by Lizzie Vega
Alvin was laughing as he carefully took the camera from Kelli’s hands, “Nice one,” he smirked, grateful for some inadvertent comic relief, “but the button for the flash is a little touchy.” Kelli sat down on the dining chair blinking her eyes rapidly, “Big blue spot…Jeezuz that surprised me. I get to use this bugger tonight.”
That night, Alvin and Edward entered the Humanities building from the West side, their equipment transferred into unremarkable book bags. A few minutes later, Mikayla and Kelli arrived from the opposite end of the building by way of the Annex. As they met upon the second floor. a quick discussion confirmed the overall lack of students and faculty in the building.
“I think people are getting freaked out more and more. There’s usually way more people here.” Alvin gave a thumbs up, “Win for us. The building does seem weirdly still tonight.”
“All the better,” Edward beamed, “Now I don’t have to look like a stalker waiting around for people to leave the area.” He shook his backpack, “I’ll go set up the sensors. Shouldn’t take long.”
He was back minutes later, “Really quiet in here tonight, like weirdly quiet. I have a good feeling about tonight.” He turned to Kelli, “Let’s get the mics set up, then you guys head upstairs and get into position.”
Headphones working and monitors displaying, they separated, with Mikayla and Kelli setting up shop in the upstairs lounge. After an hour of chit chat over the microphones, it got quiet. Kelli put her fingers over her mic, “If you want to do homework or something, that’s okay.” She stood up. surprising Mikayla.
“Where are you going?” she asked, looking nervously down the hallway. Now late in the evening, the large windows at the end of the hallway were dark adding a disturbing layer to gloom to the building.
“Just gonna go from one end to the other,” Kelli said calmly, “Then back, I promise. I won’t leave you by yourself.” It was several trips back and forth until Mikayla grinned, “Nervous energy? I get that.”
Kelli looked at her phone, “I guess I could do homework.” She lasted about fifteen minutes before the pacing resumed.
A few minutes later, Edward’s voice interrupted the silence, “I’ve got some…ah, never mind,” Edward sighed, then yawned, “it’s nothing. Sorry.”
Alvin was headed back from the bathroom, “I just had some static in my ear, anyone else?”
“Not me,” Mikayla answered, “All quiet.” She looked down the hallway to Kelli. She was gone.”
“Kel-li?” Mikayla’s voice cracked, “Where are you?”
It was quiet for a second, then “Second floor stairwell,” they heard, “Something isn’t right.”
Just then, they heard a thunderous crash as the fire doors to the stairs clanged shut.
“Al…shit, Alvin,” Edward whispered as he stared at his screen, “Stairwell, first floor, Annex side.” He looked up in shock, “It came out of nowhere. It’s big and it’s moving.”
Alvin rushed to his side staring, “No way. Are you sure this stuff is working?”
Hearing the shocked tone in his voice, Mikayla called out for Kelli, “Where are you, Kel? I don’t like this.”
Edward caught his breath, “Moving along first floor,” he said excitedly, “This stuff actually works.”
“What?” Mikayla said loudly as she was headed toward the end of the hall where she’d last seen Kelli, “That’s not funny. What’s happening?”
Another set of doors slammed shut on the first floor. “Where, Ed?”
Edward looked up peering down the hallway, “Moving this way, but I don’t see anything.” He raised his laptop to Alvin, a large blob of static pulsed along a hastily sketched floorplan on the screen.
“Get the EVP monitor, that’s on the main floor.” Alvin turned to run down the hall, “Everybody, get down to the first floor, use the stairwells.
Kelli broke in, “I can’t open the fire door, the push bar is stuck. Gonna try the other end.”
Mikayla approached the closed door at the top of the third level. She hesitantly pushed on the latch, almost hoping the door wouldn’t open. The metal bar rotated easily in her hand and the heavy steel door swung open, “Kelli would you stay put? I’m trying to find you.”
“Second floor doors,” Kelli called out, “I see Alvin and Ed.” She waved to them just as the door slammed shut in her face.
“What the hell?” she blurted out, more frustrated than fearful. The lights in the stairwell dimmed suddenly and the doors reopened in front of her. “Ed, you guys better not be messin’ with us.”
