38 Benny Wanders into a Church
Benny left his sister's apartment. He moved slowly. Fast or slow it didn't matter he had nowhere to go. His mother, his sister, they couldn't see or hear him. He moved through the streets and into a neighborhood with single family homes. He found a garden in back of a big house and settled in between two spruce trees next to a fountain and flower garden. He saw a little wren singing its heart out on the uppermost branch of a rose bush. He moved up close. The little guy couldn't see him either. Every detail of his head and throat stood out crystal clear as he warbled his song. He was alive, very much alive. The wren had an agenda. He had places to be and things to do when he got there.
He wandered into a commercial district and found himself standing in front of a large clock in the elevator lobby of some business building. He could feel his emotions, despair, anger, love, and regrets. But the physical no longer had meaning. He watched the second hand count the seconds one by one. He watched it move always the same speed ticking off the moments one by one towards eternity. He didn't sleep but became aware that the day had turned to night and back again and he hadn't shifted or moved.
He next found his way back to the Church and Father Adair. However the Father managed to connect with those dead people in the circle it wasn't because he could see ghosts. The Father couldn't see or hear him. He had hoped that the Father was somehow special. One of those people from the Tuesday meeting came near the Church and noticed him and waved him to come closer, but he didn't like that idea, and edged farther away. The guy had that weird sheen to his face and hands and he stood out from normal living people even though he moved like one and seemed one of them, except for that weird look to his skin. He watched Benny for a few moments and then went on his way. Scary. Benny was so confused. Those people in the group were talking about how they had died and yet they were there in that group meeting talking to the Father and they all looked real enough. Well, he had died, and they could see him, but what? Confusing.
He was useless to his family this way. Maybe he should go into those lights that strange man mentioned. His first day they appeared a couple of times, but he couldn't bring himself to abandon his sister and nephew. His funeral would cost money that they just did not have. He left the Church and wandered for the better part of the morning. He saw a woman not walking but moving fast on the other side a neighborhood street. For sure not one of the living. He moved to intercept her and she noticed him. She came closer and met him in the street. The cars passed through and by them. She was past middle age and dressed in a hospital gown. Not the best way to spend eternity. She looked him over.
"You look new."
"If you mean I just died, yes, just a few days ago. You?"
"Oh, I died several years before." She came a little closer. "Why don't you come with me? I'm going to a clustering of our kind. You can meet the locals."
"There are a lot of...our kind?"
"Fewer these days, but yeah. Come on. That's why we're meeting today. I'm already late. This one was supposed to start this morning at daybreak. But it'll be OK. These clusterings can go on for days. And these days we've got a lot to talk about." She started back on her way.
He followed her lead and they moved together down the street. "What have...we to talk about?"
"Be patient. You've got the time. What's your name?"
"Benny. They call me Benny. You?"
"Violet. How'd you die?"
"A bus hit me - broadsided my car. Very big bus, very little car, squished me." He wasn't sure about the etiquette for ghosts and though he could see her hospital gown he felt it only proper to ask. "And you?"
"I was murdered by some nurse in a hospital. Gave me an overdose of something. Nobody suspected anything. Bitch. I was getting better, too."
They came to what looked to be a Protestant church with a large parking lot filled with cars. He asked, "What day is this? I kinda lost track already."
"Sunday. And the living are having their services and other meetings today. This church seems safe. It hasn't been attacked yet."
"Attacked?" Whoa. He had no idea they could be attacked. "By...who...or what?" He had no idea they were in danger from someone or maybe something. That oddly looking man hadn't seemed threatening in the least. Actually he was pretty polite.
Violet stopped and looked the Church over. He would have helped but he had no idea what she was looking for. Finally, she moved forward slowly looking to her left and right. He would have gone toward the main doors, but she just came up to the side, paused, and then moved her head inside. She popped back out and said, "Looks OK. Let's go inside. You'll like our cluster. Most are pretty sane." She gave answers that raised more questions. Sane? And with that she moved through and into the church.
