by Rick Kueber
“Yeah...” Theo said slowly. “Kill 'em all is what I heard. When was this?”
“It was me and Hilary on the fourth floor when it started getting really cold.” I explained. “Well that kind of an evil command would correlate with the sudden temperature drop.” Theo rubbed his forehead with his eyes closed. “Isn't that about the time that all the shadows appeared?”
“Yes... it was shortly before that. And it was just when I would have sworn Hil and I were going to freeze to death.” I validated his recollection.
“Right... not good.” He said and everyone went quiet. I didn't know what to say besides what naturally came out. “Okay, back to it, I guess.” I swapped the speaker for the headphones and we all went back to our own worlds of evidence review. Everyone was soon back into their reviewing and note taking when I thought I heard something else; a voice similar to the previous one, but louder, and much angrier sounding than before. I backed it up to listen one more time. Once again, I thought I had it mostly figured out, but instead of wasting time listening a hundred times, I ripped the headphones from my ears and was about to say, 'I've got something' when I noticed Katie sternly looking at her screen and listening. She was replaying something as well.
“Whatcha got?” I said, leaning over to her. “You tell me... sounds like 'I lost'... something... 'old' maybe.” She seemed pleased with her catch, although what I heard was a bit more disturbing. “You wanna hear it?”
“Already did. I stopped at the same place.” My swapping of the wires drew Theo and Jenn's attention again. Once hooked up, I adjusted the volume and played the clip several times. Jenn perked up after the second time, and by the fourth time she was trying to talk over the clip, so I paused it for a moment.
“Sorry, but...not sorry.” She said sarcastically. “I know what it's saying.” we all listened carefully to what Jenn had to say, and I agreed with her interpretation of the ominous voice. “That's Hilary, right?... saying 'We can help you... etcetera, etcetera... and she's talking to all the shadow people, right?” I nodded in agreement. “The voice is pissedflippin off, and says... 'MY LOST SOULS'. I think it's ticked off that you are trying to help them.”
Theo dropped his head, pointed his finger at Jenn and said, “Exactly.” He raised his head back up and looked me in the eye. “When I said we weren't welcome there, this is why. This being, this demon, wants to keep its control over all of those poor lost souls... that's where it gets all of its power.”
“Wow... yeah... that makes sense.” My expression and my tone were flat. “We have to find a way to help them.” Our conversation bounced back and forth from cleansing rituals to sage smudging and even calling in the clergy. We discussed what order we might try what ideas, and whether or not we would be able to help all of them, or any of them. Before long we were rambling on until we were finally quieted by Jenn.
“So, are we gonna finish this up?” She broke our wandering communication. “I'm gonna be getting hungry before long.” With very little else said, we turned back to our tasks at hand. Time passed quickly, and though Katie and I both thought we had several other e.v.p.s, when it came down to it we dismissed or debunked all but one other e.v.p. This last voice that we caught on our audio recording was different and caught just as we decided to call it a night. The other voice had been strong, evil, overpowering and male. This e.v.p. was clearly heard by all without question as to what was said. It was desperate, distraught, female, and echoed something Hilary had conveyed to me from her dreams. This was two distinct sentences, simply saying, “I'm lost.” and “Don't leave me here.”
We recapped all of the clipped e.v.p.s captured and I saved them to a flash drive to send to Hilary and Mike.
“So, what did you two find?” I finally asked Jenn and Theo. “Well now... this is interesting, but I can't say for sure what it is.” Jenn started. “Whatever it is, it seems to have been following you around from the fourth floor, before and after the collapse, and followed us until we left the building.” Theo explained what we were about to see.
“You see this here?” Jenn asked as she pulled up the first of many pictures and pointed to a gray mist that covered a corner of the picture. “Any idea what that is?”
“Maybe my breath? It was cold.” I tried my best to debunk the vapor. “That was my first thought too, but then I realized it wasn't in the first pictures, but once it showed up, it stayed until you started taking pics outside just before we left.” Theo argued. “And then there's this...”
