by RL Edinger
“Hello Chloe,” Roxanne said
“Nedra Collins,” Nedra said. They shook hands. Nedra was now more somber and asked, “How is your dad doing?”
“He’s still at Bayport Memorial,” Chloe explained. “Doctor Straussman recommended him for observation. He is still suffering from amnesia.”
“I hope he gets better,” Nedra replied.
“Let’s go into the office,” Chloe said. She gestured towards Roxanne. “I’ve brought Miss Turner in as a consultant on the case.”
“Okay,” Nedra smiled.
The three women walked into Andrew’s office and closed the door.
Chloe sat in her dad’s leather chair while Roxanne and Nedra took their seats in front of the desk. Amanda walked in with coffee for all of them. They thanked her.
“Would you please share with me what has happened so far,” Chloe looked at Nedra.
“My son, his girl friend, and four other teenagers went out to the abandoned prep school out by St. Nazianz,” Nedra informed her. “There were no traces of them when the Sheriffs department investigated the scene. All they found was the Ouji board and melted candles.”
“When your son didn’t come home, that’s when you called my dad,” Chloe said. “Is that correct?”
“Yes,” Nedra answered.
“JFK Prep is owned by a developer out of Chicago, right?” Chloe asked.
“Is that important?” Nedra answered.
“Possibly.” Chloe said. “Why were they at the abandoned school?”
“I don’t know,” Nedra explained. “I thought they were going out to celebrate my son Chad’s birthday.”
“I presume they first played with the Ouji board,” Chloe surmised.
“Yes,” Nedra replied.
“And then went to make out?” Chloe added.
“I believe so,” Nedra said.
“There was no trace of them,” Chloe said, looking over the notes in the case file.
“Well, we need to get a look at where they were,” Chloe said. “I’ll have to contact the current owner of the school grounds to get permission to investigate the area. Once I’ve done that we can proceed from there.”
“I’d like to come along,” Roxanne said.
“Not a good idea,” Chloe hesitated.
“But I could be of help,” Roxanne insisted.
“I’m not sure.” Chloe was still reluctant.
“What’s it going to be?” Roxanne pressed further.
“You can come with me,” Chloe finally agreed.
They thanked Chloe and…
The sunlight was nearly swept away and darkness poised ready to take its place. Chloe, along with Roxanne slowly drove up the gravel driveway. Both wore more appropriate clothing for their investigation.
Before them loomed a historic monument of faded brick and broken windows. Even in the daylight the main building of JFK Prep struck an eerie chord.
Roxanne couldn’t help but stare at the front of building as they stopped in front of it. She hadn’t even stepped inside as of yet, but felt a great forebodingness about it.
A woman in her late fifties emerged from the black BMW with Illinois plates. She was quite slender, dressed professionally, and her silver hair had nary a strand out of place. She strode with confidence towards Chloe’s car.
Chloe and Roxanne got out and greeted her.
“Georgina Rowlands,” she introduced herself to them. It was as if they should’ve been impressed just by the mere mention of her name. They were not.
“Chloe Hawkins, “Chloe replied. She gestured towards Roxanne, “And this is Roxanne Turner.”
“A pleasure,” Georgina answered.
“Let’s go inside,” Chloe insisted. Just before they were about to head off, Chloe went back in her car and grabbed a couple of flashlights.
As they walked in the direction of the side entrance, Georgian explained, “The investors I represent bought the property in order to fix it up and turn it into a seminary. That was a few years ago and unfortunately progress has been quite slow.”
“Why is that?” Chloe inquired.
“I’ve gone through several contractors, because of,” Georgina paused. She went on, “oh, how shall I put this. It was because of certain incidents happening on the property.”
“What incidents?” Roxanne asked.
“Well,” Georgina answered as they came up to the side door. “Certain unexplained things.”
“Supernatural things?” Chloe surmised.
“So they claim,” Georgina replied.
