Ghost Of Bakers Past

Like usual, we shoved the issue under the rug for another night. I don't know whether to be relieved or angry when our routine continues and I bite my tongue. Nows really not the time to try and figure this out, Lucas has me walking the perimeter and checking the cameras and if I get shot again he might actually be pissed.

I grumble and use sticks to wack trees in my bored trek across the extensive property. He promised actual food and what better be some damn good oral later in exchange for this task. I thought it was equal exchange but I should have probably asked for a foot rub, Jacks boots a few sizes too big and stupidly heavy.

I finished hours later and didn't waste time walking back, running at a steady pace out of the foliage and into the main plantation.

It's dark and creepy and I seriously hate this place. Smiling at my brightly lit safe heaven I enter, brushing my hand across the now abandoned walls of his used-to-be room. I never thought to ask him why we sleep in the back of the barn. I never asked why there was a fully furnished room there anyways. Might be something an old ranch hand would stay in or something.

Deciding to check the observation room before holing up with a random book I check inside to find it empty, lit by a single colorless monitor. A young woman, probably my age, was tied up spread eagle on some metal table stark naked. I felt cold and maybe-possibly-a little betrayed. Closing my eyes I breathe through my stuttering lungs. Lucas better as fuck have an explanation for this.

I stomp down to her holding cell, using the now memorized code to open the door, and take in the sight of the struggling woman. She stops and bloodshot eyes widen comically when she sees my face. I don't want to take it out on her, she looked scared enough as it is, but I had to ask. I had to know.

"The man, Lucas, did he do anything to you? Anything sexual or suggestive?"

I almost cringe at my lack of tact. Shit that could have came out better. But I am concerned for her, if she was touched, willingly or not, I'm castrating Lucas. She shook her head so fast she might have snapped her neck except for the support of the table and mumbled something I couldn't hear. I smiled apologetically and stepped up to begin untying her.

"How long have you been here?"

"A week maybe? I'm not sure."

Her voice is weak but sweet, her ratty brunette locks still pretty and straight. She's a plain kind of pretty you find a lot in the ideal of white teenagers. Her boobs were perfect when I took an analyzing look for any wounds and skin blemish free and smooth. I take petty pleasure in the open cuts on her legs and knotted hair, mud covering her feet. At least he cleaned and fixed me up when he kidnaped me. I cringe in shame at my thoughts that proudly point out the differences of care he gives us.

"Why the hell are you naked?"

She shrugged delicate shoulders I almost wish I had.

"He said that if I was naked it'd be easier for the rats."

A little voice screams that she's a lier, that Lucas is a filthy cheater, but I shut it up and help her stand. Looking at the poor thing shiver I sigh and start stripping to her wide eyed amazement. I pass her the bundle but before she could dress I grasp her arm.

"Listen to me closely. I can't help you passed this point or we both die if caught. You need to run as fast as you can. There's a loose panel on the far side of the barn just keep going forward and you'll see it. I keep a scrap of red paper next to it. After that go right into the woods and run. Run until you can't breath. You might just survive until dawn. If you do I'll find you and take you a step further. If you get caught I can NOT get you out again. Understand?"

Her eyes fill with tears and her little perfect Cupid's bow lip trembles but she nods. I walk out with her unashamedly nude as she struggled into my larger clothes.

"Thank you."

"Don't. It's my husband who did this to you. Now run before someone catches on."

She's wide eyed but gives me a quick hug I barely return. I feel a little numb and I shouldn't. She's obviously a captive that has no say and I will believe until my dying day that Lucas is no rapist. But that doesn't mean he wasn't cooking up a sex buddy after our stand off for the past couple weeks. The mold is very persuasive. I sigh and deflate. He'll explain later. Maybe.

I walk back upstairs and get dressed in some jean shorts he scrounged up after I complained about all the sweats and a spare hoody. I found him in the monitor room watching me walk in with a raised brow, appearing from whatever shadowy mission that consumes more and more hours. So he knows. He doesn't ask for an explanation, he never does, but he switches the cameras to the ones set up around the woods. The girl followed my advice it seems.

"Will you chase after her?"

