Paranormal Agency BOOK 2 : THE FUNERAL HOME.

Alison was eating lunch in her dining room. It was a little embarrassing, but she smiled a little when Greg appeared in her dining room that day. She had missed him. As much as she complained about him, she did enjoy is company. He was her best friend.

Munching on her turkey sandwich, she commented nonchalantly. “Who let you in?”

“I let myself in.”

“You’re supposed to ask first,” she reminded him. “Don’t forget anymore.”

“You’re such a bitch!”

Alison shrugged. “So you coming to the mortuary with me?”

“I’m here, aren’t I?”

Alison rolled her eyes. “Do you have to have a smart-ass comment for everything I say?”

“Yep.”

“Well, anyway,” Alison continued, finishing up the last bite of her sandwich. “We’re leaving in two hours.”

“Okay. Sounds good.”

Alison looked at him, wiping her hands on a paper napkin. He looked cute today. With his messy dark hair and worn clothing, he was cute. She did that every so often. Thought he was handsome or wondered what would’ve happened if the two of them had met when he was alive. She wondered what it was about him that was so attractive to her. It was something she couldn’t quite place. Something she felt deep in her heart that she couldn’t explain just yet.

Ugh. Well, anyway, she didn’t know what was making her think about him like that right now. Maybe she was bored. Or lonely. Who knew? She thought about what Marissa had said. She had called him cute. Maybe she was right. “See what happens when you abandon me for three days,” she muttered. She knew she had been single for a long time, but damn, she didn’t have to be so pathetic about it. Desperate wasn’t a good look for her. Alison avoided it whenever possible. Greg was not her type and he was dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. And cute or not, Alison couldn’t change that.

“What are you mumbling about?”

“Absolutely nothing,” Alison replied, standing up from the table. If she told Greg that she thought he looked handsome today he’d just take it the wrong way and ask her to marry him. He was funny like that. She knew he liked to joke and tease her, but he said stuff like that so often that Alison had begun to wonder if he was serious. Was Greg in love with her? And if he was, then why was he so secretive with her? Why couldn’t he just tell her the truth about himself?

Alison could come to only one conclusion. Greg was an asshole.

She decided to allow herself the guilty pleasure of being glad he was there. “So what’ve you been doing the last few days?”

“Work.”

“What kind of work?”

Greg shrugged. “Just work. What’ve you been doing?”

“Watching TV,” Alison admitted. “I didn’t get any jobs so I just sat at home and didn’t do anything.”

“Ouch. Business needs to pick up or you’re gonna lose this pretty house of yours.”

“Business is fine,” Alison said, waving it off. She had plenty of money saved in the bank and besides, next week was booked with new jobs. Greg was such a jerk.

“So, I’m guessing it’s safe to assume you didn’t find out anything new about the Soulless?”

“Your obsession with that is ridiculous, Greg.”

“Well, it’s important,” Greg said. “We have to take this very seriously. I promise. Everything will make sense later. And then…” He trailed off, looking at her seriously. His demeanor had changed so suddenly that it confused her.

“And then… what?” Alison asked.

Greg let out a breath of air. “Then…” he began slowly. “I’ll tell you the truth about me. Okay? I promise. I’ll tell you everything.”

Alison felt stunned by his words. “Really?” she asked in surprise. She wondered what had brought about his sudden change of heart.

He nodded. “Yeah, I’ll tell you. Just not now. Not yet. Not till I have everything figured out. Is that all right?”

“That’s fine,” Alison agreed. She smiled again. She was actually happy. How silly of her to be so happy over something so simple. Greg was finally going to be honest with her and that really meant something to her. “I can wait. I’m patient.”

Greg just looked at her. His expression was unreadable. Was it sad? She couldn’t tell. She wondered what he was thinking just then.

They left at 5:00pm for the mortuary and arrived at 5:20pm. She would’ve left earlier but she and Greg had been talking and she had lost track of time.

Jeffrey was waiting for her in the lobby and was seated on the leather sofa beside the reception stand. He stood up and came over to her, taking her hand and giving it a rough shake. “Good of you to come out here,” he said. “Glad you made it.”

“It’s no problem. Sorry I’m late. I got caught up in traffic.” Which was a lie but that was okay. She added, “I just have a few questions before I start.”

Jeffrey nodded, swiping a hand through salt-pepper hair, and sitting back down again. He was dressed in a simple black suit, his hair combed back and his beard neatly trimmed. “Go ahead,” he said, motioning to the cushioned chair beside him. “Have a seat. What do you need to know?”

She sat down. “Now, how long did you say this has been going on?” Out of the corner of her eye she could see Greg floating around and exploring the place. He noticed her looking at him and gave her a charming smile in return. Trying to ignore it, she turned her attention back to the mortician.

“About a week.”

“When does the haunting usually start? Night? Day? Once a day? Twice a day?”

“It’s pretty much been about every single day this damn week it’s been happening. Maybe about three or four times a day I’ll see something strange happening. Like maybe the corpses ain’t where they were when I came in and when I look at them, it looks like they’ve been moved to the other side of the room. Then in the bathroom, there’s these blue-faced ghosties that just stare back at you.”

“Blue-faced ghosties?” Alison asked, furrowing her brows. So he had actually seen the spirits in person. This was going to be even easier than she thought.

