Cynthia 

Cynthia had never seen anyone so scared in her life. She chuckled to herself as she watched the poor girl process what she’d just said. 

“Did you hear me? I said we best be getting you back to where you came from sooner rather than later.” Her southern accent was out in full now. “Hello?! Child, you hear me?” She waved her hand in front of the girl’s face. Maybe she can’t hear me. These things were always so temperamental. The girl flinched from the movement of Cynthia’s hand though, at least she could see her. The girl tried to press herself further into the wall while still staring wide-eyed.

“Y-you can see me?” Doubt laced the girl’s voice like she couldn’t believe her own words.

“Of course I can see you. I’m staring atcha ain’t I?” Cynthia was becoming a bit frustrated. She didn’t have time for this, she had things to do. Very important things that couldn’t be rescheduled or made late by anyone, or anything.

“Now, listen here, girl. I don’t have time for any foolishness or the pulling of my leg. Not today! How did you come ta be here? And when are you fixin’ ta get back?” The girl just continued to gape at her, fear and confusion fully present in her eyes. “Well?!” Cynthia said more forcefully. That seemed to have shaken the girl out of her silence and the words started pouring.

“I-I don’t know. I don’t even know where I am right now. I don’t even know who you are and I have no clue how I got here.” She started gesturing, getting lost in her own words as they came pouring from her mouth, “I was just on a job with Mom and we kinda got separated. Well, not even separated really. I would say we got severed ‘cuz we were together but then we weren’t – then I was here and she was there. Then she couldn’t see me but I could see and hear her, then I could only see her, then she called Donnie, then she was gone. And then I was here and he was there,” gesturing now towards the front door, “And then you came in”, gesturing towards the kitchen, “And you both were here, but couldn’t see me, well I guess you could see me but he couldn’t see me. And then his hand went through me which I’m still trying not to freak out about because if I think about it too much I’ll start freaking out an-” 

“Okay!” Cynthia raised one hand and the girl closed her mouth and took a much needed breath, “Okay, I think I get the basics. No need to be spoutin’ off your life story.” Cynthia moved both hands to her hips now and gave the girl a look similar to one her own Mama would give whenever Cynthia had done something of annoyance.

“Sorry, it’s just that I ramble when I’m nervous and I’ve never rambled this much before but also I’ve never been this freaked out before and I-”, Cynthia eyed her again, “I mean-uh-yeah. That’s about all I know.” 

“Well since you’ve given me plenty of information to go off of, I think I can figure out how to get you back to where you belong. Follow me.” Without waiting for the girl to respond Cynthia turned and walked back towards the kitchen door that she’d come through earlier.

She spoke over her shoulder expecting the girl to be right on her heels, “Not many people come through here specifically. I usually find them in the cellar or the attic, the kitchen is hardly ever used.” 

“What do you mean ‘hardly ever used’, used for what? And what do you mean, ‘usually?’” As expected, the girl was right behind and they both entered the kitchen and walked towards the pantry in the back right corner. Cynthia turned back around as they stopped in front of the pantry door and spoke matter-of-factly. “When they come through it’s either from the cellar out back or up in the attic. I never knew why, or thought to ask.” 

“I still don’t understand. Who are you talking about?!” 

Cynthia eyed the girl again with a look reminiscent of someone waiting for the other to catch up in the conversation, “The other ghosts who come through here. You know, like you.”

Donnie

“Donnie! Thanks for coming!!” Desperation and anxiety were etched all over her face as he entered the house.

“ ‘Course Kleo no problem. What’s going on?” He scratched his chin and the beard that was slowly growing. It was itching something awful today but all the blogs say this was the stage to expect that. In a few more weeks all his patience and discomfort would pay off in a luscious beard worthy of envy from all those who mocked him saying it was futile with his genetics and skin condition. He looked around the foyer. “And where is Mara?”

He saw Kleo take in a breath and held back some tears that had been wanting to fall for a while from what he could tell. He listened intently as she told him the whole story, asked some questions for clarity, and just out of pure curiosity. He’d heard a lot of things, but never a case of someone fully disappearing right in front of someone else’s eyes before! It was going to be a long night for sure. Meaning he was gonna have to call someone to feed Monty his cricket for the day. He could call Alisha but she hated his pet lizard ever since she got a bit too close and he went after her earring thinking it too was his dinner. He could always call Tim, but he was out of town on that “Self-Discovery/Societal Cleanse” hiking trip and wouldn’t be back for another week. Donnie went through his mental list of ‘Monty Caretakers’ and was quickly realizing that he’d have to have a long talk with his lizard son. 

“DONNIE!?”

“What?” 

“Are you even listening to me right now? My daughter is missing! Where is your head at? We need to figure out a plan of attack.” 

