Amorous Goods: The Victrola

His voice went away and was replaced by moaning and the sound of flesh slapping against flesh. I could hear a woman's voice in the background and knew it was Terri.

"Oh God, yes," she moaned. "Fuck my pussy, Master. Keep fucking me. Cum inside my slutty cunt." I heard a man groan out loud and then there were no more sounds. I looked and saw the needle was in the final groove next to the label. How long had it been there, I wondered. Shocked, I lifted the needle and stopped the player.

I pulled the wax record off the turntable and replaced it in its paper sleeve before putting it away. I looked through the other albums carefully and found one with an old RCA label marked, "To Jack From Terri." Strange, I thought. That wasn't there this morning. How could this possibly be? I thought about playing that record, but had another idea. I had a turntable at home that could play 78 RPM albums, so I decided I would take the record home and listen to it there, and if necessary, confront my wife.

I looked at the time and realized my lunch break was nearly over. Could I really have been conversing with a dead man through an old phonograph that long? Stunned and shocked, I tossed the rest of my lunch away and went back to my desk. I called Terri's office, hoping to speak to her.

"Is Terri Thornton available?" I asked the receptionist.

"I'm sorry, Jack, but she's been out all day," the receptionist said. "I don't expect her back until sometime tomorrow. Can I leave a message?"

"No, that's alright," I said. "I'll talk to her later." I ended the call, then pulled out the card and called Vikki.

"Hello, Jack, I was expecting your call," she said. "Would you like to come over so we can talk?"

"Yes," I said. "How did you know I'd be calling?"

"Call it a woman's intuition," she said. "I suggest the sooner you get here the better."

"Okay, I'm coming right over," I said, ending the call. I went to Alan's office. He looked at me and invited me inside. I walked in and closed the door behind me.

"What's the matter, Jack?" he asked. "You don't look too well. Are you feeling alright?"

"I need to take some time off," I said. "Family emergency."

"Well, you've got comp time coming, and we don't have anything pressing, so go ahead. Take a few days and get it under control," he said. "If there's anything I can do, please let me know."

"Thanks, Alan," I said. "I appreciate that." With that, I went back to my office, put the record from Terri in my briefcase and headed out. I decided to drive by the old Parker place to see if she was there. Sure enough, she was. I could see her car along with another parked in front of the house. I couldn't get in because the iron gate at the driveway was closed. I looked but didn't see any signs indicating the place was for sale. Odd, I thought.

From there, I drove straight to Vikki's shop. I was desperate for answers and I hoped she could give me some. When I got there, I went inside and saw her behind the counter. She looked up as I walked inside.

"Good afternoon, Jack," she said. "I assume you want some answers."

"You assume right," I said. She nodded her head, went to the door and locked it, putting up a sign that read, "Closed." She turned back and started walking to the back of the shop, I assumed, where her office was located. She stopped and looked back at me.

"Perhaps you should come with me," she said. I followed her into a small, crowded office with a desk and three chairs. One of the chairs sat in a corner and was covered with an afghan. She invited me to sit in the other chair as she took her place behind her desk.

"I take it you listened to the record with the blank label," she said. I nodded my head.

"You might say that," I said. "More to the point, I had a conversation with the man who recorded that disk. What can you tell me about your uncle?"

"Well, for starters, he was actually my great-uncle -- my grandfather's oldest brother," she said. "He held two degrees. One in archaeology and another in history. He got married and taught for a while, but after his wife died of meningitis, he left the college and began exploring the world, collecting artifacts from all over. About 35 years ago, he finally settled back into the old house and opened this place. He never remarried and always talked about how he and his beloved wife would one day be reunited."

"Did he say how that might happen?" I asked. She shook her head.

"No, but he did talk a lot about otherworldly things," she said. "Supernatural things."

"Was he involved with the occult?" I asked. She shrugged her shoulders.

"I can tell you that he was accused of that, more than once, and I can tell you he dabbled in things I never really cared to mess with," she said. I nodded my head in understanding. "Would you like to see a picture of his wife?" she asked.

"Sure," I said. She turned to her computer and pulled up a digitized black and white photograph of a stunningly beautiful woman in her mid 20s. I looked at the photo in shock. She looked like the spitting image of my Terri. Vikki saw the expression on my face. I pulled out my cell phone and showed her a recent picture of Terri. She looked at it, shocked.

