All Hope Lost (10 page)

Feeling pumped from my
motivational speech to myself, I left Panda and her cat to a peaceful day, and
headed back on the broadband line.
Next stop, home.

Not long after I left a dark
figure appeared in the flat below, checking out my work. It grinned slyly, the
black holes of its eyes, twinkled with stars. “Soon, you will be mine, Ms
Hartman. Kill for me, and soon I will be free of this prison!” It laughed
darkly, a hollow echo resounding after it.

At the other end, Michael and
Steve were browsing the web for strange disturbances in the local news.
Thousands of hits popped up, but they could see nothing relating to my antics.
I told them to wait for a while, as I was sure the couple I gassed would appear
somewhere on the news today, and would be related to carbon monoxide poisoning;
those types of deaths had been on the news a lot lately.

“In the meantime, can I use the laptop for a while?” I
asked. “I would like to read up on the forum, see what people have noticed if
anything, from my interventions.”

Michael nodded and explained
to Steve that I needed to use the laptop for a while. “Sure. Just don’t break
it, k?

I couldn’t break it; it just
fluctuated in my presence. I started to tap into the search engine and brought
up the forum site. Scrolling through, I searched for Torments’ posts first. He
had a few new ones, but the most interesting one read:

“7:45pm. All is quiet
still. The noise stopped abruptly earlier today as I mentioned in my earlier
post. It is still quiet. I have gone out to scout who may be the culprit of the
noise, and when at the site, there was no machinery working. Seems I now have
the proof of who is the noise maker, and now I can go ahead with legal
proceedings. I asked one of the employees on site why everything was shut down,
and they mentioned something like an EMP had knocked out the systems, and that
it would take hours to get restarted again. Anyway, this has given me the
leverage I need, the proof. Whatever caused the EMP thank you!”

The last post then read:

“4:23am. Horrendous
thudding, vibration returned again. I guess the system has been fired up for
them to continue their work. I will go out now with my video/audio recorder and
take it to the site as proof it is them causing this hell. I cannot cope with
this anymore. I have bad health, my heartbeat is irregular, I’m sure it must be
doing more to me. It is torture. Time for the big guns now.”

I felt sorry for Torment.
Although I had managed to help him, he still had to endure the noise right now
again. Hopefully though, it will soon be over, somehow.

I scrolled on to the next poster. It was Panda.

Her latest posts were as follows:

“6:30am. Just got back home
after staying over my friend’s house. Couldn’t cope with the banging any longer
from downstairs. Had to get some peace and quiet even only for a few hours.
Back now and all is quiet. No noise from either neighbour. Bliss! Let’s see how
long it may last.”

“Lunch time. Still very
quiet here, which is very odd. Normally one neighbour will always be here when
the other isn’t. Maybe they have both seen sense to stop the racket? Probably
not. Maybe they just out on holiday. One can only hope.”

I nodded to myself. “Good,
good. Let me check on the other lady I helped as well.” I scrolled down to the
poster named Megs, and started to read her latest posts.

“Strange things are afoot
with my neighbours. They were being loud and noisy again, and I heard the kids
being put to bed. I decided that maybe now would be a good time to try to sleep
myself, but as soon as I tried, all I could hear was cries from the kids next
door. They sound scared. This happened a few times, then I heard the lady
scream. After that, silence. Very strange.”

“01:10am. Banging next
door, and screaming. I banged on the wall after a few minutes and told them to
be quiet. Sounds like they are all in the room next door. But get this! The
woman actually apologised to me! I thought I might faint. Good job I’m already
sitting down in the bed!”

It seemed so far that
everything was going well with the outcome of my harsh words and actions
against the neighbours from hell. All that was left to check out were our own
neighbours. We hadn’t seen or heard from them since they were arrested the
other night. I decided it was time for a trip to the police station once more.

“Be back soon, I want to check on our own neighbours.”

“Ok, Sharon.” Michael replied.  “How are things with
your forum friends?”

“Seems everything I have done so far has helped them all
immensely. Keep an eye out for any news reports relating to the carbon monoxide
deaths, won’t you?”

“Sure thing.”

I headed out the door and took
my ride to the station. Once there, I went straight to the cell at the rear of
the building, only to find them empty.
Now where have they gone?
I
thought.

A moments thought later, I
decided to check the hospital.
But I can’t go floating about in there. I
could cause all manner of problems.
Oh wait, the ghost line.
As I
entered the hospital the old ghost I had spoken to yesterday came to greet me.

“More questions, Daemon?” he asked.

“Actually, more reconnaissance. I’m trying to find my
neighbours whereabouts. They had been arrested for drinking and drugs, but they
had a little encounter with me, and now they may not be all that sane.”

The old ghost smiled, and then
laughed. “Causing mischief already eh? Good for you. I wish I could do that but
I been here a long while. My job here keeps me going day to day. I’ll get the
others to search for them. What do they look like?”

I gave him the best
descriptions I could think of and their possible symptoms, and then waited in
the entrance. The living that entered or exited the building walked through me,
some complaining about the air conditioning being too cold to the nurses and
receptionists, but only getting the answer that it wasn’t turned on today as it
was already too cold. They had heaters on. I chuckled. Although the sensation
was strange having people walk through you constantly, their reaction was more
amusing.

It felt like hours before
anything was relayed back to me. It seemed that a few of the people I had
mentioned were in here, but Shelby and two others symptoms were so bad they had
been sent to the mental hospital.