I watched as Jenn stopped on about the fifth picture where the mist seemed to be right behind Theo, who was actually standing about fifteen foot in front of the camera. It wasn't his breath, because it was behind him, and it wasn't my breath because Theo was between the mist and where I took the photo. It would have been a conundrum to most, but we already knew how actively haunted the Infirmary was, so it wasn't so much what was in the photos, but who. We continued to look through the rest of the photos and when we had finished, we looked them over again and again. The hair stood up on the back of my neck each time the next picture popped up. I knew how closely we were being watched and followed, and with the recorded voices, we felt pretty certain of its intent.
“You can take this for what you want, lens flare, infra-red reflection, or whatever, but these photos were all taken on the fourth floor.” Theo explained as he pulled up the first of several photos. “You see here? This orangey dot... it's like something is pointing out items or places of importance or significance.”
“Isn't that just outside of Maddie's room?” I asked. “Yes.” Theo answered as he moved to the next photo. “...and this is in Maddie's room. See the squiggly orange light over her bed?” “That's crazy!” Katie added. “Why orange?”
“You think Ash followed you there?” Jenn asked inquisitively.
“Hmmm... I don't know, but I suppose it is possible, or maybe it's Maddie trying to lead us somewhere.” I answered back. “This is the last one with that light in it.” Theo revealed the last photo. “I knew it!” I shouted. “Sorry, but I just knew that had significance.” The final photo showed the same light focused directly on the chest of drawers I so desperately wanted to explore, and this photo was taken after the collapse. I couldn't help but feel that somehow, some way, I had to get into that last drawer.
I loaded the photos onto the flash drive in the order they were taken and I renamed the photos as 'mist 1', 'mist 2', 'light 1', 'light 2', etc. I had decided to email the files to Hilary and save the flash drive for team use. Everyone helped power down the computers and was about to leave when I made a suggestion.
“How about going out for a bite?” I smiled. “Hacienda is just around the corner.”
“Mmmm... that sounds great.” Jenn closed her eyes in food ecstasy.
“I could go for something.” Theo agreed. “Quesadillas, here I come!” Katie said, being her typical goofy self. We drove to Hacienda separately and once seated, we ordered drinks, and eventually food. The chips and salsa that they were so famous for were virtually devoured within minutes of arriving. We spoke about the haunting evidence we had captured and of the upcoming investigation, whenever that may be. We also talked about our everyday lives and things more uplifting. Before long, some of us were on our second drink (mine was, of course Crown Royal & Coke) and we had begun to laugh and the heaviness of the investigation was temporarily left behind. It was just then that something came up that I neither expected, or was ready for.
“So have you seen Tabitha lately? She hasn't been around the bookstore much.” Theo looked to me.
“You two are becoming quite an item, huh?” Katie teased, raising her eyebrows. “Uh... not really... I mean, we have become very good friends, but we aren't an item... Just ask her, she'll tell you.” I winked at my team, denying the truth, that I had hoped and wished that we would be more than friends.
I tried to stay in the present, but my mind wandered to the few meetings with Tabitha over coffee, dinner, or just hanging out
together to watch a DVD. I later thought that there was some irony to the fact that the ghosts of an infirmary from more than a hundred years in the past, that so many of us had dreamed about were replaced by the ghost of a relationship in my head that only existed in my dreams. When we had finished up our meal, and our tongues grew tired, we shook hands, or waved, or hugged good-bye and I returned to the apartment where my son had donned his headphones and was playing his favorite video game with his on-line friends. I retreated to the solitude of my room, and spent the evening alone with my thoughts, my dreams, and my aspirations.
The next morning I met Tabitha for a cup of coffee, and we talked about all sorts of things from work to the Ohio trip and her new endeavor, a natural and healing stone Jewelry business called Cherished Elements. We enjoyed our time together, but I evaded the one thing I had promised myself I would say. I could not bring myself to risk losing our friendship and decided to keep my feelings to myself, at least for the time being.
