Odd Prompt: Hoodoo Snip

This prompt was great and my mental squirrels tried to take it in like six directions. But I stuck with a story I need to actually, you know, finish. I'm really making progress with it, now... including research into Brownstones, Cincinnati, and the Underground Railroad. 

***

Benny the snitch, Chloe mentally tagged him.  She was on call for some reason she didn't understand, and she wasn't sure that she wanted to know why she was the one he could come to with his problems.

Deciding that she might as well hear about it now, or put up with him popping up like a gruesome Jack-in-the-Box while she was working until she relented and listened, she turned to him, putting her hands on her hips.

"Spit it out Benny."

Benny smirked, his lips parting just a little bit, enough to give her a flash of memory of what his teeth looked like. She shivered and reminded herself not to amuse Benny into a grin.

"Thought you might like to know about the new guy." Then he jerked his head towards one shoulder, a movement Chloe realized was meant to indicate direction, not some weird new tic he had picked up. Maybe it was, with Benny you never really knew. Ghouls were not exactly known for their grace and self possession after all.

"How can there be a new guy, Benny?" Chloe asked. "No one's been buried in the cemetery for at least, what? 50 years?" She didn't ask Benny how long he'd been there, she really didn't want to know. She also wondered, for the first time, why Benny came to her with these things, rather than to her boss Mr. Cruor. She made a mental note to ask her boss about this rather than Benny, though.

Benny shrugged, an odd gesture coming from the loose jointed ghoul. His arms twitched and hands dangled like a puppet without its strings attached. "I don’know."

Chloe eyed her cart, with the trash can full of garden tools strapped to the back. She'd been planning on tackling another particularly snarled mess of brush. It was slow going, clearing the brush out of some of the more overgrown areas of the cemetery, but it was her job. As caretaker, it seemed her job also included the unexpected inhabitants of the cemetery. Which the new guy as Benny called him, was possibly part of that community. Overgrown honeysuckle was easier to deal with, by far. Heck, even poison ivy was easier to deal with. She'd rather have a rash than Benny.

"So, where is he?"

"He’s down at the bottom of the hill. By t’side gate." This time, Benny pointed, with his hand and turned his head away from her as he broke into a smile. The teeth in profile were no better than the teeth head on. But at least Chloe didn't have to try and hide her shudder, since he was looking away from her.

Chloe didn't ask Benny to come with her to show her exactly where the new arrival was. There was only so much of his company she could put up with, even if it was her job to take care of him. Care did not mean comfort, Chloe decided as she climbed onto the cart and swung it around to head for one of the paths that would take her down close to the border of the cemetery.

It wasn't difficult to find the newcomer. She realized as she pulled up as close as she could and got off the cart while pulling out her cell phone that he had been wrong. There wasn't one of them that were two. One wasn't dead - or if he was, he hadn't been for long. She walked up to the two men, one of them was sitting awkwardly, almost cradling the other one’s head and shoulders on his lap. He looked up as she drew closer and a look she couldn't interpret crossed his face. Maybe surprise, maybe happiness... but then it lapsed back into a serious expression she couldn't really read. 

The other man - the one that was covered in blood, and his face battered almost out of recognition made a harsh gurgling noise as he struggled to breathe. Chloe knelt beside them.  She spoke to the ghost - he was dressed in clothing she thought dated back to the 1860s. The era wasn't really her favorite, since hoop skirts and goth, even her pastel goth style, did not work well together. She still was confident of the time the man had died, since every ghost she had encountered was wearing what they had been buried in.  She was close enough now to see that his coat was ripped and his hat dented,  his shirtfront had seen better days. 

“What happened?” Chloe asked him. 

He shook his head and regarded her with dark eyes. “I brought him away from there.” He told her, “Away from there before they could make him a sacrifice.” 

 The man's accent was interesting. Soft southern tones, but an overlay of upperclass, almost British, made him sound professorial to the girl.  Chloe realized the only ghost she had ever met more clearly defined than this one, was Mark Long, the friendly library and research ghost. 

The man looked down at the boy - Chloe didn't think he was even as old as she was - in his lap, and he sighed mournfully. 

“I don't think that I was soon enough but I couldn't get a hold of him until he was close to the brink.” He looked back up at Chloe, his eyes narrowing. “How is it you can see me?”

 Chloe shrugged, “I  just can. I don't know - everything was normal until I came to work here in the cemetery.” 

She put her finger on the send button to finish her call. She didn't have time to spare talking to the ghost. Just as the 911 operator answered and she started to explain, the ghost looked at her again. 

“The stone dogs beside the steps of the brownstone had blood on their teeth…” he said.

***

This week's prompt was "The stone dogs beside the steps of the brownstone had blood on their teeth…" and it was given to me by 'Nother Mike. 

I prompted AC Young with "Double the garlic, and triple the paprika! Oh, maybe that would work…" 

You should go read the other prompt responses over at More Odds than Ends, and if you are looking for a creative jolt, join in the fun!