“Excuse me,” Molly said. “We’ve got something personal to discuss.”
“No problem!” Jennifer said, eying them as they moved away.
Neither Molly nor Ada spoke until they turned a corner and knew they wouldn’t be overheard. Even so, Molly paused to peer back at Jennifer, who still had a frown on her face, trying to place Molly in her past.
“You did recognize her, didn’t you?” Ada said.
Molly locked eyes on Ada. She was pretty sharp for an old bird.
“What makes you say that?” Molly said.
“You don’t need to lie to me,” Ada said.
Molly sized Ada up. Molly could well end up spending years in this place. Possibly even decades if she got in trouble trying to escape. They would tack on an extra few dozen years to her sentence. And that was if she was lucky. She could do with a friend. Especially a well-informed one who knew this place inside and out.
“Yes,” Molly said. “I recognize her. “I arrested her for possession of arms. She was sent to prison for two years. I didn’t know she had died, that she would end up in this place. Something must have gone wrong inside. It doesn’t seem fair she should blame me for her being here.”
“Nothing’s ever fair,” Ada said. “Especially to those who bear a grudge.”
Molly hoped to God Jennifer wouldn’t recall who she was.
Chapter Nine
Ada’s cell was an exact replica of every cell Molly had seen in this place. The only difference was the way Ada conducted herself when she entered it.
She entered like someone returning home, someone glad to be there. She turned to look at each bare wall. She made grasping motions with her toes as if she could feel grass beneath her feet.
“What do you think?” Ada said. “What do you think of my pad?”
“Uh, it’s great,” Molly said, at a loss for words.
“Took me awhile to get it looking like this,” Ada said. “Things don’t happen like this by accident.”
Molly cast an eye over the walls again. There was nothing there.
“Sure,” Molly said. “I can see that.”
Ada smiled.
“You don’t have to humor me,” she said.
“Sorry?” Molly said.
“It’s okay,” Ada said. “I’m not off my rocker. I know you can’t see anything on the walls.”
Molly frowned. Had she missed the first half of this conversation?
“No one but me can see the inside of this room,” Ada said, putting a finger to her temple. “I remember everything about all my favorite rooms in the world. I use them to decorate my prison cell. I couldn’t really do that, of course. There are no such things as material objects here, only what we create in our minds.”
Molly nodded. She understood.
“So long as you can look about you and see what you want to see as opposed to what is really there, you can never really be imprisoned,” Ada said.
“Take me on a tour,” Molly said. “I’d like to see your perfectly designed room.”
“Certainly,” Ada said. “Follow me.”
She led Molly to one blank wall.
“Here, we have a beautiful set of coat of arms from Buckingham Palace,” Ada said.
“It’s beautiful,” Molly said. “What’s that over on that wall? I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything quite like it.”
Ada smiled, enjoying the role play.
“Really?” she said. “It’s very famous. I’m surprised you said you’ve never seen anything like it before. It’s actually the original Mona Lisa.”
“Oh,” Molly said. “Right. Silly me.”
“It’s easily done,” Ada said. “But this over here, I’m sure you’ve definitely seen. It’s the original poster for the Shakespeare play Romeo and Juliet.”
“Romeo and Juliet?” Molly said. “Seems a strange thing to have on your walls along with these other items.”
“It’s my fantasy,” Ada said. “I’ll have what I like on my walls!”
Molly held up her hands.
“Yes, sir!” she said. “And what about what we’ve got on the floor here?”
“The finest cashmere carpet,” Ada said. “The perfect thing to feel on the soles of your feet after a hard day working.”
“A beautiful place you’ve got here,” Molly said.
“Thank you,” Ada said.
“Can I ask you a question?” Molly said.
“By all means,” Ada said. “What is it?”
“I noticed before you have the longest wait here,” Molly said. “What did you do on Earth?”
“Shouldn’t that be, ‘What on Earth did you do?’” Ada said with a grin. “In all honesty, I can hardly remember my old life. It seems like a dream now, like it never really happened. I’ve lived many more years here than I did when I was alive. I would have died several times over by now.”
“How did you keep yourself sane?” Molly said.
Ada looked at Molly sideways.
“After what I just told you about what I have decorating my walls, are you sure I’m sane?” she said.
Molly chuckled.
“Yes,” she said. “I mean, I would expect for your brain to turn to mush. How is it you’re still here? And in such great shape?”
“Because we spirits do not age,” Ada said. “Our spirits take on the guise our bodies inhabited before we were sucked from it. And here we are now, looking the way we are. Beyond that, we do not change. Thankfully, we do not feel the same tweaks and pains we once did back when we were alive.”
“You’ll stay looking like this forever?” Molly said.
“Unfortunately, yes,” Ada said. “I would have much preferred to have gone the way of the dodo closer to your age, not that it makes any real difference. But we are vain creatures, are we not?”