"What's your wife's maiden name?" she asked.

"Hanson," I said. Vikki opened another file on her computer.

"Uncle Jonas was really into genealogy," she said. "He originally had everything on paper, but put it into a computer a few years before he died." She pointed at one entry in a box. "This was his wife -- Annabelle. Her maiden name was Simpson and according to this, she had a sister, Freida. We know Annabelle didn't have any children and Uncle Jonas never remarried. Let's follow Freida's line and see what we come up with."

We both examined the screen, following the lines down through the generations. Fortunately, there wasn't much to go through, but Vikki found it and pointed to a box on the screen. I looked and saw it: Terri Ann Hanson. A box next to it was connected with a line and had my name inside. Below that were the names of our children.

"There's your answer," she said. "He was waiting for someone who resembled Annabelle."

"Do you have a picture of your brother on here?" I asked.

"Sure," she said, going back to the pictures folder. She pulled one up and showed it to me.

"How much does he resemble your uncle?" I asked.

"Quite a bit," she said. "His name is Donald. They were quite close."

"Is it possible that your uncle had him give her that ring?" I asked.

"Anything's possible, I guess," she said.

"Did your uncle keep track of the things he picked up over the years?" I asked her.

"Yes," she said. "Mostly for keeping inventory. It's all here in the database. He spent years putting it together."

"Can you search for 'ring' and 'soul' in that database?" I asked.

"Yes I can," she said, pulling up what looked like a custom program built for a database. She entered the search terms and hit enter. There were a few items displayed and most were marked as "sold." The top item, however, caught my eye. It was the exact ring I saw on Terri's hand. Vikki clicked on the item description and we read the entry Jonas had input.

"According to this, he discovered the ring at a dig in central Africa," Vikki said. "Local legend had it that an ancient tribe used a ring like this to commune with the dead. The wearer could supposedly channel the spirit of someone who passed away and even take on some of that person's personality traits. But there's a warning. If worn long enough, the departed spirit could displace the spirit of the person wearing the ring."

"Oh my God," I said. "Did Jonas say anything else? Like, how to reverse the process?"

"He has an entry here that gives a chant," she said. "According to Jonas, it has to be spoken by two females, and one of them has to be related to the person wearing the ring." Terri's mother lived in Florida, and was too far to get here in time. But there was one other person. It was a risk, but if we were ever to get Terri back, it had to be done.

"Would you be willing to help me break that spell?" I asked.

"Yes, I would," she said. "But we need two females. Where are you going to get the other?"

"I'll have to get her out of school," I said. "Print out two copies of that chant if you would please. I have to call the school."

"Okay," she said. As she did that, I called April's school and told them there was a family emergency and I needed to pull her out. They wanted to know the nature of the emergency, and I simply told them it had to do with her mother. The vice principal I spoke to reluctantly agreed and I said I would there shortly. By the time I ended the call, Vikki was finished.

"I assume you can get into the gate and the door at your uncle's house?" I asked her.

"Of course," she said.

"Alright," I told her. "If you have that printed out, let's go. I'll bring you back later." WE headed out and got to the school, where April was waiting outside. She got in the car and looked at Vikki, confused.

"What's going on, Dad?" she asked. "Is Mom okay? Who is this woman?"

"No, she's not, dear," I said. "By the way, this is Vikki. Vikki, meet April, my daughter. Could you please give her the chant?" Vikki handed her a sheet of paper with the strange chant printed on it in large letters. April looked at it, her brows furrowed.

"What is this, Dad? It's gibberish," she said.

"We're going to the old Parker house," I told her. "When we get there, you and Vikki will need to recite that together. Can you do that?"

"I guess so," she said. "But I'm confused. What is this and what does it have to do with Mom?"

"Remember you told me you wanted your old mother back?" I asked.

"Yeah," she said.

"This is the only way that'll ever happen," I told her. "I really can't explain too much more than that. I'm not even sure I believe it all myself."

"Huh?" April asked, nearly hysterical. Vikki turned in her seat.

"My great-uncle Jonas was into a lot of strange things," she told April. "He's to blame for what's going on with your mother."

