Wilderness Hannah, page 12
part #3 of Damsel Series
Debbie chuckled a bit.
“That’s not too bad, really. You left her an out and while the snark could have been walked back a bit, you can still work with her. Just, you know, some people aren’t ever going to be friendly. They can’t. Forcing a person to be nice isn’t possible, either. The best you can do is hold yourself to a higher level and persevere. That and avoid them, when possible.”
Hannah had already worked most of that out, for herself, but had to agree that talking about it had helped a bit.
“Still, that doesn’t get the future told. So, what are we doing for that?”
Debbie shrugged, sitting next to her on the multi-colored sofa, a thing that would have looked correct in the house of a middle-class grandmother. She started to smile, at the thought, but Debbie pointed at her.
“Trance, now. Go.” There was no yelling, but there was a sense of urgency in the words. Then, after fifteen minutes of focus, going as blank as she could manage without using drugs for it, and possibly even then, Debbie spoke again.
“Find Samantha. The one I’m thinking about.”
At first, for several minutes, she didn’t see anything at all. Then, a cute, rather friendly feeling, Golden Retriever came into being, behind her eyes. She fought that, looking for Samantha, a person with that name, and finally sighed.
“I keep seeing a dog? Blonde fur... Not too large? Seems like she wants to play fetch?”
“Great! Now, focus on the coffee table in front of you. Eyes closed.”
That was a bit harder to manage, really, and took her about ten minutes to actually get her mind to find the table. A thing that she knew was there, having physically seen it, no more than half an hour before. It was part of the problem, because she was trying to actually see it, in her mind, not just recall what she’d seen there earlier. It was a real obstacle, since she had to basically shut down the part of her that wanted to do that.
Finally, she simply understood what was there. On top of the thing, where nothing had been, before.
“There are... Six envelopes. White. Normal seeming? They each have a number on them, one through six.”
Debbie spoke gently.
“Right. Now, I’m going to roll a die, and then open one of the envelopes. Tell me what’s in that envelope.”
She would have thought that part would be hard, but she saw it happening, once she thought about it. Including Debbie rolling the white cube with black dots on it. The number that came up, was four. Then she was going to walk over to the table, open that envelope and then...
“The picture is of an elephant... Also...”
She didn’t say what was coming next, just moving to the side, as an overlay of Debbie moving happened. That was, she thought, what was really going on at that moment in time. Then the woman spun, and threw a bean bag, one the size of an apple, at where her head had been. Hannah was on the other side of the sofa, her eyes still shut, not having wanted to be struck in the head.
Debbie clapped.
“Nice. Now, hold that state, and keep your eyes closed. Move with me, into the front yard.”
That took Debbie leading her outside, and standing her on the right-hand side of the grass. She had something in her hands. A cloth bag... That felt like it was made of something coarse, like canvas. The heavy kind.
There was no announcement of what was going to happen, which was a gentle toss, directly aimed at her middle. A soft underhand thing from about ten feet away. The object that came at her was soft, being filled with real beans. She could feel them, but didn’t know the name of the dried things.
Hannah could see five different things taking place, all at once, inside her head. All at the same time. It was a blurry mess, but she got enough to put her hands up, and try to catch, matching what was going on in her head. The bag landed in her palms and she closed her hands.
That was the last time she managed anything that cool, for the afternoon. She really was able to see what was about to happen, but they got so complex that she pretty much was seeing a tan and cream-colored blur, and lines coming out from the woman, in a way that barely made sense at all. Finally, she sort of managed to stay away from the lines, just before things were tossed at her. Gently.
In the end, Debbie cleared her throat.
“Not too bad, for a first time. Practice, between now and next week. Next time, I’m throwing knives, so be ready for that. You’ll need to practice going into a trance with your eyes open, and letting go of what you think is about to happen. You also need to find people, and objects, at least three times every day, while you’re in training for this. Easy, right?”
