The night was fast approaching, and yet three teens weren’t going home. Two of them were laughing as they walked through a sparse gathering of trees. The one in front looked over his shoulders to flash a gap-toothed grin at his friends. As he did, he nearly rolled his ankle when he stepped wrong on a loose rock. The two jerked forward to catch him, but outside of a flash of surprise on his face, he managed to shrug off the near accident.
“What cha’ll trippin’ for? Relax.”
“Says the one who almost actually really broke his neck,” said the girl behind him. She tugged her oversized jacket higher up onto her shoulders.
He snorted before looking ahead. “Nah, wasn’t me.”
She rolled her eyes. “Alright.”
The third teen remained quiet, though they reacted with a sigh and an eye roll of their own. They followed their friends through the grass and down the rocky decline— “Watch out now.” “I said relax, man. Quit sweatin’ me.” —to an empty parking lot on the side of a curving road.
In this lot was a single, small modular building. Its swinging doors had been pushed open and were locked into place against the side closest to the teens. One of the doors had a neon OPEN sign hanging from it, and on the flat roof was a much larger neon sign that had 24/7 in bright, looping text. The air was filled with the largest sign’s buzzing, but as the young boy jogged closer to the building, he heard the whirring sound of dozens of VCRs playing at once. He ran up to the large open window between the doors. Looking inside, he saw countless shelves filled to the brim with VHS tapes and VCRs as well as a man focusing on a CRTV. The man had very dark skin and wildly curly hair, which fell over his eyes and almost completely covered his nose. Light from the CRTV glinted off the piercing in his lip. The young boy hooked his fingers on the ledge of the window, but before he could say anything, the man replied,
“Nah, little man.”
“What!” The boy sucked his teeth in distaste before looking at his friends. He shot a petulant glare at the quiet teen before saying to the man, “Yeah, but Anté works here—!”
The man laughed but not kindly. The sound was soft, almost fatherly, and he replied, “Because Anté was meant to work here...”
“This again?” The girl shoved her hands into her pockets as she and Anté walked closer. “Bro, give it a rest.”
“It’s not fair! I just wanna show that I can do it too.”
“You don’t even know what ‘it’ is,” the girl pointed out.
The boy swallowed his initial response. He looked, once again, at Anté, who met his gaze with an unreadable expression. He turned to the man in the window. Seeing that neither one was coming to his defense, he dismissed the girl’s words with a swipe of his hand.
“Man, shut up.” He turned forward again— the girl muttered “Whatever’ under her breath —and he tried to a new strategy. “Look: my moms said that I need somethin’ to do anyway. I can help out around the place and just—”
When one of the VCRs stopped, the noise cut through the air, and a hush fell over the group. Even the neon sign’s buzzing didn’t seem as loud. The man sat up slowly and looked over his shoulder at a shelf just out of sight. Then, with the same steadiness, he faced the kids again.
“You should probably go.”
The girl walked over and hooked a hand on her friend’s elbow. He started to go with her pulling, but then at the last second, he locked in his footing. “Sure you don’t need help?”
“We’re good.” Defeated, the boy muttered one last comment under his breath. The man watched the two leave and commented, “Y’all get home safe.”
The girl waved her hand without looking back. “We will, sir. Thank you.” To her friend, she said, “Let’s go to the candy lady and head home.”
“...You think she’s open?”
“Yeah, you just gotta knock at her window and...”
Anté waited until the two were out of earshot. The man slowly stood up, leaned out of the window, andthen checked the area before waving Anté closer. “Tires got air?” he asked.
They shrugged a shoulder. “Should be fine.”
“Good. Lemme get the tape.”
The man drew back inside and rose to his full height before disappearing further into the small space. It wasn’t long before he returned with a beaten black crossbody bag and two VHS tapes. Anté was just barely taller than the ledge, which they rested their chin on top of.
“Two for one,” he said with a small smirk.
“Explains why it was so loud,” Anté said as he set down the tapes and bag on his table. “What are their names?”
The man grabbed two plastic cases before focusing on the tapes again. He read the first, “Beth Hodges”. After slotting it in its case, he read off the second, “Derrick Acosta.” That tape went into its case as well. He started to put them both into the bag before asking, “Do you know where they are?”
Anté shrugged. “I will in a minute, won’t I?”
The man laughed again with the same amusement and gentleness as before. “Sho’ you right.” He packed the bag, zipped it up, and then handed it to Anté through the window. “Your bike’s around the side.”
