Heritage

Heritage

Warning - contains horror themes.

Fierce rain drowned out the sound of Emily’s contractions. The baby wasn’t supposed to arrive today. The hospital appeared in view a quarter of a mile back. Had their minds been more focused, the couple would have noticed the lack of road signage. The contractions were getting closer.

The hospital glowed through the fog like a beacon, its neon cross flickering intermittently against the storm-darkened sky. Dan parked outside before helping Emily navigate the hospital’s entrance, leaving the car unlocked and keys still in the ignition.

The moment the couple stepped inside, the illusion cracked. The sterile white walls rippled, revealing rotting wallpaper. Gurneys transformed into rotted wood. Fluorescent lights flickered as the hospital façade exposed a large Victorian house, untouched by modern hands.

Emily collapsed onto the warped floorboards as labor began in earnest. Dan knelt alongside her, whispering hollow reassurances. The air thickened with the strong of decay and sulfur.

The baby arrived quickly, his first cries echoing through the halls with an otherworldly resonance. Shadows moved as dozens of spectral arms protruded from the walls and floors, reaching for the newborn with desperate hunger, tearing through the umbilical cord with ease.

Dan lunged forward, desperate to free his child from the ghoulish hands. Flames engulfed him as he successfully loosened their grip. Emily screamed, her hand burning as she grabbed her son's foot. The fire consumed her husband, his scream a final defiant roar.

Emily pushed herself upright and picked up her son. She ran toward the front door. The handle burned her flesh as she grasped it, refusing to budge. Desperate, she smashed the nearest window with a rotting chair. Glass sliced her arms as she climbed outside, clutching the infant tightly to her chest. The house behind them flickered once and was gone, leaving only an empty field.

Emily held onto her child in the pouring rain. Her newborn son was breathing sharply. She stumbled to the car, securing him in the back seat. As her composure returned, she moved over to the driver’s seat and turned the key.

The satnav pinged into life. She searched frantically for a real hospital and found one fifteen miles away. Only fifteen miles. Fifteen miles further and my son will be ok. The sky cleared overhead as she drove onward.

Twenty years later, Emily tightened the grip on her son's hand as she lay on the kitchen floor. Her heart was failing, a by-product of the traumatic events of Lenny's birth. In her dying moments, her memories of that day transferred to her son. Waiting for the ambulance, his thoughts flushed with images of fire consuming everything and his father’s scream tearing through the smoke.

Lenny knew his mother was dying long before she passed. This didn’t make it easier to come to terms with her death. He now mourned both parents at once. Although he didn’t know his father, seeing his passing hit Lenny hard. He shared funeral arrangements with his paternal uncle, staying with him until ready to return home.

Eventually, Lenny started to make sense of the visions racing through his mind. He finally knew the circumstances of his birth and his father’s sacrifice, perhaps explaining why he’d been able to see ghosts since his early teens, in reflections, in shadows, even sitting at bus stops. He mostly kept this information to himself, scared he was losing his mind.

At fifteen he started to hear the voices of the dead. Often, he couldn't make out their mumblings, but the words he understood always rang true. He soon discovered he could touch ghosts. Having been born between the living world and the afterlife, Lenny could slip through the barrier. He referred to it as the glimmer, as the light of the barrier seemed to glimmer, as if the world moved differently on the other side. Walking through felt like stepping through water.

After his first spectral conversation, Lenny knew he’d been given this gift for a reason. The spirit of a young woman in a medical gown asked for a message to be passed on to her still living husband. The woman knew she’d passed. Not every spirit he spoke to did.

Months earlier, the woman, who referred to herself as Martha, was diagnosed with an incurable illness. Martha spent the final stage of life trying to discover information about her husband’s birth parents. Steven was adopted at age two. He knew his parents needed to give him up, before being placed in witness protection.

Martha had more resources than Steven, but the illness progressed faster than anticipated. Three weeks before hospitalization, she discovered some key information, storing everything on her laptop. She died before she could inform him.

Martha knew Lenny could see her. When he heard her call out, he moved toward her with trepidation. Lenny listened to her tale and relayed the information to an unbelieving Steven the following day, watching as he discovered the truth about his parents from Martha’s files.

From that day forward, using the grey space between life and death, Lenny chose to guide lost souls to their destination. They communicated their needs the best they could. Some were confused and frightened, many with unfinished business. Starting with Martha, he helped them to peace before watching them dissolve into warm light. Others, those twisted and cruel in life, he dragged screaming toward eternal torment.

Every time he left the glimmer, he emerged in odd places, never in the same place he’d entered the barrier. After helping a lost soul in Belgium, he found himself in a Tokyo bathhouse without ID, almost causing a diplomatic incident. Local police didn’t always believe his stories. There was never enough evidence to press charges. He always carried his passport and phone.

Word spread, enough for Lenny to create a makeshift bookings website. Desperate families started to reach out. Ghosts, poltergeists, unexplained noises, Lenny investigated them all. He soon became a reluctant, globe-trotting saver and banisher of souls. Charging enough to cover expenses a few local landmarks, Lenny helped thousands of people every year.

