An Infinite Sorrow (2 page)

  "Yes, Ms. Care.  Thank you."  Liz was a sweet young lady, and she actually meant it. 

   Once everyone finished their work, which was a thrilling experience by the way, the class watched a short
Harry Mood the Science Dude
video about trigonometry and NASA, and then took a pop quiz.   

  At the end of the period, Rich was upset.  "Witch!  Why didn't she tell us there would be a pop quiz?  You can't trick people into learning.  I think she just ran out of things to do with us."

  Liz smiled.  "That's the point of a pop quiz, Richie, to surprise you." 

  The rest of the day was fairly uneventful.  Rich walked Liz out to Alice's car.  Pretty soon, Alice got out of class and they were all headed home.  "So Rich, how do you like our crappy little town so far?" 

  "I wish I was home in Chicago.  If my dad could have gotten himself together, we wouldn't be in this mess in the first place."

  "Well, hopefully you can make it work here." 

Liz was looking at him. "Why did you have to leave Chicago?"

  "My dad is...sick.  He just needs to work some things out, by himself."

  Rich knew what ‘sick’ meant: Dad drank. A lot…  He had started doing it all the time about six months ago.  Then he quit his job.  Then, he and mom started fighting all the time.  Now they had had to move.  He hoped his dad was OK. 

  "I don't know if things will work out, but thanks for the talk.  I'll see you guys tomorrow."

*****

  Up until now, everything in Rich's day had run fairly normally.  This was the point he would remember later.  The point in time when things started to get really weird…. 

  Right now, Rich was staying with his mom's sister, Aunt Rose.  Rich had always liked visiting his aunt.  Living at her house was a different matter.  She was a tad...odd… sometimes.  He still remembered the expression on her face when he pulled up.  She looked really, really happy, but also worried.  His cousin Mark was a few years older.  He was in his early twenties, with no job, and an equal amount of ambition.  He was not a big fan of people staying at the house. 

  "How's it going, freeloader?  What are you going to steal today?"

  Aunt Rose was engaged in her favorite leisure activity: cooking.  "MARK!!  Stop that this instant.  Rich, come get something to eat."

  "Mom, we just ate.  All you do is cook."

  "I like cooking.  Rich likes my cooking, don't you dear?"

  Rich loved her cooking, it was great.  After four meals a day for a few days though, you kind of got sick of food, period. 

  There had been news reports every night about unexplained lights north of Desolation Falls, where things were even bleaker and more remote that they were in town.  Mass riots were going on throughout the Middle East.  Iran, Iraq, Syria, Turkey; they were all in a collective uproar.  A little-known organization which was calling for a unified Arab state seemed to have suddenly drawn a massive following.  The government seemed really worried about it.  We were moving troops over there, and supplying some of the surrounding countries with weapons and aircraft.  To Rich, all of this seemed to have come to a head entirely too quickly.  Maybe he didn't follow the news enough.  So basically, he and his family were watching the end of the world on the television.  Not the cool, zombie show version.  The real, horrible one where lots of people were getting killed daily. 

  Rich's little sister Lilly toddled over to him, a big smile on her face as usual.  "Uh Ho.  Uh Ho.  Ball."  She had just turned two, and seemed to just string words together to test them out.  Rich picked her up.  "Do you want to play?  Go bring me the ball."

  He was happy she was learning so quickly.  She toddled away from him and gave him a little wave, "Bye bye.  Bye.  Bye bye bye.  Doggie."

  The news was just getting back to the story he was interested in, the local one about the lights, when Mark changed the channel.  "Buy your own TV, pecker-head."  Rich decided to let it go.

  The doorbell rang.  Rich's mom answered it before he could.  "Oh, hi Stan.  Are you here for Rich?" 

  The heavyset guy at the door was Stanly Watson.  He and Rich had met at the local ice cream shop.  Stan had asked to borrow a few bucks, and Rich had delivered.  Since then, Stan had gone out of his way to be nice to him. 

  Stan, you're welcome to stay for dinner if you want.  There will certainly be no shortage of food."

