Limbo

ASHLEY:

I charge up the porch steps ahead of the guys, and punch in my code for the front door. "Any luck so far?" I ask, as I walk into the living room and see Charlie rifling through the newspaper clippings again.

"No, I still haven't hit on anything different," he replies. "And we haven't found any sign of that book she mentioned, either."

For the last three days, since we had our "meeting" with Rachel, we've been trying to check on the ideas that she had concerning why she seems to be trapped here, working through all of the possible angles that we can think of. Charlie and Susan have been practically ransacking the house looking for her father's journal, or whatever the hell she called it, or anything that might give a clue to where her body is. We're spending most days in the studio, but whenever one of us has some free time, we're usually checking the internet for anything that might mention her father, or his group, and we actually did come up with some info on that today.

"Have you seen any sign of Rachel today?" I inquire. "We found some things she needs to hear."

"She was helping me clean out the cabinets a little while ago, and she wrote something about going up to her room," Susan calls out from the kitchen.

I know from some of the conversations we've had over the last few days that this would mean that she's in my room, so I dash up the stairs and swing open the door. I don't see her at first, so I call out, "Hey, Rachel, are you up here?"

From behind me, I hear her reply, "Yeah, I'm in here!" Looking around, I see her coming out of Andy's room into the hall. "Andy left the window open, and I wasn't sure you guys would get back before it starts to rain, so I came in here to close it."

"Yeah, from the way it looks out there I'd guess that we probably just beat it. But if you don't mind coming down, we have a couple of things to discuss with you."

She looks at me sort of curiously, but starts down the stairs, and I follow along behind her, and as I do, I can't stop myself from admiring the sight in front of me. I haven't said anything about it to the guys, because I'm pretty sure it would sound kind of twisted if I announced that I was attracted to a ghost. Probably even to her, but except for the fact that she's basically insubstantial, nothing really seems to be any different than the day I first met her. And when there's a beautiful girl in front of me in a second-skin tank top and a pair of Daisy Dukes, I can't help but notice, even if it does make me seem like a perv.

But we've also talked quite a bit in the last few days, sitting up in my room after everybody else is asleep, and I've found out that there is definitely more to her than just a pretty face and a fantastic body. She's actually quite articulate, was apparently pretty creative when she was alive, and is still very thoughtful and compassionate, even now. I honestly think that if I'd gotten the chance to actually get to know her when she was alive, we could have become good friends, whether anything else happened or not, because she's exactly the type of person I like to have around me.

We get back to the living room, and everyone else is sitting down waiting for us, with a notebook already opened on the coffee table. She grabs the pen lying next to it, and writes, "Okay, I'm here. What do you wanna talk about?"

Bob looks at the paper, and answers, "Since it was CC and Ash who found the information, it's only fair to let them tell you about it. So the floor is yours, guys."

I motion to let CC know that he can go first, and he says, "Well, I have to admit that I'm not entirely sure how I actually pulled it off, but I somehow managed to get into some sort of Department of Corrections website today, and I found out that there are currently fourteen members of your dad's group in jail on various charges related to what happened to you and the others. The charges range anywhere from accessory after the fact up to first degree murder, and they've been sentenced to anywhere from three years to life without parole. And apparently, out of the ones that were left, two of them testified and ended up in witness protection, a couple of others are dead, and the rest have basically vanished into thin air, including your dad and that Wade guy. A lot of people seem to think that they skipped out across the border, but I'm guessing that they're wrong."

"I don't suppose that they said anything about the kids, did they?" she queries.

"Actually, it mentioned that there were seven kids who were put into government care, and that a few others had been given to other relatives, but I didn't find anything definite about whether any of them have gone back to their parents."

"Well, at least they have some sort of chance to learn how to be normal," she murmurs, and then turns to look at me. "And what did you manage to find?"

I lean forward, so I'm closer to her as I speak, and explain, "I managed to run across a blogger who posts stories about the... oh, what the hell is the word I want? The aftermath of crimes, I guess is what I'm trying to say. Anyway, this person apparently tried to get interviews with your families just a couple of months ago, but the only ones who would actually talk to her were the little girl who was with you, and her parents. Your aunt gave a brief statement, but utterly refused to let this woman speak to your sister, so at least we know she's still alive. And, I also found one other thing, which I printed up so you could have it."

I hand her the folder that I've been carrying since I came in, she opens it, and sees a news article I found, about her sister winning some sort of a kids cooking competition, which shows a picture of a tall, somewhat gangly young girl, with pixie-cut blonde hair, holding a pie in her hands.

"If you look at the date of the paper this came from, you can see that it was taken less than a month ago, so it looks like she's doing okay now," I tell her. "I figured it might make you feel better if you could actually see that for yourself."

She stares raptly at the photocopy for a bit, seemingly unable to decide whether she's happy or sad, before she finally says, "She's going to look like our mom, I can already see it. But she lost most of her hair, it used to be almost as long as mine. It looks cute on her, though. Thanks a lot, guys, I really appreciate this."

"Hey, it's no problem," Jinxx informs her. "But we still haven't been able to figure out what's holding you here, so I'm not sure you should really be thanking us yet."

"I wasn't expecting things to happen overnight, dude. It has to start somewhere, and we know things that we didn't know before, so it's not like there's no progress. Besides, you guys are giving up your free time to help somebody you barely know, so of course I'm going to thank you for that."

