The wedding venue was in Topanga Canyon, Santa Monica, an hour away from Los Feliz when the stars aligned, so we left at eight-thirty in the morning, praying to the gods of traffic to allow us to get there before eleven. Lucky us, we did.
The place was amazing. I got to see the large elevated deck surrounded by trees where the ceremony would take place, set as an amphitheater full of seats, and the meadow where the party would be, shaded by long strips of white fabric. But then, a girl with a name badge reading Fay flashed a quick smile at Brandon, put a hand on my back, and whisked me away. I never got to see where the men would change outfits, because Fay took me to the main building. The broad dance hall had been turned into the main wardrobe, with all the gown racks, changing rooms and long dressing tables with mirrors for the hairstylists and makeup artists to get the ladies ready.
It was already humming with half a dozen women getting dressed. All of the
It wasn’t a quiet weekend like I’d expected. The Ley Lines crew had everything ready to leave on Tuesday morning, and the remaining Haunters would hit the road a week later to start their tight shoot schedule. So Brandon wanted to make sure everything was settled and ready, down to the last detail, for the three projects. We would be traveling with the Ley Liners for two or three weeks. Then, we would head back to the Manor, where Brandon had to finish setting up the guesthouse to start shooting interviews about June 25, and all the way into July.On Saturday, I took on the kitchen to let Guadalupe work. When Brandon saw me wearing an apron, sitting at the isle with my laptop on watch to keep the sink empty, he went back to his office, saying, “Hey, guys, last time we made a mess. So today, if you guys want anything from the kitchen, you go wash your stuff and use it again, okay?”An hour later, I was taking a swim in
“What the fuck just happened?” asked Harry, steering the wheel like an F1 on our race to LAX.I was trying to find the best night flight to Philadelphia and took a moment to reply.“You remember Kujo, the scavenger—”“You freed, yeah.”I did my best to update him about Kujo’s whereabouts ever since and added the call I’d just received.“Holy shit! You think something happened to him?”“I don’t buy Brett tripped and fell. One of those suckers tried to drop a ceiling lamp on my head the last time, so I’m pretty sure they can shove a guy down.”“And what if he’s hurt or something? I don’t even know if spiritual entities can get hurt.”“Yeah, they can. If they hurt him, I’m gonna get him well and burn the motherfuckers to hell.”“Maybe Brandon is right and you shouldn’t go alone, Fra
I woke up in Kujo’s closet, lying on his sleeping back, pretty much inside of him, given the way I was all wrapped up in his heat like a cocoon. The place had no windows, and the door was only ajar.“Kujo?” I muttered, rubbing my face.“Fran.”“You okay, my boy?”“Good.”“Great.”“Fran good?”“I don’t know. I guess.” I sat up and he moved to stand up and keep me wrapped in his heat. I rubbed my arms with a chill. “Thank you. Here’s colder than in LA. Did you eat while I was out?”“Yes.”“Well done. Where’s Amy?”“Hallway. Gina.”“The children are okay?”“Yes.”“You saved them, right?” I rested my back against the wall and brushed his shadowy body. &ldq
I didn’t have the heart to wait for Amy to come back. She would guess something had happened and ask questions I didn’t want to deal with. So I grabbed the light jacket I had, because why take a thicker one to LA, and left for the asylum. Thank God it was a warm night.Lee, the guy who was covering for Brett, was aware I was coming. He welcomed me with a sleeping bag, my own LED with new batteries and Brett’s thermos bottle full of fresh coffee. He even offered to escort me to Tinicum Hall. I almost asked him if he wanted to marry me. Until I spotted the KII in his pocket and raised my eyebrows. He smirked, embarrassed.“There’s been rumors about the scavenger for months, but they say it isn’t safe to approach it without you,” he said.“Approach him,” I corrected him softly.“Sorry. Would you mind if I go with you?”I nodded and shrugged. Brett had warned me it’d be ha
The Blotters behaved like stepping on eggshells when they saw me come back home so soon, with Amy and without Brandon. Guessing they were just too proper to ask openly about it, I decided to clear any doubt.“We broke up ‘cause I chose saving Kujo’s life, over a two-week roadtrip to watch the shoot of Trisha’s show.”“I’m sorry,” said Edward, always the epitome of a gentleman, while the touchpad beeped on the tablet.“Well, I’ve found a Márái Sándor book you haven’t read yet,” was the output.Gotta love Joseph’s humor.It was already dinner time, and Amy and I called it a night early, exhausted after the three last days. She left after breakfast, and all of a sudden I was like I’d longed to be about ten days earlier, during the shoot of the interviews: all alone with the Blotters in the Manor, like back in the good old days.
