“I don’t want your money.In fact, I couldn’t care less about the two of you.You’re forgetting that you’re dead and money won’t help you do anything.”They both disappeared as soon as he waved them away.They’d be back, he knew that for sure, but for now, he wasn’t to be bothered with them.Just as he was setting back to work, another ghost came into his office and stood staring at him.It took Guy a few minutes to figure out who it was.
“What do you want here?”His mother said that she’d come to find him and that she was dead.“I know that.I can see that you’ve had a rough time of it, too.What do you want with me?And just so you know, I’m not going to do anything for you that would hurt my brothers.”
“You’ll do as you say, or you’ll get worse from me while I’m dead.Why didn’t any of you ever come see me?”He told her that they liked her where she was.“That’s no excuse.I would have liked to have seen you so that I could tell you what mongrels you were.”
“Your opinion of us matters little.We’ve gone on to make great men of ourselves.Also, wealthy men who don’t have to worry about stealing anything to get by.”She said that he lied.“Why would I lie about that?Look around you.Does it look like we’re hurting for anything?I’m sure, before coming here and being told to go away, that you’ve seen Ayden’s home.What did Selma tell you?To get your ass out of her life?I can see her doing that to you, even though she doesn’t know you like I do.”
“I fixed her.”He asked what she’d done to her.“None of your business, but she’ll never be telling me no again.”
“You did nothing to her, or she would have sent you on your way.You’re the one who is lying.I’m surprised that she didn’t do it—you didn’t go see her.You found out that I could see you, and you came here first.You must have died only days ago.”She said she’d been dead for two days and none of them had come to claim her body.“That’s all been arranged.You’ll be buried by Father, and that’s the end of our knowing anything about you.Not that we go to his gravesite either, but once you’re interred, we’ll get a bill that will be paid, and nothing else will be said about you.”
“Who pays it?You?”He told her that Lica would pay it, and he’d not tell them that it had been done either.“Why?Why him?I don’t want anything from him but to be dead.He should have died the day that your father did, a wonderful man like him shouldn’t have had to be killed like he did.”
“You killed him.”She was in a rage now, and he knew better than to get close to her.She could and would hurt him if he didn’t watch her.“For all your planning, it did nothing but get you in prison for the rest of your natural life.And I say good.You both got what you deserve, and I’m happy to say that I didn’t miss you at all.”
Why he was egging her on, he didn’t know, but her anger was almost palatable.He could almost feel the heat of it from across the room.George appeared, and before he could tell him to watch out, she grabbed his arm.The explosion from the two of them touching threw him across the room and against the wall.
Chapter 10
“Is he going to be all right?”Ivan said that he didn’t know, but they were keeping an eye on him.“What happened?Did anyone ever find out?I mean, the damage done to his office will take months to repair.I’m just glad that it didn’t take out his desk.There is no telling what would have happened to him had that big desk hit him when the room exploded.”
Ivan didn’t have any idea what had happened to his brother.As his next-door neighbor, he was called first when Amber called the family.He was glad that she hadn’t used their link to call everyone, or there was no telling what would have happened had they all shown up at once.As it was, they were coming to the hospital a couple at a time, and that was easier on his nerves.He looked up when Lica said his name.
“Do you know anything?”No, he told him, just that he’d been hurt badly and that he was going to need to stay in the hospital for a while.“Why are they taking so long to tell us anything?We’re all here for him, does he know that?”
“I never got to talk to him.He was unconscious when I got there.Amber said that she was in the room next to him and heard him talking, then the explosion.She said that she didn’t know who he was talking to, but his voice was raised.”He asked if he could have been on the phone.“I don’t know.I don’t even know what happened to him that they brought him here.All I know for sure is that his left arm is shattered and that his face is cut up.I could see his face when I got there, but I was more concerned with him getting out from under the furniture that had been on him.I’m happy his desk was on the other side of the room, or it might well have killed him.”
Guy had picked up the desk at an auction from another writer.It must have weighed about eight hundred pounds and was in three different sections so that it could be moved.He’d been using it for the last year and a half, and he loved it.He’d been with him when he’d gotten it and had paid for it.He said that he paid too much for it, but was happy that he’d gotten it.The desk meant a great deal to him.But it still would have killed him had it been part of the debris that had knocked him back.
