Team Planning and What Happened to Isaac Simons
The next day Kathleen woke up with a languid stretch. As she showered she thought what she needed to do. She was in Jackson Briar, the county seat for Willow Shore.
As she got ready something caught her eye. A blue flutter, a slight sparkle. Her hand paused, a brush inches from her hair, she frowned but she did not see anything.
She sighed. She was under too much stress and her frayed nerves had her jumping at nothing. It made her think about Selene and Tomas. Maybe their superstitions were rubbing off on her.
As she loaded her car she screamed when she saw the reflection of a woman in a long blue dress looking at her from her own hotel room window. She spun around, her hand over her chest, some passers-by looking at her with alarm others with concern.
Her eyes scanning her hotel room and then the entire section of the building.
She calmed herself and looked at the people with apology in her eyes.
"Calm down Kathleen, you are going to be in a creepy basement all day. This is not a good way to start."
She slammed the car door shut, and started the engine. She felt like this was the beginning of the calamity. It seemed she really did let superstition get to her.
The rest of the team was still at the main offices of Allen Developers they sat in a small conference room huddling over stacks of documents, all of them trying to understand how they would best serve the project.
Daniel popped his head into the room. "I want you ready to head out as soon as possible guys." He looked to Tara "Make sure you keep checking you email, you know Kathleen."
Tara smiled broadly up at him, the only one not huddled at the round conference table, "Don't worry Dan. We will be acquiring this property." She ended with a wink and went back to applying mascara, never even looking at her closed computer.
Selene sat back in frustration, a sigh pushed from her from the force of the movement. Marcus picked up a document his frown deepening as he spoke to her.
"Don't start Selene. You are just as bad as Tomas at this point. The information on the wall around the property is odd."
Selene looked over at Tomas with a frown, he merely shrugged and looked into one of his lenses, he yelped and it flew into the air. He quickly caught it, his heart pounding in his chest.
He merely smiled sheepishly, as Selene looked to him with a worried frown, he was definitely not about to tell everyone his clear le s had just been blue and sparkling. His mind quickly going back to yesterday and the problem with the projector. He went back to work, checking his equipment and decidedly not looking through lenses or directly at screens.
He needed this job so he would need handle whatever came his way.
When he didn't say anything the room continued on like he had never tossed his lens into the air.
"So what's wrong with the wall?" Marcus looked at Dr. Chen and back at the reports.
It seems over the past 50 years it has been rebuilt twice and there is a note here saying that it has been rebuilt every 20 years or so since the mid 1920's."
"You mean repaired."
Marcus shook his head. "No. The note makes it clear that the wall was torn down and rebuilt every 20 years." He looked up, as if him looking at Dr. Chen would show his seriousness. "Melvin Tibbs wrote this up."
Tara frowned. "Old Melvin? Well that is as good as impeachable truth."
Selene frowned, reaching for the documents, "Every 20 years?"
Marcus shrugged. "It seems he never verified it so he says 'it seems about every 20 years'".
Tara laughed, "That's Melvin for you."
The wall was stone and iron and pristine, six bikes laid haphazardly close to it in a chaotic pile and the sound of boisterous boys filled the air.
"Thomas! I already told you I am not going in there!"
"Why not Isaac because you're scared? Just say you're scared and we will leave you alone."
"Okay! I am scared. People go in there and never come out."
The five other boys fell into loud, howling laughter.
"I told you he was a chicken."
Isaac rolled his eyes and went to pick up his bike. He never saw the blue glow shining just below the other side of the wall and he never saw the gate quietly glide open. The other boys watched the gate open and smiled at each other.
"I guess we should just leave then. We got him to admit he was a chicken."
They slowly crept up to Isaac, broad smiles on their faces.
"You're right. A deal is a deal."
Isaac frowned. We're they getting closer to him. Before he could completely straighten hands were gripping him and he was off the ground and in the air.
The six laughed as they ran and forcefully threw Isaac across the threshold. A blue light surged and it seemed like Isaac passed through a liquid sparkling blue wall.
The six all took several stumbling steps back, two ending up on their rumps.
To them Isaac rose slowly and never turned to them. One spoke timidly.
"I… Isaac?"
Isaac's head turned incredibly slowly toward them. His eyes met theirs and they were hollow sockets filled with bright starlight. He slowly opened his mouth and his words shook the ground underneath the boys.
"I AM NOT A CHICKEN!"
It knocked the remaining four on their butts and the gate slammed shut with a loud metal click.
Selene's hands slammed down on Daniel's desk, his eyes drifted down to them as he quietly smirked.
"Dan! I am telling you, we should not go to this property." She stood and walked a few steps from his desk trying to calm herself. She let out a slow breath.
"Let me go talk to the old man. I can…"
Dan frowned. "No Selene. I am your boss, the old man is retired, and you have a contract." He shrugged casually as he sat back in his seat. "You have enough money to pay the penalties but will you be able to live with the ruined reputation, once your declining work ethic gets out?" He smiled slyly.
She stared at him, incredulous, for a long moment, and then turned and walked from his office without another word.
Selene was furious when she entered the restroom. She went to the bank of sinks and splashed water on her face and took several deep calming breaths.
This was exactly the person Daniel Hale was. She entered a random stall, her fury so pronounced she did not notice the thin sparkling fog swirling and twirling from corners of the room, like a poison filling a gas chamber.
She sat on the comode and froze. Did she hear crying? She held her breath trying to hear the smallest noise, then she finally noticed it, the swirling sparkling blue fog twisting around her ankles as if it was trying to touch her; wanting to sense and understand what she was.
She pulled her feet up, then decided to stand on the toilet, the crying got louder when she did. She looked to her right, as if she could see through the divider and into stall next-door.
She swallowed hard and shook her head in denial. She refused to look. She didn't want to know.
The crying became louder, and she could tell it was a female, the woman in the vintage blue dress flashed in her mind and she squeezed her eyes tight and covered her ears.
She screamed when the voice sobbed directly in her ear.
"Why can't he be happy?"
She stood on the porcelain bowl, her hands pressed firmly over her ears, her eyes shut tight, and her ragged breaths the only sounds in the room and she slowly opened her eyes, the room was normal, mundane.
Selene ran from the restroom and to her office, her mind trapped in fear, her body stuck in flight, and her heart close to bursting.