Karma Hotel Ch. 15 So Not OK

During a seance, dead addict Bud thwarts Margot's attempt to reveal what happened to her.

                   

Chapter 15

So Not Ok

In a flash, Margot found her feet on the carpet near the dining room pocket door. Gotta tell them! She cast her gaze around the first floor and watched both friends and acquaintances all waiting for her.
"I'm sorry everybody," Margot pleaded. "I'm dead. That's why I'm late this time. I won't be late again......I promise." Dread and helplessness welled up from inside. No one hears me! Now what?
Matthew was quietly waiting for her near the top of the carpeted staircase. "I'm sorry for what happened, Margot. I sincerely apologize for my lack of tact or sensitivity before." His admission fell flat like a stone. Silence followed. .....for a while.
Margot gave him a look that would sour fresh milk. "Yes, you were right after all." She looked up to him. "What do I do now?"
"I gotta tell my friends about this!" And to herself, What about my clients? Need to tell Mom too! Oh, forget that one Margot. You'd scare the hell out of her if you said 'Hello Mom'.
Margot was not looking forward to the drama. She could almost hear it now: 'That cannot be the voice of my daughter. Be gone Satan!'" Mother and her wayward daughter had already been polar opposites on matters of spirit.
He squirmed for a moment, unsure about how to suggest a remedy. "Umm....There might be a way to communicate with them." Matthew genuinely wanted to help.
She stared at him for a moment. "What'ya got in mind. Shall I spook'em?"
"Ever heard of a snce? The living communicating with the dead using a Ouija board?"
"Oh yes. My father used to give me serious warnings about using it." He was so stern about that.
"Well, Matthew said, it just so happens that three of your friends had planned to hold one after most of the guests were gone". He nodded at Bob. "He has a Ouija board. Looks like they are getting ready".
Just let me touch someone, talk to someone with a heartbeat. But, not one of the beating hearts in that room could hear Margot. A Ouija board! Can I do this?
Matthew drifted to a bay window area on the first floor and invited Margot to join him. They watched Bob move a bamboo room divider over to block the entryway to the bay window. Then he gestured to Julie and Mara to join him there.
Am I becoming a voyeur ghost, Matthew wondered. Hope not. Nevertheless, he invited Margot to join him. She drifted through the room divider.
A card table was set up with a Ouija board laying open in the middle. Bob, Mara and Julie occupied three sides on folding chairs. Ready for note-making, Bob had a clipboard and pen. All three were giddy with anticipation.
"What are the rules for a Ouija game?", Mara asked.
He looked at the instructions. "I don't see any rules in particular. But there are four warnings for us. One - never do this in a graveyard. Two-never do this alone. Three - never ask when you will die."
All three looked at one another as if to say, That's a no-brainer! "And four - Always end with Goodbye. Wonder why that's so important?"
"Could be common courtesy, Mara suggested,."We extend it even to the dead. We would consider it rude to for someone to just walk away, saying nothing," .
Julie asked, "So you think that the house might be haunted?" After a brief pause, Bob said, "It's been bothering Lauren." Margot flashed at him, Come on Bob, you too.
"Uh, I mean the both of us. Since we moved in we've noticed a number of things. Our kitchen oven has a door that refuses to stay shut. We often see it open for no good reason." He waited for a response. "And also Greta. She sometimes snarls at nothing but thin air. I mean even with her hackles up. It makes me wonder. What does she really see?"
That piqued everyone's curiosity. "And there's more," said Bob." The kitchen knife drawer is the other problem. We find it open any time of the day. Again, for no good reason."
"Wouldn't Lauren want to join us?", Julie asked.
"No". `Bob shook his head. "This is way to spooky, especially with Beny's imaginary friends added to the mix."
They had agreed on certain roles for each person. Julie would be the one to channel messages by placing her hand on the upside-down heart-shaped planchette. Bob would act as a scribe, clipboard in hand, to document the experience. Mara's task was to say farewell to any remaining party-goers and to keep lookout for Margot, just in case she shows. Each took their place around the table and gazed at the faded-looking rectangular board.
