The Ghosts of Mertland (An Angel Hill novel)

by C. Dennis Moore

  She held it out and Mandy tried to reach for her, shuffling toward the girl and wanting to cry.

  “You can’t be up here,” Theresa said. “They should have told you.”

  Mandy kept her eyes glued to the girl and her outstretched hand and finally she was able to grab Theresa’s fingers and let herself be pulled to the stairs where she stepped down the first step and felt a huge weight fall off her.

  Theresa walked with her down the stairs to the second floor where Mandy put her face in her hands and fought back the tears of relief.

  She felt Theresa sit next to her and put a hand on her back.

  “I can’t believe they didn’t tell you,” she said. “That was dumb and irresponsible. You have to remember here, always, no matter where you are, to watch your step.”

  Fuck that, she wanted to say. Fuck everything. Mandy was ready to get her shit and get the hell out of here. Ghosts were one thing, but this was something else entirely and it was not what she had signed up for. God, she wanted to walk out.

  After Sam left, Mandy had applied for dozens of jobs. She’d went online to as many staffing websites as she could find and applied for every job in the area, even if she had to apply in Saint Joseph or Kansas City. She needed a job. She’d applied for multiple part time jobs, in case those were all she could get. But this was the only interview she’d had, and with that many rejections on the table and only one paying offer . . . Rent would be due before she knew it, not to mention lights, cable, phone, gas and insurance for the car. And food. She could only freeload off Katie for so long.

  Christ, she wanted so badly to walk the fuck out of here and never look back but suddenly the trap of trying to make a damned living reminded her just how stuck she was.

  And what happened, she asked herself, to how dedicated she’d been to the kids earlier tonight? Had she thrown that out the window?

  No, she thought. But the kids apparently knew the rules of this place a hell of a lot better than she did. No more wandering around dazed, she thought. She had to find out the ins and outs of this place. If she was going to be trapped here in an endless cycle of day to day, she’d better find out just what she was dealing with.

  “Jesus, Mary and Joseph, why didn’t they tell me?” she asked, her face still buried in her hands.

  “They forget sometimes,” Theresa said.

  “Where’s Lynn?” Mandy asked, getting to her feet. “How fucking long does it take to go find someone?”

  As the words left her mouth, she realized what she’d said and regretted it, but Lynn came around the corner followed by Denise.

  “Where were you?” Mandy asked when she saw her.

  “I told you,” Lynn said. “I was going to get Denise. She was cleaning in one of the bathrooms.”

  “What did you do, help her scrub every surface until it sparkled?”

  “What are you talking about?” Lynn asked. “I went and got her and we came back up here.”

  “The long route?” Mandy asked.

  “I’ve been gone two minutes. I told you where I was going. Theresa, what’s she talking about?”

  “Shocker,” Mandy said. “He told me there was nothing to fucking worry about!”

  “Stop right there,” Lynn said, holding up a hand. “First rule, we don’t talk like that in front of the kids. Second, who told you what?”

  “Tell her!” Mandy rambled. “It hasn’t been two minutes because I’ve been up there for at least half an hour.” She turned to Theresa.

  “Tell her what?”

  “Tell her I was trapped upstairs and you came up and told me no one goes up there and to watch my step.”

  “I just came out because it sounded like you fell.”

  “No,” Mandy said, looking around at the other three. “Why are you all doing this? This is your ‘let’s fuck with the new girl’ party? Awesome, you got me, but it’s not funny at all and I could have hurt myself up there.”

  “Up where?” Lynn asked.

  “Upstairs!” Mandy said.

  “But you’re not upstairs, you’re right here!”

  “I think I know that, der,” Mandy said. “I was just up there, though, and I couldn’t get back down!” Mandy tossed a hand over her shoulder to indicate upstairs, but her hand hit a wall. She looked around, looked down the hall, saw the stairs were at the other end.

  She looked around again, at the wall behind her, at the three girls standing around her. She looked back down at the stairs.