That wasn’t easy sounding at all, but Hannah nodded, feeling a bit out of it, at the moment, standing there in the open, in a suburban front yard.
“Sure. That won’t be weird at all. Perfectly normal and easy to do. Barely a problem.”
Debbie laughed, but Hannah also got a hug.
“Exactly. Now, do you need to eat something?”
Hannah nearly begged off, since it was the polite thing to do. At least in her world. Then she remembered she was supposed to gain weight. A thing she needed to actually do.
“I do, actually. Not that I’m hungry. I’m on a new diet. It’s about four thousand calories per day, so... Yeah. I’m down to eighty pounds. Everyone keeps saying I’m anorexic and... I keep denying it, but I’m not sure they’re wrong. I don’t eat a lot, and I’m not obsessing over it, in the right ways, but... I think I might actually have a problem.”
Debbie nodded.
“Then we fix that. Now, what are you supposed to eat?”
She didn’t know, her list for that being at home. She had to call Nate, who was off working at the food pantry, with Jaime. Hannah didn’t know what all was on the thing, but her brother, for some reason, had memorized the entire sheet, or close enough he was able to call things off, talking to Debbie over Hannah’s phone. Then the woman went to the kitchen, after hanging up, as Lashondra came out of her basement, with a man.
He was white, seemed a bit depressed, and had lanky, damp seeming brown hair. Otherwise, the man was pretty ordinary looking. Until Hannah relaxed her eyes and focused, just trying to see what was there, around him. She didn’t know why she did it, but it felt right, at the moment.
So she noticed that the entire room was filled with ghosts. They were following the man around, actually impacting with him, as if the man were a flame and they were moths. The man himself looked the same to her. He had a golden aura around him, and it was strong, but not anything too much greater than what most people had going on. Lash was doing something similar, though in a silver color. Debbie had streaks of silver as well, but looking at her own arm and the hazy field over it, Hannah’s just looked sort of blue.
Lashondra noticed her doing it, and smiled.
“Hannah! This is Trevor. He’s a natural medium and spiritualist.”
She smiled at the man, and put her hand out, to shake.
“Hi! So, all these ghosts have to do with that? The medium part?”
The man sighed and nodded.
“Unfortunately. Being a natural at it isn’t nearly as fancy as being good at sports or playing music, either. I tried to trade up, to being a natural with the ladies, but so far no luck in that area at all.” He smiled and it was charming enough. His delivery was even smooth.
“Ah? We should chat about that, some time. I know almost nothing about ghosts. Well, except how to cast them into the burning pits of hell, of course. Just the one thing that way, unfortunately. Most of the smart ghosts avoid me, due to that. I’m really kind of shocked that these haven’t fled yet, given that. I’m a bit one trick that way, just able to cast spirits into eternal damnation, but... You know how it is. The man I learned it from isn’t exactly nice all the time that way. I’m sure that these ghosts, the ones pestering you, won’t want to stay, now that they know that they’re about to be taken down, in around two minutes. I wish I were a bit faster at this. If they run, I can’t really catch them...”
The room cleared, suddenly. The ghosts actually moved outside, and Hannah lost them at the walls. She shrugged. Then called out, in case they could hear her.
“I didn’t even get to mention how I can harvest their energy, before they go, making it worth my while to actually bother with.”
Lashondra had to fight a laugh, which was real seeming. Debbie got it too, and grinned, though the decently plain guy in front of her closed his eyes and sighed.
“It’s quiet. Finally. How did you do that?”
Hannah leaned in, after checking around for ghosts, and whispered.
“I lied. I can’t do that at all. They don’t know that, so, if we keep it up and pretend hard enough, we can buy you some time away from them, on occasion. Just don’t push it too hard, because I really can’t back it up.”
Trevor went wide eyed, then nodded.
His words were loud.
“So, you can harvest their energy, before casting them into eternal torment? They have to be around you, you say? You can’t do it at a distance?”