The Ouija board had an antique font alphabet to choose from and numbers from one to ten. At the upper left corner was an image of a smiling Sun and the word Yes. The upper right bore an image of the Moon accompanied by the word No. Hello was on the bottom left corner and Goodbye on the bottom right.
The planchette was shaped like an upside down heart with a hole in it's center, through which numbers and letters were seen.
Beny, in his pajamas, had quietly snuck down the stairs, driven by curiosity about what the adults were up to. He watched the three find privacy behind the room divider for some reason. They're hiding! Gotta find out why.
Had the Ouija players looked around they would have seen Beny's face peering between the divider and a wall. But they were carefully focused on what was to come.
Julie's left hand was on the planchette. All three closed their eyes and chanted, "Is anyone here who is in spirit? ......Is anyone here who is in spirit?" Julie's face assumed a look of deep relaxation. Then they patiently waited for the planchette to move under Julie's palm.
Randy heard all three chanting their invocation. He slowly glided toward the table, a big grin on his face, thinking to himself, I'd love to get into a heavy rap with someone. "Hey dyoods! I'm here!"
Then he spotted Margot and said with a broad grin, "Hey Sista! What's happenin'? Welcome to Hoyt House." He curtsied before her. "Peace and love to you!" His lilting 'hippy dippy' voice seemed much overplayed.
"Ya got any?", he asked conspiratorially, his eyebrows raised. Margot's eyes got big. "Any what?"
"I'm dyin' for a toke. It's been so long... Oh by the way, I'm Randy," He stuck out his skinny wrist with three brass bracelets dangling.
He reminded her of Curt Cobain with love beads. She took his rather limp hand and tried to shake it. Like some living people, there and yet not here. "Umm, I don't have any right now."
"Hey, that's cool."
"I'm Margot. Margot Green".
"I'm Randy." Then turning to the snce table, "I sure hope this works!"
Maybe I can get a decent rap going. But, before he could get close to Julie another ghost descended right in front of him, blocking his way. Her hourglass corseted figure was topped with a beaver pelt hat with ostrich feathers. Grey eyes bulging with her hands wringing, the woman exuded a cloud of anxiety.
She looked at Randy, pleading. "My baby!"
He backed away. "Hey, that's cool. I'm good people."
Seemingly desperate to move the planchette, Ramona frantically grasped for it. Yet over and over her fingers passed through it as it was made of smoke.
"I should probably loosen up first." Julie moved her arms out and up and bent her trunk backward. All right Julie, she thought, Just like with Margot's hypnotic trance, Julie told herself, 'OK. Fall into it, deeply. Let go of controlling your arm' A dead person just might move it to point at something on the Ouija board. Let it happen. Loosen up.
Listening to Julie's self-talk, the woman ghost began to understand. She was to use Julie's arm to move the planchette. What would that be like? It had been a long time since she had physical arms and hands.
Nevertheless, she blended with Julie and began to move her shoulders a bit. Julie's expression changed from relaxation to anxiety. Her left arm began moving the heart-shaped planchette, one letter at a time. It slowly spelled: W..H..E..R..E..I..S..M..Y..B..A..B..Y? ... Mara looked over to Bob and mouthed: A baby?
Then the planchette moved around the board again. I...W..A..N..T..M..Y..B..A..B..Y
Bob took notes: Where is my baby? I want my baby. Stunned by the implication that there is a ghost in the house who wants its baby, he wanted more. "What is your name?"
Julie's posture now seemed at ease with channeling a ghost-like this, but her facial expression was still painfully upset. The planchette now readily glided around the alphabet.
R..A..M..O..N..A...H..A..V..E..Y..O..U..S..E..E..N..M..Y..B..A..B..Y? Mara and Bob just stared at one another. Now what?
"Sorry Ramona, Mara said. "But, we don't know where your baby is."
Julie looked slack jaw now. Soon the planchette danced around the alphabet: D..I..D..Y..O..U..T..A..K..E..M..Y..B..A..B..Y?
This was just too much for Beny, waiting for something interesting to happen. Why do they bother with the board and that thing to point at letters? If they want to talk with spirits so much, why don't they just talk with them?
