Cemetery Tours (2 page)

“You know what’s going to be a lot of fun?” she asked, closing her eyes and savoring the blast of cool air emanating from the fan.
  “Dragging that couch up here.” 

“I’m trying not to think about that,” Gavin muttered from the kitchen counter as he scribbled down a list of things to get at the grocery store.
  “Kate, what do you want to drink?”

“Gatorade.
  I need electrolytes.”

“What kind?”

“This one.” Kate held up her
BLUE
flashcard. 

“Got it.
” Gavin jotted it down.  “Michael, do you want some Gatorade?”

“I’ll take some red, thanks,” he said.

Once Gavin was gone, Michael took a seat on the floor next to Kate.  She’d had the right idea, settling down in front of the fan.  Even with the air on high, the apartment still felt stuffy in the mid-June Dallas heat.   

“So Michael, tell me about yourself,” Kate said, gazing up at him from her spot on the floor.
 

“Um… not sure what there is to tell,” Michael replied honestly.
  He really wasn’t a very interesting person.

“Where do you work?
  How long have you lived here?”

“I work inventory and shelve books at the library.
  Exciting, I know,” he said.  Kate grinned.  “I’ve lived here for five years, ever since I graduated from college.”

“Where did you go to school?”

“UNT.  I majored in Interdisciplinary Studies and minored in Psychology.”

“That’s pretty cool,” Kate told him.

“Sort of.” Michael shrugged.  “What about you?  I know Gavin said you were an interior decorator.”

“Yep.
  I graduated from SMU two years ago with a degree in Art and Design.  Got my job as a decorator about a month later and that’s what I’ve been doing ever since.”

“Do you enjoy it?”

“Yeah, I do.”

“I hope you don’t mind me asking, but is it difficult?
  You know, with the color thing?” 

Kate stared at the ceiling as she contemplated her answer.
 

“It was pretty annoying at first, but my boss has been so wonderful about the whole situation.
  If she ever needs something in a specific color, she describes it to me.  Like, instead of asking for a,” she flipped through her note cards until she found the one labeled
GREEN
, “green vase, she asks for a grass-colored vase.  It’s not a perfect system, but you know, any time I start to get frustrated, I remind myself how lucky I am just to be here and that I could have had it a lot,
lot
worse.” 

“I’m glad you’re okay,” Michael told her.
  She glanced over at him and smiled.  He hoped she didn’t notice the blush creeping up his neck as he cleared his throat and asked, “So uh, what about Gavin?  What does he do?” 

“He’s actually between jobs right now.
  He used to work as a sound technician for one of the local theaters, but about two months after my accident, he started getting sick a lot.  He never had a fever or anything, but he’d feel drained and exhausted, his head would hurt, he’d get the chills... I really thought he had mono, but for some reason, he just refused to go to the doctor.  It wasn’t until he got so dizzy that he fell over that he finally made an appointment.”

“What was wrong with him?” Michael asked.

“Absolutely nothing,” Kate replied.  “They ran all sorts of tests.  Blood tests, MRIs, even a lumbar puncture.  He was perfectly healthy.  No mono, no anemia, absolutely no physical explanation for any of his symptoms.”

“So what did they do for him?”

“Since there was technically nothing wrong with him, they really couldn’t prescribe him anything.  They advised him to take it easy and get plenty of rest.  Unfortunately, about a week later, someone broke into our apartment.  Neither of us slept well after that.”

“Are you serious?” Michael asked.

“Yeah.  Suffice it to say, it has not been a fantastic year for the Avery family.  Luckily for us, they didn’t take anything.  Or if they did, it was something we didn’t use very often because we haven’t noticed it missing.”

“Why bother breaking in then?” Michael asked.

“Whoever it was, it looked like they were on some sort of rampage.  The entire place was trashed.  Furniture was moved, tables were knocked over, mirrors and picture frames were shattered.  It was one of the scariest moments of my life, coming home and finding the apartment like that.  I was convinced whoever had done it was still inside.” 

“Did you call the police?”

“Yeah, but they didn’t find anything that could help them,” Kate explained.  “I just hope that whoever it was didn’t target us specifically.  I hope they just picked a random apartment and when they couldn’t find anything of real value to steal, they decided to trash it.  Gavin thinks I watch too many crime dramas, but I just have this horrible feeling that it was personal.”  Michael wasn’t sure what to say.  He was certainly no stranger to mysterious circumstances, but he’d never felt like he was being targeted.  “That’s one of several reasons I’m glad to be living in a gated community now.”  Kate looked at him.  “I can’t believe I told you all of that.  I just met you.  I should be telling you about the book I’m reading or asking you what kind of movies you like.  Not dumping all my personal crises on you.” 

“I really don’t mind,” Michael told her.
  “But if you really want to know, I enjoy historical fiction and psychological thrillers.”

“Oh!
  Have you seen…”

By the time Gavin returned with food and drinks
,
their conversation about movies had evolved into a debate over whether the Hollywood adaptation of
Shutter Island
did the novel justice.  Gavin also brought with him about five bottles of Super-B Energy
. 
Kate frowned as she watched her brother down one in a single gulp. 