I know no one else knows about her. Eveline likes to tell me all about the new family members and I haven't heard a whisper about a young woman lurking around the barn. He could keep her here for a while before someone figures it out. Lucas looks between me and the video of the woman running and tripping through the darkened woods. I see his wide glossy eyes grow wider with a smirk that's all teeth and sharpened his face. Shark like, my mind supplied. He seems to soak in my jealousy like a cat in a sun spot, drawing out his answer and watching me fidget. He shook his head finally, most likely deciding not to aggravate me anymore.

"Naw. Let's go have a date night baby cakes."

I felt like crying. I think in relief, maybe anger. I have it terribly bad, the artificial mold fever being replaced with the black strands of obsession.

"I love you, Lucas."

Acknowledge me damnit. He rubbed the back of his buzzed head before leaning down and pressing a careful kiss to my ravaged cheek. I can live with that, I think.

I feel the thrum of mold around us and in me. It might not be in my brain anymore but it's in the rest of my body and I can feel it pushing me outside. I push the weighted body half on top of me onto his back, still wet sweat and cum cooling in the now open air. I shake Lucas awake and he comes to with a start.

"What the shit?"

At least I think that's what he said. He slurred around he words so much I couldn't understand.

"I gotta go. Evie..."

I don't tell him what's waiting for me but we stare and understand. I'll be back. I always come back. He rolls over after squeezing my arm and almost immediately goes back to sleep. Stumbling around in the dark I struggle to put on sweats and a T shirt, taking dark pleasure in using his favorite shirt to clean my sex. I may still be slightly pissed. Considering the chilly weather I sneak his hoody from under the bed and creep out without loud noises.

Eveline waited for me outside, playing with one of her filthy spies. A crow covered in the black blood of his most recent meal. They flock to her willingly now, along with the swamp rats. I don't think anyone else knows about her little agents scuttling around but I ensure that they don't sneak into the barn anymore. I'm surprised she hasn't noticed Lucas's treachery by now with those handy things but I guess he seems so enthusiastic, that it's hard to doubt him.

"Hey baby girl. Ready to play?"

I'm not sure how I feel about the almost motherly relationship I've developed with this girl. On one hand, she needs to be destroyed, on another I'm not sure I can be the one to do it. My heart aches in a way that I know isn't mold induced and I smile when her pinched face relaxes.

"Let's get mommy first."

My stomach drops and I fight to keep a scowl off my face. That woman... I'm sure under normal circumstances she's just a doll, but right now she only trusts Zoe and violently rejects everyone else. It's my job to keep her under wraps on these outings and from being damn stupid. She wants to leave so badly she doesn't even seem to take into account the dangers of spreading the mold. Or maybe she does. I see the helicopters occasionally fly overhead and I am under no illusions. We are under surveillance by whatever shadowy corporation that will benefit from our suffering.

I don't trust the cure they talk about. How are they going to get a viable antigen in a fucking rotting corpse? I don't tell them about the cure Lucas gave me for obvious reasons, trusting them as far as I can throw 'em. They, and everyone, notices my more normal behavior but chalked it up to finally settling down and fully accepting her gift. Jack even congratulated me on it, welcoming me into the family completely. Even Evie, in her mad scramble for love, ignored it.

We take the trek to the guest house where Mia is locked up in silence. Evie skipped ahead, the illusion of her feet never touching the earth. She would race back if she found an interesting leaf or some strange bug to show off before going back. It's innocent and I smile a ghostly grin that's gone in moments.

Mia is a lot less fun. She is annoyed and impatient to get out, snapping at Eveline when she asks if she is hungry. Crap, this is going to be bad tonight. Hefting the little girl onto my hip, her hallucinated weight nothing to my own strength, I head onto the familiar trail. We take a short walk around the property, still holding her when Mia refuses to with a shaky smile. Too weak. I know the girl can toss me through a wall but don't say anything, trying to keep the girl on my hip occupied. It gives me time to think about my theory before we get ready to head out into the swamp.

Something more is at work in this house. Something powerful and protective of all the inhabitants. To a point. It seems like the Bakers are always the most protected and while I just chalked it up to Eveline's strangeness, now I'm not so sure. Seemingly random opening and closing doors, piano music sometimes haunting the air, routes clearing as I sometimes have to run from the murderous family. If I didn't know any better I'd say the damn place was haunted.

