Status: On-Going, please enjoy!

Wisconsin Haunting

Vandalizing

When Scott said he’d wake her up, he really meant he’d have her dogs wake her up, licking her face and whining loudly. Groaning, she pushed herself up onto her elbow to stare bleary-eyed at them, wondering what time it was. At home, they had a little passage way to go outside from the laundry room if they need to, so they never really needed to ask Siobhan to let them out. Digging her phone out of her pocket, she turned it on to see it was 6:30 in the morning.

Whining a little herself, she forced herself up and out of Scott’s office, Gunny dragging her along to catch up with Chief. It was a brisk morning but the sun was just barely up and there weren’t any clouds yet, so she hoped it’d warm up later in the day. After they did their business, she brought them with her to the lobby cafe, in desperate need of caffeine. As it was still early for anyone to be up, she wasn’t expecting anyone to be there, yet it still didn’t surprise her when she found Aaron sitting at one of the tables, playing with his phone, a cup of coffee and a couple muffins in front of him.

“I was hoping you’d sleep more,” She chuckled when he jumped and looked up from his phone, a wide grin spreading across his face when Chief ran up to him.

“Same here, I still feel a little tired but I just couldn’t sleep anymore,” He explained, bending down to cuddle with the big dog. Siobhan just smiled at the scene, a pleasant warmth growing in her chest to see him happy, while knowing the despair in his future. Shaking her head slightly, she forced those thoughts away, now is not the time to get emotional over something that might not even happen.

“Hey, can you watch them while I go get some coffee?” She asked, clearing her throat when it cracked mid-sentence. He nodded, reaching for Gunny’s leash, brushing off her thanks as she left. Walking off, she tried to shake off any of those lingering thoughts away, having to focus on the task today and worry about future things another time. Pouring her coffee, however, she felt a presence behind her, one she was all too familiar with.

“Nan, what are you doing here?” Siobhan asked, exasperated by her Nan’s antics.

“I came to see who you were exceeding your powers for and now I understand,” She could tell by the smile in her Nan’s voice that she didn’t understand anything. “You know, you two would be cute together.”

“Who?”

“That man playing with your pooches,” She almost dropped the sugar canister, wanting so badly to curse her Nan out in Gaelic but there were security cameras and not everyone believed in her gift. If she just randomly started shouting at air, in a different language, it’ll only further advocate people’s believes that she was a nutter.

“Nan, he’s married, stop it,”

“I’m not the one who’s thirty-two and still single,” She gritted her teeth at the hiss in her ear.

“No, you’re dead and being an annoyance to me,” Siobhan hissed back, forgoing the sugar altogether to get away from her Nan, even though she couldn’t really stop her from following her. Stalking back to Aaron’s table, she steadily ignored the pressure on her back and plopped into the chair across from Aaron with a huff.

“Whoa, what crawled up your butt and died?” He could tell that she was annoyed by something but didn’t know exactly what yet, so he tried to go for humor, hoping to bring a smile out of her like a few minutes ago.

“My nan,” She growled, taking a healthy gulp of her black coffee and tried to remain oblivious to the numbness growing in her shoulder. Aaron gave her a confused look and scanned the lobby, not really seeing anyone besides them and Scott, who had just walked in with his mug.

“You won’t see her,” He turned back to see Siobhan give the space next to her left an annoyed grimace. “She’s dead.”

“Oh.” Well, he wasn’t expecting that. The way she was talking about her Nan yesterday, made him think that she was still living.

“Anyways, Billy’s plane lands in a few hours and then we’re off to my house,” Aaron nodded, sipping his coffee and the two fell into a comfortable silence. That was until he pulled out his cam recorder and held it up, filming his face.

“Aaron’s vlog!” She was trying so hard not to laugh and had to hide her face with her coffee mug. “I’m here with my good buddy Siobhan!”

“No, Aaron,” She half-groaned, half-laughed at him, knowing that he was pointing the camera her way now.

“Apparently, Siobhan’s a grouch in the morning. Anyways! We’re in good ‘ol Wisconsin and we’re gonna go hunt some ghosts and maybe some cheese,” Siobhan couldn’t hold it anymore and busted out laughing, dropping her head to the table and covering herself with her arms.

“Jeez, Aaron, don’t kill her before we can do our lockdown,” She peaked out from under her arms to see Nick walk in, grinning at them.

“Hey, not my fault she thinks I’m hilarious,” Aaron gave Nick a smug look and a shrug, to which Nick just punched him in the shoulder as he brushed past, towards the coffee machine.

