Family Secrets, Deadly Lies

[Tagnizkur]

Marcus, a man of Iroquois decent has had an interesting past 30 years.  You see, he can see ghosts.  Unlike some overpaid actors and actresses he does just see them everywhere and whisper to them.  He can feel them, touch them, talk to them, and live in their world and ours.  Sounds cool right?  Well then guess what, you win the prize for the most foolish twit on earth.  In the thirty years of his life Ghost have been there.  They have been there when he pees, poops, makes love with others and or self, and truth be told that can really do a number on someone.  You see, marcus is a spirit guide like his father before him and their fathers for thousands of generations.  The guides were the tribe shaman.  Many of the times they were there as a person was passing over and could help guide the spirit to the proper place and or tell them what they needed to do.  Even if they came upon a soul who has wandered the guide could help them.    The guides always trained there sons whom by bloodline alone would inherit the power to spirit walk and guide.  Marcus never knew his father or his tribes past.  Marcus was found in a dumpster outside or Old Comiskey

Normally these guides live in small rural areas and only deal with a few.   Yet Marcus lives in Chicago near the old docks in a revamped old warehouse.  The dead of course find him here because unlike the guides before him Marcus seems to be able to just become a doorway and that the dead can use.  A shortcut if you will.  A shortcut with a cost to him.  Every time one passes through Marcus must live their worst pains in life and the suffering of their deaths.  For no soul can pass on if the are burdened with what was.

So now you will know as you read on why Marcus has a chip on his shoulder, a stick up his butt, and just generally hates people.  You ask now why didn't he just end himself..  easy.. the dead are selfish and they wont let him. 

The sun does its impression of a creepy spiders as it slowly crosses Marcus's scowling yet sleeping features.  One dark green eye pops open, the color of which is odd for one of his race.  The single open eyes slowly scans the room looking.  Looking for the tell tale sign that one of them is there watching him as he sleeps.  He hates it when they do that.  Its gives Marcus a better understanding of what a caged animal in the zoo must feel. 

Seeing none of there ectoplasmic trails about and mists he allows his other senses to trickle out.  He doesn't feel suppressing cold air so thats good too.   Yet after dealing with them so long he knows they can hide from the mortal eye so with nothing but a thought he allows his body and mind to enter the ghost world look about and return.  The trip between the realms is very quick when going fully body is indeed but it does always tend to leave its mark in the form of a small annoying itch in the back of his eyes.  One he knows is impossible to scratch.  So he ghosts just a sing finger and jabs the ethereal finger in his skull to scratch the itch

"much better...." he groans.

He stands and plops along to the shower allowing the sheet to fall exposing his tall lean muscled brown flesh to the elements.  A sight he quickly realizes is being admired as he rounds the corner.  For their stands Agatha.  Agatha is a prostitute from the early 1800's who just cant help but to be the first to appear in his day just so she could watch him naked.  You would think a spirit that old would be a little more mature.

"Oh marcus... where were the men like you when I had the flesh I could use for your enjoyment."

"Most likely dead or dying from some disease your nasty crusty self gave them.. now go away.."  Marcus grumbles as he veers around her and into the shower.

[Tagnizkur]

The shower does little to help him, because as soon as he wakes it seems like the ghost prostitute is the least of his problems.   Within seconds faces and bodies begin to manifest all about him as if he set off a flare letting them all know to come.

"Marcus will you let me through today.."

"Come one boy.. Ill make it worth your while.."

"Listen use..  use gots to do this.."

"Let me leave this world.. please.. I am begging you.."

Within moments the voices and pleas become a droning sound much like the white noise of a signaless TV.  Marcus lets them drown each other out taking the noise and filtering it focusing only on the water.  The flowing hot water streams down his body and down the drain.  His cant help but to form an image of all the ghosts doing the same.  A small satisfied smile slowly creeps across his features. 

"oh that would be a good thing indeed..."

His words are a mere whisper that the ghosts ignore anyway.   He finishes the shower and pads to the office in nothing but a towel an still quite soaking wet.  The ghosts follow and it takes all of his will to ignore them and drown them out until he finally reaches his goal.  His iPod.  It powers on quickly and the buds are inserted quickly.  Blaring shrilling screeches of a guitar meets his ears in a drowning bliss.  He looks up and sneers at the ghosts flapping their jaws and thankfully he hears nothing.

With that he sits by the laptops and fires it up.  "Ok lets see if anyone needs a guy who talks to ghosts.."  www.ghostdetective.com is ther waiting as he logs in to see if someone needs his services. 

[Ink Slinger]

Julie pushed the F5 button over and over.  She had not left her computer since she finally broke down and sent the e-mail sometime in the middle of the night.  At least she thought it had been the middle of the night.  She wasn't sure anymore.  She had not slept in...she checked the calendar on her desktop...three days.  She knew she was going to start hallucinating soon, or maybe she already had.

Julie had thought her landlady was kidding when she told her the rent was so cheap on the apartment because it was haunted.  You see, Julie Hart didn't believe in ghosts.  She had been in the apartment a full week before anything weird began to happen.  At first she thought possibly she was just overly tired from work.  She has been putting in twelve, fourteen even eighteen hour days trying to get her photography business off the ground.  It wouldn't be the first time she had worked so hard that she forgot moving her keys or a photo or even her pile of clean laundry.  But then a few days later the radio or television would randomly turn on.  She had called an electrician to check everything out.  When her toilet began making odd noises, she called a plumber who heard no noises and found no problems. 

She was at the end of her rope.  At the beginning of the week she thought she was hearing voices.  But last night, she had seen him.  Julie made it home from her office and as per her usual dropped her purse and camera bag on the couch.  She showered and when she looked up into the bathroom mirror the face looking back was not her own.  It was a man, in his mid-life she guessed, with a full beard.  The only problem, she could see herself through him.  Julie had run screaming from the bathroom and when she entered the living room, there he was sitting on the couch. 

She locked herself in her bedroom and he's just floated right through the door.  The ghost, a man who had been murdered in the apartment, told her about Marcus.  She figured e-mailing what she thought was a hoax website was better than anyone who might send the funny little men in white coats after her.   Her e-mail had been simple.  "I don't know if you're the real deal or just some dumb teenager with a hoax site, but I need help.  There's a ghost in my apartment.  He won't shut up.  He won't leave.  HELP!"  And listed her contact number and address. 

She now sat on her living room floor hitting F5 repeatedly waiting for an answer to show up in her inbox.  Sitting on the floor next to her was the handgun her father had insisted she get a license for, register and learn to use when she moved from their small town to the big city of Chicago.

[Tagnizkur]

Chicago being one of the most haunted cities in the world you would be surprised just how many people contact Marcus daily.  The trick is plucking through the real and the BS.  BS seems to be mainly dumb kids with to much time on their hands.   this being the age of Media one would have thought the teens would be to busy boob tubing and twitting.. or whatever the hell that crap is. 

"crap.. crap... BS.. maybe.. and.. wait..."

