Static Reflections: Book 1 of The M... - Chapter 36: Chapter 36

Nick sat on the edge of the hotel bed, slipping his jacket on and sighing. "Man, I feel so well-rested."
Richard was standing with his arms crossed to the hyena's left. "Yeah?"
"Yeah! I feel great."
"Well, we practically rested all day," the raccoon told him. "So it's good you were able to prepare your body for tonight."
"That's what he said," the hyena smirked, sticking his tongue out.
"Who?"
"Oh, haha. Uh, nothing!" answered Nick, grabbing his gravity boots and pulling them on, one by one. "You think we'll hear it tonight?"
"The crying? Perhaps," Richard nodded. "It depends on if this spirit cares if we're there or not. Most likely, it won't."
"Hopefully." Nick stood up and made sure he looked presentable, straightening his yellow tie. "Also, sorry for all that earlier. It was just a little trick called 'Me caring about you'."
The older animal couldn't help but grin just a bit. "Thank you, Nick."
"So . . . back to the Wirey's then?"
"Certainly."
Nick was the one who knocked on the door this time. Instead of Veronica opening it, a different sheep, a male, did. Both Mortal Guard members were taken aback when they saw him. The sheep's eyes were sunk further into his skull than they should be, his wool hung loosely off what was a much too skinny body below. His arms were mere sticks, along with his thin legs. There was no meat on his thighs, either, and his wedding ring looked like it could slip off of his long fingers at any time. The sheep looked like he'd fall over if you simply blew on him.
Nick gulped. "Sir . . . we're here to investigate the weird stuff going on in your house. Uh, are you okay?"
The man's voice came out, softly and quietly. "Yes . . . it's just a little sickness. Come in. Ronnie said you'd be coming." He turned and slowly shuffled out of the way. "Jus' wait in the living room . . . goin' back to bed . . ." And the animal disappeared down the hall, then.
Nick looked at Richard, concernedly, and they both went to sit down in the living room. "What the hell was that? That wasn't normal, right?"
"No . . . it wasn't," Richard told him. "It's very concerning. But how does it play into the crying?"
"Well, I'm sure Veronica knows about it," reasoned Nick. "There's no way she doesn't. Speaking of . . ." He looked around. "Where is she?"
"He said to wait," Richard recalled. "I'm sure she'll be here soon. In the meantime, we can hopefully hear the sounds she mentioned."
"You don't think it was her husband, right?" Nick asked, brushing his hand on his gray pant leg.
"We weren't told what the crying sounded like . . ." said Richard. "I imagine she'd know what her husband sounds like, though. Then we wouldn't be here. But seeing tha? Something's wrong."
Nick nodded and leaned his back against the couch. "You know, you forgot to teach me the memory shift spell."
Richard's ears perked. "Oh. Right."
"Are you gonna?"
"Did your courses not tell you?"
"Yeah. But I haven't seen the actual spell itself," Nick retorted. "I was supposed to be shown by you . . . ."
Richard rubbed his hands together. "Forgive me."
"It's whatever," the hyena shrugged. "I also thought about something else that's really weird . . ."
"And what's that?"
"Veronica gave you that number, right?"
"Uh-huh."
"And she said she'd call you, but she never got your number," explained Nick.
Richard stroked his chin thoughtfully. "You're right. Perhaps I should call her. Could have been an honest error."
"Or . . . it could be something else," Nick told him. "Maybe she deliberately gave you the number hoping you'd call it, and someone else will answer when you do."
"You're a little conspiracy theorist, huh?" Richard asked.
Nick looked shocked. "Hey! I'm just being cautious!"
"Heh." Richard pulled out his phone and found Mrs. Wirey's contact, pressing the call button and holding the phone up to his ear as the dial tone sounded twice before she picked up.
"Hello? Who is this?"
"Mrs. Wirey? It's Richard," the raccoon answered. "I now realize that you gave me your number, but I didn't give you mine."
"Ohhh . . . I'm sorry. I have a lot on my mind," Veronica almost groaned. "Did my husband let you in?"