“See? What did I tell you? Perfect couple, you two,” Siobhan huffed angrily, glaring at the spot where she knew her Nan was.

“Nan, enough. Why don’t you go bug Selene or, oh I don’t know, go home?!” Aaron looked at her, concerned, when she started whispering harshly and found her staring at her left shoulder.

“Your brother was annoying me,” She pinched the bridge of her nose, breathing harshly. She couldn’t deal with her right now.

“Nan, please, just go. Home,” Sending a small amount of banishing spell, she finally felt her Nan’s presence leave and her shoulder was left with little tingles, like Siobhan had just slept on it wrong.

“You okay? Is she gone?” Aaron asked her quietly, sending Nick a grin as he started walking over. She gave him a small nod, draining the last of her coffee, and got up right as Nick sat down next to her. Snorting at his offending noise, she pointed to her empty cup and left to get more.

“How’d you feel this morning?” Nick asked, sipping his coffee carefully.

“Tired, for the most part, but extremely light. I feel like I did before we started this whole thing, ya know?” Aaron struggled to find the right explanation for how he felt, tearing apart his muffin as he talked, eating some of it while also playing with most of it.

Nick nodded, “I know what you mean, man, it’s not something you can put into words but it feels amazing,” He chuckled, taking another drink, his gaze flickering over to Siobhan at the coffee machine. He still wasn’t sure what it was about her but she was amazing and couldn’t be real - couldn’t be human, at least.

A nudge on his calf almost had Nick jumping out of his skin but when he looked under the table, a bright-eyed and grinning Gunny was staring at him with Chief laying across Aaron’s feet. Chuckling, Nick pulled the pup out from under the table and set him in his lap, rubbing the pup’s head as he licked his face.

“Hi, there,” He chuckled, pushing the pup’s face away from his to take a look at him better. “Did Chevy say what kind of breed he was?” He asked Aaron, who just shook his head. Neither of them noticed Siobhan standing just a few feet from them, watching the scene with a giant grin.

“He’s a Red wolf and German Shepherd mix,” She announced, laughing when they jumped at her voice and moved to reclaim her seat. “And ‘Chevy’? Really, Nick?”

He shrugged, “It’s easier than saying your whole name and you drive a Chevy.” She thought about it for a moment before shrugging and nodding - he made a good point. Taking a glance at her watch, she saw it was almost eight o’clock. Billy’s plane lands at noon and Zak still wasn’t up. Biting her lip, she asked the guys what they should do.

“I say we go get food. Zak will still be out for a couple more hours, we can always bring him something back. Besides, you said you’d bring us somewhere with actual food and we’re gonna hold you to that,” Nick grinned at her, cuddling her dog close when she went to punch him in the shoulder.

“I meant for lunch! Pretty sure you guys don’t want to get burgers for breakfast. We’ll go to IHop or Denny’s, y’all can choose on the way.”

She got up and dug her keys out of her pocket while the guys bickered over where to eat, both of them with a dog following them. Siobhan just snorted and shook her head, waving to Scott at the front desk before stepping out into the warm air, taking a moment to relish the sun on her face.

“Woah, I didn’t know your hair was red!” She turned to look over her shoulder at Aaron, who was staring in amazement at the natural red highlights and undertones in her hair when the sun hit it.

“Yeah, part Irish, man. Mahogany hair isn’t just one color, ya know,” She teased, grinning when he made a face at her. Unlocking her truck, she made the guys sit in the back with the dogs, since they were so attached to the guys already. She knew there would be heartbreak all around when the guys left to go back to Vegas.

On the road, the guys resumed their bickering and basically ignored Siobhan when she tried to get an answer out of them. Growling slightly, she took a hard right and pulled into a George Webb’s, parking in the first empty spot she could find. Shutting the engine off, she noticed the guys staring at her through the rear view mirror and turned around in her seat to look at them better.

“What? Y’all were taking too long, bickering like an old married couple, jeez,” She quipped, rolling her eyes as she opened her door and hopped out, telling the guys to leave the dogs in the truck for now.

“I thought we were eating here?” Nick asked, looking back at Gunny, who had his nose pressed to the window, his tail wagging away.

“We’re getting food here but we’re eating at the park, so they have a place to burn off some energy,” They both shrugged and nodded, agreeing with her as they went inside the cozy restaurant. Siobhan strolled up to the cash register, telling the lady they were getting it to go and placed her order of pancakes, scrambled eggs, bacon, and hashbrowns. Looking over her shoulder, she had to bite her lip to stifle a snort when she saw the guys hesitating at the door, not really knowing what to do. She motioned them over and told them to place their order, nodding her head towards the menu behind the counter.

