chapter 14
I staggered out of the orphanage, disoriented. Something had just happened, but my thoughts were on lockdown. I couldn't quite grasp exactly what had occurred, or how long the span of time was that I had suddenly lost.
"Thanks for joining us," Alex said smugly, stubbing out his cigarette on the side of the house.
"Fire hazard," Theo muttered, rolling her eyes. She was busy fixing her bun, bobby pins in her teeth.
"Are you okay?" Henry asked, touching my arm. He pulled his fingers away and rubbed them together. Soot covered them. I looked down at my forearms: ash marks, almost in the shape of fingerprints, stood out on my pale skin. I brushed them away. Old houses could be so dusty.
"Do you want to go home?" I asked Theo, who was looking much better. The night was dark and full of voices. Our fellow haunted house survivors were still milling around, talking about how scared they had been inside the orphanage. Stars filled the sky, clearly visible since we were farther out near the country.
"No!" Theo shook her head fervently. "I'm alright now. I just don't like it when things jump out at me. But I'll be fine for going back inside alone." The way she held her purse like a stuffed animal to her chest did not convince me.
"Are you sure?" I insisted.
"You'll be all right, Theo," Alex said, trying to put his arm around Theo's shoulders. She wriggled out and stepped away.
"Okay, the question is now, where can we hole up until everyone else is gone?" I asked.
"How about over there?" Henry asked, gesturing towards an ugly jackpine squatting on the side of the yard. Barely visible behind it was a little shack.
We sneaked over behind the tree while the others were heading to the front. The tiny cottage looked like it was out of a fairy tale illustration. Brown paint was peeling off of the wood in strips, and dirty white gingerbread trim ran around the windows.
One at a time, we went inside the shed. It smelled stale, like old standing water. I shut the door behind us tightly. Henry had brought two camping flashlights. He turned one on to and pointed it at the ceiling, cutting through the gloom and lighting up the room rather brightly.
"Do you think they'll be able to see that outside?" I asked.
"Shouldn't be able to," Henry said, looking around for possible flaws. "I think the only window is that one with the shutters. But those should protect any light from getting out."
"It's gross in her," Theo said, surveying the state of dirt and decrepitude. A metal bed held a mattress torn up by nesting mice. Boxes of supplies were piled in the corner. Alex and Theo looked through them, holding up glow sticks, old rolls of yellowing carnival tickets, corroded batteries.
"What exactly is it that we're doing?" Henry asked me. "I'm just curious. Are we really going through with this whole séance bit?"
I didn't know exactly how to explain it now that I was on the spot.
"We're going to hang out here until everyone clears off, and then we'll go inside to hopefully...call up some dead people."
"Just your typical Saturday," Theo said wryly.
"You didn't really strike me as the law breaking type," Alex said to me. "Hot."
Henry scowled at him. "As simple as that then?" he asked, looking back at me.
"As simple as that," I echoed. "As long as we don't get caught."
"Well then, let's not get caught," he reasoned.
A splintery wooden table and mismatched chairs sat in the opposite corner beneath a shelf. Henry started rooting around in the shelf, and found an old deck of casino cards. "Something to pass the time," he said, more to himself even though I was watching over his shoulder.
Alex moved one of the chairs over and started pulling at the braided rug beneath it.
"What are you doing?" I asked. Every movement he made irritated me more.
"This rug is all damp and moldy," he complained. "I don't want my shoes ruined, they're new." He tilted his foot so I could get a look at the sneakers in question. They looked like boy shoes to me. I rolled my eyes. He succeeded in pulling away the offending floor covering, revealing a small painted door underneath.
"Look what I found," Alex said, already kneeling down. "Where do you think this goes?"
"No idea," I said, kneeling beside him. The wooden door was a perfect square, only several feet across. I scratched off some of the dark, colorless paint with my fingernail. "But I'd love to know."
"Come help me with this," Alex instructed Henry.
"I didn't know I was your servant," Henry said, but he came over anyway. A thin loop was hooked to the bottom. Both Alex and Henry took turns trying to pull up the door with it but it was either locked or stuck.
"If we had a crowbar," Henry suggested. "Otherwise I think it's hopeless."
"Oh well, not important," Alex said, losing interest instantly as he stood up and brushed off his khakis. "Where's the booze?"
"Nobody brought booze," Henry said, his voice strained. "We can play cards, though." He patted the deck he had counted out on the table. "Only the Queen of Hearts is missing, but we can just use the joker."
"Whoopee," Alex scoffed, flopping down into his chair.