"He did, and, well—"
"Hold that thought," the female sheep interrupted. "I'm almost home; then we can talk."
"Aright," Richard said. "We're waiting in the living room."
"Are you men hungry? I can pick something up from a drive-thru somewhere."
"That would be lovely, thank you," Richard nodded, though she couldn't see it. "No dietary restrictions. We'll be seeing you soon."
"Okay, see you soon." And she hung up.
Richard glanced at Nick, just looking at him for a moment. "It was an honest error, it seems. It looks like your theory was wrong."
"Aw, darn it. Guess it doesn't run that deep," Nick snapped.
"On the bright side, she's bringing us food," the raccoon said. "We could be here for a while."
Nick sunk a bit more, legs extending further off the couch. "If this thing tries to jumpscare me, I'm gonna kill it."
"That is the point," his companion noted.
"Pff . . ." Nick rolled his eyes. He reached for the remote on the side table next to the couch. "I'm gonna watch her TV while we wait."
"Nick! That's unprofessional!" Richard scolded.
"Eh. I don't care about that. What, am I gonna sit here with my thoughts for however long? I'm fine waiting, but I'm not gonna do nothing."
Richard just looked puzzled. "Uh . . . well, then."
Veronica returned not even an hour later, coming inside with bags that held tasty-smelling morsels for Nick and Richard. She set their food on the coffee table as she went to the kitchen, beginning to pull groceries out and put them away. "Hear anything, yet?"
"Yeah, the TV," Nick told her.
"You went out and got groceries this late at night?" Richard asked.
Veronica kept up the movements. "Yeah . . . I needed to get out of here for a while."
Nick grabbed the remote and shut off the television. "Because of your husband?"
The female sheep shook her head. "No . . ."
"What the heck is going on with him? I thought you said he was sick."
"He is."
"That's not sick, that's . . . seriously bad," stated Nick, rather obviously.
Richard tried to ease up the conversation. "Has he been eating lately?"
"It's not eating that's the problem, Dick," Nick inserted before Veronica could answer.
Veronica stopped, looking down at the counter while the fridge's mouth remained open, waiting for someone to shove food inside. "We . . . just lost our son. H-he was about your age, Nick," she stammered. "And we didn't know if we'd ever see him again because someone kidnapped him . . . And the cops couldn't find him. We held on to hope, but--" Veronica sniffled from the kitchen. "You don't understand what pain is until you're watching the news and the body they pull out of the river is your own son. All the press that comes to your house, trying to dig their dirty claws into your life when you just want to--" She sighed. "The sadness must be eating him away. He loved his boy more than anything."
Nick and Richard both looked down as she spoke, remaining as respectful as possible.
"They had a close relationship, you know. Bonded all the time. When Carson moved out, he still kept in touch with Jack. Jack is my husband, by the way. Anyway, before he was kidnapped, Carson was coming over more, and we were watching movies every week and--" Her hands shook as she held the edge of the counter. "Oh, I can't go on!" She cried. "I've been trying to keep it together, but I just can't!"
Nick quickly got up, going over and standing next to her. "Hey . . . it's okay to cry. That was your son and everything. I recently lost my friend Astrid and I still haven't come to terms with it. You're really strong for keeping it together, Veronica, but you also need to feel."
The older sheep, unable to believe these words were coming out of a younger animal's mouth, laughed nervously, her eyes red from the tears. Her bottom lip quivered as she swallowed hard. "It's . . . surreal seeing a casket lowered into the ground and knowing that your child died before you . . . I just . . ."
Nick put a hand on her shoulder, nodding slowly. "We're gonna figure this crying thing out. Don't worry. Leave it to Richard and me."
Veronica looked at him with tears in her eyes, then turned back and looked at Richard. She wiped her nose with her sleeve and sighed. "Okay . . . yes . . . I've been sleeping in Carson's room so I wouldn't disturb my husband. If you hear anything, please let me know."
Richard came over now. "Don't forget to save my contact on the number I called you from. It's very important."
