The Ghost Writer: Part 2
Part 2:
Rita stood in the centre of her bedroom and gazed at her reflection in the free-standing full-length mirror standing in the corner of the room. She looked with great interest at her appearance, checking and re-checking the details of her body from all sides and angles. She seemed very pleased with herself so much so that she laughed uncontrollably as she headed off into the bathroom to disrobe.
Coincidently, Larry was also standing in the centre of his own room – though in his case it was his living room and he was looking in deep consideration at his telephone. Finally, he picked up the receiver and with great difficulty pressed the appropriate numbers for Rita's apartment.
The ringing phone caught Rita's attention and she returned to the living room and picked up the receiver. She did not speak into it however, but merely held it up for closer examination.
"Rita, are you there?" Larry asked.
Hearing someone's voice she answered: "Yes, I'm here."
"Good, now listen to me. I'm sorry for what happened earlier and want to make it up to you. Let's do something tomorrow, my treat. We can do anything you want."
Rita listened to Larry very carefully and then said: "Who is speaking?"
"Now don't be like that," Larry replied. "I said I was sorry, and I am. I'm very sorry if I have upset you. You know you mean the world to me, and well, I don't want to do anything that would make us fall-out."
Rita was still puzzled. "Who are you?" she asked.
"It's me, Larry!"
Rita thought for a moment. "I see. What is it that you want to do?"
"It's your decision. I'm happy to do anything that you want, take you anywhere you want."
"I'd like to see the sights of this great metropolis: the seat of government, the places where the rich and powerful mingle and meet, the repositories of science and art and literature; can you take me to see such things?"
"Yes, I suppose but I was thinking more like we could take a walk in the park or go to the beach. You seemed very keen on the beach at Happy Harbour when we went there recently, we could do that again?"
"When you say beach, do you mean the sea-coast? No, I want to see those places where the great and powerful congregate."
"Whatever you want to do is fine with me. I'll pick you up at ten."
The next day at 10:00am, Larry knocked on Rita's door and waited in expectation for the door to open. When there was no answer he knocked again and as there was still no answer he began to worry. He decided to send Negative Man to investigate further.
What Negative Man found was that a gelatinous semi-liquid Rita was trying unsuccessfully to maintain her body in the resemblance of her normal appearance. It seemed that she had fallen asleep on her bed and her body had reverted to a protoplasmic state which she was now unable to fully solidify. She was fully aware of Negative Man's appearance in her room and demanded his aid. "Help me!" she managed to say before the upper half of her body collapsed in on itself onto her bed. Negative Man then quickly opened the door and re-joined Larry for him to come to Rita's aid.
Larry looked on in astonishment. "What is happening to you?"
Rita cried out in her despair: "I don't know! You have to help me!"
"How do I do that?"
"Am I dying? Is this how I finally die?"
"No, of course not!" Larry was desperate to help but had no idea how he could do so. "Come on, Rita, concentrate all your thoughts …" The only thing he could then think to say, and with some irony was: "Pull yourself together!"
"I'm trying…"
Under Larry's watchful eye and his continued encouragement Rita eventually managed to finally gain control of the substance of her body. Afterwards, she sat on the edge of the bed, exhausted and brow-beaten by the effort. "That was horrific," she said.
"Do you know why or how that happened?"
"No, I feel that I have woken from a nightmare. Yesterday is a blur. I remember going to that old book-shop for you … and… then nothing until I woke up this morning and … even then, I did not feel wholly-here. It was as if I was observing myself but as if I could not do anything to help."
"You were possessed," said a man's voice from behind them. Larry had left the door to Rita's apartment open and a stranger had walked in.
"My name is Mark Merlin," the man said. "I have had some experience of similar possessions in the past but never anything quite like this."
"You know about this sort of thing?" Larry asked.
"I do," Merlin replied.
"I was possessed?"
"Yes, Miss Farr"
"But possessed by what?" Rita asked.
"Before I answer that, do you remember meeting me last night in the street outside your apartment? Do you have any recollection at all?"
"No, none," Rita replied.
"I see, thank you. Well, I think that you have been possessed by a human-remnant, a ghost that was once human."
"Is it gone?" Rita asked.
"Not entirely. It has established a link to you and could return."
"Can you do something about it, exorcise it?" Larry asked.
"I aim to try," Merlin replied. "And speed is crucial."
Merlin directed Larry to get several objects that he needed to carry out the exorcism: "A sealable container, glass or metal, and something of little value that is small enough to fit inside that container." He then turned to Rita: "I'll also need something that is precious to you, something that you value greatly: a wedding-ring perhaps or something similar?"
"No, not a wedding-ring but I have something."