Theo and I stood over by the window, keeping watch. We didn't have a great view, but I could see the majority of the cars parked on the lawn, as the headlights came on two by two and the drivers pulled away onto the road.
"Can I ask you a question?" Theo asked quietly. "You don't have to answer it if you don't want to."
I laughed lightly at the unexpectedness, assuming it to be about Henry. "Of course, what?"
"Could this whole new found séance interest have anything to do with..." she swallowed hard before continuing. "Your friend?"
She pushed her glasses up on either side with both palms. I assumed that meant a major attack of nerves. The next words ran together as if they were one. "I mean, if you don't want to talk about it, I won't pry. I was just curious."
"That's not prying," I said gently. "I'm really surprised you've never asked me about Jenna before." I looked back through the slits in the cracked shudders, trying to decide what to say.
"I'm sorry," she said, look apologetic. "I didn't..."
"No, no. You're fine. I had so many people walking on eggshells around me; it was nice to be treated like a person for once, and not just some pathetic loose end." I cleared my throat. "To answer your question...maybe. I don't think she's...dead." My voice cracked on the word. I shut my eyes.
When I opened them, I saw the boys peering up from their card game. Henry's brow was furrowed, and I knew he was trying to decipher my look. I attempted a weak smile for him. He and Alex looked down again, making themselves artificially busy.
"But something's here," I continued to Theo. "And I think it has to do with her, or why she disappeared. I keep imagining what could have happened that night. It's like a movie in my head but I have no idea what scenes are right."
When the last car pulled out of the gate, it was after 10 pm. I watched a women get out of the driver's side and shut the gate, then speed away like she felt happy to be rid of the place. I pulled out my phone to text Corinne about being at Theo's. The reception kept dropping to zero bars, and I walked around the tiny interior of the shed.
"Is anyone else having crappy service?" I asked, looking around at my cohorts. Alex whipped out his phone and held it in front of him like he was in a commercial.
"Uh, yeah. That sucks," he muttered, glaring at his phone like it was a personal sleight.
I finally sent the text through and hoped Corinne would find it acceptable. She could very well be passed out in front of the TV again, so I wasn't too worried. She didn't really have a drinking problem; it was more that she liked using up my parents' stuff.
We exited the shed the way we had come in and stood on the lawn, four awkward teenagers that had no idea what we were doing. The high, ancient birch trees growing around the fence made us practically invisible.
"Why does this feel like the lead in to a news story?" Henry asked, and adopted a broadcaster voice. "Four teenagers arrested today for abandoned house shenanigans. When asked for comment, they said, 'Ariel made us do it'." He grinned at me and I bumped his shoulder with mine, happy to have him next to me in the dark.
"We'll be careful," I assured him. "No shenanigans. Can you guys check the doors and see if any of them are open?"
The boys trudged off and disappeared around the side of the house. Meanwhile, Theo and I checked on the rows of windows in the back. The place had seen its fair share of hard partying, the evidence all over. Many of the panes had been broken in, and black garbage bags and grocery sacks had been taped to the frames inside.
"I've never done anything like this before," Theo whispered, sounding giddy. "Peering in windows, yes, but never actually going in the houses. This is really exciting."
"All that means is that we both need to get out more," I said, but I was smiling.
Graffiti in the shape of a devil's face stood out on the wall. Hell is closer than you think read the scrawl beneath. There was a big broken window at the back of the building, near the center, which had also been given the garbage bag treatment. The boys came back around, faces hidden in shadow.
"Everything's locked up tight," Henry reported.
"I think we can sneak in through here," I said, gesturing towards the window. With careful fingers, I pulled off the bag and the tape, exposing the hole into the house.
"Not exactly trying hard to keep out intruders, are they?" Henry asked.
"Well, maybe that means we're invited," I said. "Who wants to go first?"
"Me!" Theo chirped, all of her earlier fear replaced by eagerness. She scrambled up to the window, where Alex gave her a boost up. When she was inside, she stuck her upturned thumb out for confirmation. "Just be careful of the glass, you guys."
Alex proceeded in next, his rotund behind filling the window frame before he landed inside. He towered over the rest of us short people at over six feet, and he was built like a linebacker. We watched as the two of them walked further into the house.
Henry gestured for me to go next. "Ladies first, to be cliché."
"I appreciate your cliché. It makes you sound like a gentleman." I looked into the bleak hole. It's just a house. It can't hurt me, I thought.