Marcus stops at one particular email and in that same instant multiple ghosts are pointing in a very animated way at the screen and the message.  Ok now thats curious.  Usually all they want to do is pester me to get home. Marcus thought has he opens the message.   

"Ghost.. apartment.. help.. and wont shut up..  HA!! sounds like all you Casper wanna bes.   NONE of you ever shut up.. Hell I cant hear a one of you yet I can tell you are all shouting about this message... and hell I cant help but to wonder why."

Marcus reads the message again ignore the muted pleas of the surrounding spirits.  "oh screw it.."  Still wet in his towel he dials this Julie chick.

[Ink Slinger]

Julie nearly jumped out of her skin when the cell phone sitting on her leg began to vibrate.  She looked at the display and didn't recognize the number, but the area code was Chicago at least.  She pulled the headphones off, and despite clattering to the floor next to her she could still hear Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue" coming from them.   That's how loud she had turned up the music to drowned out the sound of the ghost sitting on her couch staring at her.  It had be come a test of wills.  He continually talked, and she fought with the last shreds of her sanity to keep him at bay.

She slid her thumb over the display of her touch screen phone so the slider went over the little green 'answer'. 

"Hello?" She said holding the phone to one ear and her hand to the other trying silence the sound of the ghost whose latest attempt to get her to pay attention to him was to belt show tunes.  And not just any show tunes, Avenue Q songs.  Where had he even seen Avenue Q anyway?!  He'd been dead a good thirty years before the show even came out!

A ringing male baritone filled the air behind her singing that song from Avenue Q.  You know the one.  The one about the purpose of the internet. 

Julie glared at the ghost and mouthed "SHUT UP NOW!"  She had tried everything she had ever head on TV or read on the internet to get rid of him.  Banishing him in the name Jesus...bunk.  Rock salt...utter BS too.  She'd even used chalk to draw little symbols around her place.  Either she'd done them wrong or they were utter crap too. 

[Tagnizkur]

"Um..  I haven't even said a word yet..."  Her voice was soft, melodious, sweet, and had an edge like a person about ready to jump off the Sears Tower.  Yeah I know its called the Willis Tower..  But if youre from Chicago.. its the Sears Tower. 

Now dont get me wrong, I know who the woman was saying shut up to..  but, I have become jaded and very much the jag off down through the years of having to listen to the begging whiny obnoxious ghosts..  Hell I had a room full of my own. 

"Marcus Called her.."
"She sounds cute.."
"Is that Albert from back in 1989?"
"He sings good.."

I just glared at them.  They moved back when I had that look.  They know I have a power to enter their world where I can indeed throttle them or lock them in a room in the ghost world.  Its a stupid room with stupid rules because its just like going to the pokey for a 24 hour sleep it off.  Granted they come out hurting but at least I can shut them up that long.. or just concede and send them home.  Which I dont want to do thank you very much.. 

"Ms Hart .. I take it from the horrible rendition of show tunes that you have a haunt...?"  There I go again.. stating the obvious.  Well I suppose someone has to.

[Ink Slinger]

"Oh good god!  You can hear him too!  I'm not crazy."  She gripped the phone like a life line.  "Can you really get rid of him?  Can you really make him go away or shut up or something?!" Her voice was thin, desperate. 

With her free hand she threw a pillow at the ghost.  The action, of course, was useless as the pillow just sailed right through him.  She made a frustrated growl as the spook went right on singing, laughter in his voice now.

[Tagnizkur]

"Yes Ms Hart, I can hear him, and by the sounds of it he is quite flat..."

Believe me if I heard an elephant slowly moaning away in its death throes I would find it more musical than Albert the dead tenant.   Now though, this is where I get to see just how on edge the woman is,, because what I ask next is usually met by a few minutes of silence.

"yes Ms Hart I can get rid of him...  but I will need your address and for you to put the phone on speaker so the ghost can hear me...  Will you do that Ms Hart?  I need to tell him something before I go over there and kick....  talk to it.  Will you do that for me now?

[Ink Slinger]

"You can call me Julie." She said after she wasn't sure how man Ms. Harts.  She always preferred to be just Julie or sometimes Jules.  And she was desperate enough to do anything to get rid of the ghost, including putting her address in an e-mail to website she didn't even bother to check the reputation of.  Though he couldn't see her, Julie was nodding.

"Sure thing, it's in the e-mail my but my address is..." And she rattled it off quickly including apartment number and even her zip code.  She pulled the phone away from her ear, slid the little bar on the touch screen to unlock it and pressed the speaker button.  After a beep sounded on her end she said, "Okay you should be on speaker now." 

She held the phone up, with the mic towards herself and the speaker facing the ghost.  From Avenue Q he segued into Spam a Lot.  "It's been like this for more than twenty four hours.  Any sane person would have just left I'm sure."

The only reason she hadn't was that she had no where else to go and she couldn't afford another apartment.  She had been amazed to find this one and because of the money she would save over the next year she had bought herself a new camera and accessories for her business.

[Tagnizkur]

Marcus just grumbles under his breath as the stupid ghost continues its horrid rendition of the song.  He shoots a glare at the ghosts around him again just in case they want to chime in.

"Albert....  SHUTUP!"

I hear the ghost go deathly (no pun intended but its funny anyway) quiet and all I can hear now is the worried breathing of Julie.

"Albert... I am coming over there..  go back to the other until I get there..  if you dont.. You know what I will do..."

My tone goes very dark as the anger an bitterness of the years gone by creeps into my voice. The damn things have bothered me since birth.  I hate the,, I hate that I am a gateway..  I hate that I have to let them pass if I really wanted to them to go.. but I hate their pain and suffering that I must endure to let them go.  Their memories never leave me.

I noted the ghost hadn't made a peep which means he left. 

"He will leave you be until I get there.  You are not far from me ms... I mean Julie.  Ill be there shortly"  My tone is short but the bitterness they cause.. it just cant be helped.

[Ink Slinger]

She let out a whoop of delight when she was sure Albert was gone.  At least for now.  Relief flooded through her and the silence engulfed her senses.  When she realized she could clearly hear the iPod on the floor next to her she reached over and turned it down.

"Thank you.  Thank you, thank you, thank you!" She gushed.  "I won't go anywhere."  She disconnected. 

Julie went to the small bathroom and took a very quick shower in peace.  She pulled on jeans and a black tank top.  While she waited for Marcus to arrive she picked up all the things she had tried to throw at the ghost. 

[Tagnizkur]

After she hung up the phone I couldnt help but to quirk a single eyebrow at it. 

"She took that awfully easy.. which means she is a complete NUTBAG.. or she ...  Nah.. she has to be a nutbag." 

I once again give the phone an odd look while the ghosts just all stare waiting, but I fully ignore them and drop the two to get dressed.  Of course the almost automatic while comes from casper the prostitute.  God but she must have been a handful when she was still a meat bag. 

