HauntedMTL Original – The Seer of Midway Mall – Rob Caleval
Jim here–not only is this a tight piece of short fiction with twists and stabs but I’d have published it just for the sake of that hat! Gotta love a writer with a good taste in hats! – Jim
The Seer of Midway Mall
I’m not a fortune teller. Not exactly. I mean, yeah, sometimes I see things, but I can’t control it. I can’t choose when it works, or decide whose future I’m going to get a look at. It just happens.
Like today. I was cutting through the mall on my way home from work. It was packed, as usual, and people were irritable about the crowds, also as usual. I don’t know why I always go through the mall. It shaves five minutes off my trip, but it more than makes up for it in aggravation. Everyone’s in a hurry, you’re constantly cut off or jostled, and the best you get by way of apology is a half-hearted mumble. I’m always promising myself I’ll stop going that route, but at the end of a long work day the extra five minutes seems like an eternity.
I managed to make it all the way to the far exit with my temper still in check, which was no small feat. I was reaching for the door when some Bluetooth-using, two thousand dollar suit type stepped right in front of me. He had to get pretty aggressive with his shoulder to get ahead, and I stumbled from the contact, falling forward into him. He didn’t even slow, just swung his elbow painfully into my chest, and said, “Out of my way, dickless.”
I didn’t have time to get upset, though, because somewhere between his elbow hitting me and him swearing at me, I had a vision. I got a look at Bluetooth’s future, and it was not pleasant. I saw him walking alone through a dark concrete structure. Or at least he thought he was alone, but I could see someone was following him. He was yammering belligerently into his phone, not at all aware of his surroundings. My viewpoint in these things varies, but in this particular vision I was looking from behind both of them, so I couldn’t get a good look at the person following him. All I could tell from my angle was that he appeared to be another “suit and tie guy.” He carried a brown leather briefcase and wore a long grey pea coat. As he approached his oblivious victim from behind, I saw a long handled claw hammer slide from inside his sleeve and down into his hand. It was then I noticed that he was wearing white latex gloves. I could see him look around the structure to confirm they were alone and quicken his pace to catch up to his victim.
“I don’t care, you’ll do it or you’ll find a new job.” The guy reached his car and the climax of his phone rant at about the same time. Hanging up, he unlocked and opened his car door just as his stalker crept quietly up behind him. The first hammer blow came down on the back of his neck. Bluetooth shrieked and fell face first onto the driver’s seat. His attacker shoved him through the car and into the passenger seat, then calmly stepped into the car himself and shut the door. More hammer blows followed. Many more. I won’t get into too much detail, but it was bloody and, unfortunately for Bluetooth, he lasted a long time.
***
“Hey man, you’re blocking the door.”
“Oh, please pardon me.”
And just like that I was back in the mall, standing in a stupor with my hand on the door, my heart trying to thump its way out of my chest. People were moving around me to the other exits, many shooting me unpleasant looks for delaying them.
I stepped through the exit and into the warm spring sun, fighting a losing battle to get control of my heart. I took a moment to consider what to do, but quickly came to the same decision I always do. I reached into my leather briefcase, feeling for the surgical gloves and claw hammer I kept there for just such occasions. Down the street, I could just see Bluetooth turning off into a gloomy parking structure. Reassured by the hammer’s weight, I started off after him. After all, I’d already seen his future. Who was I to deny it?
Rob Caleval grew up on the Canadian prairies with a hockey stick in one hand and a book in the other. He holds a degree in English from the University of Regina and has worked in the emergency services industry for well over a decade. Between coaching junior lacrosse and wood working projects, he does occasionally find time to write something. His latest work can be found in the upcoming issue of The Freshwater Review.
Those religious icons really get around. This time it’s a journey to visit the Deep Ones. And Dracula’s Castle. Because everyone has to be a tourist now and then, and what’s the point if you don’t pick up a souvenir or two?
This was a gift for a friend for their sea life monster theme bathroom. It started as one of those old school wood plaques where the picture is waxed on. And the eyes were originally that creepy – all I did was add the tentacles. So don’t blame the overall weirdness on me, it wasn’t all my doing.
Oh, and apparently Mary wanted in on the action, so she’s gone to Dracula’s Castle for a bite. She even brought back her own religious icons souvenirs…
So this one isn’t as old, nor is it real wood. But it still totally goes with Mary’s journey. And it’s also a little blacklight reactive with the flowers.
And feel free to check out more of Jennifer Weigel’s work here on Haunted MTL or here on her website.
So I just keep on going… Here are some more repaint porcelain figurines and other madcap painting. OK maybe some of them aren’t porcelain, but still totally redone.
