by Val Crowe
“I guess he could have been there all along and I didn’t see.”
“So, what do we do?” said Rylan. “Go get your truck, take him back to his place?”
I chewed on my lip. “We don’t know what’s wrong with him. What if he needs a doctor?”
“I figured if it was supernatural, modern medicine couldn’t help,” said Rylan.
“Well, maybe it could help,” I said. “Besides, we can’t just leave him comatose in his apartment. We have to call 911.”
“But what do we tell them when they get here?”
“The truth. We lost him in the dorm two nights ago, and we found him this morning,” I said. “They’ll think we were partying too hard or something.”
“Yeah, and maybe we get in trouble for trespassing.”
“If they cared about that, they’d put a door on that place.” I pointed at the gaping hole that opened there, like a hungry mouth. And then I felt a strange feeling pulling me toward that dark hole.
Come inside, Deacon. Deep inside.
I shivered and tore my gaze away. I got out my phone and dialed 911.
We waited for the ambulance to come together, but then we weren’t allowed to drive in the ambulance with Deacon, so we had to get my truck and drive to the hospital. Once there, it was kind of a bust, though, because they wouldn’t let us see Wade as they were admitting him and doing tests and stuff.
I offered to take Rylan home, but she was wary of that. She said she didn’t feel safe around the windows. Every time she looked at one, she felt this urge to get closer. “It’s like when you climb up someplace high and you look down over at the ground, and it’s dizzying down there, but you can feel some part of you wants to fall. There’s a name for that.”
“Call of the void,” I said.
“Yeah,” she said. “It’s horrifying, because it’s inside you. It’s your own self betraying you, trying to throw you to your death. That’s what it feels like.”
“Well, it’s not you,” I said. “It’s the barnacle.”
Anyway, I agreed that it was better if she stayed with me, so we both hung out in Wade’s hospital room, after he was all checked in, that is. We stayed up and watched him sleep and hours passed.
I felt pretty horrible, overall. I had done that bit with the oil, which had taken a lot out of me. And then I’d been snacked on by hungry ghosts in the Ridinger Hall. And the barnacle was on me too. It was pretty draining. So, it probably wasn’t surprising that I fell asleep in an uncomfortable chair next to Wade’s bed.
I dreamed that I was back in Ridinger Hall, wandering down the hallway, looking for Wade. He was somewhere inside because I could hear him calling for me, yelling my name, but I couldn’t find him. I kept walking and the hallway kept stretching out longer and longer and longer.
“Deacon, where are you?” yelled Wade. “Deacon, help me.”
I picked up my feet and ran toward his voice, but I never seemed to get any closer.
When I woke up from the dream, sweaty and gasping and sore from sleeping in the chair—terrible crick in my neck—Rylan was shaking me.
“Hey,” I said. “Sorry for falling asleep.”
“I think I need to go,” she said.
“But what if you try to jump out a window?” I said.
“I’ll have someone watch out for me.”
“Okay,” I said. “I’ll drive you.”
“Nah, it’s cool,” she said. “I called someone to pick me up. She’ll be here any minute.”
“You sure?”
Rylan nodded. “Call me if he wakes up.”
I promised that I would.
After she left, I couldn’t get comfortable on the chair. I went for a walk instead. I decided I’d go and see if I could rustle up some food.
* * *
The coffee from the coffee machine at the hospital was surprisingly good. I was sipping at it and eating some cookies from a machine. I’d already had some cheesey-filled pretzels, that had been my dinner. Now, I was going for dessert.
I stepped back into Wade’s room.
“Oh, thank God, there’s someone here,” said Wade, who was sitting straight up in his hospital bed.
I almost dropped my coffee. “You’re awake.”
“How did I get here? What the hell happened?” said Wade.
“It’s a long story,” I said. “Are you hungry? Do you want anything? I just hit up the machine. I could go back…” I pointed behind me at the door.
