The Cursed High School Reunion

Chapter 8

Mike couldn’t help but feel like something was wrong all day at work. He found it hard to really concentrate on work at all. He thought seriously about going home at lunch and just calling it a day, but knew that he was needed at the jobsite. The build was almost complete and the inspectors were coming by to make sure everything was up to code.

Mike was sitting in his office finishing up with the electrical inspector, when he received a text from his mother-in-law that read simply, ‘Check on Marsha’.

He was immediately alarmed by this text, so he excused himself and stepped just outside of his office door while dialing Marsha’s number.

“Hey, honey, is everything okay?” Mike asked, concern thick in his voice.

“Well, today could have been better. I am not going to lie about that, but I want to wait until you get home to talk about it,” Marsha answered. She was fighting hard to keep the sorrow out of her voice.

“Are the boys okay? Your mom texted me and said to check on you. Are you sure everything is okay?” Mike asked.

“Yes, the boys are fine. I will explain everything when you get home, baby,” Marsha said, silently cursing her mother for getting Mike all worked up.

“Okay, I am just finishing up with the electrical inspector, so I should be home in about an hour or so. I just got worried, when I received that message from your mom. So, I wanted to check on you guys. I love you, baby,” Mike said.

“Thank you for checking on us. I promise that we are okay. I will explain what was worrying mom when you get home. I love you more, honey,” Marsha said. “I will see you in a little while.”

“See you then, babe. Give the boys a hug for me,” Mike said. Then he took the phone away from his ear and ended the call.

If everything was okay, why would her mom tell me to check on her? Mike thought to himself as he turned to go back into his office.

“Everything okay, Mike?” the inspector, Steve, asked. Steve and Mike had known each other for years and were good friends.

“Yeah, I think so. Just the mother-in-law worrying about her daughter again. Marsha said that everything was fine, though,” Mike said, shrugging his shoulders.

“Maybe you should ask the mother-in-law if she is okay. A mother’s intuition is rarely wrong when it comes to her children,” Steve suggested.

“Nah, Marsha said that she would explain why her mom got worried when I get home, so I am just going to wait until I get home. I am headed out as soon as we finish up here. So, what did you find wrong with the electrical?” Mike said, rolling out the blueprints of the build.

“Well, you may not believe me, but other than the one plug that the wires got crossed that you pointed out, you are all good. Get that one issue fixed and you are good to continue with the project. I, of course, will be by tomorrow afternoon to make sure that one is fixed so I can officially give you the all clear and sign everything I need to sign,” Steve said, holding out his hand.

“Wow, seriously?” Mike asked, shocked. He shook Steve’s hand.

“Yeah, man. I would keep whoever you have doing electrical now around. They really seem to know what they are doing. That is going to save a lot of time and money,” Steve said as he began packing up his things.

“Yeah, apparently. Because that one messed up plug, she didn’t do. That was the old technician that quit on me a few weeks ago,” Mike said.

“She? That’s awesome. What’s her name? Do I know her?” Steve asked, sounding kind of shocked that the new technician was a woman.

“I doubt it. Tina just moved here from New York. Apparently, no matter how much she proved herself, she couldn’t find very many construction businesses that would either hire her or take her skills seriously. The way that I see it, it is their loss because she is an amazing worker and great at what she does, and to top it off, you just proved to me that she is the best damn technician that I have ever had on my crew,” Mike said as he escorted Steve to the door of his office.

“Well, there you go. Glad I could help. See you tomorrow at one o’clock,” Steve said, shaking Mike’s hand. Then he turned and opened the office door to leave. He paused just before closing the door behind himself to say, “Mike, if I were you, I would finish up quickly and get home as soon as you could. I know that Marsha said that everything was okay, but obviously her mother doesn’t think so. Just saying. Have a good day, my friend.”

“That is my plan. Have a good day as well,” Mike said. Then Steve left and Mike closed the door behind him. He walked back to his desk and grabbed the walkie-talkie. “Jason? Can you send Tina to my office as quickly as possible, please?”

“Yes, sir. That bad?” Jason asked back.

“No, that good. But I got to hurry up and get home. That’s all,” Mike answered.

“Ten-four, sir. Tina is on her way,” Jason answered back.

“We only have one plug that needs to be fixed out of all the plugs in the whole house. The plug that needs to be fixed was the only plug that Art did before he quit. I don’t think he will be coming back,” Mike said excitedly into the walkie-talkie.

“Holy cow! Seriously? That’s awesome. Yeah, I think that Art is done for sure,” Jason answered almost as excitedly as Mike.

Just then there was a knock on his office door.

“It’s open, Tina Come on in,” Mike called out. Man, she must have walked fast, he thought. He sat at his desk waiting for Tina to open the door, but the seconds ticked by with no answer. “Tina, come on in,” he called out again.

Still nothing.

So, Mike stood up and walked over to the door. “Tina, did you hear me?” he asked as he swung open the door. What he saw made him gasp in horror and shakely shut the door with a unsteady hand roughly.

There was no one on the other side of the door at all.

Just a wet spot in the middle of the door mat.