Siobhan handed the lady her debt card once everything was done, ignoring the guys’ protest at her buying their food, just sending them a bright smile and lead them over to a booth to wait.

“Hmm, there’s a coffee place on the way to the park, I can pop in there real quick and get some,” She suggested, smiling when they perked up at the thought of good coffee. It didn’t take long for her name to be called and they each walked out with a warm container.

“So, are we walking or driving?” Aaron asked, opening his container a smidge to snag a strip of bacon from his pancakes and hashbrowns.

“Walking, it’s only a couple blocks and it’s a nice day,” She set her container on the hood of the truck and opened the back passenger doors, stepping back to let her dogs jump down, her hand darting out to grab Gunny’s leash before he could run off. Walking over to Nick, she handed him Gunny’s leash with a teasing smile, which only widen when he rolled his eyes and took it but she could see the excited gleam in his eyes. She didn’t even have to tell Chief to follow Aaron, the big dog already pacing at the man’s feet with his tail wagging and tongue lolling out of his mouth, his nose picking up on the fact that Aaron had bacon.

“If I see y’all feeding my dogs, I’m sticking you in the room with the evil spirit,” She meant to be serious but from the way they were grinning at her, they knew she was just joking. Not even a day and they already knew she spoils her dogs. Siobhan just shrugged it off, knowing they were right and even if they did feed the pups scraps, it wouldn’t be the first time. She was just trying to save them all heartache.

Once they reached the coffee shop, she handed her container to Nick and motioned for them to keep going, darting into the shop before they could say anything. Not that they were going to, as she probably knew their orders better than they did, but Nick was going to protest about her buying everything.

Aaron saw his face and just shook his head, “Let’s keeping going, man, the park’s right there,”

Nick sighed but relented and followed Aaron, crossing the empty street and letting the dogs loose, looping Gunny’s leash around his belt loop so he didn’t lose it. Finding an available bench under a tree, they relaxed and dug into their food, Nick setting Siobhan’s next to him, nudging the dogs away when they tried to nose their way into it.

“Where do you think we’re going for these investigations?” He asked, tearing apart a strip of his bacon and tossed it to Chief, shoving the other bit into his mouth.

Aaron shrugged, “Who knows, man, but they gotta be pretty good locations if she’s taking us there,”

“They are!” Both of them jumped when Siobhan sneaked up on them again, looking at her with wide eyes as she walked around the bench, a to-go drink tray in hand and a large grin on her face.

“You have got to stop doing that,” Nick grumbled, reaching for his coffee when she held one out to him, placing it between his thighs as he ignored her delighted giggle.

“Aw, c’mon, don’t be such a spoiled sport,” She teased, giving Aaron his coffee before grabbing hers and setting the tray down by their feet to throw away later.

“You gonna tell us the history behind these places or are we waiting ‘til later?” Aaron asked, keeping that topic going as he was curious and wanted to know more. Siobhan shrugged, flipping open her container as she sat next to Nick and shoved a whole strip of bacon in her mouth.

“Well, there’s the Brumder Mansion,” She spoke in between chews, her hand in front of her mouth to be a little more polite. “Which is a bed and breakfast now, and there’s so much history on that place, it’ll take forever. But I’ll give you a brief SparksNotes version - family mansion gets turned into a night club and speakeasy, lots of death and prostitution, gambling, more death - and murders, of course. Then it’s a housing for college students, a recreational center for youths and kids of the church, before finally becoming the bed and breakfast it is today in 1996.”

“Jesus,” Nick breathed, sharing a look with Aaron - that house has got to have a lot of bad energy.

But Siobhan was just getting started.

“Of course, the Lakeshore Apartments got nothing on the Brumder Mansion - and that’s where we’re going today,” She shoveled in a forkful of scrambled eyes but from the way her eyes were sparkling, they knew she was smiling at them.

“Oh god,” Aaron moaned, dropping his head and rubbing his forehead a bit. If the short version of the Brumder Mansion was bad, they didn’t want to know what had happened in the apartment complex.

“Except, the bar I picked out for after the apartments, the owner called me while I was at the coffee shop. He had to postpone the investigation, last minute family emergency, had to go up North and he doesn’t know when he’ll be back,” She frowned, playing with her hashbrowns for a bit. “I told him it was fine and not to worry about it,”

Nick could tell she was upset about it, whether it be she was worried about the owner or because the investigation got postponed, he wasn’t sure but he rubbed her shoulder in reassurance all the same.

