Okay well in light of the holiday (happy Halloween all! Yippy!) I figured I'd do some writing, and what is better than fan fiction? Awesome, well I'm not going to stall because I'm really pushing for time. MOVING ON…
Disclaimer: No no no! I don't own anything if I did what the frig would I be doing writing about it?
On the Other Side…
"I can't believe you talked me into this," complained Tom Hanson as he followed his friends through the newest haunted attraction. Supposedly some haunted carnival that was cursed hundreds of years ago, now was littered with spirits, fortune tellers, and evil clowns. Judy was too excited to pass on the opportunity to have fun getting the pants scared off her, she came an hour earlier than everyone else, or everyone else was an hour late thanks to Tom. Tom wish he'd just stayed in bed.
Still reluctantly he agreed to go. Well it wasn't so much agreeing as it was Doug challenging him by calling him scared. Tom wasn't afraid of haunted houses, attractions, or any of that crap. He knew that none of these things were real, and if that meant sucking up the next hour or so
"Come on Tom," Doug Penhall patted him firmly on the back. "It'll be fun."
"Besides," chimed in Harry Ioki. "How often does Fuller give us tonight off?"
"When he gets tired of you and Jude talking about your ghost crap." Pointed out Tom. He ran his hand through his hair and sighed. It was only going to get worse if he kept bitching about it. He might as well try to make it at least a little bit tolerable.
"Hanson, you've always got to be the spoil sport," Doug folded his arms. "Why can't you just try, to enjoy yourself?"
"Because I don't get my kicks out of these things," answered Tom.
An old woman began to push her way through the crowd. They could hear the complaints of other patrons as she wordless pushed them this way and that. When she grew closer to Tom, he began to move to the side to get out of her way. But her eyes were cast on Tom, like she was coming for him. He pretended that he didn't see her, or wasn't going to give her any attention, he hated being singled out outside of work.
His efforts to ignore the woman, however, were doing nothing to help him, she began to get closer and closer until she was only a few feet away from him. Her appearance reminded Tom of something you'd see in a bad horror film. She was hunched over, using a cane to hold her up, with wrinkles that Tom almost thought her skin would sag right off her body. Her eyes were difficult to see in the dark, her hair was covered by a thin cloth with a few stray pieces of grey sticking out. Had it been any other day, Tom would have been greatly disturbed by the woman. But seeing as today was Halloween, Tom figured it was for show more than it was for him.
Her boney finger pointed at Tom, he looked around aimlessly like he hadn't strayed away from the line so there could have been at least fifty people behind him. But the woman sat unmoving with her finger pointed at him.
Doug and Harry watched their friend with a semi amused smirk on their face. "Uh oh Tommy," called Doug. "I think she's going to get you."
"They're coming to get you Tom," added Ioki with a quote from 'Night of the Living Dead'.
Tom said nothing, instead he gave in and gave the old woman his attention. He took a step forward to see if she was truly going to try to scare the hell out of him. She flicked her finger towards her body to tell him to follow her. Tom could think of a million reasons as to why he didn't want to be bothered with this crazy looking woman. But one reason stuck out that made him follow her.
His damn curiosity.
He made his way through the crowd until he was face to face with the woman. He could see Judy at the front of the line giving him a puzzled look. He shrugged and leaned down to speak with the woman.
"Come with me," croaked the woman. "Someone's been dying to see you."
'Dying to see you,' thought Tom as he rolled his eyes. 'Very nice!' He held his hands out before her telling her to lead the way. She hobbled in front of him, taking slow steps. Tom had to wait ever few steps to fall in behind her. He figured if he tried to walk slowly he'd be standing on one leg forever and eventually lose his balance and fall. He noticed they were walking away from the theme park into a tent across the road. Tom had to give the park credit, they certainly went out of their way to attract costumers. She waited patiently at the corner for the light to allow them to walk. But every so often she would look up at the young cop.
"I usually walk out when the road is clear," she said as though she were trying to make conversation. "But that's jaywalking and I know you take your job particularly serious Officer Hanson."
Tom opened his mouth to say something but quickly closed it as he wondered how she knew him. "What?"
"It would be foolish of me to break a law against a very hard working cop," explained the old woman. "I'd hate to be in trouble." Tom didn't know what to say now, how did she know him? Then with a deep breath he figured it had to be Judy playing a trick on him. Doug and Harry were probably in on it as well. 'Jerks,' he thought angrily. 'I swear if they're in on this I'm going to kill them!'
The light turned white with a walking symbol. The old lady walked first, followed by Tom across the street. Tom wondered if he had let her walk across the street by herself, how fast could she truly move. He decided against testing that theory incase she really had trouble walking. He didn't think his conscious would let him get away with it.
