FicWad

"What did she show you?" We sat in silence inside of the large coffee shop. Awaiting the arrival of our meals. She looked up to me from sipping on her green straw. Her honey brown eyes seemed slightly shocked. Then, that shock turned to slight annoyance.

"My day's going great! Thanks for asking, Gee." She replied sarcastically. I could tell she was growing annoyed with all of this.

"Look, I didn't mean to upset you." She took a long sigh rolling her eyes subtly. Not at all pleased with my reasoning skills, or lack there of. "I just need to know. Especially now that her sister is in the cubicle next to mine." I added in for a little excitement. I knew this would intrigue her. She was always into the irony or suspense of other's situations.

She took a final sip of her Mango-Lime Tea, almost choking.

"What? She has a sister?" She hissed. The cashier slowly mosied out with our food after checking the number on our table. "How do you know?"

"She looks exactly like her! A dead ringer! And she has the same last name!" I tried convincing her. Her eyes popped out a mile from her tan sockets.

"But what are the odds of her working with you, of all people?" She dug into her personal pizza as if she hadn't eaten in three days.

"She told me she found it in the classifieds. She said it was the perfect job to make ends meet, so she took the offer." I had ordered a simple Grilled-Cheese sandwich. That was what I always ordered when we came here, which was often. I was thinking of ordering something different but with all of what had been going on, I decided to keep it simple.

"Well, what's her name?" Jogging my memory for her first name was difficult, since I referred to her as 'Andrea's sister' in my head.

"Her name's Sarah." I answered simply. Taking the first bite into the sandwich. The steam rose up against my lips as my teeth made contact with the toasted bread. Felicia thought for a minute.

"Sarah..." She whispered, deep in thought. So deep in thought, she stopped eating. This was irregular. "She showed me some kind of tennis bracelet with that name on it. Was it with an 'H'?" I sat there trying to bring the image of her name badge to mind.

"Yeah, I believe so." I thought quietly for a moment. Swallowing my sandwich with a gulp of orange juice. "What else did she show you?" I stammered slowly. I didn't want anything worse than the first remark I got. Her hormones must have been going insane. She began to eat again.

"I..." She hesitated turning away from me, her plate and the table. "I really don't want to talk about it. Not here, at least." I nodded and accepted that. It was the only thing I could do. It must have been worse than what she'd shown me. Her entire demeanor frail from the memory. She never got back to her food after that. She sipped slowly through the florescent green straw sticking out of the transparent plastic lid. After that got down to half, she pushed that away as well. She just stared out of the window, blankly. She didn't say much of anything.

It began to get eerily quiet after I had finished my sandwich.

"Licia? Sweetheart..." My eyes thoroughly scanned her saddened demeanor. She peered out of the window with an epmty gaze. Sighing every now and then. Her hand lie softly limp on the green, marble table top. Slowly I placed my warm hand on hers. Slightly it trembled, before she took my hand into her own.

"It was like..." She motioned her hands prone inches away from her face. "It was like...My face had been covered by something. I could barely breathe." The panic in her voice rose as she spoke at an inaudible volume. "And there was something around my neck. Something heavy and thick..." She still mesmerized out of the window. "It could have been some kind of plastic bag. I remember every inhale I made; it felt like I was sucking it in. And every exhale made it fog up. I could feel the moisture on my skin." She spoke softly, looking on after passersby and zooming cars. "And then...And then it opened up..." She paused, questioning her very words.

"The bag? It opened?" I found it quite hard to follow. Though, it wasn't her fault. She wasn't used to seeing or experiencing things the way I did. She continued with a small nod.

"I could see again. But what it was, I couldn't make out." She grew slightly frustrated. Trying to think back to what she may have seen, she turned her eyes to the table. Taking a defeated sigh, she turned her eyes back up to mine. "Then again, it could've just been a dre-" She paused hesitantly. "Gee, your eye!" Merging closer and closer, she examined my pupil.

"Wh-What's wrong with it?" Swiftly she pulled out her bag and frantically began to look for her mirror. All the while, I sat probing my eyelid with my forefinger and index, as if that would help anything.

"Here!" She shoved the opened makeup compact in my hand. "Look!" Her voice shook with worry. She had been looking at me like I'd been undergoing some sort of monsterous transformation.

And then, I saw it...

"Shit." I muttered in a whisper. My entire left irus had been surrounded by a thick black ring. The hazel began to pale and turn grey-ish, with small hints of green remaining.