I grasped the sides of the window, carefully avoiding the broken glass still stuck inside the frame. I pulled myself up, but lost my grip and fell, tumbling inside on my arm and the side of my head. I saw stars as my skull thwacked the hard floor. It happened so fast I was in shock.
So much for the not getting hurt theory.
Henry scrambled in beside me. My head was throbbing, but I was vaguely aware as he leaned over me, assessing the damage.
"I'm so sorry," he said, although it had been my fault. He gently grabbed my arm, inspecting it. "You ripped this up pretty good."
I sat up slowly and looked myself over, more aware of him touching me than I was of any pain. Bits of broken glass were lodged inside my flesh. Blood bloomed from the cuts.
"You're bleeding," he said softly, his brow knit.
"It doesn't hurt," I said in an equally soft tone. With his face so close, I had the sudden, desperate urge to kiss him.
"Blood doesn't bother you?" he asked skeptically, raising one full eyebrow.
I looked down at my arm, and picked out the shards of glass quickly with my fingers, wincing only a little. "Not really. I used to be the neighborhood tomboy. My tree climbing was unparalleled."
My arm didn't hurt much, but my head was killing me.
"You should go into medicine," he said humorously.
"Because of my tree climbing?" I asked, confused.
"Well that would be a useful skill, but I meant for your strong disposition," he explained.
"Don't I need to not suck at math to go into medicine?" I asked. Henry scoffed, shaking his head at me.
"We should just leave," he insisted. "You need to get that arm looked at. With all the dirt that's around this place, you could get a nasty infection."
"I'm all right," I insisted. "We're doing this."
I felt like I was finally going to get some answers, and I would be damned before someone stopped me. I pulled my purse strap up on my shoulder and stood, while he offered his arm for support.
"I'm fine," I insisted.
"All right, but don't say I didn't warn you when they have to chop your arm off," he grumbled, shoving his hands in his sweatshirt pockets.
I stood and walked away from him, wanting to put distance between us so the unrelenting urge to kiss him would go away. It ached that I couldn't touch him. In my eagerness to get away, I was glad he couldn't see the fat drop of blood roll down my forehead and fall to the floor.
In the dark, I felt less self-conscious as I blotted my bleeding head. From what I could tell, it wasn't too bad, but the thin trickle didn't seem to be totally stopping, either. Henry turned on one of his flashlights. He offered me the other, but it was too hard to juggle everything in my hands.
"Your head is bleeding, too?" he asked. I had been trying to hide it by awkwardly holding the back of my hand to my forehead, imitating Scarlet O'Hara.
"A little," I said meekly.
"Ariel, come on," he said in exasperation. "You should really go to the hospital."
"I hate hospitals," I said, shivering. "No thank you."
"You will be the death of me, I swear," he muttered. "You drive me crazy sometimes."
His words stung me deeply.
"I didn't know I was so irritating," I said.
"That's not what I meant," he said, frowning.
"Let's keep going," I said flippantly.
The light bobbed through the rooms, illuminating now why our haunted house experience had been confined to specific parts of the orphanage. I had once seen pictures of Chernobyl, a city destroyed by a nuclear plant explosion. The inside of the building reminded me of that.
A lot of it was just as Mr. Warwick had described in class. Huge gaping holes in the floor looked like a giant had bashed his fist in. Stale air blew through the halls, carrying with it the bitter stink of mold and rotten wood. More than anything the house held sadness, like the feeling itself had absorbed into the flowery wallpaper. The children there must have had terribly unhappy lives.
The rooms were tiny, with short ceilings. In a way, it reminded me of a neglected dollhouse. I imagined Alex would have to duck through the doorways and wondered if he had during the session. Speaking of which, he jogged up to us, with Theo close behind.
"What's the hold up?" he asked at the same time Theo said, "Oh my gosh, what happened?"
She took my arm and fussed over it as Henry had. It looked much better to my eyes, scabs already starting to form.
"We're staying," I said, answering the question before she asked it. "We've gone to too much trouble. And I'm fine, nothing some antibiotic ointment and bandages won't fix."
"She's being as stubborn as possible," Henry told them. Then he turned to me. "What are we doing now?"
"We need to find somewhere to hold the séance," I said. "Preferably a table or a good flat expanse of floor. We should split up."
"Uh, no, we shouldn't. That's always when the bad stuff happens on Scooby Doo," Alex said, waving his hands dismissively.
I rolled my eyes. "Theo and I can go together..."
"You're going to think this is sexist of me," Henry interjected, "But I think maybe it should be one girl and one guy together. Between your injuries and Theo's phobias" — she wrinkled her nose at him — "it might be a good idea."
