The Dark Corners Box Set

by Robert Scott-Norton

  He shone the light in her face, she flinched, but there was genuine interest. She wasn’t mocking him.

  “You’re saying that doors can just appear?” Judy said.

  “Yes.”

  “You’re talking nonsense. Doors can’t just appear.”

  “Yes, yes they can.”

  “And the door in the day room?”

  “An idea of a door. Not quite there yet, but give it time.”

  “The others, they couldn’t see it.”

  “They were too busy looking at other things.”

  Judy shone her torch back into the dark corridor. “Did you hear that?”

  “No.”

  “We’re not alone are we?”

  Seth shook his head. “Is this what you expected tonight to be like?”

  “Not exactly.” Her voice was tense. “We should go find Johnny. You can tell me more about the doors. Tell the others too.”

  “No. They wouldn’t understand.”

  A squeaking from the day room doorway made them both direct their lights on the entrance in time to catch the wheelchair slowly rolling out into the corridor.

  Judy opened the stairwell door and was out onto the stairs before Seth could say anything to slow her down. He trailed after her, letting the door slam behind him. “Judy, don’t run off.”

  She was several steps ahead of him, but he caught up with her, and snagged her arm. She was shuddering. “There was something in that room. It was trying to intimidate us.”

  “It can’t hurt you.” He forced a smile and together they walked down the staircase into the reception area, all the while Seth marvelling at how the lies came to his lips. They discovered the others milling around Johnny. He looked fine. When he caught sight of Seth he nodded and his face softened.

  “What happened?” Seth asked.

  “Nothing. I’ve been trying to tell them that,” Johnny said, the frustration evident in his voice.

  “We heard a man screaming. It sounded like you,” Alisha replied.

  “It wasn’t me. I swear. Listen, I was checking out the plans, working out where we should hold the first vigil. Nothing has happened.”

  “Did you hear it then?” Arjun asked.

  “No. I didn’t hear anything.”

  Seth wanted to take the others away. He realised something was happening in the hospital and he was having a grim notion that his presence was making matters worse. He tried to ignore the people in front of him and their expectant faces and instead just focus. It usually took deep concentration to make any contact but today it was easy.

  He gasped.

  In a moment he was there, in his focused place, shut off from the ordinary people and the mundane life.

  He was falling. He could feel the wind rushing past his face. He couldn’t breathe.

  Judy caught his arm and dragged him down to sit on the stairs.

  “What happened?” she asked, setting his hand in hers, “Jesus, you’re freezing. Can somebody get him a coffee?”

  Glenda and Peter went off together to the breakout room.

  “I could do with a smoke,” Alisha said to Arjun, and they both stared across at the huge wooden doors of the main entrance.

  “Locked,” Johnny said.

  “I don’t suppose I can smoke in here?”

  “Not a chance.”

  They let the matter drop and looked puzzled as to what they should do to help.

  “I’m fine,” Seth said. “It’s this place. I’m not sure we should be here.”

  Johnny took the coffee from the returning Glenda and brought it up to Seth who took it gladly. The cardboard cup was too thin and the coffee too hot, so he set it on the step in front of him. “Thanks,” he said to Glenda.

  “Are you in communication with anyone?” Johnny asked.

  “There are lots of spirits here. I can sense them but there’s something odd.”

  “In what way odd?”

  “Like they don’t want to talk.” He caught the look Arjun gave Alisha. A look that suggested Seth was making the whole thing up and how this turn of events was terribly convenient. But Seth was speaking the truth. For starters, he’d never been in a place where he’d felt so many spirits, and secondly he’d never had them not want to talk to him. In his experience, spirits seized the opportunity to contact the living. Here, inside the hospital, it was like they were holding back. Waiting for something.

  “Perhaps the first vigil will encourage them,” Johnny said, and he returned to fetch his floor plan from the table where he’d set up his equipment. “I thought we’d go across to the morgue. It’s time to crack out the Ouija board.”

