Chapter 117 – The Crone of Misfortune – Holly Hayfield

“Alright, come on out.” I said to the lady behind the door.

For a long moment there was only silence. Whoever she was, she was unwilling to give up the jig that easily. In this moment of silence Jay had managed to compose herself into her usual demeanor.

In fact, Jay looked downright insulted by the plastic skeletal arm on the ground. She kicked it away the moment it landed near her feet. She stepped in front of me and heavily banged her fist against the door.

"Just who do you think you are, trying to scare us like that?" Jay asked angrily. "Show your face!"

Her drastic gap in personality was even more amusing now that she was back to normal. I had to stifle a laugh. At least something fun came out of this trip. This mysterious woman had the potential to be another entertaining diversion, depending on what she was doing here.

"Come out or we'll tell the police that someone’s living here." I said.

My threat wasn’t genuine. I didn’t care that someone was taking shelter here. I only wanted the chance to talk to her. Yet, when the door cracked open again another plastic skeletal arm came out, waving angrily.

"Leave this place at once or be cursed for all of eternity, you little demons!" The woman hissed from behind the door.

This time it was Jay that yanked the skeletal arm from the closet. Only this time, the woman was dragged out along with it. She hit the ground gracelessly and landed right at our feet.

She was a woman of medium build that appeared to be in her mid-to-late twenties, maybe early thirties. She was about my height, perhaps slightly taller. Her shoulder-length hair was a frizzled mess and the pajamas she wore were tattered in places. She had on circular-lens glasses and was wearing heavy black eyeliner.

She looked up at us questioningly.

"Why are you here?" She demanded.

"No, I think that’s what we should be asking you!" Jay said. "I'm pretty sure no one is supposed to be living here in a condemned school building.”

"I know, I know... I'm just between places right now... Don’t tell the police, okay? What are two high school girls skulking around this place for anyways?"

"For that, actually," I said while pointing at the necklace she was wearing.

She put her hand on the necklace in question.

"Oh, shit!" She said beneath her breath.

"Did you steal that necklace from a girl that came through here?" Jay asked.

"I didn't steal it. She dropped it. I just happened to pick it up."

"And put it on..." I added.

"If you want it back, you can have it back. It isn't real gold anyways" She said.

She stood up and dusted herself off. She walked around the couch and plopped herself down into one of the chairs. She took off the necklace and tossed it over to the couch as if that were that. I still had more questions and Jay didn’t look satisfied with this woman’s nonchalant attitude.

Before I could start asking her anything I heard the sounds of footfalls coming down the stairs. I turned to see Alyssa, Val, and Lilith coming down the stairs together.

"There you are!" Val said. "We were worried about you two!"

Jay ran over and practically leaped into Val's arms. Alyssa tried to do the same with me but I caught her mid-flight and kept her at arm's length. Lilith was the last one down the stairs. She looked around the room with a look of disbelief. This warm room was entirely out of place compared to the cold lifelessness of the rest of the building.

"What's with this place?" Lilith asked.

The woman sitting in the chair cleared her throat, as though we had forgotten about her.

"If you all are done do you mind getting the hell out of my room?" She asked casually.

Alyssa suddenly stopped trying to cling onto me. She turned sharply to face the woman sitting in the chair.

"Oh my god! I know her!" Alyssa said, "She's the Crone of Misfortune!"

"Finally, a little respect around here..." The crone said.

She didn’t look old enough to be called a crone but I assumed that this was some sort of special title.

"She’s the what, now...?" Val asked.

Lilith gave a half-hearted laugh as she looked over at the crone.

"She runs a crappy web show. It’s a scam where people call in and pay to have their fortunes read." Lilith said. “She calls herself the Crone of Misfortune, but the only thing misfortunate about her is her show.”

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The woman leaned back in her chair and sent Lilith an annoyed glare.

"Oh, I'm definitely going to put a particularly nasty curse on you for that." She said.

"It isn't a crappy show!" Alyssa challenged, "It's a great show! I used to watch it with Sofi all the time! I even bought her custom tarot card deck and witching wand."

The woman stood up out of her seat and practically skipped over to Alyssa excitedly. She grinned at Alyssa and put her hands on Alyssa's shoulders.

"That's great kid! How about I tell your fortune in-person! Tell me, how much cash do you have on you right now?"

I came between her and Alyssa.

"Wait a minute, there's a few things we need to clear up before you go advertising your services." I said. "Did you pretend to be a spirit to the last group of girls that came wandering through here?"

"Ah, about that... Sometimes people come exploring the building looking for a thrill. I gave them what they wanted."

"And when she didn't pay you for that service you took her necklace?" Val suggested.

The woman averted her eyes away from us and pushed up her glasses.

"Of course not, don't be ridiculous,” She said.

Her denial wasn't very convincing. Admittedly, this started out on the wrong foot. I decided that I'd approach this from a different angle.

"Let's start over from the beginning. My name's Holly Hayfield. These are my friends, Alyssa, Lilith, Val and Jay." I said while pointing them out. "We're members of the student council from Meredith's School for Troubled Girls."

"That damned school..." The woman said.

"You know about our school?" Alyssa asked.

"Know about it...? I graduated from there back when I was your age." She said. "My name’s Helga McMullen."

"Wait!" Lilith said suddenly, "Is the principal your father?"

"Father...? No. He's my gramps." She said.

