Aquarius: Haunted Heart

by Sèphera Girón

  She knew this place. It was one of her familiar nightmare-scapes. She could walk for an entire dream and never reach the end.

  The tunnel was cold, the steady dripping of water filling her ears. Behind her there was the slight whir of a distant wind. Ahead of her, there were footsteps. Slow and plodding. As if the person walking had all the time in the world.

  Madeline ran down the tunnel, hoping to see whoever was walking ahead of her, but no matter how fast she ran, she couldn’t catch up to the noise.

  She always woke exhausted and frightened. Her frustration scared her, for she didn’t know what she would find at the end of that tunnel.

  Now here she was again. But she wasn’t dreaming; she was “visioning,” a term she’d heard at one of the circles. The bricks were cold and seemed to breathe, the moss stank of mold and rot, the stagnant water emitted a powerful stench when disturbed. These sensations were never in her dreams.

  The ache of frustration, the longing and fear crawled through her. Those sensations she never let go. Sometimes they would lie buried, and other times, such as this one, they would ebb and remind her of their existence.

  She wanted to run down the tunnel and see who was there, but she couldn’t be gone long. She was in the middle of a séance.

  Darkness fell at the end of the tunnel, blocking what dim light there had been.

  “What is that?” Diana cried out. Madeline opened her eyes to see Diana staring at the ceiling. Madeline looked up and briefly saw, for a moment, the silhouette of a man in an overcoat. Then he was gone.

  “It was a person who came here to visit once. He never left.” Natasha smiled.

  “I wonder if we caught that on film.” Jake turned to look at his camera, and Madeline jerked him back to the table.

  “Not yet. We can’t break the circle.”

  “Right,” he said, his voice tight.

  “How much longer is the circle? I have to go to the bathroom,” Klaus said.

  “Here. If you need to use the bathroom, we just have to close the circle. It’s easy.”

  Natasha said a few words and released her hands. “You may go.”

  Jake stood and stretched. “So is this shindig over? Can I go study the tapes now?” he asked.

  “We were hoping to continue on with the séance. Aren’t there things you want to see?” Madeline asked.

  “I’ve seen almost everything I need to see.”

  “Now, Jake,” Natasha said, “let’s continue on a few minutes more when Klaus gets back.”

  Jake sat down, drumming his hands against the table. Madeline sat silently, staring at the knickknacks in the hutches. Natasha’s eyes were faraway, and Madeline wondered what she thinking about.

  Klaus returned sheepishly and rejoined the circle.

  “Is everyone ready and settled in now?” Natasha asked.

  “Yes,” Madeline said as she wrapped her fingers around Natasha’s hand. Jake took her other hand, and again she was flanked by extreme temperatures.

  “Let’s try to find our focus again,” Natasha said as she led the circle back into meditation. Everyone held hands and hummed in a low tone.

  The candles burned and flickered. Natasha called upon the spirits to show themselves. She waited while the others looked around expectantly. The air in the room thickened and swirled. Madeline found it hard to breathe and had to gasp for air every few minutes. There was a sensation like someone sitting on her chest, pushing the air from her lungs.

  She closed her eyes and tried to imagine the air flowing in and out of her body freely and easily. However, it seemed as though the more she attempted to loosen up and relax, the tighter her chest grew.

  Jake’s hand held hers tightly, squeezing her fingers as though he was going to snap them right off. On her other side, Natasha’s fingers were loose, and Madeline wondered for a moment if she had fallen asleep.

  The air in the room grew hotter, and beads of sweat began to form on Madeline’s forehead. She grew aware of shushings and whisperings; fingers dancing in her hair and stroking her back. Jake’s grip tightened.

  Madeline was walking through the tunnel, wading ankle-deep in bile, the smells threatening to make her stomach spill its contents. A light shimmered at the far end of the darkness. What would happen when she reached the end? Would she ever reach the end?

  Splashing and scratching noises echoed through the dank walls, but she kept on walking, her curiosity stronger than her fear.