  10

  The group didn’t respond straight away.

  “Ouija board?” Glenda asked.

  “If we’re going to speak to the souls in this building, then it’s the best way.” Johnny looked irritated.

  “This isn’t a good idea, Johnny,” Seth breathed. “I’ve seen these go wrong more times than I’ve seen them go right.”

  Glenda and Peter had taken it upon themselves to hand out cups of coffee to the group. They’d all taken up new positions in the lobby, the university students had grabbed a couple of plastic chairs from the locker room and were sitting away from the others, chatting between themselves, trying to get a phone signal by the looks of it. Michael and Judy sat on the staircase looking at the front door. Seth noticed that Judy was casting her eyes around the room, systematically like he might. Already he’d spotted another faint set of lines on the wall under the first return of the left-hand staircase. It was dark under there, though, and he didn’t think Judy had noticed it yet.

  The last time Seth had been at a seance, Malc had been present too. And it was only because of his presence that they’d prevented a death. A seance by a novice in a building as built up with negative potential as Ravenmeols was, would not end well.

  “It will be fine. Nothing will go wrong,” Johnny said.

  “I can run the seance if you like,” said Seth. “I’ve done a few.”

  “It’s OK,” Johnny said, “I’ve got this.”

  “No, really, let me.”

  “I’d prefer it if you could focus on listening for signs we’re not alone. Let me handle the practical.” And then Johnny returned to his equipment table and got busy gathering items.

  Seth sighed but held back the frustration. Despite clear evidence that something was very wrong in this building, Johnny seemed to be taking it in his stride. Seth wanted to tell him that his belief that nothing could hurt them was wrong. But he could understand why he might feel like that. Films and TV have shown that this is a place to be scared of. The classic haunted house. Dark, mysterious, creaking passages, nooks to hide in. But the media had sanitised this for them. They didn’t feel the fear. They felt too safe.

  Johnny, his arms now full of the essentials for his vigil, addressed the group. “We’ll hold this in the morgue. I know it’s—you know—gory and all that, but I’ve found that conversing with the dead works better when you’re closer to their last physical location in this world.”

  “That wouldn’t be the morgue then would it?” Michael said. “People don’t die in morgues.”

  Johnny tried to smile, but it was half-hearted and faded rapidly. “Quite right. Still, it should be a fascinating location.”

  Seth lingered as the others followed Johnny. Judy came over and cast him an admonishing look. “I don’t know what you two were talking about, but it doesn’t look like Johnny wants to be your friend.”

  “I’m trying to save him the embarrassment of getting himself killed.”

  She snickered and put a hand to her mouth to disguise her amusement. “You don’t really think we’re in any danger?”

  “We are.”

  “Then why don’t you leave?”

  Seth didn’t answer.

  “You know, perhaps we should catch up with the others. It’s a long walk to the morgue, I don’t fancy going through all these corridors on my
own.”

  “You won’t be on your own, I’m with you.” Seth tried to raise a smile, but it wasn’t convincing and Judy didn’t reciprocate.

  She grabbed her torch from the table and flicked it on. The light was dim, so she whacked it with the side of her palm until it brightened. Seth led the way and pulled open the door to the east-wing corridor. The others were already out of sight but Seth thought he could hear voices in the distance.

  Seth took the lead, illuminating the corridor with his torch. He hesitated twice, and Judy waited patiently as he ran his fingers along lines in the wall.

  “More?” Judy said.

  “You can’t see?” he replied.

  “Yes, no, I don’t think so.”

  “Your senses are getting clouded. It’s the building.”

  “Why can no one else see them?”

  “It takes a specific kind of mind to discern these.”

  She shone her torch ahead of them, the light catching and reflecting on the chrome rails from a trolley bed resting at the far end of the corridor. “Have you been doing this a while?”

  “I started young. I had no choice.”

  “I might just about understand why you’d want to check the cracks we’re seeing, but you’re doing more than that. You’re keeping tabs on all of them.”