  How the hell did she get up here, so far away from them? She’d just been sitting on them two seconds ago. She looked at the doors and saw they were standing outside Denise and Theresa’s room. The stairs had been just ten feet away from here. But now they were gone, moved to the end of the hall.

  How?

  “No,” she said, throwing up her hands. “Fuck this. Fuck all of this, right now.”

  “I said watch your mouth,” Lynn said.

  “I want my stuff,” Mandy said. “I’m getting my purse, I’m out of here. Sam can have the apartment, maybe Katie’ll let me stay with her for a little bit until I find something else, but I’m not doing this. You can try all you want to make me think it, but I’m not crazy and I know what I know and I know where I was and I don’t think it’s a damn bit funny what you’re doing. I don’t need a job this damn bad that I have to put up with this.”

  She turned and walked away and Lynn said, “Denise and Theresa, you two get to bed.” The room door opened and closed and Lynn’s footsteps echoed down the hall as she followed Mandy, saying, “Hold up, wait a minute, I don’t even know what you’re talking about.”

  Mandy whirled and said, “Don’t know? I’m talking about your initiation tricks or whatever you want to call them. I’m not in high school anymore and I’m not playing stupid games. I want my purse and I’m going home. I’m sorry if that leaves you short staffed, but I guess he should keep a closer eye on what his night staff does for fun.”

  They were down the stairs and Mandy went into the lounge looking for her purse. She didn’t see it, and figured someone had hidden it, but didn’t want to stand around looking like a moron, trying to figure out where it was so she said, “Very funny. Find it, I want my stuff and I’m out of here.”

  “Find what?” Lynn asked.

  “My purse, what do you think?

  “Find it? It’s locked in the office with all the others. We keep them there so no one can go through them and steal anything, remember? I told you that when you got here.”

  “No you didn’t, he told me you’d be here any minute so I waited in the hall for you and you got here and we brought it in here. Where is it?

  “That’s the third time you’ve said that,” Lynn said. “He who? Who the hell is he?”

  “Who the hell is who?” Mandy asked. Now she was confused.

  “He. You said he told you I would be here. He who?”

  “Mr. Winters,” Mandy said. “The boss? He hired me? He interviewed me?”

  “Oh,” Lynn said. “Ok then And who is Mr. Winters?”

  “Jesus, is everyone here dense? I just want to get my stuff and get out of here.”

  “I’ve never heard of Mr. Winters,” Lynn said. “Our boss is Mrs. Hill. She does the hiring. We all lock our purses in her office. I’ve got the key.” She pulled a key out of her pants pocket.

  “I never met Mrs. Hill,” Mandy said. “I interviewed with Mr. Winters. He took me around two days ago and showed me the building. I met a few of the kids.”

  “Except there is no Mr. Winters.”

  “Well, there’s someone around here introducing strangers to the kids. I met three of them two days ago when he showed me around. Ask them.”

  “Do you remember who they were?”

  Mandy thought back. “He said they were in trouble for fighting. Monique? Sarah?”

  “And Alison,” Lynn finished. “Yes, they are. Suspended from school for the week.”

  “Great. Then ask them. They’ll tell you.
”

  “Okay,” she said, and headed for the stairs. “I’ll ask them. Do you want to come?”

  “Sure,” Mandy said. “So I can see the look on your face when they tell you.”

  The girls were upstairs in a separate hallway Mandy hadn’t been in. Why would she, she reasoned; these were Bea’s girls. They each shared rooms with different people, so it was three times Lynn and Mandy had to go into a dark room and wake up either Sarah or Monique or Alison and ask them to come outside. Once the trio of girls and the two women were gathered together, Lynn looked over at Mandy, then at the girls and asked, “Do you guys remember meeting Mandy a few days ago?”

  “Day before yesterday,” Mandy corrected.

  The girls nodded.

  “Do you remember who was with her?”

