Welcome to July’s promptly penned. The prompt is in bold in the flash below. Hope you enjoy!

 

Shay cross her arms as Jeffery carefully explained their assignment. Yeah, her team was new, but no matter how many ten dollars words Jeffery tossed around the whole thing sounded like scutwork.

“So, let me get this straight,” Shay interrupted, “the upper level’s big thought on this is ‘the best of the best weren’t available . . .  so we got the best of the mediocre.’ The mediocre being us?”

“No, no, no,” Jeffery said.

“There were one too many no’s in there,” Shay replied.

“Look, this came down from the director . . .”

Shay almost rolled her eyes. Yep, first he tried to placate then jumped directly to an attempt at being assertive. Too bad it never worked, especially with her.

“I’m out of here.”

Shay shoved off the desk and moved to the door. Bless his heart, Jeffery jumped in front of her and held one hand out like he was a cop directing traffic. He blinked rapidly behind his glasses as she fixed her gaze on him and began to stare. And stare. And stare. He looked away and she had to stop herself from smirking. Yes, she was a bitch sometimes, but she liked it that way.

“Just check it out,” Jeffery pleaded, holding a piece of paper out to her. “Please.”

Shay snatched the paper out of his hand and left the office. Yes, it was scutwork, but she’d take it. Better than the alternative. If they found out about her power surge . . . better not to think about it. They won’t find out, she promised herself. She knew what happened to people with gifts. They were used up until they were nothing but shattered people who sat and screamed and screamed. That was not going to be her.

Shay motioned for Josie to follow her as she left the building. The two women crossed the parking lot and climbed into the vehicle. Josie pulled a device from her pocket and switched it on. Red lights flashed briefly before going green. They were clear.

“What’s going on?” Josie asked, tucking the scanner away in a pocket. If surveillance was in place, it wasn’t any longer. The device Josie created made sure of it.

“Jeffery wants us to check out this house over on Collins. The owners said they heard noises.”

“Noises?”

“Yeah, you know rustling in the walls.”

“Oh, you mean mice?”

Shay laughed. “Either that or something is majorly wrong with the electrical. Mice or electrical doesn’t matter.”

“How did it come in?”

“Some friend of the director bought a house and heard noises. Ergo, the house is haunted.”

Josie shook her head. “And we were given the assignment because . . .?”

“We’re the best of the mediocre.”

“I can live with that. Live. See what I did there? Better to visit the fake haunts and collect a paycheck than roll with the big units.”

Shay nodded. The people with talent collected huge paychecks but didn’t usually last more than five years. Tops. Then they were quietly shuffled off to the care facilities the department kept on the downlow. Once there, if it was determined the person was damaged beyond repair the man or woman went quietly to sleep never to wake again. Not something Shay wanted for herself.

“Okay, so once we check on the mice, we should knock off for the day and go to dinner.” Shay pulled out her phone and began to type. “There’s a new Thai place I wanted to try.”

Shay pulled up in front of a house and checked the paper. Yep, right address. The place was nice. Huge two-story brick with lots of windows and a pretty price tag. She bet it had to run close to a million five easy.

Josie whistled. “Damn this place is nice. Too bad it has an electrical rodent problem. Or the pipes shake or a million other issues the builders skimped on.”

Shay climbed out of the car and the two women moved to the front door. She rang the bell and when that didn’t bring anyone, knocked loudly.

“We came all this way and no one is home?” Josie moved to peek through the small windows flanking the door.

“Jeffery told me the home owners were going to meet us.”

Shay stepped off the porch and moved across the yard to circle the house. Maybe the owners were waiting in the backyard. Glancing over the fence she found it empty.

“Cool,” Josie said, “we can head to dinner now.”

Shay ran her fingers through her hair. She so wanted to agree with her friend, but decided they had to do their due diligence. Opening the gate, she moved to the back door and looked through the window. She could see a gorgeous kitchen, but no movement. Knocking on the door, she waited a moment.

“We’re not leaving, are we?”

“Not yet,” Shay said, “we need to check the house. Then if we don’t find anything we call it in and leave.”

She placed her hand on the door knob and gave a small push with her mind. The door unlocked and she stepped in. The sound of rushing air greeted them. It didn’t sound like an AC unit though, more like an industrial fan cranked up to high. Shay looked over at her friend and found her just as confused.

Cautiously, she exited the kitchen into a huge foyer with stairs that curved up to the right. The noise sounded as though it was coming from a room to the left with doors partially closed. Josie pulled another device from her many pockets and began to scan. Lights flashed like crazy as Josie punched buttons. Finally, she looked up at Shay and mouthed not mice.

Taking a breath, Shay shoved the doors of the room open and stared. Furniture swirled in the air as the whooshing noise got louder. Two people, at least Shay thought it was only two, since they were only body parts, were plastered against the walls that rippled and pulsed. Where the ceiling should be was a huge black hole that reminded Shay of what she thought the inside of a tornado would look like. Yep, this was not mice. Not even close.

The mediocre just became the A team.

 

Bronwyn     Siobhan