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
I was back to the Manor on Monday, happy after spending two days with Kujo. And three days later, the two last Haunters arrived in one of their trademark rental black SUVs. It was almost dinner time, so I sent them to say hi to the Blotters while I finished cooking and set the table.When they joined me in the kitchen, I could tell they felt awkward, there with his friend’s sort of ex. Like they weren’t sure what they could say or talk about.“Hey, guys, let’s clear this out of the way,” I said, bringing the shepherd’s pie to the table. I sat down with them and spoke while I filled their plates. “Yeah, Bran and I broke up. Yeah, I still have feelings for him. Yeah, it still hurts. But I can hear his name and even talk about him in a rather rational way without having a breakdown.” I smiled, shrugging. “What can I say. Shit happens.”Ted raised his beer to me.“Shit happens,”
Like there was nothing left to say after that conversation in the study, we spent the whole next day shooting, mostly outdoors, by the Quabbin and in the woods. They made me do four different shots of the hundred words, plus their B roll, like I was some frigging model showing off New England rural fashion. By dinner time, the three of us were exhausted and we didn’t linger late afterwards. Early the next morning, we parted with quick hugs and they left. I didn’t see or hear from them again.August brought another visit of Mr. Edward and his family on the first weekend.And Brandon’s birthday on the 18. I could feel it marching on a week in advance, and decided I felt strong enough to send him something simple, just to let him know I recalled the date. I would’ve made it a letter over the post mail, but I didn’t have the guts or the heart to write to him. I spent the next days trying to come up with a fitting gift.On Friday, I was
“Brandon needs you here,” Isaac said, sitting down again, and raised a hand to cut me off. “This has nothing to do with the premiere. He’s having eye surgery on November 1.”“Yeah, his doctor said so months ago. And that’s got something to do with me how?”He faced me with a frowning grimace, like I was a spoiled child throwing a tantrum.“Don’t give me that look, Isaac. We broke up, remember? Half a fucking year ago. He’s got you guys and his chicks to look after him.”“No, he doesn’t, Fran. He’s sending us all away that very day, to resume our different shoots. And about chicks, remember I told you there was no way he was back with Serena? Well, I was right, he wasn’t.” I rolled my eyes with a bored huff that earned me a full-out scowl. “Hear me out. She’s an influencer and was down in popularity, so she asked Brandon if he could he
Poor Lizzie. Well, and Charlotte. I desperately needed to vent out all the fear and anguish the news had caused me, but I couldn’t tell Trisha, let alone Amy. So poor Lizzie was my ghostly shoulder to cry and ramble and wind out. Those two weeks were the longest in history, and I had to fight back my urgency to throw everything out the window and go to Los Angeles. I was actually about to do it three times.Especially after I heard Brandon losing it a night he found Cake talking with me over the phone. I kept quiet and he didn’t find out it was me at the other end of the line. He’d lost so much vision, he couldn’t make out my face on screen. But he got so mad, suspecting Cake was talking about him, he not only threatened the big man, but snatched the phone from his hand and smashed it on the floor, stomping on it until it broke.Another one for Lizzie to hold me up, because I’d gotten to see him. He was but a shadow of himself. Consumed, p
It opened with a shot from the drone flying over the Quabbin toward the shore, then over the woods. Brandon’s voice-off narration had an ominous echo to add to his solemn tone, as he spoke the words clearly and slowly.“Hidden in rural New England, away from big cities and crowded streets, is the place that changed my life forever: Blotter Manor.”The drone slowed down when it reached the garden, to show the old Victorian in all her glory under a bright blue sky.“This is where I came across my first apparition.”They cut to footage from that moment of their first investigation, on their first season, to Brandon scampering out of the master bedroom, screaming, after catching Ann Marie off guard in there.Then Brandon was in the garden under the sunset twilight, the Manor showing behind him against the darkening May sky. As usual during his intros, Isaac could be seen standing a dozen feet behind him, hands in his pocke