They stopped in front of the massive wooden door. Georgina used her key to unlock it and soon they were inside. The painting of the woman immediately caught Chloe’s attention. She walked up to it. Chloe ran her fingers ever so gently across it and felt the brush strokes and imperfections of the wall that made up the beautiful painting.
“Do you know who painted it,” Chloe turned and looked at Georgina.
“No,” Georgina answered. “But we made several attempts to cover it up and it just reappears.”
“What do you mean it reappears?” Roxanne asked.
“We’ve painted over it several times,” Georgina was exasperated in her reply. “We even tried paint remover on the damned thing.”
“Paint remover?” Chloe exclaimed. She examined the painting more closely. The brush strokes showed no signs of damage. “It looks untouched.”
“So you wanted to see the dorm rooms,” Georgina said, changing the subject.
“Yes,” Chloe answered.
“They’re this way up the stairs,” Georgina gestured with her hand towards the stairs leading to the second floor. “Please follow me.”
As they ascended the stairs, Roxanne had a strange feeling wash over her. She turned and looked back at the painting, but there was nothing unusual about it. Roxanne shook it off as nothing more than an overactive imagination. She joined the others whom were already at the top of the stairs. Georgina led them down the hallway past a rusted bed frame with a musty smelling mattress that still held the impressions of previous use.
“The kids make out on it,” Georgina explained rather nonchalantly.
“Disgusting,” Roxanne shuddered.
“Here we are,” Georgina announced.
The room was plain looking. The walls were faded and the paint was chipping. There were several cracks in the ceiling that spread across it like spider webs. Only a single window provided very little light into the room. The majority of the panels were boarded up with plywood. A circle of melted candles on the floor reminded Roxanne of a bizarre-looking birthday cake.
“I have to be going,” Georgina glanced at her watch. “I have a meeting this evening with another contractor.” Georgina handed Chloe the keys. “Just lock up when you leave. I’ll pick up the keys from your office tomorrow morning.” She left the two of them alone.
Chloe put the keys in her pocket. Roxanne stood there as Chloe walked around the dorm room checking things out.
“Are you getting anything from the room,” Chloe asked as she paused by the window.
“No,” Roxanne answered. “Why?”
“Why don’t you try in that circle of candles,” Chloe suggested, but first she handed Roxanne a flashlight.
“Alright,” Roxanne said. She walked over to the candles, stepped inside the circle, and sat down on the floor. She set down the flashlight beside her. Roxanne closed her eyes. Chloe shone the light in Roxanne’s direction.
Roxanne breathed rhythmically with each beat of her heart focusing only on that and not anything or any other sounds in the room. At first, the images swirled about in a blur of light and shadows, but soon things came into focus.
Roxanne opened her eyes a few minutes later. Chloe was gone! Roxanne flipped on her flashlight and searched the room. Where could Chloe have gone?
“Just breathe Roxanne,” she told herself. Roxanne drew in a deep breath; exhaling it slowly. As she did this, Roxanne heard voices coming from somew
here down the hallway. This surprised her, since Roxanne thought that they were the only ones in the building. Maybe while she was in her trance, someone else had entered the place and Chloe went to check things out. So Roxanne decided to check things out too. She headed off in the direction of the voices.
She had only gone a short distance down the hallway, when Roxanne stopped outside another of the dorm rooms. She could hear the voice more clearly now. Roxanne turned the door knob and opened the door. There was a boy and girl making out. Embarrassed, Roxanne closed the door. Roxanne suddenly felt chilled; like if someone had put their cold hands up her back. She spun around, casting her light in that direction, but saw nothing! Roxanne mustered up enough courage to continue down the hallway. Roxanne decided she’s gone far enough and was about to turn back when a terrible scream pierced the stillness. She’d barely gotten out of the way when the door flew open and the boy and girl inside rushed out and headed off in the direction of the scream. Roxanne quickly followed. She stopped when they knocked on the door.
“Did you hear it,” the frizzy haired boy asked the one with the earrings.
