Free Deadly Night by Aiden James

below the earth’s crust. Only, this quake remained inside the damned cupboard.
    “ What the…,” squeaked Justin, the previous impish look in his eyes vanquished by real fear.
    “ Well you pissed him off!” seethed Tom, moving over to where Justin stood, while Angie looked on wearing another smirk—she’s such a smartass. He shooed them both away to the other side of the kitchen. The tremor ceased. “Nathaniel was a cook in the army, until he retired in 1932. After that, he continued his trade until he contracted lung cancer, in 1943. Then he died here in the back bedroom in 1945.”
    “ The spirit here is very protective of you, am I right about that?” asked Fiona. “And I wish to apologize for all of us if we made him upset by what we were talking about.”
    She waited before going on, shooting a serious look to both Justin and Angie. As weird as it sounds, the oppression in the air around us began to lift.
    “ You’re right,” said Tom. “Nathaniel doesn’t care much for my younger brother, Albert, nor his wife, Beth. Al and I have never really been close, but since we’re both getting older, we’ve been trying to work on our relationship. But things are still tense between us.... When I moved in here and enlisted their help, we had something similar to this happen in the middle of the night while Al and Beth were sleeping in the guest room. It was just pots and pans that night, and the drawer turned upside down. Nathaniel must really be ticked off this time.”
    “ I guess he doesn’t care much for a black dude, either, huh?”
    Justin said this jokingly, but given the way people used to think, he might’ve defined the source for the spirit’s hostility.
    “ Nathaniel was an African-American, too,” said Tom, moving back to the pile to finish cleaning up. “But respect for one’s elders remains much the same as it was back when he walked among the living.”
    “ Sounds like he’s still walking among the living, if you ask me,” Justin mumbled, out of direct earshot of Tom. Not so sure about Nathaniel’s.
    Angie and Jackie began picking up the pots, pans, and utensils. I stood ready with the broom and dustpan. Already thinking of an excuse to tell the band, since no way in hell I’d make it to rehearsal on time now. It was damn near nine o’clock.
    “ I think Nathaniel feels threatened for what might happen to you, Tom,” said Fiona, finally, after wandering around the kitchen and acting as if she were listening intently to a conversation undetectable to the rest of us. She took the dust pan and motioned for me to help her clean up the rest of the debris on the floor. “To be honest, I feel the same thing….threatened. For all of us here tonight.”
    A large crystal bowl sitting atop the refrigerator began to vibrate, wobbling as if it might fall off. It gave my wife quite a start, since she stood in front of the fridge. When the bowl stopped vibrating, a soft ringing sound emanated from it that lasted more than a minute before it gradually died away.
    Creepy, man… very creepy.
    “ Who’s with me on taking a little trip?” she asked.
    Everyone eagerly voted for it, once they learned she intended to revisit Johnny’s place tonight. Despite being taped off by the police, Fiona has a knack for finding her way around such deterrents. Who knows? Maybe another message will come through from beyond the veil that separates the living from the dead, this time for her specifically.
    A message from Candi? If so, hopefully something to help bring a quick end to the craziness that’d started last night. Too bad I couldn’t be there. I had four ticked off music buddies to worry about.
    It’s the last thing I thought about before peeling out of Tom’s carport on the way to east Nashville.

Chapter Eight

    East Nashville is a scary place, man. Lots of crime, seedy motels, and rundown neighborhoods. However, like any other metropolitan area, it has its good streets and a few upscale