She would just love to be able to photograph Sherry’s eyes to see if any images showed up in them. To see if a ghost had scared her to death or if she had just stopped breathing.
Maybe she was allergic to the mold and she had asthma. Maybe she had been looking for her inhaler when she died.
The police may or may not be able to figure it out. She wondered if they’d even worry about it if the report said she died of a heart attack.
Madeline made a mental note that she was going to try her hardest to forego the chocolate and get back to the gym.
All the walking around made her realize just how out of shape she really was. She was winded already, and her calves were cramping up. The stress of not knowing what disturbing thing was going to happen next was disarming.
“Here,” Jake said and stopped. He pointed to the tunnel wall. Handing the incense stick to Madeline, Jake retrieved his flashlight. He shined the beam along the wall. It was definitely the site of the dripping.
Long slashes of crimson stained the walls. The water running down was tinged red, and in the shallow glow of the flashlight, Madeline couldn’t tell if the water was red or if it was just a reflection from the wall.
The trickling waterfall ran down into a shallow pool that led to a drain in the side of the tunnel wall. Madeline thought the whole thing was very odd for a tunnel.
“Wait,” she said. “Look at this.” She threw the incense down and took out her own flashlight. She ran the beam along the source of the trickling water. It was somehow seeping through the ceiling. It ran down the wall, and she could see in more detail that the little pool had been added. Upon closer inspection she saw it was really part of an old fountain that had been fixed to the wall for the water to flow through and down toward the drain in the side of the wall.
The fountain bowl was carved with angels. Their cherubic faces had long been chipped away, and most of the bowl was covered with a thick, black mold. The water was a deep crimson; there was no mistake about that.
The water had a rusty decaying smell about it. Madeline grew nauseated and wished she had a gas mask.
“What is this?” Jake asked. “What do you make of it?” He turned his camera onto her. Madeline stared at the dripping water.
“In all honesty, this little spot is almost like an altar or shrine.” She stared up at the ceiling and thought about what the leaking could be coming from. She closed her eyes and tried to imagine feeling where it started.
No sooner did she open herself up to the idea of it than a flash of images surged through her. She saw crying faces, the Virgin Mary, blood spraying, and then the feelings came. Loss and lament. Confusion and anguish.
Her body shook and tears ran down her cheeks. Overwhelming sadness consumed her, followed by intense pain.
The pain surged through her from her temples to her toes. Electroshock, perhaps.
From the pain came a sense of peace. And again, the face of the virgin smiled upon her. Madeline opened her eyes.
“A shrine to the insane. That’s what it is,” Madeline told the camera. “Someone built this a very long time ago. Someone who needed to alleviate his or her guilt.”
“Guilt about what?” Jake asked the camera.
“Guilt about helping or not helping, I guess.”
“How did he or she make the water flow?”
Madeline looked down the tunnel and back at the water. She closed her eyes, lightly touching the fountain.
“The water was dripping. It was a sign. The red water was the sign that this was the spot to pay homage,” Madeline said. She looked at the camera. “I’m not sure where these ideas come from sometimes, but I do know I’m often right.”
“How do I know that you didn’t already do research on this?” Jake said. “How do I know you’re really doing that hocus-pocus thing? I bet everyone out there thinks you have a script.” He pointed to her camera.
“People can think what they want, but here’s the truth: I knew very little about this place before I came here. Just the basic facts most people with any interest can find out on the website. I knew there were tunnels, but I didn’t know about the dripping water. I knew there were spirits and lights and noises down there. I was prepared for that. This, well, boys and girls, I’m just winging it.”
Jake gave her a thumbs-up. “Good one,” he said. “So, let’s take a few shots and keep on going. It’s getting late.”
“I’m not in a hurry to go back to my room,” Madeline said. “It’s kind of scary.”
“Not the best place to get a good night’s sleep,” Jake said. “Some of the crew is sleeping in the cafeteria because they’re nervous about the rooms and also just want to help keep an eye on the equipment. I’m sure you can grab your blankets and go in there with them.”
“I just might do that,” Madeline said. They had turned off their flashlights, and it took a few moments for her eyes to readjust to the glow of the camera lights once more.
As they walked farther away from the dripping water, some of the horrid odor began to dissipate. The overall rankness of the tunnel was always all-encompassing, but the added little treat of the fountain was too much icing on an already distasteful cake.
At the far end of the tunnel, Madeline sensed movement. The air seemed to hum with the presence of something or someone. She aimed her camera toward the direction she thought she saw something, but aside from her jangling nerves, there was nothing there. At least, nothing she could see. She was curious about what she might see on the computer at home.
More shadows flitted, and Madeline was certain someone was there. “Jake,” she whispered.
“What?”
“I think there’s something at the end of the tunnel.” She pointed.
“I don’t see anything. But I kind of feel something. Some kind of sensation. Like a heaviness or fullness. Things flit out of the corner of my eye and then are gone.”
“I’ve heard that before. Maybe the camera will capture something.”
“Wouldn’t that be great if it did?”
