Tuning the Guitar Player

[12]

The delights that enraptured Parsley were so quietly simple. She marveled at the color and brightness of the television. She scooped up every last drop of her soup. Even the carpet beneath her feet provided fresh experiences.

I encouraged her to stay close to me because of the unsettling presence I sensed nearby. At the same time, I didn’t want to worry her. She looked so peaceful snuggling the weighted blanket I grabbed for her out of the linen closet.

A steady flicker of the light down the hall accompanied the chill and advancing creaks. I wanted a loud vacuum to suck up anything lurking down the hall.

“Mom? Am I dangerous?”

I suddenly jerked back and looked her in the eye. “Dangerous? Why would you think that?”

She looked away and rocked her head. “Those people at the mall changed when I got sick. Then, when your uncle helped me, I changed him too. It’s like how you changed and how I changed. But I didn’t mean to do it. I’m afraid I hurt people. Even though they don’t seem mad.”

I turned her head towards me and looked into her eyes when I told her, “You are not dangerous. What happened is because of this weird person who did stuff to me. You’re fine.”

She then brought up what Nadia mentioned about things like her not lasting long. We both understood what it meant, but I assured her that she was fine, emphasizing, “Whoever that was, she’s not even from around here. I don’t know what she is, but she doesn’t know you. Talking about dresses. Whatever.” She also mentioned that dark, predatory things would be after Parsley. The house was quiet now, but it also felt like something just around the corner was drawing in a breath.

We could go for a walk, but darkness would be settling around the neighborhood soon. Even though this is one of the safest areas in the Los Angeles basin, I didn’t really trust it. Meeting up with my aunts could be a worthwhile goal, even though I’d already vetoed the prospect of overstimulating Parsley with a nightclub.

Jamming with her would’ve been my ideal, but I didn’t want to wear her out. Since we put the starter pack game away, just watching foreign sports was enough. Maybe the sounds and the feelings were just my overactive emotions and fears making too much of normal, simple things.

”…Parsley…” A vivid voice that sounded exactly like some sort of ghoulish mummy creature calling out from a creepy tomb hissed from down the hall. I couldn’t deny it or give my girl a friendly alternative. She glanced over in concern mixed with uncertainty, then back at me. If only my aunts were weapon enthusiasts.

We had spray bottle cleaners underneath the sink over by the island stove. Then there was the metal net used for cleaning crap out of the pool over by the sliding door. No hot pokers. No machetes, even though I had one at home. Steak and carving knives felt insubstantial. Pool cleaner, it was.

Long enough to provide enough breathing space for a beating on any undead or supernatural jerks. I dragged Parsley back gingerly so we could regroup by the sliding door and I could arm myself with the net. For her, I figured the metal broom would be good. Hopefully, showing off a few test swings was enough modeling. Neither of us had significant arm strength, but at least we had something. My phone, with a bright light option that exhausted its charge at two percent a minute, dangled from my other hand with its battery pack life support.

Every hint of a shadow had me turning defensively. I expected a zombie to come crawling down the hall at any moment.

Nothing. And each additional minute of nothing both unnerved me and made me feel torn between whether we had misinterpreted a normal sound or whether we had a weird intruder with a fetish for garnish.

The only way to know was to clear that section of the house with a flamethrower and a purification sage launcher. I made Parsley stand against my back. No good way of organizing a search existed. I couldn’t leave her, and having her cling to my back didn’t sound like a good prospect either. At least this way, she could warn me if something came around behind us.

My head pounded, my body ached, and my stomach felt like a turbulent sea despite all the good food riding through it. My tits also lacked nipple shivs for cutting supernatural bitches. Rocket launcher emplacements also would’ve been nice. But the only thing I had the prospect of shooting out anytime soon was some gas.

Although the flickering had stopped, the hallway was still unusually dark. Checking the left side first, it was easy to see that the way to my aunts’ bedroom was clear. Nothing wrong in the master bedroom. The adjoining bathroom also seemed fine. Sweat saturated my hair as we thoroughly checked every questionable inch. The route around the front and the one that looped to our bedroom were what was left.

That left me torn between making sure nothing was hiding where we were likely going to sleep and camping out somewhere we already knew was safe. Granted, I was currently much more interested in the living room or any spot that offered swift retreat. I figured Parsley could comfortably nap wherever.