"But he's dead," April said.

"Only his body is dead," Vikki told her. "I'll explain later. Just familiarize yourself with that chant. Follow my lead. When I tell you, we say it together. Understand? Your father is counting on you to do this." April calmed down, looked at my reflection in the mirror, then nodded her head.

"Okay," she said quietly. I saw her reading the paper intently as I drove. We finally made it to the Parker house and Vikki hit a series of numbers on the pad in front of the gate. When she did so, the gate opened and I drove inside, stopping next to Terri's car. Vikki turned to April.

"Remember, follow my lead," she said. "There may be things happening here that might shock you. Just look past it. Whatever you might see, remember, it's not really your mother. Understand?"

"I guess," she said. We got out of the car and walked to the front door. Vikki already had her keys out and opened it. We stepped inside and looked around, but didn't see anyone. We listened and heard a woman moaning in orgasm. I recognized the voice -- it was Terri.

"What's going on here?" April asked.

"You don't want to know, dear," I told her. Vikki put her finger to her mouth telling us to be quiet. We followed the voices to a set of stairs leading into a basement, and went downstairs. We entered a large, dimly-lit chamber and saw two figures -- Terri and Donald. Both had just thrown on a robe and were securing the ties when we walked in. I noticed he wore a ring very much like Terri's. They looked at us, surprised to see us there.

"What are you doing here, man-child?" Terri asked, an ugly sneer on her face. Her eyes had changed and were completely black. "And who is the little girl?"

"I could ask you the same, Terri," I said. "What are you doing here? You certainly aren't selling any real estate, that's for certain. And this girl is our daughter. Don't you remember your own daughter?" Terri laughed.

"Terri's not here right now, man-child," the woman said. "Call me Annabelle. And I don't have any children. Not yet, anyway. I'm just getting used to this body. It's been a long time since I felt a hard cock inside me." The man laughed as she said that. He looked at me and I noticed his eyes were also completely black.

"It's just as I told you earlier, Jack, my boy," he said in Jonas' voice.

"You don't belong on this plane of existence anymore, Uncle Jonas," Vikki said. "It's time for you and Aunt Annabelle to go back where you really belong." She looked at April and nodded her head. They both began reading the chant in unison.

"No," Jonas/Donald exclaimed. "This can't be happening. You can't do this!" As the two women chanted, the atmosphere in the room changed and became more charged. I looked and saw what appeared to be two vortexes, each one swirling over Donald and Terri. Their eyes flashed for a moment, and the swirling became more pronounced.

I thought I saw figures in the vortexes -- strange, hooded things with fire for eyes. I looked at Vikki and April and saw what looked like an electrified aura surrounding them. Their eyes were wide and shone like fire. They held the papers at their sides and were now chanting as one, as if on autopilot.

Terri and Donald screamed and tried to break free of the vortexes, which had by now completely covered their bodies. It continued to build, the charge in the room getting worse and worse. Suddenly, it all vanished and everything became normal. The girls stopped chanting and we looked at Donald and April.

Their eyes had returned to normal and they stood there for a moment, expressionless. Then they fell to the floor, not moving. April and I ran to Terri while Vikki went to Donald.

"Get that ring off of him," I told Vikki as I pulled the ring off Terri's right hand. There was a fireplace at one end of the room and we tossed the rings in the fire. I took Terri's face in my hands and tried to get her attention as April cried for her mother. Vikki tried to get Donald's attention at the same time. We were both unsuccessful. Terri looked at the two of us kneeling by her, but there was no recognition or emotion in her face. It was completely blank. Donald was in the same condition.

Vikki stood up and pulled her phone to call 911. We tried to make the two of them as comfortable as we could and spoke to them, trying to make them recognize us, but to no avail. Soon, the paramedics arrived and checked the two of them out before putting them on gurneys.

"We'll be taking them to County General," one of the medics said. We got in my car and followed the ambulance to the hospital. Then we waited. And waited. And waited some more. Finally, a couple of doctors came out to see us. One of them spoke to Vikki while the other spoke to April and I.