"Then why are you living here, like this?" I asked. "Pardon my saying so, but I've met your grandfather and I think he'd help you out if you asked him."

"It's... complicated... complicated and personal..."

"I'm interning as a school counselor if you'd like to talk about it." I offered.

"I'd rather not." She said. “But you girls can come over and have a seat. Since you’re clearly not going to be easily scared off then I may as well be a good host.”

The course of the next few minutes went very differently than what I imagined would be happening when we first walked into this building. We made ourselves comfortable on the couch and looked around at all the knick-knacks Helga had in her room. The room was like a smaller version of the occult hallway back at our school.

Alyssa was having fun getting to know someone that she clearly idolized. The two of them chatted away as if the rest of us weren't there. Alyssa explained in pain-staking detail the nature of her own, self-devised horoscope system in the longest monologue I had ever heard her give. Surprisingly, Helga followed along with great interest.

"That gives me some ideas of my own." Helga said. "I'm glad that you came here and visited me. Normally I don't care to meet my fans in person but now I'm rethinking that."

"Speaking about meeting people in person," I said, "Emma mentioned that the 'spirit' spoke to her. What exactly did you say to her?"

"Nothing noteworthy... I noticed they were wearing your school uniforms the day they came to visit. I didn't try offering my fate-reading services to them. Instead, I just scared them away. Maybe it's for the best... I haven't been able to secure a fate-reading gig for a while now."

"You aren't doing your web show anymore?" I asked.

"Only irregularly," She said. "People aren't as interested in streaming my show as much anymore. They prefer video game streamers and the like. I can't just easily switch over to that either."

"I still like your show!" Alyssa said.

"Thanks... To tell you the truth, I'm a bit gun-shy about doing it too." She said. "One woman was so unsatisfied with her fate-reading that she tried suing me over it. Luckily the case was thrown out but I'm still troubled by it."

"As you should be," Lilith said smugly.

I gave Lilith a slap on the knee.

"What my rude friend here means to say is that fate-reading services are often questionable at best." I said.

"My services aren't as simplistic as the fortune tellers you see at carnivals and what not. I've got a system of using people's past to help devise their future."

"Hogwash," Lilith said.

Helga seemed to take this as a challenge.

"How about I read your fate, then?" Helga asked.

Val laughed.

"I want to see this for myself. I've never seen a fortune-teller in this country." Val said. "Go on, Lilith, Let her work her magic."

"Fine," Lilith said, shifting seats with me to be closer to Helga, "What do we do first?"

"You can start by telling me your name and age."

"My name is Lilith Meredith and I'm 17." Lilith said.

Helga stood up out of her seat.

"Wait! You're that Lilith?" She asked in disbelief. "I was one of your mother's students back when she was teaching!"

Lilith didn't look too surprised by this.

"She had a lot of students. What about it?"

"Not like me! My friends and I... She was more than just a teacher to us! She was a life counselor! I can't believe that you're here..."

Lilith smirked.

"Your fate-reading didn't warn you I'd be coming?" Lilith asked.

I pinched Lilith's elbow.

"Forgive Lilith," I said, "As you can see, she has a bit of a sharp tongue."

Helga laughed whole-heartedly, her first real laugh since we arrived. She sat down beside Lilith, squeezing herself onto the already crowded couch.

“It’s good to see that you’re so healthy.” Helga said. “Back when she was teaching she’d frequently take days off to tend to you. Apparently you had the tendency to become sick easily. Your mom often spoke about how difficult you were to care for.”

“She still is.” I said playfully.

This time Lilith was the one to slap my knee.

“What got you into fate-reading?” Jay asked. “I wouldn’t have imagined you were related to the principal if you hadn’t told me… You two look nothing alike.”

“There’s no one reason.” Helga said. “I’ve always been into stuff like fate, fortune, and mysticism. Mrs. Meredith was the one that helped spark my imagination. She recommended me all sorts of books and helped me make reading a habit.”

“We’re alike in that regard then.” Lilith said. “It sounds weird to hear someone call her ‘Mrs. Meredith’. To me she was always just ‘Mom’.”

Helga’s eyes widened for a moment and she gave Lilith a considering look. She reached a hand out for Lilith’s shoulder. Lilith sharpened her eyes inquisitively, not sure what to make of the gesture.

“It must’ve been hard for you without her… I…”

Lilith swiped Helga’s hand away.

“Don’t even go there.” Lilith said. “It’s been a long time since the accident and I’ve managed it in my own way.”

Helga studied Lilith carefully.

“How did the daughter of Mrs. Meredith end up attending that school?” Helga asked.

“How did the granddaughter of the current principal?” Lilith retorted.

“Touché…” She said, “In fairness, I was one of the few people that chose to go there of my own free volition.”

This was most interesting to me.

“Really…?” I asked. “I’m in a similar boat now that my case has been cleared up. Can I ask why you chose Meredith’s School for Troubled Girls?”

“My grandfather was still the principal back then… He was trying to groom me to become a teacher there… I had a falling out with my family and now I haven’t even talked to him lately. After that I fell on hard times. That’s why I’m here.” She said.

I couldn’t guess at why she fell out with her family but I wondered if it had to do with her career choice. There was little I could do for her in that regard, but maybe I could help her talk to her grandfather? She sounded melancholic and downtrodden about that part in particular.

“How would you like the opportunity to talk to him again?” I asked.