The Reason (11 page)

Taylor pulls her Sony camcorder from her lap. "I've got it all recorded."

Jason rubs my head. "Are you sure you want to see this?You sort of freaked me the hell out."

Nodding, I slowly move over to where Taylor's seated. She opens up the LCD screen and hits Play.

My eyes grow wide as I watch myself on the video. It's me, yet it's ... not.

"Kendall! What the hell is going on?" Jason screams on the taping.

On the screen, I slump over and begin to twitch. Then I stop moving. Jason drags me into his lap. Celia is to my right. Taylor zooms the camera in on me.

On the recording, Becca gasps in horror. "Holy shit! Is she okay?"

"She's channeling," Loreen explains from off camera; you can hear her telling everyone to remain calm.

"Why are you here?" I hear myself ask. Okay, well, my mouth moves, but that's so not my voice. It's a scratchy voice, deep, like a whiskey drinker.

"What's going on, Loreen?" I hear Taylor ask. "Can you help her?"

"Kendall's okay. She's stepped away so this spirit can come forward. Who are you?" Loreen asks.

In Jason's arms, I twitch and twist. "Who are
you?
"

"My name is Loreen Woods and these are my friends."

People introduce themselves as I lie there breathing hard. Chunky intakes of air to sustain this spirit overcoming me.

"You know our names. Can you tell me who you are? Are you Mayer Holt?"

"Daddy?" Shelby-Nichole pipes up.

My teeth grit together. "I am no man!"

"What's your name, sugar?" Donn asks so calmly you'd think she is a professional investigator herself.

My eyes shoot open and I'm glaring in Donn's and Loreen's direction. "My name is Sherry. Sherry Biddison. You're in my house. Aiding them."

"Aiding who?" Celia asks.

"Them!"

Loreen is the voice of reason. "Tell us what we can do to help you, Sherry."

"No-no-no one can help me," I growl. Bitterness laces this spirit's every word. "Where were you when they locked me away? Who was here to help me then?"

Celia leans into the frame. "You were locked away? In this house?"

More growling from me. Deep in my chest, like I'm tamping down the pain from this woman. "Treated like chattel. No way to live." I squirm and my eyes close again. "The blond woman who lives in my house will pay for what happened to me. You all will."

"Kendall, what's happening?" There's almost a begging in Jason's voice. "Come back to me!"

The camera wobbles, and the image becomes crooked as everyone moves near me. A melee of voices talking over one another fills the audio; sleeves and arms cover the screen. This is when Jason and Celia start yelling at me, while Celia smacks the ever-loving boogink (my Grandma Ethel's word for
shit
) out of me. Ouch!

"Whoa," I say when I'm done watching the video.

"Do you remember any of that?" Taylor asks.

"Nope.
Nada.
Zilch."

Mayor Shy gnaws on her bottom lip. "What did this Sherry Biddison mean about my paying for what happened to her? Does she think I'm responsible?"

Loreen wrings her hands together. "That's probably why you've been having these body aches. This Biddison woman is attached to your house and is uneasy with the living."

Shelby-Nichole clears her throat. "I wonder if this is the woman I've seen."

Celia's attention spins to Shelby-Nichole, as does Donn's. "You've
seen
her, sugar?" the mayor asks her stepdaughter.

The girl's eyes fill with tears behind her glasses. She tugs them off and dabs at her face with the back of her hand. "I've tried to ignore it 'cause I didn't want to admit anything was there. But yeah ... I've seen a woman."

"Do you think you could describe her to Celia? She can draw amazing pictures based on descriptions," I say.

"Let's do it," Celia says.

"Right now?"

"No better time," Celia tells Shelby-Nichole.

The two of them go off into another room to work on the drawing. Becca threads her headphones over her ears and starts reviewing her EVPs. Taylor excuses herself to go outside and get some air. If I had the strength to follow her, I would. Instead, I stretch my arms in front of me for a hand up.

Loreen and Jason help me to my unsteady feet, and Donn wraps her arm around me. "Can I get you some water?"

"Yes, ma'am. That would be nice."

When the mayor leaves the room, I move to a nearby couch and collapse into the bulky cushions. I let out a long sigh. "I can't believe what I just watched. That was really me!"

