anything quite like this one.”
“Great,” she muttered, letting her breath out in a silent whoosh. “Can you tell me what was different about this one, compared to the others you have seen?”
He stopped for a brief moment, then replied, “It’s not so much something I can explain, but what seemed odd or different about this one was that it felt … incomplete.”
“Incomplete?” she repeated in astonishment, turning to look back at what she had seen. Of course it was long gone, but that didn’t stop her from trying to recreate in her mind what she had envisioned. “I don’t know what to say to that,” she admitted, as she again faced him.
He shrugged. “Incomplete is just the way it came to me.”
She pondered that. “In a way, that works, but I’m not sure incomplete is quite the right word. It felt like maybe it wasn’t used to being in this form or something.”
“Ah, that’s possible.”
“If you’re correct about the incomplete aspect, maybe it was trying to function with less than what it normally functions with.”
It was his turn to stare at her as he tried to absorb what she had just suggested. Then his eyebrows shot up. “That is an excellent explanation.”
“It is?” she asked. “I wouldn’t have said so myself. I was just trying to sort out whatever it was that you were trying to say.”
“And when I say incomplete, I’m not sure I’m saying something not quite fully formed as much as I’m saying maybe something that’s been left behind. So, you’re right. Incomplete isn’t the word I want to say.”
Frowning at him, she thought about it for a moment, then casually slipped out, “Like a remnant?”
“Exactly,” he declared, smiling at her in approval. “It felt like a remnant of what really was … or should have been.”
*
The next morning Camden got up, prepared to enjoy his Sunday.
He mowed the lawn, hoping he wasn’t disturbing anybody.
But since nobody had ever mentioned anything about him mowing on Sunday mornings in all the years he had lived here, he carried on without a care.
Finished up, he put everything away, grabbed a cold beer from the kitchen, then sat out on his deck.
It was at least ten o’clock at night somewhere in the world.
He smiled at the old joke, popped the top off his beer, and took a healthy slug.
Just then his phone rang. He looked down, surprised, then realized he wasn’t surprised at all.
It was so very typical of Stefan to call whenever something was going on with a woo-woo case or otherwise in the ethers.
Camden kept saying he didn’t want to deal with any more of Stefan’s special cases, then couldn’t help himself and ended up right smack in the middle of them.
“Hey, Stefan,” he greeted him, enjoying the early morning air. “Good timing, as I just finished mowing the lawn.”
There was a laugh on the other side. “I get that.”
“Moving with purpose is something I really enjoy about mowing my lawn. I quite appreciate the meditative state of just being out there,” Camden shared.
“I don’t have anything against it, and this morning it’s peaceful, quiet. You have a new neighbor, I hear.”
“And where did you hear that?” Camden asked, with a laugh.
“I have ways and means,” Stefan replied. It was an old joke between them because Stefan didn’t need anybody to tell him anything. He always seemed to be fully aware of anything he needed to know from one moment to the next.
Camden snorted. “Your informants are quite correct. I do have a new neighbor.”
“In the ghost house?”
Camden hesitated, then confirmed, “Yes, in the ghost house.”
“And have there been more visits?”
“Yeah, one was especially odd,” he replied.
“Tell me more,” Stefan invited, curious, and yet there seemed to be a deeper purpose behind his request.