“Are those cookies?”
I handed them over.
He munched. I explained. He didn’t interrupt me. I told him everything. Well, mostly. I might have left out the bits about how the dorm turned me on, because that was just creepy. Likewise, I didn’t feel so eager to share about what happened with Charlotte. I was going to have to eventually, of course. I had the barnacle now, and he’d need to know that. Also, he’d be worried about her.
I don’t know why I didn’t say anything… It wasn’t as if he and Charlotte were together together or anything. It was only that I couldn’t quite find the words.
But finally, I was done. He just shook his head. “That is straight-up freaky, all of it.”
“I think it was my fault, what happened to you. I think the house took you as bait to lure me back.”
“Aww, how sweet, Deacon. I didn’t know you cared.” He grinned.
I snatched the cookies back. “Of course I care.”
“Yeah, but you’re mad at me currently,” he said.
“I’m just glad you’re okay,” I said. “You are okay, right?”
“I think so,” said Wade. “I want to get dressed and get out of here.”
“You can’t leave,” I said. “Not until some doctor looks you over and says you’re okay.”
“Okay, I’ll dig up a doctor and get a clean bill of health,” he said. “You go and find me some coffee. I’m thinking I want some after all.”
“You got it,” I said.
* * *
“Where the hell have you been?” Wade was dressed and at the front desk in the hospital, signing papers.
“Getting coffee for you as asked,” I said, holding out the cardboard cup. “You weren’t in your room. I’ve been looking everywhere. You nearly gave me a heart attack.” I had not been pleased when I got back to Wade’s room and found him gone.
“Sorry,” he said. “I just didn’t want to stick around.”
“Did you find a doctor?”
“Look, there’s nothing wrong with me, so I’m checking myself out,” said Wade.
I looked at the woman behind the desk. “Is he leaving without the doctor’s okay?”
She eyed me. “Huh? I just hand over the papers, sir.”
I groaned. “Wade, did they say something was wrong with you?”
He finished signing the last paper and then handed the clipboard over the counter to the woman. “That’s it, right?”
She flipped through the documentation. “Looks good.” She turned to me. “He is signing himself out.”
“Wade, if something’s wrong with you—”
“There isn’t,” said Wade. “Besides, I have to go and see Charlotte. She could be dead by now. Have you checked on her?”
“Uh… about that,” I said, shoving my hands in my pockets.
His eyes widened. “What? Is she hurt? What happened?”
“No, she’s fine. She’s, um, completely out of danger, in fact.”
“What are you talking about?”
I looked at the woman behind the desk. “Could he like, unsign himself out if he needed to?”
“I’m fine,” said Wade. “Now talk to me about Charlotte.”
I sighed. “Right. Okay. Well…” I gestured. “Let’s go outside.”
We walked across the hospital lobby and stepped out of the glass doors into the heat. It was morning now, and it was another sweltering day, even this early. Now that we were out in the humidity, I was regretting the decision to talk out here a little bit. It was only t
hat I wanted us to have a modicum of privacy.
“We’re outside,” said Wade. “What happened with Charlotte?”
“I, uh… well, when I couldn’t find you last night, I went to your apartment, and she was there. She had apparently tried to throw herself out a window, but her roommate had stopped her—”
“Geez!” Wade sank his hands into his hair.
“Yeah, well, she decided that she believed you and she was a little upset. She wanted the barnacle gone, like yesterday, and she sort of asked me to…”
“To what?”
“Well, I took it,” I said. “So, she doesn’t have it anymore. I do.”
“You…” He didn’t get it. And then he did. I saw the understanding come over him, and he made a face. Then he took a step back.
I sighed again. “You’re pissed.”
He scratched the back of his neck.
“You two… it wasn’t like you were dating or something. You weren’t exclusive. She was screwing other people anyway.”
He turned on me, his eyes wide. “Seriously? You’re going to say that?”