  "Sure Mrs. Spoller. Thanks!" 

  They ended up in Rich's room.  It was pretty empty right now since their stuff hadn't arrived from Chicago yet.  Rich had sort of been hoping there wouldn't be any need.  Hopefully dad would work out his issues sooner rather than later. 

  Stan pulled an old box out from under the bed.  "Cool, it’s a Ouija Board!  We gotta try this out, man."

  "No way, those things are dangerous."

  "Oh, come on, it's just a game.  None of that hocus pocus stuff is real."

  "Then why chance it?"

  Stan was already taking the necessary pieces out.  Rich shrugged and had a seat on the carpet by his bed.   He helplessly started setting up the board for his friend. 

  "Hey, you should invite Liz over.  She's really interested in this stuff.  Plus, you know, the hotness factor!"

  "They're busy today, and I just met them.  I can't be throwing a Hugh Hefner party at my aunt’s house every other day." 

  "That's exactly what you should be doing. You have to build up your street cred in this town!!  You're no fun, my man.  Ok, let's do this!"

  "Why do you want to do this crap so bad?"

  "Well, a chick died right down the road last year.  It was crazy.  They thought her boyfriend did it, but they could never question him.  He's locked up in some asylum somewhere.  I knew the guy, and he was never like that.  He never did anything crazy.  I guess he snapped.  I want to see if she'll answer us." 

  Both of them placed their hands on the slider.  The idea was that as they asked questions, spirits would push the slider over the right letters to spell out the answer.  Stan thought that Rich would answer for fun.  Rich knew better.  If the board spelled out anything, this was for real.

  Stan asked the first question.  "Let's start simple.  Sharon, we're trying to reach you.  Does Liz have a crush on Rich?"

  "Dude, cut that out.  Some chick’s ghost isn't going to care about that"

  The slider began to move, it spelled out the words
GOOD
FRIEND
. 

  Stan frowned.  "That's no kind of answer.  I want a yes or no." 

  "You're moving the damn thing anyway.  Why?  Would you like to escort her to the ice cream shop?  Oooooo!!"

  "Hey, that's not..."

  The slider moved again, spelling
YES
. 

  "Hey!  You're supposed to answer questions about Rich, not me."

 
NO

  Rich thought about another question, this game was just getting good.  "I bet Stan wants to marry Liz, doesn't he?"

  KILL YOU

  Both of them let go of the slider.  "Rich, that's not funny man.  You’re freaking me out."

  "Hey, you're making it move.  It's not me." 

  Both boys’ hands were suddenly pulled back onto the Ouija Board by some invisible force. 

 
KILL.  KIIIIIILLLLLLLLLLLLL

  The board suddenly launched into the air, smashing against the ceiling.  Stan began a high-pitched scream. 

  "HOLY CRAP!!"

  Stan ran out of the room in terror.  Rich tried to follow him into the hall, but time seemed to freeze.  Everything changed colors as the house shifted.  Through the surprise and panic, he felt as though he was somewhere...else. 

  In the living room, someone was sitting facing away from him.  The TV was on, which seemed to be showing just static.  The voice which spoke to him was all distorted and low.

  "Do you know who you are?"

  "Uh...yeah….  Who are you?"

  "Maybe the ‘you’ who you think you are is really another you, in the army of you."

  "Uh...right.  Look man, who are you?  What are you doing in my living room?" 

The chair turned.  It was his dad.  He had no mouth or eyes, but Rich could hear screaming.  He realized it was his.  Rich woke up.  He was still in his room, looking at the board. 

  When they explained to Mrs. Spoller what had happened, she started laughing.  "Guys, I don't have time for this.  You're supposed to obsess about girls and get into trouble at this age, not worry about ghosts.  You boys, with your crazy imaginations.  Come have a seat, the chicken is almost ready." 

  Aunt Rose wasn't laughing.  "I can't believe you did that.  Why would you touch the board?  WHY!?!"

  Now Rich was scared.  Aunt Rose never got mad about anything, and now she was yelling at him. 

