A Woman of the Swamp 2-2 [2 of 2]

By mac_ashton

Wed, 20 Jan 2021

303 reads

When everything was settled, the four of them met in a cramped hallway next to the bar’s bathroom. There were only two rooms, and one displayed an out of order sign. The caution tape that had been draped over the fading wood hung on by a thread, but got the point across. Whatever had happened in that bathroom was bad enough that they had taken the time to put up a warning.

“An out of order bathroom?” asked Lopsang. “Leaves a bit to be desired after something like The Black Market.”

Nick thought back on The Black Market with fondness and then soured. “Yeah, well, James got us banned from there, so we’re stuck slumming it in seedy fighting rings.” Nick checked around them for prying eyes. Unsurprisingly, no one was paying attention to the line at the bathroom. He brushed aside the caution tape, pushed the out of order door open and stepped inside.

Red lights ringed the ceiling, reflecting off cracked tiles that were surprisingly clean. The room they entered was indeed an out of order bathroom, but had clearly been fixed up to be more appealing to the fight club’s clientele. Rather than smelling like stale piss and unknown rot, there was a pleasant sterility to the air. Nick’s nose hardly wrinkled. In the corner, a blind man sat on a stool wearing dark glasses and tapping at the floor with a thin cane. “You two, back again? And it looks like you brought more friends. How many times do I have to tell you? You can piss just about anywhere in this bar, but not in here. Now, get the hell out.”

“I like him,” Nick grinned.

“You’re not going to like me in a minute,” bit out the blind man. “I may have lost my sight, but I can still kick your sorry ass if you don’t move.”

Nick’s good humor was palpable. It had been a long while since he had gone into a secret club, and it felt good to be back on the horse. “Alright, old timer, I’m sorry about my friends, but they’re new in the community.”

“The community?” He let out a wheezing laugh. “And what community are you referring to?”

“This is going about as well as expected.” Shirley was clearly growing impatient.

Nick ignored her and looked around the small room. There was a sink and a mirror, much like any ordinary bathroom, and a toilet that had been sealed shut with plaster. He shuddered at the incident that would have necessitated such caution. The room was barren other than the guard. As far as tests went, it was a tricky one. “Can you see?” asked Nick.

“Would I carry this damned cane if I could?”

Nick laughed. “Of course, dumb question, but can you see?”

The old man nodded. “I guess we’re going to find out.”

Nick walked over to the mirror. “James, grab me Henry’s tome would you?”

James reluctantly unslung his shoulder bag and pulled out a dusty old leather book.

“Holy shit, you still carry that thing around?” Shirley had chided Nick about taking it on their brief mountaineering expedition, but he had insisted. “Would you like me to at least digitize it for you?”

Nick sneered. “Want to tell her what happened when you tried that, James?”

James groaned at the memory. “Waste of a perfectly good e-reader. Thing nearly burned our apartment down.” He handed Nick the heavy tome.

The book had been written by Nick’s teacher, Henry, and carried all manner of enchantments from the mundane to the extraordinary. “Henry was a suspicious man, and I doubt he would want any of his work copied. Besides, I’m pretty sure some of things in here might implicate him in more than a few international crimes, if the bastard is still around.” Henry had disappeared fifteen years earlier, but Nick was never willing to believe the man was actually dead. It was far too mundane an ending for his lavish personality.

“Well, I’m not seeing anything, and if you don’t hurry your shit up, I’m going to call security.” The blind man raised a walkie talkie to emphasize the point.

“I’m pretty sure they say patience is a virtue.” Nick flipped through the pages of the book.

“Not right now it isn’t,” countered the blind man.

Nick found the page he was looking for and pulled a small wax candle out of his pocket, placing it in the middle of the sink. “I’m pretty sure this is safe, but just in case, you all might want to take a few steps back.” Nick grabbed the matchbook from his back pocket and lit the candle. In the dim glow of the red room, it hardly made a difference. He rubbed his hands together and began a short incantation.

He clapped his hands together, rubbing them vigorously. It wasn’t strictly necessary, but when one was making a dark arts display, it was best to have a little showmanship. “Spirits from beyond, see my candle, follow its light.” The words were also not strictly necessary. The candle he had lit was made from bone and fat robbed off his grandmother’s corpse. While the process had been disgusting, it did enable him to summon her at will in any reflective surface that the candle could see. “Follow my light and hear my call. Come to us oh spirits from beyond the final fall.” Nick went silent.

James and Lopsang were able to keep straight faces, but Shirley couldn’t stifle a snort.

Nick didn’t react and stood perfectly still in front of the mirror. Nothing happened. Oh, come on you old bag of bones. You can’t be that busy down there. Thirty seconds passed and the mirror showed nothing other than Nick’s haggard reflection staring back at him.

“Is something supposed to be happening?” asked Shirley.

The blind man had the good sense to stay quiet and wait.

Finally, Nick grew frustrated and called out. “Jesus, Nana, can you cut your bridge game short? The candle only burns so long!”

The mirror pulsed with bright, blue light, eclipsing the red glow of the lights above. “Nick, is that you? How many times have I told you to watch your god damned language! I was having the best conversation with a dear frien—”

“We get it, nana, being dead is soooo tiring. Trust me, living is very easy, but we’re on a bit of a schedule here.” Nick chanced a glance back at Shirley.

She maintained her composure, but the shock was clear.

The blind man stood from his seat and walked over to the mirror, standing next to Nick. “Well, I’ll be damned, and here I thought you were all a bunch of frauds.”

“How many years has it been, Nick?” asked an old woman appearing in the mirror. Her skin was sagging and pale white, but otherwise, she looked good.

“Last Christmas, maybe?” asked Nick, knowing full well it wasn’t.

“Ha! Last Christmas? Let me check my calendar. Oh wait, I remember, it’s been ten years!”

“Oh, come off it, you just said you were busy.”

“Not too busy to talk to my grandson from the great beyond. How have you been? You look terrible. Getting fatter than I remember too.”

Nick growled and turned to the blind man. “Satisfied?”

“Y-yes, but don’t waste this time on my account. I’m happy to wait.”

“Alright, sorry grandma, got to run. Let’s do this again soon.”

“Nick, you wait a damned minute, don’t you hang up on me.”

Nick licked his fingers and snuffed out the candle.

“You son of a bitch!” his grandmother screamed as she faded once more into the ether.

The muted thumping of the jazz band entered back into the room, making it clear just how quiet things had become. Nick felt a cold chill wash over him. It was a side effect of communicating with the dead, especially when they got pissed. “So, now that we’ve all endured that pleasant little experience, can you please let us in?”

The blind man wandered back to his stool. “Yeah, I’d say I’ve seen enough, but that was cold, man.”

“Nick, you should really call your grandmother more.” James stifled a laugh.

“Screw off, James. Don’t make me get your ‘cousins’ on the phone from the Land of the Dead. I’m sure they’ll be curious where you got off to.”

James scowled.

“Alright, few rules before I let you all in. If you do want to fight, you’re going to need to sign a waver. If you tell anyone about what you see here tonight, someone will hunt you down and find an unpleasant way to make you regret that. Lastly, have a good time, and Martin’s thanks you for your patronage.” The blind man smiled and pulled on the plunger next to his stool. The tile wall behind him gave way to a dimly lit stone passage wide enough for two people to walk side by side.

Nick didn’t try to hide his excitement, but stuck to his rule of never going first. “After you, Shirley.”

“Always a gentleman.” Shirley stepped through the door. “Have a good night,” she said to the blind man.

“You too, miss, and make sure your friend calls his grandmother again sometime soon. She seems like a sweet lady.”