Calliope: Manila By Imani Wagner ( Short Eleven)

With the help of Dr. Delvaux and Azrael, Calliope solves Mavis' murder and uncovers more mysteries about the spirit world.

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I could hear Dr. Delvaux shuffling between file folders and flipping through the faces of black men pressed on sheets of paper. We had discovered that each of the men had a number assigned to them. Every folder had a photo of someone, postmortem, with numbers branded on the bottom of their foot like a barcode. Mavis stood in the corner behind the Mad Man’s desk, studying an empty wired shelf. He tilted his head in curiosity. I watched him for a moment before he disappeared behind the rack and through the wall.

Delvaux saw it too, and hurriedly followed Mavis through the cement. I tried to make myself weightless, but no matter how many deep breaths I took, I couldn’t pass through. Two arms reached from underneath the shelf, and pulled me to the other side of the wall. There was no way I could have known what would be waiting for me. The three of us stood in a white room lined with mortuary cabinets. It looked just as sterile as the rest of the equipment in the basement. Something tainted that and made it feel dirty. The room trapped a stench that escaped what smelled like a blanket of chemicals. The small space was drenched in fear. It creeped across my skin and settled in my stomach.

My body was in distress, resting on Mya’s living room sofa, trying to call me back to it. I ignored it. I knew we couldn’t leave yet, not while we all knew we were getting closer to something. Delvaux had begun pulling out each tray, most of which held the body of someone we had come across in those manila folders.

“This one,” Mavis said. His eyes were wide as he looked at us, a silent plea to not let him do it alone. I wasn’t ready to see Mavis’ body limp and without life, so I looked at his spirit while Delvaux opened the door and slid the tray out. His body was there. He peered down over himself and began to weep. His breath caught in his chest until he gained control again.

Everything about this moment disturbed me, but it was changing him. Mavis’ soul started to glow in the familiar way that all souls do when it’s time to take the next step. It glowed in the same way that Ellie’s did when it was time for her to move on from what remained of her life here with us. It was clear to me that though the unimaginable had happened, it had given him closure to find this part of himself. His life in this world was finite, as it was for us all.

I dreamt of her again, the woman the color of midnight. She found me in the darkness, sitting cross-legged in a puddle of my own tears. All this time I hadn’t known her name. I had only known her as some other part of me. It was at this moment that she revealed to me that she had many names, including Calliope. However, the name that belonged to her in the form in which she appeared to me was Mnemosyne.

I didn’t speak, but instead pushed my thoughts out to her. Why does life continue on this way for my people? All of those men… taken from their families and pulled apart. There is no punishment great enough for a monster like that.

She stood, taking her hands in mine and bringing me to my feet. The chunky chains of gold and copper around her neck and wrists clunked together musically. “His punishment is none of your concern. Your duty in this has been fulfilled. Justice will be had when his life reaches its end. His flesh may not understand the weight of his actions, but his soul will when it’s time for him to choose the next life.”

When he chooses his next life, I questioned Mnemosyne. Her smile was quick, merely a flash, and then I was awake.

I had the day off from the cafe. Gina hadn’t needed me this week either, so Henrietta and I spent the morning in bed dissecting Mnemosyne’s cryptic message. At around noon, Azrael was at my door. His face was serious and he hadn’t spoken a word. He simply guided me over to the sofa. He was quiet for what seemed like a long time before he finally said, “They found the guy who killed Mavis, who killed all those men.”

I was immediately apprehensive. My hands started to perspire. In fact, my whole body had begun to break out in a sweat. I didn’t feel ready to hear what I knew was coming. How many times had I heard a story like this? How many more? “Calli, don’t panic,” Azrael said before pulling me back to the sofa. I hadn’t even realized I was standing. “They found him at his job, believe it or not, right in the middle of repairing someone’s heart. He’s a cardiovascular surgeon, which is likely why it was so easy for him to get his hands on the ketamine we found. We haven't completed our investigation, but so far we know that he was kidnapping black men and selling pieces of their bodies on the dark web. It sounds unreal, almost ridiculous to say out loud.”

“But why,” I asked. “I’m struggling to figure out why he was targeting such a specific group of people.”

“We aren’t sure. I mean obviously there’s some bigotry happening with this case, but it is particularly interesting to us that he’s targeted black men, within a specified age group, all in perfect health. That's not the end of it either. He has a large influx of files with profiles similar to what Delvaux found in those folders. A lot of these men were already dead, but most of them are alive. Not only is he a serial killer, he was actively hunting his victims. What’s worse is that we know he couldn’t have done this alone.”

I took a moment to ground myself and search for Mavis. I knew he was near, somewhere in my head. I could feel him there, thinking only of his family and how best to get them through this while he was stuck on the other side. I held my breath and in that moment I could hear my heart slow to a steady beat. My ears rang loudly in the silence. I called out to Mavis once more, searching for him in the spirit world through my mind's eye like Dr. Delvaux taught me.

I don’t know what to do, he said. This part of my gift was still new. Mavis hadn’t shown himself here with Azrael and I, but somehow I could hear him and see him sitting with Mya. He showed me images of them in his room. She was talking to him and though she couldn’t hear him, he responded to everything she said.

“You don’t need to do anything right now. Just be with your family today.”

I hadn’t noticed I was speaking out loud until Azrael questioned me. “Is he here, is he alright?”

“He’s with Mya right now. Their parents are finally home too.” I don’t know that I could consider Mya estranged from her parents. They took care of her financially, made sure she had what was needed, but they were never around. I tried to stop myself from taking it there, but I couldn’t help but wonder if Mavis would still be alive had they been an active part in their lives. I knew that Mya had pretty much taken care of herself and Mavis, and now she was alone. She hadn’t just lost her baby brother. In many ways, she had also lost her child. I shared this with Azrael.

“Is it too dark to say that Mya is lucky? She has someone to miss and someone that misses her. Is it horrible to say that I wish I had been close to my family in that way, that if I were to lose them I would feel broken? And maybe their hearts would break for me too.” Maybe I was broken. So broken that the spirit world slipped through the cracks. Maybe it would fix me. Maybe the two worlds had come together to be my golden glue.

Before I could relax into the couch, Azrael had pulled me into his arms. “You say whatever you need to say when it’s just me and you. Understood?”

“Understood.”