This Pennywise clown started as some plastic figurine from Italy. I was drawn to this because of the pretty marble base. It’s a nice touch, don’t you think? I’ve seen others in this series and honestly they’re all kind of creepy to start with, so they really lend themselves towards repaint prospects. Perhaps I’ll pick up more to redo in similar ways later on… Oh, and the eyes are blacklight sensitive, in case he wasn’t creepy enough already.
With all of the new movie hype, I couldn’t resist a throwback to the classic Beetlejuice, and this little bride figurine and teddy bear were just too perfect. Featuring more blacklight sensitive accents, like her veil flowers. And I don’t know why she only has one glove, I blame it on the 1980s… Or maybe she was just that drunk (you’d have to be for that wedding)…
So yeah, all those preppers ready for the zombie apocalypse – you know some of them are gonna get bitten. It’s in the script, what can I say? More blacklight eyes, cause why not?
I admit I haven’t seen this film, but it sure looks fun. Mathilda, eat your heart out. Literally.
OK so this isn’t a repaint. Nor is it porcelain. What is it even doing here? Well, she’s cool and ready for a party and kinda reminded me of Abigail, so she sort of just tagged along. Sexy Sadie started as an Avon perfume bottle with a fragrance I didn’t care for (I think it was called Head Over Heels). Because honestly the bottle topper was all that mattered. And now she has her own disco dancing platform. What more could a vampish vixen want?
And feel free to check out more of Jennifer Weigel’s work here on Haunted MTL or here on her website.
I wrote this script for Beyond the Veil awhile back, exploring the bond between two twin sisters, Edith and Edna, who had lived their lives together. There was a terrible car crash and someone didn’t make it. The other is trying to contact them beyond the veil…
Beyond the Veil Setting:
Two women reach out to one another individually in a séance setting.
One sits on one side of a dining table. The other sits at the other side. Each studies a candle just beyond her reach; there is darkness between the two candles. The long table is barely hinted at in the interstice between the two but it is clearly present.
The camera is stationary showing both in profile staring through each other.
The women are both portrayed by the same actress who is also the voice of the narrator, who is unseen. All three voices are identical so that it is impossible to tell which of the two women the narrator is supposed to represent.
Both women are spliced into the same scene. They are together but apart. The two candles remain for the duration of filming so that the two halves of the film can either be overlapped (so that both women appear incorporeal) or cut and sandwiched in the middle between the candles (so both women appear physically present). It is possible to set the scene thusly using both methods in different parts of the story, with both women seemingly flickering in and out of being, both individually and apart.
Script:
I. Black, audio only.
Narrator:
I was riding with my twin sister.
We were in a terrible car crash.
The car drove over the median and rolled.
It spun off the road where it caught fire.
There was smoke everywhere.
My sister didn’t make it.
II. Fade in to the long table with two lit candles; flames flickering.
Two women are just sitting at either end.
They stare blankly through each other.
Call and Response
Edith: Now I’m trying to contact her…
Edna: …beyond the veil.
Simultaneous:
Edith: Edna, do you hear me?
Edna: Edith, do you hear me?
Together (In Unison):
If you hear me, knock three times.
Narrator:
Knock.
Knock.
Knock.
Call and Response:
Edith: I miss you terribly.
Edna: I miss you so much.
Edith: Do you remember…
Edna: … the car crash?
Edith: We rolled…
Edna: … over the median.
Edith: There was fire.
Edna: There was smoke.
Edith: I could hear the sirens.
Edna: They were coming…
Edith: … to rescue us.
Edna: But they were so far away.
Edith: So far…
Edna: … away….
Simultaneous:
Edith: Are you okay?
Edna: Are you hurt?
Together (In Unison):
Knock three times for yes. Knock once for no.
Narrator:
Knock
– pause –
Knock
– pause –
Together (Syncopated):
What’s it like, on the other side?
– long pause –
Simultaneous:
Edith: I miss you, Edna.
Edna: I miss you, Edith.
Together (Syncopated):
It’s so lonely here.
Call and Response:
Edith: There’s no one here.
Edna: I’m all alone.
Edith: Without you…
Edna: …the spark of life…
Edith: …is gone…
Edna: … so far away.
– pause –
Together (Entirely Out of Sync):
It’s so dark.
III. Fade out to black
Narrator:
I was riding with my twin sister.
We were in a terrible car crash.
The car drove over the median and rolled.
It spun off the road where it caught fire.
There was smoke everywhere.
I didn’t make it.
I had planned to actually turn this into the video for which it was written, but quickly discovered that my plans for recording required a space that was too drastically different from my new house (and new large gaming table) and that my vision for filming could not be well-fully executed or realized. So now it exists as a script only.
And feel free to check out more of Jennifer Weigel’s work here on Haunted MTL or here on her website.
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