Calliope: Dust To Dust By Imani Wagner (Short Nine)

Calliope continues on a new journey to help an 18 year old kid solve his own murder. But first, she has to tell his family that he’s dead.

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“Calliope, who else is going to help me? Do you know anyone else who can actually freaking see me,” it was a rhetorical question. Every word out of Mavis’ mouth was laced with panic and frustration. He had spent the early morning trying to convince me to talk to his family. Technically, I did know someone else who could talk to ghosts. Dr. Delvaux. I hadn’t spoken to her since she helped me cross Ellie over.

“I can’t just walk into your family’s home and tell them I talk to dead people, let alone tell them that you’re one of them.” After Mya’s chilling text message, I put two and two together. Mavis was her brother. Mya believed that he was missing, but his spirit was standing here in front of me, trying to convince me to tell her that the only thing missing was his soul from his body. I considered I might need back up so I called Azrael to meet us at Mya’s house.

I drove with the windows down. It was hard to believe I was on my way to tell her that her brother was dead. My stomach turned. I was nauseous at the thought and my skin had become clammy and wet. My heart felt like it was going to beat a hole through my chest. It got worse as I realized that this might not be the first case I’d have to deal with like this. This new, unpaid might I add, work that I’d fallen into was not clean. There were emotions and grief spilled all over it. It was soaked in it. It’s baked with it, kneaded into every bite. It was needed and it was messy.

Once we arrived, I saw Azrael climb out of his car. Then, out of the passenger’s side came Dr. Delvaux. “I figured we might need some extra help.” Azrael walked over and embraced me, squeezing out some of the fear and replenishing it with courage. I had a new perspective on the moment that was about to unfold in front of all of us. Mya deserved to know what happened to her brother, and he deserved justice for his death. I wasn’t sure what his killer deserved other than the experience of his own inflictions.

We all stood in front of the door, Me, Azrael, Dr. Delvaux, Mavis. We were a gang of supernatural beings and those who knew it existed, and those who existed in between both worlds. The front door flung open within seconds, and Mya was there. Her face was swollen with the remnants of weighted tears. “Hi, Calliope.”

“Mya…” I had no words yet. I hugged her and held her there in the doorway for a while. Her cry silently trembled through her body. I wanted to take all of that pain from her, but I had nowhere to put it. “Let’s go inside,” I said as I pulled away.

All of us filed into her living room. I hadn’t noticed how nice it really was when we were here for the party. She had two chocolate brown sofas sitting opposite one another. The table in the middle was a sturdy dark wood. The walls were a soft cream color, but the curtains were the same brown as the sofa. There were plants tucked into the bookshelf on the wall furthest from us. On another wall were photos of Mya, Mavis, and who I assumed to be their parents. Her home was warm, even in the presence of grief and absence of people, it was warm. With all of us here now I hoped to make it feel more full for her.

I sat on the sofa between Dr. Delvaux and Azrael. Mavis sat with Mya on the other sofa. “Are your parents home,” I asked.

“No, they're out looking for him,” Mya said. Mavis placed his hand on hers. I watched as she tightened her hands around the crumpled tissues.“Crazy enough, this is still the most I've ever seen them.”

I had no idea how to do this. There was no way I could have known what to say. I took a deep breath, closed my eyes, “Mya, something happened in my life recently. It is difficult to talk about, but when I do it seems like it helps people…once you get past the hard parts.”

Mya kept her eyes on mine as she listened. I continued, “One day, I collapsed and when I woke up I was on the bathroom floor. After a little while, I realized that I can see and experience things that most people can’t.” I watched her carefully to see if she was ready for more. She looked down at the rug beneath her feet, perhaps trying to decipher where such a strange conversation was headed. “Like that woman, Ellie. I saw her and helped her after she died.”

“After she died? Ellie Marshall, the one that was missing?” It was like a cloud formed above Mya’s head and inside of it was a big fat question mark.

My entire body buzzed with doubt and trepidation, and somewhere wrapped inside all of that was deep unwavering embarrassment. I had no idea how to tell her. Dr. Delvaux took my hand in hers, her expression firm. Something about the gesture pushed the words right through me, “Your brother came to me. His ghost came to me.”

“Calliope,” she whispered. Her face turned with sorrow, she held her breath.

“He saw that you were hurting. He wanted me to help you learn the truth,” I softened the tone of my words, “He died, Mya. Someone took his life.” The tail end of my revelation laid in the air amongst all of us. Mya doubled over as sobs ripped through her chest. Her body jerked with tears, grief, and something heavier than anything I would ever begin to understand. I moved to the sofa where she sat and enveloped her in my arms. She had just about climbed onto my lap, her upper half laying across my legs. There was nothing I wanted more than to absorb all of her hurt. Together we sat and cried, and I tried very hard to make it all go away for her. Even if only for a little while.