Chapter 118 - Grande In The Afternoon
Grande Funeral Home was quiet and peaceful in the afternoon.
Old Hank sat in the coffin exhibition hall, leaning on a coffin, staring at the door blankly with muddy eyes, as if he was expecting someone to come in, but if someone came in, he would just stare at other people fiercely and scare them away.
The Great Dane Jim trotted slowly inside the door after the after-meal activity, glanced at Old Hank, it circled under the coffin stand. After playing for a while, it seemed to be a little hungry again. Wagging its tail, it ran across the reception and office to the kitchen.
The desk in the reception room was empty. Louise was not at Grande Funeral Home, nor was Matthew. They all went to the church to the west. This was the last funeral before Father Constantine closed the Church of God the Son. The ‘brothers’ who were the head of the Grande House were not there, so their ‘relatives’ or said ‘Subordinates, took over the “real” job.
On the counter in the kitchen, the bamboo basket was stuffed with biscuits and pastries. The Great Dane jumped on the counter nimbly. His nose was just decoration, so he simply wrapped the nearest cake with his soft pink tongue, his fluffy lips opened and closed.
‘This taste, it is nuts.’ Jim wagged its tail and wrapped the next one into his mouth. ‘This tastes, it is marshmallow.’ Jim’s tail brushed the plates everywhere on the table, but he continued to eat the next one..
“Stop! Ryan!”
Jim’s mouth stopped chewing, he raised his head and looked out the window.
If anyone looked closely, they would find that the color of the windows on the south side of the kitchen was somewhat different from that of the walls. Because the windows were newly installed after being destroyed more than a month ago, they could not fully blend in with the old kitchen environment.
“Ryan! let me out!” Alice stood helplessly in the backyard, shouting to the blurry shadow in front of her.
Alice’s white dress had burn marks on the corners of her white dress. She hugged herself tightly and looked at the circle of red spells around her feet.
Ryan’s facial features were as blurry and wavery as his body. In a short pause, Alice could see his lips moving; he was using witchcraft, real witchcraft!
The banshee’s eyes suddenly widened, and she covered her eyes with her hands, “Ryan! Stop! Stop it now! You will disappear!”
In the wavering shadow, the noticeable rugby jacket had turned into a cloud of red and blue mist, and Ryan’s body was like a firework that was rapidly extinguishing.
“Stop! Stop it! Ryan!”
In the banshee’s sharp pleading cry, the red spell on the ground disappeared, and the blurry mist in the air had stopped wavering, but it could not gather together, froze in the air, fading and dimming.
The banshee Alice anxiously ran out of the place where she was originally restrained, and the burnt corners of the skirt were lifted in the air. She ran to the hammock; there was an open note on the round wooden table.
Alice’s fingers tremblingly searched through the notes; the sound of the page turning added a background sound to this restless afternoon. Finally, Alice found what she wanted, holding the witchcraft notebook belonged to Spell, and ran to a place in the courtyard.
Alice did not need to see the process and explanation of how Spell simplified the most primitive ritual step by step. She held the note in one hand and looked directly at the last sentence.
“*&(*%￥# (spell).”
Alice tremblingly finished reading, her palms opened, facing downwards, and the ground she was pointing at was clearly different from the surrounding soil, as if it had been touched not long ago.
The shadow froze in the air not far away seemed to have been summoned, like a trace of smoke being sucked, rotating in the air to the place pointed by Alice’s palm, and then all went into the ground.
Alice closed her notes, held it in her arms, and hugged her skinny shoulders tightly. She lowered her head, her closed eyelashes were filled with mist.
The scattered shadow soon re-appeared in front of Alice, like fragments being continuously combined and reconstructed, until a figure appeared completely. It was Ryan.
Ryan raised his arm, his eyes glowed with surprise, his palm was facing the sun, but no light could pass through! His body, like having actual substance, was no longer translucent!
historical
“You! Alice! You are so powerful!” Ryan stared at his hands excitedly! “You, you stacked mother’s spell! you..”
The brown-covered notes penetrated Ryan’s body and hit the back porch of the Grande House.
“Why are you doing this to me!” Alice’s shoulders trembled, staring at the seemingly substantial earthbound spirit, “Why! Do you think this is funny!”
“Wait!” Ryan tried to catch Alice who was running to the Grande House, but his hand only passed through Alice’s arm, “I need your help!”
But Alice no longer wanted to hear anything from this guy, ran past the Great Dane, opened the side door, and rushed in.
Alice had already rushed up the stairs, and Ryan, who was floating in the courtyard, frowned, his figure turned into a spot of light, dissipating in the sun. When he appeared again, he was already behind Alice.
“Wait, Alice! I really need your help!”
Alice did not turn her head, stepped up the stairs. Frowning her eyebrows, closing her eyes, she slammed into Ryan who was floating in front of her.
Ryan could not stop the agitated Alice, the door was slammed shut heavily, and it seemed that Alice decided to hide in the room. But the doors and walls had no effect on Earthbound Spirit. If she really wanted to get rid of the Earthbound Spirit, leaving his range of activities was the right approach.
It was a pity that the range that would make the banshee feel at ease overlapped with Ryan’s range of activities as an earth-bound spirit, and both were the Grande house. It was a helpless fact.
Alice pulled out a pair of scissors from the drawer and waved it in front of her!
The bright silver cuts appeared on Ryan’s body, but there was no bloody scene. The bright cuts healed immediately after it appeared as if it never existed. Even Ryan himself was very surprised, he did not dissipate because of the metal as usual! However, now was not the time to admire the power of Alice’s witchcraft.
“Alice! Calm down will you!” Ryan realized that he didn’t need to avoid Alice’s ‘attack’, and directly moved closer to Alice.
“Stay away from me! Get out! Ryan! Get out!”
“Alice! Hear me out!” Ryan raised his voice. There was no one in Grande anyway. Old Hank couldn’t hear Ryan’s voice, “I want to leave Grande! I want to find my family! Alice! Don’t you want it? ! Your real family! Let’s go together!”
Alice’s arms that were waving scissors stopped in the air.
On the wall of the Grande House that was facing south, on the second floor, a place suddenly seemed to be distorted by something. A scarlet-skinned ‘thing’ coiled up near a window without being noticed by the people inside, its weirdly big eyes blinked.
Jim spit out a pit from his mouth, and the skin of his whole body changed again in the sun, and blended in with the gray wall, disappearing without a trace.