Ramona was there moving Julie's hand. He watched the planchette spelling out B-A-B-Y ....yet again. This is so slow...and boring! It took all of Beny's willpower to restrain himself from telling Daddy about it. Ramona's right there! He chose instead to watch what was going to happen next.
Mara said, "That ghost seems to be focused on her lost baby. Doesn't have much else to say. Maybe ask Ramona if there are any other ghosts who want to talk with us." The planchette immediately moved to the upper left smiling Sun - YES.
Next it repeated: I..W..A..N..T..M..Y..B..A..B..Y
Julie was still for a moment and Bob took the opportunity to intervene by quietly asking, "Hey Julie. How are you doing? What's that feel like?"
Julie slowly opened her eyes but needed a moment to focus. "I just feel a bit light-headed and very relaxed. And I could feel my arm moving the planchette. But that wasn't me doing it."
"And I gather that you haven't been not looking for a lost baby of your own?"
"Nope. Two kids are enough for me." She took a moment to remember her moment as a channeler. "One thing that stands out is a feeling of obsession with finding lost a baby."
Mara added, "The name she spelled is Ramona. So, she is a ghost searching for her lost baby. I could feel her terrible upset. My own heart felt weighted down with desperation. It's like she's been looking for that baby for a long time."
"Does it feel like Ramona might still be with you?", Mara asked.
"It's about that baby she wants. I can still feel her in my flesh." Julie followed with, "I even want her baby. Oh is that too weird? Sorry."
They replied in unison that it was all right, we're with you.
Mara asked, "This must be weird for you. Feeling her in your arm."
"It's more than just my arm. She's like really still with me", Julie replied. "It's strange, you guys. It's as if I can smell Ramona. Or maybe she smells me." She looked for more reassurance at the other two. Still not too strange?
"Maybe, Bob suggested, " it's about that fourth rule: To end with Goodbye. You didn't say Goodbye."
"Of course. I missed that step." Julie placed her right hand on the planchette and purposefully moved it to the word Goodbye.
"Phew. That was a lot. It feels good to be disconnected from Ramona." She shivered a bit. "It was amazing to feel her emotions while moving the pointer thing. It's like my hand knew what to do. I'm so glad I said 'goodbye'. It felt a grey blanket just fell off of me."
Reacting to Julie's planchette saying 'Goodbye', Ramona merely floated just behind her, off her left side. Pacing back and forth, wringing her hands. My baby...Oh my baby, where is she?
Matthew just had to intervene at this point. "Hey, Ramona! Give it a break. Let Randy have a turn at it."
Ramona turned her attention to Matthew and was just about to ask him if he'd seen her baby when he interrupted. "And, no Ramona. I haven't seen your baby. Have you checked the basement lately?"
"Oh. The basement!" Ramona held onto her plumed hat as if she was ready to sprint. "She must be there." With that, she faded away.
"The pointer told us that there is another ghost here who wants to talk. Maybe Ramona is gone. Are you ready for a different one?, Mara asked, "Or do you need a break?"
Julie took a deep breath and replied, "Why not? I seem to be a natural at this Ouija thing." Then she closed her eyes and relaxed into the chair.
All three chanted again: "Is there another ghost here who wants to talk?" Randy looked at Matthew. "Is it OK now?"
"Go for it Randy." Then Matthew gestured to Margot: Maybe you're next? She nodded eagerly and watched the se?ance as it progressed.
Julie allowed Randy to easily slip into her left arm. The planchette moved through the alphabet again: I..A..M..H..E..R..E..
Bob asked, "What's your name?"
R..A..N..D..Y. he replied.
Bob followed with, "Do you want anything?"
Y..O..U..B..E..T..P..L..A..Y..S..O..M..E..D..O..O..B..I..E..B..R..O..T..H..E..R..S
Bob and Mara shared looks of sheer delight and laughed out loud. "So we have a ghost here who likes the Doobies!"
Randy nodded enthusiastically.
"I have the Best of the Doobies" on CD." Bob was so excited that he almost knocked over the room divider as he got up. Then he saw Beny hiding behind a chair.
After dropping the disc into the player he said, "Beny, it's after nine PM. Time for bed. You know the rules."
