35. Some Sort of Normal

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Trisha and Amy looked at me, at each other, and spared me any question or comment. I climbed into the backseat and fell asleep as soon as we exited the hotel parking lot, letting them drive the whole way back to Blotter Manor.

We got there just before sunset. The three of us were wasted, and could only think of going to bed. And so we did. The next morning, we woke up really early, even Trisha, and decided to have a breakfast to cover for the dinner we'd skipped the night before. Looked like those two had been talking about me while I snored from the backseat. Trisha wore her regal smile of queen of discretion and asked if I would be okay with having her over a few times a week, on weekdays.

"You're gonna need help with the burns for at least a couple of weeks," she said.

"And I would like to drop by on weekends, if you don't mind," said Amy.

I frowned, smelling rat. "I'm fine, guys, really."

The look they traded was enough to expose them.

"No, Fran, you're not," replied Amy, at the brink of a motherly frown. "I know you love the Blotters and they love you, but you can use a little human company."

I rolled my eyes. "I'm fine! I mean, I'd love to have you guys drop by whenever you want, for as long as you want, but I don't want you to do anything because you're worried or feel for me."

Trisha's slap on the back of my head was something I had certainly not missed since I'd moved out of our Boston apartment.

"You idiot. I'm unemployed and Padme would love to move her boyfriend in, so I'm about to be kicked out. I need a plan B until I find a new job. Or a miracle happens and Isaac calls me with a gig for the Haunters crew in New England."

"He told you that?" I asked, surprised.

"He said he wants to have me hired to work with them for the whole next season, so maybe they call me when they hit this area again, for a one-night gig, to see if I actually cut it for the job."

"That's awesome!" I cried, and then recalled my last conversation with Brandon. I didn't even mention it, because I didn't think he'd follow through with something like walking away from the limelight.

"So? Can Blotter Manor offer this poor refugee a little shelter until she gets back on her feet?"

"I have one condition: no visits."

"That's why I said weekdays, you idiot."

"Then let me ask the Blotters and get back at you."

I was surprised to get Brett's call at eight, and picked up on speaker. He worked the night shift and was calling on his way back home with good news: Kujo was doing great. He'd paid special attention to the grounds around Tinicum Hall over the last two days. Nothing. Kujo had stayed under everybody's radar, and when he'd checked on him before leaving, he'd found Kujo in the basement with a couple of human spirits, fine and happy.

Amy patted my hand when she saw my eyes well as I thanked Brett from the bottom of my heart, and begged him to keep me up.

Before leaving to come back in a couple of days, Trisha helped me wash and Amy showed her how to change my bandages. A while later, when I walked them to Amy's flashy car, she let Trisha go ahead and get in, and turned to me.

"And what about Brandon," she asked, keeping her voice down.

"What about him?"

She met my eyes, raising only one eyebrow. I shrugged.

"Nothing, Amy. He sort of threw around that I could go visit him, but I ain't going. No use. It is what it was. That's all."

"You don't seem to feel like it."

"Do I really have a choice? Forget about how much I love the Blotters and the Manor, this is my job, Amy. They pay me to live here, and I can't afford to lose it." I sighed. "He's still kinda lost without his worms and needs a little time to get back on track. That's not enough to throw what I've got here out the window. In the end, we don't really know each other."

She sighed too, nodding. "Yeah, you're right. It isn't rare, you know. After what you guys did together, the transfer of energy can cause feelings. Sometimes they take root, sometimes they fade away. That's why I'm asking." She patted my arm softly. "Let it flow, Fran. No harm in having feelings for somebody. No harm in letting them run their course, either." She hugged me tightly. "Call me if you need anything, even someone to talk to or a shoulder to cry, okay?"

"Go, go, and don't worry about me."

She turned to wave at the empty porch behind me, where surely all the Blotters were waving goodbye at her.

I walked back to the Manor in no hurry, feeling that having Trisha around half of the week would help me appreciate a whole lot more the moments of quiet solitude.

Jenkins called me the very next day about the guesthouse. Looked like Brandon had called the lawyer himself, and had gotten the suit to accept his money and his conditions for the repairs. Both Jenkins and I agreed it didn't make sense to get any kind of work started just weeks away from winter, so the repairs would start in late February or early March, depending on the weather. And since the Foundation wouldn't spend a dime, it would be up to me to approve the remodeling plan, from the blueprint to the color of the curtains.

Brandon called me a few days later, while driving, to make sure the cunning lawyer had told me about their deal. He looked fine, no hat, a light gray tee. He seemed to be in high spirits, and said something about his head being full of plans for the future. I didn't ask any further and he didn't elaborate.

He did, however, play one of his dirty tricks.

"If winter in rural Massachusetts is too much for you, remember I have a nice swimming pool at home," he said, glancing at the phone with one of those smiles that will make my fingers tingle till the day I die.