I lifted my chin. “I saved her life, okay? She wanted it to be you, but I couldn’t get to you—”
“So, while I was trapped in that house, you were getting busy with her?” He was incredulous.
“She wanted it gone. I was there. It didn’t mean anything.”
“Fuck you,” he said. “Fuck you, get the hell away from me.”
“Oh, come on,” I said. “Don’t be like that. And I can’t get away from you. I’m here to give you a ride.”
“I’ll find my own ride,” he said.
“Wade—”
“Don’t.” He grimaced, and then he turned on his heel and stalked off.
I hung my head. Well, that had gone well.
* * *
I was leaning up against my truck in the hospital parking lot when Wade slunk up to me.
“You’re still here,” he said.
“Yeah,” I said.
He pointed behind himself vaguely. “I walked around the parking lot. Just to clear my head.”
I nodded. “That work out?”
Wade shrugged. “It occurred to me that we’re sort of even now. You know, considering Olivia and all that.”
I raised my eyebrows. “What? Olivia was… Olivia. And Charlotte is… Charlotte. I don’t think it’s anything the same.”
“Yeah, well, you should never have slept with my…”
“Your fuck buddy?”
He glared at me. “I’m trying to apologize.”
“And yet, I have not heard the words, ‘I’m sorry’ come out of your mouth.”
“You haven’t apologized either.”
“Because I’m not sorry.” Now, I was starting to feel a little annoyed. “I didn’t do anything wrong. You’re the one who broke the pact between us. We never had any conversations about Charlotte.”
“We shouldn’t have needed to. You know that you don’t get involved with some chick that I’m involved with.”
“I’m not involved with her. It was a transaction, for God’s sake. It wasn’t even good.”
“Spare me details, geez.” He cocked his head. “On second thought, tell me everything. What did you do to her? Did she make that noise she makes—”
“Stop it,” I said. I turned to the truck and yanked open the door. “You want a ride back or what?”
“Fine,” Wade muttered. He went around to the other side of the truck.
I climbed in.
He climbed in.
I started the car and cranked the air conditioning. I pulled out of the parking lot, and we drove in silence.
“Look,” I finally said. “I know that you hate me and everything, but I have an idea for getting rid of the barnacles, and I need you to make it work. Will you help?”
“What do you need me to do?”
“Just sort of doing some, um, roleplaying, I guess.”
“What?” He was horrified.
“Not like that.” God, all the extreme awkwardness of this disgusting situation had made everything take on double entendres. “I had a vision. It involved two guys and a girl. So, if we can get Rylan to help us, then we can try to reenact it or something.”
“Does it have to be Rylan?”
“I guess not, no.”
“Why don’t we get someone else to do it,” he said. “Then we can just get it over with.”
“You want to be rid of me that bad?”
He crossed his arms over his chest.
“Well… I don’t know,” I said. “We want to get the barnacle off Rylan, and she might need to be there.” I thought about it. “But maybe not. If we release the spirits, maybe it won’t matter.” I thought about what had happened with Mrs. Michaelson. After she’d taken care of her unfinished business, she’d disappeared. Maybe Rylan didn’t need to be there. “But who else would we ask?”
“Charlotte,” said Wade.
“Oh, right,” I said sarcastically. “That won’t be the least bit awkward.” Then I thought about it. “But actually… it might work better if it is her.” Heather Olsen had died in a room with two guys who were sharing her sexually. And the connection between Charlotte, me, and Wade matched that much more closely than adding Rylan to the mix. Damn it. “Okay, fine. But you’re asking her, not me.”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
“What are you guys doing here?” said Charlotte. She was inside the door to her house, looking like she was ready to slam the door in our faces.
“Hey, Charlotte,” said Wade. “So, you couldn’t wait for me?” He put a hand on the door and pushed it open wide.
She narrowed her eyes. “Hey, you have no right to say anything to me. I told you that I hate it when guys are possessive, and here you are—”
“My best friend?” said Wade. “Really?” He advanced on her, pushing his way into the house.