"Mr. Thornton," the doctor said. "I don't quite know what to tell you. Physically, there's not a thing wrong with your wife. All of her blood work and other tests came back just fine. All of her levels appear to be exactly where they should be and we didn't find any evidence of drugs. I am concerned, however, with the results of her EEG. It's almost as if the lights are on, but no one is home."

"So, what do we do?" I asked.

"I'm going to recommend she stay here for a few days," he said. "I'd like to have her go through more extensive tests under the supervision of our neurology department. Maybe we can find out what's going on there." I nodded my head.

"Okay," I said. After the doctor left, Vikki and I compared notes and learned the doctor said the same thing about Donald. We stayed until they got the two of them into a room. April and I spoke to Terri, but she looked at us as though we were completely alien to her and she didn't say a word. Finally, we said our goodbyes, kissing her on the cheek. Her face showed no emotion whatsoever as we did so.

We drove back to Vikki's shop in silence, all of us shocked by the events of the last few hours. I promised to stay in touch when she got out of the car. She promised to look through her uncle's notes to see if she could find anything that might help. When she got out, April jumped in the front seat.

"What now, Dad?" she asked. I shook my head.

"I don't know, dear," I said. "We do everything we can to support your mother, help her get back to normal, I guess."

"Are you going to divorce her?" she asked sadly. "You know what they were doing down there, don't you?"

"I know," I said. "Somehow, I don't think your mother had any control over that. Don't ask me to explain. I'm not sure I understand it all myself."

"What if she did?" April asked.

"Then we deal with that when the time comes," I said. We rode the rest of the way home in silence, but my mind was going into overdrive. April had a good point. If Terri did knowingly cheat on me, there would be no question that divorce was the only option. But something told me to hold that thought.

Robert was already home when we got there. He came up to us, worried.

"What's going on, Dad?" he asked. "Where were you guys?"

"We were at the hospital," I said.

"Hospital?" he asked. "Is it Mom? It is, isn't it? What happened?"

"Mom's not herself right now," April said. "We can't explain it and neither can the doctors. They're going to keep her for a bit and run some tests."

"Is she okay?" Robert asked.

"Physically, yes," I said.

"Oh my God," Robert said. "Is Mom a psycho or something?" April looked at him, angry, and started to slap his face, but I grabbed her hand before she could.

"No, your mother's not psycho," I said. "And I never want to hear you say that again," I added calmly but firmly. "She has a problem, but they're going to find out what it is. In the meantime, we will support her as we always have. Got it?"

"I got it, Dad," he said. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean it that way."

"I know you didn't, son," I told him. I opened my arms and held the two of them. We shared some tears for a bit before I let them go.

"I'm going to warm up some dinner," April said. I nodded my head.

"Do that," I said. "You guys go ahead and eat, then do your homework. I have some things to do."

"Are you going to be okay, Dad?" she asked.

"I think so," I said. "This is all so overwhelming right now." I went into my home office and shut the door. I set my briefcase down and opened it. I pulled the record that held Terri's message on my turntable, set it to 78 RPM, then plugged in my headphones. I hoped this would actually work. I grabbed a beer out of my small refrigerator and sat down to listen to the record.

"Jack, it's me, Terri," I heard her say in the headphones. "I don't know where I am, but I wanted to get this done so you might understand what's going on. I know this is going to sound strange, but I was given this ring by Donald Parker. He said it was a gift for all my work in getting the house ready for sale. Ever since he gave me that ring, though, strange things began to happen.

"I can't quite explain it, but it's as if there's two people in my head, me and someone else. Someone from a long time ago. Her name is Annabelle, and she was Jonas Parker's wife. She's been using my body and I have no control over what she does with it. She speaks through me and does things and I can't do anything to stop her. I tried, but it feels like I've been shoved aside and made to stay in a fog. I've seen her do things with Parker, sexual things. I tried to make her stop. Honestly, I did. But I couldn't. The night of your birthday, Annabelle took control and she's the one who did all those things to you. She originally promised to let me have you that night, but she reneged on her promise. Then she made me watch and taunted me the whole time.

"I tried to tell you, but she wouldn't let me. She said I was a lousy fuck and you'd be better off with a woman who at least knew how to give a good blowjob. I cried as I watched her suck your cock. I saw the look on your face and it hurt knowing that it wasn't really me making you feel so good. I felt so inadequate as a wife.