  “Sometimes they get switched around. Counting is the safest way I know to make sure I don’t get caught out.” He took a deep breath. He was finding it more difficult than he’d like to admit being besieged by so much darkness. “We need to help them with the seance.”

  “Why don’t you think it’s a good idea?”

  “Having me here is one thing. I can listen and get an impression. Engage when I need to. The spirits will ignore me and let me move amongst them unchallenged. But getting a group around a Ouija board is asking for trouble. That’s opening communication.”

  “But that’s what we want.”

  “Maybe. Maybe not.” It was hard to put his finger on exactly why he was so sure this was a bad idea. It was a feeling. A feeling that this place wanted them to be here, wanted them to be distracted.

  Michael was waiting by the open doorway to the morgue. “This way,” he called, “We’re almost ready to start.”

  The morgue was smaller than Seth had imagined. Broken plaster had left bare brick showing in strips across one wall, and the smell of mould was intense. He touched the wall and his fingertips came away glistening with moisture.

  “Were you able to get a signal out there?” Arjun was busy tapping the screen of his phone, a crease of frustration clear on his skinny face. He held the phone up and around him checking for a signal.

  “Turn it off please,” Johnny instructed. “That goes for the rest of you. Electromagnetic radiation in any form can cause issues with a seance.”

  Seth had a feeling mobile phone interference would not be a problem.

  A chrome equipment trolley had been found from somewhere and wheeled into the centre of the room. Johnny had set out the Ouija board and three chunky candles on the trolley. The candles had been lit and the room was in near darkness.

  Johnny gathered Alisha, Glenda, and Judy to help him at the board.

  “I’m not sure I want to do this,” Alisha said, “I’ve seen the Exorcist.”

  “We’ve all seen the Exorcist,” Johnny replied sharply. “We’re not making a horror movie here. We will take this slowly and seriously. If you don’t want to take part, just say and someone else can take your place.”

  She looked like she might step aside, but Seth could see the conflict in her eyes. This would be gold for her dissertation. Being on the sidelines would not be enough for her. “That’s OK. I’ll stay.”

  Johnny grinned. “Excellent.”

  The candlelight gave life to the shadows at the edge of the room.

  Judy glanced at Seth, searching for reassurance. He responded with a faint smile. If the group were going to do this vigil, it would be helpful to have someone like Judy in their midst who could at least sense when things were happening. With Seth on the periphery, keeping watch over all, there was every chance this would go without incident.

  “Now, let’s all place a finger on the planchette gently. Don’t try to move it. Just leave enough pressure with your finger. If it moves, let your finger move with it. Don’t force it around.” Johnny sounded breathless.

  “It’s icy,” Glenda whispered. Seth could sense the temperature fall as well. Ever since they’d stepped into the room, it had been getting colder. He glanced around the group again, looking for movements in the shadows, but not seeing anything that wasn’t caused by the flickering candle lights he focused his attention once again on the board.

  “Once we start, it’s imperative we don’t let go. Breaking the circle can be dangerous. Do you understand?” Johnny waited for the group to agree before moving on. “Let’s start by moving the planchette ourselves, just so you get a feel for it.” The flat disk scratched over the board. Twice, Judy’s finger let go, so she stepped closer, huddling into the group around the trolley. Seth moved to get a better look.

  Johnny intoned his instructions to the energies in the room. “We would like to communicate with you when you’re ready. We won’t allow an experience that is negative or toxic to control this board. Only positive energies are welcome.”

  Peter had his notepad out and was waiting to record any message as it came through. The air tingled with trepidation. Peter’s hand shook as he gripped the pen above the paper, eyes large and apprehensive.

  Light moved around the board as Glenda shifted, hugging her coat up against her chin. Alisha’s mouth was open as her breathing deepened, listening to Johnny’s warning must have been thrilling and scary in equal measure—Arjun behind her, hands by his side, squinting over her shoulder.

