“How so?” she asked sceptically, her feet making a rhythmic thumping sound against the tin can as she swung them back and forth.
“Well, if you hadn’t walked into the alley—“
“If I hadn’t walked into the alley,” Mary cut in. “Then that man would have died.”
“So,” Tom grumbled. “At least we’d still be alive.”
“God! You are such a jerk Tom; you could at least pretend to care.
“Well I did, until he took off on us.”
“You would have too if you had zombies chasing after you.”
“I would have at least stayed to make sure my rescuers were fine and you know, thank them.”
“Oh shut up and stop complaining,” Mary cried out in exasperation.
“Stop complaining? Mary we are stuck, dead, in a dark damp alley with no way to leave until our murder is solved and you want me to stop complaining?” Tom got up from his garbage can and walked over to the alley’s entrance.
“Yes, I do want you to stop. We’re dead and it’s my fault, I get that. But complaining about it isn’t going to help much. It’ll just make things worse.”
“Worse than an eternity spent trapped in an alley?”
“Not an eternity, just until someone solves our murder.”
“Exactly! How’s someone going to solve a murder committed by zombies?” Tom demanded.
“We leave a trail.” Mary said.
“How?”
“You weren’t listening to him, were you?” Mary asked.
“Listening to who?”
“That man, the one who came to us right after we...uhh...you know died.”
“Oh, you mean the guy who called himself the angel of death?” Tom asked. “Yah, no I didn’t hear a word he said. I was too busy staring at that giant axe he was carrying and hoping he wasn’t going to chop my head off.”
“Uhmm...right. Well anyways, he said that it was only during the day that we were to be trapped in here and that when night fell we would be free to roam around at will.”
“And what happens if we aren’t back by morning?”
“We end up back here again.”
“Just like that?”
“Just like that,” Mary nodded in agreement.
“And as for laying a trail, how do we do that. I mean, we’re insubstantial, it’s not like we can walk up to the first police officer we see and say: Hey we’re dead. A couple of zombies attacked us and ate our brains and now we need your help to move on. Yah, that’ll work out just great,” he said sarcastically.
“You are such an idiot!” Mary snapped.
“Sorry,” he said unconvincingly. “But I don’t think your plan’s going to work.”
“That shows how little you know,” she sneered. “If you had been listening you would know that there are ways in which we can contact the living. You know, send them messages. Not obvious ones, of course, but small clues to lead them on the right track.”
“And how’s that supposed to help us?”
“Well, we just have to find the right person.”
“Oh yah, how are we going to do that?”
“Don’t worry, I have someone in mind.”
“Who?” Tom asked.
“You’ll see,” she smiled, joining him over at the alley’s entrance.
“Well, isn’t that just reassuring,” he mumbled sarcastically.
~
“The sun’s gone,” Tom called out to Mary who had made her way over to the garbage cans again.
“We should get ready to go then,” she said, standing up to join him at the mouth of the alley.
“Can you tell me where we’re going now?” Tom asked.
“You can wait, it won’t kill you.”
“Hahaha,” he said. “Very funny.”
“Come on, let’s go,” she said, ignoring Tom’s comment.
Mary stepped out onto the moonlit road with Tom following a few steps behind. They slowly walked across the street, revelling in the fact that they were no longer trapped in the stinking alley. They stopped in front of a small shop window that read Bart’s Bookshop in bright green letters.
“Bart’s?” Tom asked. “Who could you possibly wish to talk to at Bart’s? Please, tell me it’s not Derek.”
“Of course it’s not Derek,” Mary answered, sounding a bit embarrassed. Tom glanced over and saw her blushing faintly in the moon’s light.
“Wait a minute,” he said, smiling mischievously. “If I remember correctly, there was something going on between the two of you, wasn’t there?”
“I have no idea what you are talking about,” she glared at him. “Let’s go.”
Mary walked straight towards the window and glided through it as if it were nothing but air. Tom followed after her laughing quietly to himself.
“Mary and Derek,” he giggled. “Now that’s funny.”