She spoke loud again as well, not knowing if it would carry. She wasn’t the medium, after all.
“That’s right. If I can see them, I can make it work. I don’t have to do it, but, I mean, I have no magical power here, otherwise, unless I take it from another source, so if some of them want to end it, in this realm? Send them to me.”
Debbie waved at them, and broke into what they were saying.
“I have food. Trevor, you should stay. Hannah is. How did your session go?”
She was clearly talking to Lash, but Trevor sighed and shook his head.
“Going into the tank made it all worse. Instead of the normal five or six ghosts, all of those came. Like, fifty of them. They were aggressive about it, too. You saw them, Hannah? When they tried to get into my body and take me over? That... It can work, sometimes, but it takes energy to stop them. They were all yelling at me the whole time, too. So, not fun.”
Hannah nodded, as they moved to the table. They were having potatoes that night, with meatballs in cream sauce and large amounts of garlic bread. Trevor was given a normal amount of food, but Hannah was given more than that, it being dished up by Debbie, who looked at the others, and shrugged.
“She’s in training, and has to gain twenty pounds.” There was no mention of her possibly having a real disorder or anything.
So, even feeling relief, over not being outed, especially in front of the new person, Hannah sighed.
“Undereating could be a problem for me, I guess. Anorexia, maybe? I probably have to go to a psychologist, to see. I can make myself eat, so it might not be that. I don’t know, really. Just so, you know, if we’re ever hanging out and I beg off food, find out why?” She looked at Lashondra, but then Trevor, as well.
He grinned.
“I do want to hang with you. You like slightly nerdy guys who are into video games and science fiction programs, right? As friends, I mean?”
That was a bit low self-esteem, but the man, while a few pounds overweight, wasn’t actually dumpy about it. He had an ordinary face, but wasn’t ugly or anything. A cute hat and some sharp clothing and he’d be able to pick women up at the club, with very little trouble, even.
Plus, he had those cool ghost powers.
She nodded.
“I know nothing about those kinds of television shows or movies. I’m working on a VR game right now. For knife fight training?”
He perked up then, and started into the games he liked, which were mainly flat screen things, though he did have a VR rig. A lower end one, but he’d actually played a few things that she did most days, meaning they had things to talk about.
Lashondra stayed silent, smiling gently, as they ate, until Debbie mentioned Doctor Sendra. Lash, who was nearly always well poised and collected, actually made a face that seemed angry.
“That woman is a menace. I’m not at all certain that we should be housing anyone with her, even if her facility is the best we can get for superhuman individuals.” She turned to Trevor then and explained the whole thing.
“Superion X captured a werewolf, out in the middle of the day, on the new moon, the other day.”
The man nodded then, a bit hurriedly.
“I saw that, on the news. Nine people died first. It was... Some kind of mutation? A lab experiment?”
Hannah shook her head.
“We don’t know? It seems most like a werewolf, but could be something else. It hasn’t changed back yet. I think the plan is to wait for the full moon, which is fine. I’m not wild about Doctor Sendra, personally. She was mean, on the phone.” Hannah faked a pout then, which got a reaction from everyone. It wasn’t really a laugh, but there were smiles and Debbie waved a hand at her, playfully.
“Don’t go all heiress on us now, Hannah...”
She got her meaning, but sobered, and stood up, rather suddenly. Everyone looked shocked except for Trevor. He noticed the ghost walking through the wall, and stopping as Hannah started to draw a five-pointed star in the air. Focusing enough that it left lines, made of energy, there. Faint ones, but a thing that ghosts could see, it seemed.
Then she turned to Trevor, and grinned.
“Oh, wait, did you call for this one? I can spare it, if it’s a friend of yours...”
The man shook his head.
“Nope. I sure didn’t.”
She nodded.
“Is it during your daily office hours? What time is it?”
