Out of the Darkness

85

"I can't help you," she repeated. I hung my head, all hope fleeing from my mind. "But I can send you to someone who may be able to help. He's sort of a specialist, I guess, in other realms, alternate dimensions, and astral projection. If he can't help you...God have mercy on her poor soul." She turned then, leaving Sam and I standing there. She was gone so fast, I could've sworn that she flew from the room. "Um, what do we do? Do we wait here or?" Sam asked, looking towards the door we had entered. "I don't know," I answered truthfully. We didn't have to wonder long, before Amethyst was back, carrying a hot pink post it note. "Here. This is his name and number. He doesn't own a cell phone. This is his home phone. You may not be able to reach him right away. He chooses when he wants to answer the outside world. He's very natural in most aspects of his life. Try not to stare when you meet him." I took the slip, about the ask what she meant by that, when the bell over the door gave a loud, unsteady chime. "Now it's time for you to go. My next appointment is here. Have a good day gentlemen. Peace be with you." She ushered us out of the room, back into the front lobby, where an older lady with short blue-gray hair was standing at the desk. "Mrs. Johnson, how are you today?" She walked behind the desk and started speaking to the woman, completely ignoring us. "Um, I guess we go," I said, walking towards the door. Sam followed and we made it to my car. We were quiet as we got in and buckled up, both of us thinking hard. I looked at the post it note for the first time since she had handed it to me. In blue ink, the name 'Ash Finley' was scrawled on it with a California number under it. "Same area code," I told Sam, passing him the post it. He took it and nodded. "Good. That means we won't have to travel far." I started the car and pulled into traffic. "What do you think she meant by 'don't stare' when we meet him?" I asked, still wondering what the hell we were walking into. He shrugged. "I don't know. She said he was all natural or whatever, so he's probably just some hippie guy." He pulled out his phone and dialed the number. "You're calling now?" I asked, a little surprised. "Yeah, why not?" He put the phone on speaker, and I heard the tinny ringing sound through it. It rang and rang, not even having an answering service pick up. Sam let it ring a little more before he disconnected. Then he dialed again. "She said he might not pick up at first, so let's keep trying. Maybe the ringing will annoy him enough so that he'll answer," Sam said, winking at me. I chuckled, and shook my head. He kept calling the entire ride home but we still had no luck with this Ash guy answering. "Damn it," he said, getting out of the car when we arrived home. "Why won't this guy answer? I wish we knew where he lived. We could just go see him." "I could try to ask Amethyst, I guess," I said, walking into our house. "Yeah, you call her, and I'll keep trying this guy." I nodded, and headed to the kitchen to grab a snack before I went to my room. I felt like I should have been in this frantic state, rushing to get help for Anna, but I was stuck. I didn't know what to do. The world was just moving on, pretending like my own world wasn't completely screwed right now. I pulled some leftover Chipotle from the fridge and popped it in the microwave. I called Amethyst while it was heating up. "Hey Amethyst, this is Colby Brock," I said, when she answered. "I know. Hello again," she said, sounding a little exasperated. "Hey, uh, I was wondering if you knew where this Ash guy lived. We can't get him to answer his phone, so we were just going to go see him." "No. I'm sorry, you can't do that. I don't have his address anyway, but you can't just go see him. He doesn't work that way and privacy is a big issue with him. If you showed up without him knowing, he would probably just send you away and refuse to help you. I'm sorry, Colby, I know this is hard for you, but you're just going to have to wait for him to answer your call." I sighed heavily, and ran my hand through my hair. "Damn it. Okay, thanks," I replied, then disconnected the call. I texted Sam and told him what she had said. I grabbed my food out of the microwave and headed upstairs. What was my next step? Did I just sit around and wait for this Ash guy to answer? What if he didn't answer for a week or two? More? What if he didn't answer at all? What would I do then? "UGH!" I groaned loudly, slamming my bedroom door in frustration when I went through. I sat down on my couch and put my food on the coffee table. I pulled my laptop over to me, and noticed that the research pages were still open. One of them was about that damned house. It all went back to that place. I needed to figure out what was going on there. I took a bite of my burrito, then wiped my hands and started typing. My food sat there, getting cold while I clicked page after page, trying to find a connection between that house and the ones who used to live there. The records were spotty, at best. I paused when I came across something that said a woman named Lilith Reismen lived there in the late 1800's. For years, her family passed down the home, generation to generation. There were a couple of old, browning photographs attached to the website, with a young looking woman, dark hair, a small smile on her face. She was beautiful. Something about her seemed timeless.