  The girls all looked at each other, confused, then at Lynn, and Alison said, “Nobody was,” Sarah said. “We were on the couch in the common room and she came up and said she was new here.”

  “That’s bullshit,” Mandy blurted, but Lynn held up a hand and she shut up, but glared at the three girls.

  “It’s not,” Monique said. “You said you were going to be working here.”

  “Then you stood there for a second and walked away,” Sarah said.

  “Then how do I know you three were suspended for fighting at school?” she asked. “You didn’t tell me, did you? You hardly even looked away from the TV to acknowledge me. So who told me that?”

  The girls shrugged, but didn’t have an answer.

  “You girls can go back to bed,” Lynn said, and they left to their respective rooms. Three doors closed and Mandy stood there in the hall, dumbstruck, and a little pissed.

  Finally Lynn said, “There is no Mr. Winters who works here. Mrs. Hill is in charge and our things are locked in her office. I’ll open the door so you can get your stuff, but I really wish you’d stay.”

  “For what?” Mandy asked. “Sounds to me like I was never hired in the first place! The one job I was able to get and I don’t really even have it. Forget it, just let me get my stuff so I can go.”

  She started down the stairs, Lynn following, and when she got to the bottom, she looked up and down the hallway in both directions, trying to orient herself in the building.

  “It’s up this way,” Lynn said, motioning to Mandy’s right. Mandy turned and stalked down the hall.

  They got to the door and Mandy stood there, waiting for Lynn to unlock it. Lynn unlocked the door and swung it open, and stepped aside to let Mandy enter.

  Mandy went inside, flipped on the light and found her purse. It was on one of the chairs in front of the desk--but this was not where she left it, she knew she hadn’t--and she did a quick scan of the contents to make sure nothing was missing. She shouldered the purse and pulled her car keys from it, then turned out the light and closed the door behind her.

  Lynn locked it again, then said, “You don’t have to go.”

  “You know what,” Mandy said, “maybe you didn’t do anything, maybe I hallucinated it, or maybe this place is just more haunted than you think, but whatever it is, I can’t do it every night. It’s nothing like what he said. I can’t come here every night and wonder if I’m going to get lost again somewhere.”

  “I still don’t see how you got lost in the first place,” Lynn said. “It’s just one long hallway up there. There’s nowhere to go. How did you get lost?”

  “That’s a damn good question,” Mandy said. “But as long as I just get out of here now, I think I can safely go the rest of my life and not give a shit what the answer is. It won’t be my problem anymore. Warn whoever gets hired next--if anyone actually does get hired--to watch their step and stay off that third floor.”

  She turned away and headed for the front door.

  “Look, just give it to the end of the shift,” Lynn was saying as she trailed behind her. “The kids are in bed, from here on out is just a lot of waiting. We usually just spend it in the kitchen or the common room playing games or reading or whatever. It’s a breeze from here out.”

  “Keep your breeze,” Mandy said. “I feel bad for the kids, okay? But I thought this job would be one thing and it’s not. I have to think about my own safety now.”

  She turned to walk out the front door, but when she pulled the handle, the door wouldn’t budge.

  “It’s locked,” she said, standing aside for Lynn to open it for her.

  “No it’s not,” Lynn said. Mandy thought she looked a little sad, but that wasn’t her problem.

  “Well, it’s not opening,” she said.

  “It’s not opening because they don’t want you to leave. You’re going to fit in here, Mandy, I promise. You just have to get used to it. It’s not bad at all once you get the hang of it. You’ll see.”

  “I won’t,” Mandy said. “Open the fucking door.”

  “I can’t.”

  “Then call someone who can.”

  Lynn chuckled. “If this place doesn’t want to open the door for you, no one out there can make it do so. There’s no one to call. But, look, it’s not a bad thing, really. They’re doing it because they want you to be here. They want you to work here and help take care of the girls. It’s a compliment.”

  “It’s kidnapping. I’m calling my boyfriend, he’ll come get me out of here.”