  Mom turned from the stove.  "Come on Rose, it’s nothing to..."

  "IT WAS NOTHING??  I'LL NOT HAVE THIS MADNESS UNDER MY ROOF!" 

  "IF I WANTED TO BE YELLED, AT WE'D STILL BE IN CHICAGO!" 

  Both women stormed out of the room.  Mark calmly got up and started fixing his plate.  "Yum.  Chicken."

  "How can you eat right now?  They're totally freaked out."

  "They're chicks, cuz.  They spend 75% of their lives freaked out.  Come on, time to eat." 

  "Don't let my mom hear you say that.  So, cuz, what's life in this town really like?"

  "Like?  It's like nothing.  They should have named it Nothing Happens instead of Desolation Falls.  There isn't even any desolation.  It's just another cracker-box small town.  Nothing ever happens here.  No one moves here.  No one leaves.  There is one school, one movie theater, one library…  No mall.  The most entertainment I've gotten this year was getting the latest Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition in the mail."

  "Sounds pretty grim."

  "It is grim, peckerwood.  Now we get to put up with you and your nut-job mother."

  Rich hit him.  Mark was a lot bigger than him, but it was a good shot; knocked him right out of his chair.  Rich jumped on him and hit him a few more times.  Stan was cheering in the background.  Aunt Rose pulled them apart.  "Boys!  What are you doing?"

  "You badmouth my family again and I'll..."

  "I am family, you crazy prick!  Damn!"

  "Cool off guys.  Here, I'll cook something."

  After dinner, Stan decided to head home.  He still looked scared about what had happened with the weird messages.  Rich thought it was kind of cool.  He walked back to his room and put the board away. 

  As he was getting ready for bed, he could hear something from outside.  It was horrible.  At first he thought it was a baby crying, but it wasn't.  Rich walked around to the porch, where he saw a few cats lurking around.

  "Shoo!  Get out of here." 

  Most of them scattered.  A black one shot into the house like a lightning bolt.  "Great.  Now what am I going to do?"  Something got knocked over in the kitchen.  Rich crept in through the dark house, trying to find the cat.

  His heart stopped for a minute when he walked into the living room.  Sitting in the dark, barely visible, was Aunt Rose.  She was holding the cat, petting it.  "You know you shouldn't have messed with that board.  It's not a toy, and it’s certainly not meant for just anyone." 

  "Why are you sitting here in the dark?  You scared the hell out of me.  What are you talking about?"

   "You look like you're ready, little boy.  Time to pay WITH YOUR SOUL!  YEAAAAAA!!"

  The cat hissed and jumped at Rich's head.  He threw his hands up defensively.  "AAAAAA!!"

  Rose’s whole face shifted into a mess of hollowed-out black eyes and fangs.  Her long nails cut into his arms as she grabbed him. 

  The lights popped on in the living room.  "Richard, what is going on here?" 

  Behind him stood Aunt Rose and his mom, looking perplexed.  Rich looked back at the empty chair, looked at Aunt Rose behind him, and then looked at the chair again.  There was no black cat in sight.  "Umm, sorry, I think I had a bad dream."

  He also still had the pain in his arms.  He was bleeding. 

*****

  Rich spent part of that night watching reruns of 90's sitcoms and writing.  It wasn't really a true hobby so much as something he occasionally did to calm his nerves.  He stayed up too late, ended up oversleeping, and spent his morning in a panicked rush to clean up the cuts on his arms and get to school.  On top of all this mess, his mother managed to catch him on his way out the door.  "Rich, you're late again.  You hardly slept.  Are you ok?  Do you need to talk?"

  "I'm fine, mom.  Everything's great.  Bye, bye now."  He'd said the words with absolutely no enthusiasm, expecting a reaction.  He got one. 

  "Don't give me that, son.  I know things have been rough, but that's no excuse.  I still expect you to behave, keep up with your grades.  Maybe you could even work on how you talk to Mark, since you guys are family.  You need to be a good example for Lilly.  Remember..."