"You certainly surprised me," Loreen says with a grin.

"To say the least," Jason snaps.

I twist around to face him. "What's eating you?"

His handsome face falls. "How can I protect you, Kendall, when you go and do something so asinine?"

"I've told you I don't need protection, Jason. You have enough to worry about with your sister and mom and all that stuff."

"Kendall, I—"

I stop him with my hand. "There is a very bitter spirit in this house that is causing the occupants suffering. Shelby-Nichole is afraid to acknowledge what she's seen and heard. Donn has intense back and shoulder pain from this Biddison woman. I can't just walk away. We've got to do a lot of research and find out who she is, and I've got to get her to cross into the light."

She doesn't want to go...

Emily appears across the room.

"What do you mean, she doesn't want to go?"

Loreen and Jason look around, both realizing at the same moment that I'm speaking to my spirit guide.

"You're treading on dangerous ground."

"How so, Emily?"

"What's she saying?" Jason asks.

"Emily wants me to stay away from this spirit."

He sits next to me and takes my hand. "Then listen to her."

I put my hand on my chest. "I just, like, became one with this spirit. I let her use me to speak to you guys. I can't simply abandon this investigation."

"What about your vision?" Jason asks, his eyes shining with apprehension.

I bite my lower lip slightly. "It's only that, Jason. You and Emily are so overprotective of me. It's like I can't go to the bathroom without one of you thinking my vision is going to come true. I'm already scared of my own shadow. What more do you want me to do? Lock myself away in my house, like what was apparently done to Sherry Biddison?"

"Kendall..." Jason inhales deeply, his chest rising and then falling in a most dramatic manner. "I've dreamed about you too."

"Awww ... how sweet," I say with a smile.

He blushes slightly. "Not like that. Bad dreams."

"Of something horrible happening to me?"

There's an eight-months-pregnant pause. Then he breathes, "Yeah."

I smile as best as I can, considering my pulse is jetting away under my skin. "You've been watching too many late-night movies on On Demand."

His blue eyes darken. "I'm serious, Kendall. I can't shake this. We're connected, you and me. I love you and I want to protect you at all costs."

"So now we're sharing dreams?"

He shrugs. "Seems like it."

Geez Louise! Does that mean he's also seen the images of the guy with the gray hair? God, Jason's going to think I'm cheating on him in my dreams.

Donn returns and hands me a large glass of ice water. I reach for it and begin gulping it down to quench the fire inside me. I don't know if it's residual energy from my connection with Sherry Biddison or the fear that something looms in my future that could severely alter my life.

Jason sits back on the couch and runs his hands through his hair. Loreen hitches her hip onto the arm of the sofa and gazes down at me. "You're full of anxiety."

"Damn right I am," I say, like it's the understatement of the year.

Loreen's voice is as soothing as a warm bubble bath. "Have faith, Kendall. God has a path for you. Follow your life purpose."

"Even if it means putting myself in harm's way?"

"We can't live every moment in fear."

"Yeah, we can," Jason points out.

Loreen stretches out her hand. "We're all in this together. You, me, your team, Donn, and Shelby-Nichole. We'll get to the bottom of this. There's research to be done on Sherry Biddison so we'll know how to handle her the next time. We'll keep you safe, help this spirit, and make sure this house is clean. It's what we're meant to do."

I really hope she's right.

C
ELIA BOUNDS TOWARD ME
in the hallway at school Monday morning, waving some sort of printout in my face. "You'll never believe what I've got."

"Info on Sherry Biddison?" I've been thinking about the spirit nonstop since our investigation on Saturday.

Stopping in her tracks, Celia frowns. "No. I mean, sort of, but no. I have something on Emily."

Jesus in the garden! With all my thoughts of Sherry, I'd forgotten that my spirit guide is Emily Faulkner with a Wisconsin license plate. "Whatcha got?"

"Would you believe there are actually
four
missing persons named Emily Faulkner? Paul found files from Illinois, Kentucky, Indiana, and Ohio."

"That many?"

She bobs her head in excitement. "See, the thing is, even though we know the plate you saw in your vision was registered to Emily Faulkner, records in Wisconsin couldn't locate the actual car. I bet what happened was that since the car caught fire, all traces of it were destroyed, to the point that it was demolished or recycled or what have you."

