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Limbo

Blindsided

ASHLEY:

We've been at the B and B for almost a week now, and this is our fourth day in the studio. Things are going pretty good so far, we've actually got two songs almost completed, and right now Jake and Jinxx are reworking the guitar parts for a third song that has we've been having trouble with since we tried recording it back home.

As they sit in the booth playing with different chord progressions, Bob works the controls, recording the different ideas they come up with so we can play them back and see what works best. He glances over at Andy and asks, "Did you ever manage to find your ring, man?"

"Yeah, I found it this morning," he replies. "I have no idea how it got there, but I found it hanging on one of those little spindles on the mirror frame. Kinda weird that the housekeeping gal would put it there, instead of just laying it on the desk or something."

"Jeez, don't tell Jinxx that, or he'll be getting wound up about the 'ghost' again," Bob mumbles.

"So you're not a believer then, huh?" I inquire.

"I won't say it's impossible, but unless I can see it for myself, I'm going to maintain a healthy skepticism. Why, do you think the place is haunted, Ash?"

"I didn't say that, but if it's not, someone is sure as hell trying to make everybody think it is," I tell him. "You heard what Charlie and Susan said about the thing with the power tools, and in the last couple of days Andy and I have both had stuff moved in our rooms that nobody will admit to doing."

"My guess is that one of the people from town is doing it," Andy speculates. "It's pretty obvious that a lot of 'em have some bad feelings about the place, and maybe they think if they can make people believe the place is haunted, it'll have to shut down and they can demolish it or something."

"Or it could be just the opposite," CC chimes in. "From what I've seen on TV, haunted hotels do good business, so maybe one of the employees think they can bring in business by manufacturing spooks."

The door to the booth opens then, and Jinxx steps out, saying, "And maybe there's actually someone else there who's trying to get our attention. From what everyone says about the house, there's probably been some pretty dark energy put out in there, so I'd think that would make it fairly easy to kind of tie someone to it. And if neither of them have been found, maybe that's what he, or she, wants."

As Jake follows him into the room, he replies, "Okay, if we actually assume that there is a ghost, that would be a logical reason for them to be hanging around, I guess. But if that's the case, why not just figure out a way to tell us where they are, instead of moving around jewelry and phone chargers, and shit like that?"

"Maybe they don't know where their body is. Or, they might not even realize that they're actually dead. That isn't completely unheard of, especially in cases of sudden death."

"Well, right now, you guys have work to do," Bob reminds us. "If you wanna play 'Ghostbusters', how about you do it when we're not on studio time? Let's run through the riffs you just did, and see what we can work with, then we can figure out if Ash and CC need to do any work on their parts."

"Aye aye, Cap'n!" CC yells, and the rest of us start laughing as he jumps up from his chair saluting, promptly tangles his foot in the legs, and falls over. Looking up at us from the floor, he pastes a decidedly casual expression on his face and calmly announces, "I meant to do that, y'know."

This literally puts Andy on the floor, laughing so hard he's gasping for breath, and even Bob is having a hard time keeping a straight face. He gets up from his chair, holds a hand out, and helps CC to his feet, saying, "Well, if Jim Carrey here is done with the comedy routine, maybe we can actually focus now. That sound good to you guys?"

We pull ourselves together, and sit down as Bob winds back the recording to play back the guitar riffs. He starts it up, and we listen to about a minute of it, then everything in the place shuts down. The music quits, and all the lights go out, except the ones in the "EXIT" signs over the doors.

"What the hell is this?" Bob yells, and we all sit for a bit, waiting for our eyes to adjust. Then, just as he stands up, one of the techs comes into the room holding a flashlight.

"Looks like we're out of commission for the rest of the day, man," she says. "It seems that a squirrel or something got into the transformer down the street, and there's no power for at least a six-block radius. The utility guys have to come and replace the entire thing, which could take several hours. So you guys might as well call it a day and try again tomorrow."

"Well, at least we made some progress," I remind Bob, trying to be positive. The other guys nod in agreement, and Bob just sort of grunts.

"Yeah, we got a decent start, but you'd just better hope this doesn't end up being a regular thing," he retorts. "If it does, y'all might just end up sleeping in these chairs for a few nights, instead of those nice, comfortable beds back at the B and B."

The tech holds her flashlight so we can get everything in order and gather our stuff, then we all head out to the parking lot. We took the van back to the rental place the day after we got here, and we've rented three cars, instead, so we can go to different places if we want to. I'm driving one of them today, and Andy decides to ride back with me. Jake and Jinxx take the second car, with CC and Bob in the third, and we all drive the twenty-three miles from Edmonton back to the house.

As we walk in the door, Susan is sitting on the couch, doing some sort of a sewing project, and she looks sort of surprised to see us. "Hello, guys, I didn't expect you back this early. I thought you said you'd be working late tonight."

"That was the plan, but a dumbass squirrel changed our minds," Bob grumbles, as he flops into a chair.