  Footsteps splashed behind her, as though a child was running through a puddle. She turned around, but there was nothing there.

  A steady dripping fell from overhead pipes, and she dodged the drops of brackish water, continuing on in her compelling quest through the tunnel.

  Abruptly the path jogged to the left, and she followed it down a small slope. Her feet slipped and slid on algae-ridden rocks. The musty scent of stagnant water mixed with rotting garbage grew stronger the farther she went. She held her shirt up to her nose to filter out the rank stench.

  There was a howl and a growl, and a huge shadow lunged toward her. A slash of cold pressure sliced across her body.

  Madeline screamed and was abruptly pulled back into the Kelly Proctor dining room. Around the table, everyone sat, ashen and trembling, staring at each other. The candles flickered wildly in their jars, slender streams of smoke swirling up from the flames.

  Madeline shook the confusion from her mind, her pull back to the tunnel strong, but the urge to remain firmly planted in the room stronger.

  “What happened?” she asked. Sometimes she figured that phrase was the most used in her vocabulary.

  “That noise. You heard it too,” Diana said, her hands still clutching Klaus and Eric’s. Madeline looked at Klaus and Eric. Their eyes were wide with fear as they looked apprehensively around the room.

  “Yes. I heard it,” they both said.

  “The noise is only the beginning,” Natasha said. “The noise only alerts you to the fact there is more to come.”

  “What do you mean?” Eric asked.

  “They are able to manifest noise easier than other things. For them to appear to you, it’s harder. For them to speak, harder still. Their sounds are vibrations that spin on other planes. I’ve learned how to listen to them. Some of you may be able to, some not.”

  “I just know I feel a great sense of anger right now. Not mine, just a general sort of anger,” Diana said.

  “Yes, there’s definitely a thickness, an unhappiness...” Klaus said.

  “If there’s nothing more you want to do here tonight, perhaps we should close the circle?” Natasha asked.

  “Yes. Close the circle. We can do more exploring on our own,” Madeline said.

  Natasha spoke a few words to the spirits, to the house, and to the universe. The circle was closed.

  “You may all stop holding hands now.” She grinned as she let go of Madeline’s hand.

  “Whew. My hands were cramping up,” Diana said as she waved her fingers in the air. She stood up and went over to check her recorder. “I think I got something.”

  “I hope we all managed to get something,” Madeline said as she went to check her own camera.

  Jake swept up his camera and marched out of the room and out the front door. She wondered why on earth he was going outside in this weather. She watched as he lit up a cigarette while clicking a few pictures of the windows.

  “He’s very cute,” Natasha said as she stood beside Madeline.

  “Yes, he’s cute. I’d been dying to meet him for a couple of years. But he’s not really what I thought he’d be.”

  “Just what did you expect him to be? In love with you at first sight?” Natasha teased.

  “Oh stop it.” Madeline blushed. “Yes, I had a little crush on the person I thought he was. But now I see he’s nothing like what I thought he was at all.”

  “I think he likes you,” Natasha said.

  “Oh, please. He’s barely been civil to me.”

  “He
’s here, isn’t he? He came all the way from California to be here with you,” Natasha said.

  “He came here because the deal was too sweet not to. He’s always wanted to hang out at the Kelly Proctor house, and now he’s having the chance of a lifetime.”

  Natasha took Madeline’s hand. “Don’t be so cold. Open your senses up. He likes you, but he’s been hurt too.”

  “Who cares? We’ve all been hurt. Boohoo.” Madeline surprised herself with her cynical tone, and as her anger rose, she turned away from Natasha. “I’m going to my room.”

  Madeline took her gear up to her room and sat on the bed with it all strewn around her. On the floor below her, she heard Jake’s bellowing voice ordering the others around. He wanted certain shots taken in the light. Others taken in the dark.

  Madeline’s nerves were too fried to deal with him or his arrogance, so she made notes on her charts about her pictures and recordings. She heard the others moving through the house, taking pictures, listening for telltale noises.

  Before long, there was a knock at the bedroom door.

  “Come in,” she said.