“Excellent!” I cried. “Just what I needed to hear. Thank
you!”

The old ghost nodded, and I headed back home as fast as I
could to give the good news to the guys,

Back at home, the guys were
now watching TV. It was mid-afternoon already, and I felt a little giddy with
everything I had read and found out. I told Michael what had happened to our
lovely neighbours and he laughed, joyous as he retold the story to Steve. Steve
appeared much more laid back about the whole thing, and just smiled.

“So what now, Sharon?” Michael asked me.

I noted the time. “To be honest, I just feel like
relaxing today. I think I need a break. Even if only for today.”

Michael nodded. “I agree. You don’t want to go making
yourself vanish like before. Everyone needs a break. Even the dead.”

So that afternoon we sat
watching re runs of old comedies and sitcoms, and enjoyed just slumming it for
a few hours.

Steve stood up quickly after
another episode of Steptoe and Son, and declared it was time for dinner. The
clock said 6:25pm. I headed for the laptop and logged in.

There was a new post from Panda.

“6:10pm. Commotion
downstairs. Not sure what is happening but heard sirens a few moments ago.
Probably the bully downstairs finally flipped and killed his missus and then
himself? No sympathy from me.”

The TV in the corner switched
programs and the news jingle caught my attention. We sat watching it, not
really paying much attention to most of the boring news that was a daily
occurrence. 6:55pm came around and the news reporter received a piece of paper
by one of the background staff.

“
News just in. A couple in
Bradford have been found dead this evening in their flat. Cause of death appears
to be accidental, via carbon monoxide poisoning…..”
The rest of the report
faded from my ears.
They found them at last. And an accident. Not murder.
Good.

Michael was still listening
intently to the news broadcast; Steve was busy making dinner of some sorts in
the kitchen. I refocused.

“Anyone with any
information, please call in on the local police hotline shown at the bottom of
the screen. Police have contacted the immediate family of both persons.
Although it appears that this was a tragic accident, police are not ruling out
suspicious activity until full investigations have been fulfilled.”

The news reporter then
continued with the remaining news and passed over to the weather forecast for
the remainder of the evening and the upcoming week. The laptop screen changed,
and I refreshed the page.

A new post by Panda.

“7:30pm. Just had the police in my flat asking about
if I had heard or seen anything suspicious last night. I told them I wasn’t in
because of the constant banging noises they were making and I went to sleep at
a friends’. I then had to tell them how long this had been going on for. I told
them most of it, I think. Seems something bad HAS happened to them. What a
shame!”

“Update. The building is
being evacuated due to the release of carbon monoxide which apparently killed
my neighbours. I must go, the fire brigade men are here and not looking amused
as I type this. Catch up with you all later!”

On that note, Steve shouted
for Michael to come for dinner. I decided a good long rest was needed before I
did anything else. Tomorrow would be a new day, but right now, I felt like
lying low for a while.

The next day came upon us,
slow and languid; a mist hung in the air, and it twinkled on the webs of
spiders, droplets of dew delicately hanging on. Gazing out the window of an
early morning was one of my daily rituals, or at least it was when I was alive.
Michael appeared in the doorway, silent.

“Morning Sharon. What are your plans today?”

I looked at him. He was
dressed, ready for work. “I need to research some more noisy neighbours before
I start haunting anyone else.”

“Ok. You have a good day, and be careful!” I nodded at
him as he left the house.

 
Steve was still
asleep upstairs.
Guess he doesn’t work today.
I logged in to the laptop,
and began my search. The forum appeared to have been busy overnight, with other
posters replying to those I had helped, asking questions, wishing them luck.

Maybe I should post on
mine,
I wondered. Searching for my post, I hit the reply button and began
to type.

“Hello, fellow neighbours from hell victims,

I am afraid I have some good news and bad news here. I
am unsure as to how to explain it, but I will try as best as I can. Many of you
will not believe me, but here goes.

Three months ago, was my final post about being made
redundant. Alas, this was also my last day of life on this world. Please do not
stop reading, thinking this is BS. Just hear me out (or read me out). I was on
my last day at work and they had thrown me and others a leaving party at the
office. We got very drunk and so I had to walk home late. It was dark, and
ultimately, I was set upon by 3 thugs. They dragged me home and raped and
murdered me. My  real name is Sharon Hartman, you may have heard of me on
the news, or in the papers. However, the next thing I knew I was standing over
my body. I’m dead, yes, but I can still manipulate objects, which is how I can
type this reply now.

This is not a hoax. I have not taken over this person’s
account.

I know everyone who reads this will think of it as a
sick joke, but it is true. I have been busy since then, and I will prove it to
those I have helped so far. I have these new powers to use, which I can use to
benefit us all here. I have since helped Torment in causing myself to create an
EMP over the culprit to his low frequency noise, I have haunted Panda’s next
door neighbours, and killed the bully and bitch below by allowing the carbon
monoxide to leak from the gas appliance. I have helped Megs with her neighbour,
I scared the woman and kids by making one of her dresses float above them in
their bed. I told them to behave or they would all die. This is the reason she
apologised to you through the wall.

Lastly, I got my own back on my own neighbours. I
tortured them so much that many of them are now in a mental hospital, unable to
get their thundering bass music out of their heads.

What I have done, may seem extreme, but I believe this
is what I have been left on this world to do. Most of you still won’t believe I
am truly dead, and that this is still a hoax. I can prove to you still, if you
would like me to visit you, you are all only a short journey for me as I can
travel along the broadband lines at great speed.