Pieces of what? Doesn't matter anymore Who: Amelia and Calista Where: Mudhouse When: Noontime
Calista had been feeling all out of sorts since she saw Quentin’s brother at his apartment. It would have been fine if he was, you know, alive, but the whole scenario was heart wrenching for everyone involved. Calista had helped ghosts in the past, this was nothing new, but actually helping out someone she was close to? That was new. Calista still felt like she did something wrong, like she stepped over some sort of boundary with Quentin that she wasn’t suppose to. Even when he told Calista everything was alright, she didn’t feel like it was.
The phone call she received that morning had been from her mother, Selene, stating that the police had called, wanting the family’s assistance with a murder case that perhaps had a ghost involved. This was something new. Of course, being the exorcist specialist in the family, there was no better person for the job than Calista. Granted, Selene had to remind her air head of a daughter about the little girl being killed a week ago and so forth, but it eventually came back to memory. There was a woman who had been there when it happened, someone by the name of Amelia Ridgeway.
Now that was a name she remembered. It had been ten or so years since she graduated from high school, but that wasn’t really a happy memory for her. She was certain the older woman remember her as the bottom of the graduating class and most certainly had no hope for college or a future in general. But that wasn’t the point of the meeting, now was it? Calista had been working for the family business since she graduated, albeit in private back then, but it was booming now. Today they would meet not as teacher and student - this was a business.
Running a bit late as always, Calista smoothed out her dress and entered the cafe she promised to meet Amelia at. It took her a second to remember what exactly the redhead looked like, but seeing she was probably the oldest one there, Calista figured it was safe to assume that this was Amelia. Walking on over to her, she tucked some hair behind her ear before giving her a gentle smile. “Good afternoon, Amelia.” God, it was so weird not calling her Ms. Ridgeway. “Sorry if I kept you waiting.”
Seeing Calista walk into the shop took Amelia back. It was a pretty common occurrence for her. After all, many of her old students stayed in Scarlet Oak. That or they left and came back. It happened all the time. Yet, for some reason, she couldn’t help but be taken aback by it from time to time. Yes, Calista had been a student she hadn’t expected much from. Now however? Well now it made sense. Who could blame a student when they had ghosts likely bugging them on a regular basis? She fought the urge to cluck her tongue. It was something that she had been mulling around in her head. The education system really needed to learn to accommodate for students with these abilities. But that was neither here nor there, and certainly not why she was meeting with Calista now.
Amelia stood from her seat at a table she had saved and smoothed her own skirt. She reached a hand out to shake. “You haven’t kept me waiting, Calista. It’s so good to see you again.” And Amelia realized it really was. Somehow it was comforting to be speaking about this subject with Calista. Yes they weren’t “buddy buddy” by any means, but at least Calista wasn’t a complete stranger to her.
Calista almost missed the handshake before she sat down, fluttering her eyes and she quickly shook Amelia’s hand, then proceeded to sit down. Still an airhead, that never changed. Regardless, Amelia looked happy to see her, so that made Calista smile a little more than usual. Again, they weren’t there to dwell on the past. There was business to attend to. “It’s good to see you, too,” she returned to Amelia, settling into her seat while rummaging through her bag. Selene had give her a notecard with some basic information down concerning the case. Now she just had to remember where she put it... “How have you been?” At least there could be some idle chit-chat until Calista pulled it out.
Indeed, Calista hadn’t seemed to change much, Amelia thought as the now grown woman fumbled about. Still, Amelia couldn’t help but find it charming. Calista had never been a star student, true, but she also wasn’t a trouble maker and she had always seemed quite pleasant. Now included. It was somehow reassuring to see that people could stay the same, what with all the changes going on. As Calista looked around in her bag Amelia smiled. “It really is good to see you too. I’ve been well.” She didn’t fumble at the last part at all and was proud of herself. She wasn’t at all well but there was no point in airing out all the dirty laundry now was there? “As well as one can be considering all the things that have been happening.” She shrugged. “What about yourself? It would seem business is booming?”
