Betwinx (Paranormal Erotic Romance Novella) (7 page)

“I won’t.” She smacked his butt as he turned toward the ice cream shop next door.

Philip looked back and waggled his eyebrows. Valerie g
rinned
at him
and then
walked back
over
to
the kiosk
.

* * * * *

“Are you sure she smiled at you?”
Lorna
stared at the
blonde
girl standing beside the
large portable retail
cart
filled with metaphysical items. Tarot cards lined one shelf,
new age books another.
P
endulums hung from the top and ornate jewelry
filled a glass topped jewelry box
near where
Ms.
Delores sat.

“I’m sure. Her boyfriend called her Valerie.”
Travis
held
Lorna
’s hand. “If she saw me, then she must have seen you too. This is it,
Lorna
.
” He led her closer to the kiosk. “Let’s listen to what she says to
Delores
.”

“Look in the window,”
Lorna
said.
“
I can see your reflection there…well, sort of…
B
ut I don’t see mine.
Do
you see it?
It’s just like the mirror at Surfside.
What’s going on?”

Travis
faced the glass store front.
Lorna
was right, his reflection, though
very
faint, was there.

Valerie perused the items for sale before turning her gaze to the older woman who was busy
looking into a crystal ball.
“How do you know about
that man
?”

“I
recognize
d
him
. His name is
Travis
but I’m not the one who can
release
him.
I
t is your
responsibility
—
you are the only one who can help him
.”

“
Did you really see him?”

Ms. Delores nodded, glancing over at
Travis
.
“I saw him for the first time when you walked up here. I’ve been waiting for twenty years, hoping to see
Lorna
or
Travis
.”

“Oh my god.
D
elores
sees
us too
!”
Lorna
looked up at him, her eyes shimmering with happiness.

“
I don’t understand.
” Valerie sat on the stool in front of the older woman. “
Philip couldn’t see him but you c
an
. What does this mean? Am I psychic?
”
She had so many questions that needed answering. Could she trust Ms. Delores to be accurate in what she said? Several of her friends swore by her readings.
“
Why
am I
the only one who can release him
?
What am I supposed to release him from
?
”

“Can she do that?
”
Lorna
asked.
“
Can she r
elease us into the light
?”

His brow was furrowed, worry etched into his features.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. Let’s j
ust listen.” He couldn’t help but worry. From the way
Delores
was talking to
Valerie
,
neither of them
saw
Lorna
. He wouldn’t
tell her of his suspicions yet but t
here was no way he’d go
into the light without her.
He didn’t like this. Not at all.

“
We all have psychic abilities, Valerie. Some use them more than others.
Do you know the story of the old Hutchinson place?”

Valerie shook her head that she didn’t.
“I know where it is. That’s about it.”

“Then let me
tell you
what happened
on
that dreadful day
twenty
years ago
.
” Ms. Delores
adjusted
her hat and leaned forward. “
Back then
Halloween was
a spectacular event around here
. Everyone had parties, kids went trick-or-treating, and there were three haunted houses
running simultaneously
for a couple of weeks leading up to
Halloween
.
T
wo
were
put on for kids
by local charities
and one
was
for adults
, which
was h
osted
b
y Bill Hutchinson and his wife.”

“
Every year
their
son,
Travis
,
and
his
fiancé
,
Lorna
,
created a unique Egyptian
-
themed room in the house.
Since it was a tradition
for them
,
t
hey decided
to
marry
in that
room
at midnight on Halloween.
”

“W
e got there early to make love before the guests arrived. Do you remember,
Travis
?”

“How could I forget? Our families thought you were still a virgin so we had to sneak
around
.”
Travis
kissed the top of her head and wrapped his arm over her shoulder.
“The sneaking was exciting too.”