I don't remember what dumb reply I resorted to, in order to keep from saying no without saying yes either, and we disconnected a moment later.

He didn't call again. Not that I expected him to, but I would've liked him to, if you get what I mean.

Whatever. It was better that way.

The Blotters had no problem hosting Trisha, so she was soon staying with me from Monday through Tuesday, and went back to Boston for the weekends, to enjoy her all-nighters and crash with her weird friends.

Susan wasn't exactly happy about it, but she didn't say a word. I'd made Trisha swear she'd kept her room tidy and livable, and she did. So Susan only entered it on Fridays and Saturdays, to change the bed sheets, dust and vacuum.

Amy kept her word and would visit on weekends. However, she insisted to have me over at her place for Thanksgiving, for an intimate dinner with three of her best friends.

Meanwhile, at Pennhurst, Brett's updates kept me flabbergasted and Amy taking notes, still swearing she would write a book about Kujo.

Looked like this Gina was the ghost of an old nurse, who had become some sort of entities manager in Tinicum Hall, and she'd seen the potential of befriending Kujo right away, to help her keep malign entities out.

Thanks to Kujo, Brett had been able to have a couple of chats with the ghost nurse, and learned that the darker entities liked to pick on the many ghosts of children that still lingered in the asylum. Some of them liked to interact with the living and resided mostly at the Mayflower building. But most of them feared the living and spent their time hiding away.

Gina was in some sort of crusade to round all those shy children up and help them move to Tinicum Hall, where she could take care of them. And now she'd found just what she needed: the friendly grizzly. Turned out Kujo liked the children a lot, and somehow managed to make friends with them.

So now, Gina was working with him on bringing them all over to Tinicum Hall, one by one. Before we took Kujo there, the dark entities and ghosts that picked on the kids wouldn't let Gina snatch them from their clutch. But nobody dared to stand up to Kujo. So Gina would sit them on his back, and the kids got a free ride to their new home.

Brett was so amazed, he'd started spending hours in that area of campus every night. However, he kept Kujo's presence a secret from everybody, save his boss and his best friend. He knew that if the staff found out about him, it was a matter of time until word got out and the ghost hunters started breaking into the off-limit areas to find him.

So everything was going more than fine in Pennhurst. Dark entities liked to attack and scare humans, so they hung out in the open buildings, and stayed clear from the places where they could come across Kujo.

"He always asks about you, y'know?" Brett said. "Whenever he sees me. And I've found him alone outside Tinicum Hall, watching the cars that drive into campus."

"Tell him I'm going before Christmas," I replied. "I have a little present for him."

"You better tell him yourself. I'll call you from Tinicum Hall tomorrow night, about midnight if you don't mind."

And he did. He downloaded the app I used, to let me speak directly with Kujo. It was pitch black in the run-down building, but Brett didn't venture too far away from the door. He just walked in a few steps and called out at the top of his lungs.

"Kujo! I have news for you! I hear him coming," he said. "Shit, the whole building's gonna fall down on me."

"Yeah, he's an earthquake when he lopes."

"Come meet me outside, Kujo!" he shouted, and walked out, leaving the door open. "Oh, he's here."

He turned the phone and his app needed only one word to make my eyes well.

"Fran."

I saw only the big old open door, but I thought I could outline something like a faint shadow between it and the phone.

"Kujo, my boy! How are you!"

"Fine, fine."

"Brett told me you have a lot of new friends. Little friends?"

"Yes. Children."

"I'm so happy, my boy! Hey, listen, I'm going to Pennhurst in six weeks, okay?"

"Fran come. Miss Fran."

That was it. Tears started rolling down my cheeks despite my smile.

"And I miss you too, so, so much! But I'm so happy and so proud of you. You keep helping Gina and taking care of those kids, okay?"

"Yes. Yes. Children safe."

"Good. Okay, my boy, go take care of them. I'll be seeing you in six weeks. Love you."

"Love Fran. Later."

"Yeah, my boy. Later."

The door slammed shut and Brett turned the phone to his face, frowning when he saw the tears I was trying to wipe away.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, but that ugly thing always gets to me. Thank you so much for letting me speak to him, and looking after him."

"Forget it. He's something special and he's helping make Pennhurst a better place for the resident spirits. So we actually owe you."

"Oh, shut up. Go back to work or I'm gonna cry again."

I soon resumed my usual routine: going out for a jog in the morning, sharing most of the afternoon with the Blotters at the east parlor or the kitchen, writing at the third-floor study after dinner, sometimes past midnight.

I felt like my journal wasn't enough, so I started a draft trying to turn it into some kind of novel in the first person. Yeah, what you're reading now. It fit my style way better than the dear me thing.

Life went back to normal, if there had ever been anything like normal since I'd moved to Blotter Manor.


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