In moments I throw on jeans, tims, and an old Metallica Tee.  I tie my hair back in a quick pony tail after a few quick drags of the brush.   I could ghost to her house but since I think she is a total loon already I would hate to have a raving lunatic suddenly as I just manifest and become flesh in her home.  I know the are and I know the apartment to.  My Ex was a detective on that murder case. 

I open the large sliding doors to he garage.  This is after all a warehouse.   I jump in the old explorer and thankfully due to the hour the LSD is light.  Im there in no time and buzzing her apartment on the speaker phone.

"Maybe she will be a hot nutcase.. that always helps."

[Ink Slinger]

Julie placed the last pillow back on her couch and the buzzer rang.  She didn't know many people in Chicago yet.  She looked at the buzzer a moment.  She had to be crazy for doing this.  She pressed the button.  "Um, hello?"  She removed her finger from the button so the person on the other end could answer.

She patted the back pocket of her jeans assuring herself that her cell phone was there.  It was starting to sink in that she had invited a total stranger from a website into her apartment.  She wanted to be rid of the ghost once and for all though.  She wasn't going to be able to tolerate him much longer. 

Warily she looked around just to be sure Albert wasn't there just waiting to scare her again.  The only things looking back at her were the meager furnishings she'd bought for the apartment.  A couch, second hand tv, small round dining room table with just four chairs.  And silence.  Blissful, beautiful silence. 

[Tagnizkur]

Im telling you.. this is going to turn out to be a troll faced whack job or a gorgeous one.  Because thats what always happens to me.  Its always one or the other.  I attract whack jobs as much as I attract ghosts.  Four of which were standing by watching him.  Must have been gang bangers by their dress.

My thoughts and observations are broken by the buzzer..and wonderful.. now she sounds skittish.. a skittish troll whack job.

"Yes.. Julie this is Marcus Grey, I am here to... Talk to Albert.  Buzz me in?"

Im trying hard to sound social. I hope its coming across as such. 

[Ink Slinger]

She pressed the buzzer to unlock the door.  "See you in a minute." She said into the intercom.   Living on the second floor near the stairs she was certain it wouldn't take him long to make it up to her apartment and she wasn't wrong.  She had just enough time to smooth her hands over her jeans and sweep her long chestnut hair up into a pony tail before there was a knock at her door.

She pulled it open, "Hello and than..." Her words died in her throat when she saw him.  She wasn't sure what she'd been expecting when she opened the door.  Perhaps a man in a khaki jumpsuit with some kind of crazy science fiction looking device strapped to his back.  Time to watch less movies when you expect Egon and Dr. Venkman to show up and get rid of your ghost.  She told herself.  She certainly wasn't expecting a raven haired, green eyed hottie with a sour expression. 

"Uuhh" She shook her head to clear it and swallowed a couple times trying to wet her throat.  "Sorry.  Thank you for coming so quickly." She stepped back further opening the door to let him into her apartment.  "Please come in, Mr. Grey."

[Tagnizkur]

"Uuhh"  "Please come in, Mr. Grey."

During the very quick walk up the stairs my brain was assaulted with probable images of this woman.  I dont know why the mind does what it does but this is just some of the pictures that popped in my skull.

Cruella DeVille mixed with Lady Gaga
Wicked Witch of the West mixed with Amy Winehouse 
Momma Cass mixed with Nanny McPhee (pre good kids)

Oh there were others but it just starts to get ridiculous after a while.  After a quick rap on the door it opens. 

Now, this is where some rather odd things occur.  The brain.. the one upon the shoulders that is is suddenly rendered quite useless.  The body decides this is a good time to do its best imitation of a statue whilst the rest of the known blood flow in the human body goes rushing to a special place on a mans anatomy.  Keep in mind all of this takes place in one one millionth of a millisecond because that ladies is how fast a man can decide that his bed is a good place for you to be in.   

While all of this is going on the body realizes the brain is shutting down do to lack of air and blood.  So it kicks everything back into gear allowing the ears to register she is talking instead of the Charlie Brown adult speaking noise. 

The woman is ..  well..  lets just say.. no cant say that.. Umm  ok HOT!!

"Coming...  quickly.. Right.. I came quick.. that..  "  Yeah, I am Mr Smooth.. I get all the ladies with the magic mouth of mine.    It takes all of my will not to vanish into the ghost world right at the second..  But this is why we men have the crash and burn team in our heads..  their job is to come up with a line to save what little face we may have left..

"Sorry about that, late night, little coffee, and bad traffic makes for an inability for me to speak correctly!"

Stop looking down Marcus.. EYE CONTACT.

[Ink Slinger]

Once Marcus moved into the apartment she shut the door.  She tucked a stray piece of hair over her ear, something of a nervous gesture.  "Heh.  That I kind of understand.  I've not slept in...days.  Every time I came close, Albert screamed or did something to wake me up.  I'm so jittery it's not even funny."  She shook her head.  "But I could make you some coffee if you like." She offered.

She looked back up at him.  Again she was struck by the color of his eyes.  They just didn't seem natural.  "I really thought I was crazy.  And then...you made him stop.  I don't know how but thank you.  I mean really, thank you.  Too much longer and I think I would have found myself in an institution." She chewed her lower lip a moment.  "And I'm going to shut up before I say anything else lame."

[Tagnizkur]

"Its OK I am used to a lot of chatter..."

What seems like an eternity later my brain slapped itself for the statement.  I know I am a jaded jag off an all.. but still.  So as A cover up I quickly tunr the subject.

"Coffee would be fine..  Ill go deal with Albert.  Ill wager a guess and say it was the bathroom he first started bugging you.  Thats where they found his body back in 1984."

My words for some reason come out Bland, or maybe its the fact that I am staring at Albert at this moment.  He is not in the human realm, he remains in the ghost realm.. and well.. he is making very obscene gestures about human contact between two people.  I shoot him a very dark glare which unfortunately is almost in the exact path of Julie.  Yeah, I bet my face looks cute. 

I stretch to my full six foot five height and sorta look away towards the bathroom hoping to save some face. 

"How long ago did he first manifest.  Can you give me an approximate date?"

[Ink Slinger]

Julie's eyes nearly bugged out of her head.  How had he known?  The glare made her shrink away from him a bit and as she realized he was focused somewhere past her she looked over her shoulder.  Seeing nothing she turned back.  Okay maybe this guy is a whack job. She thought and her right hand went to her right rear pocket where her fingers dipped in and made contact with her phone.   Just in case.

"Uh, yeah.  I thought it was just stress and lack of sleep at first.  My hairbrush would be in the wrong drawer or my blow dryer in the floor of the shower when I got up."  She looked at the watch on her left wrist to check the date.  "About a month ago I think."  She made a face wrinkling her little nose and closing her eyes.  "No I can't be more specific than that really.  Working twelve plus hour days for a little more than a month, I've sorta begun to lose track."