“Doesn’t make sense,” she heard, “Now there’s a reading above you. That must be third floor.”
“That’s…me,” Mikayla said into her mic and instantly Kelli started taking the steps two at a time, “I’m on my way. Stay put.”
“Mikayla,” Edward, shouted, “Head for the Annex side of the building. The pulse is at the opposite end. It’s not moving. We need to all be together.”
Just then, the lights in the building’s hallway went dark. A moment later the battery back-up lights came on. Edward covered his mic with his hand, “Alvin, what the fuck is happening?” After a moment, he called out again, “Mikayla, come down the steps to the second floor. Hurry.”
Edward looked at Alvin, “It’s moving right at her.”
“Everybody,” Alvin started to say, but Edward waved him off, “Where now?”
Mikayla burst through the stairwell but in the excitement took the wrong adjoining doors and found herself in the brightly lit hallway of the Annex mezzanine, “Uh-oh.” She spun to catch the door as it closed but it locked behind her.
“Wrong turn,” she shouted, “I gotta get back to your building. Where’s Kelli?” A moment later the door lock clicked loudly, and Kelli pushed the door open, “Right here,” she grinned, “Is this fucking cool or what?” She turned and ran back up the steps leaving Mikayla alone but able to follow her.
Stepping back into the stairwell, Mikayla could hear Kelli hollering for directions.
“Where is it?” Kelli shouted into her mic as she ran down the dark hallway.
“Ahead of you, moving…moving about as fast as you are. Take the next stairwell.”
“Got it,” Kelli called out as she slowed for the steps, shining her flashlight down into the stairwell, “This is so exciting.” She blew through the twin fire doors and began to make her way down the steps.
“But Kelli…you gotta wait,” Alvin’s voice was equally excited, but he was quick to warn her, “Wait for both us…All of us. I’m just above you. Edward’s at the other end of the building. Slow down.”
“Calm down, Al, jeez, you’re sounding all girly. Hurry up.” She skidded to a stop at the next level, “Still tracking?”
“Yeah…wait,” he called out, “wait, it’s gone. I’m coming up to the stairwell. Holy shit, there it is.”
Just then Kelli heard footsteps on the landing above her but as she turned with her flashlight, the two steel fires doors slammed shut. The sound echoed down the hallway.
Edward’s voice broke in, “Kel, wait for Alvin. I’m coming up to you.” A second later, a second set of doors clanged shut at the opposite end of the addition. “Shadow,” Edward cried out, “I saw something big, like tree roots, but the doors just slammed closed right in front of me. I can’t get in.”
“Kelli, It’s Alvin, get back to the stairwell. Go back up. Run. The pulse is coming down your hallway. This isn’t a good idea.”
She froze, then shook her head, “I gotta see this. I’ve got the camera ready. I…I’m good to go.”
“It’s not safe. Get out, please get out.”
“Kelli, I’m coming” she heard Mikayla’s breathless voice, “I just passed the lounge, just a sec.”
Kelli strained to see into the darkness, she could see a light flashing intermittently from the hall where the old classroom section connected to the new addition, “I see your flashlight,” she called out, “It’s…” The bouncing light disap
peared, and Kelli instantly realized something was blocking her view of the hallway.
“Alvin, where?” Kelli called out, her voice rising as panic began to set in, “Alvin…Edward, where?” She turned around, ready to vault up the stairs. The oversize flashlight smacked into the handrail and clattered across the steps. Instinctively, she began to raise the camera.
“In the hallway,” she heard in her ear, “It’s right in front of you.” Without looking her thumb hit the plunger on the old camera and a bright flash of light lit up the hallway.
“Ahhh,” Kelli screamed, “A… a shadow. Oh God.” Another strobe flash erupted from the camera as her shrieking continued, “Help meeee.” Her thumb stuck on the flash trigger; the camera flash continued to reload and fire. “No….no please.”
The lights in the building unexpectedly flickered back to life.
“Kelli,” Mikayla shrieked as she rounded the corner only to see the strobing of the flashbulb trigger over and over as Kelli lay motionless on the floor. Slowing for a second as her fears overtook her, she bore down, reaching her friend as another set of fire doors clanged shut farther down the Annex.