The metallic pool skimmer seemed ungainly and ineffectual to wield around corners, but it still made me feel better. I tried my darndest not to think about what had to be lurking around. The back of my mind also expected to find nothing, since that was the way this paranormal junk always worked.

It didn’t take us long to clear the front passage, leaving the bedroom stretch. My heartbeat quivered through me, but Parsley’s steady, easy metronome beat relaxed it. I sensed that the reason she wasn’t scared was that I was right next to her. If only I could provide the same comfort to myself. The final, unchecked path lay ahead.

We didn’t have to look. But being scared out of our own space by whatever this thing was rubbed me the wrong way. The bathroom area checked out warm and clear with the lingering moisture from our showers. But the bedroom was dark.

No switch-flipping restored the light. Even the lamps in the wall and the ceiling refused to turn on. The outdoor lights barely hinted through the curtains, though the neighbors had a floodlight with a crowded cantina of bugs. The amber streetlights also should’ve spilled everywhere. My little light didn’t do much more than harshly distort shadows. At least there wasn’t much room left.

We turned slowly around the bed, and I waved the pool skimmer from low to high through the air. Even prodding underneath the bed and poking against the wall of the closet didn’t turn up anything. My rational mind thought back to where my aunt and uncle stashed replacement bulbs for the ones that had clearly burned out in here while Parsley froze in place.

She refused to turn and quietly whispered to me, “Mom… something. I feel it…” Before I could ask what she meant, Parsley whipped her broom through the air like she was swinging at a baseball coming her way. It made contact with an audible “THUNK”, even though it had been nowhere near any of the walls.

A sharp, feminine yell burst through the room, accompanied by shifting covers and tumbling noises. On the other side of the bed, sprawled out on the floor, was a young woman dressed in a lime green t-shirt, cradling her head with an oozing gash and glasses knocked askew.

“Don’t hurt me! I already got smacked in the head! Ow ow…geez.”

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I brought the pool skimmer over to her face. “Who are you? What do you want?”

Spreading the light around, I noticed a strange flashlight on the floor next to her. It contained a barber pole design of pink and blue, winding its way up to the top with a darker color that looked gray or purple. Using the net at the end, I scooped up the light and brought it over to our side of the bed. Meanwhile, I kept the brightest point of my phone's light aimed right at the strange girl’s brownish-green eyes.

“Beverly Marsh,” she responded as she pressed a hand against where it was bleeding. “You could’ve given me a concussion. I hope I don’t need stitches.”

I pressed her about what she was doing in our house and threatened to call the police. She seemed strangely calm, answering, “I was actually trying to help. Been keeping track of you two since we last wrote.”

It clicked for me. “You’re the invisible bitch. Stay away or I will do exactly what I threatened in that letter.”

This strange girl raised herself up into a sitting position. “Quite rude. I put you together with that cute guy, just as you asked. And I didn’t mess with your guitar. I’m just curious about her because she’s bleeding what appears to be transformation energy all over the place. She’s practically a light herself.”

My limbs trembled, and I tightened my breaths. “Stay away from my girl. I told you what I would do.”

She cracked a small smile. “Still a tough guy, huh?”

I squeezed Parsley’s hand. “I’m her mother. If you wanna get mauled by a mama bear, go right ahead.”

At that, this Beverly broke out in laughter. “Mother? Wow, you’re actually delusional! Did I hit you with the light too hard? I didn’t have any particular trajectory in mind. I went after Taylor first, because he looked rather sad. And Zach was a fun one, focusing on those giant… aspects. I was going to go one by one. Personalize it. Watch each and every step of your reactions. But, instead, I aimed my light at the sign for the dormitory. And everything changed. And I went around remaking the entire campus. I even thought about blasting the sun to weaponize the biggest light of all, but there are limitations.”

I shook my head. “You say all that, and yet you call me delusional? Why? Just for the hell of it?”

She rocked her head back and forth a few times. “Nothing much more complicated than that. I bought the light at that shop you found all closed up. Magic. If only I’d gotten more. I tried it on myself, and the world that opened to my senses was unlike anything I could’ve imagined. I was being altruistic. I shared this experience with everyone. You should thank me.”