“Yeah,” he replied. “It sounded like my sister.”
“Come on,” a dark haired girl said.
The four of them ran down the hallway in the direction of the scream. Roxanne turned off her flashlight and followed at a safe distance. When they got there, a girl with short cropped black hair was curled up in a fetal position murmuring incoherently.
“Where’s Chad?” the boy with the earrings asked. She didn’t answer.
Roxanne couldn’t see because the rest of them blocked her view. She tried to push past them when they all heard it; an eerily moan.
“What’s that, Jazz?” one of the girls asked with her eyes wide with fright.
“I don’t know,” Jazz answered sharply.
Roxanne, who for some reason hadn’t been noticed by the group, left them and headed off in search of the source of the moaning. When she got to the staircase, Roxanne switched on her flashlight and followed the descending steps. The beam of light finally came to rest upon a hooded figure. The person simply stood there not moving at all. Why didn’t he move? Surely the light was bright enough for them to see that someone was there.
“Who are you?” Roxanne called out. No reply.
“What are you doing here?” Roxanne demanded. The hooded figure made no sound.
Roxanne was about to step forward, when the hooded figure started towards her instead. She immediately bolted up the stairs and back down the hallway to warn the others.
Chloe had witnessed Roxanne go into her trance. She was in awe of such a gift. Feeling that it was perfectly safe, she decided to explore the dorm room a bit more. It was too bad that the candles had all burnt out, because they would’ve been a welcome addition to her flashlight. Chloe searched the dorm room floor with her flashlight. She walked about looking for some clues that would help find the missing teenagers. As Chloe approached the closet she noticed a few drops of dried blood. Chloe grasped hold of the sliding door handle with one hand and opened it, readying herself for anything that might’ve popped out! Unfortunately there was only the Ouji board on the floor of the closet. She bent down and picked it up. Chloe closed the closet door and walked back over to Roxanne. Roxanne was still in her trance, so Chloe sat down outside the circle of candles and opened the game. When she laid out the game board, a blood stained piece of material fell out. Now Chloe knew the source of the blood on the floor by the closet. She didn’t have an evidence bag, so Chloe carefully placed the piece of cloth in her pocket. Why hadn’t the authorities or her dad confiscated the game to begin with, Chloe wondered? Chloe considered that perhaps they were too concerned with searching for the missing teenagers, or had they just blown it off as them just running away from home or something like that. Either way, Chloe had her first real clue. She glanced back over at Roxanne. Chloe was starting to get worried about the length of time that Roxanne had been in her trance. She was equally afraid to just wake her from it too.
Roxanne was on her way, when the rest of the teenagers were rushing towards her! She instinctively jumped out of the way. Roxanne watched them bound down the stairs towards the hooded figure. She went after them and when she came to the top of the stairs, Roxanne saw the hooded figure being chased by them. Roxanne decided to follow and practically ran down the stairs to do so. As she got to the bottom of the stairs, Roxanne heard what sounded like a heavy wooden door slam shut. She bolted down the long hallway and soon came to a wooden door. Roxanne opened the door and stepped through. She appeared to be in a church. Roxanne looked around and saw teenagers had the hooded figure surrounded. She immediately headed in their direction, but came to a sudden stop when a second person, wearing all black, stepped forward from the shadows. The person’s identity was hidden by a hooded mask. The teenagers were startled by the appearance of the masked person. Before they could recover, the person in black attacked in a martial arts fury. The boys tried to defend themselves and the girls, but it was in vain. Within minutes all of the teenagers were on the floor, unconscious.
Roxanne had to go back to the dorm room where she and Chloe had been to when they arrived. She had to wake from her trance and tell Chloe what she had seen.
