Orpheus - Haunting the Dead.pdf - Dice

HAUNTING THE DEAD
STEFAN PETRUCHA
on the Kleck estate, where the remains showed evidence
of torture.”
“I own you! I own you!” Kleck screamed louder, as
if he somehow weren’t being heard. His legs were gone
up to the knees now.
“Your parents wanted to contact you for obvious
reasons, to see if your souls were at peace, but also to try
to find out exactly what happened. The information
wouldn’t have been admissible in the civil suit, but it
might have led to the right sorts of questions. Kleck
wanted to head that off by clearing your spirits.”
It made sense. Mom always had bought into that
late-night TV crap. But Orpheus was still working with
the Klecks. Shutty’s eyes narrowed.
Dennison shook her head. “Listen carefully. I’m not
saying Orpheus is always on the right side of ethics or
the law, but in this instance, during my briefing when
the possibility of, well, losing Martin Kleck came up, I
got the definite impression no one would miss him. Do
you hear me, Shutty? Do you understand what I’m
saying? A wink is as good as a nod. No one will miss him.”
As if to make the point, Dennison walked up to the
door, the symbol of their post-life prison, and pressed
her hand down hard on the bent silver handle. It
clicked. The door was actually ajar. Shutty shook as if
a cool breeze were blowing right through her. The
thought of leaving the way she came in was so dizzying,
she nearly forgot about the creatures devouring Kleck.
“In fact, if he were the only thing keeping me here,
I’d be gone,” Dennison said. “The only issue remaining
is you. What do you want, Shutty?”
“Me? It’s not like I’ve got a lot of choices,” she said.
“Maybe more than you think. You’re different than
the others. You’d been near death three or four times. I
know, I’ve done it myself, not through suicide, but
through shamanic rituals that nearly left me just as dead.
But you came back, you had the will, and you’re here now,
not sure you want to go. Your parents showed us your
journals. I read the entries about the shadow shapes you
saw: the lights, the tunnels, the dead relatives. Typical
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