  Jake stood in the doorway, holding a plate with a small piece of cheesecake on it.

  “I thought you might be hungry,” he said as he offered the plate to her. She stared at it. Blueberry cheesecake. Her favorite.

  “You know we’re not supposed to eat and drink in the rooms,” Madeline said as she turned her face away from the cake.

  “I know that we’re adults and that unless you’re considering smearing it across your body, that cheesecake is going nowhere except in your mouth.” Jake sat on the edge of the bed holding up the fork. “I know you like cheesecake. It’s right on your profile.”

  “And why do you care?”

  “Do you know I brought this little piece of cheesecake for you all the way from California?”

  “They don’t have cheesecake in California,” Madeline scoffed. Jake laughed.

  “Of course they do, but you’re right. I didn’t bring it from there. California cheesecake sucks. But I did get this at Logan Airport in Boston. Real New York cheesecake. Everyone likes that, don’t they?”

  Madeline nodded.

  “So don’t be so crusty toward me and have a bite, Ms. Chilly,” Jake said as he held the fork with the cake on it. She leaned forward, and Jake pushed the cake into her mouth.

  The flavors flooded her mouth, and for a moment she was happy. “I’m not crusty to you,” she finally said before she swallowed.

  “Yes, you are, and that’s okay. I rub people the wrong way all the time. It’s part of my Scorpio charm,” he said as he playfully tapped her on the lap. “Now, let’s call it a night. I’m exhausted, and I don’t doubt there will be more to see tomorrow.”

  Madeline nodded as he fed her another piece. “Thank you,” she said. “This really is good cake.”

  “I thought you’d like it.” When the cake was gone, Jake took the plate and fork from her. “I’ll go wash these right away so there’s no evidence. See? You ate cheesecake in a haunted house and nothing bad happened at all,” he said as he shut the door with a wink. Madeline laughed uneasily and stared at the closed door, blueberry cheesecake still teasing her mouth.

  No sooner had the latch turned than a picture fell from the wall across the room. Madeline jumped up as a scream spontaneously flew from her throat. She caught herself and waved her hands.

  Ghostbusters don’t scream like children, her mother scolded. Jake opened the door, his face worried.

  “What happened?”

  Madeline trembled as she pointed to the empty wall hook.

  “A picture... of Edwin fell down,” she stammered. She looked at Jake’s stern face and straightened up. “It startled me.”

  “I’m sure it was just a coincidence. My shutting the door probably knocked it off the wall somehow,” Jake said.

  “But you didn’t shut the door very hard. Not hard at all,” Madeline said. “Certainly not hard enough to cause a picture to fall off the wall.”

  Madeline stared at Jake. His eyes were intensely curious as they studied the wall, the hook, the picture that had fallen down behind the dresser. She loved the way his black, curly bangs hung boyishly over his eyes, even though he was far too aggressive to ever be called boyish.

  “Here, let me help you,” Jake said as he pushed the dresser back. Madeline went over to help him, but he waved her away.

  “I’ve got it,” he said. She let him lift and pull out the dresser, admiring his musclebound back that was evident even through his blue-and-white-striped sweater. He leaned over and retrieved the picture of Edwin Proctor. He held it up to study it.

  Edwin’s picture was rather large and showed a gruff, intimidating man stiffly poised in a suit jacket. The classic old-fashioned photograph of grimmer times.

  “Maybe we should just leave it there so he’s not staring at me all night,” Madeline joked.

  “First rule of haunted houses: always put things back, even if you didn’t disturb them,” Jake said as he hung the picture. “For all you know, Edwin may be the one protecting you.”

  “And who protects me from him?” she asked, half-jokingly.

  Jake steadied the picture and stood back, looking at it. Edwin’s intense glare was a counterbalance to Jake’s easygoing smile.

  “He’s a pretty glum fellow, all right. I guess he was a hard worker. All those boats and such. Must have been hard to be on top of that entire staff and a family too.”

  “Especially if he was killed by his own daughter,” Madeline said.

  “What do you think?” Jake asked. “Do you really think Kelly had the balls to off her old man?”