“I can still hear you,” she yelled back at him and then muttered under her breath. “Idiot.”
“Ok, sorry,” he laughed again. “But I still don’t get what we are doing here.”
“Finding an ally,” she said, sounding exasperated.
“Yes, I understand that, but who?”
“Like I said before, you’ll see.”Tom rolled his eyes at her. He looked around at the dark shadow strewn shelves and then started to follow Mary to the back of the store.
“I think this is it,” Mary said, stopping in front of a large wooden door and pulling a small book out of her pocket.
“What’s that?” Tom peaked over her shoulder and read the title.
“It’s the ghost guide,” Mary answered, flipping through the pages until she found what she was looking for.
“Ghost guide?”
“Yah, the angel of death guy gave it to me. You know, while you were staring like an idiot at his giant axe. Anyways the guide tells us the locations of all the ghosts residing in this area. It shows us were their bases are, the places where they hang out during the day and the best way to contact them if needed.”
“Uhmm...that’s weird.”
“Whatever.” Mary lifted up her fist and pounded it against the door.
“Hey! I didn’t know we could do that.” Tom cried in shock.
“The living can’t hear it though,” Mary shrugged.
“Oh,” he said, sounding a little disappointed. But, before Mary could do anything to cheer him up again, the door swung wide open in front of them and a man in a suit in a tie stood staring at them.
“Oh! Hello children, you must be my new neighbours. Come on in,” he grinned cheerfully at them. Tom and Mary followed behind as he led them into a small office lined with bookshelves and housing a massive desk in the dead center of the room. The man motioned for them to sit in the two chairs placed in front of the desk and then took his seat behind it.
“You must excuse the mess,” he said, waving his hands around at the room as he spoke. “The man who owns this place clearly doesn’t understand the word sanitation.”
“That’s fine,” Mary smiled. “We don’t mind.”
“Yah,” said Tom. ‘You should see where we live, it’s a total dump.”
Mary slapped him on the arm and glared at him. He smiled apologetically and then they both turned to face the man.
“Mr. Burton,” Mary started.
“Please, call me Ted,” he said. “Now that we are neighbours we might as well drop the formalities.”
“Alright, Ted,” Mary replied. “We need you to help us find someone.”
“That someone is living I presume?”
“Yes he is.” Ted rose from his seat and walked over to the nearest bookshelf.
“Do you know anything about this person you wish to seek?” he asked.
“His name is Henry,” she said and then smiled when she saw the shock register on Tom’s face. “I don’t know much else about him except that he came into the shop earlier today, at around ten. He was probably acting all nervous and freaked out as well, if that’s any help at all.”
“Ah yes, I remember him. Short man, with a round belly and that hideous green jacket, hmm...let me see.” He inspected the titles of the books before him and then reached out towards a large red encyclopaedia, but instead of grabbing it his hand went right through the spine. He pulled his arm back a few seconds later and revealed a small book with dark leather binding. Then, seeing the confused expressions on Tom and Mary’s faces, he explained.
“This is a ghost book, it is insubstantial and completely unnoticeable to the human eye, but for ghosts it is just a matter of looking past the illusions to find what we are looking for. You see, ghostly items are from a whole other dimension than the items that the living possess, just as us ghosts are from a different dimension than the living. The fabric of these two worlds though, is thin and the effect creates sort of a one way mirror. We can see them but they can’t see us.”
“I think I understand,” said Mary. “It’s kind of like how we can walk through people and walls and all that except it is with objects.”
“Yes, that’s exactly it.” Ted started pacing around that room. “Look over there for instance; what you see is a stack of paper, right? Yes it is, but it is also a pen.” He pointed to the paper/pen and then moved on towards the other end of the room.”
“What is it you see young man?” he asked Tom, pointing to a painting on the wall.
“A man with briefcase,” Tom answered.
“And you?” he turned to Mary. She squinted at the painting for a while before answering.
“A girl with sad blue eyes,” Mary said.
“Yes,” said Ted. “You are both right. But enough of that now, let’s get down to business.”
