Fairview Hills Cemetery Chapter 8
“Can I take a wild guess what you’re doing down here?”
Gabriella screamed and spun around as the voice broke through the silence of her mother’s basement. Mom was standing at the bottom of the wooden steps, arms crossed. And in the dim light, Gabriella could see that she did not look happy.
“Mom!” Gabriella exclaimed. “I’m just…um….”
Standing in the middle of the basement with an EMF detector in her hand. One that was still beeping, its display lit up like an airplane console. Yeah, there was no getting out of this.
“You’re looking for ghosts in my basement,” Mom continued, “After I specifically told you not to.”
Gabriella sighed, letting the EMF detector fall to her side. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I just, I was worried about you.”
In her flashlight beam, she saw her mother’s cross face soften. “Gabbie,” she said. “How can I convince you I’m fine?”
Gabriella tried to ignore the way the temperature in the basement had dropped in the past few minutes. She hadn’t been able to see her breath when she got down here, and now it was coming out in a frosty cloud as her mother looked at her expectantly.
She felt like she was eight years old again and had been caught playing in Gran’s attic. In fact, this was far too close to that experience and she was not comfortable with that feeling. Gabriella shook her head.
“I know you said she’s harmless,” she said. “But what if she’s not? What if she gets nastier and tries something? What if she tries to kill you? This is your home and she might try to kill you!”
The words were out before she realized it, and then came the tears. Mom hurried toward Gabriella and caught her before her knees gave out, holding her tightly as she sobbed into Mom’s shoulder. Everything crowded into her head like a dam had just broken. The feeling of the creature grabbing her arm, tearing open her skin in the one place she should have felt completely safe. Then running from Robin, another person she should have felt safe with. She couldn’t keep herself safe and she couldn’t keep her mother safe.
Mom shushed her softly, holding tight to the back of Gabriella’s head. The dusty basement smelled like the forest in a way she couldn’t comprehend and her whole body was shaking as she was lying in bed, sure she was dead. She was dead here, and she’d never see her mom again, never leave this bed again.
After a few minutes, the sobs wracking her body slowed down, and she could breathe normally again. Mom held onto her a while longer as she caught her breath and tried to slow her racing heart. The tears were still pooling in her eyes, but it didn’t feel like the emotions were forcing their way out of her body anymore.
It had come out of nowhere. One minute it was professional curiosity about the ghost, the next it was a full-on panic attack.
“Come on,” Mom said gently.
Gabriella followed her mom up the steps and back into the wide, bright kitchen. Mom sat her at the table, then set the kettle on the stove.
“Sweetheart,” she said. “I know you haven’t given me all the details about what happens at work. And I’m not going to press, my imagination is bad enough. But is there anything you want to discuss with me?”
Right now, the scent of her autumn spice candle in the air and the soothing sound of the teakettle burbling made Gabriella want to never think about it again. “I’m okay,” she said, voice stuffy as she swiped at her eyes. “It’s just a few bad cases.”
“Are you talking about it with anyone?”
She shrugged. “I guess the team?”
“And is anyone on the team a professional?”
She was about to say that everyone was, but then she caught the tone in her mom’s voice. “No,” she said instead. “No, we’re all just kind of…this.”
She waved an arm to vaguely finish the thought. “Can the Foundation provide any mental health services?” Mom asked. “I don’t want to push, but I just think it would be a good idea to talk to someone if you are feeling this upset about it.”
But she wasn’t feeling this upset about it, not all the time. Though she could see what her mom meant. “Yeah,” she said. “Yeah, I’ll ask.”
Gabriella didn’t know if she was lying or not. Her mom was right, she probably did need therapy. Within the past six months, she’d been nearly killed in her bed, and then her boss tried to murder her. And that was along with the everyday issues of existence that she tried not to think about on cases. Ghosts were real. She knew that much. And so were demons, and shadow people, and desperate, furious captains that would slaughter you to prove a point. But the idea of reaching out to the Foundation for help was overwhelming. And if their counseling services were anything like everything else they offered, she wasn’t sure it was worth it.
Mom didn’t say anything, but Gabriella knew that she knew. And as she set a steaming mug of tea in front of Gabriella, she reached out and silently gripped her hand.
A few hours later, Gabriella was getting ready to leave. They’d spent the rest of the afternoon quietly watching a movie together. It was a silly rom-com, one of the many they’d watch at night when she was young and they’d moved in with Gran after Dad died. Mom had always worked long hours, but then she’d come home and spend what little time she had with Gabriella, watching these movies.
“You’re sure you’re alright?” Mom asked as Gabriella gathered up her things.
“I’m fine,” she said. “I think I just need a solid night’s sleep. Then I’ll talk to someone about what’s available for therapy. I don’t imagine anyone not in the field would be very helpful.”
“They’ll think you’re talking in metaphors,” Mom said with a laugh.