We go into the swamp on a small wooden boat, Mia rowing as I keep Eveline entertained by calling sleepy alligators and water snakes to be pet. Sometimes, in the very back of my mind, I hope she gets bitten. We stop maybe a mile into the wetlands where Evie sighed in frustration.

"Why does it never stay?"

She stomped her foot and heaved over the side, vomiting black sludge into the murky water, infecting it and the wildlife with her gift. I know why. I can feel them watching us. Mia makes a discreet sign to what might be her informant and I shake my head. They're not going to help us. We're a fucking science experiment, we need to be contained until this plays out. Maybe it'll be soon, Evie grows weaker everyday, brittle bones now unable to support her, sight fuzzy, and heart now failing. I'll give her half a year at best but I am under no illusions. When the experiment is done I'll either be gone with Lucas or I'll be left to be captured.

I left the two girls alone for some "mommy-daughter" bonding after an hour of lazy floating. I'm left to my thoughts as I wander the property, occasionally having to shoo away a goop monster that gets too close or hiding from a panic stricken abductee. I didn't see the girl among them so she's either hiding or captured. Maybe she even made it past the property lines but that's doubtful. Eveline keeps an entire armada protecting it, making sure no one escapes.

Ahead of my aimless wandering a decrepit building, that looks like dry tinder just waiting to spark, leaned ominously on the side. Some multicolored broken glass lingered in the panes and I relax from the sickly dread. The abandoned church I got married in. I stride in, past the broken pews, the crunching of the boots over broken glass my only crescendo. I take a knee in front of the alter and raise my head to the half shattered image of Mary and baby Jesus above the tilted cross. I don't know what to say so I just lean down and put my face in my hands. I stay for a long heart beat before standing and nodding at the cross. I know better than to beg forgiveness for my sins. I will hold them in my soul for the rest of my life.

I have long found my peace with god and church. I may not go every Sunday or be a devote follower but I can see religion in life. In the deepest cells and atoms, science a form of magic and an act of god. Crazy cultists and extremist may have ruined the idea for my a while ago but, while I don't forgive or understand them, I can accept the cross burned into my skin without disgust.

But I have always and will always be more connected to spirituality and the Voodoo I should have learned from my grandmother Veronica. That woman was a witch if there ever was one, dabbling in voodoo, Christianity, and Wiccan. Her grim is locked up in storage along with all the other books and materials my father doesn't want me near. I know enough to maybe get this right. By a stroke of luck and some serious bullshit.

I give a watery smile to empty air I walk out to stumble down the path to the Baker matriarchs private cabin. Lucas and I snuck in once on a double dare. We had skulked around with a pack of cigarettes that we hacked and coughed around like idiots and some cheap vodka that I spat out almost immediately.

In our fascination looking at the mason jars of weird ingredients and occult items we didn't notice the old woman sneak up on us. She dragged us out by the ears and let my grandmother deal my punishment. Whacked my butt red and made me apologize by deep cleaning the shack. Ah memories.

Voodoo is a bit different than what the tourists see. It's heavier. A mite darker with animal sacrifices offered to the spirits. But it's far from evil. Just like Grandma Baker was far from evil. That woman was one of the most powerful priestess I've evah laid my eyes on, her and my grandmothers often congregating in our home before ceremonies. She could have told me she lived for centuries and I would have believed her, the saturation of energy so thick around her I believed in gawd and heaven.

I remember their faces, one a wrinkled aristocrat with skin as thin and light as paper. The other smooth, dark enough to match the plumbs she so often gave me and her mother, a tiny hunched thing with a laugh like the knuckle bones she kept in her embroidered coin purse. The woman who is my namesake. I remember Josephine Baker as a tall and willowy woman with a stern face and a pianists hands. She had Jacks and Lucass nose and she bore it proudly.

They'd sew and knit and gossip like old women but I still have the chicken bone necklace she made me. And the snake skin bracelet. At least I did. I still don't know what Lucas saved from the fires. From what I remember, Lucas was a mamas boy but no one in the world could replace his grandmother and their connection. I get a deep gut feeling that whatever mental illness he has they shared.