“
Lorna
was a
beautiful girl
and was nice t
o everyone including John Price,” Ms. Delores said.
“
She didn’t know that John obsessed about her. No
one knew until after the fact. T
he town changed so dramatically afterwards. We didn’t celebrate Hal
loween for many years
…”

“I’d forgotten about John.”
Lorna
frowned. “Do you think he’
s our unfinished business? The reason this stupid r
ule was placed on us so we can’t cross over until someone acknowledges
us?”

“
I don’t see how he could be. We didn’t see him the day we died
.
”

“So what happened?” Valerie hung on
Ms. Delores’
every word.

“
It’s a pity
that
Lorna
didn’t
take the
t
hings he said to her seriously.” Ms.
Delores sighed. “I tried to warn
her
.
I sensed negative energy around him
but she wouldn’t listen.
Lorna
always believed the best of people. She always looked for that silver lining in a bad situation
.
Even after all these years I still miss her.
No one would
have ever thought
such a tragic even
t
would happen here of all places.”

“
Oh, D
elores
. I listened to you,
”
Lorna
said.
“I did take
John
seriously even though h
e wouldn’t leave me alone. I
told him over and over again that I loved you,
Travis
,
not him.”

“Ms. Delores…” Valerie prodded.

“Anyway,
Travis
and
Lorna
were making love in the Egyptian room when the house exploded, killing them instantly.
”

“How do you know that?” Valerie asked.

“That’s what I’
d like to know too,”
Lorna
said.

“
Lorna
had told me earlier in the day what they’d planned to do
.”
Ms. Delores took a sip of
coffee.
“
Their bodies were found naked
.”

“How embarrassing!”
Lorna
cringed. “Then why do we wear the same clothing we had on that morning every year?”

“I think it’s because we
relive
the day
from the beginning
,”
Travis
glanced
a
t
her.

“
But they weren’
t the only ones killed,” Ms. Delores said.

“We weren’t
?”
Travis
muttered.

“
John Price’s body was found outside. After
the investigation
the police
announced that John had planted explosives in the back of the house
near
the Egyptian room
. He ignited
them
from outside but he stood too close and the blast killed him too.
”

“Instant karma,”
Travis
said. “He deserved it
for doing this to us
.”

“
The police found a sh
r
ine to
Lorna
in John’s house. He had pictures of her
on the walls
, pictures that she couldn’t
have known
he’d taken
.
Newspaper article
s
,
her cheerleading pompom that she’d lost, a jacket and even a pair of her panties were on a table underneath the wall of pictures.
He was obsessed
with
her
.
How he got her panties I guess we’ll never know.
The police thought he waited for them to be alone in the house.
I think he broke into her house while no one was home but there isn’t any proof that he did.
”

“That’
s just
damn creepy,”
Lorna
said. “I
never
would have suspected that
John would go to those lengths. I just thought he had a crush on me.”

“We were murdered.”
Travis
stared hard
at
Lorna
.
Her eyes
widened
with shock
at his words
. “Maybe we don’t have unfinished business. Maybe we’re still here because we were
murdered in such a
horrific and abrupt
way
.”

“
Delores is
right
.
I didn’t take
John
seriously enough
. O
r her warnings
.
John
told me
once that if he couldn’t have me than neither could you. I thought he was just spouting off steam because he’d asked me to b
reak up with you and I refused. We’re dead because of me.”

“It’s not your fault
. Don’t even go there.”
Travis
embraced her. “What’s done is done
and neither of us
is
at fault
. W
e just have to figure out what happens next.
The Master told me we
have to be seen in order to go into the light.”

Ms. Delores sat the coffee on the kiosk.
“
B
ill
,
Travis
’s father,
refused to reconstruct
the house or have it destroyed.
He felt that leaving it alone was a memorial to
his
son.
A few years later h
e and his wife moved away. He died last year from a heart attack and his wife
finally agreed to sell the place to the city.”

“Dad…”
Travis
tightened his arms around
Lorna
.

“I’
m so sorry.”
Lorna
snuggled close to him.
“I know how close you were to your dad.”