CHAPTER 31: THE END IS NIGH

Hans cupped her chin in his hands and ever so gently lifted her head to meet her gaze. There were dark circles under her eyes, she had not been sleeping well. But to Hans, she was still the most beautiful girl he had laid eyes upon many years ago.

“Suzanne,” he tucked a lock of hair that had fallen over her eye behind her ears, “I have faith in you. The Suzanne Summers I know is a strong woman and she’s gonna kick some serious ass when the time comes.”

Suzanne rolled her eyes and gave him a dorky smile. Hans reached out for her hands and brought them to his face, her hands were icy cold against his warm skin and he gave them a rub to give them some warmth.

“Tom’s extremely lucky to have you,” Hans said, his voice soft and gentle. He then proceeded to pull out a long silver necklace from under his high collared sweater and slipped it over Suzanne’s head.

Suzanne’s eye widened at this for she recognized the necklace. It was his family heirloom, his late father had given it to him for protection, “Hans, it’s your amulet. You never go anywhere without it, it’s your lucky charm!”

Hans smiled cheekily at her, “I’m only lending it to you. I expect you to hand it back to me when all this madness ends.” Then his tone turned serious, “Suzanne, we’ll get through it together, this I promise you.”

Hans pulled a silent Suzanne into his arms, wishing that he had been the one to bear the mark, wishing that he could shield her from all the pain and misery, but he couldn’t. All he could do was give her hope.

“Suzanne, there is light in this world, a healing spirit more powerful than any darkness we may encounter. We sometimes lose sight of this force when there is too much fear, too much confusion and suffering. Then suddenly, the spirit will emerge through the lives of those who hear a call and answer in extraordinary ways.”

Suzanne let out a chuckle and pulled out of his embrace, “Did you copy that quote from Google?”

He ignored her and continued, “Everything you need is within you, the strength, the courage and the power. You just need to look within yourself and find it.”

Suzanne nodded but did not answer Hans. He knew she would need some time to gather her thoughts, she had been through a lot. Hans patted her on the head and walked out of the room, leaving her door ajar. He stopped by the twins’ room and asked them to keep an eye on Suzanne,  just in case there was another attack.

He had some unfinished business to attend to.

***

“*Hans! My man! What brings you here*?” Jimmy the ghost asked as he lounged in the brightly lit lobby of the great big mansion. A female spirit was on his lap, they had been making out. Around them, black leather armchairs were sprawled all over the oriental blue white marbled floor and spirits could be seen mingling around freely.

Hans stood in the middle of the lobby with his extendable metallic wand in hand. Marcelino was right beside him with a similar-looking wand.

“*Wow, you guys look like Hans Solo and Chewbacca*,” a middle-aged spirit with a beer belly floated by.

It was true, the two were a sight. Hans did look a lot like Han Solo, albeit the k-pop version. He was tall, lean and extremely well built with the face of a star. His black hair was textured and slicked back, revealing a faded undercut that accentuated his slim face.

Often, when he went out in public, he would be mistaken for a celebrity with girls rushing after him for a photograph. But today, he did not look feel a star, today,  he felt weary and heavy-hearted.

Next to him stood Marcelino. At 6’8”, Marcelino towered over everyone in the room. He was big and burly with wavy brown hair that he tied in dreadlocks. His dark square face was framed by a thick full beard that he tied at the bottom.

People who did not know him would often mistake him for either the mafia or a bouncer, but he was neither. Born mute, Marcelino was a self-taught clairvoyant who provided tarot card readings and guided lost souls for free. At 58, he was the oldest amongst the 6 remaining clairvoyants.

“My dear guests, I believe you can sense a change coming. There is evil in the air. We cannot, and we must not take any chances, so I’m sending you all off to the rainbow bridge tonight,” Hans’ voice boomed across the hall.

The ghostly chattering in the lobby went deathly quiet as every spirit turned their attention to Hans. Jimmy started to howl and beat his chest and many others started to protest.

The spirit of a little boy stepped forward and looked up at Hans. He had a teddy bear with a missing eye in his hand, “*Mr Hans, what about my mom*?”

Hans bent down on one knee and smiled sadly at the little boy. He would not be seeing his mother, “She’ll come soon. She wants you to cross the rainbow bridge first.”

The little boy nodded at Hans and ran off to play with a brooding teenager at the corner of the room.

Jimmy stood up and floated over to where Hans stood, ”*Liar. I saw the figure in black. More coming soon I presume*?”

Hans cocked his head, his forehead creasing as his eyes narrowed, “What did you say?”

Jimmy went even closer and whispered into Hans’ ear, sending a cold tingling sensation onto the side of his face, “*I saw it. It was looking up at one of your windows. The chick who came with you saw it too. I’m a ghost, but even that thing spooked me.*”

A sudden chill went down his spine, black figure…black mist…were they connected? They had to be.

“Did it see you?”

If Hans was mildly worried before, he was close to losing his mind now. He had an inkling that Suzanne had come into contact with the black mist but he had no idea to what extent.

*It came to her. That’s why she was screaming.*

“*No*….” Jimmy back off now, shaking his shimmery face, “*but I saw it. Weird thing was, it had no face*.”