Steve was having trouble breathing. He felt as if he was hyperventilating. Jack and Catherine sat quietly by until he composed himself."Impossible! You must have misunderstood her, she must have said something else."
"No, Steven. She said it clear as a bell. We thought she was just rambling," Jack said.
"Then when you mentioned the accident..." Catherine's eyes were becoming teary again.
"Look, we all know Eddie died ten years ago. Mama knows it too. I don't know about you two, but I for one, do not believe in ghosts."
"Catherine," they all looked up as their mother's voice echoed from the sparse room in which she was sitting. " Jack, Steve, you two had better come too." With Catherine in the lead, Steve and Jack followed her to the back of the house. Looking more frail than before, the old lady craned her neck to look up at them. "I'm afraid there's going to be another tragedy, kids. Jeffery this time!"
"Now what makes you think that, mama?" Jack asked.
A peaceful smile seemed to come to her as she slowly begun to succumb to sleep again. Steve knelt before her, "Mama did Eddie tell you this?"
Jack grabbed Steve by the collar and pulled him away. "What's the matter with you? That's a hell of thing to ask her."
Their mother opened her eyes and said, "Yes. What a nice boy he is." Her eyes rolled and she fell asleep.
Once they had returned to the kitchen, Jack confronted his brother. "What was that all about? Don't tell me you're starting to buy into this ghost thing - the ghost of Eddie Nolan?"
"Of course not, Jack!" He was trying to choose his words carefully. Could their mother, so close to death herself, be somehow linked to some kind of psychic vibes? Was she somehow a portal between the living and the dead? His thoughts were interrupted and he turned to Catherine.
Catherine's cell phone began chirping. "Hello? What? Jennifer, slow down. Who? Where?" She removed the phone from her ear and stared blankly at the device in her hand. She was visibly shaken.
"That didn't sound good," said Jack.
"There's been another accident. Jeffery Weeks is dead."
Steve grew tense, anxiety grabbing at his stomach. Jeffery too had been there that night at the quarry when Eddie died. In a little over an hour, three people had died and all of them had been connected to that night. He saw that Both Catherine and Jack were visibly shaken themselves, immersed in their own private thoughts.
He fished his car keys out his pocket and looked up his two siblings. "Catherine, where was the accident? I'm going down there. Either of you want to tag along?"
"In front of City Hall. I'm staying here, I can't leave mama alone," Catherine said shaking her head. "I don't think I want to see it anyway."
"Jack?" He called over his shoulder as he headed out the front door.
"Cath, while we're gone give everyone a call, everyone who's still with us. Fill them in on everything and I mean everything! We need to get together..." he nodded toward the idling car in the driveway, "All of us...including Steven."
"Do think that's wise, Jack?"
"Just do it, Sis." He stepped through he screendoor onto the porch. She watched in silence as her two brothers drove off toward downtown Soddy-Daisy.
To be continued.... Echoes of Eddie -8
No.1257
2 comments:
Ahh, the plot thickens....
Steve just may be onto something.
Great tale.
Keep up the good work.
Hope your leg is better.
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