Sinister Entity (2 page)

Jessica spun and shouted, “Boo!”

She opened her eyes and faced the empty darkness behind her. The coffee table top exploded in a shower of crystal pebbles. Bits of glass bounced harmlessly off her leather jacket. A picture frame flew from the fireplace mantle and crashed into the opposite wall. All of the kitchen chairs slid out from under the table at once, one of them clattering to the floor. Jessica turned back toward the dining room in time to see the blinds on the front window part as if someone ran a finger from top to bottom. Upstairs, it sounded as if a brawl had broken out. The ceiling fan shook under the pounding of footsteps and falling objects.
 

The house was alive and it was not happy.
 

Jessica ducked as a couch pillow came her way. Another picture frame flipped off the wall and broke into pieces on the floor. She laughed out loud.
 

“That’s it, get it out of your system. Get mad, madder than you’ve ever been. You’ve done enough to the McCammons. It’s just you and me now. Tell me your name. I’d like to know who the gutless wonder is that hides in the shadows and terrorizes little kids. I’ve told you who
I
am.”
 

An apple that had been in a bowl on the kitchen table flew at her in a lazy arc. She turned just in time to reach up and catch it.
 

“Nice try. Now, back to my question.
Who
…
the fuck
…
are you
?”

Chapter Three

“I have your final PK test results. I figured you’d want to hold on to these, maybe put them in a scrapbook someday.”

Eddie Home dropped his suitcase on the bed and took the report from his roommate. He arched an eyebrow at his exit psychokinetic test, the last of more than he could ever count.
 

“Did I pass?” he asked, smiling as he dropped the report into the bottom of his suitcase.
 

“When do you
not
pass?” Tobi Cruz said. “It’s really a shame you’re leaving. Now I have to find another partner in crime.”

“That should be pretty easy. I wouldn’t exactly compare us to Steven Tyler and Joe Perry.”

Tobi sank into his computer chair. “Yeah, you’re right. Neither of us has Tyler’s jack-o-lantern mouth.”

They laughed as Eddie emptied the contents of his shirt drawer into his suitcase in one big heap. Tobi shook his head at the mess.
 

“At least we have one more night before you leave the lovely city of Durham. I’ve arranged a little get together at Pat’s Tavern so we can send you off properly.”

Eddie rolled his eyes. “Please tell me you didn’t invite any of the professors. I’ve done my bit for science. I’d like one lab-coat-free evening before I hit the dusty.”

Tobi leaned forward in his chair and said, “I don’t know. You tell me.”

Eddie cocked his head and sighed. “Do I really have to do this?”

“I’m afraid so,” Tobi replied with a crooked smile.
 

“Fine.” Eddie closed his eyes. He waited a moment to clear his mind.
 

He felt the familiar presence.
 

His eyelids fluttered open. A sharp intake of breath steadied his concentration.
 

An ethereal corpse stood behind Tobi. It rested a weightless hand on his shoulder.
 

Tobi shivered, but remained quiet.
 

The man had died when he was forty-one. His skin was pale and bloated. Dark, pink, blubbery seams had erupted here and there along his neck, legs and torso. Water was unkind to the human body.
 

The corpse looked down at Tobi with black, hollow eyes. He shook his head slowly.
 

Eddie smiled.
 

“Lucky for you, Bob says you didn’t.”

Tobi looked up. “Thank you, Bob. Man, I love that you can do that.”

Bob’s spirit flashed a request into the center of Eddie’s mind. A brief but sharp pain made him cringe.
 

Eddie looked to a pile of balled up socks he’d set aside. He imagined the socks pelting Tobi in the face. A second later, without his touching them, they elevated off the bed and dashed at his friend.
 

“Oh, real nice,” Tobi said when the fourth pair bounded off his forehead.
 

“Don’t blame me, blame Bob.”

Bob Wilson had lived in the house next door in the 1980s. On a fishing trip with his buddies, a hard-drinking band of brothers who had known each other since grade school, he tipped over the side of the boat. His head hit into one of the propeller blades. He slipped into unconsciousness, drew in cold water and died. His body was found floating near the shoreline several miles away and nine days after the accident.
 

He’d been their invisible roommate ever since Eddie had moved in. Bob was quiet, but loved to be around them. He was ghastly to behold, but Eddie had connected with him on levels much deeper than his appearance. It was still a mystery why he kept returning to their dorm room.
 

Most times, the dead kept their secrets.
 

Bob was also a good snitch when it came to keeping Tobi in line.
 

For his part, Tobi could always feel when Bob was around, but he couldn’t see or communicate with him like Eddie.
 

Tobi said, “So, I’ll see you at Pat’s?”

“Of course. Who can turn down a night of free drinking thanks to his bud and roommate?”

“I don’t remember anything about free drinks.”

“You have a bad memory. You might want to stop at the ATM before you go. I’m pretty thirsty.”

“You’re killing me, dude. Fine. I’ll see you later.”

“Don’t forget to say goodbye to Bob.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Tobi said, giving a half-hearted wave.
 

Bob’s bloated, purple lips grinned and he faded away.
 

Eddie looked around the room he had called home for the past year. Tobi’s side of the room was neat to the point of being Spartan, while his side was a sweeping display of carnage.
 

“Might be easier if I just threw a match on it.”

Eddie went into the bathroom to collect what he could and tossed it all into his toiletry bag. He combed his jet black hair back and smoothed the sides with his hands. At six foot two, he was lean but not skinny with a strong jaw line he inherited from his father and bright blue eyes bestowed upon him by his mother. In part because of the things he’d seen and experienced over the years, thanks to his many so-called gifts, his eyes carried the weight of a man much older, wiser and warier.
 