Inside there were a number of the living gathered towards the front and facing an altar. A man, some preacher, or maybe not, was talking. They were having a meeting, maybe not a service. It looked like services were over, but he wasn't sure. He hadn't known what day it was and also kinda felt cut loose from clocks - they no longer dictated his movements. After all he didn't have any job commitments or meetings to get to. And Violet here admitted she was late for a meeting 'their kind' were having starting at 'daybreak' and here the sun was well up.
Towards the back of the church among the rear most pews were a number of what Benny took to be ghosts. That would be their kind. Violet led the way and they approached the group. They were talking among themselves, but when they noticed Violet and then him they turned their attention their way.
An older man said, "Violet, good to see you, and who's this you found? He looks wide eyed and brand new to the fold."
Violet approached the circle. A few moved to make room enough for the two of them. She said, "This is Benny. He died in a car accident and believe me he hasn't a clue he is so new."
That older man said, "Welcome, Benny. Always good to see new blood. My name is Ken. Died a little over a hundred years ago."
A big black man said, "Hi, you can call me Harry. Died about, I think, a year ago."
Benny soon got lost with all the new faces and names. Once the introductions were done, they looked like they were about to pick up their discussion. Ken, though, and he seemed to be the leader said, "I'm sure Benny has questions. Go ahead Benny. We've got the time."
Some man, middle aged, looked like an accountant, maybe it was his tweed jacket, said, "Got the time." And then frowned.
Ken gave him a look and turned to Benny again and smiled.
Benny was on the spot, but it was true he had lots of questions. "Violet said something about being attacked."
Harry jumped in, "Damn straight. That demon bitch is hunting us down. That's what we're talking about. What we're gonna do. We need to get organized."
Ken frowned at Harry. "Benny, one of the reapers is on the warpath. She's decided for reasons not clear to us that it's her mission to hunt us down and send us over."
Benny asked, "What exactly is a reaper?"
Some guy whose name he hadn't caught said, "He is FOB, isn't he?"
Ken said, "We've all been there Clyde." He turned to Benny. "Benny, reapers are ghosts who take physical form and walk among the living. They collect souls and their job is to get us to go into those lights."
Harry jumped in, again, "Judas goats, is what they are and they work for Satan."
"What are those lights?"
It was Ken who responded, "Well, we don't know. The reapers would have you believe they're the gateway to Heaven, but I'm skeptical."
"Heaven?" Benny wondered if it was that easy. It didn't matter to him anyways. He felt he had things to do here before he went anywhere else even if he didn't know how he would do those things, and, well, even if he wasn't sure what those things were, at least right now.
A woman said, "Yeah, many of us have things we want to do before we go anywhere. So Heaven or no, we don't want to go yet."
Benny asked, "Who are those people that look weird? Like they've got skin with that glow?"
Harry rolled his eyes and said, "Benny, those be the reapers. Demons working for Satan, in my opinion. How'd you make it this far? They get a hold of you and you won't be going anywhere but where they send you."
Ken stepped in and said, "Benny. Harry's right. Don't get too close to a reaper. If they get a hand on you it's all over. They can control souls completely. And a few of them can do it over distance."
Harry said, "Like that demon bitch. She don't need to touch you and you can't move. I saw her do it last week at a church. She was wearing a black hoodie sweatshirt, and when she showed her face…" He shuddered. "Her face glows like a bright light and her eyes are like two black pits. It's her true nature. If I was on time she would a got me, too."
Benny asked, "What does she look like?"
Harry said, "I saw her in her human disguise when I was alive. She often runs with another reaper. They both young blonde women. Though the really dangerous one looks very young and innocent, that is, until she comes for you."
Ken was studying Harry now. "How is it that you never mentioned this fact, that you saw them when you were alive? Was she your reaper?"
Harry met Ken's eyes. "No, not my reaper. Is it important?" He paused considering something and continued. "I was on a job to kill a few people in a big house, and she was the reaper for...our targets. But something went wrong and there was two people in the house those two reapers did not want us to kill. One of the reapers, the one named Daisy buzzed me good, so good, I was knocked out until the police come."
