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Another pause.
“Great, we will meet you there in an hour,” she says as she turns toward us with a smile on her face.
She pockets her phone before saying anything, “So, he said he’s got the keys and will head out there soon. There are also some neighbors already interested in the property if I decide to sell.”
“The choice is totally up to you,” Lucien pipes up. “The quiet life on the farm would be nice, but there is no pressure to move there. I’m sure the other two agree.”
Jayce and I nod.
“Yeah, Raven, we were just joking around about all the farm stuff,” I tell her, taking her hand into mine.
“I know, let’s go and check it out. If there are too many ghosts or memories, I may sell. But it’s not something that I will decide today,” Raven tells all three of us.
Raven
Uncle Marx’s lawyer was very cut and dry. We spent a solid ten minutes going over details and he said he’d be around to help me through whatever conclusion we came to. He handed over a few papers, including a ridiculously low offer from one of the neighboring farmers.
When he leaves, I finally turn around to look up at the farm in question. It’s nothing like I remember. As a kid, I’d only been here a few times, but so much has changed. The old farmhouse they’d lived in is now the uninhabitable building the lawyer had mentioned. The charred remains of its corpse peek out of the trees that had overgrown around it. They’d built the new house which is admittedly much more spacious.
Although, it has seen better days as well.
The old paint is peeling so much that it is more wood than white now. The railing looks rickety and the shutters, that hadn’t fallen to the ground and busted, are hanging on for dear life.
“It’s a… fixer upper,” Jayce notes. He’s clearly trying to sound positive but Eli and I both crack up at the failed attempt.
“We could easily fix the railing and give it a fresh coat of paint,” Lucien defends. His eyes are narrowed as he stares at the house like it’s a challenge. As if he realizes what he’s doing, he blinks a few times and shrugs it off. “If we decide to stay, I mean.”
“It’s okay to throw out speculations,” I reassure him quickly. “We all know the decision can’t be made a few minutes in. So, throw out ideas. No censoring yourself around us, Lucien. We won’t all agree on everything and we’ll work it out as things come up.”
He gives me a sheepish smile. “Sorry. I just don’t want to rock the boat.”
“You’re allowed to take up space, dude,” Eli tells him. Lucien relaxes at that and I make a mental note to check in on him more often. The last thing I want is him holding back, afraid we’ll yank our whole life out from under him. Part of me is hurt he’d hold back, but after Stella killed his former love and stalked his entire afterlife, I couldn't blame him. Trauma comes in different forms, even ghostly ones.
Jayce is the first to move, pushing the old key into the lock. It unlocks with an echoing thud that makes me even more uneasy. I can’t help but look around, half expecting my cousin, Pandora, to pop up at any moment.
The smell of musty air and wood fill the air as we step inside. It opens into a large living space that has a sawhorse and a stack of boards in the center. There is no furniture and my eyebrows wrinkle in confusion.
“He wasn’t the type for change. This is weird,” I say. “I’m shocked they even built this new house. When we were at an Easter gathering when I was a kid, one of the railings fell during the egg hunt. I was the closest kid to it, mind you not touching it, and was blamed. He immediately started screaming and even made my dad fix it.” I roll my eyes at the memory. My relationship with my uncle was closer to a stranger than family.
“This is new,” Jayce says as he walks over and inspects it. “No dust and the wood shavings are still fresh.” A cold feeling washes over me at the news. Does that mean someone else is squatting here? I’ll take ghosts over people any day.
“He’s been dead for how long?” Eli asks.
“According to the paperwork it’s been a few weeks. He didn't want a funeral, so he was cremated and the lawyer handled it all,” I admit.
“This isn’t a few weeks old,” Lucien agrees.
“I wonder if that neighbor decided it was his already,” I mumble as I pull out my phone. Anger flares within me. What right does anyone have to disrespect a dead man’s property like this?
“Hello, Raven. Is there a problem?” Ben Chambers answers on the second ring. He sounds worried enough that I’m immediately suspicious.
“Someone cleared the living quarters,” I tell him quickly. “There’s a sawhorse and wood inside like someone’s starting renovations and there’s not a speck of furniture or art inside.”
He curses before reassuring me. “I apologize, Miss Blackwood. My friend Bill is the sheriff, I’ll get him on this the moment we hang up. Don’t be surprised if he shows up. I have an idea who would be bold enough to do this.”
“Thank you,” I say and we give our goodbyes. The guys are all watching me so I fill them in. “He’s friends with the sheriff and is getting him on this. At the very least maybe we’ll be added to the patrol route. But he already has an idea of who it is so we should be alright.”
“Jayce, stay here with Raven. Eli, let’s do a quick sweep of the house just in case,” Lucien says, not convinced in the least this is the end of it. And frankly, neither am I.