  Michael stood beside Seth, his chin forward in grim determination as if defying any malignant spirit to be on its guard.

  And Judy? Her face was the most difficult to read, a fierce look of concentration aged her as her brow narrowed.

  “Are we alone tonight?” Johnny asked into the room.

  The planchette moved in basic sweeps of the board as the vigil group kept the momentum going.

  “If you can hear us, give us a sign.”

  Nothing.

  Perhaps nothing would happen. Maybe Johnny’s warning was keeping them away.

  “We don’t believe you are here at all. If you want us to go, make us believe.”

  “Stop it,” Alisha hissed, throwing a dirty look behind her at Arjun. He held up his hands, confused.

  Johnny looked disheartened. Seth thought he would pack up the board. Then, the scratching became deeper. Judy gasped as the planchette whirled from one letter to another. “Don’t let go,” Johnny ordered, then he glanced at Peter. “You getting this?”

  Seth tried to make out the letters, but Michael shifted and broke his line of sight.

  After a furious thirty seconds of scratching the planchette stopped moving. Alisha released the disc and whacked Arjun on the chest. “Stop trying to spook me.”

  Peter hesitated before speaking loudly so everyone could hear, he uttered the word he'd transcribed. “Children.”

  Seth thought as far as openings went, it was fairly low key. He hadn’t expected any serious attempt at communication. The things he was sensing within these walls were not what he’d consider the chatty type.

  Johnny seemed delighted though. He peeked back down at the board and then glanced at the others around the trolley and nodded.

  “Were you here at the orphanage?” he asked.

  The planchette didn’t move.

  Alisha muttered something, Seth thought she was telling Arjun to stop whatever he was doing to annoy her.

  A bang from upstairs, the room directly above them. The group stared up at the room’s ceiling, broken plaster tiles exposed pipework in here as well. They were about underneath the day room he’d taken his group to earlier.

  “I think
we should continue,” Johnny said. “Was that you offering us a sign? If it was, let us hear it again to be sure.”

  The bang didn’t come a second time, but the planchette beneath their fingers moved at a brisker pace. It developed into a blur across the board as it spelled out a message. After a minute it came to rest and Peter reviewed what he’d written, mentally breaking down the stream of letters into words.

  “Children of the Adherents. You are perfect. Don’t leave.”

  Michael flicked his torch on.

  And that was enough for Seth to see them finally.

  A figure behind each of the four around the board. Faceless shadows, but full bodied. They stood impassively, waiting for something. Seth shone his torch in Judy’s direction. She hadn’t seen what Seth had, none of the party could see them. They were in appalling danger. The vigil had been a reckless act.

  “I think we should go,” Glenda said firmly.

  “We just got through to them,” Johnny said with a note of disdain in his voice. “We must find out more.”

  “Why must we?” Alisha countered. “If that was for real—”

  “—it was for real,” Johnny said.

  “—then we should go. That sounded like a threat.”

  Seth spoke up. “We’re exposed here. We need to leave now.”

  “I’m with Seth,” Alisha said, and she made as if to raise her finger from the planchette. Johnny used his spare hand to keep it where it was.

  “Don’t break the circle!” he hissed. “We don’t leave a Ouija session open. The spirit is expecting an answer.”

  “Don’t answer it,” Seth said, shaking his head. “Whatever you’re conversing with does not care about your rituals. Alisha, you can take your finger off that and you’ll be fine.”

  Alisha’s eyes were wide as she looked between Johnny and Seth.

  “Don’t,” Johnny implored, and then he turned to snap at Seth, “keep your mouth shut. You’re a bleeding amateur.”

  Alisha looked to the rest of the people in the group. Judy shrugged, Glenda, Peter and Michael didn’t give any suggestion as to what she should do.

  Michael broke the impasse. “Here you go,” he said, reaching over and plucking the planchette from the centre of the table before tossing it into a corner.