Jake pointed to a side door. He opened the latch and led them back out to the stairwell.
“So we’re finished with that for today,” he said. “Thank God. I can’t wait to get this stink off.”
“And how do we do that?”
“There are showers here.”
“They don’t work. Who pays for the water?” she asked.
“I was just kidding. But I do have lots of clothes and lots of that sanitizing stuff. If I have to bathe in a crate of it, I will,” Jake said.
“I’m there with you,” Madeline said.
Jake locked the door behind them and started up the dimly lit stairwell. There were battery-operated lights the camera crew had stuck up a few days earlier. Some of them were already burning out. The dancing shadows from the false flickering did nothing to calm Madeline’s nerves.
When they arrived back in the cafeteria, they learned the police had come and gone and the coroner had left with the body as well.
“What did they say?” Madeline asked when she saw Diana. They sat at a table in the cafeteria drinking juice boxes.
“Not much at this point. But the coroner thinks it was her heart. He said there was no sign of foul play.”
“Well that’s good and bad,” Madeline said.
“How do you mean?” Diana asked.
“No foul play means we don’t have to worry about a murderer running loose among us. Yet on the other hand, dropping dead for no reason isn’t so cool either.”
“I wonder if they can tell if someone is scared to death. I mean, I know sometimes it’s obvious by their facial expressions and such, but other times maybe they can’t tell,” Diana said.
“Maybe.”
“Hi, Diana,” Jake said as he sat down between the women. “How are my lovely ladies this evening?”
“Ready to call it a night,” Diana said. “More than ready. This time-change stuff is killer.” Diana patted Jake’s hand, and Jake wi
nked at her. Diana blushed and lowered her eyes.
A knot grew in Madeline’s stomach.
It couldn’t be, she thought. No...
“Tired,” Jake said with a slight smile touching his lips.
“I’ll say,” Madeline said. “In fact, I’m going to go right now. Or at least try. I’ll probably be back in five minutes after I freak out.”
“Braver men than you haven’t made it. Remember the cafeteria. The wagons are drawn, and there’s ammunition against the unknown.”
“I’ll remember,” Madeline said. She walked down the hallway until she reached another hallway. She turned back to say something more, but Jake was already interrogating Diana on what she might have found during her sojourn on the second floor. Madeline was curious too but too tired to care.
The closer she got to her room, the more a sense of complete and utter exhaustion swept through her. Walking down the hallway alone freaked her out. Even though there were large movie lights shining down the hallways, they couldn’t hide the crumbling despair of the walls and the decrepit wall sconces. Huge chips had fallen from the walls and mouldings alike. She wondered if Natasha would enjoy the gothic abandonment of this place. She would make a note to ask Jake to invite Natasha on the next asylum assignment, should there be one.
She went into her bedroom and looked around the room. Several electric candles burned, giving off enough light to illuminate the corners of the room, but not enough to dissipate the shadows. She stared at the old-fashioned iron bed. The film crew had been kind enough to wrap several layers of plastic around the mattresses and fit them with brand-new sheets. She imagined how all the people who had lain on that bed before had lain in other people’s grief and misery.
Vomiting on themselves, pissing themselves, and worse.
Dying.
Now she was lying on the bed. Plastic-wrapped or not, how old was that mattress? She stripped off her foul, damp clothes and put them all into a plastic bag.
“There’s one for the garbage,” she said as she opened the door a crack to push it out into the hallway. She’d take it somewhere the next day. For now, she was going to try to get some sleep.
She noticed two large bottles of sanitizer and a roll of paper towels on the dresser. Madeline grinned. Jake wasn’t kidding about a sanitizer bath. She was totally game for that idea if it meant getting the stink off her body.
There wasn’t much she could do about her hair, and she imagined they would all get used to each other’s smell at some point.
She poured a large dollop of gel into her hands and quickly rubbed it along her breasts before it evaporated. She did the same treatment to every part of her body except her most intimate areas. She wasn’t too sure how the gel would react with her sensitive spots.
When she was finished, she searched through her suitcase for her hand towel. She almost always brought a few hand towels with her from home. They came in handy for many things, and she was glad she had one with her. She didn’t want to use the ones the TV crew provided just yet.
As she rubbed her skin clean the best she could, she had a sensation of being watched. She turned around, but there was no one there. The walls of the room felt like they were pulsing. Madeline had also brought along three boxes of wipes, so she gave herself a second bath. This time, her skin was softer, and she was able to smell the sweet scent of “that fresh feeling” ebbing forward.
Madeline hurriedly dug through her suitcase to figure out what to wear to bed. She chose a heavy flannel nightgown and warm, woolly socks for trips to the porta-potties down the hallway.
Madeline pulled back the blankets to shake out any sleeping bugs. She had heard about all kinds of creepy critters that could curl up under the covers and possibly kill you. They didn’t have problems like that in Hermana. There were no scorpions or tarantulas ready to strike.
Satisfied the bed was safe, Madeline lay down. She looked at her cell phone before she closed her eyes. Although there was no signal, the clock still worked. It was one in the morning in California. It was four in the morning in Hermana.