Standing at his full height he dwarfs her five foot three inch height.  Julie found it both intimidating, thank you glaring scowl, and attractive.  Great.  The first guy you notice in this town and pay any mind to is a nut job who gets rid of ghosts.  Like the one you're seeing and hearing.  You're both going straight to white padded cells. And on her thoughts rambled.  "The bathroom is the second door on the right." 

The first was a closet and didn't bother asking him to excuse the mess.  Her bathroom was immaculate.  As was her kitchen.  They were the only two places she couldn't abide clutter and mess so they were both always spotless.  Her bedroom door was pulled closed, not that she was trying to hide a mess, but it was currently covered in clean clothes she had just piled in front of her dresser and prints she was arranging and deciding between for a gallery showing.   All of the art on the walls in her apartment were her own prints, as were most of the photos of family and friends around the small place.

[Tagnizkur]

"A month ago you say..?  That sounds about right..  "

You see at times a ghost goes back to where they died.  Not like to just hang around .. for the most part its like what the living do.  They go to a grave to remember.  Well the dead go to where they died for the same reason.   Yet If they find a living person they want to pester them until the go nuts or leave.  Problem is most people dont understand and cant even come close to seeing.  They just get bothered by the noises and such and well, the human mind does the rest. 

However if you are a sensitive, oh LORD are you in for one hell of a nightmare.  They hate you.. they hate that you know they exist... they hate that you can see and hear them.  Well hate may be a strong word.. They are jealous and well just dont like those who know.  Its a slipper slope..

"So Julie.." I say as I start walking towards the bathroom.  ".. who in you family has ever claimed to be a psychic.. witch.. gypsy.. empath.. any of that?" 

As I am asking the question there stands Albert pretending he has someone bent over the sink.  I'm sure you can imagine the lewd act he is portraying with his over the top false thrusts and horseback slapping. 

[Ink Slinger]

Julie paused in the kitchen, her hand on the faucet.  The little apartment meant it was easy to hear one another even separated by the walls between the kitchen and bathroom.  She looked down at the coffee carafe in her hand and back up at the wall puzzled.

"My mother's mother and her sisters," She began.  "They always talk about how..." She affected a poor Romanian accent, "In the old country we could be open about being gypsies." She shook her head and dropped the accent.  "My mother's family are Romani.  Are you telling me all the stories they told me are real and not just fanciful tales to entertain and scare children?"

She quickly filled the pot with water and transfered it to the coffee maker which she turned on and left percolating.  She walked towards the bathroom. 

"I know I inherited my grandmother's restless spirit.  Since I was seventeen and left home I've lived in the same place more than two years.  I chose photography as a career because I can take it with me anywhere and I love to travel."  She paused in the door of the bathroom and studied the large grumpy man.  "I'm a second generation American.  My mother's family came here when her mother was a teenager."

She stood with on hip cocked out and her head tipped to the side.  Her long chestnut hair fell over her shoulder and curled about her arm.  Her brown eyes studied him. 

[Tagnizkur]

I pull the light jacket off revealing long hard muscled arms with wrap around black tribal markings.  To those who could walk the worlds they would see a slight blue glow emanating from them.   Albert certainly does and all of his silly sexual mockery stops dead as real fear fills his portly features.   Most spirits know I am a gateway.  Most spirits know I can go into their world.  Most spirits know I could hurt them and block them from this world.  What very few know or last long enough to tell is I am also a spirit warrior.  These markings are given in the first weeks of birth for both protection and weapons.    I lock eyes with Albert as I begin to speak. 

"Yes Julie, most of your peoples tales are true.  Some of it lacks fact while most of it is hardly known to your kind.  You see some people are born to see them.. to know of them.. and they dont like that much.  Thats why Albert stayed after he came to visit his death spot...  Isn't that right Albert."

As Soon as I say the words Albert fully manifests into our world with a look of absolute fear and horror. 

[Ink Slinger]

Her eyes traced the markings around his muscled arms.  She wondered if they meant something special.  He certainly looked like he could be Native American, though his brilliant green eyes were as puzzling as they were gorgeous.  She jumped and yelped when Albert was suddenly standing in her bathroom.  In her jumping back her arm swung out and smacked the door frame. 

"Ow.  Shit." She stood their rubbing her arm and looking between the two men.  "How did you...?" She suddenly found herself light headed.  She took two steps back and leaned against the hallway wall.  "I think..." She brought her hand up to her head and began doing a calming, deep breathing exercise. 

The padded white cell was beginning to sound better and better.

[Tagnizkur]

"Albert... STAY!!" I growl at him as I see Julie nearly faint. 

"Not moving...promise.."  and that is what he does.

I quickly head towards Julie and gently grab her as she looks like she is about to teeter and fall.

"Breathe Ms Har... Julie.. just breathe...  Albert wont say a word or do a thing.. WILL HE!"  I shoot a glare over my shoulder.   Yet..and this is why we mean get in trouble...  My body is already started the tingles towards center mass and that is just from touching her soft creamy smooth skin.  OH GOD I have to get out of here quick or ...  Dont think it Marcus..  just get the job done and think of dead puppies...

Even though I am trying to do that anyone with ears will hear the slight hitch in my voice.. see the dilation in my eyes.... and the elevated breathing rate.   

"Umm...."  I start to look into her eyes and then slowly down...

MARCUS!!!  JOB... HELLO

"Umm  Yeah.. Job..  its Ok .. let me get him out of here... and then.. then I think we need to talk..."

TALK ONLY... you got that mid section...

[Ink Slinger]

"I'm okay."  She said softly and got her legs back under herself again.  It only lasted as long as it took her to look up to his eyes again.  Her knees went to jelly again.  Up close his eyes where crystal clear, shot through with darker emerald veins in the shining green. 

For all you know he's a whack job!  Get it together! She ordered herself.

"Out.  Right."  She shook her head to clear it.  "Yes.  Please get him out of her.  I'm okay.  At least...I'm pretty sure I am."  Tingles danced up her arms from where their skin made contact.  Subtle signs of her own distraction made themselves known.  The way her breaths sped a tiny bit and her eyes darkened.

"You...you just get rid of him.  I"ll go finish coffee.  Then we can talk and you can tell me what I owe you." She nodded and straightened her back standing up.  After another moment and one more look at his eyes she headed for the kitchen. 

OH MY GAAAAAWD! She mouthed in the kitchen.  Nutjob or not, he was H-A-W-T, hot.  She pulled down two mugs, sugar and the half and half out of the fridge.  She also took the muffins out of the little plastic container from the grocery store and set them on a plate.  Julie fanned herself a few times and gave herself a stern, silent lecture about not getting anything started with this guy.

[Tagnizkur]

I swear if I had not known any better, I think her backside was a Klingon ship using a tractor beam and my eyes were caught in it.   Its took a moment or to to break free of its magnetic pull but I was successful, just barely mind you. 

Once I am sure she is gone I head back to Albert who instantly explodes into begging.. 