Ted sat back down at his desk and started flipping through the pages.
“Ah, here it is,” he pulled out a scrap of paper and wrote something on it.
“Ok, here’s Henry’s address and just in case you have any troubles finding him i put my number underneath so you can call me.” He held out the piece of paper and Mary took it from him and placed it in her back pocket.
“Thank you Ted,” Mary smiled. The three of them got up from their chairs and walked over to the door.
“It was nice meeting you,” Ted said, stretching out his hand.
“You too,” Tom and Mary answered, shaking his hand in turn.
“We should go now,” Tom said. “The sun won’t stay up forever.”
“Yes you should go,” Ted replied. “And good luck on solving your murder.”
“Thanks again Ted,” they said, as they walked out the front window of the shop.
~
Once they were outside again, Tom turned to Mary.
“How does Ted expect us to call him if we have problems when we don’t have a phone?” he asked.
Mary rolled her eyes and pulled a gleaming new cell phone out of her pocket and waved it in his face.
“Let me guess, angel guy?”
“Yup.”
“It figures,” Tom mumbled. “Oh, by the way, why did you want to find that guy Henry? Wasn’t he the one who got us killed in the first place?”
“Exactly why he’d be the perfect person to help us.”
“About that... I still don’t understand how this is going to work. I mean, even if Henry solves the murder, no one will believe that zombies did it.”
“Well, if you had listened—“ Mary began.
“Ok, ok, I get it,” it was Tom’s turn to be embarrassed now. “What did he say?”
Mary sat down at a bench placed a few feet away and then Tom followed after her.
“There are three types of dead,” she said. “Mummies, ghosts and zombies. Mummies are created when a powerful sorcerer uses his, or her, magic to return the dead person’s soul to their body and reanimate their corpse. Once a mummy is risen it regains all its former power and control over its body and mind. If it weren’t for the fact that the body was all wrapped up and mutilated then it could easily be mistaken for a live human being.”
“Ok, I’m with you so far,” Tom said.
“Next come the ghosts, like us, who are the souls of the dead bound to the earth by some unnameable force. We have no bodies or substance to guide us but we have complete control over our own actions and emotions. Finally, there are the zombies, who are the complete opposite of ghosts. They are empty shells, corpses, of something that once was living and now no longer is. These shells contain no soul and no sense of humanity to them at all. Without their masters, the ones who created them, they would be powerless.”
“Who are their masters?” Tom asked.
“Mostly Sorcerers and Necromancers,” she answered. “But sometimes there is the occasional Witch.”
“Right... so what you’re saying is that there was someone controlling those zombies.”
“Exactly, and when we, or should I say Henry, finds out who it is then our murder will be solved.”
“Well what are we waiting for?” Tom jumped up from the bench with renewed enthusiasm. “Let’s go find Henry.”
Mary rolled her eyes and stood up. She pulled the paper Ted gave her out of her pocket and looked it over once.
“We need to go that way,” she said pointing to the left. “But there is something I need to check out over here before we go.”
Mary walked over towards the entrance of an alley that looked almost identical to the one that they died in.
“Why do we need to go in there?” Tom asked, eyeing the alley sceptically.
“Stop being such a baby Tom.” Mary grabbed his arm and started pulling him towards the looming darkness.
“Uhh...no,” Tom said, pulling his arm away. “I’m not going in another alley, thank you very much.”
Mary placed her hands on her hips and glared over at him.
“You’re starting to get on my nerves you know.”
“Oh really? Well you know what; you’re starting to bother me as well.”
“Ughh! Would you just come on already,” she called out in frustration.
“No, I have developed a phobia for long dark narrow spaces and need to avoid them at all costs.”
“Just trust me Tom,” she pleaded. “We don’t have enough time for this.”
“Last time I trusted you,” his voice grew icy and his next words stabbed into Mary like a knife. “We died.”
Mary stared at him in shock for what seemed like an eternity and then the expression disappeared, pain and hurt replacing it instead. Without another word she turned on her heels and marched into the alley and straight through the dead end wall.