“Kleo” He closed his eyes and took a breath before he looked back at her, “we don’t know what to attack yet. We don’t even know if we can attack. We have to be rational.” Monty was just gonna have to suck it up and get two crickets tomorrow. “The first thing we’re gonna do is set up a perimeter around the physical spot you last saw Mara. I’m talking about lights, lines of salt and herbs, and cameras in case she automatically pops up in that exact spot so we can catch it live.” He gave her a reassuring nod and kept talking. “And once that’s done, we split up — don’t give me that look — and do a sweep of the entire house, top to bottom, to make sure she didn’t just get popped into a random closet or false wall. 

And after that…” He paused, closed his eyes and winced in anticipation, “We have to call the Johnsons.”

“Are you nuts?!” He knew she was going to flip out. “We can’t let them know about this. We don’t even know about this!!” She gestured all around with her arms waving haphazardly. “There’s no way they won’t come in and take over the inquiry. You know how they are, you were on the Hatcher case remember? You saw, up close, what they did to the Posens. They were all hush-hush, zero communication, and no debriefing whatsoever. They wouldn’t even let the Posens do any post-field notes. Which absolutely goes against the regulations that they wrote!!” Her voice was steadily getting louder with each point she was making. And he could tell that she wasn’t taking in enough air, pushing every word out by sheer determination and stubbornness. “There’s no way I’m letting the same thing happen to us before I get my baby back and figure out what went down here!” 

Before his sweet Gram-gram passed when Donnie was 12, he tried to learn everything he could from her. This would include recipes, general advice, and random pieces of information she would deem important. To this day he still follows two pieces of advice without fail:

1. Always salt your pasta water.
2. Never ever argue with a Black woman who’s already set her mind to something.

He sighed and thought about how Monty is gonna have to deal with some intermittent fasting for the next day or two, and said, “Let’s get to work then.” 

Mara

  “What do you mean, ‘the other ghosts like me?’” Fear and curiosity both present in her voice, but Mara still wasn’t sure yet which one would win out. “I’m not a ghost! I’m not dead!!” At least I don’t think I am. I hope I’m not!

“Child-”

“Mara. My name is Mara.” Exasperation in both their voices, the women blew out slow breaths.

“Mara, honey, I thought you knew.” Her voice was softer now and Mara did not like what that implied. “I’m so sorry, but I thought you understood, I don’t really understand it myself really. All I know is that I started finding people who would just show up in my attic and cellar about a month after Quincy and I moved in. They were just as confused as you and I eventually figured out that they have to go back to the same place they came through. The kitchen isn’t used as much, which is why it took me a while to figure you out. So-” 

“But I’m not a ghost!” Fear and curiosity had lost and given-way to indignation now, “For real! I was just with my mom, we were just-,” She stumbled here. She had signed an NDA before she was allowed to go on jobs with her mom and she was NOT about to break it even if she was dead. Oh god, if I’m dead my mom’s gonna kill me! “We were, uh, on a, uh, a job. Yeah, a job. And everything was going fine until it wasn’t and I ended up here. See.” She waved her arms in the air and turned all the way around. “No wounds. No blood. I didn’t get stabbed or fall in a hole and die without knowing it. I just need to get back to my mom before she starts freaking out and the wrong people find out.” 

“If you’re not a ghost, then how did you get here?” The woman now looked confused. I really need to learn her name. 

“That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you, I don’t know how, I just need to get back. I thought I could just phase back out like I phased here. But then you started talking about ghosts and attics and I got freaked out.” 

“Well.” The woman paused while she thought. “We won’t know if we don’t try. I don’t know exactly how this all works, but if it’s anything like the others. All you have to do is get into the pantry,” She pointed to the dark-wood door they were standing in front of, “Wait a few minutes and once you walk out you should be back from where you came. Of course, I still don’t know where that is. Don’t tell me now, the others never said and I never asked. It’s easier that way. Are you ready?”

Mara nodded, reached out, and opened the door. She walked in and turned around, giving the woman another nod, “Okay, I’m ready. Do I have to do anything special or something?” 

“No, I’ll close the door. You wait a few minutes and then open the door. We’ll know if it works or not if we see eachother when you open it.” 

Mara gave her another nod, “Sounds easy enough. It’s been nice knowing you I guess.” Mara attempted a smile. So did the woman. Maybe it’s better to not know her name. 

The door closed her into the dark and quiet. She waited, not wanting to open too early and getting stuck again. After ten minutes, she figured it was long enough and reached for the doorknob. Before her hand could grab it, the door opened automatically and her heart sank. She blinked and squinted at the light shining in her face.

“MARA! Honey, I found you, are you okay baby? Donnie, I found her!”