She backed away from him, looking a little worried.
I felt the need to get between them, put a hand on Wade’s chest. “What are you doing?” I said in a quiet voice.
He shoved me off.
Charlotte put her hands on her hips. “You told me it was over,” she said to me. “Last night, when you left, you said that you had it now, and that it was gone. You said I was fine.”
“You are fine,” I said. “It is over. But we need your help with something.” And then I glared at Wade, because he was supposed to be asking her this, not me.
Wade seemed to realize he was screwing up here. “Uh, yeah, listen Charlotte, we kind of need a favor.”
She pointed at him. “You’re being scary.”
Wade shoved his hands into his pockets. “I don’t mean to be.”
“He got eaten by the dorm and then spit out,” I said. “And this is all just days after Olivia’s funeral. He’s had a rough week. Cut him some slack.”
She seemed to consider this, looking back and forth between us. “Well,” she said, “what kind of favor?”
“We need you to come with us to Ridinger Hall,” I said.
“You just said that Ridinger Hall can eat people,” she said.
“Well, it’s not going to do that to you,” I said. “It only did that to Wade because it knew I would go back in after him.”
“You did ‘save her life,’” Wade said darkly.
I rolled my eyes. I kept talking to Charlotte. “Listen, sometimes ghosts get stuck in loops.”
“Like from ropes?” said Charlotte.
“No,” I said. “I mean they have to do the same thing over and over again. They want to resolve some awful thing that happened in their life, so they have to keep repeating it. Sometimes, if you repeat the awful thing, but you change the outcome, it releases them from the loop. So, I’m thinking maybe if we do that, then the barnacle will just… disappear.”
Charlotte considered this. “I guess that makes sense. It seems like something they’d do on a haunted house movie or something.”
I nodded s
lowly. Was that where I’d gotten this idea? Man. I wasn’t sure if that meant it would be more or less likely to work.
“But why do you need me?” she said.
“Well, the ghosts we’re talking about, they’re two guys and a girl. Or… I don’t know if their actual spirits are there. I mean… I guess not, because the guys aren’t even dead. But there’s an impression of them there. And whatever is going on in that building, it all has to do with Heather Olsen and the way she died.”
“Okay,” said Charlotte. “Fine. But again, what does that have to do with me?”
“We need you to be Heather,” I said. “Wade and I, we’ll be the guys in the room with her. We’ll act out the way that she died, but we’ll, um, we’ll save her at the last minute. We’ll stop the loop. Hopefully, that will free her spirit.”
Charlotte tapped her chin. “And it has to be me?”
“Well…” I rubbed the side of my neck and didn’t meet her gaze. “Uh, not exactly, but considering the two guys in the room with Heather were both, like, sleeping with her, I thought the energy would…” I made a face.
Wade was next to me now, glowering.
Charlotte was blushing. “God,” she muttered. “I feel like such a slut.”
There was that word again. “No,” I said. “No, don’t even think that. It’s, um, a really weird situation.”
Wade gritted his teeth together. I could hear it.
I winced. “Please, Charlotte?”
“Well, I guess I’m not doing anything right now,” she said. “Okay, fine. I’ll help.”
* * *
We got back into the house, and I felt the weird buzzing feeling in the air the minute I stepped over the threshold. I didn’t like it in there. It was weird. Luckily, there wasn’t anything else. No strange caresses in the air, pulling me up the stairs. No sounds of a woman sighing in the distance.
Maybe it was because it was daylight.
Things were usually easier in the daylight. Less ghosts. Less supernatural woo-woo. It didn’t necessarily make sense to me. I didn’t know why it was. Seemed like ghosts should be just as strong any time of the day or night. But it was what it was. Maybe ghosts took strength from the darkness or something.
Kind of like they took strength from me.
We climbed upstairs to survey the room. It was still empty.