Page 51 of The Burnt
Charlie grinned. “Oh, not to worry. We’ve got all night. We’re just getting started. Give me a second. I just have to go to the bathroom.”
Charlie went to the cabinet below the sink to get some supplies for a night of fun.
When he came back, Declan was on the phone.
“Gary… I don’t think it’s anything to worry about… Tomorrow. Morning… All right. See you then.”
Declan disconnected. He had a frown on his face.
“Is there a problem?” Charlie asked.
Declan put his phone on the nightstand. “It seems the cops were keeping an eye on Archie’s place after all. They saw me at Katherine O’Grady’s and wanted to know what I’ve been up to. I’ve been summoned to the office to explain myself.”
“Are you in any trouble?” Charlie asked.
“I’ll find out tomorrow. In the meantime, I think we should finish what we started just in case I can’t use my ‘Get Out Of Jail’ card.”
* * * *
Charlie tossed and turned in bed. He got up to go to the bathroom, but something was wrong. He looked over and Declan was sound asleep, snoring softly. The only light in the room came from the alarm clock on Declan’s side table. The clock read three a.m. Charlie scanned the room. He sensed he was being watched. If something was about to go down, Charlie had to be sure it wasn’t just his imagination.
There was definitely movement in the shadows beside the bathroom door. Someone stepped into view. It was Dave, the burnt barista from Charlie’s dream the other night. The ghost sipped at his coffee, and as he stared at Charlie, something began to happen. A delicate shimmer surrounded Dave, then he began to shrink. Whatever was happening, it didn’t seem to concern him. He just stood, stared, sipped and shrank…and altered form. As his height diminished, his proportions changed. His skin was no longer blackened and tattered. Dave was changing into a young boy.Was this what he looked like as a kid?Charlie wondered.
Dave was also dressed differently. He wore a little sailor suit complete with cap. His skin had reverted to the fresh pink of a healthy young child. And Dave now had hair! It was long, curly and blond. The young Dave smiled at Charlie and winked, then ran into the shadows calling out, “Bye, Baby Bunting. Daddy’s gone a-hunting, to get a little rabbit-skin, to hide his Baby Bunting in.Find me!”
Charlie tried to scream, but nothing came out. The next thing he knew, he was sitting up in bed gasping for air. Declan was still asleep beside him. He’d been dreaming, but it had felt so real. Charlie snuggled back into Declan and tried to sleep, but he kept seeing movement in the shadows wherever he looked. Charlie could feel the ghosts in the building, and for some reason, they were trying to tell him something.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Declan stood at the front desk of the police station. The cop on duty didn’t even look up. “Take a seat.”
Declan turned around and sat in one of the available chairs. Across from him there was a young mother with a baby on her lap, a toddler on one side and a smelly old man on the other. Declan glanced at the baby, who beamed a brilliant, toothless smile at him. He couldn’t help but smile back.
“Oh no, you didn’t,” the mother said, picking up the baby and sniffing its diaper. “Of all the times to…”
She glanced at Declan. “I know the washroom’s too tight for me and both kids. I’ll only be a minute. Would you mind?” She nodded toward the toddler, then headed off to the washroom with the baby and a large diaper bag. As the washroom door was closing, she poked her head back out and hollered, “Her name is Susie!”
Susie stared up at him and smiled. Declan stuck his thumbs in his ears, waggled his fingers and made a silly face. The smile on Susie’s face instantly disappeared and turned into a pout that was far too large for such a little head. Then she began to cry. No, not cry…wail.
Declan instinctively picked her up and stared into her eyes. “Shh, shh, you’re okay. You’re okay.”
The cop at the desk lifted his head. “Could you please do something about your child?”
“She’s not mine,” Declan responded. This might have been the wrong thing to say.
Another cop showed up on the scene. “If you can’t control your child, I’m going to have to ask you to leave.”
“He says it’s not his,” said the cop at the desk.
“Then whose is it?”
“The mother just up and left,” the smelly man said.
The second cop looked carefully at Declan. “Hey—aren’t you—”
The baby was now in full ‘scream’ mode.
“What the hell’s going on out there?” a voice shouted. It was Gary Sawchuck.