The doors above them opened and Alvin quickly made his way down the stairwell flipping on lights as he went. At the opposite end of the hall, Edward burst through the now open doors and sprinted toward the women. He ran full tilt while looking down at his hand-held screen. “It’s gone…gone. Off the screen.” He came to a halt and looked down at Kelli, his already pale complexion now a solid white, “Oh Jesus. Is she…-“
Kelli was flat on her back, her head cocked at a ghastly angle. Her open eyes fixed on the side wall, not blinking and, from what Mikayla could tell, she wasn’t breathing.
Alvin stopped on the landing above them, “Kelli…..oh no…no no no.” Mikayla looked up at him as she knelt down gently reaching out to her friend.
“Kel?” she sobbed, “Please…be okay.”
The draining flash from the camera fired one more time and Mikayla screamed in reaction. Kelli’s chest heaved in a shallow gasp, then continued to pulse as she gasped repeatedly for air. Blinking finally, tears began to roll down her cheeks.
“Sweetie, please lay still. Don’t move,” Mikayla rasped as she began to collect herself, “Let’s make sure you’re not hurt.”
Rolling one foot and slowly bending her knee, Kelli took her first deep breath and tried to sit up only to have Edward quickly reach to hold her down, “Not so fast. Just hang out for a minute or two.”
Her panicked eyes darted back and forth between Edward and Mikayla, then jumped up the stairwell as Alvin loomed over the top of her. She cried out, then looked back to the hallway.
“It’s gone, Kelli,” Alvin tried to assure her, “Gone. It’s just us now.” He looked down the hallway where the last doors had slammed shut, “I hope.”
Kelli’s eye’s squinted and she moved her lips, her breathing still short, “Fff…ffuck….I saw it. Oh…” With Mikayla’s help she moved her shoulders, bringing her head away from the bottom step, “Ow, my head hurts.”
There were frightened glances between the others, “We should call this in. You’re hurt.”
“No,” she said adamantly as she propped herself up on her elbows. Sighing deeply, she held up her hand, the camera still clicking away on a dying battery, “I got it…I got something…and….it ain’t pretty.”
“The flashes? We gotta get out of here.” Edward said as he looked up and down the hallway, “The flashing lights will be visible from the dorms. Somebody will call the cops.”
“Can you stand up?” Mikayla asked quietly but Kelli was already on the move.
“Yeah, but…” she put her hand to the back of her head and looked at the streak of blood on her fingers, “Not the look I was going for.” Both Alvin and Edward reached out to catch her as her knees buckled, “It’ll just…be a sec…ond.”
“Concussion, maybe?” Mikayla asked, glancing cautiously to Alvin before returning to Kelli, “Dizzy maybe?”
“No more than usual,” Kelli quipped as she recovered, “I promise I’m okay. The lights aren’t bothering me, and I don’t feel sick to my stomach. Let’s grab our stuff and go home.” Stretching out her arm, she handed Edward the camera. Alvin saw her forearm, “Kel, does that hurt?”
Kelli nodded as she inspected the fresh bruise, “I don’t remember actually being touched.” She shook her shoulders in a deep shiver, “It was so close to me…it got right up in my face.”
Back at her dorm room, Mikayla was still pushing for a professional to check Kelli out, “I really think you should go to the infirmary, Kel.” Mikayla handed her a package of frozen peas wrapped in a hand towel, “I mean, just in case. That’s a big knot on your head.”
“I’m fine, “Kelli snapped back putting her hand at arms-length to track her finger back and forth, “See? And…who keeps peas in a dorm room?”
Noting Kelli’s poor attempt to self-evaluate, Mikayla teased her, “Not sure it’s quite the same if you do it on yourself, just sayin.”
“Not only am I fine,” she took the makeshift ice pack off the back of her head, “I’m getting my vegetables for the day.” She followed up her joke with a smirk, “Headache’s almost gone. I’m really okay and thanks for all the TLC.”
“I still think you should stay here for the night so I can keep an eye on you,” Mikayla suggested for the second time, “If it’s a concussion, I can wake you up every hour or so.”
“That would be both lovely and super annoying at the same time,” Kelli said with a grin, “Plus, I’m too jazzed to sleep.” She held up her hand, flexing her arm, “Pizza’d be good, then find something good to stream.”
