The Only Exception
We should not fret for what is past, nor should we be anxious about the future; men of discernment deal only with the present moment. - Chanakya
After Lydia and Craig left, they'd fallen into a sort of routine. Well, as routine as you can get sharing space with a poltergeist. Autumn hardly bothered to say his name anymore, except for when he was being particularly annoying. Like he was at the moment.
She'd been seated in front of her laptop for the better part of an hour, pounding away at the keys. Her manuscript seemed to be flying faster than she could keep up with it and the only thing that seemed to trip her up these days was word choice. She'd always been particularly sticky about descriptive terms but this novel could make or break her career and she was determined to get it right.
Betelgeuse, for his part, was lounging on the other side of the table with his feet propped up and chugging beer after beer. This would have been absolutely fine for Autumn if he'd been quiet about it. Instead, the lights would flicker on and off, dishes could dance across the room, and something had started growling from the refrigerator.
It was the sound of crashing ceramic that forced her eyes away from the screen. "Betelgeuse." The word came out tense. He stopped and stared at her, as if daring her to say it again. "Please be quiet," she finally said with a sigh.
"Babes," he complained. "I'm fricken' bored. You sit at that thing day in and day out. A guy like me needs a little attention, if you what I mean?"
"Can you find it somewhere else, then?" she didn't look back up this time.
With an irritated huff, the ghost hoisted himself out of his seat and slunk from the kitchen. Far be it for him to interrupt her sacred writing time. Which had become all the time lately, it seemed. After chasing that pretty boy out, he was convinced he'd be able to seduce her in peace or at least get a rise out of her with his antics. But she'd been ignoring him! How dare she? And after he stuck his neck out for her too...
"Women," he groaned, as he floated up the staircase. He was starting to miss Barbara and Adam. They're been a hoot while they were around, always yelling at him and telling him what to do. Not that he listened, but at least they were paying attention.
And then Juno had come and opened up the big door to the great beyond for 'em and that was it. Gods, he'd been bored then. Kind of like he was bored now.
Predictably, he found himself up in the attic. He'd taken to using this place as brooding ground. Autumn never came up here anyways, probably wasn't much interested in an old attic. Which suited him just fine.
Autumn had just finished up a rather climactic scene between her waitress and the mysterious stranger when she caught the scent of cigarette smoke. She leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes. "Ah, you're back."
"Back?" another voice echoed. And it wasn't Betelgeuse's. Her eyes shot open and she turned around in her chair. An old woman surrounded by a cloud of smoke stood in the doorway, puffing away patiently. "I'm afraid not."
It only took a few seconds for things to click into place. "You're Juno."
The old woman nodded and this time Autumn noticed smoke seeping out of a rather nasty looking gash across Juno's throat. That must have been a lovely way to go. "I've been hanging back for a while to see how everything would play out once you made Betelgeuse a permanent fixture in your life."
"You mean," Autumn started, "you've been watching us?"
"Of course!" Juno snapped. "You think I'd just let one of the most dangerous spirits in the afterlife go gallivanting around without supervision?" She paused to take another drag. "It was my idea for Lydia to stop by. I was hoping she'd be able to talk some sense into you and get you out of this house."
"But I'm still here..." Autumn said slowly.
"Yes," Juno fixed her with a glare. "I tried to warn you. But communicating with the living in dreams is so hit and miss you probably didn't hear a word. So I'm here to warn you now."
Autumn stood up and impulsively shivered. The aura around Juno put all her sense on alert. "Warn me about what?"
The older woman sighed. "About him, of course. He might be having fun playing house now, but he's bound to get bored sooner or later. And when he does, it won't be good for you."
She knew well and good how dangerous Betelgeuse could be. He'd wreaked havoc on the administration system when he'd been under her care and once out from it he'd done even more damage. Juno was practically drowning in red tape. And now more than ever since he was spending all his time in the living world.
"I don't think he'd hurt me," Autumn said quietly. "I know he's rude, perverted, and has a mean streak to give Hitler a run for his money. But he wouldn't hurt me."
"What about the rest of the town?" Juno pressed. "What around the world, hmm?"
The younger woman faltered for a moment. "He won't."
Juno let out a long-suffering sigh. "And who will take responsibility for him if he does? You?"
"Yes."
He'd dozed off up there in the attic and miraculously didn't even awaken until Autumn poked him in the shoulder. "Hey," she said. She sounded upset and he became alert immediately.
"What's up?" he grumbled, running a hand over the stubble on his cheek.
She plopped down next to him on the dusty couch and sighed. "I had a visit from Juno."
He wanted to snarl. Nosy bitch. "Yeah, and what'd she want?"
Autumn looked over at Betelgeuse, her face drawn by lines of worry. "She made me responsible for everything you do over on this side..."
"Why?"
"If I didn't agree to those terms, she was going to take you back and make sure you'd never find a way over here again. Jeez, B, what did you do make all these people hate you so much?"
"Aside from bein' charming?" he winked. Autumn rolled her eyes and he internally let out a breath. What had happened back in the day was between him and Juno. Autumn didn't need to know about that stuff. So, she was in charge of him now, eh? He found it a bit ironic that he'd referred to her as his keeper in the past and now it was legitimate.
Not that it mattered, nobody could put a leash on him! He was a free spirit, the ghost with the most, the-
"Try not to get me in trouble, okay?" she was saying, a wry grin spreading across her face. As if he could do anything else. And they both knew it.
Hey...this chapter's kind of short and I'm not too happy with it. But I'm trying to wrap this story up soon and I think I know where I want it to go so just hang tight, okay? There's a few more loose ends and then these two can hang out in Winter River and terrorize each other to their heart's content. Laterz!