That summer, I learned that sometimes, you don’t feel the hardest hits right away. I spent the rest of June truly enjoying the simple facts of my simple life. Mr. Edward kept his word and got me enrolled to start my two first courses in late August, so I had a lot of reading to do before the beginning of the semester. Youngster Charles was a laugh to have around, and I was happy Charlotte stayed a grownup in her late twenties, becoming a much-needed company for Lizzie.I would still go out for a jog every morning, but I didn’t go all the way to town and back anymore. Instead, I would take Greenwich Road to the other side, the southwest.Days were long and warm, beautiful, peaceful. Amy came over to stay a Saturday night at the Manor and left after Sunday lunch. Trisha was over the moon, working nonstop with Isaac and their team. They were having a blast, she said call after call, especially after Brandon was as kind as to go back to Los Angeles and let them
The weekend of the Fourth was a nonstop juggling to keep my catastrophic emotional state in check. It was anyway a blast. The Blotters had the time of their lives, Susan was so excited to have them over that she worked the whole weekend straight, and my Blotters were the most discreet ghosts in history. We’d agreed they would retreat to the guesthouse with me if the living Blotters got too loud, but they didn’t. They too were happy to have members of the family all over the place, for the first time since Lizzie’s brother Stephen had passed and the Manor had ended up in Miss Grace’s keep.They arrived on the evening of the third, Wednesday, just in time to drop their stuff in their rooms and have dinner. At the main dining room, of course, even though they ate in the kitchen for breakfast and lunch.They insisted I joined them on Thursday, and off we went on two rental boats all over the Quabbin. That night, Edward Jr. and his future in-law helped Mike bring out the wooden picnic tabl
You already know I’m not one for flash fiction, so you can picture how hard it was for me to come up with those hundred words Isaac had asked. I mean, I wanted them to be special and meaningful, but I couldn’t let my feelings show. They had to make a difference, add to the story he wanted to tell, even if it was to contradict him. Wait. That was something I was actually good at.Okay, so contradicting him, but in a positive way. He’d told me he intended to tell a very different story from what he’d been showing over the last ten. That he’d always portrayed himself as the fearless investigator, daring the darkness to delve into some mystery. Dark entities were the bad guys, while he was the good guy coming to the rescue of any alleged victim of the week. He’d said he wouldn’t do any of it on his last episode with the show, but all the way around.If I pinned that along with his refusal to let me see even a single scene of what h
The traveling crews came back to Los Angeles for the holidays a couple of days later, and Brandon decided he felt brave enough to host a dinner for all of them at one of the restaurants they used to go to.It would be like his big comeback to society, leaving behind almost four months of reclusion and darkness. And to mark the occasion, he warned me that Cake had leaked the date and place to a few reporters.“Meaning my friends will be there?”“Guess so. The problem is that ban on you. I don’t want them to leave you out of the report. The other way around: I want everybody to know we’re together.”I looked up at him with a heartfelt sigh. But like it always happened over the last week, meeting his eyes focused on mine made me so happy, I couldn’t refuse. So I called Greta Arbosky, who said she would take care of letting them know about this one exception. I disconnected and faced him, raising my eyebrows.&
Against all odds, Brandon was the easiest, most complying patient in history. I think the scare of almost losing all his sight gave a whole new meaning to this opportunity to restore his eyes to full health. He never complained about the awful cream he had to apply directly on his eyeballs, he never missed drops or meds time, he slept on his belly, and kept his eye shields on around the clock.The first week was the hardest, of course, while he still wore the dressings. However, his determination to walk the line, no matter how hard, annoying or frustrating, helped us find our way around it faster than I’d ever expected. Just like the doctor had said, Brandon had been so stressed up over the last two or three weeks, he was plain exhausted, so he slept a lot over the first three days.My hovering tendencies kept me always within a few steps from wherever he was. At first, I thought he would soon get sick and tired of my relentless watch over him, but it was actual
I jumped to my feet when I heard Brandon move. His fingers flickered slightly and I covered his hand with mine, my heart hammering my chest. His head tilted a little toward me and his lips parted.“Hey,” I whispered. “Easy there.”He tried to speak and frowned.“It’s okay, Bran. The surgery worked alright.”He frowned deeper, trying to press my fingers. I took his hand to my lips to kiss it.“It worked, Bran,” I repeated, just in case. “You’re gonna be fine.”His shaky sigh told me he’d understood. His other hand came slowly up to brush the dressing covering his eyes.“That’s gonna stay there for a few days.”“Did it?” he mumbled, as his fingers explored the dressing further.“Yes, love. It worked. If we do what the doctor says, you’re gonna be fine in a few months. Maybe even better than before the inf