"Yeah, you need a strong man to protect you," Alex smarmed at Theo.
"Are you freaking kidding me?" Theo asked, one notch below yelling. "The one who was just whining about an old cartoon?"
"God, I'm joking," he said, rolling his eyes. "Lighten up, Morticia."
"Wow, that's a new one," Theo spat, her eyes glowing with anger in the light from the flashlight. "Did you use all two of your brain cells to come up with it?"
But we split up that way anyway. Maybe it would be a good idea, I reasoned without a whole lot of reasons to support it. I was on edge and in no mood to argue. I drove Henry crazy? He drove me crazy every moment I was around him.
Henry gave Theo one of the flashlights and Alex had an LED light on his phone. After they had departed, Henry and I stood awkwardly across from each other, listening to the fading sound of their bickering.
"Let's keep moving," I said, and we set off.
"I thought I saw a table back in that room full of cages," Henry offered.
So we headed in that direction. We wound up there after what seemed like ten minutes of getting lost. The house was like a maze, with dead ends caused by decay. I took out a little pink emergency flashlight I had in my backpack, and shone it around the cages. On closer inspection in enhanced light, they looked like they had all been purchased at the pet store. A few still had price tags wound around the bars. But no table.
Back in the room with the rocking chair and the skeleton closet, Henry wandered over to the closet door, smirking in anticipation as he nudged it open. But as I peered over his shoulder we both saw it was empty.
"What the hell?" I asked, a chill going through me.
He tilted his head, inspecting the back wall of the closet. Then he leaned in and tapped the ceiling with his fingers. Pushing his hand through the flaps he had discovered, he stepped back as the obviously plastic skeletons dropped down.
"All parlor tricks," he said softly, reaching out and rubbing my shoulder. My heart leapt up into my throat. We gazed into each other's eyes for a moment, and then parted, making ourselves busy in different parts of the room.
Having not had any luck we made our way into a different skinny hallway. It was pitch black beyond where even the strong beam of his flashlight couldn't penetrate.
"I'm not going any farther that way," he said. "I don't like the looks of those ceiling beams." There were a few hanging precariously low, as if they could drop any moment.
"Well, then, I'll go," I said, shuffling around him.
He caught my arm to stop me from going further. "It could be dangerous," he pleaded. "You never know if the ceiling might collapse, and I bet there are weak spots in the floor."
I stood in front of him, acutely aware that our lips were merely inches apart. I wondered if I was the only one. But as his eyes became heavy lidded, and his breathing sped up, I realized my answer.
"Theo was right, I can take care of myself," I said gently, not taking my eyes off of his mouth.
"I don't want anything to happen to you," he whispered, moving closer to me. "That's all I meant. I care about you."
I could almost feel his lips on mine.
"Heads up!" Alex yelled from the left. Henry dropped my arm and we pulled away from each other, as if caught in an embarrassing scene. Alex didn't seem to notice how flustered we were.
Theo was on his heels. "We found the dining room. Should be a good spot."
We followed them back down the hallway, and up a short set of stairs. The remains of an old kitchen sat at the top. I paused and looked inside. Gutted spaces where the old appliances had been ripped out left bouquets of blackened electrical wiring. The black and white tile on the floor was cracked and peeling, sticking up in some sports.
"This way," Theo gestured, and Henry and I followed them through a door into the dining room. A narrow room that had probably once been grand, there were high-backed chairs around an elongated mahogany table. Two dust-layered, silver candelabras sat in the center of the tabletop. I brushed dust off of the back of the chair standing at the end.
I battled dizziness, my head pounding, but I figured I was so close now...I hadn't come this far just to quit. I would drive myself nuts with maybes.
Besides, I didn't hit my head that hard. My stubbornness continued to win out.
Alex was making jokes, as usual. He carried a plastic skull he had picked up somewhere and used the mouth as a puppet, adopting a Cryptkeeper voice.
"Welcome kiddies," he said. "Would you like to dance to death?"
"He is such an idiot," Theo whispered to me.
An oversized, muted portrait of a man hung above the huge fireplace. I had never seen a fireplace so wide. A pile of ashes remained at the bottom from some long-ago fire. It smelled awful and I wrinkled my nose, turning away.
