by Abigail Boyd
"You need a babysitter at fifteen?" Theo had asked skeptically at lunch.
"Yeah, you know. I might try to put metal in the microwave, or get a boo boo and need it bandaged," I joked. "Or throw a banging party considering how popular I am."
In reality, I didn't protest my parents' decision. I knew that it was shaky ground allowing me to go back and forth to school, and I didn't want to jeopardize the only real freedom I continued to retain.
I had two hours to myself before Aunt Corinne came, in which I caught up on my laundry and read A Tale of Two Cities for English. I cleaned off the counters in the kitchen, and re-vacuumed the living room carpet, trying to make everything as nice as possible for my picky aunt, even though Claire had been scrubbing her hands raw up until the last minute. The house now smelled strongly of the five apple cinnamon candles burning on the kitchen windowsill.
Corinne arrived a half hour late, pulling two huge suitcases and a steamer trunk out of her minivan.
"There was traffic," she said in her nasal voice as she began to drag the bags in. I had no idea what she could possibly need so desperately for two days; she only lived thirty minutes away in Ann Arbor.
I helped her get settled in the den where she was staying. She griped about the short length of the couch, and the lack of a TV, but otherwise seemed semi-satisfied. About an hour later, I hung out in the kitchen while she botched an attempt at dinner. I peered in the deep stew pot and couldn't identify the vegetables within the greenish sludge.
"Have you ever seen a ghost?" I asked her, attempting to sound nonchalant as I took a seat at the table. I shifted the full napkin holder back and forth.
"What do you mean?" Corinne turned to me while stirring, her nose scrunched up. If I didn't know her better, I would assume it was the noxious fumes the pot was starting to emit. But that was Corinne's default face.
"Have you ever actually, with your own two eyes, seen a ghost?" I asked again, lacing my fingers together.
She paused for a second, tapping gunk off of the spoon and setting it on a paper towel on the counter.
"I've had paranormal experiences before," she said cautiously, coming over and taking the seat across the table from me. I watched her pick out her words. "I've heard them and I've sensed them. I can feel when a spirit is nearby, or even if it's just the energy that the being has left behind." She moved her arms in a windmill motion as she talked, giving her the loony psychic aura.
"So the answer is no?" I asked bluntly.
She met my eyes and looked irritated. "That's right." She let out a great big sigh, and her pointy shoulders shuddered underneath her navy blouse. "Not for lack of trying, however. Guess I didn't inherit mommy's little gift." Her tone was unmistakably bitter.
I perked up. "Mommy's little gift?"
She laughed, her lips curling into a sneer. "You mean Claire didn't tell you?" Off of my puzzled look, she said, "Of course not. I'm sure she thinks it's shameful to the family."
I waited for her to continue. It didn't take long.
"My mother, your grandma, Eleanor, saw ghosts. Not just communicating with them, she saw them, as real as anything," Corinne divulged.
My jaw nearly dropped off of my face. The skin covering my spine slithered. What was she telling me? I briefly remembered the file marked Eleanor's Medical Records in the basement.
"She wouldn't want me telling you," she said matter-of-factly, standing and returning to her pot stirring. She had missed her calling as an old-fashioned witch decoration, complete with cauldron. Or maybe that was just Hell having its affect on me.
"I won't tell her," I pleaded. "I'd really like to know."
"She never told me that much about it," Corinne said, but I couldn't tell if she was lying or not. "She would tell me stories when I was little, but around the time I turned ten she..."
And here she paused, and I could practically hear her brain picking out her words again like a toy crane machine.
"She stopped."
There was finality in her tone that told me not to push it. When a person irritated my aunt, she would give them the cold shoulder for months, sometimes decades. She stood and started rooting around for plates in the cupboards. I got up and retrieved the regular dinner plates.
"If someone wanted to go about having a séance, what would they do?" I asked as innocently as I could muster.
"Someone as young and inexperienced as you wouldn't be able to do it," Corinne said finitely. I felt insulted, especially considering the fact that at the moment it seemed like I was having more contact with spirits than she ever had.