On a cold March morning, as Lenny was vacationing in America with his girlfriend and some friends, he received a call from Theo, a construction worker in Boise, Idaho. Theo moved into his apartment three months earlier. He was often woken by voices, overlapping conversations in hushed tones. Theo's neighbors lived too far away to be suspects. Theo called Lenny on the penultimate day of his vacation, so he agreed to investigate.

Lenny conducted research prior to the journey. According to a news article, fifteen years prior, a woman named Eileen died in the apartment, reportedly from natural causes.

Lenny heard the voices as soon as the cab pulled up. Theo greeted his guest with an awkward hug, handing over the cash payment immediately. Lenny didn’t count it. Theo was tall and extraordinarily thin. He paced unevenly as he explained his situation to Lenny.

“So, what do you think it is? Can you help?”

“I think so. I can hear lots of chatter. It doesn’t sound malicious. It should be straightforward.” He showed Theo the article on his phone. “It’s probably this woman. Reports of noises started shortly after she died. Your landlord obviously didn’t mention that.”

Lenny walked into the front room where the voices were loudest. The glimmer looked brighter than usual, which was normally a good sign. He hesitated. A disbelieving Theo froze as Lenny disappeared into thin air.

Inside the void, Lenny was confronted by multiple spirits. He closed his eyes to listen, sorting through the cacophony to identify the primary. Eileen’s spirit couldn't accept she was gone. Her confusion drew in other spirits, creating a vortex of supernatural activity. Lenny carefully approached Eileen's ghost, placing his hand on her shoulder, and started the difficult conversation.

The last thing Eileen remembered was a feeling of dizziness after returning from a night out. Her body was discovered two weeks later, after a concerned work colleague reported her disappearance. The police found no sign of foul play.

As Lenny explained her fate, Eileen argued back in disbelief. Thinking on his feet, he showed her his phone and passport, both dated years after Eileen's passing. Understanding finally dawned as her refusal to let go abated. She thanked Lenny before dissolving into light.

The other spirits, no longer anchored by her presence, dispersed like smoke. Lenny exited the fading glimmer, not wishing to be trapped in the void. Back in Boise, Theo stood in his front room, crying with relief as the voices stopped.

Lenny materialized in the living world, stepping out into a familiar park, twenty miles from his childhood home. The park was full of children playing, their parents watching on the sidelines. Dozens of eyes fixated on Lenny in astonishment as he walked toward the train station.

After a two-hour train journey, Lenny returned to the home he shared with Leia. He video called his friends to reassure them of his safety. Leia answered immediately as their friends leapt excitedly in the background, asking predictable questions about his ghostbusting exploits. Lenny beamed as Leia’s smile filled the screen.

Minutes later, Lenny’s friends looked on in horror as a hand appeared behind him, yanking Lenny violently backward. Leia ended the call abruptly as her boyfriend disappeared into a newly formed glimmer. Lenny held on for dear life as he re-entered the spirit realm.

Leia stared at the blank phone screen as her friends gazed into space, dumbstruck. She’d seen him vanish before, but this was different. Someone had taken him and she had no idea where to start looking.

Lenny hit the floor hard. The strong taste of sulfur almost overwhelmed his other senses. For several seconds he lay still, winded and disorientated, staring up at the stone ceiling. Lenny propelled himself upright, ready to face his captor.

The room slowly came into focus. He found himself in a small bedroom, much less tidy than his own, candles placed on every surface. A garish painting hung crooked on the back wall. Beneath it, tied to a bed with sheets and rope, was a boy no older than twelve. The boy’s skin was mottled with weeping red pustules, his eyes rolled back to white.

On the floor beside the bed, a couple, presumably the boy’s parents, lay motionless. Two priests stood over the boy. One, an older man, his voice hoarse from repetition of words Lenny couldn’t comprehend, held a Bible in one trembling hand and a crucifix in the other. Beside him, a younger female priest gripped a vial of holy water, her knuckles white. The boy turned his head toward Lenny, and growled, completely ignoring the priests.

"It's not working," said the younger priest, her voice uneven. "Nothing's working."

Lenny took a step forward. Beside him, the figure who dragged him here shimmered into being. The spirit was an older man, dressed in an eighties style suit with leather sewn elbow pads. As the elderly spirit tugged impatiently at Lenny's sleeve, he noticed both priests looking directly at the old man.

"You can see him?"

The female priest slowly nodded. "Yes," she eventually managed.

"Mm, that's unusual."

The old man's lips moved. To the priests there was no sound.

“My grandson. Please. I need you to help him.”

"You think I can save your grandson?" Lenny said aloud for the priests' benefit."

"You can talk to spirits," the older priest asked slowly, almost losing what remained of his composure.

"Among other things." Lenny turned to get a better look at the boy. Where the priests saw only a suffering child, Lenny saw a shadow curled inside him like smoke, two yellow eyes blinking open in line with the boy’s own.