  Madeline felt the room go cold. The air was agitated as if it were warning her to not delve too deep into the subject.

  “I’m really not sure,” Madeline said. “And I’ll tell you what. I’m not making any speculations at all while I’m actually inside this house.”

  “Creeped out?” Jake asked.

  “Very much so,” Madeline said.

  “Me too,” Jake said. Madeline raised her eyebrow, but he had already turned away from her.

  Jake left the room, and Madeline returned to her spot on her bed. Edwin continued to stare at her, and it was getting on her nerves. The whole room felt strange, uneasy, as if there were vibrations she didn’t understand playing all around her. She wondered if she should fetch Natasha and then remembered Natasha wasn’t staying overnight this time.

  The garish wallpaper made her dizzy, and Edwin’s gaze continued to unnerve her as she put away her cameras and recorders. She wished Jake had left his picture behind the dresser. Edwin’s ancient eyes continued to stare at her, following her wherever she went in the room. The looming sense of dread hung thick in the air, and she was getting more agitated by the moment.

  She opened her door and started to go down the stairs to join the others who were gathered in the living room. Halfway down, she heard them talking. She paused on the stairway to listen.

  “I think we should start with the attic and work our way to the basement. Inch by inch,” Jake said.

  “I have infrared,” Eric said. “Maybe we’ll pick something up with that.”

  “I suspect the basement will have all sorts of activity,” Diana said. “I’m kind of freaked out to check it out.”

  “Me too.” Eric said.

  Madeline sighed. They were already planning the next round of activities and she wasn’t even there. This was her gig, and she wanted to be in charge of where everyone went and why. She went back up to her room and lay on the bed with her clothes and the light on. Edwin continued to stare at her, and she finally got up to drape a towel over his face. Once he was covered, she was able to get more comfortable. She turned over onto her side and fell asleep.

  Chapter Five

  Someone is admiring you.

  The weekend passed quickly.

  Too quickly, Madeline thought.

  It had been a blur of
recording and photographing, playing back tapes and conducting séances. There had been apparitions spotted, orbs photographed, weird noises on the recorders.

  A typical haul for a weekend at a haunted house.

  “Do you think any of these findings are unique?” Jake asked her at one point. Madeline shook her head.

  “No. I’ve read a lot about this place. Everything we’ve found is humdrum run-of-the-mill Kelly Proctor experience. And it’s all so mundane that we can’t prove if there are ghosts or not,” Madeline said. “I was so hoping to find something that proved ghosts are real.”

  “How many times do I have to tell you they aren’t?” Jake said, putting his hand on her shoulder. She brushed away his touch, irritated by his determination to always be right.

  “And I keep saying, you know more than anyone else that they are real. You’ve had too many weird experiences not to admit it.”

  Jake lowered his voice and whispered into Madeline’s ear. “Yes, my dear. I admit it. Ghosts are real. They’re as real as you and me. But someone has to keep the reality part of this dream going or no one will take any paranormal investigator seriously.”

  “You love to be the devil’s advocate,” Madeline said.

  “I was born for it,” Jake admitted.

  “I suppose someone has to be.”

  Madeline watched as he picked up his suitcase. He had already carefully packed up his gear into the rental car for his trip to the Boston airport. His plane left in several hours.

  “Thank you for coming all the way out here,” Madeline said as she shook his hand.

  “I appreciated the invite. I wish something more dramatic happened than just pictures falling off walls and a couple of discombobulated voices on a tape recorder. But I guess that’s just the way it goes. That seems to be the way it always goes. What I would give to really investigate something big.” Jake sighed.

  “I hear you. Wouldn’t it be cool to do Alcatraz or somewhere like that?”

  “I don’t know if there’s anything left at Alcatraz that hasn’t been found already,” Jake said. “I’ve been to Alcatraz a couple of times. It’s creepy there, as all old buildings are. You can almost see the prisoners in that shower room. The cells are tiny, dank, disgusting. I don’t know how people stayed in them without going mad.”