Buried Within
Lurking Fears
After nights of seeing ghosts lurking just outside her mother's bright yellow car, sleep was undoubtedly needed, and for a brief moment, Massie found herself able to sleep, crashing the moment her head hit the pillow.
But then the nightmare came, first of the ghosts just outside of her mother's car, followed by the memory of her mother discovering the dead body in the wall, which in turn resulted in—
Sitting up in Lacy's bed, up in the attic, Massie couldn't rightly remember what she saw, nor did she want to remember. She took a deep breath, looking around for some security from the nightmares that plagued her. Yet, there was a level of loneliness from being in that room in the attic on her own, even with how much time someone, possibly Lacy or even Lockwood, took to make the space warm and inviting.
Massie took a deep breath and got up, heading for the door and down the stairs where she could hear muttering from the bathroom. She quietly walked over, not wanting to bother whoever was busy cleaning the upstairs bathroom, expecting in some way to find her mother going at it, only to find herself surprised to see the agent named George tackling the cleaning of the bathroom.
For a moment, she stared, then she said, "You're cleaning?"
She watched George turn his head, looking up at her frowning, before saying, "Yes."
"My mother didn't make you clean, did she?"
"Depends on what you mean," George said. "She hasn't seen the bathroom if that's what you're thinking, but she'll be hard-pressed to find something that isn't to at least the standards of a normal home." He pushed up his glasses, continuing to frown. "It's kind of my thing. To clean when I'm stressed."
"Just be forewarned, my mom might want to take that over," Massie said.
George frowned. "She's a guest."
"Yeah. My mom's not exactly," Massie started to say, unsure how to say she thought her mother had, somewhere along the line, going mental.
George sat up, pushing up his glasses, continuing to frown. "You know if you're worried about your mother not being normal," he started to say as Massie shook her head, deciding she didn't want to go in that direction after all. "She's in good company, but I think everybody has some kind of mental health issue, what with The Problem making everyone on edge. They do say that our generation is living through a different era."
"Still," Massie let out a deep sigh.
"Instead of being in denial that ghosts are around, she could be a part of a ghost cult," George said. "Now that is what I call crazy, although…." He glanced down the hallway. "Last time I checked, she was going through the contents of your suitcases in the front foyer. I couldn't stick around. It made me a bit uncomfortable."
"Yeah," Massie sighed. "That's my mom. I'd better help her get our things situated into one the room she's staying in, someplace private." She turned and headed down the stairs and stopped in the hallway while turning to look and discovering that; indeed, her mother was going through everything in the suitcase. "Hey, mum?" Her mother didn't pay attention. "Hey, mum!"
"Oh." Her mother looked up. "Hi, sweetie!"
"Perhaps we should get our suitcases into the room you're staying in?" she asked.
"I tried," she heard someone say from behind her.
Massie turned, her eyes widening at the sight of Lockwood, her mouth opening. She felt a hand reach up to touch her chest. "Are you trying to scare me?"
"Am I trying to scare you?" Lockwood said, shaking his head as Lucy came from another room. "No." He tilted his head towards her mother. "You might have a better time with your mother than we have. She's got a definite preference for ignoring us. Or I'm not sure."
Massie took a deep breath. "I'm sorry. Trouble walked right through your door, and she's not even agreed to be your customer yet."
She watched the young head of the agency let out a laugh. "Trouble?" He shook his head. "I guess other agencies might consider it to be trouble, but unusual cases are actually quite normal for us." He nodded his head towards her mother. "We're quite eclectic, in case you haven't noticed."
"Speak for yourself," another voice said from behind him. "Just because you and George have eclectic personalities doesn't mean I do."
"No, but you still fit into that particular category," Lockwood said without going into any detail as to why Lucy, despite not having an eclectic personality, actually fit into the eclectic cast of agents that worked at the agency.
Massie frowned before looking over at her mother. Letting out a sigh, still remembering the sight of the dead body in the wall, knowing there was a ghost in their new home that her mother wanted to renovate even though her mother denied its existence every step. She stepped into the foyer, hands clasped in front of her, very unsure of what she should say to the woman in front of her. "Mum?"
"Yes, dear."