“Yeah. Dead-lookin’ people that just stare back at ya from the mirror. You should check it out. They might still be there. Was lookin’ at them before you came in.” He got up again. “Let’s go. I’ll show you the bathroom.”

Nodding, Alison stood up, thinking about what he had told her and anticipating seeing them herself. Now this would be interesting. From the way he spoke, it sounded like more than one spirit was haunting the place. But then again, it was a mortuary. Maybe that was only natural then for the building to be the site of a multiple haunting.

Greg was beside her. He had finished looking around and had apparently exhausted his own curiosity about the place and was staying quiet. Staying quiet was his way of being courteous to her so that she wouldn’t look like she was rambling to herself while in public. However, she was a little curious herself as to what he had seen while he had been looking around. Had he seen anything strange? Had he seen the bathroom yet? She decided she’d ask him later.

“How many faces do you see in the mirror usually?” she asked finally, turning to Jeffrey as they walked.

“All at one time?”

“Yeah.”

“Maybe about ten or twelve at the most,” he replied. “At least three though. Always at least three.”

Taken slightly aback at the mention of twelve, Alison nodded quickly. Wow. That had to be a record. She had worked with multiple hauntings before but never so many at once. How was she going to handle this? Pulling a cigarette from behind her ear, she put it to her lips and lit it, puffing thoughtfully. Twelve, huh? This was going to be an adventure.

Alison followed Jeffrey into the men’s restroom, cigarette in her mouth, and her arms crossed in front of her. Her eyes went immediately to the large mirror located above the sinks. The sight made her jump back instantly. “Woah,” she yelped, the cigarette almost falling out of her mouth. Regaining her composure, she tried to stay professional, holding the cigarette between her fingers and taking a step closer. She took a puff.

Staring back at her were fifteen round, swollen blue faces. She stepped closer. The skin was smooth and damp and their heads bald. The bulging black eyes watched her as she took yet another cautious step forward. They reminded her of the zombies she so admired from her favorite zombie movies that she had spent so many nights forcing Greg to watch with her.

“Freaky,” Greg muttered from behind her. “Fucking freaky.”

Alison tilted her head to the side, looking carefully at the zombie things. They stood frighteningly silent and still, as if they were an army of undead soldiers awaiting their next order.

“Quite the scene, ain’t it?” He hesitated. “This is truly some kind of phenomenon. That’s all I know. I even thought about taking a picture and sending it to the paper but they’d probably just accuse it of bein’ a fake, and I don’t need that kinda label associated with me.”

“Do they ever move?” she asked. She had never seen anything like this before in her entire career. At least Greg was there with her. Knowing that gave her a sense of security. She felt braver knowing he was around.

“No,” the mortician replied. “They just kinda look at you. But they don’t do much other than that. It’s pretty scary, but that’s about it.”

“I thought you said twelve at the most.”

“Well, today must be a special occasion then,” the mortician replied sarcastically. “Just get rid of them.”

Alison tried calling into the mirror then. “Can you hear me?” she asked out loud.

The creatures didn’t budge. They continued to stare at her but that was it. She tried to get their attention, clapping her hands loudly in front of her. “Can you hear me?” she asked again. “Hello?” She put her hands on her hips. Hey! What was going on here? They weren’t doing anything. That was weird. “Can you guys hear me?” she asked again. “Common. Listen up. I’m talking to you.”

“Do you need me to leave?” Jeffrey asked.

“It’s up to you,” Alison replied.

“Let me know when you’re done.” Jeffrey left then, quickly exiting the restroom and leaving Alison and Greg alone. The door slammed shut behind him.

“Doesn’t look like they can hear you,” Greg commented when Jeffrey was gone.

“You think they could be ignoring me?”

“Since when do spirits ignore people?”

“First time for everything, right?” Alison shrugged. She took a few more steps forward until the glass was right in front of her face, and one of the zombie men was standing only inches in front of her, it’s decaying flesh peeling off of its cheek. Gross. She could almost smell them. They smelled like rotten eggs. “Hello? Hello?” she tried in a gentle voice. “Can you hear me? Wake up. Wake up. Come on. It’s time to wake up now.”

They didn’t move. They didn’t speak. They just stared.

“You’re dead,” Alison stated firmly. “You’re dead. Now cross over. It’s time to leave this place. You have to cross over to the other side.”

Nothing happened.

Alison let out an exasperated sigh and walked away from the mirror. She stuck the cigarette back in her mouth and smoked it. “What’s going on here?” she complained. “They’re not doing anything.”

“Let me try,” Greg offered. He went straight over to the mirror and called, “Wake up. Wake up. You guys are dead. It’s time to move on.” There was no reply and Greg shrugged, floating away from the mirror. “Well, I tried. Sorry about that.”

A half hour went by. “Wake up. Wake up,” Alison repeated again and again, getting bored. She must’ve said that about a thousand times by now and had gone through at least five cigarettes. What was taking so long, anyway?

Greg yawned from beside her. “I don’t know about you but I’m tired. You ready to go?”

“We didn’t get rid of them yet,” Alison complained.

“Just give up. You tried and failed. Guess you can’t win them all.”

Alison glared at him. “What is that supposed to mean? I did not fail Greg and I’m not going to. I just have to approach this a little differently. That’s all. It’s not that big of a deal.”

“If you say so.”