Some woman said, "How could she do that? Reapers can't interfere, right?"
"That's interesting. The reapers stopped you from killing or in other words stopped an appointment from happening." Ken was frowning.
Another man said, "I heard that there was a girl in that big mansion and she's the reaper's sister."
Daisy? He had heard that name before. At the group meeting. Benny could see the whole circle focus their attention on Harry. One woman asked, "You didn't think to tell us this before?" She looked irritated. "That she was protecting someone you were trying to murder, her sister no less, and you were there, a part of it? Maybe, just maybe, she's looking for you and the rest of us are just collateral damage to her."
Benny noticed a lot of people were digesting this little new layer of truth. Maybe this Harry didn't like admitting he was some sort of hit man when alive, and maybe...he was afraid the demon bitch really was looking for him.
Ken said, "What's important is that we are hearing it now." He turned to Harry. "Could you give us the details? There may be some connection to her change in behavior and what happened."
"You want to blame me?"
"No, Harry, I'm not, and no one here is." He looked around the gathered circle sending a not too subtle signal that even a new comer like Benny could pick up on - don't accuse Harry, not now. "Go ahead. What did you see and hear?"
"Well, our team was sent to take out the four people in the house. And these two reapers showed up and took care of the first two we got, the parents of the boy. That left the boy and the babysitter still alive. When we went after those two the reapers went fucking ballistic on us." Harry paused and turned from Ken to look around. You could hear the living talking at the front of the church it was so quiet at this end.
A man said, "That's the boy that crazy woman, what's her name, Meigan Hesburgh, was asking about?"
A woman said, "Yeah, she was using the name Janet Tillerman, but she was really interested in that boy. By the way, that boy they say can see and hear us ghosts and he's living within a nest of reapers."
Someone else said, "And the boy's uncle and aunt - aren't they Thomas Hesburgh and his wife? Why did this Meigan want to kill her own flesh and blood?"
After that there was a lot of cross talk and Benny couldn't make out much. Ken put his hands up. "Let's talk this over. One by one."
Another man jumped in. "I heard that rogue reaper is the one who reaped that crazy Meigan."
Harry said, "I think her name is Georgia."
Clyde said, "That's not news. She's Georgia Lass. Died at age 18, hit by a piece of that Russian space station that fell, what about 11 years ago, now."
A young woman said, "Oh, and Georgia and her sister Reggie have been dancing around her grave. Last year I watched the Reggie girl surprise Georgia there. It was hilarious. Georgia ran like a rabbit..." That brought out some laughter.
Ken spoke up again, "OK. OK."
Benny was startled. He had heard that name too. George, Georgia, and she knew the Father and he liked her, was close to her. She had something to do with the Father's coming up here to Seattle. Though when those reapers and the Father mentioned her, and that Daisy, they didn't make her sound scary.
Someone said, "Well we better figure something out. Our kind our disappearing all over Seattle." The man who spoke saw Benny's confusion and looked his way and continued, "Last year after a big blow up at some warehouse not far from here - it's where that Meigan was murdered - that's when the rogue reaper started rampaging out and around taking out any ghost that she found. She was Meigan's reaper, but then let her go for some reason. After a time Meigan disappeared and then the rogue reaper stopped her spree. But just recently it's all started up again."
A lot of cross talk started up again, too. Our kind were an undisciplined bunch apparently.
Ken said, "Has anyone offered harm to the boy? I mean anything at all?"
A woman said, "That Meigan would. She tried to kill him when she was alive and now that she's dead she's still looking to hurt him. She's been gone though for some time. But you know she tried to talk me into going after that police detective. I ignored her, but Bartholomew and Franklin, and, I think, Agnes all went to investigate. Agnes told me that the detective, his name is John, had been ghosted by the rogue reaper and like the boy can see and talk to us." Everyone was watching this woman, who seemed to be reviewing her memories. "And, you know, they all were among the first to disappear."