“Thanks. I’ll be back in a back.”
“No rush.” He sank down into his chair again and rested his chin on a curled fist. The sounds of the buzzing sign and the whirring VCRs were louder now. “The worst part is already done.”
Anté made a noise but didn’t reply outside of that. They hooked the bag over their shoulder as they walked around the building. Sure enough, a deep green city bike with peeling stickers was leaning against the wall. It wasn’t chained up, but that didn’t matter. No one around here would dare steal it. Everyone in town knew who it belonged to.
Anté walked the bike a few steps and then hopped on as it coasted forward. They wheeled around to give the man a passing wave. When he responded with a flick of his hand, Anté quickly pedalled away from the neon lights brightening the parking lot.
As they headed into town, the road began to steadily incline. They stared at the crest and let their thoughts travelling elsewhere as they climbed. It was a familiar path they had taken dozens of times with their family. Nowadays, they only came this way for... deliveries. Halfway up, they heard a car behind them. A light shone against their back, and a few seconds later, it flashed in warning a few times. Anté scowled before pulling off to the side and setting a foot down to stop. When they looked back, their eyes glowed eerily as the light reflected off of them. The car stopped next to Anté, and a police officer leaned across the passenger seat.
“Aw, shoot. Sorry, kid. I didn’t know it was you.”
You saw the bike, Anté thought, but they stared at him silently.
He looked up the hill before turning his attention to them again. “Do you need a ride? I’m sure it’d be faster than—”
“No.”
He smoothed his hand nervously over the steering wheel. After a hanging pause, he said, “Right. Well... You be safe out here then.”
“I’m not the one you have to worry about tonight. Officer.”
The man leaned back in his seat. If he said anything else, Anté didn’t hear it and would have ignored it even if they did. They followed his patrol car with their eyes as it left. After a sigh and a shake of their head, they didn’t wait much longer to push up onto their pedals once more and continue on their way.
The quiet commercial district gave way to rows of houses and pristine yards. Anté stopped pedaling and coasted down the gentle slope to their destination. They split their attention to the tapes in their bag. A single thought went through their head: Beth Hodges. Her tape sunk like a stone in their bag, and Anté glanced around for any external signs.
Looking slightly up, they noticed that one of the street lamps was flickering outside of a light blue house. Anté curved off the road, onto the sidewalk, and into the driveway where they gently applied the brake. It was terribly quiet outside, but despite there not being a single soul around, Anté still felt a heavy presence. They stared at the house and tried to parse what they were feeling. It was just hard to get a reading from the outside. So, without taking a look around, they dropped their kickstand and headed to the front of the house.
The locks clicked as they approached. When Anté tried the front door, it opened easily for them. The heavy atmosphere only intensified as they entered the house, but at least now, they could get a proper read on the emotion here. Sorrow. Yeah... that was about what they expected. Still didn’t make it easy to digest.
Anté closed the door and began looking around for the VCR. After a couple of rooms, they found one in the family room. It was a modest space with a large couch, an entertainment set, and a floor-to-ceiling bookcase. A rectangular window with drawn back, gaudy velvet curtains was just behind the couch. Anté stared into the yard as they quietly strayed forward. They could see a few reflections in the glass, just not their reflection. A natural instinct would be to blame the fact that there was no light on in the room, but Anté knew the truth. They turned to face the TV.
Where the TV was readily visible, Anté had to open and push back the wooden door hiding away the VCR. Their bag got heavier and began to shake. They immediately backed out of the room, and after waiting a few seconds, the shaking stopped. Anté pulled their bag around to their front and stared inside. Derrick’s case was still heavy, but it was getting lighter the longer it stayed out of the room. Comforted by that at least, Anté went through the next few steps quickly and fluidly. They removed Beth’s tape, left their bag on the floor, put the tape into the VCR, and hit rewind. They kept the TV off all the while and put the plastic case in one of the narrow, empty spaces.
After pressing the button, they turned their back on the entertainment set, stared at the floor, and waited. The VCR whirred to life. Slowly at first before quickly picking up speed. The noise grew louder, and the room around them shifted oddly. Clothes and shoes appeared on the floor briefly and then disappeared. When the room distorted again, Anté managed to catch a glimpse of a messy bed as well. They turned to face the door but only left when a soft blue light filled the room. The light washed over them, the sorrowful weight lifted off their shoulders, and Anté felt as if they could breath again. Soon after, they began their search for a bedroom.