Photos by Rick Kueber
Photos by Rick Kueber
Chapter 10 Winter
Halloween decorations had been put away, and replaced by the colors of fall, pilgrims, turkeys, and cornucopias. Thanksgiving was soon upon us, and my heart broke, thinking that I would be making a meager meal that my son wouldn't even want to eat (except for turkey and croissants). A Thanksgiving feast for two was not only depressing, but it also made me think of how different it would be from all of his Thanksgivings of the past. There were always huge meals and literally dozens of family and friends gathered together being thankful for each other. Only a few days before the holiday, I received a text message from Tabitha.
“Hey... do you want to come to my parents house for Thanksgiving?” -Tab
“Really? I'd love to come, honestly, but my son would be coming along too. Are you sure it's ok?” -Rick “Of course. My mom actually suggested it. We'll be eating at 2.” -Tab
“Wow.. that sounds great. Thank you... you sure you are ok with this?” -Rick
“Wouldn't have invited you if I wasn't. Lol !” -Tab “True. Should I bring anything? And where do they live?” -Rick “There will be plenty, so no need to bring anything....
The texts eventually ended with my thanking her once again. Even though I knew she only thought of me as a friend, I was blessed to have such a good friend whose parents would gladly open their home and share their family time with someone whom they had only met at one of the Barnes & Noble seminars that we had been involved with. A funny thought crossed my mind. The truth was that Tabitha was perfectly happy being single and independent and perhaps I was invited to keep her relatives from giving her a hard time about being single. True or not, the thought made me smile.
It was a nice Thanksgiving, and I was truly grateful for a friendship like that. The next weeks flew by, as I attempted to prepare for Christmas. My son and I attended my family Christmas get together which was always the weekend before the actual holiday. My family had grown so large, with four generations attending, that we rented out a party house at a local park. It was great to see some of my relatives that I hadn't seen since the last Christmas, and I was saddened to see the empty seats where other family members should have been sitting, but weren't. Some chose not to come, while others were no longer with us. A fire was built in the large stone fireplace, and tables were set up like a buffet and covered in more food than we could have eaten if we had been there for a week.
In the midst of our meal, when the conversation had gone quieter, my thoughts wandered back to the Infirmary. There were so many unmarked 'paupers graves' that I nearly broke into tears right there in the middle of the meal. How lonely it must have been for so many of the residents and inmates who had no one at all in their lives outside of the Infirmary's walls. Poor Madison, what must it have been like to have spent so many years with no family or real friends to share her holidays with? Such a young and troubled girl whose life was so lonely that no one ever came to visit, no one even claimed her body when she so tragically died at only twenty-five. Now, even more than a hundred years after her death, she still begged to not be left behind and forgotten.
In the week between my family get together and the actual holiday, I managed to get the entire team together for a holiday gathering at the Hacienda restaurant for a mid-afternoon meal. We sat amidst the Mexican themed surroundings, intermixed with Christmas decorations and talked about our lives, our kids, significant others, our careers, and of course, the case of the Infirmary. Most of our conversations were lighthearted and filled with laughter and sarcasm. I avoided bringing up Madison, as much as possible, but I could not control my friends’ choice of conversation topics.
“So Theo, about this Maddie...” Jennifer started. “How the hell did you know we wouldn't be able to find her?” “Just a feeling, really. I keep feeling like she has been a mixed up and lost girl for most of her life.” He answered back. “So, you didn't get very far tracing her history?”
“Uh, no.” Katie said bluntly. “Bummer. I was really hoping we could find out why she had been committed to the Infirmary.” I pondered the possibilities and the countless connections that we could have made, if only we could have retraced the path that led to her madness.
“Tell them what you did find though.” Jenn said, looking to Katie. “Yeah, this is so odd, it's almost creepy.” A look of mystery came over her. “We searched every site, called every library, searched public and private records, as much as possible. We looked for a Madison Taylor born in the 1860's, and even into the 1850's just in case her age was not accurate. Nothing.”
“So, it was during one of our many searches that Katie found a birth record of a Taylor E. Madison born in 1863.” Jenn was bubbling, but I didn't see how this was such an interesting find.