Each one of us took a seat at the table, with me at the head. The bleeding from my forehead had stopped, and I stuffed the red tissues in the side pocket of my purse. I set the purse on the table, unzipping the main section, and started to take out the supplies I had borrowed from Corinne. Four white candles, to represent us; one red candle, to represent whatever we were contacting; a small mirror, to act as a portal; and different pieces of metal. Finally, I pulled out the séance book, which had a photo I had printed out of the orphans tucked inside between the pages.
Henry picked up the picture and looked at it, reading the caption.
"'Orphans at Dexter House, 1926, with John Dexter the third.'" He nodded towards the ugly portrait above the fireplace. "I'm guessing that's the same guy."
I looked over the picture, too. Dexter was standing behind the row of children, his face shadowed by his wide-brimmed hat. All of the kids had their hair cut short, and were wearing what looked like tattered nightgowns. For a moment that look seemed familiar, although I couldn't tell why.
Henry rubbed the picture with his thumbs. "Did you laminate this?"
I nodded. Everyone at the table laughed.
"I was worried it might get something on it, ectoplasm, or s-something," I stuttered, defensive.
"Spirit fluids?" Alex asked, causing everyone else to crack up again.
I looked up at the painting again. The man gave me the shivers. It reminded me of an evil painting in an old movie I had seen, that cursed anyone who looked at it. Or the idea that a soul could be trapped inside a photograph. The oil-painted black eyes never left mine.
Theo helped me set up the table to match the picture in the book, putting the candles in a diamond shape with the red one in the center.
"Where's the Ouija board?" Alex asked.
"I didn't bring one," I said.
"What kind of fake séance is this?" he demanded. I gritted my teeth.
It had started to storm outside, bursts of thunder rattling the walls. Funny, it seemed like a clear night before we came in. But I hadn't been worried about the weather then. And in Michigan, a storm could start on one side of the sky while the other half was sunny and clear.
"It was a dark and stormy night," Henry recited.
"Be serious," I said. I sat down again, and stumbled a bit on the way down.
"Are you okay?" both Henry and Theo said at the same time. They looked at each other, exchanging silent communication. It reminded me of my parents, and irritated me even more than Alex had.
"I am fine," I repeated yet again. "Let's just do this. Oh...before I forget."
I rummaged through the side pocket of my purse, and pulled out Grandma's necklace. I brought it in a plastic sandwich baggie for safekeeping.
"Fancy," Theo said. "Wouldn't want the ghosts to see you without your fine jewels."
"Are you going to pick on me, too?" I asked wearily.
"Sorry."
I put the necklace around my neck and attached the clasp. The green stone was already promisingly warm.
Alex lit the candles with his lighter. We joined hands around the table, Theo and Henry holding mine, and Alex holding Theo's.
"Gross," Theo moaned, her eyes closed.
"What?" I asked.
"His hand is wet," she said, pulling hers out of Alex's and wiping it on her skirt.
"I have a sweating problem, okay?" he said. "And I'm not holding hands with Henry."
"You don't have to. As long as we form a chain," I said, looking at the book. Theo gingerly took Alex's hand back. I took a deep breath, and began chanting the text.
"We gather here to call the spirits that have been left behind," I recited. "He who cannot face death, and so has turned away. We call thee to our gathering."
Henry started to chuckle. "'Thee'?"
"Keep it on thee low," Alex said in an old man accent. Both he and Henry laughed.
"You're really not funny," I said to Alex. Then I glared at Henry.
"I'm sorry, but I warned you," he said, still smiling. His eyebrows raised apologetically as he laced his fingers through mine again.
I tried to focus back on the book, but I was more aware of how he was running his thumb over the back of my hand. He didn't seem to notice he was doing it. All was forgiven.
The amulet was growing almost uncomfortably hot. I had to resist the urge to take it off, reasoning I only had to keep it on for a short time. I expected the stone to emit a glow or something, but it looked the same. The candles gave me tunnel vision and I blinked, mentally envisioning the Tylenol at home on the kitchen counter.
"We gather here to extinguish the flame that keeps you from finding the dark," I recited, fully aware that Henry was still chuckling under his breath. "Appear to us, so that we may send you on your way. Appear! Appear!"
A lightning bolt shot through the center of the table. The accompanying boom deafened me, and I went blind.
We are starving. He won't feed us. We are locked in the room all day long. I haven't seen the sun in weeks. I don't remember what it feels like.
A little girl, cuts visible on her arms.
This is what happens when you disobey me.
A little boy emaciated from hunger. In a box beneath the ground.
This is what happens when you try to destroy me.
I am on fire. My skin burns, the pain like nothing I've ever known before.
Jenna stands with her face in the corner of the room. Weeping.