Keepsakes and precious belongings dragged across the floor into the family room. They spared the items passing glances but didn’t look at anything in particular for very long. A small bell chimed as a pet collar was pulled into the other room. Anté could feel the residuals of other presences in the house. All of them long gone but still lingering as if keeping someone company.
Won’t have to stick around for much longer. Anté still turned over possibilities in their head as they dipped their gaze into one empty room and then another. They focused again, watched as the room distorted, and then followed a phantom pull in another direction. They followed the tug into a master bedroom where they found a woman lying in her bed. Anté frowned slightly before drawing the covers over her. The TV in this room popped as it responded to Anté’s presence, but the screen was slow to turn on.
“Rest in peace, Mrs. Hodges,” Anté muttered. They placed a hand over one of her own underneath the covers. “I gotchu now.”
They watched her body for a moment, and as they did, that melancholy feeling descended upon the room in stages. Anté didn’t resist it this time. Instead, they walked around and admired the many pictures hanging on Beth’s wall and the jewelry she kept on the top of her heavy oak wood dresser. The dresser had a large mirror that almost touched the ceiling. This time, they could see their reflection, but they didn’t dare to look. They didn’t want to gamble on whether they would see their face, one of her loved ones, or something else entirely. From their peripheral vision, they could see their body and clothes, and that was enough.
One day, when they were more experienced, when they were braver, they’d look up to see who was staring back at them. Maybe.
The room slowly brightened as the TV screen finally turned on. Images danced on the walls; shadows flickered erratically. Anté calmly smoothed their hand over the knit runner atop the dresser. Delicate, clearly handmade, and aged. It might’ve been a gift of some kind, or maybe Beth made it herself at one point. It was hard to say. That was the sad thing about jobs like this: Anté would never know...
As the journey of Beth’s life flashed throughout the room, Anté felt a new, more insistent tug. They lifted their head and slowly looked in the direction of her closet, and the pull became stronger. Anté stepped over and began their quiet search as the pull evolved into a tightness that threatened to form a lump in their throat. They felt a new urgency, a worry that they wouldn’t find “it” built up, but every worry was wiped away once they had a fake leather book in their hands. A photo album— it was thick, and some of the lamented pages were about to fall out. Clearly a treasured item.
“I found it,” they said out loud. Something shifted in the air; the sadness wasn’t as oppressive now. “I can take it with me, or I can leave it somewhere they can find it.”
A guiding force turned their head, and Anté’s eyes glowed as they gained the insight to leave the album in the living room.
“Okay. I’ll do that. He’ll make the call tomorrow.” They tucked the book under their arm and walked over to Beth once again. One final time. They touched her covered hand. “Thank you.”
In the family room, the tape stopped. The sound was deafening.
“And good-bye.”
The TV in Beth’s bedroom slowly darkened, and when the shadows fell over them, Anté didn’t feel the sadness anymore.
─────── 🕱 ───────
They sighed heavily as they walked outside. They closed the doors behind them, and the locks fell into place once more. Now that they were close to the streetlights, Anté could see Beth’s VHS case more clearly. The once blank plastic had now been filled in. On the front was Beth, who had to be around 60 years old, throwing her head back in laughter as a small dog licked at her face. Behind her were a couple of family members pushing at her shoulders. From their attire and the sunlit background, they all appeared to be on the beach. They looked happy. Not only that, but Anté could feel the peace radiating from the tape. They smiled gently.
“Hope the other side treats you right, Mrs. Hodges...” Anté said under their breath. After peeking at the back and seeing more of that idyllic beach scene, they tucked the tape into their bag, which felt a bit lighter now.
They took that as a sign that they were doing something right. Dirma said they had been doing a good job, and even though they knew he had no reason to lie, sometimes they couldn’t help but overthink this line of ...work. They chalked it up to nerves; they knew they’d get used to it in the end.
“Okay. Last one...” Anté took in a deep breath and focused again.
Derrick’s tape responded immediately like a furious quip, and just as Anté latched onto the feeling, a car alarm sounded off somewhere in the distance. That... wasn’t exactly good news, but at least they knew where they were headed. Anté pushed up the kickstand with their heel, swung the bike around, and pedaled hard towards the blaring car.
This one wouldn’t be as easy to claim, but at least they’d have a story to share with Dirma later. If they were lucky, they’d even be able to leave at a reasonable hour, and then they and their companions would finally head back to their rightful places.