"Well, I wasn't necessarily talking about me," I backtracked. "I was just curious. For a beginner, what would be most helpful?"
She brought two steaming bowls of gunk to the table and set one at my place. I sat down and swished the spoon around, mentally envisioning the microwavable ham and cheese pockets in the freezer. Less nutritious, maybe, but definitely tastier.
"Where's the necklace that your mom gave you for your birthday?" Corinne asked unexpectedly. I wondered if she would lecture me about not wearing it enough.
"I keep it in my jewelry box," I said, wondering how I could avoid eating the soup without hurting her feelings.
"How about you go and fetch it while I order pizza?" she asked. That was surprising for her, considering she hardly ever indulged in junk food. Of course, she had actually tasted her own food.
I ran downstairs and picked the necklace up out of my jewelry box, inspecting it tentatively. I hadn't forgotten how it heated up when I was at the restaurant, spying on McPherson's hidden meeting. Back upstairs, Corinne had already picked the table up a bit, although drops of liquid still shined on the surface that I rubbed off with a napkin.
Corinne held out both of her hands for the necklace and I gave it to her. She squinted at and turned it around.
"This could be a talisman to help increase spirit view. It reminds me of something in one of my books, but I don't think I have it with me." She pointed a sharp fingernail at some etchings I hadn't noticed before on the back.
"See these designs?" she asked. "These look like alchemic symbols. Sometimes alchemy has been used in modern times for spell craft. This could prove to be a powerful tool when trying to contact spirits."
I sat at the table as she called the pizza delivery place, staring at the funny symbols on the back of the necklace, and thinking about what to do.
After we had finished our pizza, I excused myself downstairs to kill some time. I fiddled through books and with my homework, unable to concentrate. Every few minutes I'd get up and pace, checking the clock. When I came back up long after dark, Corinne had passed out on the recliner in the living room, a bottle of wine and an empty glass beside her. Her snore carried all the way down the basement stairs. A TV special about arsons was blaring loudly. I sneaked into the den, pushing the door almost shut. Her trunk was pushed against the bookshelves.
I didn't like taking things. But I rationalized that I would bring them back as soon as I was done, and take every precaution to make sure they weren't harmed in any way.
I was already being bad, anyway. I told my parents I would be spending the night at Theo's, and that we were going to Hell's Orphanage with Ms. Vore as our chaperone. I knew there was no way they would approve of us going alone. But the nagging urgency to go through with my plan wouldn't let me stop.
Roses were carved into the antique wood of the trunk. Opening the heavy lid, I propped it up against the bookshelves, hoping it wouldn't come slamming back on my fingers. I rummaged around inside. There was a stack of books against the back, so I shuffled through them. At the bottom of the stack was a tome entitled Modern Séance Methodology. Flipping through it quickly, I gathered the supplies I needed and shut the trunk.
With the book tucked under my arm, I tiptoed through the living room and down the hall to the staircase. Upstairs, I navigated with gentle steps to my parent's room, hoping Claire hadn't tied a string or anything on the door to che
ck for snoopers.
I opened her dresser drawers and rummaged around, looking for my grandmother's medical records. But wherever Hugh had hidden them, there were nowhere to be found. He could have put them anywhere in the house. Deciding not to push my luck, I crept back downstairs and to my room, preparing for the next night's deception.
I had been planning for this night for a week, but for some reason, I was more nervous than I had been on the first day of school. I intentionally refused to examine my motives. Something was haunting me, but it wasn't Jenna. Whatever it was, it was manipulating my emotions to make me see and think of her. That was all. Every possibility remained that she now resided in Las Vegas or Hollywood. I shut my eyes, pictured her in gigantic designer sunglasses with a floppy hat over her hair.
I stood in front of the mirror in my room, studying my reflection. My face looked thinner than usual, but my hazel eyes were bright and excited. Maybe too excited. I was putting a lot on this evening. There was every possibility that we would go there and it would be a total bust. I glanced at the wall above my desk in the reflection, half expecting the thudding sound to start up again.