Chloe rose to her feet when she heard moaning sounds coming from beyond the door to the dorm room. She withdrew her gun and stepped up to the door. Chloe grasped hold of the knob, gave it a twist, and quickly opened the door. She entered the hallway with her gun in the ready position. Chloe saw nothing, but the moaning continued. She went back and retrieved her flashlight. When Chloe exited the room, she closed the door and walked in the direction of the stairs. The moaning sound was getting louder as Chloe neared the stairway. She slowed her pace and readied both flashlight and gun for when the time came to look down the stairs. Chloe’s heart was beating fast, and her breathing was labored. She took a minute to calm down and stepped forward.
Roxanne finally woke from her trance. She looked around the dorm room. Chloe was gone! Roxanne rose a bit unsteadily to her feet. It felt like a thousand needles were pricking her flesh. Roxanne fought off the feeling, grabbed her flashlight, and went to look for Chloe. She exited the dorm room and headed towards the stairs. So far there was no sign of Chloe. Where could she be?
Roxanne walked down the stairs and as soon as she reached the first floor, she heard moaning sounds. She turned and flashed her light down the hallway leading to the church. Roxanne saw nothing.
“Chloe!” Roxanne cried out. There was no reply.
Roxanne continued down the hallway and upon reaching the door to the church, she stumbled from something on the floor. She shone her light down to see what it was. Roxanne gasped and was taken aback. It was a gun and flashlight.
“Chloe!” Roxanne shouted after she opened the door to the church. The sound of her voice echoed across the vast, empty sanctuary. Roxanne knew what to do. She had to get help. Roxanne closed the door and was about to turn around. She felt a blow to the head and was immediately rendered unconscious.
Chapter 7
Even before he opened his eyes, the light from the morning sun already lit them up. He rolled over on his side and put the pillow over his head. It was too late. No matter how hard he tried, the blasted light had woken him up. He finally opened his eyes to see the sun just coming over the lake. He put the pillow back and pushed the button to raise the bed. After playing with it a few minutes, he finally found the right position. There was a knock at the door. He replied to come in.
“Good morning,” a red haired nurse smiled. She walked in carrying his breakfast tray.
“Good morning,” he hesitated, “Veronica, right?”
“Well at least your short-term memory is still working,” Veronica smiled, her green eyes scrunched up at the corners. She walked over and put the tray on his lap.
“Thanks,” he replied. He removed the cover to reveal a hearty breakfast of pancakes and sausages. His stomach was growl
ing, so loud in fact that Veronica heard it. She smiled.
“You’re scheduled for a session with Doctor Straussman this morning at eleven,” Veronica announced, as she looked at the screen of her palm pilot. She glanced in his direction just in time to see him take the last bite of his food. “My, you really were hungry,” Veronica laughed. He unexpectedly burped. They both laughed. “Hey,” she suggested. “Since we have time I want to take you somewhere.”
“Where is that?” he inquired.
“Get in,” Veronica announced as she grabbed the wheel chair and moved it to the side of the bed.
The Sunroom was very warm, sunny, accentuated with palms and wicker furniture, and not one single modern electronic device. There were board games, magazines, and books waiting to be read scattered on the tables in the middle of the room. A little alcove on the north side offered sanctuary from the world.
That’s where he wanted to be today; secluded from the world. At the request of Doctor Straussman, he was staying at the hospital a few more days for observation. Apparently he was her test subject since he was her only patient with trauma induced amnesia. The woman he knew as Megan Knight had protested the decision at first, but then conceded that it may help. Either way, eventually he would have to leave and face an unrecognizeable world. It frightened him. Last night he dreamt about this Andrew Knight, the man they claim to be him, but there was no face to recognize. It was blank. So the sunroom was the perfect place to be right now.
Veronica wheeled him over to the alcove. There was someone else already there. He thanked Veronica and she left.
He got up out of the wheel chair and walked over to one of the empty cushioned wicker chairs. He grabbed a magazine and began to page through; not really reading anything of real importance. He looked her over. She was a young girl with the same colored hair as his. She was staring out of the windows and down on the city. She looked very sad. Shadowy circles camouflaged her eyes. It was like someone had stolen the light not only from her eyes, but from her soul.