"Shouldn't you be going through our things in the bedroom you're staying in? While we're here at Lockwood & Co, you know?" Massie swallowed.
"But I have to make sure everything is here."
"Everything is there, mom. Unless you left it there," Massie said, referencing the safe home that her father provided for them, wishing her mother hadn't decided out of the blue that she wasn't going to take anything from that man back when her mother still had some sense of reason to her, rather than the eclectic manner in which she'd become unpredictable.
"No, no. I've got to make sure everything is here."
"But won't you have to repeat the process once you get to the room?" Lucy asked. "In case you accidentally leave something down here?"
Massie's mother was startled, looking around, before quickly gathering everything back into the suitcase, saying, "Yes, yes. That makes sense." When she finished, she looked past Massie at the two agents. "The room?"
"Ah. Yes," Lockwood said. "I'll go ahead and show you."
And then Massie's mother was following him up the stairs, commenting on the place as she did, which Massie could see made Lucy and Lockwood uncomfortable. She took a deep breath. "Sorry." And then, her eyes blinked. She turned her head to Lucy. "Wait. How is it a bunch of kids have a place of their own like this?"
"I believe the place used to belong to Lockwood's parents, but we don't talk much about his past," Lucy said. She then let out a laugh. "I know more than when I first got here, but be glad you're not having to go through the tests."
"Tests?"
"To test one's gifts. I wasn't even scheduled, given I'd," Lucy paused. "But anyways," She nodded her head to the front door. "One of their potential agents who didn't cut ran out the front door screaming."
Massie grimaced. "You know, I'd be even more unsure about being an agent than I am now." Her head turned to look up the stairs, the sounds of her mother settling into Lockwood's room drifting down the stairs, although she couldn't hear whatever coherent or uncoherent babble her mother was sending the other teen's way. "If that happened to me."
"What are you talking about?" Lucy said. "Unsure of being an agent?"
Massie let out a sigh. "How can I be one if I'm already having nightmares over having to stay overnight in the car with ghosts all around me while my mother slept soundly? How can I, when I've nightmares over the dead body in that house she wants to make our own? I don't want that place to be home."
"I see," Lucy said. "You know, you're not the only one who's been through something, and at least you're contemplating whether you can handle it or whether it's beyond your ability."
"Not that she'd ever let me," Massie said, rubbing her head.
"Tea?" Lucy said. "To calm the nerves? I'm sure we have some."
"Oh. Sure," Massie said, following Lucy to the kitchen, where she started up a thing of tea. She sat at the table, placing her face in her hands, letting her fingers twist around locks of hair.
"So," Lockwood said. "I finally got away from your mother.
"Good for you," Massie said. "I wish I could get away from her."
"Wouldn't that mean," Lucy started to say?
"Living with my dad," Massie said, lowering her hands. "I honestly don't know what he supposedly did wrong, to be honest."
"Probably nothing, probably something," Lockwood said. "It could be something mundane or something out there."
Massie shook her head. "Please. Don't try to make me feel better."
"Do you remember anything about the neighborhood?" Lockwood said as Lucy placed a cup of tea in front of Massie.
"Do I have to?" Massie said, closing her eyes. "Why do I have to?"
"Because your mother is still refusing to give us an address," Lockwood said. "And there is a dead body, with the potential of someone breaking into the house…."
"Oh. Great," Massie said. "Wouldn't that make my mum liable for anything that happened to the person who did that?"
"Don't know," Lockwood said. "They're not a client."
"Typically, when someone breaks into a place, the owners aren't libel," Lucy said. "Should Massie and I go out and about tomorrow, seeing if anything jars her memory?"
"I could go with her?" Lockwood piped up.
"Yes, but you're a guy," Lucy said. "I think she'll be more comfortable with a female agent. Right?"
"Right," Massie said. "And do I have to do this?"
"It's better than sitting around doing nothing," Lockwood said. "And I didn't say you had to go into the house, let alone be out during curfew. Actually, I'd prefer you and Lucy weren't out and about during curfew."
"Sure," Massie muttered, wondering what he meant by that, yet knew in the back of her mind she wasn't a trained agent like they were.