“So, where is the odd and creepy part?” Theo interjected. “Theo, you read my mind.” I said without thinking. “Yeah, you know... psychic...” Theo joked.
“Well the creepy part is that Taylor Madison wasn't from Ohio...” Jennifer grinned. “You ready for this?” She said, directing our attention to Katie again.
“She was born in West Virginia... in a little town near Summersville, West Virginia.” Katie flailed her hands and opened her mouth open wide as if to show an exaggerated surprise.
“There may be no correlation, but why are we constantly reminded of Ash, and that home, that town...” Jenn stated the truth in the form of a question.
“I know what you mean, I still see her in my dreams. Not as many nightmares as I used to have, but she still haunts my dreams.” I recalled some of the more recent and vivid dreams I had experienced, though only one of them seemed relevant to the Infirmary case.
“Me too.” Theo mumbled, almost to himself. He thought back to his dream at Hilary's house, but said nothing to the team. He wasn't sure if it was a dream or a vision, or what it really meant... not yet anyway.
We talked about the findings, and lack thereof, and eventually allowed our talk to diminish back to everyday life and the simple things, such as our holiday plans. We had spent several hours in each other’s company and I was thankful to have a team of such goodhearted and loyal friends.
*** I had bought a few small and simple gifts for Tabitha and had neatly tucked them into a gift bag, stuffing the top with festive tissue paper. Christmas Eve had arrived and Tabitha had asked if I was going to be home so she could drop off a Christmas goodie bag. When she stopped by, I invited her inside to warm up with a cup of freshly brewed coffee. It was bitterly cold for December in Southern Indiana, so she graciously accepted. I handed her a steaming mug and we took a seat on the couch while she thawed out. A few minutes later, she handed me her bag, and before I opened it, I handed her the gift bag I had put together. She smiled and had an odd look on her face when she saw one of the gifts was a holiday spiced coffee blend. Our friendship had started over a cup of coffee and it was my way of saying, 'I remember.'
“I know, it's not much, but I just wanted to say thanks for
being my friend.” I had a hard time looking her directly in the eye, feeling the presents were impersonal, though I had actually put a lot of thought into them.
“No, it's great... it's just that... well, if you open your bag... I got you the same coffee blend.” Her revelation was comforting. The gift bag was filled with homemade treats and a jar of apple-butter from her mom, the coffee blend and a few other thoughtful odds and ends.
Late that night, during a text conversation, she said she was at home with her friend Jackie, wrapping Christmas gifts and I was welcome to come over too. I did just that. It was nearly midnight when I left and my son was fast asleep on the couch, so I wrote a note letting him know I was only blocks away if he needed me.
The three of us had a good time, laughed, listened to music and I let my cares melt away, even if only for a few short hours. When I was about to say my good nights to the girls and head home to pack presents quietly under the tree, Tabitha disappeared into the other room and returned with another gift for me. I opened the brightly colored paper and revealed a beautiful book with a mirror finished front cover. Engraved on it were the words, “Inspiration Sparks”. Opening it I realized it was a journal to write down my deepest thoughts and secrets, and it even had a pen holder with a matching silver ink pen. I smiled and opened my arms. Hesitantly, she gave me a hug. This moment meant so much to me, not the hug as much as having someone who was such a genuine friend. My team, every one of them, were amazing friends and I couldn't have created better friends with my imagination, but we were bound together by a common passion of the paranormal and the life altering experiences that we shared. Tabitha and I had no common bond. We were just acquaintances who became friends, and that friendship had its own unique bond, that I shared with no one else.
*** New Year's Eve, Valentine’s Day, and a few lesser holidays came and went, while the case of Ms. Madison Taylor stayed in the back of our minds. Aside from occasional phone calls and text messages from Hilary, which didn't always relate to the Infirmary, my team and I let the haunting remain on the back burner while the harsh winter months trudged by ever so slowly. It had been one of the most brutal winters I could ever remember. The temperatures hit record lows and stayed there for weeks at a time, while we received more ice and snow that we had in the past decade combined.