Mikayla pointed at Kelli’s bruised arm, “Does that hurt?”
Kelli turned her arm over to inspect it more closely, “I don’t really know how it happened. I really want to see those pictures. It’s fine. How ‘bout a garlic chicken or something?”
“Lucky it’s Saturday so we can sleep in,” Mikayla said innocently as she picked up her phone, “the guys will call us if they find something. I’ll order.”
“Mmm, yeah. A lazy Saturday morning,” Kelli said as a text pinged on Mikayla’s phone as she ordered the pizza. After the call, she smiled at Kelli, “It’s Edward. Wants to know how you are. That’s nice of him, right?”
“Totally fine.”
Mikayla sent back a return text that included far more words than Kelli’s brief response.
“Writing a novel?” she asked.
Mikayla offered a quick flash of her screen, “Ice pack, pizza and snark among other things. Wanna look?”
“Nah. Just don’t go playing matchmaker. I really like both of them and it would be awkward if things went South. I’d feel bad.”
An hour later, a yawn and the empty pizza box signaled a reasonable end to their evening. Mikayla pointed over to her full-size bed, “Climb in. Get comfortable. I’ll take the loveseat” As she began to clear the pillows off her small sofa, Kelli objected. “I’ll take that. I’m shorter than you.”
“Nope. It’s like a brick.” Mikayla hesitantly pointed back to the bed, “I’ll take the, uh wall.”
“You’re a little hyperaware at the moment, Mik. I’m not gonna make a move, I promise. It’s sorta the same as Edward…and Alvin,” she quickly added, “Wingman’s not gonna botch the friendships.” She yawned again, then winked again, “Let’s talk about boys.”
A few minutes of silence later, Kelli whispered, “It’s really quiet in here. Could you play some music…like really soft?”
“Really, Kel? Soft music?”
“Please? Yeah, if you don’t mind. It’s kinda dark too.”
Mikayla sighed, “Music and mood lighting. I’ll get right on that.” Then she realized Kelli’s unsteady voice had offered her a clue, “Yeah sorry. I can fix you right up.”
“Thank you,” Kelli responded from the darkness, “If I’d asked you to stream a thunderstorm recording or something, then you sho
uld suspect I’m up to no good.”
Mikayla turned on a lamp by the loveseat and spun the shade to the wall creating a dim nightlight. She chose a looping playlist of quiet piano music and settled back into bed.
“Thunderstorms,” she said as she relaxed into her pillow, “ya mighta got me with that. Good for future reference.”
Kelli laughed nervously, “Maybe Ethan likes thunderstorms. I have one on my playlist, goes for about an hour and really gets noisy at the end. Tons of thunder, very sexy, very grind-worthy.”
“Stop.” Mikayla interrupted.
“G’nite.” Kelli said quickly and turned to face the wall.
Mikayla wasn’t sure what time it was when she felt the bed shift and Kelli jiggled a couple of times next to her. It didn’t take long for her to figure it out.
“Kel?” she asked quietly, “You okay?”
For a moment, Kelli was still, then, “No,” she squeaked tearfully, “It was so fucking scary.”
Mikayla rolled over and put her arm around her friend, “I imagine. It’s okay, Kel. I’m right here.”
In the morning, Mikayla heard her phone ping early. The text was from Alvin.
Hope Kelli is Okay.
Come over when you’re ready.
You’re not gonna believe what we’ve got.
Chapter 15
When Alvin met Mikayla and Kelli at the door to the house, he wasn’t his jovial self. Mikayla noticed something different right away, “Where’s Edward?”
“Downstairs, losing his mind.” Alvin half-smiled, “I yelled at him a while ago and he’s a little over the top.”
“But he’s okay, right?”
“In a manner of speaking. Yeah, totally fine.”
Edward stood in the doorway to the basement as they came into the kitchen. Alvin teased him, “Look. He’s standing still.”
“Stop it, now,” Edward said with an eye roll as he brushed by Alvin and Mikayla, “Lemme see your arm. Are you okay? How’d you sleep?” He finally turned to Mikayla, “Has she been acting weird or anything?” He reached out and took Kelli’s arm, “I really think you should get this checked out.”
