An Unhappy Medium

Here’s a special Halloween edition of Flash Fiction Friday! (Yes, I know, too many of these posts aren’t on Friday, but it’s too late to change the name). Part Five is coming soon!

[Ghosts of Tapioca Falls, Part Four of Five]

“Do not cry, child. It is I: Madam Metophany. You are here because you need my help, yes?” The psychic’s deep-but-feminine voice soothed Miranda McSilver’s senses. “Would you like me to consult the darts?”

Miranda sniffed and cleared tears away from her reddened eyes. “Darts?”

“Darts indeed. You see the wall behind me?”

Truthfully, Miranda hadn’t done much looking around since she entered the Madam’s office. She could barely see enough to find Madam Metophany through her rarely-ceasing flow of tears. Even when she wasn’t crying, Miranda focussed on the pain of her sister’s passing and could barely focus on anything outside of it. So when she rubbed her eyes and looked at the wall behind Madam Metophany, Miranda trembled, her eyelids gaping.

Light-brown faux wood paneling covered the walls surrounding them, and climbed all the way to the small dome-shaped ceiling, which boasted four evenly-spaced skylight panels and an elaborate crystal chandelier dangling above them in the exact center. Most of Miranda’s attention, however, wasn’t on the walls but on writing. Written with what Miranda assumed to be black Sharpies, every letter of the alphabet was scrawled on random parts of the wall, along with numbers, several roman numerals, greek letters, a handful of Chinese characters, and even the Spanish letter ñ.

When Miranda’s eyes settled back on Madam Metophany, the psychic pulled out a scroll-like black cloth from under the table and unrolled it slowly. As the fabric unraveled, a set of sharp multi-colored darts were revealed. After a few seconds, the weaponized rainbow stared Miranda down, and Madam Metophany spoke:

“The darts are controlled by the spirits. The darts will answer your questions. What do you need from the darts, child?”

Miranda’s voice trembled in falsetto. “M-m-m-madam, I’m not sure how to ask this. I read your interview about the Timmy kid. All the ghosts and spirit and communicating with the dead stuff… is it r-real?”

“Are you asking me or the darts?”

“Y-you, I think,” Miranda said.

“What is your real question, Mirrrandaahhhh?”

“My sister Sally. She’s dead, but I need to know she’s okay. I know she was a Christian…is she really in heaven? I know you talk to the dead, Madam. May I speak with her?”

“Don’t ask me, child. Ask the darts.”

“Um, okay. Hello, darts. May I speak to my sister?”

Two darts, different shades of blue, shot up and hovered over the table. Miranda screamed and covered her face. One flew into the wall on the N and the other on the O. Then they dislodged themselves and floated near the chandelier.

“No? Why not?”

More darts flew to the walls.

S-H-E-I-S-D-E-A-D.

“I know she’s dead,” Miranda said. “Why can’t I talk to her? Is she in heaven?”

N-O.

She gasped and tried to calm herself. “Is there a heaven?”

Y-E-S.

“Is she in Hell?”

N-O.

“Is she a ghost?”

Y-E-S.

“Why cant I talk to her?”

S-H-E-I-S-R-E-S-T-L-E-S-S.

“But why can’t I talk to her?”

D-O-N-O-T-D-E-F-Y-T-H-E-D-A-R-T-S. Each dart zoomed and landed with laser precision.

Madam Metophany spoke. “The darts know all. You must ask another question.”

“They obviously don’t know all.”

“Do not disrespect the darts.”

“Then let me talk to my sister,” Miranda countered.

The darts whirled like a tornado and continued stabbing out their messages.

S-H-E-I-S-N-‘-T-O-U-R-S. B-U-T-W-E-C-A-N-S-E-E-S-H-E-‘-S-R-E-S-T-L-E-S-S.

“Stop the darts, Madam. I’m scared and I want to go.”

Madam Metophany laughed. “You can’t leave, my child. The spirits want your sister, and they need your help to capture her.”

“I refuse to help you! I don’t even know where she is!”

The darts swirled and stabbed more letters.

S-A-L-L-Y-I-S-M-I-N-E. W-E-W-I-L-L-T-A-K-E-H-E-R-T-O-H-E-L-L.

“No!” Miranda screamed. A black dart flew to Miranda and hovered in front of her chest.

“You will cooperate,” Madam Metophany said, “or you will join your sister in death. Once we destroy those rogue ghosts, we will take over Tapioca Falls, and my king will open the portal and we will begin our conquest of the physical world.”

Miranda backed against the wall, as the menacing dart pushed her threateningly. She cried. “I just wanted you help, Madam. But you were behind all of it.”

“I am but a mere servant. A vessel. But you have made me very unhappy with your disrespect.”

BAM! The door flew open and Detective Gregory Auburn rushed in, pistol drawn, pointed at Madam Metpphany’s face.

“Madam Metphany, you are under arrest!” he screamed.

All the darts flew to him, surrounded him, and stalked him, moving in a circle, ready to strike.

Metophany said, “There is no way you survive this, Detective. There is no way for you to win. Walk away and leave Tapioca Falls, and we will not harm you. Our conquest is almost complete.

Miranda screamed at the apparition sliding through the skylight above. She realized it was Sally.

“Take the girl!” Metophany commanded.

The darts flew through Sally, but instead of hurting her, they stabbed the wall to tell a new message. Miranda watched the chaos closely, determined not to miss a letter or miss the order of the spelling.

W-E-D-I-D-N-O-T-K-N-O-W-T-H-E-G-I-R-L-B-E-L-O-N-G-S-T-O-T-H-E-N-A-M-E. S-H-E-I-S-P-R-O-T-E-C-T-E-D. S-H-E-B-R-O-U-G-H-T-T-H-E-A-R-M-Y-W-I-T-H-H-E-R.

“What is going on,” Metophany yelled.

The remaining darts clattered to the ground. She scooped several up and threw them at the detective. Auburn ducked and dodged the weapons and shot Madam Metophany in the arm. She started to scream, but paused mid-breath.

Then, she spoke in a dark, guttural raspy voice. “You will not kill me or my servant. I am Marbas. You think yourself clever that you caught my spirits unawares. It will not happen again. Tonight I will open the portal, and Tapioca Falls will belong to me. This is your last warning to leave and live.

Madam Metpohany vanished in a cloud of smoke, leaving Auburn, Sally, and Miranda alone.

Miranda screamed and said, “Sally, I’m so happy to see you!”

Detective Auburn said, “We can’t celebrate quite yet. I’m still not quite sure how we got out of that.

Sally said, “The angels helped. They told me Miranda was in danger. They are the army that scared Marbas.”

“But how?” asked Auburn. “We don’t even know where his portal will open.”

“Yes we do,” said the voice of Timmy Saunderson, who entered though the walls with Jacques Mann. “And we need to be fast if we’re going to stop Marbas from winning.”

“Ghosts!” Miranda yelled. Auburn rolled his eyes. Miranda looked at her sister. “Why can’t we just leave?” Miranda trembled.

“Mira,” Sally said. “We’re the only ones who can help. If the portal is opened, Tapioca falls will be lost forever.”

“And the world soon after that,” Jacques said.

“If we’re going to do that, we need to stop by the church first,” Timmy said. “I’ll explain on the way, but we need all the help we can get.”

[…TO BE CONTINUED]