As they ate, Michael thought back to everything Kate had told him about the break-in, about how scared she was that whoever it had been was still out there.
  Although they’d never had a break-in at the Riverview Apartments, he nevertheless felt he should warn her about the strange things that happened in Building 17.  He was almost certain that if someone had told her about the “curse,” she’d never have signed the lease. 

Then again, he had no idea how to tell her without seeming like he was trying to scare her.
  Besides, what if he told her and nothing happened?  Then he would have scared her for nothing.  No, it was probably better just to keep all of that “curse” business quiet for now.

Of course if the last six months were any indication, Kate and Gavin Avery might have had a curse of their own.
                

Once they finished eating, they decided to tackle the trailer that was hooked up to the back of Kate’s Land Rover.
  Inside the trailer, Kate and Gavin had stashed their bed frames, mattresses, a few small tables, and a couch. 

They decided to start with Kate’s bed.
  It was the smallest and the easiest to maneuver out of the packed trailer.  They didn’t have too much trouble getting the frame or the twin mattress up the stairs and into her room.  Gavin’s bed proved to be a little more of a challenge.  It took all three of them to haul the full-sized mattress up the stairs.  Once they made it to the living room, Michael and Kate shoved it through the apartment while Gavin ran into his room to clear a pathway through his scattered belongings.           

“Oh, it feels good in here,” Kate remarked, noting the sudden drop in temperature inside Gavin’s room.
  “Gav, where do you want this?”

“Just set it against the wall for now,” Gavin answered.
  Michael barely heard him.  His attention had fallen on the man standing in the corner of the room, clenching his fists, and staring at Gavin with murderous eyes.   

Eyes that had long since looked their last.

He’d seen them for as long as he could remember.

They’d never scared him, really.
  When he was younger, he hadn’t known that there was anything different about them.  By the time he was old enough to figure out that no one else could see them, he was also old enough to realize that being dead didn’t turn people into monsters.  It just meant that most of them were lonely. 

This guy scared him.
 

He was tall, almost as tall as Michael, who towered above most people at 6’2, and muscular, something that Michael couldn’t boast.
  His dark hair was buzzed short, like an army crew cut, and he wore dark navy jeans, a gray T-shirt, and an old black jacket.  As intimidating has his physical appearance seemed, however, nothing compared to the fury and repulsion with which he stared at Gavin Avery.    

“Michael?” Kate’s voice snapped Michael out of his stupor.
  “Are you alright?”

“Yeah, fine.”
  He wasn’t fine though.  His voice had gone hoarse, the same way it always did whenever he tried to choke out a lie.  He cleared his throat and assisted Kate and Gavin setting the mattress against the wall.  No matter how he tried to convince himself otherwise, he could feel the stranger’s eyes boring into the back of his neck.  Although he didn’t think the ghost had noticed him staring, he didn’t want to draw any sort of attention to himself.    

This was the reason he never complained about the strange noises or feelings of discontent that plagued the other residents of Building 17.
  He’d always been a terrible liar, and anyone observing him too carefully would realize that when he said he had no explanation for the weird things that happened, he wasn’t telling the truth.   

Once ghosts figured out he could see them, they followed him home.
  Over the years, he’d gotten better at ignoring them, tuning them out, but there was always the occasional slip-up.  He’d respond to an otherwise unheard voice, or accidentally make eye contact with someone who’d grown accustomed to being invisible.  That was when the trouble started.

Michael had learned the hard way that nothing good came from interfering in the affairs of the afterlife.
  He’d always been careful not to let anyone know what he could see, but everyone, from his classmates to his own mother knew there was something wrong with him.  Their suspicions were somewhat confirmed after he was arrested as a suspect in a murder investigation at the beginning of his senior year of high school.  The charges were quickly dropped, but still, the damage had been done.    

Now, whenever spirits follow
ed him home, he ignored them.  This was frustrating for all parties involved, but especially for the ghosts.  They knew he could see them, but when he didn’t acknowledge them again, they grew agitated.  Some of them went crazy, throwing pots and pans around or heaving books off of shelves, in desperate attempts to get his attention.  They usually gave up and moved out after a week or so of being ignored.  But some of them, the more annoying ones, tended to linger.  Some acted out of spite, some out of boredom.  Some flat out refused to move on for reasons that Michael could never figure out.  Maybe they were waiting for someone, or maybe they were scared of crossing over.  Michael could accept that.  Still, he would have preferred they not make his apartment building their halfway house.     

Thinking back to everything Kate had told him about Gavin, his mysterious ailment, even the break-in, Michael knew he should have realized that those were the products of a haunting.
  He’d experienced the same symptoms of dizziness and exhaustion on multiple occasions.  Spirits thrived on energy.  It was how they moved heavy objects, or manifested themselves to those who otherwise wouldn’t be able to see them.  They took this energy from any source they could find; electricity, radio waves, even the living.  Especially the living.  Michael had always been particularly susceptible to their attacks.  He had a theory that since his mind was already so open to the spirits, it made it easier for them to drain his energy.