Paranormal Agency BOOK 2 : THE FUNERAL HOME.

Alison dressed abnormally well that day for her “date” with Josh. She wore a pretty dark blue button up shirt and fitted jeans that she only wore when she was going out.

Alison coughed into her hand. They were waiting for their food. Everything was absolutely perfect. Josh was as handsome as ever, wearing a grey suit, with his jacket unbuttoned and his neck missing a tie.

Well, maybe not perfect. Almost perfect, but not quite what she had been hoping for. It would’ve been perfect if not for the fact that she was sitting in the middle of the round restaurant table with Josh to her and his girlfriend Elizabeth to her left. Some date this was turning out to be. This wasn’t the first time Josh had done this to her. He liked to invite her out, and surprise her by bringing Elizabeth along for the ride. She sighed. Damn it.

“Then I lost my keys,” Elizabeth said, her high voice completely serious as she spoke. “It was the worst day I’d ever had.”

The energy radiating from Elizabeth was less than friendly. It wasn’t the same aura it had been when they had first met in the past. On the contrary, Elizabeth practically spewed out venom and hostility, and all of that hostility was directed straight at Alison.

Alison bit into her philly cheese melt and chewed slowly. Why did this keep happening to her? How did Josh always manage to give her the wrong idea? The last time he had done this, he had invited Alison over to his place for dinner, neglecting to tell her the fact that he was no bachelor. That was when Alison had first met Elizabeth, Josh’s girlfriend, an itty bity, tiny thing with lots and lots of blond hair.

Alison had flipped out at the time. It had been torture being having dinner with them, putting up with their lovey dovey talking and public displays of affection. However, the difference between then and now, was that then, Elizabeth had been sweet and a wonderful host, and now she was shooting daggers at Alison. The look in Elizabeth’s eyes told Alison that the little woman definitely wanted to fight her.

Josh seemed oblivious to the tension. The whole thing had gone straight over his head. He munched on a French fry and swallowed. “Anyone want a fry?” he asked. “They’re really good.” As a matter of fact, Alison was quite certain that Josh hadn’t heard a single thing either of them had just said. He looked extremely distracted right now.

“I’ll try one sweetheart,” Elizabeth offered, grasping a fry from the top of the pile on his plate. She threw a secret glare at Alison and Alison noted that Elizabeth had put an especially large emphasis on the word “sweetheart.”

Ignoring her, Alison took another bite from her sandwich.

“So, how’s that job at the mortuary going?” Josh asked her.

“Not so good,” Alison admitted. “I’m having problems with the exorcism. I have to go back again to finish it.”

“Ew, poltergeists at a morgue,” Elizabeth grumbled. “You’d never see me doing something like that ever.”

“Is it getting any easier?” Josh asked.

“Not at all,” Alison said. “It’s been one of my harder jobs so far. I’ve been there twice already.”

Josh nodded, looking at her. “Does that happen a lot? Where you have to go back again?”

“Not really, but when it does happen it’s a pain in the butt.” She took another bite of her sandwich, feeling her cheeks heat up as he spoke to her. He was so cute and sweet.

“What’s it like having to go back again?”

“Well, it’s not too bad, as long as I can bring it down to as few trips as possible, if you know what I mean. I can’t waste all my time at one job. I’d never make any money that way.”

“Do you have to charge more when you go back?” he asked.

“A little bit but it’s not that much. Especially if I have to back like ten times, I have no choice but to make the bill higher.” She liked the way he was talking to her. He managed to look so interested in everything she had to say. It was flattering, to say the least. If only all men were like that.

“So, what’d you see at the mortuary?” Josh asked, munching on another French fry. “Anything freaky?” His voice was full of curiosity. It was always was when they talked about this kind of thing. She liked that about him.

“I don’t think you’d believe me even if I told you,” she replied.

“Why? What’d you see?”

“Okay, I’ll tell you,” she agreed. “But you have to promise not to laugh. I’m being completely serious about this.”

“I promise,” he said. “I won’t make fun of you.”

Well then,” she began slowly, wondering where to begin. “There’s this bathroom in the funeral home and when you go inside, there’s about a dozen of these bald, pale creatures that just stare back at you. They kind of look like zombies.”

“You’re joking!”

“I knew you wouldn’t believe me,” Alison laughed.

“I never said I don’t believe you.” He drank from his glass of iced tea. He paused. “Do you think…” he asked uncomfortably, “that you could show me? You know, if they’re still there. I’d love to see it for myself.”

“Wait, what?” Alison asked, feeling shocked by the request. “No way. Nuh-uh. Out of the question. It’s too dangerous. I don’t want you getting hurt.”

“Hey, if you’re going, you have to take me too, Josh,” Elizabeth interjected. “You’re not going without me.”

Hold on a second? Hadn’t Elizabeth just said that she’d never be caught in a place like that? What was going on here? “You guys aren’t going,” Alison said again. “It’s dangerous there. I’m not taking you.”

“Oh, we’ll be fine,” Josh reassured her, visibly shrugging off Alison’s warning. “I just want to see it for a second. That’s all. And then I want to take a picture of it.”

“A picture? Really?” She couldn’t believe it. He acted like going to a haunted morgue was like going to an amusement park. The guy was crazy.

He flashed a smile at her, one that made her heart melt. “Come on, Alison. Please?”

He was gorgeous. Alison couldn’t help it. Her will power was caving in. Saying “no” to Josh was definitely not the easiest thing in the world to do. Letting out a loud sigh, Alison leaned over her food, stuffing the rest of the sandwich into her mouth and chewing thoughtfully. What was she thinking? Was she really going to go through with this? Was she really going to bring Josh and his stupid little girlfriend Elizabeth along with her to the funeral home?

Swallowing her last bite and looking up into Josh’s hopeful eyes, she finally agreed, nodding her head as she replied. “All right. All right. I’ll take you. We’ll go this Sunday. Just promise me you’ll be careful.”

Josh smiled again. “I promise.”