Solid against the ever encroaching rush of civilisation, the building was a sentinel. Guarding the last bastions of a by gone age. Raising its gothic head to challenge the sky and drink heavens elixir. None of its glass eyes were broken and they stared out with malevolence at all who dared curiosity.
Susie felt her stomach cramp and her breakfast rebel threatening to betray her fear. For a moment her vision blurred and the building shimmered and opened its doors to reveal sharp teeth. Thomas, her brother and his friend, Mike were already at the maw of this beast. Her senses told her that she should run away. Go back home to safety, but her legs wouldn’t move. She glanced upwards as a grating cry took her attention. A crow settled in a tree - one of many surrounding the old swimming pool. She swallowed more breakfast as she gazed at the atrophied branches. They grew towards the building as if it sucked them dry of their energy.
Boys laughter broke her trance. Thomas pointed at her. She couldn’t hear everything he said, but she caught the word baby. Anger rushed into replace fear and she scrunched up her hands into fists. He was always calling her names. It wasn’t her fault that there was five years between them. Her body lurched forward as adrenaline forced her feet to move.
The doors must have been beautiful at one time. Now, they resembled bitter decaying dreams. The polluted fumes from the town had eroded their skin - replacing smoothness with pockmarks of Verdigris. Carved in the middle of each door was woman’s head. Susie’s fingers traced the chiselled waves on her head. Her eyes were devoid holes that held no human warmth.
“Get back.”
Thomas pushed her away and clasped the twisted iron handle. A voice in her head screamed at her to run, but with the grating and hissing of the door opening, the voice fell silent. Dead leaves and mulch blew outward and settled around their feet. Thomas edged forward. She wanted to reach out and pull him back, but he was already swallowed. Mike stared at her.
“Go on. Nothing’s going to happen. It’s just an old building.” His voice sounded kind and she remembered the times he had told Thomas to leave her alone. Trust wrapped around her heart and she entered.
The scent of dry decay swam around her and her nose twitched with the dust. Her brother made stupid noises that echoed off the empty space and fled upwards. The glass ceiling domed at the top like an observatory. She scuffed her feet on something and glanced down. She had kicked a tile loose, revealing the nakedness underneath. The tiles were the covering of the building’s true skin. They protected it and she had scratched the surface. The rustle of dead vegetation filled the void and the sky darkened. She turned around to look at her brother but couldn’t see him. Like a nervous mouse she twisted this way and the other, but she was alone. She heard giggles then her heart lurched as she realised what was happening. The door shut with a finality that made her catch her breath. She touched it in disbelief.
“Let me out.” She tried the handle. It moved but something was stopping the door itself.
“We’ll be back Susie, later.” Her brother’s voice held mischief and cruelty.
“No. You let me out. Now!”
“Bye sis.” Their laughter grew fainter and she felt betrayed.
“Thomas!” She slapped her hand against the door then as panic filled her body she crashed
her fists against it. Rattled and shook the handle. Tears flowed from her eyes and caught in her throat as she choked on dread and blind fear. Sounds slid over her like a damp blanket.
Don’t turn around. Something wild and self-harming clicked inside her brain and she disobeyed her own counsel.
The emptiness which had dwarfed her before had metamorphosed into gigantic proportions. It loomed over her waiting to chew her flesh and spit out the bones. Every fragment of sound was an explosion inside her ears. The blood made them pound as if her heart was trying to fly out. As slow as a worm she slid down to sit on the icy tiles. She brought her knees up and laid her head on them.
‘I’ll just wait right here.’ She relaxed a little as the realisation that her brother wouldn’t leave her for long broke the back of fear.
Softer sounds whirled around her like whispers. Dismissing them at first as her heart calming down, she heard snatches of words. She raised her head. Her eyes bulged and her mouth opened. The emptiness filled with people. Flickering images that moved in a slow line. A woman in a long grey dress turned her head and caught Susie in her sepia stare.
“Do not hesitate, child. Join the line.”
Calm poured into her, a strange feeling after so much terror. The diaphanous people moved onward and her gaze followed them. A tall man stood in the middle of the pool. He looked as if he was in charge as he held a clipboard. He wore a black suit. She stood up and brushed down her dirty jeans. Her breath went in and out like puffs of wind. She joined the queue.
A hand rested on the small of her back.
‘Don’t let the others see you’ve skipped the queue.’
