Haunted by R.L. Merrill

furrowed. If I had known him better I would have reached out for him right then. I desperately wanted to ease him somehow. He was visibly upset, but I didn’t know how he’d react. Some people really didn’t respond well to strangers touching them.
    “And you guys really think I can help?”  
    He nodded and took a deep breath, slipping off his glasses. “Uncle Daryl told us how you tattooed his guys after they lost their friend in Iraq, that somehow they were better after, they could kind of put it behind them and move forward. I don’t know if it will work or not for us, but the last idea the guys had sure didn’t.”
    I frowned and took a chance by asking, “What was that? If you want to tell me, that is.”
    He huffed out a laugh. “Well, Mage, you know he has that name because he claims to, I don’t know...Don’t laugh, ok? He takes it kind of serious. He claims his ancestors are witches, like voodoo or something, I don’t really know. When we were kids he was always trying to get us to try some shit like Ouija boards, voodoo dolls, crazy stuff.”
    I couldn’t help but notice the change in his voice. It had a really nice tone to it when he was talking about his friend.
    “Anyway, he hired some chick to come and do a séance out at my family’s place on the bayou. Almost burned the place down! The lady swore we had a vengeful spirit who would haunt us unless we gave her an extra $500.” He laughed out loud then and it sounded like music to my ears. He rubbed his bottom lip between his thumb and forefinger, touching a spot where he had a hint of a soul patch. It was dark like the rest of his hair. His humor changed his posture and he seemed a bit more perked up.
    “So did you pay her? Was she able to exorcise the spirit?”  
    He looked at me to see if I was taking him seriously and the warm smile he gave me when he saw I was, made my heart drop into my stomach. His eyes crinkled a little on the sides, kind of like Marcus but his seemed friendly, not, you know, friendly .
    “Actually, we haven’t been back out there since that night. The other guys were scared shitless. They claimed they heard noises and swore we’d be possessed by evil spirits if we went back.” His humor faded at that. He cleared his throat and ran a hand over his hair. “You’ll probably think we’re total freaks after that story.”
    “Not at all. Hey, sometimes you have to think outside the box, right?”  He shrugged and looked back down. “I’m sorry, Devon.” This time I did touch him. I placed my fingers lightly on the back of his hand. “That’s what you guys want me to do, right? Hear your stories? And just from the little I’ve learned about you all, I’m guessing there will be more stories like this?”  
    He looked down at our hands and sucked in his bottom lip. I pulled my hand back and he looked down at me, giving me his small smile again. Wow, I’d just met him and I was classifying his smiles into categories:  ghost of a smile, half smile, small smile...He was so beautiful it was almost painful, especially when I looked into those soulful eyes. I felt like I was bathing in his pain. I had to do something to help that. I stood up straight and leaned a hip against the counter, crossing my arms. This drew his eyes downwards for a moment. Was he checking me out?
    He shook himself. “I don’t mean to keep you. The guys just, well, they wanted me to ask you if you’d come. And I wanted to ask you to come. Please. If anything it will be a fun couple of weeks, maybe we’ll write some songs, and you can add some pictures to your book here.” The ghost smile was back and he traced my nameplate on the outside of the portfolio.
    I was so touched that he had asked me like that. Just from this short time talking to him, it seemed like he didn’t talk much, or at least didn’t now. The few glimpses of laughter I saw from him showed a man who loved his friends and just wanted to see them happy. It was nice to