Beny protested. "But it's not a school night Dad."
"All right. But as soon as Margot arrives, off to bed you go. OK?"
This time Beny stopped himself. If I tell him that Margot is already here he will make me go to bed.
"OK, Dad. Till Margot arrives."
The CD began with "Listen to the Music" Randy began dancing around the room. But he slowed down long enough to move the planchette through Julie again: A..W..E..S..O..M..E...
Watching them reminded Margot as a child playing with a Ouija board with some friends, the Ouija game board belonging to a boy down the street, and her father's stern warning.
"Johnnie's always calling on spirits of the dead with that Ouija board", Margot told her father. "Well, tell me about", Darwin comfortably answered.
"When I placed my hand on the planchette, it was so creepy. I felt my ribs and my spine tingle. I almost wanted to run away!"
He nodded knowingly. "Why?"
"I felt so crowded. Like being in an elevator full of people. I never like that. Do you think we really made contact with the dead?"
"Maybe. But, apparently you forgot my warning about using a Ouija board." Darwin raised his voice a bit. "Remember Margot: Always set your safe space. Ask for the light of heaven first to surround each of you before you begin."
"And, he raised his index finger, "don't forget this: A dead person is not necessarily wise. Nor are they necessarily safe to connect with."
Margot frowned at this. There might be something to what Dad was saying.
Darwin continued, "Did that boy do any of these things to prepare all of you for contact?" "Well, no." Margot felt a bit guilty now.
"My dear, here is how it goes for people who play carelessly with a Ouija board. Because they don't know any better, they send out the message: Does anyone want to talk to us?"
He had his daughter's attention now. Dad is really serious.
"Of course! If you ask that question, dead people will flood to you, Margot."
Her eyes swelled. Oops! I don't want that.
"It's just like in school. What happens when a teacher asks the class: Who has the answer to a question?"
"They all raise and shake their hands, all excited."
"And what are they saying with their hands raised?"
"Me, me first, I know. I know!"
"That's right. It's the same for dead people. They usually have something to say. And it's about 'Me first', usually."
Now she wanted more. "Like what would they say?"
"Each one wants something. They may want you to listen to their stories of trouble and death. Or they may say something like: Gotta cigarette? Others are just plain lost and are looking for comfort."
"If someone is lost, I'd want to help."
"How would you do that? What does a lost person want?"
Young Margot took a moment to reflect on this. "Well, I guess to go home."
"Yes. What do you imagine where home is for a dead person?"
"I guess it should be back to the life they once had. But if they can't go back there, then what?" "Where can they go instead? I have watched them rise up to a light-filled space. That light place is total peace and acceptance. I believe that all dead people deserve to go there."
"What makes them go there, to that Light?"
"We don't make them do anything. Usually, all it takes is to ask them for them to look up. I ask them to look for a great light."
Margot listened carefully. This was important.
"Next, I ask them: 'What do you see now as you look up?' "I suggest that maybe they see some gentle hands reaching for them. A moment later, they usually float up to the light."
"You make it sound easy, Dad"
He answered comfortably. "It is."

Randy was hoping for more dialogue. We're off to a good start. And I have a tale to share with them Now, just blend back in... But, Julie purposefully moved the planchette to "Goodbye".
Randy was pushed away by a gust of willpower. Wow. When she says goodbye, she means it! Margot felt desperate. Oh good. It's my turn finally! Maybe I can slip into Julie's arm like those
other two dp.'s. I wonder if Julie will notice that it's me coming through instead of Randy. She slowly approached Julie. Ok, my love. We are still connected and I have got something
important to say. I died tonight. Margot blended with Julie and began to move the planchette. I..T..S..M..E..Y..O..U..G..U..Y..S..M..A..R Suddenly Julie's arm jerked to the left, not landing on
the alphabet.
Normally the aura surrounding Julie looked like a soft multi-colored Jello-like curtain, shaping and re-shaping continually with her emotional sensitivity.
That was replaced with a dark greasy looking smudge. Julie's angry feelings about her mother now erupted again. Floating red bubbles bearing dog-like teeth spewed out. They snarled at mental images of her mother that hovered nearby.
