White-Eyes Haunt

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Kylie's headlight made a small tunnel of light on the rural roadway ahead of her. Beyond the illumination were vague shadows, and beyond there impenetrable dark. Answers to her questions were out there beyond what she could see or remember. She drove to a destination but was driven by her need to know. After the police found no sign of the second intruder or the two slugs she knew she'd put in him, their conclusion was that she had become confused, seen "double perhaps" one officer had said, and the Smith and Wesson must have only had four bullets in it to begin with .

Kylie knew the police were wrong even though she doubted part of what she saw herself. Doubles don't have different clothes, different heights, and different orders at the bar, Coors and Guinness respectively. She had gone back to Tabby's bar and pulled out her waitress receipts from that night. She went through every order, reliving the documented part of the night to check her memory of the events.

A few months later when the nightmares settled in, not every night but frequently enough, Kylie's Grandpa John died. She didn't want to blame the viewing for upping how often she dreamed, so she blamed Grandpa's cousin Rose. Rose Taggert was a distant third cousin twice removed, or so she said. Kylie had no idea what their connection to the family actually was.

What does twice removed even mean? Something about Grandpa's cousin's son's nephew's...Rose explained in detail. Kylie lost track. Rose was actually a lot of fun for someone in their 70's: loved to play cards, go to the river boat casino down in Evansville, and travel. Cousin Rose also had the best stories, some about family some about her younger days. She'd actually met several members of the Rat Pack, and Kylie was just proud she knew who a few of them were.

Rose never had children and never treated Kylie or her cousins like kids. At the time of the funeral, though, it had been years since Rose made a family gathering. Suffice it to say, Rose was quite the character and the only person to whome Kylie would ever dream of mentioning something so outlandish. Kylie knew Rose would not think she was crazy.

During visitation Rose cornered Kylie in the funeral home's kitchen saying, "Your mama makes the best deviled eggs of anyone in the family--still living that is."

Kylie had wanted to get away from the open casket where Grandpa John lay so unlike himself, although everyone kept saying how natural he looked. He did appear as if he might sit up at any moment, though. That she needed to escape.

Staring at the egg whites Kylie asked Rose, "Have you ever seen someone with white eyes?"

Rose stopped chewing a moment, then said around her egg, "We should talk later." Rose threw out her arms around someone at the cookie trays. "Cousin Martin! How long has it been? Only good thing about a family gathering like this is that the family really gathers. How have you been?"

The rest of the funeral was so much easier to get through. Every time Kylie thought she might lose it, she glanced around and spotted Cousin Rose, who caught her eye in return and winked or smiled slyly.

It was after the graveside service that Rose slipped her arm through Kylie's and said, "Walk with me dear. I have several folks to drop in on here."

A few headstone rows over Rose led Kylie to a stone bench perched on a Harley shaped foundation. Rose reached inside her shirt and fished a pack of cigarettes out from between her substantial "girls" as she called them and spent an entire minute trying to light up. Squinting through her bifocals the cigarette tip would not line up with the flame.

"I'm seventy-eight now, so I only smoke at funerals and the roulette table."

"I thought the casinos were all non-smoking now?"

"On the boat there's a roulette table outside, and they mostly look the other way for special guests." Rose winked.

Rose's nails were twice as long as any Kylie had seen in a while, and her meaty fingers were weighed down with heavily encrusted rings that managed to appear feminine if not dainty on the older woman's hands. Kylie wondered for the umpteenth time if the jewels were real, and how much gambling does one have to do to become a special guest.

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