We woke up early the next morning. Brandon couldn’t have breakfast before surgery, but we were both too anxious to even feel any hunger. Cake arrived as we were coming down to the first floor, looking rested and ten years younger than the night before. On the way to the hospital, I took advantage of being alone in the backseat of the car to send a few texts. To Amy, to let her know I’d gotten to LA fine and everything was peachy. To Isaac, to let him know I was already in town, going with Brandon to the hospital, and I’d text him how the surgery had gone as soon as I found out. And finally to Harry, to ask him to remind Hugo to send all his light and all his angels to come lend a hand.“Who are you texting to?” asked the control freak from the passenger’s seat.“The press, obviously. Your NY Barbie and her gossiping friends will be waiting for us at the hospital.”He turned in his seat, frowning at me from behind h
I woke up at about three. Brandon was sound asleep, so much so that I was able to sneak between his arms without him even flinching. Back from the bathroom, I heard noises downstairs. Then I remembered the disaster zone the living area was when I’d come into the house. I got dressed and headed to the first floor, still trying to tie my hair in a ponytail.Guadalupe had arrived while we were upstairs, and her grin when she saw me threw me off. She and Cake had sort of cleaned up the living area, but the place still looked like the guys from A Clockwork Orange had dropped by to say hi. The kitchen was still a mess, with a lot of glass and smashed mugs all over the floor, wine and all kinds of things spilled on the floor. And when I say all kinds of things, I mean even mayonnaise. So I wore an apron, put on rubber gloves and set to clean up disaster zone number two.Guadalupe and Cake materialized in the kitchen, looking spooked. I faced them with
I had a glimpse of the whole living area completely trashed, like a hurricane had blasted through it, but I couldn’t care less. I rushed to the stairs and up to the second floor, to storm into the master bedroom. I froze just past the doorway. My heart, which was about to crack my chest open, suddenly stopped, and everything spun around me.Because Brandon was lying on his bed, unconscious, a bleeding cut on his forehead that had sprayed blood all over him. Cake was right by his side, lifting his limp legs up to the bed.“He tripped in the kitchen and hit his head with the isle,” Cake managed to say, panting after carrying Brandon all the way upstairs.I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t think. I couldn’t speak. I couldn’t move.“Fran! Bring me a wet towel!”His shout made me snap out of my shock. I dropped my bag on the floor and ran around the bed to the bathroom, where I grabbed the first towel I
I sneaked out of the sleeping bag the moment Brandon left his seat.“Gina!” I called, crawling on all fours out of the tent.“What is it, Fran?”“Gina, I’m so sorry, but I can’t stay to come tomorrow night,” I said, wiping my tears away just to make room for more to rain down my face.“It’s okay, Fran. Don’t worry about us.”“Kujo protect,” he said, coming to stick to my side.“You guys sure?”“Yes. Go do what you have to do.”“Okay,” I mumbled, and got back into the tent to grab my phone.The first morning flight from Philadelphia International to LAX was scheduled to live after six AM. Shit. It was hardly past midnight. Whatever. Better late than never. I bought a ticket online, already doing the math. I could check in about five thirty, so I had to leave Pennhurst
Brandon walked across the Manor garden in the sunset, hands in his pockets, looking around absentmindedly as he spoke.“I had to watch the footage to actually remember what had happened, and her words shocked me. She called me a puppet. She knew what was going on. Back then, I only understood they wouldn’t let me get to her, especially when Isaac turned his back on me. I couldn’t believe it. He’d betrayed me! My best friend! How powerful could this demon be to turn the man who had been my best friend for the last twenty-five years against me? I was trapped, all alone. I might have to fight for my life.” He looked at the camera. “You must be wondering if I stayed. The answer is yes. Why?” He let out a bitter chuckle. “The truth is I have no idea.” He shrugged. “I was so out of my mind that night, I can count at least half a dozen reasons why I stayed. And none of them make any sense.”They cut back to the
“Here she comes,” Brandon said, his voice reflecting exactly the same as his face. “The little witch comes to protect the demon. Not this time.”I felt Kujo brush his face against mine and realized I was holding my breath, still shaking from head to toe. His warm touch helped me snap out of it.Brandon kept taunting and provoking Kujo until I got there, trying to burn him with his holy water. And then he’d come at me, triggering Kujo’s reaction. After Kujo attacked him, hurting me in the process, I saw him jump back to his feet and try to fight Kujo with his bear fists, punching through him like a madman, almost stomping on me, ‘cause I was pretty much unconscious at his feet. Amy stormed down the stairs as Isaac managed to pull him away from me, and forced the camera into his hands to carry me up the stairs in his arms, while Amy kept Brandon at a safe distance.“Kujo mad.”“But y