I clung to the flashlight with an iron grip. “This has pink…and blue on it. How do I use it to go back?”

She got to her feet and shook her head. “You… don’t.” She whistled. Some strange force ripped the flashlight from my hands and shot it over to her. Parsley got closer to me. I really wished I had a taser or some mace.

The smug bitch turned the flashlight around in her hands and manipulated part of it. I could rush her or dive around the bed. Covering up Parsley was number one in my mind. She might be able to undo her existence with that damn thing. I wasn’t above pleading for my girl. But I pulled her back so that most of her body was shielded by mine. A shame I wasn’t bigger to provide her with complete coverage.

This bitch looked over at me with her lofty, shit-eating grin of confidence. “I suppose I have to make a few corrections. Unfortunate. You both seemed rather cute. But there is a majesty to my plans for our world, and the wrinkles need to be ironed out.”

The moment came. With much regret, I pushed Parsley down and loomed over her with as much of my presence as I could wield to protect her. The light hit me right in the face and…

Oh my gawsh, the light! It’s like so pretty with that lovely princess pink glow, ya know? I don’t know why Bev was shining it in my face though. We were like totally on the same page when it came to transforming boys into girls en masse. I didn’t need any of that on me. I was already a bodacious babe from birth. I flicked a hand through my hair. I like totally could use a dye job soon.

There was this sort of punk-looking girl at my feet, giving me like the weirdest messed-up expression. Mom? Who was she calling mom? Do I look like a mom? As if! I just totally laughed at her. Bev came around. Girl was rocking her confidence. What was she gonna turn this strange chick into? She definitely seemed like she needed a Bev attitude adjustment from the lady who knew what was going on and had big plans for the future.

Gosh, she kept going on with that mom thing. Mom mom mom mom mom…

“Mom! What happened to you? What did you do to my mother?!”

Bev told it like it is and said, “Just getting everything in line. Need to deal with you next. Now that she’s on my side, I can turn you into something for her to wield to help.”

For some reason, that bothered me to hear from her. We were on the same page with everything, but it was still kind of bothering me, and I wasn’t sure why.

As Beverly did stuff with the flashlight, this weirdo girl stretched out her hand, for some reason, and yelled, “LEAVE MY MOM ALONE!” Totally didn’t make sense to me at all.

Before I could say anything, the flashlight ripped out of Bev’s hand and into hers. My jaw like dropped on the floor, and everyone else was losing their shit. Beverly screamed, “You can’t do that! I’m the user!” Whatever that means.

This girl kept saying all sorts of weird things that I didn’t understand while aiming the flashlight back at Beverly. The strangest thing of all was how her hand started trembling like she was spazzing out, and there was this like gross jellyfish-looking spirit stuff coming out of her fingers and flowing into the light.

She like totally shot me in the face with a blinding light like the headlights of a car and… I don’t remember a whole lot after that. Like totally being drunk.

Next thing I know, I was actually in bed with the covers over me and someone holding my hands. Like, what? There’s some glow from the window outside. Was it morning? I totally slept through all that?

“Mom? Are you okay? Please tell me you’re okay…”

Again with the ‘mom’ stuff. Can’t she see I’m practically a teenager, even though I can totally drink too? She begged me to remember her. That was weird. I didn’t see anything wrong with her except for like the total brain malfunction going on. She said her name was parsley… Like the grody vegetable.

Then she got super super close like right by my mouth, like she was trying to do something. Girlfriend, I don’t swing that way. But before I could say anything, it was like she was breathing on me like breathing in myself, me, a feeling for…

Parsley! Oh my gosh! How could I ever forget Parsley!? I hugged her close and did my best to shake off the repulsive feeling of the annoying words still fluttering through my head. I looked around. On the carpet towards the wall, a blanket and a pillow had been set out for that Beverly bitch sprawled out on the floor.

And that wasn’t the only weird thing. The dim light of morning traced its way along the curtains. Beyond that glow was an unearthly fissure splitting the wall towards the closet and leading into a clinical-looking hallway, reminiscent of a tear in reality. Fluorescent lights droned stark illumination, and stucco covered the walls.

It was like an opening to another world.