We talk a bit more, then everyone decides to go down to the cafe for dinner, so she says that she's going to look through Charlie's clippings while we're gone, just in case there's something that might be significant to her that he might not have picked up on. We all go, and finally get to try that shrimp etouffee, which is damn good, and banter with the rather flirtatious hostess, who says that her name is Melissa, and who is quite curious about the rumors of the house being haunted. She claims that some of the construction guys had talked about weird things happening while they were there, so we all just sort of minimize it, admitting to a few moved items and lights turning on and off, but not saying a word about Rachel.

As she walks away to another table, Charlie says, "I hope this doesn't become a trend. After what happened with the lights last week, it's pretty pointless to deny that stuff, but I think I can speak for Susan as well as myself when I say that we don't want to deal with a bunch of gawkers and crackpots by giving out too much information."

Everyone agrees, and we manage to avoid any more questions while we finish our dinner and head out of the restaurant. We head back to the B and B, and hang out downstairs with Susan and Charlie for awhile, but don't see anything of Rachel for the rest of the evening. Eventually we all start heading up to our rooms, and when I open my door, I find her sitting on the window ledge, staring out into the yard.

She doesn't seem to notice me at first, and after a few seconds I ask, "Hey, is everything all right? Did something happen while we were gone?"

She doesn't look at me, still staring through the window as the rain ripples down the glass, and responds. "No, nothing happened, I would have been down there to tell you if it had. I..." She pauses briefly, then continues. "I just hadn't let myself think about how much I've missed my sister until I saw that picture. She's almost grown up, I've missed most of it, and I'll never have the chance to see the rest."

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset you," I tell her. "If I'd thought about that, I never would have made that copy."

"No, don't be sorry, I'm glad I got to see that she's okay. It just sucks when I think of how much of both of our lives that asshole has managed to fuck up. If it wasn't for him, none of this would have ever happened, and he's still running around free as a fucking bird, trying to ruin other peoples lives."

I pause to think for a minute, trying to come up with a way to cheer her up, and then I have an idea. "Hey, how would you like to get out of the house for awhile and come to the studio with us tomorrow? You can see how everything works."

She gets up and starts walking around the room, saying, "That sounds like fun, but it wouldn't work. I literally can't leave the house, I've tried more times than I can count, and as soon as I step outside, I wind up right back inside."

As she's talking, something odd catches my eye and I hold up my hand. "Do me a favor, will ya? Walk back over by the closet for a sec, okay?" She gives me a puzzled look, but does what I ask, and I realize that I wasn't imagining things. "How the hell did I not notice this before?"

"What are you up to, anyway?" she questions.

"I'm not 'up to' anything, hon, I'm just wondering how I managed to miss the fact that for some reason, you somehow seem to be more... substantial, when you're closer to the closet."

She stops so abruptly that it's like she's hit a wall, looking completely stunned. "Holy shit, that can't be it! Or can it?"

"What are you talking about? What can't be it?"

She opens the closet door, and motions for me to follow her. When I step inside, she points to a board in the floor, and tells me, "Pop that up, there's something inside. Since you said I'm more 'here' when I'm close to it, I'm wondering if that's what's keeping me stuck here. I think you should get it, because I don't know if I should touch it, if that's the case.

I crouch down and press on the board she pointed out, and the end comes up a bit, giving me room to get my fingers underneath to widen the opening. When I do, I realize that there's a hollow space between the floor joists, and something cold and hard under my hand. I grab it, pull it out, and see a necklace dangling from my fingers. Looking at it more closely, I realize that the pendant is a disc of some sort of gray stone, with a smaller brass disc in the center, embossed with something that looks sort of like a kanji, or maybe a hieroglyph.

"What is it?" I ask.

"That is what told everybody that I was the 'chosen vessel'. It was something he made me wear all the time since I was ten. I left it here when I ran away with Sawyer, and my father put it back on my body, but I took it off and hid it while he was doing something else."

As I hold it in my hand, I see that she seems to be almost solid, so I reach out with my other hand, trying to touch her arm. When I do, I can actually feel the contact, even though I can tell that she's not completely solid. "Wow!" is all I can manage, and she giggles.

"Maybe if you take that with you tomorrow, we can see if I can go out now," she says. "If you still want to, that is."

"Absolutely!" I reply. "But right now, I should probably grab a shower and get some sleep. We're gonna have a long day tomorrow, so maybe you should rest up a bit yourself."

She agrees, and leaves the room to check the house again while I shower, then throw on some pajama pants. She comes back after a bit, and resumes her position in the window, while I lay down, and eventually go to sleep.

When I wake up, she's still in the window, and I ask, "So, are you ready to give this a try?"

"Oh, you have no idea!" she informs me. "I don't even have the words to explain how much I want to be able to go outside again, so hell yes, I'm ready!"

I get dressed, put the necklace in my pocket, and head downstairs, with Rachel right behind me. When we get to the living room, the noise in the dining room tells me that I'm the last one down this morning. I walk into the room, saying, "I hope you saved something for me!"

Andy retorts, "Well, if you'd get up on time, you wouldn't ha..." His words trail off, which causes the others to look up, and almost simultaneously, their mouths drop open. CC drops his fork, and Jake blinks rapidly several times.

"What's wrong? What are you staring at?"

Jinxx stands up from his chair, and says, "I don't suppose anything is wrong, actually. We're just a little surprised to see your... breakfast companion. How the fuck did you do that?"

When he says this, I look around, and realize that they're all staring past me. Staring at Rachel. They can actually fucking see her now. I glance back at her, and say, "Well, I think this answers our question."

I pull out my chair and sit down, and as Susan sets my plate in front of me, I say, "Everybody sit back down and get comfortable, I've definitely got one hell of a story for you."

Notes