“The same,” Calista responded. “Business had been... doubled? Tripled since the Light of May?” Numbers were not Calista’s strong suit. Then again, not a whole lot was. Either way, it was easier for her to go about as a medium for hire when people were now aware of psychics being around. She didn’t constantly have to hide behind part-time jobs, even though they were nice and kept her distracted. And then there were things that happened, like the ghost of Quentin’s brother, and no matter how much experience she had, she didn’t know what to make of it. Actually, part of her still felt guilty, but that was neither here or there. She had a job to focus on now and she finally found that note card she was looking for. “I have to say, I’ve never got a call from the police asking for help before.” She paused, blinked, then corrected herself. “Well... I guess my mom got the call, then called me... but no, this is...” She looked over the information she placed onto the table, letting the silence wash over them before looking up to Amelia with blank eyes, as always. “You want to tell me what happened?”
It wasn’t at all surprising that Calista’s business had doubled, or tripled, or whatever it was. Amelia didn’t care that the young woman didn’t know. While it was a curious thought it wasn’t something Amelia needed to know details on. She had tried the small talk but it was needed. The truth was, they needed to get down to business, no matter how much Amelia didn’t want to talk about it. “Well.” She started, taking a sip from her ice water. “I am not sure how much the police believe but the poor girl that recently died? Gracie Daye? I was there when it happened.” She paused again, taking a deep breath. “I’m not entire sure what happened. I have very little experience with this sort of thing, but it’s the only thing that makes any sense.”
Amelia barked a laugh at the thought of any of this making sense. “I received call from Gracie asking for help. She had taken a number of pills and, frankly, sounded a bit crazy. When I rushed to her her house she had already started to get weak from the pills. When I tried to get her out of the room to get her to a hospital, things got... interesting. Gracie said “She” was angry and seemed to hear someone speak to her. It was at this point, when I was insisting Gracie leave with me, that things started flying across the room. The mirror broke and shards of glass were thrown at us. I was able to pull Gracie out but on the way she grabbed a knife and,” Amelia took another sip of the water, “I don’t think it was Gracie doing it. She was at war with herself, you see? I got the knife away from her and pulled her from the house. I thought we were safe but the she was hit on the back of the head with a rock.”
Another drink of water and a few deep breaths helped Amelia keep her composure. “I don’t blame the police for thinking my story is strange. Before the Light of May they would have called me the murderer and it would have been case closed. Things sure have changed, haven’t they?” She looked Calista in the eyes. “Look, I’m not saying it was a ghost but I can’t think of any other explanation.” She looked away, thinking of Linnea. What else could it possibly be? The fact that it could possibly not be a ghost was too terrifying to consider.
Had this been any other story, Calista’s mind would have wandered and her gaze would have slowly gone to the window to watch people walking by. But this time, she didn’t. Amelia had her full attention. Whenever it was something related to ghosts, they always did. Calista was never a good note taker, but she was keeping track mentally. At first, there was the possibility that maybe this wasn’t a ghost and the girl had a bad case of telekinesis. She saw that first hand with Quentin, but then the description of what could only be described as possession, Calista’s eyes widened slightly. She had been there before, multiple times, and thus knew how violating it was to have a ghost do that. Some did it out of fun, but this one clearly did it out of hatred.
“Sometimes when we cannot explain something, our minds begin to think of ways to make it acceptable,” Calista pointed. “The truth of the matter is, most occurrences these days have a trace of the supernatural behind them. Ghosts are no exception. They walk the streets just like you and I do. Some are kind souls while others cannot rest until some people die.” A sad truth, but a truth nonetheless. Tucking her hair behind her ear, she leaned in with a barely there smile. “That’s where I come in.” A bit of a pause and then Calista continued. “Do you have anything that would make a ghost come after you? Perhaps you own something of Gracie’s or blood of hers spilled on your outfit?” A mundane and perhaps even pointless question to a normal person, but the slightest trace of Gracie or even proof that Amelia was indeed that could attract this ghost and potentially harm her. Calista just hoped the cops didn’t do that silly thing where they collected stuff for evidence. That would put them in a pickle.
Calista’s response to the story was impressive. It wasn’t that Amelia had expected anything less, necessarily, but the woman was so calm. She took it all very seriously. The police could certainly learn a lesson from her. It had been humiliating to tell them what happened and see the looks on their faces, the looks of complete disbelief. Amelia was only thankful there had been so many revelations lately. What if people didn’t know that ghosts really existed? How would they have responded then? She suspected they’d have thought she was criminally insane and she’d be living a very different life right now. Still, there was no point in thinking that way. What mattered was that Calista and her questions showed that there was hope.