"Right . . . Goodnight, gentleman. If nothing happens, that is."
Nick gave her a sheepish smile and wrapped his arms around her, squeezing. "Sleep well."
Veronica was utterly shocked by the movement; she didn't hug back. "Uh, thank you, Nick." After he let go, she waved and then left to the hall where her husband had previously disappeared to.
Nick looked around at the counters and the open fridge door. ". . . . She forgot to finish."
Richard uncrossed his arms. "Looks like we have a job to do, then."
The hyena knew it wasn't their responsibility, but he was delighted Richard agreed it was the right thing to do. They got to work, using the already put away food to figure out where the rest went.
"That was brave of you, Nicholas," Richard told him. "To comfort her like that." He took a box of macaroni and placed it in the cabinet.
"I wanted to hug her the whole time she was talking," the hyena said, holding multiple cans of soup in his arms and placing them one by one in the cabinet. "It's unfair, to be honest. That their son died in such a shitty way."
"Well, death is unfair," Richard told him.
"Tell me about it," Nick grunted, placing the last can in its spot. "I'm sorry, Richard, but I can't maintain professionalism like you when there are feelings on the line. I don't want to seem like a robot."
"Oh." The raccoon's ears went back again. "I just try and get the job done . . . ."
"Oh my gosh, you big baby, I wasn't calling you a robot!" Nick whined. "Literally, the way you responded shows you have more emotions than Flip."
"That's good . . . I suppose . . . ." Richard muttered.
Soon, all the groceries were in their place, and Nick and Richard put all the bags into one bag and placed it somewhere Veronica could reuse them. Now, it was time for the actual wait. They both returned to the living room, sitting down and honing their hearing senses as sharply as they could. And the first thing they both did was devour the food bought for them.
An hour passed, and Nick shifted positions every few minutes, never quite seeming to stay comfortable. In his current position, Nick's legs were hanging over the back of the couch, and his head was upside down. His eyes shifted to Richard. "Why don't we have some ghost detecting equipment or some shit?"
"That doesn't exist," Richard revealed. "We haven't been able to come up with a technology that detects ghosts yet. Pop culture can do it because they can create anything they want. Creating something that works is much harder. We're fortunate even to have portals."
The hyena sighed. "Well, it would make it a lot easier, that's for sure. Do you think there's actually something here?"
"I couldn't tell you, honestly."
"I wanna help them, though," Nick complained. "I hope there is but, like, I also don't. Does that make sense?"
"Sort of."
Another hour passed of absolutely nothing, and Nick stood up, beginning to pace. "While it's nice just chilling in the darkness like this, I figured it would happen by now."
"Let's just give it one more hour," Richard said to him. "We still have multiple days on this case. If nothing happens in that hour, we'll go back to the hotel. We can watch a movie they're showing."
"Hey, that sounds . . . nice . . . ." Nick's face reddened in the darkness. "Okay."
One more hour was struck down by the reaper's scythe, and the two animals determined that nothing was going to happen that night. They threw away their food trash and ensured the kitchen was tidy before exiting, traveling through the gloomy night back to the hotel.
Once they returned and took off their jackets and shoes, they sat side by side, turning on the medium-sized television and flipping to some action movie Nick had seen his parents watching before. They exchanged offhand comments about the film, particularly Nick, having a great time making fun of it.
In the middle of the third act showstopper of the film was when Richard's phone began ringing loudly, scaring them both. The raccoon pulled it out. "Hello?"
"AHHHHHHH!!!" A feminine voice screamed. "JAAAAACK!!!
Nick's ears perked, able to hear everything with how loud she was being. He was immediately on alert. He got on his knees and leaned over.
"What's going on, Mrs. Wirey?" Richard asked, quickly and calmly.
"IT'S MY HUSBAND!" Veronica screamed. "OH, GOD! IT'S MY HUSBAND!"
"What? What's the matter with your husband?!" Richard asked intensely.
"HE'S DEAD!!!" she wailed.