"Look... lock me up...  one day.. Ill go away... spirit ward the place...  You dont have to gate me..  heck.. i dont want you to suffer for me.. I was an as in life and death...  PLEASE Marcus..  just..  dont destroy me.. let me exist..." 

His pleads start of slow and then his words in crease as the pitch of his voice climbs like a never ending flight of stairs..   I quickly turn and grab Albert in an instant and step us both through to the Ghost world.  The tribal marking seem to explode in luminosity on this side of existence and Albert begins to scream. 

"ALBERT...SHUT UP!!!"  I scream at him as he tries desperately to break free of my grasp.  Yet the power within the markings hold him tight. 

"I know all about who you were in life.  I know the detective who got your cold case...  I know about what kind of thing you were in the flesh..  Wife beater... child beater...  What you did to the two boys in 3b..  yeah.. its all in there Albert..  I knew who and what you were before I got here.  I recognized the apartment.. I knew the address...  and I guess I am just lucky that you dumb ass ghosts cant help but to stay to torment a sensitive."

Albert doesn't have time to talk as the markings seem to come to life as tendrils of power explode out of the flowing light and wrap themselves around Albert.  Pathetic muted screams come from the ghost as he pleads on deaf ears.  My eyes glow a deep green and in that moment the tendrils of power rip him a apart violently.   Nothing remains of what was Albert the molester, Albert the wife beater.... nothing. 

I step back into our world.  Time in the flesh is slow in comparison to the other side.  over there everything moves rapidly.  A second here is life five minutes there.   Yet for a ghost what is time?  I quickly look happy to hear Julie still preparing the coffee in the kitchen.  I take a deep breath and shake off the thoughts of the moment.  Julie will never know just who Albert was in life.  She doesnt need to know just what kind of thing has been bothering her. 

I fake a light smile as I walk back to the kitchen.

"Ok he is gone.. so lets talk .."

[Ink Slinger]

Julie looked nervous and tired.  She hadn't slept in days and only hoped not to make a fool of herself talking to him.  She filled both cups with coffee and passed one over to him.

"Are you hungry?" She asked and held the plate of muffins out.  "The couch is probably the most comfortable place to sit and talk." 

This was insane.  Absolutely insane.  She chewed the inside of her cheek.  "So that's it, he's really gone?  He won't be back?  I, wow.  Thank you.  I mean, I really thought I was loosing my mind."

[Tagnizkur]

"No...  Albert is" eradicated.. destroyed.. torn apart.. eviscerated... " going to never bother you again...  I promise that.."

I join her on the couch and make direct eye contact to the best of my ability. 

"I can setup some wards to be sure no other haunts decide to may an impromptu appearance.  Im sure you tried all the Hollywood ways already so Ill teach you some of the proper things..."

As I talk my mind for some odd reason.. well ok its just because I am male and we dont think on one thing other than getting some for long..  but now.. that tractor beam is ever so desperately trying to drag my eyes down.   Damn you cleavage and your wily ways..

I clear my throat softly and again drag my eyes up.  "The only reason you were losing your mind is because you are a sensitive..  Aside from the horrible... never get it right tv stuff.. what did your family ever teach you about the paranormal.?"

[Ink Slinger]

"Hollywood, the internet, stupid stories you hear as a kid."  She chuckled.  "I tried it all.  And of course none of it worked.  Then I started begging and pleading.  That didn't work either.  After he showed up in my shower a few weeks ago...I've only been showering at the gym." She looked down at the cup of coffee in her hands. 

"They didn't, er  well, I didn't listen.  My grandmother tried and I refused to listen to her.  I rolled my eyes and ignored her.  My mom, I guess it skipped her or something.  I don't know.  She never said anything about it, only that she never felt it and so just to humor grandma." She shook her head.  "Why now?"  She looked up at him.   

"I mean, I'm twenty-eight.  I've been living on my own since I was seventeen and purposely failed to turn my campus housing paperwork in on time.  Why have I not seen ghosts before now?"  She made a face.  "I've visited Savannah, Georgia.  Supposedly the most haunted city in the US."

[Tagnizkur]

"Well there are two possibilities..  one requires a personal question and the other is more of just an odd mental block some people can create.."  Most people squirm at the mention of personal and I being a complete stranger doesn't help.

"If you are willing to answer a personal question Ill as it..  but the other reason could be as simple as mental blocking.  Someone like your grandma could have literally trained your gift by mere words and suggestive trances to just shut off..  What would have kicked it on for you was a haunt like Albert.. something.."  Damn it... she is going to freak at these next words.."well.. evil!"

I quickly gulp down and throw a few quick distraction jabs because I dont want her to focus on the fact that Albert was evil.  Then she will ask why.. and Lord knows..She wont want to sleep here tonight.  Of course head number two quickly thinks thats not such a bad idea. 

"Very good coffee by the way.  What flavor is it.. I might want to get some for my place.  So would you mind a personal question?"

[Ink Slinger]

For whatever reason she felt, almost comfortable answer a question from Marcus.  If he weren't sitting in her living room, if he was just a faceless person on the other side of her computer monitor she wouldn't bat an eye at it.  She chewed the inside of her cheek more thoroughly. 

"He was evil.  Could he have...hurt me?" She asked in a timid voice.  Or maybe she had only asked it in her head because he was asking about the flavor of coffee. 

"Oh, it's uh,  Seattle's Best bold brew.  I put a little fresh hazelnut in it when I put the grounds in the pot."  She shrugged.  "Something my aunt showed me.  Why spend money on expensive coffees, creamers or syrups when you can just grind some hazelnut right into the pot?"  Julie looked back up at him, "You can ask the question and then I will decide whether or not to answer."

[Tagnizkur]

"Mental trauma...  Let me explain about that because I dont mean trauma in the physical sense.   Its one of a deep spiritual and mental one that sometimes forces the mind to rebuild.  It can stem from childhood...  umm..  sexual abuse, witnessing a murder, being forced into a cult...  Things like that can shut the talent down as the mind tries to build walls all around it.   Did anything of this nature happen to you and has something close to it happened again recently?  If so, those walls would be shattered."

The human mind at times can literally create the images that you are talking about in extreme detail as you say it.  These images flood my mind of someone doing just that top this woman.  This woman I dont know.  This woman I never met.  This woman that suddenly I want to protect more than anything on the earth.  For so horrible reason, I have no idea why.  I hate people.  I hate ghosts.  So why this, why her, why now?!

Who is this woman!

[Ink Slinger]

Julie thought for a few moments in silence.  It had been more than just her restless spirit that drove her to Chicago for sure.  If one looked closely none of the family photos around her place included a father.  Not many of the pictures included men for that matter. 

"I guess I should give you the whole story." She said softly.  It wasn't one she had shared often.  In fact the only person who knew the whole truth to her childhood and her move to Chicago had been her shrink.  The move had been the good doctor's idea.  A fresh start, in a new place. 