“I’m so thankful that the police called you, Calista. I don’t know how I would be dealing with this right now otherwise. While I am certain a ghost is somehow involved I like to think that maybe it’s not. But, you’re right, now days there’s generally something supernatural involved.” She sighed and addressed the medium’s questions. “I don’t think I have anything that would make me a target. I don’t have anything with Gracie’s blood or hair or anything like that on it. I certainly got some on me that night but I threw the clothes out. I didn’t want them around as a reminder.” She wondered if that would hurt the case. It would be easier if Calista could use those clothes to find the ghost? Amelia really had no idea.
“That’s good,” she responded in regards to ridding herself of any clothes that had blood spilled on them. Calista didn’t need something like that to track down a ghost. It was easier for her to find a ghost at the scene of the crime than throw Amelia’s bloodied clothing. If anything, she was merely looking out for the woman’s safety. “Do you... have any connection with Gracie? Is she family, a friend, or something?” There had to be a reason why Amelia was there in the first place and perhaps that could help point out what exactly was going on here. Sometimes family ghosts haunted their descendants, jealous that they were alive, while sometimes all it took was a minimum of having certain abilities, such was magic. It was why Emily haunted her own family after all these years.
“I do.” Amelia replied reluctantly. Here she was, in a public place, she couldn’t exactly blurt the nature of her relationship with Gracie. While it was perfectly innocent, some people would be horrified to hear her say the “w” word. Oh witch. Amelia sighed. People simply didn’t understand and, she thought, was it really important that Calista know the true depth of their relationship? No, Amelia didn’t think so. Though she didn’t support lying in general, in this case, Amelia decided skirting the full truth was appropriate. “I tutored Gracie.” Amelia started. “She had a bad family life and she needed help with some things so I offered to help. I suppose you could say we were friends.” Amelia wondered how true that was. She was sure Gracie likely thought of her more as a mentor than a friend. The distinction probably didn’t matter in this case.
If only Calista was better at hinting subtleties, then maybe she would have picked up on the fact Amelia was tutoring for other reasons. Hell, Calista could have been a telepath and she still wouldn’t get it. For all she knew, Amelia meant tutoring with school. Which was still a good. Either way, it meant she was close to the girl in one way or another. A mentor was a good connection. “Had she ever mentioned anything about feeling like there was a ghost present? Perhaps hearing things or feeling like she was being followed or any other odd occurrences before this one?” Or maybe this was the first time ever. And if it was, then that meant this ghost had to be pretty damn angry to just pick a random victim to kill.
“Sadly, no.” Amelia shook her head. “She had seem a bit distracted when I last spoke with her but her family life had always been difficult. I just assumed that was it.” She looked away, taking a deep gulp of her water. Was that what that had been? Had Amelia over looked something so critical? Had Gracie been struggling with this presence and Amelia let her deal with it alone? The guilt threatened to chip away at her calm exterior. After a last gulp of water, emptying the glass Amelia looked back at Calista, her calm barely in place. “The only mention was on the phone and when I saw her. Did I make a big mistake, Calista? Could I have saved her if I had noticed something sooner?” Of course Amelia was grasping at straws. She had no idea if Gracie had been haunted for some time or not but her imagination took over and she could only imagine the worst.
This didn’t sound like a typical ghost haunting a home or family. This sounded more like cold blooded murder. Some ghosts were just like that, envying the living and wanting them to suffer as they had. Upon hearing Amelia’s question, Calista swallowed hard in her bout of silence. There was no easy answer for that. Calista was used to dealing with death and thus the truth to this answer didn’t shock her as much, but Amelia wasn’t a medium. This was clearly something that didn’t happen for her on a daily basis. “I think in the day and age we live in, it’s hard to figure out if we did the right or wrong thing. Fate can easily be flipped by a simple spell or an innate ability. No one knows, so no, I don’t think you’ve done anything wrong. If anything, it would have been wrong if you didn’t visit her in the first place. At least she had a friend to comfort her in her last moments living.” Now if only Calista could be as eloquent of a speaker back in high school as she was when it came to anything relating to mediums.
Amelia listened to Calista with wide eyes. The medium was right, of course. Ultimately, it was better than nothing, her being there with Gracie at the end. “Thank you.” Amelia smiled weakly at Calista. “I appreciate that, at least.” She shrugged. “So is there something that you can do, do you think? I understand if not as I don’t have any belongings of Gracie’s or anything like that, but if we can at least show the police that it was a ghost and not me...” She thought about how that sounded and raised her hands defensively. “Not that I’m saying this just to get out of their sights, but if the police at least begin to take ghosts seriously perhaps they can prepare to deal with them better. Maybe?”