She turned to smile at him and, almost as if she read his thoughts, said, “I’m worried for him, he’s an older gentleman and so sweet, I just hope he can pull through whatever is happening up there,”

“It’ll be okay,” Aaron threw in, “Just means we have a reason to come back here!” They all shared a laugh at that and finished eating in silence, the guys occasionally throwing a piece of bacon for the dogs while Siobhan rolled her eyes at them.

Scooping the last of her eggs into her mouth, she glanced at her watch and almost choked, “Guys, it’s almost ten o’clock, we gotta get going,” Picking up the drink tray at her feet, she shoved it in her empty styrofoam container and stood up, chugging the last big gulps of her coffee. The guys stuffed the last bits of food into their mouths while Siobhan looked around for a trashcan. Seeing one a few feet away, she motioned for the guys to give her their containers to throw away; as she jogged away, Nick whistled for Gunny and the pup ran towards him, jumping in his lap with his tongue hanging out the side of his mouth and smiling.

Chuckling, he latched the pup’s leash on his and patted the side of his chest, setting him back down on the ground. Chief followed at his own leisure pace, his tail wagging furiously when he got closer to Aaron, making the guys chuckle as they speed walked to catch up with Siobhan.

When they were a few feet from her truck, her phone started ringing; cursing loudly, she unlocked the truck and gestured for them to hop in while she went inside the diner to get Zak’s food, already speaking to the person who called her in fast Gaelic. Aaron and Nick stared after her before turning to each other, raising their eyebrows in disbelief.

“Remind me to not make her angry,” Nick snorted at Aaron, patting him on the shoulder as he passed to open the door and let the dogs jump inside, deciding to stay outside with Aaron to wait for her.

“Selene, why are you calling me?” She asked, moving the phone away to order Zak’s food quickly and stood off to the side.

“I closed the bakery today, like you asked, and went to your house to get things together for you, only to find your gate open and your house vandalized. I had to call the police.” Her cousin whispered, sounding very sorry for Siobhan. Selene was standing outside, by the horses, looking at the house with despair. The lovely Victorian styled house had multiple windows broken, the front door was hanging off the hinges, graffiti all over the exterior and she knew her cousin will throw a fit about that the most.

This wasn’t the first time someone had vandalized her home, and they both knew it wasn’t going to be the last, but after a while, it gets tiresome and expensive.

Siobhan sighed heavily and pinched the bridge of her nose, “How are the horses?” She had to know if her animals were okay, she didn’t really care about the damage to her home right now but she’d tear people’s heads off if they hurt any of her horses.

“They’re fine, a little spooked but none were hurt,” She breathed a little easier at Selene’s reassurance, stepping up to pay for her order and left with the hot container, handing it off to Nick and hopped in her truck, the guys following behind her.

“Okay, just stay there, I’ll be there in a little bit. Was the inside of the house touched at all?” Siobhan started the truck and didn’t even wait to make sure everyone was buckled, gunning it out of the parking lot and onto the road, ignoring the looks the guys were giving her.

“Insides fine, Nan and Jackson made sure they didn’t set foot in the house,”

“Good, sit tight, be there soon.” Siobhan ended the call and rubbed her forehead, cursing under her breath as she tried to figure out how to fix her house - again, for the third time in two months. She didn’t care about the cost, she had enough money to cover all of it, but the guys at the hardware store are starting to get annoyed, having to drive out to the boonies to replace a few windows every couple months is not in their job description. She didn’t blame them, really, she’d be annoyed herself if she had to drive ten miles out of their way to fix a window that was just fixed last month.

“Chevy!” She startled, almost jerking the truck into the wrong lane before she caught herself, and glared at Nick in her rearview mirror.

“What?! Christ, almost made me crash,” She muttered in various languages, checking her blind spots before pulling off in her Exit ramp and anxiously tapped her fingers against the steering wheel.

“What was the phone call about? You’ve been zoning out since you came out of the diner,”

She bit her lip, debating if she should tell them now or wait until everyone was at her house.

“Selene called, my cousin,” She stated, pulling into the hotel’s parking lot and noticed Zak was standing outside with Scott, obviously waiting for them to return. Turning the engine off, she just sat in her seat, staring out the windshield as her thoughts turned over and over in her mind. “She went there to get everything organized for our walk-through today and found my gate open. Someone, or a group of people, they’re not sure yet...trespassed on my property and vandalized my house.”