The doctor coming down the hall had them all standing up.He never realized before how tall they were to an average person, but the doctor didn’t seem to be intimidated by them.He had blood on his coat, but he seemed not to have noticed it.He asked if they could sit down, and they all obliged.
“He’s banged up pretty badly.”Amber leaned on him, and he held her to him.“He has five broken ribs and three more that are bruised.He has a concussion, a broken arm, leg, and three fingers on his other hand.Whatever happened, it seemed like it was centered on him.”
“Is that all?I mean, that sounds pretty minor for what happened to his house.”He told him that he was lucky that he’d only been hurt the way that he had been.“When can we see him?I mean, especially his wife?”
“I can let her in to see him in about an hour.They’re still stitching him up.I’m told that he’s a shifter.”They all nodded.“Nothing a good shift won’t take care of, but he’ll need to take it easy for a while.He’s not lost a lot of blood, but he’d been beaten badly.I’d say give him about a week, and he’ll be able to shift out of most of the wounds he has.”
That’s great news was all he could think.When he’d seen him all bloodied and hurting, all he could think about was how he’d been hurt once before.When he’d been hit in the head with the baseball bat by a person who was having mental issues.It occurred to him that it could have been supernatural, the explosion.Asking Amber if he’d been dealing with any ghosts, she said that he had said George’s name just before the house exploded.He wanted to talk to Selma, and when he found her, Lica was already talking to her about George.
“I can’t get in touch with George.He’s been his friend for the last three years, and I knowthat the two of them were close.I wonder why I can’t get in touch with him right now.”She seemed worried, and that made him worry.“Usually, I can reach out to him, and he’ll come right to me.But this time I’m not getting anything.It’s like he’s gone.That will just kill Cindy.She and him are the best of friends too.”
He’d heard that kids could see ghosts until they were a couple of years old.But for some reason, Cindy, Guy’s daughter, could see him still.The child and the older man got along well, too, from what he’d heard.He’d also heard about the language that she’d been caught using at the preschool that she went to as well.Smiling a little, he wondered what else the old man was teaching his niece.He’d love to be able to hear some of their conversations.
Amber went back to see Guy about an hour later.They could only see him one at a time as he wasn’t awake just yet.Since Ivan had sort of seen him first, he waited until last to go and see his brother.The rest of them said that he looked awful, but he wasn’t sure that they were looking at the large picture.He could have been dead was all he could think about.The room had been destroyed by some power, and they had yet to know what had done it.
Sitting next to his brother, all he could think about was the power it would have had to have been to do what it had done to the house.One wall was completely gone, and there was broken furniture everywhere.It looked like something had gone through the room with a bulldozer, not caring for what it hit or destroyed while moving things around.He looked at his brother when he said his name.
“How are you?”He said that he didn’t hurt yet.“That’s good.I think they’re pumping you full of drugs so that you don’t hurt.Can you tell me what happened?”
“Mom.”He nodded, not sure what he meant by that.“She’s dead.And came to see me.When she was getting angry, she was touched by George.That’s the shortened version of what happened.”
“What did she want?”He told him.“Well, that makes sense.She’s been saying that since the day she got arrested.That she wanted us all to be dead.I don’t understand why they continued to have us if they hated us so much.Not that we’ll understand that any more than we did why they treated us like they did.”
“Hurting a little.”He called the nurse, and she didn’t hesitate to give him something for the pain.“I’m not sure what happened after the two of them touched.I know that I was knocked back, but I don’t know what happened after that.Could be that they canceled each other out and that they’re both gone.”
“Selma can’t get in touch with George.But she did say that whatever happened, he might need to rest up.”Guy said that he wanted to rest.“All right.I’ll tell the others what you told me.They’ll be happy to know that it wasn’t something more serious, like a gas leak or something.Amber is taking it well, too.She’ll be back in when I’m finished here.”
“Good.I love her.”He didn’t get a chance to tell him everyone knew that because he was out again.It was more than likely the best thing for him, as he would be in so much pain from what had happened to him.The ribs alone would have made it difficult to breathe very hard.Something else he thought of was that he was going to be all right.And that made him feel better, too.