While Amelia talked, Calista searched through her bag again. Not that she wasn’t listening, but she wanted to show something to the redhead to let her know everything was in good hands. By the time she was done, Calista pulled out her business card and placed it on the table. Aside from the vital information, it clearly read ‘medium - exorcist specialist’ under her name. “There’s most definitely something I can do about it. I do this kind of thing for a living.” She even gave a small, yet reassuring smile to Amelia. “Don’t worry, you have a very experienced medium working on this. I’ll make sure some light is shined upon Gracie’s case.” Because if people were starting to make precautions about bitten weres or even vampires, then they sure as hell needed to acknowledge ghosts, as well. “I’ll get to work on this right away and I can keep you informed with my progress if you’d like.” It was the least she could do.
Though the grief and guilt did not lift from Amelia’s shoulders the weight did lessen with the relief of Calista’s words. Amelia was certain that she would always bear a small burden for what happened to Gracie. She certainly intended to begin learning more about ghosts. Since the Light of May there seemed to be more and more causes to champion. Alongside rights for supernatural people, awareness for ghosts and the potential dangers associated with them was now forefront in Amelia’s mind. If she could she would work hard to avoid a repetition of poor Gracie’s fate and if this turned out well perhaps she could get assistance from Calista in that. That was for later though. “I am so grateful for everything, Calista. I had a gut feeling that you would be the person to talk to about this.” Amelia rummaged through her own purse and quickly pulled out a piece of paper and a pen. She wrote as she spoke. “I’m just jotting down all of my contact information. I would love to be kept informed on what is happening with this. I really do appreciate all of your help, Calista.” Amelia flashed a small smile.
Those words made Calista smile. She was happy to know that she could be helpful in some situation in life and not be some useless shell forever. She might have not done well in high school and never went off to college like everyone else, but she was doing what she loved and helped people out in the process. “I’m glad I could help.” Truly, she was. Even if there was no ghost in the end, she would do whatever she could in her power to make sure she could help out. And if there was a ghost, which Calista had a huge gut feeling about, then she would take care of it. She always had. Once Amelia was done, she took the information and looked it over. Good stuff to know. Her hazel eyes went back to the woman and she nodded. “Thank you for your time, Amelia. If you need anything else, just let me know.”
“No.” Amelia replied emphatically. “Thank you.” She smiled. “I mean it. I don’t know what I would be doing without your assistance. I think I can safely say that this entire situation is beyond me. I mean, I don’t even know if my assumptions are correct but...Well that doesn’t really matter at this point. I’ll deal with that when I get to it.” Amelia didn’t know what would happen if it wasn’t a ghost. The possibilities of what had happened, and certain the speculation, would be endless. Amelia knew very well that she did not hurt Gracie but someone had, even if that person was Gracie. Then again, Gracie couldn’t have thrown that rock at her own head. So if Amelia didn’t do it and it wasn’t a ghost, was there someone else there? Either way Amelia seriously doubted much of that would fly with the police and she couldn’t blame them. She hated the thought that someone would consider her for murder though. That made it even more important to get to the bottom of this. “Oh and also, if you need to speak to Gracie’s family at all, just know that they’re jerks. Her dad’s a deadbeat. I’m sure he loved Gracie but I don’t know how cooperative he’d be. I’d be happy to help with that if you need it.”
Without the assistance of a medium, then the police would probably spend their time chasing their tails and never picking up a single clue. It was harder before the Light of May, for Calista had to work secretly and deal with people who laughed at her on a daily basis. Now those same people who laughed were coming to her for help. Funny how that worked. She was just glad that Amelia respected her regardless. And the extra information about Gracie’s dad was helpful. Calista had been blessed with kind, loving parents - even if they were constantly hounding her as to when she was finally getting married - and thus she was clueless as to what the other options were like for parenting, but she would figure it out. Another smile, another nod, and then Calista stood up slowly from her seat and spoke before heading on out. “I’ll keep that in mind. I’ll get to work right away. It was great seeing you again, Amelia.” Again, so weird to address her like that. But they weren’t teacher and student anymore. Actually, she liked it better like this.