"My biological father and my mother never married.  I was an oops.  He sent support and for a long time I saw him regularly.  Even lived with him for a while, that was after...I was fourteen. Just another of mom's stellar boyfriends came home extremely drunk one night.  I had fallen asleep on the couch watching some movie or another.  He was quick for a drunk.  Before I was even awake he was on top of me lifting my night gown.  He swore he thought I was mom.   She had been having trouble sleeping so she was taking pills.  My screams...didn't wake her up until it was too late.  The neighbor heard though and ripped the asshole off me, but the damage was done.  I went and lived with dad until I was seventeen."  She paused and took a deep breath. 

She had told the whole story in an even, quiet tone.  She told it with the same cold, detachment of someone who had been coached through telling the details repeatedly. 

The next bit rung a bit more emotion from her.  Her brown eyes teared up as she looked up at him for a moment.  "Moving to Chicago from a smaller city in the middle of North Carolina was about more than just being restless and looking for a change of pace.  I needed a whole new start.  Things were fine between me and the guy I was seeing and then we got comfortable.  He let me in on...some fetishes of his.  One night, he went to far.  I snapped.  When the police arrived he was still unconscious.  I was not charged and I didn't press charges.  But he wouldn't leave me alone.  I decided to leave."   She let out a shuddering breath.  "I have thrown myself into my work and have been working more than fourteen hours daily."

[Tagnizkur]

As she pours out her story pure rage begins to consume me.  Again, and I dont know how.. I am filled with the images.. detailed images, smells, tastes... of her abuse.  I see their faces too.  Faces I will remember.  Faces I will find.  I will hunt them.  They will know suffering as no man has ever before known.  The rage is killing me.  Ripping me apart. 

I begin an inward struggle not to phase out.. not to begin my hunt now.   As he story comes to a close the images slow but how they shall haunt me.  I have never been able to feel a humans pain.. to see them... to know them... to become one with them.   How is this possible?

I look down and see that at some point I have slid close to her and held her hand.  This like the emotions and images I am getting from her make no sense to me.  I cant even begin to understand at the slightest what is going on here.. and then my words finally come.

"Julie...I..."  I realize there is a very dark edge to my tone so I flush the anger deep for a moment. 

"This..  yes, that would be a reason... I hoped it was the other..  What you suffered..  no being should ever have to suffer.."  Before my next words come out a look of revenge and a look of pure protective desire and strength fills my face.   My voice is low...  my features almost dark.. "... and no one.. will ever... do so Again..."

[Ink Slinger]

She wasn't sure what she had been expecting, but for him to grow so fiercely protective was not it.  She looked down at their clasped hands and then back up at his face.  Even in his anger his face was handsome, it simply made the strong features harder, more chiseled. She wiped the moisture from her eyes and took a deep, calming breath.

"Not that I don't appreciate it, but " she paused.  "You barely know me."  There was a touch of confusion in her eyes. She shook her head to dispel the myriad of thoughts.  "I've only told one other person in the whole world both those stories and she is my shrink." She gave a short, self-deprecating chuckle.  "She encouraged me to move and make a change.  Even gave me the name of one of her old friends and associates who practices here in Chicago.  She would probably give me a stern lecture on how I've been trying to ignore my feelings by throwing myself into work."  She looked at the mostly bare walls of her apartment.  Maybe that was why she couldn't pick which items she wanted on her walls and which would be going up for her gallery showing.

"You're right, no one should ever have to suffer the things I've been through, but they happen.  I chose not to be a victim any longer.  And while my ex is still walking about free, he committed no crime.  My mother's ex is still in jail." She shrugged.  "But you think that's why suddenly I could sense Albert?"

[Tagnizkur]

There is a little part of my mind that keeps whispering.  She inst letting go of your hand.  look down!  See she is holding it. 

Another part of the brain, some would say the wiser part tells the little part.  Hello, we have the ability to feel, of course we know she is still holding our hand.

Then the other part of the brain.. we all know this part because lets face it.. it is the LOUDEST.  Dude..  I wonder what she can do with that hand.


Yet, with all that, the words that come out of my mouth must be controlled by the secret FBI/CIA/NSA/HOMELAND DEFENSE part of my brain.  Because it was still on take and making sense despite the barrage of internal musing.

"You chose right, you dont need to be a victim, with people in the flesh nor the arrogant sadistic, tormenting and rather annoying spirits.   I can teach and honestly, I think you will need to know especially since you have reawakened that side of you.  One whiff of that and you may get a conga line of Albert's just looking to bother you. "

I shudder at the though of it because.. I have been there, a few years back I was sent to investigate a wharf restaurant that used the wreckage of an old ship as its decorations.  Some dumb ass rich guy thought it was a brilliant idea.  Little did he know thousands of ghosts who died during a raging drunken party on the ship came with the decoration.  Needless to say..  that was the worst case EVER!

"Now I know..  I may not know you well, oh hell.. know you at all... but that changed in ways you will come to understand soon enough.  If you are willing I will show you.  Thankfully you have a gift but one that can be controlled..... unlike..   well.. we can work on it.  So what do you say?"

[Ink Slinger]

"I suppose I do need to learn." She nodded slowly.  Her mind was still trying to take all of it in, to figure it out in a way that made sense.  Unfortunately that wasn't going to happen until she understood the realities she had always believed nothing more than fanciful stories. "And I don't know how I'm going to find anyone else to teach me."

She realized she was still holding his hand and looked down at them.  She blushed a bit and pulled her hand back shyly.  "I'm sorry." She said softly.  "Would you like more coffee?"

[Tagnizkur]

I note her pulling her hand away and again I am conflicted and confused.  Why did it just feel like she ripped part of my heart out at the same time.  Seriously.. I am not one of those guys! 

"Sure more coffee would be great... and I will come with you because i want to talk more of your family.  Can you give me some more details on them?"

Family, its such a joke to me.  My mom... never knew her.. I am guessing she was the green eyed one..  and Dad, well hell he died to early to tell me anything.  Foster homes all sucked..  I never know people of my tribe..  had to live with ghosts all my life and only white people who used me to just get money from the system.  Happy times worth remembering?  No not even in the slightest.  What bother me the most is because I must have been born on tribal land and my father must have been the one who gave helped my mom give birth there is no real record of the day I was born..  nor is there any record of any member of the Grey family.   Family.. WHAT A CROCK!

[Ink Slinger]

She rose with a nod.  "Though you don't really have to get up.  Small apartment, you'll easily be able to hear me if you don't want to get up." She gave him a friendly smile and left it up to him whether or not he followed the few paces over to her kitchen that was separated from the living space by just a bar and counter top. 