"Well, Suze and I were planning to take a walk down the road to the cafe for dinner tonight, so why don't you all join us?" Charlie inquires as he comes in from the kitchen. "It's a nice day, and not too hot for a change, so it should be a pleasant little stroll. Their cook is from somewhere in Louisiana, and I hear that she's doing her special shrimp etouffee tonight."

"You can count me in!" I tell him. "I love that stuff, and if they've got a real southern cook, it should be pretty damn good. And if we walk there and back, that'll take care of some of the excess calories."

Everyone else agrees that it sounds like a good way to unwind, so we all troop upstairs to shower and change before we go. I take a look around my room as I empty my pockets, and nothing looks any different than it did this morning, as far as I can tell, so I shuck my clothes and head for the shower, leaving the bathroom door cracked so I can hear my phone if it rings. I'm expecting a call about some supplies I've ordered for my clothing company, and I don't want to take a chance on missing it. Bob doesn't really care for us having our phones on in the studio, but I had it in my pocket on vibrate all day, just in case.

After I finish showering, I put on some fresh clothes and comb my hair, but I don't worry about drying it, since the walk to the restaurant should take care of that. As I'm pulling my boots on, CC pops his head in the door and says, "Charlie and Susan are ready to head out in a couple of minutes. You ready, bro?"

I wave the second boot at him and reply, "Just as soon as I finish getting these on, dude." I step into that one, stuff my wallet into my pocket, and follow him downstairs, where everybody else is already clustered by the front door. We all troop out to the yard and down the driveway to the road, straggling along in small groups of two or three, to avoid being in the road in case traffic comes along. It's a pretty cheerful trip, everyone is chatting and laughing, and even Bob is in a better mood. But just as we get within sight of the cafe, something suddenly pops into my head.

I stick my hand in my pocket, and groan, "Goddamn it!"

"What's wrong, dude?" Andy inquires.

"I left my fuckin' phone in my room, and I can't take a chance on missing that call from my supplier. Go ahead, and order some of that etouffee for me, and a beer, if they have it. I'll run back real fast and get it, and I should be back by the time the food gets to our table."

Charlie agrees to put in my order, and I turn back the way we came and start jogging back to the house. By the time I'm halfway back, I've also decided to change from my boots to some sneakers before I go back, because cowboy boots were never intended for jogging.

As I come up to the house, it seems like it's probably a good thing that I came back. I guess when Charlie took the garbage out earlier, he didn't get the kitchen door closed all the way, because it's slightly ajar. So I decide to go in that way, so I can lock it before I go back. But as I step inside, the first thing I see is some strange guy dumping the silverware drawers onto the counter.

He doesn't notice me right away, so I walk as quietly as possible over to the wall phone by the refrigerator. But when I pick it up, that gets his attention, and his head snaps up from what he's doing.

"Whoever the hell you are, you'd better haul ass, because I'm calling the cops," I tell him, but he just gives me a weird grin and starts walking toward me.

"No, I don't think you will," he announces, and he makes a motion with one hand. I'm expecting to see a knife, or even a gun, but what I don't expect is for the phone to be yanked out of my hand by someone behind me, and the cord to be wrapped around my neck. I try to get free, but the other guy comes forward and tries to pin me, so I'm fighting both of them, but it doesn't seem to be helping, because my vision is starting to blur.

Just as everything starts to fade out completely, the person who's trying to strangle me lets out a groan, and the last thing I remember is something flying past my head, and a woman's voice saying, "Let go of him, you worthless son of a bitch!"

Then... nothing.















Notes

Comments

Awesome chapter as always! Have you got Wattpad figured out yet? :)

Merelan Merelan
7/12/19

Okay cool, we'll see how things go.

Merelan Merelan
7/11/19

@Merelan
Hey there, sorry I'm a bit behind, but I had some family stuff I had to do. I'm still having difficulties with getting myself set up on Wattpad, so I'm gonna try making a completely new email account through some other server, in case the site is just incompatible with Yahoo, and see if that works. If not, I may just let Annie start posting my books on her account, but I'll get them over there before long, one way or the other. I'll be posting a new chapter here tomorrow, so the wait is almost over. Thanx for your patience, and I'll keep you posted on the Wattpad situation. :-D

Red Phoenix77 Red Phoenix77
7/11/19

@Merelan
Yeah, I guess it's a good thing that I kept a separate tab open to my own books, or I probably wouldn't have been able to update at all. And she told me that you'd contacted her, so now I know who you are on Wattpad. I've been having some issues with getting an account started, so I don't know if it's an issue with my email account, or username or what, but I'm hoping to get a friend who works with computers to come by and help me sometime this week. So I'll definitely drop you a message when I get everything up and running. Thanx! :-D

Red Phoenix77 Red Phoenix77
6/26/19

Awesome chapter as always! This site is pulling a Titanic - I can click on the other tabs like new, updated, etc., but it's showing the stories from ~6 years ago to ~3 years ago. Nothing else. I'm on Wattpad now, I sent a message to Star Elf, so I look forward to seeing you there! :)

Merelan Merelan
6/26/19