"Like the plate melted in the wreck?"

"Yeah, something like that."

"So even though the car was registered to Emily Faulkner, there's no proof of what I saw happen to the car?" I ask, trying to grasp this info.

"Right. See here." Celia shows me the report her cousin faxed to her. "He's also cross-referencing the hospitals in these four states to see if there were any Jane Does that showed up in any of the ERs pregnant or with a deceased baby."

I rub my temples. Right—Emily's baby. What in the world happened to the baby? I wish my psychic abilities could help me figure this out. "Isn't that a lot of searching?"

Celia dismissed the thought. "That's what computers are for. They do all the work on the data." She lays a hand on my arm. "We're going to find out who she is and where she came from, Kendall."

I smile at my friend. "I appreciate all you're doing, Celia. It is important for me to know Emily's backstory and why she's attached to me. However, I'm going to focus on Sherry Biddison while we're waiting for the research from your cousin. There's something desperate about her situation, the way she's wreaking havoc on Donn and Shelby-Nichole. Besides, I can't get Sherry out of my mind. Especially since she's actually hurting Mayor Shy. I had seen Sherry through the windows there even before I knew anything about her. She's out for vengeance."

Celia's eyes drop to her feet and she kicks her sneakered feet against my locker. Her black hair falls in her face, and I can see something is bothering her. It's damn near written in Sharpie across her forehead.

"What?"

"Nothing."

"Celia..."

"It's okay, Kendall. Really."

I focus my attention on Celia, reaching out to her psychically. I break through the mental barriers my friend has put up to see deep into her thoughts. I sigh when I catch a glimpse of what's troubling her. "Oh, Celia. You're upset because throughout all of our investigations and ghost hunting,
you
haven't had a real paranormal experience. That's not true at all. What about the EVPs we've captured? And the ectoplasm photographs? And my channeling the other night?"

Her eyes connect with mine. "That's all shit that's happened to you. I mean, sure, we get EVPs and some cool photos. But I've never
seen
anything. I can't see Emily. I can't hear who you talk to, and I'm not a vessel for channeling or anything. It's frustrating as hell."

Bless her heart. I wish I could manifest an apparition for her. "You'll see something when the time is right, Celia."

"When?"

"When you least expect it."

She waves me off with the flick of her wrist. "Are you tell ing me to be patient? 'Cause I ain't patient," she says snarkily. "I'm anything but patient."

With a laugh, I say, "Look, I'll promise you something, Celia. If I die before you, I will totally come back and show myself to you."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah ... like when I'm ninety-five and you're barely getting around in your walker in the old folks home." I crack myself up at the thought of Celia and me being blue-haired little old ladies.

This makes her smile. "You'd better do it, Moorehead."

I hope it's a
loooooooooong
time before I have to make good on this promise.

Monday after school, Mom walks into the kitchen, her face unusually pale. Oh God, she's not expecting, is she? No ... no, this isn't about my family. It's about the Tillsons.

Taylor glances up from the French homework she's got scattered over the table. "What is it, Miss Sarah?"

A large man steps into the room behind Mom and slowly removes his aviator sunglasses. Taylor's breath catches when she sees him. Although they're not the clear blue eyes I'm used to gazing into, I know for a fact that this is Jason and Taylor's father. His hair is clipped close to his head. His skin is remarkably tan considering he lives in the Last Frontier. He's wearing worn jeans and a brown leather jacket that's seen better days.

"Hey, baby girl," he says to Taylor.

She sits up straight and moves her long hair off her shoulders. "Daddy," she says with no emotion in her voice. "What are you doing here?"

Mr. Tillson moves farther into the room and spreads his arms open for his daughter. Taylor doesn't react. Instead, she begins stacking up her French book and notebook. He slices his eyes over to my mother, who frowns at the icy interaction.

"I'm here for you and Jason, sweetie," he says.

"About time," Taylor mutters so low that only I can hear her. Taylor lifts her eyes briefly. "I see."

Great googly-moogly. The tension is a thickening agent you could make gravy out of. Needing to help out, I push to my feet and extend my right hand to the man who fathered my boyfriend. "Hey, Mr. Tillson. I'm Kendall."