"Yeah, well, a lot more have disappeared since then."
Ken asked the woman, "Julia, did Agnes say what they were doing with the detective? I mean, Bartholomew was seriously off in the head, truth be told, as was Franklin."
Julia said, "She mentioned that Bartholomew was leaning on the detective to find whoever murdered him, and, Franklin, wanted revenge against someone."
Ken said, "Oh for the love of Christ. Bartholomew died well over a hundred years ago. And Franklin is just crazy. He wanted to kill a bunch of innocent people. They both got kicked out of more than one cluster for their ranting and crazy talk."
Benny couldn't make out much over the cross talk. He did hear the words insane and mentally unstable and it seemed to him that those were attached to these two missing ghosts, Bartholomew and Franklin, who were apparently not highly regarded among our kind.
Ken raised his hands to get things quieted down again, "Does anyone else have any heretofore neglected facts we should all know about?"
Just then a new ghost came streaking into the church. She was shrieking something. Several ghosts in the circle jumped and themselves streaked out through the walls. Our kind are a skittish bunch. Others moved away and a few, like him, didn't move. He had no idea what this was about. Maybe they were being attacked by the rogue reaper herself. Ken was up and about calling for order. After a few moments a few ghosts poked their heads in and not seeing anything amiss came back inside to rejoin the cluster. A couple were trying to calm the terrified girl down. More ghosts came back inside. One guy who came in said, "Hey it's all clear out there."
Ken motioned everyone to take their places again. The newcomer settled down enough to get some words out. They made room for her in the circle. Ken said, "OK, OK. What happened? Joan, tell us what happened."
Joan said, "It was horrible. I was at the church at Denny Way and 2nd and she attacked, from above, came right through the ceiling her face from under the hood spewing light like a fire breathing dragon, a dragon with two black pits for eyes."
No crosstalk now. Most all of the ghosts had returned and those inside were all moving in closer reforming the circle. Joan had the floor.
She said, "It was horrible. She was dressed in black and she was like some fire from Hell, bright. Shining. Blinding. She jumped down on top of the cluster and all those in the cluster couldn't move. I was over in the doorway behind the altar watching a kids' bible class. You know my cousin..."
Ken seemed to know her well, and made a motion, which Joan took as her cue to stay on topic.
"Well, she got about a dozen and those of us too far away escaped. I watched from behind the door for a few seconds and then I fled, too. Billy was there. Sharon got caught. I heard screams. She must have been torturing them all. Then the screams stopped. And I left."
The cross talk started up again.
Ken looked kindly towards Joan. "Can you remember anything else? Was she alone?"
Joan settled a bit more. "Yes, it was weird. There was a ghost with her."
Someone jumped in. "I bet it was Ray. He's been with that boy in that nest the past year."
Joan said, "Yes, yes, I think it was Ray. I'm sure it was. He was with her."
Another asked, "Ray? Who's Ray?"
Ken continued, "Ray hasn't spent much time with us. He died over by the waterfront last year. They say he was shot dead by a cop when he tried to kill the boy, but somehow he's now the kid's bodyguard. I spoke to him a few times. It's ironic. But he stays inside that nest and is almost always with the boy."
Harry spoke up, "He tried to kill the boy? When he was alive? Did he use any other name?"
No one answered Harry. More cross talk muddled things. It's good they didn't need to use the restroom, eat, sleep, or whatever, because this seemed to go on with no end in sight.
Joan said, "I never go near that waterfront area. It's too close to the Waffle Hell House where all those reapers hang out. And that's not far at all from the house where they nest."
Benny blurted out, "Well, why doesn't someone go talk to them? You know at that reaper house."
Everyone stopped talking. Violet looked his way and said, "Late last year two of our kind did just that and no one has heard from them again."
More cross talk.
Benny said, "I'll go."
And just like that Benny found himself on a suicide mission, which is kinda ironic given he was already dead.