I said goodbye to Corinne, taking my roomiest purse with me and hoping she wouldn't notice the weight of it. She didn't, and only pestered me a little before I got out the door.
"Call me when you get to Theo's house." She pronounced her name "Tay-Oh" even though I had already corrected her twice. "And be careful. Remember that your mom and dad don't want you getting in any trouble."
"Sure," I said. I knew there was a good chance she might forget that she had told me to call her when the time came.
Ms. Vore drove Theo and me to the orphanage and dropped us off around eight in the evening.
"Be back by 11:30, have fun," she told Theo, and sped off in her car. She seemed to be rather lax about Theo staying out, or maybe that was just me being used to overprotective parents. For a moment I felt guilty that Hugh and Claire didn't know about my ruse. Being partially honest was still lying. But I tried to tell myself I wasn't hurting anyone, and I would take care of myself.
Theo wore huge, glittery bat earrings, her red hair up in a bun. With her glasses she looked like the world's coolest librarian. As we walked through the gate I had a flashback to long-ago birthday dream. The moment when I realized that I was locked out and I could go no further. Jenna standing in front of the house, hands hanging at her hips...face flat and hopeless...
"Where's Henry supposed to be?" Theo asked, breaking me out of my memory.
"He just said he would meet us here," I replied. "No specific place."
"Hopefully we can find him," she said.
There were lots of juniors and seniors from Hawthorne, although I didn't see anyone I knew by name. They all towered above us, making me feel adolescent. Theo and I peered around the tall crowd of bodies, but I saw no sign of Henry. The lawn looked like someone had come along and done a cleanup job since my last visit.
"Maybe he ditched on me," I said, not wanting to accept the disappointing possibility. In my head, I tormented myself for thinking he would follow through with it. "I should have found someone who didn't think the whole idea of ghosts was the most ridiculous thing they'd ever heard."
Just then, I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned to see Henry, smirking. I felt the same sense of relief as I did when I was lost as a child, and I spotted one of my parents' faces in the crowd. A familiar, safe beacon. Hope.
"Were you going to give up on me that easily?" he asked with a mock hurt expression on his handsome face. I noticed with some trepidation that Henry had obtained Alex, the idiot always cracking jokes in History class, as our fourth person.
"This is who you came up with?" I asked, raising my eyebrows and scrutinizing the other boy.
"I'm just here for the free entertainment," Alex assured me, running a hand through his hair. "You did buy me a ticket, right?"
I frowned and nodded at the same time.
"Yes, I bought you a ticket." I distributed the little printouts I'd bought online out to everyone.
"I don't have to pay you back, right?" Alex asked.
"Uh, no," I said, annoyed.
We handed in the tickets as we got in line. The sessions, as the staff referred to them, ran early in the evening, and we were there for the eight-thirty, the last. I had tried to time it so that hopefully everyone else would leave and we'd have the property to ourselves.
I was somewhat excited to see the haunted house itself, even though it presented merely a distraction. I shifted on my feet as we stood in line. Everyone spoke excitedly in little groups, their speech peppered with apprehension. A few girls appeared scared, their boyfriends comforting them with quiet words.
A chill had arrived now that the sun had gone down, making me glad that I had dressed in a chunky sweater and jeans. There were a few guys in costumes, one even wearing a skull mask. I peered around the people in front of me. The line went to the entrance, the double doors underneath the staircase. Our little bunch remained near the back.
"You females can cling to me if it gets scary," Alex said. I figured he would start beating on his chest like a gorilla any minute. It was a show I would be delighted to miss.
"Stuff it, bro," Theo retorted. "We can take care of ourselves."
My phone beeped and I pulled it out of my sweater pocket. Henry's name was on the screen. Sorry, he has a car was all it read. I giggled.
After a few minutes of waiting, the doors flew open with a puff of thick fog. I couldn't help but be reminded of my dream, and I shut my eyes. The line quickly moved as everyone shuffled inside. I took a deep breath, and Theo and I walked in. The doors slammed shut behind Alex and Henry, rending the space in darkness.