What's happening? What are those things? Thought Daggers. So angry! Margot felt herself being rapidly replaced by something that felt sinister. No longer being able to move the pointer, all she could do was to stare helplessly at Julie. A familiar-looking dark smudge surrounded her like a down parka with teeth.
Smudge grasped the planchette and began spelling demand letters rapidly: W..E..A..R..E..N..O..T..D..O..N..E..Y..E..T.. G..E..T..A..C..I..G..A..R..E..T..T..E..N..O..W..
Mara looked to Bob. Something had changed after Goodbye. She had to ask, "Is this still Randy?" N..O..
"Who are you then?", Bob asked.
A..F..R..I..E..N..D..
Bob looked at Julie. Something felt different. I wouldn't want to interfere but, wish I could talk with her for a moment.
The planchette moved again, apparently without Julie's participation G..E..T..M..E..A..C..I..G..A..R..A..T..T..E Then, Julie slowly opened her eyes and blinked. "Phew! That was a lot. I never dreamed that I would be channeling dead people like this."
Julie waited for a response. Mara and Bob, dumbfounded, had nothing to offer at this juncture. Her memory of the se?ance was gradually fading. "What were their names?"
"The first one was named Ramona." Bob checked his notes on the clipboard. "The second one was Randy. And there is a third ghost, I guess. It moved the planchette more forcefully than the other two."
Julie just stared for a moment. "I think I need a break now." She slowly rose from the chair like a stiff automaton, staring at the wall. "Time for a cigarette!"
With that, Julie stepped out on the back porch and lit up.
Margot easily ghosted through the wall and landed outside next to Julie in the brick pavers next to the back porch. She was already inhaling. Margot was livid.
"Bud!! That was you, right? Get me a cigarette! You S.O.B. You shit!"
Bud slicked back his oily hair took one look at her with slimy lizard-like eyes. "Eh? Oh, you again....Fuck off!"
I'll choke the life out of this bastard! That was my last chance to tell them what happened to me. Now ruined! Fingers extended now, Margot closed them around Bud's brittle etheric airway and gritted her teeth. Tighter dammit! Tighter!
Julie suddenly reached up, feeling around for the cause of the subtle pressure around her neck. Is there something on me? What is this? She reached inside her sweater searching for....something, anything.
A clenching sensation slowly closed in. Becoming alarmed now, she wondered, What's happening to me? Then it dawned on her. Goodbye! I forgot to say Goodbye on the Ouija board again. Julie stomped her feet on the ground.
"Goodbye and get the hell off me! Whoever or whatever you are." It was as if a light had just turned on. She felt some dead weight fall away.
Bud and Margot both felt the force of Julie's will like a face-slapping that pushed them a good four feet away.
With resolve, Julie declared: I'm never doing this Ouija thing again. She looked down at her lit cigarette, smoke drifting upward. And you....hacking again. You're choking my life away just like before. I'm quitting cigarettes I've got to stop.
Julie tossed the lit cigarette onto the damp pavement and stomped it out. She took in a deep breath of fresh air. Yes. I am quitting again! She then returned to the house.
Bud slipped out of Margot's etheric grasp and looked around for Julie. He was pissed. "Thanks a lot, bitch!"
Margot stared deeply into his murky void. And with a Mona Lisa smile said slowly, "Bud. You are so very welcome."
"Hey. Don't you worry about me. I'll find her. " With that Bud withered back into a floating dark smudge. A moment later a sort of nostril extended out, sniffing the atmosphere like a dog. There she is! He was soon in pursuit.
For hours his miasma lingered like a smoker's aftershave. Margot could have puked. This is so disgusting. Yuk! Icky... sticky.
She screamed to the universe. "Oh, but this is so not OK with me! Sick entities keeping sickness alive. And Julie is clueless. She only feels a craving, hers and his. And, she has no idea why."
Margot's sky-gazing landed on the constellation Orion. Little wonder why it's so hard for her to quit cigarette smoking! And that creep Bud feeding Julie's resentment toward her mother. What will happen if he latches on to her again?
Then she prayed. "Hello God or the Divine or Goddess. Hear me. Now that I'm dead, what can I do about it?"