"What do you see when you look at him?" Lenny asked the priests out of curiosity.

"A boy possessed," the older priest said. "By a demon we will not name."

"I see the thing wearing him." Lenny replied.

The boy thrashed against the ropes, recoiling as Lenny stepped closer.

"He's afraid of you," the younger priest exclaimed.

"He's not the one that’s afraid," Lenny said. "It is."

The demon’s eyes turned toward Lenny. “You are the reason your father died,” the creature snarled. The words pierced through Lenny like a knife. For the first time in his life, he was truly scared. Was the demon reading his surface thoughts? Was it sensing his fears?

The creature was wrong. It was trying to unnerve him. Lenny had never considered this perspective. After a pause, Lenny responded, keeping his voice as calm as he could.

“I’m not to blame. My mother showed me my father’s final moments. He gave me being and allowed us enough time to get away from that place. To him, I am thankful.”

“And before you start on my mother,” Lenny continued. “The circumstances of my birth affected her, but she still gave me memories that will last long after you’ve left this realm. Your words cannot hurt me, not today.” Lenny moved forward.

The demon in the child flinched. It had never before been challenged this way by a human. The bed frame scraped across the floor as the boy’s body convulsed.

"Stay away from me!" The gravelly voice came from inside the boy, whose lips barely moved.

Lenny approached the bed, ignoring the boy's spasms. The ropes creaked. He reached out, closed his hand around the boy's forearm and pulled.

The demon struck him. Lenny flew toward the wall, dropping to one knee. The creature charged. Lenny ducked and drove his shoulder into its stomach, forcing it to contort. The room darkened as several candles blew out.

He dragged the shadow forward inch by inch. The boy shrieked as Lenny tore the creature free from its host. The child went limp, falling unconscious, the pustules fading from his skin. The priests staggered backward as the shadow rose in front of Lenny, its yellow eyes the only clear feature.

A glimmer tore open on the floor between them, edged in flame, heat rolling off it in waves.

"Hold onto me," Lenny said to the priests, without looking back. "Don't let go, whatever happens."

They hesitated before gripping Lenny’s shoulders, anchoring him to the world he half-belonged to. Lenny drove forward, pushing the shadow back step by step toward the burning light on the floor. The demon clawed at him, but he didn't stop. With one final push it fell backward into the glimmer, screaming as the fire swallowed it whole. As it descended, the tear in the world sealed shut behind it. In less than a minute it was gone.

The boy stirred. His eyes fluttered open. Freed from whatever was holding them, his parents stirred on the floor beside him. Lenny let out a sigh of relief and smiled, turning to the priests.

"How," the young priest managed, "did you just do that?"

"Who are you?" the older one asked.

Lenny reached into his pocket, bringing out his business card. He explained everything as succinctly as he could. The priests listened in stunned silence.

"For what it's worth," Lenny said apprehensively, "in my experience, you first have to understand what you're dealing with. If you believe as much in your foe as you do yourself, you get a better chance of moving them toward their final destination." He handed the young priest his card. "Mind you, it also helps if you can walk between the living world and the afterlife. Next time, you can perhaps give me a call."

Lenny turned back to the old man's spirit, who was still watching over his grandson. "Before you go," Lenny asked him, "any chance you could get me home?" The spirit nodded and reached out.

Lenny landed hard on the wet pavement, rain misting down under an orange streetlight. He looked around, recognizing the shopfronts and the accent drifting from a nearby pub. Swansea. His uncle’s old holiday home was around here somewhere, probably booked out, considering it was now an Airbnb.

Lenny thanked the old man, walking him gently through his final glimmer and guiding him toward the warm light waiting on the other side.

Now alone, Lenny pulled out his phone to call Leia. She answered immediately, her voice wavering with a mixture of fear and relief.

“Thank God! Lenny, are you okay. What happened?”

"Leia. I'm okay. I'm in Swansea. I’ll explain everything when I see you."

There was a pause. "Stay there," she said. "I'm coming. I’ll catch the first flight over. See you soon honey.”

“I love you” was all Lenny could manage before the call ended.

Lenny walked toward the pub to get away from the rain. Dammit, he thought, Theo paid me in dollars. I’m going to have to use my own money.

As he nursed a pint, he checked his uncle’s listing on his dying phone. The house was free for five days. More than long enough for a well-deserved break. He booked it, claiming the full family discount, texting Leia just before the phone battery died. Lenny sat in silence until closing time.

He didn’t speak at all during the cab ride but left the driver a sizable tip, in US dollars. Upon arrival at his uncle’s place, Lenny rushed straight to the main bedroom, a smile adorning his face as he flopped onto the bed before drifting into a twelve-hour deep sleep. He was woken by Leia as she knocked on the front door.

As Lenny explained his sudden disappearance to his stunned girlfriend, he contemplated his future. Both the living and the dead, as well as the demon underworld, now knew what he was capable of. He would soon be talked about in religious circles too. He needed to take his gift more seriously. He hoped Leia would be with him through it all. He needed to be ready for anything.