"Whoa, what the —," Alex sputtered.
The dark inside was impenetrable, and I could not even make out my own hands as I waved them in front of my face. My heart skipped a beat as I thought back to the recent night in my room, when all the light was sucked out of the bulbs. I'd always prided myself on being brave when it came to this stuff, and thanks to circumstances beyond my control, I was losing my edge.
Blacklights on the wall flickered on with a hiss, making Theo's red hair glow hot pink.
"That's better," she said.
We were in a dilapidated little room, with collages of body parts on the walls. Cavernous darkness stretched out before us. The people in front had already run into it, the shadow swallowing them. The faint strains of an out of tune piano came from somewhere inside. I squinted into the dark but couldn't see anything.
"Let's go," I whispered, looking at Theo.
She had a tight smile on her face, as though her stomach was upset. Our little group stuck together as we shambled down the hall. I could hear the boys talking quietly amongst themselves behind us.
The first room bore the first scare. Theo wandered into the center, when suddenly a trap door opened above and a rubber corpse in a cheap suit deployed on her. She screamed and doubled backwards, nearly falling into me. Righting herself, her face remained frightened, eyes big as soup bowls. Her tiny hands were clasped up by her chin.
"Are you okay?" I asked, concerned.
"Just a little scared, that's all," she said, smiling self deprecatingly. "I'm a wuss when it comes to this stuff."
"Why didn't you tell me?" I asked, surprised. She had seemed as keyed up as me to visit the haunted house. "You did fine when we were spying."
"When you were what?" Henry asked. I ignored him.
"I didn't want you to think less of me," she admitted. "It's only in situations like this, when there are jump-type scares. The anticipation makes me jumpy."
Suddenly, I felt very selfish. I grasped her hand. "If we stick together, we'll get through it fast." I assured her. She nodded, visibly gathering her resolve as we proceeded farther on into the house.
Haunted houses were old hat for me, but I quickly became disoriented. Not good when I was trying to comfort Theo. We made our ways through the rooms i
n the murky space, only occasionally lit by dull colored lightbulbs. The sound of other people shrieking farther inside made Theo tense up. Every time there was another shout she squeezed my hand.
A monster jumped at Theo from the left and she screamed, dropping my hand. The mechanism rattled as it retreated back into its hiding place inside the wall.
"See, just a stupid old contraption," Henry reassured her, patting her gently on the shoulder. He could tell she was scared, in fact it looked like she was trembling. Again I felt like a jerk for bringing her there, for my own selfish reasons. Especially when odds were that the house would keep all of its secrets and not share any with me.
We came out to a pencil-thin hallway. It was only big enough for one person to go through at a time. I went in front and edged forward. Theo followed me, took hold of my hand again. I had never suffered claustrophobia, but the battered walls suffocated me. Although I had been looking forward to the cheap thrills, I didn't like being in the orphanage, not only for Theo's fear, but for reasons I couldn't quite name.
In the next room, a boy our age was sitting in a creaky rocking chair. He had his legs pulled up beneath his chin, wearing what looked like ripped, dirty pajamas. His tortured eyes remained on a spot on the floor.
"He locked us in the closet," he gibbered, rocking back and forth, the chair squeaking in time with his movements. "He locked us in the closet and we couldn't get out."
Next to him was, I guessed, the closet door he spoke of. It swung open, revealing hanging plastic skeletons that began to shake. Henry started laughing behind us. The boy in the rocking chair stopped for a second to glare at Henry's disrespect, then went right back into his act. Seeing that made my anxiety lesson a bit. I heard Theo chuckle beside me. Seeing the real people behind the illusion always made it easier to believe all of it was fake.
In the next room, red light cast a bloody glow on the walls. We seemed far behind the others, who I couldn't see or hear anymore. Dizziness swept over me suddenly, a metallic taste on my tongue that seemed both familiar and wrong. Like I had bitten down on the inside of my cheek. I licked my finger, but of course underneath the light I couldn't tell if it was blood or not.