Rita opens the drawer of her bedside table and pulls out a small, flat box. This is of great sentimental value. She opened the box to reveal an old black and white photograph of the original Doom Patrol.
"That will work well," Merlin said. "We will use this photograph to tether you to your body while we force the ghost-spirit out."
At that moment, Larry returned carrying an empty coffee-jar in one hand and an ordinary metal teaspoon in the other. He showed his finds to Merlin who once again proclaimed his approval. He then put the chair from Rita's dressing-table in the centre of the room and invited Rita to sit.
Merlin then explained what was to happen: "Larry, take off the lid to the coffee-jar. You keep that ready and place the jar on the floor at Rita's feet. Rita, you take the spoon in your right hand. Larry, as soon as the spoon is dropped into the jar, you screw on that lid as fast as you can; got that?"
"The spoon goes into the jar?" Rita queried.
"Yes, but only when I tell you to do it; okay?" Merlin answered.
Larry remained unconvinced. "And you've done this before?" he asked.
"I have."
"And it worked?"
"Yes."
"What about the photograph?" Rita queried.
"I was coming to that. Place the photograph in front of you on the floor next to the empty jar."
After she had done that, Merlin continued: "Now all you have to do, Rita, is concentrate on the photograph, just keep looking at the photo and keep hold of the spoon. I shall do the rest."
Merlin stood behind Rita and placed his hands on her head as if he were about to give her a shampoo. Rather than that though, he began to whisper under his breath in an ancient language as he began the exorcism of the spirit that was lodging in Rita. This went on for a few minutes before Rita began to feel any different.
"Something is happening," Rita said. "I can feel it!"
"Keep all your thoughts on the photograph. I'll try to force the spirit into the spoon," Merlin replied.
Larry watched as Rita seemed to drift off into a trance as Merlin continued his mutterings. He then watched as a ghostly form rose out of Rita's body and Merlin grasped hold of Rita's hand that still held on to the spoon.
"Begone, spirit! Begone!" Merlin yelled.
The spirit resisted Merlin's exorcism but was drawn further out of her body. "It mustn't escape!" Merlin shouted at Larry.
"Can the Negative Man help?"
"Perhaps, but take care that it doesn't enter your body when the Negative Man is elsewhere!" Merlin advised.
Larry ordered the Negative Man to help keep the ghost-spirit contained and forced it towards Rita's hand and the metal spoon. It could not pass through the enveloping body of the Negative Man and eventually withdrew into the object held in Rita's hand. When it had done that, Merlin ordered:
"Rita! Put the spoon into the jar! Do it, now!"
Rita did as she was told and with the Negative Man returned to its host, Larry regained consciousness and was alert enough to quickly put the lid back on the coffee-jar. Merlin then picked up the jar as both Rita and Larry watched with interest and puzzlement.
"You're sure it's now in the spoon?" Rita asked.
"And it can't escape?" Larry added.
"Yes, it's in there and no it can't pass through the inanimate glass into a living being as long as the spoon remains in the jar," Merlin explained. "I think it's for the best if I take the jar and store it someplace where it will be undisturbed."
"I'm all in favour of that," Rita replied.
Merlin shook hands with Rita and Larry and soon departed with the captive spirit in its glass prison.
"That could have gone a lot worse," Larry opined.
"Yes, it was weird and yet... Do you realise that it's not quite lunch-time!"
"Well, if you're hungry, that sounds like an invitation to a small cafe that I know in the Park that serves the best brioche this side of the Atlantic Ocean."
Rita raised an eyebrow. "Are you buying?"
"I am!"
Rita immediately gathered her things. "This cafe is within walking distance, isn't it?"
"Just about in those heels," Larry replied.
She took Larry's arm and they headed off.
A few minutes after they had both left Rita's apartment a strange noise began to erupt from Rita's guest bedroom. It was the crackling of energy followed by a distinct popping noise. This was followed by a figure materialising in the air. The figure was definitely female for she was without clothes though her body was periodically shielded from view by a fluctuating pattern of energy that shifted to cover various parts of her body. Her hair was long and red and several long tendrils spread burst forth from her to strike at the surrounding room. She floated lethargically to the ground and walked through the closed door out of the room and entered Rita's living room.
"Niles?" Her voice was like static heard on a poorly tuned radio. "Doctor Caulder?" The strange woman passed into the kitchen where her attention was caught by her reflection in the shiny metallic surface of a cooking pot. She touched her face and then examined her own abdomen. "Where are you?" The sound of static suddenly gained in volume until there was a loud popping sound as if a balloon had just burst. Then there was complete silence and the woman was gone.
[END]