She grabbed the coffee pot and a dish towel to set underneath it on her coffee table, as well as the muffins.  She found she couldn't remember when she last ate.  "My parents never married, like I said.  We lived in a pretty small town so it was a pretty big deal.  Everybody knew.  Dad got a promotion at work when I was ten and moved from St. Clairsville, Ohio to Columbus.  It was three hours away so I pretty much just saw him the traditional rotating holidays of couples who are no longer together and share a kid.  Mom dated a long string of losers, even after I went to live with dad.  She died when I was nineteen.  I pretty much lost touch with her side of the family after that.  I still hear from Dad at Christmas, my birthday and I guess every other month or so.  He calls to make sure I'm okay.  He's never asked for money or anything.  He wasn't a dead beat dad or anything, but neither was he ever really much more than a sperm donor. He made it to my first gallery showing." She shrugged.  "I didn't grow up unloved or in a truly terrible situation, but I didn't have the Norman Rockwell paintings either."

As she spoke, she sat back down on the couch after placing everything on the table.  She sat facing Marcus with one leg bent and tucked beneath her while the other trailed off the couch. 

[Tagnizkur]

I got up regardless of the size and headed to the small kitchen.  Oddly I was consuming her words but more getting lost in her melodious voice.    This made little sense to me since again, I am not much of a people person let alone one who sticks with his clients after the fact.   So why this woman, I have seen other sensitive and even taught them on how to handle obnoxious ghosts. 

So again, why am i here now.  Why am I staying with her. 

After she sat i found myself opening up as well but not completely because I am not a complete sap. 

"I dont remember my father..  I was young when he died.  I never knew who my mother was, I found a single picture long ago..  she was a gorgeous woman with emerald green eyes, flowing brown hair.. and .. a deep sadness to her.    I dont know what to make of it.  After my father died I ended up in foster home after foster home.  Ghosts where already around me.. I guess they were from birth..  so the families never knew what do with a crazy kid.  Some would just lock me in my room just so they could keep their checks.  Others would send me back like I was some nasty food they ordered.   None of it made sense to me..  the ghosts never helped... it was...  well i guess it just was."

Somehow during that time I slid closer to her. 

[Ink Slinger]

"If her eyes were anything like yours they were gorgeous."  She surprised herself with the compliment, but it was true.  Julie wasn't one to flirt with someone she barely knew.  She had been captivated by his eyes, mesmerized.  "You almost make me wish I did color photography." She remarked. 

"I don't remember ghosts being about when I was a kid or maybe..."  She looked puzzled a moment.  "No, wait." Her forehead wrinkled.  "I thought maybe my memories were exaggerated.  I do remember though, this little girl, everyone thought I just had an imaginary friend.  I swear I saw her though.  She disappeared after I found this doll in the park and gave it to a police man.  I saw her face on TV a few weeks later.  The police solved a years old murder case..."  Understanding lit her eyes.  "My imaginary friend wasn't imaginary, she was dead!  My mother lied to me!  She did see her.  Madelyn was right!  My mother could see her too, but she didn't want me to believe I could."

[Tagnizkur]

"Just one...?"

I cant help but to have a smile at the same time feel a flooding of absolute sorrow an sickness.  One?  I had thousands upon thousands.

"Sorry... i dont mean anything by that... but if you did see one then you were indeed a true sensitive.  Many dont see them after puberty.. sorta like when mutants dont gain their power until after hair starts growing places other than your head."

A tru smile comes back as I look her in the eyes. 

"It is good though that you only see one at a time, I can train you to work with it.. I just wish someone...  Nothing.. never mind that...  When do you want to begin?

[Ink Slinger]

"You didn't have anyone to teach you, did you?"  After what he said about the way he grew up it didn't take a rocket scientist to figure that one out.  "Well I am very glad you came to my aid today.  I was near to hysteria."  She gave him a grateful look.

Julie got up and rummaged through a bag hanging near the door, when she came back she held a day planner in her hands and began flipping through it.  "I want to say let's start right now, but I'm sure you have other things you need to be doing and I'm near to crashing."  She found the correct month and began looking.  "Um, it looks like I have everything I need for my upcoming gallery show, if I could just pick the pieces I want to use.  So what's good for you?  If I schedule it now I won't book shoots in that time."

[Tagnizkur]

"No..  and what I had... no I should say have to deal with is so much more.  There are things that happen and I can do.. see feel....  its just...."  I stop because how do you explain this to someone you dont know.  Someone whose experience is equal to that of someone who just dips their pink toe in and say they swam in the ocean.   

"an....anyway..  No problem.  I didnt mind coming at all..  As to being free...  I can train you today and start showing you some things.  From the last email I got I think you are the only one on my list today.  Truthfully it takes most people who arent sensitive months of dealing with a ghost and years of medication before they realize all the have is a ghost with a hard on for causing trouble."

I sorta chuckle and shrug.  "So what do you say... you game?"

[Ink Slinger]

Julie thought for a moment.  She could feel the fatigue in her body.  She needed rest. The caffeine in the coffee she was drinking was doing nothing for her.  She was beyond the point of stimulants keeping her up and as the adrenaline bled from her system she was starting to feel heavy and sluggish.

"After I sleep."  She said finally and this time couldn't hide her yawn.  "I want to learn, I don't want to have to deal with another Albert, but if I don't soon sleep I fear I will just crash.  "Perhaps after lunch today?  Say two?  It will give me a chance to sleep and then I can make us dinner after.  It's the least I can do.  And you've not yet told me how much I owe you for getting rid of Albert."

[Tagnizkur]

"Thats fine.. but I will warn you now... this isn't Hollywood and I am not some woman who whispers or a riddlin overdosed kid talking about dead people.   Once I start to open your eyes a little more you'll see things you never thought possible.   But, you need to rest now.. I can see that.. so I want to make sure your alert before I show you anything..."

As the words finish I get up and offer her a genuine smile as I start to walk to the door.  I hand her a card.."that is my personal cell..  Ive got things ill be doing in the area.. so call me when you are...... Ready...."

Like im some kind of nerd i offer my hand out to her shake like she is some dude i just met.  What the hell is wrong with me

[Ink Slinger]

Julie shook his hand with a grateful smile.  "Thank you, Marcus."  There was something about the way she said his name that surprised even her.  It sort of rolled off her tongue with a familiarity and fondness she couldn't explain.  "I will call you if something changes, but if not, just plan for two o'clock."

She saw him out and when the lock clicked shut she leaned against the door with a sigh.  Silence.  Glorious, peaceful silence.  So why did she feel an odd emptiness twinging in her mind.  She crossed the room and picked up the two mugs to take them to the kitchen and wash them.  Julie looked down at the cup and back at the door.  Oh now you're just being silly. She scolded herself. 

The brunette set her alarm clock as she settled into bed.  She didn't need her alarm though.  A scant hour and a half later she was awake and couldn't fall back of sleep.  She took a nice long, hot and utterly private shower.  Already she was feeling better.  There was no ghost hanging around to interrupt her shower and follow her around as she tried to get dressed.  She pulled on a pair of well worn jeans that hugged her hips and legs just the way she liked and a light blue halter top.  She brushed her long hair up into a pony tail.

It was only noon when she picked up her cell phone and dialed Marcus' number and waited.

