Page 65 of Eldritch

Maria’s eyes brightened a bit, and she smiled. A genuine smile that displayed disbelief and amusement at the same time.

“You’re not serious,” Maria said.

“Yeah, she is,” Letisha said matter-of-factly.

Maria blew a breath out. “Wow. Well, have you moved any ghosts on? Banished any evil spirits?”

“I’ve asked them to leave. Once. For a time they did,” Sybil said.

Maria leaned forward a little. “For how long?”

Sybil hesitated. Maria and Pauline didn’t know about Sybil’s father and the horrible things he’d done. Sybil glanced at Letisha.

Letisha’s expression held uncertainty, but also resignation. “Well…maybe we need to tell her about your family. That is…if you want to.”

Sybil drew in another deep breath and decided it was now or never.

“My father was an evil man, and there was something dark around him,” Sybil said. “Most of it was his own making. His environment when he grew up. But his evil attracted other evil. That evil brought things into my house.”

“What kind of evil?” Maria’s eyes had gone wide again.

“Things. Elementals. Things that were never human. Not all elementals are bad, but…these were.”

That’s it, Sybil, you’ve told her some. Tell her all the things.

Maria’s mouth dropped open and stayed there.

Don’t tell her all of it now. It has nothing to do with what is happening here, Sybil. You can’t tell people. You’ve seen how they react.

“But I’m not talking about all of that right now. Soon, but not right this minute,” Sybil said. “But there’s nothing that dark here, Maria. So you don’t have to be afraid.”

Liar. Liar.

Maria nodded and stood up. “Thanks for listening to me and not thinking I’m insane.”

Letisha smiled. “No problem.”

With that, Maria scampered like a frightened cat. She closed the office door behind her.

Silence held the room for a moment.

“We could have told her everything,” Letisha said. She shrugged. “But you never know how people are going to respond, right? Then we’d have to tell Pauline.”

Hide it all. Always hide it. Always hide who you are. It’s the only way to be safe.

Sybil smirked. “Then they’d start thinking I’m the crazy lady? Or that I might be infected with my father’s bad blood?”

Letisha rubbed the back of her neck. “They might. But they can get over themselves.”

Grateful, Sybil said, “Thanks for supporting me. You’re good for my self-confidence. You’re the only true friend I have who understands what happened in my past.”

Letisha nodded and looked Sybil right in the eye. “Ditto. I’m not exactly rolling in a lot of friends either. But it’s okay. We’ve got this. Even if this place is haunted…and I think we’ve established that it is, we can still finish the job, obtain the paycheck and run outta here. It’ll be fine.”

Before Sybil could speak, a knock came on the door. Letisha walked over and opened it.

Pauline stood there, looking tired but cheerful. “Hey, you guys start the party early?”

“I wish,” Letisha said. “Everything okay?”

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