  “You don’t have a boyfriend,” Lynn said. “Remember?”

  “That doesn’t mean he won’t help me if I need it,” Mandy said.

  “You’re free to try,” Lynn said. “But I still wish you’d stay. At least finish out the shift.”

  Mandy pulled her phone from her purse. She saw there were two missed texts and her heart jumped in her chest for a moment until she saw they were both from her mother. The first asked what time Mandy’s shit was going to be over. The second was a correction of the word shit to shift.

  Mandy ignored them and called Sam. The phone rang several times before going to his voicemail and Mandy left him a message. “Sam . . . It’s me. Look, I need a favor. I know you don’t want to talk to me, I guess, and I’m not going to ask you to, but I need some help if you can call me back. I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t important. Call me back, please.”

  She hung up and slid the phone into her pocket instead of returning it to her purse.

  She walked to the bench she’d been sitting on the other day before her interview and sat down to wait for Sam to call her back.

  Lynn stood by silently.

  “You don’t have to watch over me,” Mandy said. “I’m not moving from this spot until he calls me back and comes to get me.”

  “He’s not going to come get you,” Lynn said.

  “You don’t know shit,” Mandy said.

  “He’s not going to get that door open until they want the door to open.”

  “Then I’ll sit here until third shift gets here. They’re going to have to get in somehow, right?”

  Lynn shrugged. “You could come and wait with us in the common room, at least.”

  “I’ll pass,” Mandy said. “I’m fine right here. If I don’t move from this spot, I can’t get lost again and I can make sure to be by the door when it opens.”

  “What do I need to say to convince you to at least finish the shift?”

  “Jesus, what difference does it make? If all there is left to do is wait around for third shift to get here, I can do that right here. I don’t need to come play cards or whatever for the next three hours. Consider this me sitting here and waiting for third shift because if the door isn’t going to open, that’s kind of what I’m doing here anyway.”

  “I just don’t want to leave you out here by yourself,” Lynn said. “Look, you’re new, you don’t know the rules. I don’t know what happened to you since you won’t tell me, but I’m sort of responsible for you and whatever it was, I don’t want it to happen again.”

  “It’s not going to. I’m not moving from right here.”

  “I’d just feel more comfortable if you were with me,
so I can make sure. It’s my job, you know?”

  “And I’d feel more comfortable if the door was open and I was halfway home by now. So what?”

  “There’s no reason to get pissed off about it. I’m just trying to help.”

  “Then open the door.”

  Lynn looked down at the floor.

  She took a step back and said, “Don’t say I didn’t try.” Then she turned around and walked away. Mandy watched her go until she was swallowed by the hallway, then looked back to the door and willed it to open and let her go.

  It didn’t.

  God, this place was creepy, she thought. She had felt it as soon as she walked in the other day, but she ignored it because she needed a job, and since she already knew about the ghosts, it wasn’t like she was coming in cold. And if it had been like Mr. Winters--whoever the hell he really was--had said, she could have handled that. But this was bullshit.

  She felt like she was at the bus stop on 8th Street. It was the only one no busses ever stopped at, because it had never been officially placed. None of the routes came to this stop and there were no records of it being built, but there it was one day, as if it had always been there, and for a while Mandy assumed it had, until the news did a story on it, which in Angel Hill was really more of a veiled warning that no one knew where it came from, and it would probably be a good idea not to wait there. No one ever had, as far as Mandy knew. So it stood there alone, this little three-person enclosure on the curb, clean and free of graffiti and trash. It had an interior light that shone down on no one at night and, when viewed from a block away, this lone source of light on a dark street, it was just all the creepier.

  Mandy pulled her phone from her pocket and looked at it. Nothing missed from Sam. She wondered if he’d gotten her voicemail yet. She wondered if he cared. Then she remembered her earlier resolution to put it all behind her and move on and she decided she would call Katie instead and have her come pick her up. It wasn’t that late, she might still be up.