Paranormal Agency BOOK 2 : THE FUNERAL HOME.

Alison put finger thoughtfully to her chin. Let’s see. What did she have to do to get some awareness out of these things? They simply weren’t responding to anything she and Greg tried to do. She needed to do some research. She could leave for now and come back in a couple days when she was more prepared for the situation. “Okay fine. We’ll go,” she agreed.

“We’re leaving?” Greg asked. “So you’re going to give up?”

“No. I’m leaving but I’m not giving up. I’m going to go home and do some research. Then I’m coming back to finish this.”

She left the bathroom, disappointment showing on her face. She found Jeffrey back in the lobby, sitting down in the same chair he had been in earlier. “I’ll be back Friday,” Alison said to him.

“You’re not finished?”

“Not yet. I’ll finish it Friday.”

“Really?” He looked confused. “Just what are we seeing here anyway? I mean, what are we dealing with? Do you know what it is?”

“A multiple hunting,” she replied. “That’s all I know right now.”

“So what do we do about it?”

“I personally suggest you keep your distance from this place until I’m done. I haven’t been able to determine whether they’re dangerous or not so I’d rather you not take any chances.”

“But nothing you can do about it right now, huh?”

“Not yet. Let me check out the rest of the rooms though just in case. I want to get a better idea of what I’m up against here.”

“Is that normal? Having to make two trips on a job?”

“Oh yeah, all the time. Once it took me ten different tries just to exorcise a home in down the road from here. The O’Malley’s place,” she explained.

“Really? Does it change the price anyway?”

“Well, for something like our situation here I’m going to have to charge $450 to compensate for the multiple trips and the time I spend doing research. Does that sounds okay?”

“$450′s not so bad. I can handle $450. S’long as you get the job done,” Jeffery replied. He moved his elbows to his lap, leaning forward and letting out a frustrated groan. “Ugh. This has been hell. Can’t wait till this whole mess is over and done with.”

“Is there anything else you can show me for today?”

He nodded. “Just the morgue in the basement. S’where I almost quit right on the spot.”

Greg snickered to himself. “Like the bathroom zombies weren’t bad enough, huh.”

Alison made a face at him. “Shh,” she hissed quietly.

The mortician headed toward a staircase and began walking downstairs. Alison watched as he opened the door to the morgue. Then she and Greg followed him down the stairs, through the open door, and into the inside of the dark morgue. Jeffery switched the light on.

She and Greg watched in awestruck as several looming shadows with no owners danced chaotically across the plain white walls and over still corpses laying on metal tables. They jumped and spun and twisted in circles around the Alison, Greg and Jeffrey, taunting them, as if almost daring them to make any kind of sudden movements.

Greg moved a hand towards Alison’s shoulder and whispered. “Come on. Let’s go. This place is dangerous. I don’t want you to get hurt.” His hand fell right through her body. He was one of the few spirits she was unable to make physical contact with. Normally, spirits could easily grasp her and other spirits but not objects. Greg pretty much couldn’t touch anything or anyone except for other spirits and that was it.

Ignoring him, she called out, “Hello? Hello? Is anyone here?” Once again, just like in the men’s restroom, there was no reply. “Wake up!” she called. “Wake up right now. You can do this. Listen to me. You can wake up. Can you hear me? You’re dead. Snap out of it.”

An hour passed with zero results. The shadows danced, the corpses were corpses, and Jeffrey left about five minutes into the session to go upstairs and wait. By the time she was ready to give up, she was exhausted and frustrated. This was absolutely ridiculous. How spirits lived here? And why weren’t they responding to her usual techniques?

“Okay, we’re leaving,” Alison said with a sigh. “Let’s go.”

They went upstairs and met with Jeffrey back in the lobby. “No luck, huh?” Jeffrey asked.

“I’ll be back on Friday.”

“What time?”

“Same time,” she replied. “Around five. Will that work for you?”

“S’fine. But I might not be here. You can let yourself in. I’ll leave the key under the porch mat. I’m gonna have to close the place down until we get this thing resolved. I can’t have customers coming in and running into this crap.”

“That’s fine. I’ll be heading home for today.” She and Greg left the funeral home and began heading back to her house. Glancing over at Greg floating an inch over the passenger seat, she said, “This isn’t normal, Greg. Something’s up. What do you think’s going on here?”

“Hey, don’t look at me,” he replied. “I’m as confused as you are.”

“You see anything when you were looking around on your own.”

“Nothing special.”

“I see.” This whole mysterious experience was beginning to remind her of the strange occurrence when she had worked with Joshua Hunter and his sister Emily Burt. Just like today, it had sounded like any other normal job at first, but as she discovered more and more, she realized that something big was going on. There was something especially evil about the liquid black Soulless creature that had killed her friend, Emily. Something Devilish about the whole thing. It hadn’t just been an ordinary haunting. It had been a nightmare and a battle with an actual monster from Hell called the Soulless. It had shocked and terrified her. Who knew such things were even possible in this world.

Alison asked impatiently as she drove away from the mortuary. “Isn’t there anything you can tell me about hose mirror things. C’mon, Greg. You’re my inside guy. You have to know something. Didn’t it remind you of anything you’ve ever seen before?” The guy was dead after all for God’s sake. There had to be some kind of secret that he was holding out on her. After all, Greg was always keeping things from her to begin with. He wouldn’t even tell her how he had really died. Damn it, for all she knew his name wasn’t even really Greg.

“Sorry to disappoint.”

“Ugh. Just forget it then.” She glared at him. “You’re useless. You know that?”

He turned to look at her and made a face. Despite the annoyed expression, Alison’s heart skipped just a little from it. He was so handsome it was ridiculous. If she wouldn’t have known just how obnoxious he really was, she would’ve probably mistaken him on the street for some kind of Greek Supermodel. It was sickening how pretty he was.

It made her wonder how he had really died. He looked as if he had been healthy enough. There were no obvious stab wounds or objects protruding from his chest or head, so what the hell had happened? Had he drowned? Been in a car accident? Who knew?

Alison tapped on the wheel in front of her in thought. So much work to do. So much to worry about. She thought of the silent army she had witnessed in the men’s bathroom and the mysterious shadows she had seen in the basement. A series of chills raced through her body, making her shiver. “Those faces really freaked me out,” she complained to Greg, looking over at him. “Seems like I haven’t been getting anything but the oddball jobs these days. I wonder what’s going on.”

“Just tell him you don’t want to do it,” Greg suggested.

“I can’t tell him that. It’ll ruin my reputation. I’m a very well-respected exorcise, Greg.”

“Yeah right. Something like that.”

“I’m being serious,” she said. “I can’t do things like that to my clients.”

“Then don’t complain about it.”

“I’m not. Who’s complaining? Not me.” She made a right turn and her house came into view. “And don’t’ tell me what to do.”

“I’m trying to give you some good advice. If you don’t want to take it, then don’t ask me for it.”

“Yeah, okay. Fine. Whatever, Greg.” They climbed out of the car and headed to her house. She felt exhausted and arguing with Greg wasn’t helping any.