She glanced upward. Walkways lined either side of the pool, barred with crusted iron railings. She craned her neck upward and saw a higher balcony. This one had plaster columns keeping the people safe. Figures moved at a snail’s pace and she listened for the shuffle of feet, but there was none. She bowed her head and she knew the reason why. The people were floating above the ground. Some rose higher than others, but they all moved forward. Shutting her eyes, she wished the dream away, but it didn’t go. She snuffled and wiped her eyes on the sleeve of her jacket. The man would tell her what this was. He would let her out.
The line kept pushing onward towards the tall man. She could hear snippets of conversation.
‘Second time this week.’
‘World’s going to hell.’
She felt as if she was in a bizarre waiting room. It would be normal if they didn’t all float. A thought crashed into her.
Am I dead? It stopped her moving, but she was soon pushed on by the person behind her. The touch was cold and her body shivered. She was getting closer to the tall man and her heart started to drum in her ears.
‘If I’m dead, my heart wouldn’t beat.’ Black shoes so shiny she could see her own reflection. She looked upward and realised she had reached the tall man.
“You should not be here.” His voice boomed into the void of echoes and started a chorus of whispers behind her and above. She stared at his face. His features were so chiselled against his black skin that he resembled a statue carved from ebony. He glared at her.
“I’m locked in,” she said.
‘Come on get a move on.’
‘What’s the hold up?’ People were starting to grumble and the person behind her pushed her to one side.
Her mouth opened and a pitiful wail shocked her back into silence. The tall man carried on with is task and no one else looked at her. She slid down the slimy wall of the pool, and cried into her hands.
“Hello, what’s wrong with you?” Hoping the voice belonged to a girl she looked up. It was a girl about her own age too. She was wearing a shabby and patched pinafore dress, but at least she didn’t float.
“He said I shouldn’t be here.” Susie said, and hated how her voice quivered.
“He said the same thing to me.” The girl sat down beside her.
“Are you alive?” The girl giggled.
“Well I’m not dead. Not like those.” She pointed at the queue. Susie let her misery free.
“I got locked in.” The girl turned to face her and her eyes flicked with emotion.
“Did someone abandon you?”
“No. My brother thought it would be funny to leave me here.”
“That sounds stupid. Is he stupid?” For the first time since she found herself in this grotesque circus, she smiled.
“Yeah. He is.” They laughed at the same time then shared a smile that bonded them.
“What’s your name?” Susie asked.
“Geraldine.”
“Susie.” Information exchanged they sat in silence and gazed at the dead people filing past them.
&nbs
p; “Where are they going?” Susie asked.
“I’ll show you. Take my hand and don’t let go.” She clasped her hand. It was warm - like her own. At the end of the pool was a whirlpool that defied logic. Dust and debris swirled round as if inside a washing machine. They grew darker on the way down until there was nothing but blackness and she couldn’t see the bottom. Susie bent forwards, but the girl pulled her back.
“You never go in there.” Fear threaded through her words into Susie and she huddled tight against her friend. The little she had seen terrified her.
“Watch,” Geraldine said. A figure walked past them and jumped into the middle of the whirlpool.
“That’s how they travel,” she whispered. They stood for a moment longer gawking at the vortex then Geraldine pulled her away.
“Is your brother coming to let you out?”
“Yes. Soon I hope. I don’t like it here.”
“I don’t either.” Susie felt a fluttering inside her tummy like she did before asking her parents for something new.
“Is anyone coming for you?” she asked. Geraldine`s eyes glazed over and she looked away.
“No.” Susie thought how awful this place was and how she would feel if she was stuck here.
“You can come with me, if you want.” The speed which Geraldine turned back to face her surprised her.
“Do you mean that?”
“Yes.”
“Swear it.” Susie felt sick, something was building like a rush of sound or water. Geraldine grabbed her wrist.
“Swear it Susie, please.” Her eyes swam with tears. Susie felt sympathy and anger mixed together.
“I swear. You can come with me.” A thunderclap of sound washed over them and as Geraldine pulled her to her feet she could hear the wind.
‘Wind? Inside?’ Geraldine jumped on her back and held onto her neck with a grip of steel.
“I’m the monkey on your back.” Susie screamed as she felt a sharpness and then a deep pain.
“What are you doing? Get off me.” Mad cackles made the hair on her arms stand up. This wasn’t Geraldine. It didn’t sound like her or feel like her. She tried to buck her off, but all she succeeded in doing was knocking them to the ground. Geraldine jumped on top of her and Susie gasped in horror. Her friend had turned into a monster. She was bald and her skin had turned grey. Her eyes flared crimson and as she cackled the red gash of her mouth opened to reveal sharp pointed teeth.
“You swore to take me so now you gets me, Susie. Forever.”
Ghostly Writes Anthology 2016 Page 30