I paused on the way to get my bearings and heard hissing. Smiling I hiss back. The snake came, almost willingly and eagerly. Like the spirits know I have questions to be answered and sent me the perfect sacrifice. I hold out my hand and let it slither of it's own accord, dry smooth scales feeling cool on the arm it wraps itself around. Cooing at the pretty thing I find the semi hidden shack and allow myself in. It wasn't boarded up or disturbed at all. Hacking around the thick layer of dust, I use a brush broom to tidy a bit while collecting the stuff I think I'll need; a bowl, a still sharp cleaver and what looks like a small butchers knife, a white candle, and sage smudge stick that may or may not work now that I think of it.

I look and wonder if I'm verging on witchcraft instead of voodoo but shrug. Might as damn well. I lit a fire with the bone dry kindling and matchbox, slowly stoking it to life while the snake curled around my hand. I feel pretty bad for this now. Sighing I lay it on the table and give it a chance to leave while I clean the big knife. Even when I come at it the pretty thing is calm and unmoving.

Severing the head off in one go I tie the body to the low rafters with a length of dusty twine to drain the blood into the bowl. Working quickly I skin and butcher the snake, taking its meat to be cooked by the fire and leaving its bones next to the head. I find a dusty cheese cloth and wrap them up. They could be used for something cool.

When the tender meat is done I set it by the now lit candle and awkwardly sit there, not knowing what to say. I really should have studied this. Gulping, I dip a finger in the strangely still warm blood and taste it. Gross. Taking another dip I put it on my forehead right in the middle. I heard that's where the minds eye is. Waiting tensely for a while I sigh in frustration. Standing suddenly I accidentally knock over the bowl with a distant curse. The air pressure drops and my ears are cotton stuffed. I can't move from my half leaning posture and I watch in fascination as the bowl rolls and rolls spilling red blood across the floor. It runs like water, soaking into the dust bunnies and lonely chicken feathers littering the floor. It shines like a hellish mirror. It feels like forever when I realize that is way more blood than it should be, slowly coating the entire floor.

"Evie? Honey, stop please!"

I pray through my stiff lips when it doesn't stop. This isn't a hallucination. Evie isn't doing this. I gasp as sticky blood rises faster and faster. Ankles, knees, waist, and finally over my head. I squeeze my eyes shut against it and babble for forgiveness in my mind to whatever spirit I pissed off. I fall to my knees without the pressure and gasp for breath. I look down at my impeccable clothes and catch a look at the now glassy like blood that reflects the sky so well I felt like I was walking on the stars.

Looking up, I see unending night sky, the Milky Way thick and bright surrounded completely by glowing stars that look as if I could pluck them from their inky canvas. The air pressure increased dramatically and I scream as my ear drums burst until I struggle to breathe. My ears ring and scream as I look down again and see something like a face that was both old and young. Handsome and beautiful. Kind and stern. Grandma Peach.

Another face lurks behind hers, stern and scared, riding it out with me as I hear the clink of knuckle bones under the shrill ringing. Josephine Baker. Her nose gives it completely away. I mouth their name and a smile flashes. I can't tell if it's glorious or hideous in its emotion. They fade and are replaced by flashes of lights and sounds, half formed images blinding me to the world. Josephine Baker has been waiting a long time to tell me and I just now gave her the channel. Screaming soundlessly I watch as pictures slowly blur but connect to each other something that sounds like an out of tune violin in my ear.

Jack, Zoe, Marguerite, Lucas, Zoe, Marguerite, Jack, Lucas, Lucas, Lucas. Image after image of the family flash and glow brighter than the others that depict a sterile hospital like room, Eveline dressing in a hospital gown, huddled in the corner along with a dozen other children. A syringe filled with blue liquid is the last thing I see before falling to the ground.

Starting awake with a gasp to find myself still seated and the upright bowl now coated in a thick layer of dried blood. A trembling hand reaches up and picks away the flaking blood on my forehead. Shaking limbs give out a few times as I stand up and clean up best I can, the slowly lighting sky my only passage of time in my suspended moment. In an absent minded thought I put the wrapped handkerchief and tie it to a belt loop, too big and delicate for my pocket.

I am completely sure I did everything wrong but all they needed was a sacrifice and some blood. It opened a floodgate and I'm not sure I'm ready to know completely what it means. Dawn was cresting the horizon, painting the sky oranges and yellows when I finally left. I stumble back home and collapse onto the bed, knowing if only a single truth that weighs me down like a ton of bricks. I may be the only savior this family has.