He went back into the room and removed his lacquered Duke University diploma from its place of prominence above his work desk, using his index finger to remove the layer of dust that had settled along its topmost edge. His entire four years at Duke were paid for by the nearby Rhine Research Center, the country’s premier parapsychology research lab. Founded by botanist J.B. Rhine in 1935, The Rhine, as Eddie liked to call it, was dedicated to the serious study of parapsychology and human consciousness.
 

J.B. Rhine was an explorer in every sense of the word, devoting his life to the study of what the rest of the world considered to be the paranormal. The goal of Rhine, and now his ongoing research center, was to study and discover the truth behind things such as telepathy, ESP, psychokinesis, ghosts, poltergeists and even the existence of life after death. It was Rhine who coined the ubiquitous term ESP, as well as many of the standardized tests that are still used today to test the extra-mental capabilities of the select few chosen to take part in the institute’s research.
 

Rhine and Eddie’s family went back many, many years.
 

The scientist and the specimen.
 

But it was time to move on.
 

Chapter Four

For what seemed like the first time in ages, the house was gloriously quiet. No screaming kids, no husband asking where his belt was and best of all, not a single chore that had to be done.
 

Rita Leigh contemplated her good fortune as she sat on the chaise lounge by the window in her bedroom. Greg had taken Ricky to the office so they could spend some quality father-son time and Selena had been picked up by her friend Julie and her mother so they could spend the weekend together at her house, which was by the water and
the place to be
, as far as Selena was concerned. All of the laundry was tucked into the proper drawers and closets, dishes were clean and put away and the house was spotless.
 

“Now what do I do?” Rita said with a contented sigh.
 

She pulled back the curtain a little farther so the sun could warm her face. Even their dog Billy, an adorable brown and white Cavalier with all the energy of a nuclear reactor, was enjoying the quiet by sleeping on Selena’s bed.
 

Rita eyed the television remote on her night table, but thought better of it. It seemed sacrilegious to shatter her domestic peace with something as predictably crass and imbecilic as daytime television. She was never one for talk or court shows and loathed soap operas. It was hard enough resigning herself to being an actual stay-at-home soccer mom. The young Rita that skipped school and listened to the Ramones and Red Hot Chili Peppers would have given her an ass whipping if she could see her now.
 

Rita giggled at the thought. It was amazing how priorities and preferences changed when you got older. She’d probably tell young Rita to wash off all that makeup and find a pair of jeans that didn’t look as if they’d been dragged behind a truck for a week.
 

She picked up the latest issue of
Time
and flipped through the pages, trying to get into an article about the coming fall election and the strategies that needed to be employed to shift the balance of power in the House and Senate. She was almost asleep midway through the article.
 

“Okay, time to move. You’ve got seven hours to yourself, don’t waste it sleeping.”

She walked down the hall to check on Billy, who was snoring atop Selena’s pillow. When her stomach gave a slight gurgle, she went down to the kitchen, started up a pot of coffee and popped some wheat bread into the toaster. Gazing out the kitchen window, she saw the mailman stop next door and decided to come out and get the mail personally.
 

It was nothing but a pile of bills and advertisements. No one wrote letters anymore, so much of the excitement of getting the mail was gone. The most thrilling thing she could hope for was the pack of coupons they got every month for the local businesses.
 

She ate her toast dry and drank her coffee black. She’d been on a health kick the past year and had managed to lose over thirty pounds, replacing much of the baby fat she had accumulated after having two children with lean muscle. She was almost in better shape than she’d been before she was married. She loved her new body and Greg certainly wasn’t complaining.
 

Back upstairs, she stopped in front of the full-length mirror behind her door to look at her rediscovered flat stomach. She pulled up her shirt to admire the willpower and determination it took to get back in shape. Feeling giddy, she decided to take off all her clothes so she could get a complete view without worrying about one of the kids barging in.
 

“Not too bad, girl. Just a few more pounds to go.”

She ran a hand over her hips, staying a moment on the area she targeted as her final combat zone. Her breasts had gone down a cup size, but they were firmer than before, and still larger than average. Her legs were sculpted and strong, thanks to countless hours on the treadmill, and elliptical. She’d even started hitting the tanning bed so she could be bronze all over.
 

She looked damn good for a middle-aged mother of two.
 

An idea came to her.
 

She walked over to her night table and rummaged around the bottom drawer, pulling aside stacks of old magazines and other accumulated junk.
 

“Aha, I thought that’s where I put you.”

It had been ages since she went to her friend Darlene’s house for one of those erotica-themed parties. There had been a lot of alcohol and a so-called expert-slash-saleswoman came in to show them all the newest products and demonstrate in a funny yet almost clinical way how to use each one. Their laughter could have been heard for blocks. At the end of the party, everyone started placing orders. Not wanting to look like a prude, Rita had placed hers for some lotion that heated up when you rubbed it on your body and a vibrator. It was her first vibrator and she’d been too embarrassed to show it to Greg or even use it on herself.
 

Well, if today wasn’t the day for it, that day would just never come.
 

She opened up the back to see what kind of batteries she’d need. She put on a robe and dashed downstairs to the utility closet to get a pair of C batteries. Back in her room, she closed the blinds, let the robe drop to the floor and lay back on the bed, using an extra pillow to prop up her back.