"Here we are," she pulled the flap of her tent back to let Tom inside. "Take a seat and I'll get with you in a second." Tom looked around the eccentric tent. Various objects hung from the ceiling, jars filled with things that Tom was almost afraid to ask what was inside, book splayed open in various areas. Tom had to admit this place looked so much smaller on the outside, he couldn't help but wonder how everything fit inside. He saw an empty chair and tried to move carefully without touching anything.
The woman hobbled next to Tom and held something in her hands. Whatever it was, was covered in a cloth, to Tom it looked like a mirror or a picture frame. "He wanted me to give you this," she held out her hands and Tom did the same. She dropped a photo into his hands. Instead of looking at the picture, he watched the old woman carefully. Her thin lips turned into a rotten toothy grin, it disturbed Tom greatly. His eyes never left the old woman until his head was turned downwards.
He gasped as a photo of his father was staring back at him. "Who the hell are you," he demanded as he shot out of his seat. The picture dropped to the floor carelessly, the old woman picked it up and held it close to her. She looked offended at Tom's reaction and compassionately looked down to the picture of Tom Hanson Sr.
"Oh he didn't mean it," she cooed to the picture. Now Tom was beyond disturbed. If this was his friends way of trying to scare him, it worked. It worked very well, but it was also cruel. They knew he was sensitive when it came to his father, why would they do that? Perhaps this wasn't a trick, but that was crazy, things like this didn't exist. "There there, he didn't mean it."
Tom felt a knot coil in his stomach as he watched the old hag coo and pat the picture on the back as though she were comforting a child. Who was this mad woman and how did she know about Tom and his father?
"He's been wanting to see you for a while," the hag ignored Tom's question. "He told me as soon as possible that I should find you. It's been a while since you've spoken with your father, Thomas."
"How do you know me?" Tom figured the woman was crazy. Now he just had to know how this woman knew so much about him. "Who are you?"
"Your father told me about you," she explained as though it should be obvious. She moved closer to Tom. He could hear her wheezy breath as she studied him. "You are Tom Hanson Jr. are you not? You're father wanted to speak with you."
"My dad's dead," Tom said with a hint of anger in his voice.
The old woman cackled. "Did you think I was stupid? Of course I knew your father is dead, that doesn't mean he doesn't want to talk to you. Now, your father waited for nearly ten years to speak with you, I wouldn't keep him waiting any longer." She held out the picture once more in her boney hands. Tom fought an inner battle as he tried to figure if he should take the picture or not. Finally, with a shaking hand, he took the photo and looked into it.
His father looked the same as the last time they had seen each other. The image made the already tight knot in his stomach, tighten once more. Tom felt like he was going to be sick, this didn't seem right. What was he suppose to say? He felt like an idiot just assuming he could speak to his father by talking to an old photo, which he was still left with the question as to how it got there. He looked up to the hag again, she made a gesture for him to say something.
"Um… Hi dad," he tried. He waited for a minute and nothing happened. Which as I sure you, the readers can guess, didn't surprise Tom. He was still convinced that the old hag was crazy. It was the only way Tom could possibly explain her actions. It didn't, however, explain how she knew about his father or himself or why she even bothered to find him. He shrugged and looked at the woman, who was still gesturing for him to continue. "It's been awhile."
"Thomas," Tom gasped and, after reminding himself not to throw down the picture, glanced up once more at the hag who was grinning her rotten grin. "Thomas you're here."
"Yeah I'm here dad," Tom scratched the back of his head. 'There's no way,' he thought. 'This is insane there is no way this is real!' Perhaps Tom was going crazy. It made more sense than the fact that he may have been talking to his deceased father.
"Thomas," Tom Sr. repeated though this time there was pain in his voice. "Thomas…"
"What's happening," Tom asked the old woman. She looked worried for a second before she frowned at the young man.
"You're causing a problem," she held an accusing finger at Tom. "You think you know everything. You think we're both crazy, and for that it's making things difficult. Try to forget your logic for a moment, believe that there is something on the other side."
Tom tried to believe, there had to be something to convince him. 'Well let's see,' he reasoned. 'You're with some strange lady, talking to a picture of your dad, apparently this isn't working because you don't believe him, and you're trying to figure out how this is possible. Good luck!' That didn't help at all, in fact that just seemed to make things worse. But he knew he heard his father's voice, she heard it and so did Tom so maybe that gave some credit to what he was trying to convince himself. 'Plus,' he reasoned. Trying to change his thinking pattern. 'She had to find out about me somehow. I'm an undercover police officer so it's got to be difficult for her to find me.'
