Lingering by Chris Coppel

Author:Chris Coppel [Coppel, Chris]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Cranthorpe Millner Publishers
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 17

Paul ran into the bathroom and found Christy backed against the tiled wall, staring blankly at the smiling image in the mirror. He grabbed a towel and wiped it away with one sweep, then stepped in front of her and took her head in his hands.

“It’s nothing,” he said, with complete calm.

Christy’s eyes started to focus. She looked around herself as if surprised at where she was. Then she looked at the mirror.

“Something drew a face on the mirror,” she stated.

“It’s nothing… really.”

“Don’t tell me it’s nothing,” Christy replied. “I just watched something invisible draw a smiley face on the bloody mirror. The one thing it’s not is nothing.”

“Okay,” he said soothingly, as he tried to hug her. “It’s possible that we may have a…”

“A what?” she interrupted, pushing him away.

Paul drew a deep breath.

“A ghost, maybe,” he offered.

“Maybe!?” she seethed. “I’ve been in this bathroom, naked and alone, and you knew that we had a potential poltergeist creeping around the place?”

“I don’t think it’s a poltergeist. She seems completely benign,” he argued.

“She, is it? You’ve seen her then, I take it? What the hell have you been up to while I’ve been gone?”

“I haven’t seen her… or it. I just get the feeling it’s a she.”

“Oh, please, do tell me more about this feeling,” Christy said sarcastically.

“I just think that she’s a she, that’s all,” Paul said, shrugging.

“Why?”

Paul had to choose his next words carefully.

“She seems to be most active in the kitchen… so, naturally, I assumed...”

“Do you have any idea how sexist you are sounding right now?” she asked angrily.

“If you plan on being angry, you should probably focus on the haunting instead of my political correctness, don’t you think?”

Christy’s glare softened.

“You’re probably right,” she said, her voice gentler now. “Go on then, tell me about this new friend of yours.”

They moved to the bedroom and perched on the end of the bed as Paul told her everything that had gone on during her absence. Well, almost everything. He decided that she did not need to hear about his nightmare concerning the woods and the mushroom circle.

“And you didn’t think to mention any of this to me?” Christy asked, once he had finished.

“To be fair, I only knew for certain that we had an issue yesterday morning.”

“You really thought that the drawer opening by itself and the kettle turning itself on whenever you fancied a hot drink didn’t count as red flags?”

“I was still mulling those things over. I wasn’t sure what was causing them.”

Christy shook her head in disbelief.

“I only knew for sure when I got the smiley face treatment that you just had,” he stressed.

“That must be her big party trick,” Christy said flippantly.

“So, what do you want to do?” he asked.

“I would suggest we get someone in, wouldn’t you?”

“Someone? What, like a priest?” he asked.

“That’s for exorcisms. There are people who can speak to spirits and make them go away. There was that place on the news the other day, the one in Lewes. You should try calling them.

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