Empty Tombs and Scattered Ashes
Mulhulland's car wouldn't start, which didn't surprise him. After all he hadn't used it in a year. To be honest he was surprised it hadn't been towed or stripped by now. Not to mention the fact that he could still remember what his car looked like considering all the time that has past. What he found when he reached her niche surprised him. At first he was filled with rage. The first thing he noticed was that the door to the little vault was blown away and his daughters urn was tipped over. But then he noticed something else. the fragments of the blown apart niche were all over the ground. If someone had, oh say, smashed it with a sledge hammer the fragments would be inside the niche. But these were on the ground like it had been blown away from the inside. Then he noticed the ground. A large area of snow was matted down like someone had been rolling around. And a small pare of prints in the snow. Bird prints. Mulhulland instantly thought of the crow, but put that thought aside. What did all this mean. He then noticed a set of footprints in the snow. Whoever was lying in the snow went that way he thought. Maybe he could follow them. But after five steps they disappeared. Either someone covered their tracks pretty good, or, no. None of this made any sense whats going on. Jim was starting to panic, overcome with confusion and rage, when a hand grabbed his shoulder. Jim screamed.
Meanwhile Rebecca followed the crow through the cities underbelly, through the dark corners were no one and nothing is safe. Everywhere she looked graffiti marked the structures. Most of the people she past were homeless, looking for some kind of shelter from the cold. All around were fires burning in barrels. Others were drug addicts looking for another hit. The rest were just dead bodies. There are a lot of them down here. Some just died from the cold. But most were victims of the cities underworld. The bodies were stacked here as a reminder. Nothing escapes. Everyone dies. Rebecca marveled as this thought caim into her mind. Everyone dies, she thought again.
But before she could get to deep in thought she saw the crow land on a near by ledge, and caw into the night. As she stopped a vision filled her mind. She saw what the crow saw. About halfway down the back alley the crow had stopped at, sat Chris. Chris and Rebbecca had never really been close friends, but if the crow had brought her here then he must know something about her and her mothers deaths. He sat by a dumpsters playing his old beat up guitar. He bought that guitar from her mother. As she approached she could hear the song midnight clear coming from the old guitar.
Chris played as the snow fell around him. He was surprise how good the old thing sounded tonight. Maybe it was his lucky night. Chris jumped when a loud cawing sounded in his ear. He turned to find a big black crow staring at him. "Good evening Christopher." Came a young woman's voice. Chris looked around trying to see who the voice belonged to. It sounded familiar but he couldn't place it. The crow cawed in his ear again, and he saw a painted face emerge from the shadows, moving towards him, her face as white as a ghost, with dark lines around her eyes and mouth, making her appear demonic. Chris felt fear run through him turning him cold. His spine shivered, and he thought of what his mother always told him, "the devil placed his hand on your shoulder Chrisy, when that happens no matter where you are or who your with, run like hell. Run like hell and don't ever stop." He thought about running now. But he was to full of fear to move. Suddenly he knew Rebbecca had come back for them.
"It's been a long time Chris. I see you still have that old guitar." She said as she sat beside him.
Chris looked at her for a minute blinking, trying to tell if what he was seeing was real. "Your suppose to be dead", was all he could manage to say.
"Now is that any way to greet an old friend?"
"please...go away."
"Oh I can't do that. See my new friend there?" She asked pointing to the crow. "She seems to think you know something about the night I died."
Chris just turned from her and closed his eyes muttering a little prayer. Rebbecca reached out and touched a hand against his cheek and turned his head to face her.
"Chris, please...tell me what happend, tell me why". She pleaded.
"I'm sorry for what they did to you and your mother, I didn't know until it was to late." He said as tears started to fall down his cheeks. "He wanted your father out of the way. He figured if he lost you and your mother he'd back off."
"Why not just kill him?" She asked but chris only mumbled a replay. "Chris, I'm not going to hurt you i just want to know."
After a moments silence Chris said, "He might have needed him later on. Use him to get rid of a rival by planting some evidence. Let a grieving vengeful father take the blame."
"Who is he Chris?"
"I don't know, I never met him...But your friends the ones that...that killed you they'd know."
"Oh dont you worry I'll be visiting them soon enough...But first I need you to do something for me Chris."
"What...What is it, anything."
"I want you to tell them I'm coming."
"Are you insane they'll kill you again!"
"Silly Chris...you cant kill a Ghost." She finished as something fell over in the shadows, chris jumped scared and looked after the sound. When he turned around again, Rebbecca, and the crow were gone. Chris jumped up and stared at the spot were she was sitting just a minute ago. Then took off down the alley his heart racing with fear. But he knew what he had to do...He had to tell them she was coming.