And it was now Valentine’s Day.
Chapter Eleven
Beware of strangers.
Madeline was dreaming about running through the fields as a little girl. The sun was shining as it beat down warmly on her face. Her bare feet slapped against the clover as she ran, the soft velvet letting her think she was running across a royal carpet. Her hair was short, and though she liked to pretend it was cascading behind her in the wind, it merely ruffled a bit on top. She ran and laughed, twirling in the field of green. The lightness and happiness surging through her body made her burst into song.
She sang, her words lilting in the air, harmonizing with the twittering of the birds. As she sang, she grew aware of a pull.
The sensation tugged her from the field, swooshing through darkness, through the air, the sky, the forest.
Back to the asylum.
Back to the room where she lay on the cot.
The door creaked open, and a shadowy figure entered her room. She sat up in bed, pulling the covers to her chest, squinting at the person coming toward her. Without her glasses, which lay on the nightstand beside the table, she couldn’t at first make out who was approaching her.
His teeth glinted in the flickering candlelight, and his bright blue eyes knowingly sparkled, as if he held all the secrets to the universe and beyond.
Madeline raised her eyebrow at him as he came closer.
“What are you doing here?” she asked. He said nothing as he approached, his eyes continuing to gaze at her face.
“So, what did Diana say? Anything interesting happen in the wing?” Madeline asked. Jake bowed forward, his eyes meeting hers in an intense gaze. Madeline’s stomach knotted as she pursed her lips toward his. His breath was strangely warm as he reached for her. His lips touched hers, and she leaned into them. They were as warm and hungry as she had always dreamed they would be. Although his breath was a bit ripe, she didn’t mind. The joy of him surprising her in the night overshadowed any flaws. She held back a sob as his hands cupped her breasts. He petted them through the fabric of her nightgown, touching her nipples until they were hard little mounds.
Madeline sighed and leaned back onto her pillows, revelling in the warmth of his body against hers. She stroked his arms, the bulge of his biceps beneath her fingers. His hands searched the curve of her hips, the swell of her breasts, the softness of her thighs. She parted her legs and let his hand slip along the inside of them as well.
His mouth kissed her hair, her eyebrows, her neck. She arched into him, running her hands along his back, enjoying the ridged muscles that gave him his strength.
She looked up at him, hoping to see his blue eyes staring intensely into hers while the candles flickered and wavered.
They were not the eyes of Jake.
She screamed and flailed her arms. She struggled to look away. The eyes she was gazing into were slats of red with black in the center. The man’s fingernails dug into her arms while she struggled beneath him. She kicked and protested, flailing around, hoping he’d lose his grip somehow. As she pushed him off her, she saw his face was misshapen and dark as if burned. Even without her glasses, she could now see hunks of flesh missing. His jawbone was exposed, his tongue black. His clothes hung in rags from him. The parts where he still had flesh were large and beefy, then there were the sunken areas where there was only bone and leaking fluids. The man laughed, the sound echoing through her room in a ghastly manner that made her more frightened.
“Who are you?” she asked, scrambling away from him. His clutch was tight, skeletal fingers wrapping around her wrists. His neck was distended, as if it were broken.
“You enjoyed kissing me a minute ago,” the creature taunted Madeline as broke free and leaped from the bed.
“Who are you?” She ran to the other side of the room. The man’s flesh twisted and shifted into a huge winged beast with claws for hands and a hook for a mouth.
Madeline stood staring at the ceiling for a full minute. Her heart thumped so fast that she thought she was going to pass out on the spot.
Instead, she grabbed her pillow and her blanket and ran down the corridor until she found the cafeteria.
She wasn’t the only one with the heebie-jeebies. Almost everyone in the building was huddled there. A few of the crew were checking their equipment and studying the monitors for any activity.
They already knew Madeline was on her way long before she got there.
“A bit freaked out?” Matt asked. “We saw you running down the hallway.”
“My room... a bit too... unique for me,” Madeline said carefully. She wasn’t going to say anything that the spirits could turn around on her.
“Join the club. We all have unique rooms. That’s why we’re here. There are still some body cushions and extra blankets over by that table.” Jenny pointed.
“Thanks,” Madeline said.
As she went over to get another blanket and to see what she could do with the cushion, she passed Jake and Diana, who were spooned up together on a pile of cushions and blankets. She almost stopped in her tracks, the sight startling her nearly as much as the ghost had. Madeline sighed deeply as she tried not to look at how Jake’s arm was so casually draped over Diana’s, at how their shoulders rose and fell at the same time. Why did she care at all about either one of them?
At least they have clothes on, she decided. She did indeed know the sickly feeling of walking in on a loved one who was rolling around naked with another. It was one of the most awful feelings in the world, a sensation that burrowed in deep and hooked on like a tick. She had so many ticks hanging on to her heart, sucking her blood and youthful enthusiasm. Soon she would be some crazy old woman praying to a watery urn in the basement while hungry cats waited for her return home in the evening.
Aquarius: Haunted Heart Page 11
