Shards of Blue Glass

Proposals

The next investigation comes too soon.

    We go to Falls City, Oregon, which is a little ways outside of Salem. We're investigating the Orie Saloon and Brothel. And I am about to kill Alex for all the jokes he's making about the brothel and me being the only female on the team.

    We arrive at the saloon, an old building in the Western-style town. The paint is peeling off the sign, leaving red flakes on the porch. Entering the saloon brings a burst of noise, unlike the mostly-quiet of the street.

    Zak walks up to a bartender, a pretty girl with dyed red hair and large blue eyes. I see her eyes trace along Zak's body, and feel anger trill through me. She points towards an old man sitting near the edge of the bar, drinking a beer. Zak smiles and thanks her, then walks over to the man, the rest of the crew following.

    And the girl even has enough balls to glare at me as I pass her, which I return in full force.

    When Zak taps the man on the shoulder, he turns to him with a grin on his face. "Hello. You must be Zak Prongs. Name's Dicky Wilson. Nice to meet you," the man says, shaking Zak's hand. Zak nods, then introduces Dicky to the rest of us.

    His eyes linger on me, and he says,"I would be wary here, Saira. I'm sure the men here have already sensed you." I nod, knowing that he doesn't mean the living men.

    We launch right into the interview, talking about the history of the building. Dicky talks like no other, and knows more about this building than the history books probably do.

    After interviewing him, we turn to one of the bartenders, a girl with long, curly hair the color of sand.

    She guides us to a back room, where she claims that a male spirit had ran his hand up her leg. I sense the spirit in question in the room, but he doesn't show himself to me. It annoys me like no other.

    The girl-whose name is Karren, I learn-leads us to the kitchen, where she says that a female spirit had appeared, and spoken to her. After doing some research, she had found out that the spirit's name was Daisy, who had been murdered by one of her customers.

    I have flashbacks to the Wiza Hotel, with Alice Sayans having been murdered by her husband when she couldn't have a child.

    Zak frowns when he hears this, and I ache to touch him, to console him. I know that he hates it when men are mean to women, especially if they murder them. Good thing that Justin, Chase, and Luke are already dead, or their blood would be on Zak's hands by now.

    Karren leads us back to the front of the building, where our next interviewee, Gordon, waits. She leads us upstairs, to where the brothel was housed.

    There are no doors to the rooms, just scarlet curtains. When we enter one of the rooms, a bare bed frame leans against one wall, with crude drawings on the others.

    I force myself to look at the drawings and words on the walls, even though most of them are suggestions for the next prostitute. It makes me sick, thinking of what these girls went through.

    Then, I see it: the lined star, with a goat head drawn above it in red. Jae points it out, and Zak walks over to investigate.

    "Well, amid all these, ah," Zak starts, then trails off, glancing at me. "Proposals?" Alex suggests, a smirk on his face. Zak glares at his friend for a second, then goes with it.

    "Yeah. Proposals. Amid all these proposals, we've found a pentagram and a drawing of the Devil. Now, we're going to use the spirit box to see if we can communicate with any possible spirits that have come through this possible portal," Zak says, taking the spirit box Alex holds out.

    Zak turns on the spirit box, and white noise echoes through the room. He holds it for a few minutes, asking questions. Then, when no voices come through, he places it against the pentagram. Again, nothing. Even the Devil's face renders nothing.

    We continue the interview as if nothing had interrupted it.

    At the end of the day, nothing interesting has happened. That is, until Karren walks over to me, and says,"I'd be careful tomorrow night, Saira. I can sense the guy ghosts' feelings, like an empath. And they are seriously happy that some new female blood is here. Though they're not at all thrilled about the guys."

    I nod, thanking her, then climb into the van.

    I think about Karren's words all through the night and the next day. Then, when lockdown comes along, I understand what she means.