Gabriella swung her bag over her shoulder, and Mom pulled her in for a tight hug. “Please don’t worry about me,” Mom said. “There’s nothing dangerous in this house. Focus on yourself, you need to take care of your mental health with this job too. Talk to Uncle Tommy and Aunt Mary, actually. I bet they’d have some connections.”
Gabriella had almost forgotten about her relatives’ vampire hunting past. To her, Uncle Tommy had always been the loud and generous uncle who sent fifty dollars on her birthday and greeted everyone in his backwoods house with a beer and a booming laugh. And Aunt Mary was his fierce, quiet wife. If anyone in the family would know something useful outside the Foundation, it was them. But still, the idea of starting the process or telling anyone in the family the entire story was exhausting.
“Take it easy tonight,” Mom said as she let go, and Gabriella wondered exactly how bad she looked that she wasn’t getting pushed to call Aunt Mary right now. “You’ve got time. And you can always tell me anything, you know that, right?”
Her mother took a lock of Gabriella’s hair and tucked it behind her ear with a smile. Gabriella imagined the look on her mom’s face when she told her a monster had reached out from under her bed and tried to kill her.
No, there were some things she couldn’t tell her mom. For all of their sakes.
“I know,” she said, and tried to smile.
Gabriella came back a couple of days later after an overnight shift. Elliot and his dad were in the front yard when she pulled up. She got out of the car, knees cracking after the ride, and slung her backpack over her shoulder. Elliot was raking leaves, and he paused what he was doing to wave hi to her.
“Hey!” he called over.
There were butterflies in her stomach as she turned to wave back at him. “I haven’t seen you in a little bit,” Elliot said.
“Things have been really busy,” Gabriella replied as his dad looked over curiously at them.
“Fair, fair,” Elliot said, bobbing his head. “How long are you here for?”
“Just for the afternoon. I only live half an hour away from here so I’m just visiting.”
“Oh, nice. I thought you were farther than that. But that’s good that you’re so close.”
She was blushing again, and she thought he might be too, though it could just be the cold air. He looked a little nervous, gripping his rake as he nodded a little too quickly at her. It was a chilly afternoon, and he wore a heavy sweatshirt and that same baseball cap from last time. Even though he was dressed casually for work, Gabriella still suddenly wished she’d worn something a little nicer than the jeans and tee-shirt she’d been wearing at work overnight.
Elliot’s dad waved to Gabriella, but didn’t stop what he was doing over by the shed. She waved back, then turned to Elliot. “I should go in and say hi to my mom,” she said.
“Oh, yeah.”
She was about to turn around when he spoke again. “Hey, um, would you like to get dinner with me sometime? Or anything, doesn’t have to be dinner if that doesn’t work for you. But lunch or coffee or-”
“Yeah,” Gabriella said, interrupting him with a shaky laugh. “Yeah, I’d love to.”
Elliot’s smile widened, and she realized he looked as nervous as she felt. “Great,” he said. “Um, yeah, great!”
Gabriella pulled out her phone. “What’s your number?”
He rattled it off, and she saved it to her contacts. “I’ll text you in a few minutes, so you have mine,” she said.
They stood there another moment, smiling at each other. Then she remembered her mom. And the fact that his dad was still right nearby and probably heard everything they’d just said. “I should go,” she said. “I’ll talk to you soon.”
“Great.”
She hurried into the house, that giddy feeling bubbling in her chest. As she opened the front door and let the screen door slide shut behind her, she heard her mom in the kitchen.
“Hey, Mom!” she called.
“Hi! Come on in!”
Mom was sitting at the table with what looked like bills and paperwork piled around her. She got up and hugged Gabriella. “Are you okay?” she asked.
Gabriella was still a little shaky, so she could only imagine what she looked like. “Yeah,” she said.
Then she glanced out the window and lowered her voice. “Um, Elliot just asked me out on a date.”
Her mother didn’t say anything, but her satisfied smile said it all for her.
Gabriella didn’t see Elliot again before she left that night. And if she was honest with herself, she was almost okay with it. It gave her some time to go through her confused feelings about everything.
She liked him. He was cute, funny, and made her feel a little nervous and fluttery whenever he was around. But was he going to believe her when she told him what she did for a living? Or would he just assume she was nuts and break up with her? That was, if they made it past the first date. She couldn’t assume that. Maybe the date would go horribly, and he’d never want to talk to her again after it was over.
But what if she didn’t tell him? Would it technically be a lie? After all, maybe he wouldn’t ask what she did for a living. That completely standard ice breaker question would just never come up. As unlikely as that was, it was the most appealing option that Gabriella had. Maybe she just didn’t tell him on their date and then it never came up.
Even as she drove home that night, thinking about this as she weaved through the dark, wooded roads back into Massachusetts, she knew this wasn’t sustainable. But she doubted that everyone in the Foundation was eternally single just because they worked a weird job. She’d talk to the others and see how they handled these things.
CONTINUE TO CHAPTER 9