Lashondra got a pocket watch out from under her loose peasant style tunic. She looked at it closely, and marked the time.
“Five-seventeen, now.”
Hannah glanced at the man, his average face seeming serious.
“When are your open hours each day, Trev?”
The man wasn’t quick on the uptake, but he got the basic idea, after about fifteen seconds.
“Between eight and ten, in the evening? At home. If I’m out, then they need to come the next day. My house, not here. It’s rude to have people over, if you’re staying as a guest.”
Hannah looked at the ghost, not certain if it was a man or woman. It looked like a blob of gold light to her. Other people saw a lot more than that. Trevor probably saw them as actual people, even.
“Tell you what, ghost pal. If you set that up for Trevor, with all the other ghosts, you can get special favors from him. You know, medium work, not sex. Unless you really win him over, that is. In exchange for that, I’ll cancel this binding and relocation spell, this one time. I can’t tell you apart, so probably best not to be around when I am. That works for you, Trevor? This one can work as a secretary, with the other ghosts? Make the appointments and all that?”
She didn’t know how the man ran his life, but he blinked and shrugged.
“That would work, really. That doesn’t mean you get to possess me all the time, but we can workout something that way?” He was negotiating with the ghost at hand, who, after ten minutes or so of him talking and Hannah slowly eating, left. Just walking out through the wall.
Lash actually nodded at the end.
“That is one way of managing this. Setting a time to be approached each day, and having any of them who get too out of hand banished. It’s a bit harsh, but most will follow the rules, given that.”
Hannah got up, went to the star in the air and rubbed over it with her hand, erasing it. That had stayed in the air, until she’d done that. It wasn’t really there, of course, but it was interesting that it had lingered that long. Even if she lacked the power to make it do anything.
Then she had to keep eating, ending up feeling overly full at the end.
Leaving half a plate of food, at the same time. Part of that had been how much she’d been fed, of course. The other part was truly down to habit. She wasn’t used to eating that much and wasn’t a huge person, to start with. Calling for an Uber meant going outside, after a bit. It also meant that Trevor followed her, a bit shyly. Lash and Debbie stayed inside, for some reason.
The man smiled.
“So, I’m not usually this forward, but...”
She nodded.
“I’m single. How about you?”
He froze, for a bit, which was actually kind of cute, if not that loaded with confidence.
“Well, I see ghosts. They’re real to me. Like people?”
She nodded then.
“So, you get all the ghost girls? Sweet. Or, is it sweet?”
He chuckled then.
“Oddly enough, dating a ghost is just as hard as managing it with a regular woman. Some of the problems are different, true. I mean, most physical women never ask to borrow your body, not to go and get with another person, at least. That can get awkward, since, you know, I’m not into men.” He rolled his eyes. “Oh, I’ve been with men, but not on purpose. I’ve dated, including a couple of ghosts, but being this weird tends to kind of put a crimp in the love life.”
She could see that one. The ghost stuff sounded kinky, but it didn’t bother her.
“So, we can hang out and see if that goes anyplace? Where do you live?”
He shrugged then.
“Here, for the night. I work in trading, since, you know, I have secret sources that mean I can do that successfully. I live in New Jersey, so Lashondra let me stay here, while we try to find a way to manage my condition. It’s a bit of a commute. Not impossible, but...”
Lashondra was nice that way. Open and generous.
“Neat. So, how long? We can go to dinner, tomorrow night? Someplace casual? Then, I don’t know, go to my place and watch a movie? That or get take in?”
He pointed at her, lightly, a sprightly and happy move.
“That second one? That way, if we get ambushed, you can do that spell for me?” She looked around, and while no ghosts were standing on top of them, at least a hundred were staying back, in the distance, across the street. Seeming eager.
“Yep. I can come back here, tonight, too. Really, these folks need to know who to go to for appointments and should probably wait elsewhere. This is a business, after all. Maybe collect up some of that insider business information to trade with you?”