It was silent in the cab for a total of five seconds before the guys exploded.

“What?!”

“Are you fucking kidding me? Who the fuck does that?” Siobhan had to smile at Nick’s words, glad that other people besides her and Selene felt upset about it. She was sure there were a few people in town who shared her feelings, as well, they just didn’t want to voice them.

“This is the third time in almost two months and it was going so well. Last year, I had to call the cops around five hundred times because someone had come onto my property and vandalized something. So far, I only had to call twenty times this year. Common sense is becoming a trend these days,” She mused, opening her door and hopped out, leaving the keys in the ignition since they were leaving soon. Aaron and Nick scrambled out of the truck after her, both with expressions of incredulous disbelief.

“That’s it? That’s all you have to say about this, about someone defacing your home?!” Nick yelled after her, picking up his pace to catch up to her. She spun around to face him and threw her arms up, laughing a bit.

“What else can I do, Nick? I don’t know who did it, I have no proof! Besides, even if I did know who did it, who do you think will the court side with? Teenagers, who don’t know jack squat about what they’re doing, or the resident psychic that everyone thinks is just a crazy lady who should be thrown in a mental institution?!” Everyone stared at her as she finished ranting, her chest heaving and her face flushed, hands clenched into fists at her sides. What really made them speechless, was the fact that her eyes were glowing an eerie amber and the air around her crackled with energy.

“Okay,” Scott spoke up, calming stepping between them with his hands raised and his voice low. “Everyone just calm down and explain what happened,” He stared at Nick to make sure he was good before turning to Siobhan, placing his hands on her shoulders, ignoring the slight shock it gave him, and made her look him in the eyes. After a while, she was calm enough to explain what happened and all four of them furious, Scott more on the sympathetic side since he knew what she has to go through.

“Why aren’t the cops doing anything about it?” Zak asked, stepping a bit closer to the small group. Siobhan snorted, giving him a look that made him feel stupid, even though he knew he shouldn’t be.

“They don’t care and even if they did, they don’t know how many of them it could be. It’s a big city, it could be anyone, they don’t have the time or the resources to just find a couple vandalizers for a psycho. Now, can we go? We wasted enough time as it is and Selene’s waiting for me,” She gave Scott a kiss on the cheek and small smile as she sidestepped him, shoving her hands deep in her pants pockets as she walked back to her truck, the wind blowing her hair behind her and giving her a slight chill.

“C’mon, we gotta run inside and get our cameras. Plus, we still gotta pick up Bill from the airport,” Zak muttered, watching her walk off for a bit before turning and jogging back inside the hotel. Aaron followed but Nick lingered a bit, staring at Siobhan climbing in her truck and leaned against the door, looking absolutely drained, when just ten minutes ago she was practically glowing with joy.

“Go,” He turned to Scott, who jerked his head towards the hotel doors. “I’ll stay, make sure she’s okay, go get your things or she’ll really tear you a new one for making her wait.” They both chuckled at that and Nick left, giving him a friendly pat on the shoulder as a thank you.

Scott watched him leave before sighing heavily, turning back around to look at Siobhan, “What have you gotten yourself into this time, Ryan?”

“You know she’s playing fire with fire, right?”

Scott closed his eyes and groaned, “Yes, Cathleen, who do you think I am?”

“I’m just saying, you have to keep a closer eye on her. Things are going to get dangerous for her.”

“Why can’t you do it? You’re already dead and you’re her Nan, it makes more sense for you to watch over her.” He argued, taking a quick peek around to make sure he was still alone. Well, to make sure no one living was around him.

“Just because I’m dead doesn’t mean I have access to the places she’ll be going. However, you do.” He could hear the smugness in her voice and it made his teeth clench.

“If she knew you were making me do this, she’d be furious.” It was a weak excuse, they both knew this, but he really didn’t want to be on the receiving end of Siobhan’s curses.

“She’s always angry at me for something, it’s nothing new. Now, I must go, she’ll be expecting me to be home when she gets there.”

“Wait-” He got cut off by a blast of cold air hitting him in the face and he knew that she was gone. Sighing in frustration, he punched his thigh a few good times before rubbing his eyes. When he agreed to Cathleen’s terms and conditions of being Siobhan’s guardian, he thought he’d be teaching her the ways of witchcraft and the Marshall family practice, not frolicking all over the country to make sure she doesn’t get herself killed.