"Tom," the voice of his father didn't sound so strained. Instead, it sounded like Tom Sr. was standing right behind him. Tom slow spun around expecting his father to be there. He couldn't help but be disappointed when he found there was nothing there.
"These things take time," said the old hag as though she could hear Tom's thoughts. "Give him a moment Thomas, he'll show up."
Tom waited impatiently. He was going to see his father for the first time in years, how the hell was he going to be patient? All of a sudden a light appeared. It seemed dim for a second until Tom noticed it was gradually growing brighter and brighter. The orb began to take shape, it stood as a man, finally losing the appearance of a light and gaining one of a man.
Tom Hanson Sr.
"Dad…" Tom trailed off. He was at a loss for words again. There he was, his father, who'd been dead for nearly ten years, standing in front of him as though nothing had ever happened.
"Hey sport," Tom Sr. smiled at his son. "Jesus Tommy look at you. You're all grown up now."
"Yeah," Tom said nervously. He rubbed the back of his neck trying to figure out what to say next.
"Amy wanted to make sure I told you she said hi," Tom Sr. spoke casually. "She's a nice girl Tom. Don't blame yourself for what happened to her."
Tom's eyes went wide at the mention of Amy. He hadn't forgotten about her, but she was the last person he expected would want to even say hello.
"So you're cop now," Tom Sr. kept conversation going. Tom just nodded but the lump in his throat wouldn't let him speak. "Good. I don't think I've ever laughed as hard as I did when you broke Charley's nose. It's good to know you haven't changed."
Tom didn't know whether or not he should have taken that as a compliment or an insult. Although at the moment, he honestly didn't care which it was. He was still taken by the fact that his father was there.
"I can't stay long Tommy," Tom Sr. said with remorse. "I just wanted to tell you how proud I am of you. I love you and your mother. Tell her I said hello Tom." Tom nodded again. "I'm serious Tommy. Don't tell me you will and then don't tell her."
"I promise," Tom barely squeaked out. "I'll tell her."
"Good," Tom Sr. was practically beaming at this point. "I've gotta get back."
"Where?" Tom had to ask. Where did Tom Sr. go after he died? Was it Heaven? Was it Hell? Did they exist?
"I can't tell you Tommy," shrugged Tom Sr. "Just know I'm waiting for you and your mother on the other side. I'll be seeing you, after a while. Goodbye son, I love you."
Before Tom could respond his father was gone. He sighed, "I love you too dad." He spun around to find the hag was still smiling at him. "Okay, you've got me. Why did you bring me here?"
"Isn't it obvious," she asked. Tom shook his head. "Your father loves you very much, he wanted to say goodbye. He did not have a chance to when he left last time."
"Why did it take so long?"
"As I've said Thomas," said the old woman. "These things take time. Sometimes hours, sometimes years. It's not easy getting to the other side. Now, I know your friends must be waiting for you outside. Best not to keep them waiting." She shooed Tom from her tent to join his friends. As he made his way to the corner to cross over once more, a question rang in his head. Who was that woman? He decided to turn around and ask.
As he pulled back the flap, he noticed the tent had gone from eccentric messy, to what seemed like a tornado had blown through. Tom looked around, most of the items from the ceiling looked as though they had been torn down. The jars had busted, shattered glass decorated the tent. The chair he had been sitting in less than ten minutes ago had been flipped over, one of the legs broken. Books had torn pages, and instead of splayed open in various position were now written in and thrown about.
Finally Tom caught sight of her, the old woman laid face down on the ground, Tom didn't miss the rope that had been tied around her neck and the cane that had been broken in half. Tom knew better than to think she may have been alive. He quickly crossed the street to his car, Doug and Ioki were just exiting the attraction.
"Hey Tommy where were you," called Doug. Tom didn't say anything to him, he radioed for homicide and an ambulance before taking a deep breath. "You missed the whole thing."
"I guess it was better that you did," Harry threw himself in the back. "It was pretty lame."
Tom still ignored his friends, his eyes were glued to the tent. What the hell just happened? As he revved the Mustang, one saying kept repeating in his mind. 'These things take time. Sometimes hours, sometimes years. It's not easy getting to the other side.'
Now Tom was stuck with a question that he would take to the grave with him. Which side had be been on?
Fin
(A/N: Well that was crappy. Still I'm once again pressing time here to the limit. Now I get the pleasure of rolling around in dirt for my costume (zombie) plus a million other things I've got to do. So read, review, and remember: I love you. HAPPY HAUNTINGS!)