CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

 

Stepping back to assess the small group of people now gathered in her front entry room, Mariah shook her head in disbelief. Of course, her mother hired a priest before even coming over. How could she be so stupid as to think her mother actually wanted her house rehab to succeed. Mariah smiled and greeted each person, welcoming them into her home; albeit by sheer force.

She shuffled the priest, and the nun into the kitchen to sit with her mother while she dealt with the exterminator. She showed them all the coffee and teas then excused herself for a few minutes. She led the exterminator to the second floor, the one where she had woken several times to the sounds of scratching. The exterminator was as kind as he could be and explained that mice generally stayed to the kitchen areas unless there was food upstairs to attract them. Mariah, of course, had been eating in the room, and mentally kicked herself for being the probable cause of her rodent infestation in the bedrooms.

She left the man to poke around, explaining that he was welcome to go into any room he needed, so long as he watched his step. The floors were still not completely fixed, which was something she hoped to convey to the priest and her mother in just a moment.

Making her way back down the staircase, and into the kitchen hall, Mariah took a deep breath to ready herself for the crap fest that was about to take place. Her devoutly Catholic mother hired a priest to exercise spirits from her lesbian daughters’ creepy old house. What could possibly go wrong?

Mariah stepped back into the kitchen only to find it empty.

“CRAP!” she shouted, though no one heard her.

Running her hands through her thick red curls, she stomped to the window like a small child that wasn’t getting her way. There they were, the Priest, Nun and her overbearing mother, standing in the back of her house observing the bloodstained bricks that lay in the spot Johnny had landed. Fantastic, her house was becoming a freaky side show. Mariah took three more deep breaths and went outside to see what in the Lord’s name was going on.

“Mom, today is not a good day. You really should have called ahead to plan this little excursion with me.” Mariah stated her case as calmly as she could. “I have a ton of things going on. I promise you, this house is perfectly fine. Johnny’s death was a tragic accident…well, probably not accident but you get the idea, it was tragic. I’m handling it. I don’t need to be all over the news outlets in town with the crew from ghostbusters banging down my door.” Sucking in air after her tirade, Mariah stood back and waited for her mother’s response. Surly this would be called off.

Her mother said nothing, it was in fact the nun who spoke first.

“Young lady, have there been any times when you feel overly angry since living in this house?” she asked solemnly.

“No,” Mariah blurted.

“What about overly happy, sad, or any other emotion that you normally don’t feel as strongly, since you moved in?” she asked.

This nun is all about feelings, Mariah thought.

“Well, I do have a crush on this paramedic that has been helping me. SHE has felt a little lightheaded when she’s over, usually when she’s upstairs in my bedroom.”

Mariah stood back and watched that bomb sink in. She didn’t actually have a crush on Olivia. She was a beautiful woman and Mariah would consider seeing her, but she didn’t entirely trust her yet, and Olivia was giving off no signs of sharing the same preferences.

The Nun looked to the Priest who looked between Mariah and her mother. Her mother’s face was beet red. Surely, she didn’t tell them that her daughter was not a practicing Catholic, and was, in fact, not heterosexual. Laughing internally at her mother’s new predicament, and debating when the three of them would leave, Mariah smiled and waited.

“Like I was saying young lady,” the nun continued, “has there been anything out of the ordinary about the house?”

“Nope, nothing,” Mariah lied as the exterminator appeared in the door way behind her. “Crap” she whispered to herself, hoping this guy wouldn’t say anything too crazy in front of the small group of raging lunatics.

“Ma’am, I have found no evidence of any kind of infestation. You said there was a kind of scratching coming from the walls? Could it have been a tree branch scraping a window or something?” the exterminator asked kindly.

Mariah looked from him over to her mother, who was standing with her hands on her hips, glaring right back at her. The Nun was also standing there with a look of liar on her face. The Priest seemed somewhat incapable of speaking. Dropping her head down, Mariah had no choice now, she either had to agree with the branch idea which was not the case because there wasn’t a branch touching the house anywhere that she had seen or argue with this guy and send him in to look again. Mariah chose the former option.

“You’re right, it was probably a tree branch hitting the house. Come to think of it, it was windy when I heard it,” Mariah lied again, deciding instead to just get a cat.

A cat would definitely eliminate any creatures living in the house. She could use the company of someone that doesn’t talk back, too. Maybe she would end up being the crazy cat lady in the haunted house that everyone is afraid of. I could really play that one off when Halloween comes around, she thought.

Mariah finished up with the exterminator, paying him for his time and showing him to the front door. She was stuffing her debit card back into her bag when she heard her mother scream. That scream didn’t come from out back, she thought as she ran to the basement stairs where she was pretty sure the scream had come from. The light was on, which meant there was someone down there. Mariah shook her head and walked down the steps. Taking her time to avoid freaking out at her mother for showing herself and two strangers around her house without permission.

Nothing prepared her for what she would see at the bottom of the steps. Mariah turned to see her mom, the Priest, and the Nun all standing at the base of the stairs too shocked to move. The Priest making the sign of the cross as he looked at Mariah. Taking in the scene, Mariah had no choice but to accept that some teenagers were messing with her. She needed a security system installed.

The floor of the basement, being dirt was easy to mess with. Throughout the basement the words “HELP ME” were written into the dirt hundreds of times. Mariah froze, anger welling up inside her at the poor timing of whatever kid broke into her house this time.

The mask was sitting directly in the middle of the room and what looked like blood as well. Mariah shook her head, trying to think of how she could explain this away. Nothing came to mind except the truth.

“There have been some teenagers from town that have been breaking in. I promise that is all this is. That must be ketchup or fake costume blood,” Mariah said.

Her mom looked at her, and must have known she was lying, because she shook her head and turned around facing away from the group.

With her mother and the others watching closely, Mariah walked through the room and used her foot to erase as much of the writing as she could. They must be expecting a ghost to jump out and eat me, she thought, judging by the terrified looks on their faces.

The priest at some point had taken out a notebook and was writing vigorously in it. No doubt about how the house needed more than an exorcism.