Lowering the mirror seeing Felicia's alarmed eyes staring back at mine, didn't make this scene any better. Her mouth slightly agape.

"This hasn't happened before, right?" Not being able to verbally reply, I slowly shook my head, examining my other irus. It was completely normal. Nothing had changed; not even the slightest change of color. Snapping the compact shut, I pushed it back to her. She had already been on the phone with the Optometrist, making an appointment. Only minutes after she got off of the phone, she turned back to me with the same look in her eye.

"You have an appointment at 4pm tomorrow afternoon." She sighed. Just in time, the waitress came to our table flashing her uneffected smile and handed us the check.

"Here you guys go! I hoped you enjoyed." She walked away as Felicia dove in her wallet for tip money, slapping a pile of ones into the receipt book.

"I gotta go." She stood up and placed her right hand on her flat stomach. "We'll talk about this later, okay?"

"Okay." With her free hand, she wrapped her fingers softly around my jaw. Tilting my head up to face her. In her eyes, that look she had given me that morning I told her I saw Danny's death before it even occured. She felt sorry, but at the same time she didn't know what to do with me. It was almost like she felt I had this uncurable, maming disease that she couldn't save me from. And that's what you could see in her eyes. But at the same time, she had no idea who she had been staring at. It was as if she felt I was a stranger.

"I love you." She let out, softly. Giving me a small wet kiss on the cheek, she left before I could even reply,

"I love you, too."



The rest of the day had droned on monotonously. The sound of heavy fingers tapping away at keys in a uniformed rhythm. The fingers beating away at the keys, were in painful positions. But even more painful, were the high pitched screams coming from the phones, which rang non-stop. The only soothing melody was the dying sigh coming from the cubicle next to mine. I stopped minding the painful chorus of the office and began to mind the dirt under my fingernails. It was much more fascinating. Picking at my cuticles, I began to mindlessly hum a soft tune.

"I love The Smiths!" I heard a gasp coming from the other cubicle. Startled, I looked up and met the gaze of the pale blue eyes staring back at me.

"Hi." I smiled. Waiting for a reply.

"I'm sorry. I just heard you humming and I-" She stopped speaking. Apparently embarrased for interjecting. "forget it. I'm sorry if I bothered you." She slowly backed down, and away from the wall. Honestly, I didn't mind her interjecting an opinion. It was nice to hear someone else's voice on these dreary Mondays. Staring at the grey patterned wall and the flat green rug became too mundane for me. A conversation was something new, something refreshing.

"No. Don't be sorry." I let out a soft laugh. Lightening the nervous tension she tended to give off. "I didn't even know I was humming." We both laughed. My goal was to try and ease the thought of her being the sister of the dead girl who walks around my house in nothing but skin, off of my mind. Today was just going to be about mindless chatter and random subjects.

"I don't mean to judge but, you seem a lot different than everyone else here." Her soft voice let out. She had still been peering over my cubicle.

"Yeah, I get that alot."

"A lot-less intense." She giggled with the slightest hint of a grin.

"Yeah, I try not to get too consumed in everything; or get consumed at all." She giggled and a full grin spread wide across her face this time. That was my honest answer. All I did was answer phones for the callers who called the main number and transferred them over to people who could help them. I never really "adjusted claims"--whatever the hell that meant.

"So, what's fun to do around here?" Fun? I was almost sure that word couldn't be used in that buiilding. Equivalent to the strongest, most vile swear there was. The word, and/or very notation of the word was prohibitted during office hours.
Silence formed over the two conjoining cubicles as if there was nothing else to say. I would have answered her question, if only I actually knew that answer.

"Fun? Uh-Well, I guess that begins around three or so...when you get to go home." She laughhed and sighed softly.

"How do you keep yourself busy without going out of your mind, then?" That, I could answer simply.

"No idea." Swiftly grazing the tip of my foot on the floor, making the chair spin. Obstructing my vision of her leaning coyly against the edge of my cubicle. I giggled softly as her timid smle widened. This wasn't so weird after all. I mean, she hadn't known that I'd seen her dead sibling on a weekly basis. It was quite nice having to keep it from someone, these days. Everyone that knew, gave me that damned sorrowful look. It was nice to be around someone that didn't know.

"So, you're married?" She inched her head closer to the top of my desk. Observing the countless picture frames that sat proudly on the corners and sides of it.

"Almost ten years now." Her eyes scanned them carefully; the smile never left the surface of her face. That is, until she pointed something out.

"Daniel DiPansio's sister...She's your wife?" I could only think what Felicia would say if she were there. She loved Danny to bits and pieces but she loathed beng referred to as just his sister.