[Tagnizkur]

After I left I stepped into the ghost world and back out inside my car.  I sorta wish I could take something this big through the worlds it would be a hell of a saver on gas.   As I start the car I cant help but to peer through the windshield to Julies apartment.    " Just who are you Julie and why is it I can see your life?  Why are you so different from any other person I have ever met."

Something was definitely different with her..  well actually something was just different period.  I pulled my attention away from the window and put the car into gear.  I went to pop in a Metallica CD when this crazy blue arc of electricity shot from my hand and into the radio.  a quick pop, and then the car just died. 

"Aww man what the fricking HELL!  I just had the alternator on this piece of crap CHANGED!!! "  I get out of the car and slam the door and whip open the hood.  Im happy i know my way around electronics and an engine.  Yet as I lifted the hood I wasnt expecting to see what I saw.  The battery was .. well shit.. it was melted and the electronic and fuses all just fried...

"Ok what the hell..."  I reach my had into my pocket to try to call Sal..  he is the guy that loans me his umm..  PERFECTLY LEGAL automotive facility.  Of course.. the phone is dead. 

"Apparently the gods of electronics hate me.. or I fead some damn mogwai after midnight.   I start pulling the electronics apart in hopes that I can save it.   after about a few hours though I realize it aint gonna happen.

"Shoot.. I hope Julie had enough sleep."  I head back up to her apartment and start knocking at her door.  Its a good thing some dude was leaving..  with my luck her buzzer fell victim to the static shock o the century. 

[Ink Slinger]

She frowned at the phone when it went to voicemail.  She sighed thinking maybe he'd bailed.  Then a knock at her door surprised her.  Looking at the thing curiously as if some how staring at it might make the door translucent she walked up and looked out the peep hole.  To her great surprise Marcus was standing there. 
She removed the security chain and opened the door.

"Hello again."  She smiled a bit.  "I just tried to call you, but your phone went to voicemail.  I know you said you'd be close, but wow." She chuckled a bit.  "Please come in"  She stepped aside to let him in.  "So what am I going to need for this training?" She asked getting right down to business.

[Tagnizkur]

"You tried to call?  I...  well..  I think I was about to call Spiderman and see if Electro got out of jail.  It was pretty crazy but...  this damn spark.. and just poof..."  I sorta scratch my skull in what must look like a comical manner as I look at the rather useless phone.  "The weird part..."  my voicine sounding dazed and distant..."everything.. just went.. umm Poof?"

I sorta go through the whole thing in my head.  I mean yeah.. I deal with ghosts..  but sudden self destruction of electronic, well thats a new one to me. 

"...... uhh...  yeah.. anyway.. Training.  Yeah training. "

I look her up and down whilst the typical middle brain wants to pause in areas of her anatomy.

"Actually..  To quote a rock star who aired his brains out... come as you are."

[Ink Slinger]

"Wow...that's..." She fumbled around for something to say.  "Odd and not good."  Julie shrugged.  She stepped back to let Marcus enter the apartment.  She looked down at her feet for a moment and then back up to him.  "I just need to find my shoes I suppose.  Or is this something we can do in my apartment?" 

She really had no idea what the training would entail, what they'd need or if they would have enough space in her tiny apartment.  Julie was also partially distracted by the man himself.  Now she was less frazzled she noticed how his green eyes seemed to sparkle and his jaw was strong, chiseled.  Marcus wasn't her usual type, but she was none the less attracted to him.  The young woman shook her head clearing it again.

[Tagnizkur]

"I just need to find my shoes I suppose.  Or is this something we can do in my apartment?" 

"I have another word for what it is..  but since I dont know you well I wont go about dropping F bombs to describe what I think of it."

I make a slight face as I look down again at the fried phone.  Doesn't make a damn bit a sense for the thing to just go ZAP!  That.. and hell..  I wanted to ignore it.. but I also cant shake this... and i hate the cliche..  "feeling..."

I realize it after the fact the word came out loud.   I look up at her and a grin creep across my face despite the feeling and my dead phone and car.

"Oh no..  we are going to go very stereo typical first because I need to see how sensitive you are.  We are going to the the old cook county prison.. and more pointedly.. death row.  So please.. "  I snicker a little.. "Shoes would be a good idea. 

[Ink Slinger]

"Cook County?  Seriously?  That place is creepy." She shivered.  "Just diving by it gives me the screamin' heebee-geebees." The hairs on the back of her neck rose at the thought. She had been in Chicago just a few days the first time she rode by the facility.  Rumors circulated about the older buildings and the old death row.  And who could pass up photographs of an old jail?  They always incited some emotion in the viewer. 

Julie hadn't even made it out of her car, hell she hadn't even parked, before she turned around and high tailed it away from the corrections facility. She wasn't keen on going back and actually going into the building.  Especially if she'd be seeing and hearing ghosts.  Who knew how many executed spooks would still be around the place.  Her face paled a little at the thought.

"Sink or swim, eh?"  She tried to joke but it came in a more frightened tone than light hearted one.  She never had been good at hiding her own true emotions.  She tended to wear her heart on her sleeve and show everything she felt in her expression, especially her eyes.  Her father always said she'd never make a good poker player and it was true.  She also had never really developed the ability to lie or deceive.

[Tagnizkur]

"Sink or swim?  Its funny you should say that... "

I say as I toss my dead phone in her kitchen trash.  The spark that trashed the car and then phone has my brain chasing around what it is like a red neck chases a greased pig.  I know what caused it.. but I just cant get a grip on that thought and let i fully form.  I shake my head and look at her.  A look of concern and curiosity cross my features.  Her family has been in this world.. she is a sensitive..  surely... surely this life I lead will be... well, not a COMPLETE shock.

I take a short breath...

"....  You showed more control ... and well balls.. then most men would..  so... Yeah... sink or swim...?  You decide...."

I leave it in the air just like that.  Yes I just met the woman.. but come on.. i have had sex with women faster .. yet.. there is something about her..  yeah she is SMOKING... and i would love to see her bent over...    I shake my head quelling the thoughts.  Still, there is something about her

[Ink Slinger]

"It wasn't about balls." She replied.  I thought I was going crazy.  I'm self employed so my insurance is crap right now.  Albert didn't scare me; he made me mad.  I e-mailed you out of desperation.  I didn't really think about the fact that I was giving a stranger my address.  When I did think about it, it was too late.  And you made him shut up.  I just wanted the ghost gone.  I figured if he couldn't touch me he couldn't hurt me."  Julie sounded exasperated once more.  "If you way I might be seeing more of them, I need to know how to get rid of them with my sanity mostly in tact."  Far be it for her to call herself fully sane.  At twenty one she'd decided to open her own photography business.  At twenty six she was in her third city trying to make it work and find a place that felt like home.

Jule walked over to the door and slid her feet into sneakers. 

"So yeah, I will swim or drown trying to learn."  She declared with fierce determination.  What ever was going on, she was going to be better, stronger, than it was.  The petite woman was not going to let anything take her life away from her or make it unbearable to live.