"Yes. Her name's Felicia." A small smile crept in the corners of her mouth again.

"She's just as beautiful as he described her."n Slowly taking her eyes away from the photograph, and moving onto the next, with a slight mourning in her tone. "He always talked about her...and his nieces..." She trailed off and turned her attention back to me. Her voice was filled wth admiration. "You have such a beautiful family, Gerard!"

"Thanks. You can call me Gee." A singular nod to signal that she was comfortable with that was she'd given me, before sighing back to her desk.

Minutes passed after the conversation Sarah and I held. Now the office was dreary and quiet again. Back to normal. I had been going through the photo album I kept in one of my desk drawers. It had been filled with photos from when Felicia and I were teenagers; pictures from her prom, my prom and Gia's birth. Going through the pages, I couldn't hold back the inevitable smile from the spark of nostalgia. Bringing me back to reality was the barage of vibrations my phone was giving off. It sat and spun it's way nearly off of my desk before I answered it. It was a text message from Felicia.

she's somewhere w/ tall red beams. a construction site?

Briefly confused by the message, I almost replied inquisitively. Then I realized she'd remembered. My phone went off before could even think of a reply.

there were 3 lined up horizontally from where i was laying. thats all i could see...that's all i remember

I started to wonder how many construction sites there were in the vacinity of our home. If she was murdered there, whoever may have done it would have taken the body somewhere close. They wouldn't want to travel with it for long periods of time. I decided to do a small investigation.

I knew if I Googled Mapped the area, it would show me the the construction area and I could see exactly what it looked like from an aerial view.

Quickly, I typed in our address and sat patiently for the map to upload. It had shown me where I was and, included the surrounding streets and neighborhoods. Intentively, I scrolled and clicked carefully to fully observe the map. I had looked on all of the streets I knew, and even the ones I hadn't known; only to find nothing but residential areas, small business, pharmacies and convenience stores. But I was far from giving up. I quickly thought to put in the job's address, this was me being hopeful. I knew I wouldn't find anything but it was worth a try.

The map uploaded and indicated where I had been. I zoomed in twice, as I had before ton observe the area in Street View. My slightly careless eyes pushed past the streets I knew and places I passed everyday to and from work. The map was now showing me everything that was in front of the building, plus the building itself. Suddenly, an idea came to mind, to check the back of the building and the streets behnd it. I'd never went out that way and I knew I never took that route to get home.

One block up from behind a building was another building with an empty beside it, on the next street over. Curiously, I zoomed in once more to the lot. It had been a construction area, sure enough. I zoomed in for the last time, and now it was in the perspective as if I was right in front of it. There had been one yellow digger and a white mixer parked in the dirt. I switched back to aerial view, slightly wanting to disbelieve Felicia's memory. The aerial view had finally loaded up. Low and behold, there were three red beams hovering a large dirt ditch.

Cautiously, and without attracting any attention, I got up from my chair and walked in the opposite drection of my desk. Not wanting to cause any unwanted eyes, I walked quietly and calmly to the window at the back of the aisle. There was a restroom back there. Everyone would think that I was going to the restroom. My feet took time makng paces on the quiet, grey carpet.

I came to the window when I noticed that from where the buidling was, you could see the inside of the ditch. Though, you couldn't see much; you saw the dirt, and then a black hole. My eyes darted carefully to see if anyone had been aroun and/or watching. No had been, at the moment. I took one last glance at the men working outside. There were about five of them in yellow hardhats. One was slightly plumper than the other four. He had been chowing down on his sandwich since I was at the window. Within seconds, he'd finished the sandwich and grabbed a drink. He took a few gulps, put it down and then looked up toward the sky.

I had begun to recognize his build, his eyes, his face. It was Doug Tiller. Trying to supress the gasp escaping from my mouth, I quickly waltz into the Men's Room. No one was in there. Out of breath, for no good reason and slightly sweating. I leaned over one of the sinks, with my palms flat on the cool porcelain heaving heavy breaths and calming myself. It could have meant nothing. So, Doug Tiller was on the site. It didn't have to be the exact one Felicia was shown. But somewhere in the depths of my conscious, I knew it was. And I knew that he had something to do with it. I just found it hard to judge at the time.

I raised my head up to observe demeanor in the mirror. It was looking a lot paler, these days. And my eye was still discolored from earlier. The thick black circle seemed to be getting thicker. I couldn't tell what it was, but parts of me knew where it probably had come from. Another part of me knew that I had better get out of the restroom before someone thought of something suspicious.

Out of the restroom, I passed the window one more. This time, the men and Doug Tiller were working. Doug stood back as one of the men worked the digger into the ditch. The other men crowded around it. That was all; nothing more, nothing less.

I strolled back to my desk quietly, wondering what time it had been. My computer had went to sleep while I was away from my desk. I wiggled the mouse around gently and the previous screened popped up. Noticing that it had been five minutes passed three, I shut my computer down, grabbed my keys and headed toward the elevator.

"Gee," A soft voice spoke my name. Turning around to see Sarah, she'd been so silent, I almost forgot she was there. I gave a shy smile and stood in the middle of the aisle. "Um...I have these two tickets to a show two Fridays from now that I can't use. Would you like them?"

"Sure. Who's playing and where?"

"Foster the People and Company of Thieves. It's at the Starlight. I can't go because I'll be in Connecticut with my family, so..." She trailed off as her glinty eyes darted from side to side.

"Wow, thanks! I appreciate it!"

"It's no problem,I just didn't want them to go to waste." With a small laugh, she grabbed her jacket and nodded. "It was nice meeting you, Gee."

"Same to you!" I waved.

"See ya." I gave a quick nod, then headed in the opposite direction.

On my way out of the automatic doors, I noticed a slew of police vehicles flying past the building. Heading in the opposite direction of where I was going. I walked around to the driver's side of the SUV while the cars whizzed by wth the flashing lights and loud sirens. Turning the key into the ignition, I was headed off to pick Felicia up at the clinic. Not a long drive, at all. Actually, it wasn't much of a drive.

She'd been standing outside of it. Hands stuffed deep into her pockets of her leather jacket, fighting the chill off. It had gotten a lot colder since earlier. Even wth the sun out, it felt as if the temperature had dropped.

"Hey," She greeted me with a small kiss on the cheek. Her eyes grew serious. "Did you get my text." I nodded.

"There's a construction site right behind my building. Doug Tiller works there." She settled herself into the passenger's side, strapping her seatbelt on.

"Hmm. That's interesting." She looked out of the window as another car zoomed past, sirens blaring and lights swirling. "I wonder what happened..."

"Me too."


We arrived home shortly. Gia was at her Piano lessons and Erica had Ballet. They weren't due to be picked up until about six that evening.

Felicia placed her bag carelessly on the end table and reached for the remmote that rested on the arm of the black leather sectional.

"I bet whatever happened downtown is going to be on the news." She said without turning her eyes from the flat pannel that hung over the fireplace. She clicked it on as it came to life with a small pop and turned to the local news. She stood there as they talked about skiing squirrels and kitten fashion shows, waiting for a breaking news bulletin.

Going passed her, I rested my hand on her right shoulder and pulled her into a kiss.

"I'm gonna go change." She nodded, not long after, she turned her full attention back to the screen. Heading up the stairs and directly down the hall, I noticed something strange. I didn't get that feeling that I usually got; as if I knew something would always be there, watching me, and waiting for me to notice it. I usually could sense them. The spirits, like Andrea; it felt like she had left. Slowly, I walked to our bedroom. Undoing my tie and sliding off my shoes as I sat on the bed. And then it happened; the reason I hadn't felt anything or anyone.

"Gee! Gee!" I heard rapid footsteps rumbling up the stairs. Felicia's form hurried in the frame of our doorway. "Gee! They found her!" She said through exhausted breaths.

"What?" I stammered in disbelief.

"They found her. At that site. That site behind your building!" She had worked herself up to tears now, going for the remote that lie on our bed. Quietly, she sobbed as she turned on the television.

"The body of twenty year-old Andrea Parry was found today, after two years of investigating." The news reporter spoke with concern. "The body had been discovered by Doug Tiller and his crew of construction workers at a site in downtown Rochester. Bonnie Delfno has the story..."

Felica dropped the remote on the bed in a careless fashion. She came over to sit next to me but looked straight ahead.

"What does this mean, Gee?" Her weakened voice crac/]ked. In all honesty, I didn't know. This was so much more than what I'd ever experienced with apparitions that I'd seen. I've only had experience with those that were already found and buried. Not the other way around!

"I-I don't know..." In a fit of sobs, she collapsed into my chest. She looked up to me as I held onto her as tight as I could. Her face full of tears and her eyes full of mourn, for a girl she never really met. Her expression contorted into something else as she looked into my eyes.

"Gee, your eye...It's normal..."