“Why do you want to stay here?” Molly said. “Surely you don’t want to stay here forever?”
“The same reason people want to stay on Earth,” Ada said. “Because we don’t know what comes next. If you honestly knew this would be awaiting you on the other side, would you want to leave Earth?”
“No,” Molly said. “But there would be no choice. We all have to die at some point.”
“But would you have taken the risks you had before, knowing this was what was awaiting you?” Ada said.
“No,” Molly said.
“Would you be ultra safe, eating the right food, doing the right exercises, living the best and longest life you possibly could?” Ada said. “And when you’re halfway through, you might get yourself cryogenically frozen. Wake up every so often to stay awake, to feel and taste and touch and smell. And perhaps even prevent death altogether?”
Ada wasn’t crazy. She had simply been put in this crazy situation and had to make the best of it. It was all she could do.
“I hope you enjoyed using the Visiting Room,” Ada said. “You might not get to do it again for some time.”
“What do you mean?” Molly said. “When was the last time you went?”
“I don’t know,” Ada said. “Decades ago. Everyone who ever knew me personally is now dead. Long dead. There’s no one left alive who remembers me. Anyone who reads about me now only does so in newspaper clippings. And that’s hardly enough to open a gateway.”
“A gateway?” Molly said. “What gateway?”
“Didn’t you see what happened when you went into the Visiting Room?” Ada said.
“Yes,” Molly said. “I didn’t see any gateway.”
“The orb in the center of the room is the gateway,” Ada said. “When a Visiting happens, a gateway is opened between you and those who are thinking of you. It exists entirely in that moment, a direct link between you and those who created the gateway. I don’t know why it does that, why they decided to show us the very thing we want most in our whole hearts. Perhaps as a form of torture, I don’t know.”
“Maybe as a final goodbye,” Molly said absently.
“Maybe,” Ada said. “I’m sorry about not i
nforming you about Visiting Hours sooner. It’s been so long since I went there myself that it didn’t even cross my mind that you would need to go. After you’ve been here a while, you forget the things that matter the most. I completely forgot what it felt like to be a newbie. Virtually everyone here gets to visit their own funeral.”
“It wasn’t my funeral,” Molly said.
“Come again?” Ada said.
“I said, it wasn’t my funeral,” Molly said.
“What was it then?” Ada said.
“It was an honor ceremony,” Molly said.
She checked over her shoulders to ensure no one could overhear.
“I was a police officer,” she said. “Killed in the line of duty.”
“I’m very sorry,” Ada said. “No one should have to die that way.”
Molly shrugged.
“It is what it is,” she said. “How did you die?”
Saying it outright like that made Molly feel like she ought to apologize. It seemed like a very personal question. Before she could apologize, Ada said; “I was guillotined.”
Molly blinked.
“Guillotined?” she said.
“I was around during the French Revolution,” Ada said. “Bad luck, I suppose. I was running a large empire when the people revolted. I was on the wrong side, and no amount of money was going to change that. I did a lot of terrible things to get to my position, was quite happy to sacrifice the wellbeing of a good number of people. I deserved it.”
“Wow,” Molly said.
She wasn’t quite sure what else she should say.
“Are you okay talking about this?” she said.
“What has passed has passed,” Ada said. “There’s no changing the past. What was done is done. There’s nothing I can do about it now.”
Molly was talking to a person of history, someone who actually lived through the moments Molly had studied in school. Suddenly, the entire prison didn’t look like the enclosed space it once had, when she’d first arrived.
Imagine the conversations she could have, the logic and insight she might garner. Every prisoner was a useful bundle of potential knowledge, of great interest. And new people were arriving all the time. There would be a literal endless well of interesting stories and perspectives. She’d also make friends—who didn’t like talking about themselves?—and that couldn’t be a bad thing.
“Then you likely still have your funeral yet to see,” Ada said.
“Great,” Molly said, rolling her eyes. “Even more weepy expressions and sad faces.”
Molly had never thought about her funeral, or her own death come to think of it. She knew she wasn’t going to live forever, but it wasn’t the kind of thing that occupied much of her time. She was too busy living, savoring each moment, living her life.
“You must have met a lot of interesting people in here,” Molly said.
“I have,” Ada said, nodding.
“And none of them managed to escape?” Molly said.
“I didn’t say that,” Ada said.
“What?” Molly said, snapping to attention. “You mean, some people have managed to get out?”
“There are rumors that some managed it, long ago,” Ada said. “Long before my time. But there’s no evidence for it.”
“But how?” Molly said. “How did they get out?”
“There is a theory,” Ada said. “I wouldn’t want to get your hopes up. It really is just a rumor.”
“How?” Molly said with bated breath.
Was this it? Was this the information she had been waiting for?
Chapter Ten
“As a direct link, we might be able to travel through the gateway, back down to Earth,” Ada said. “A connection, like an umbilical cord, between us and them.”
Molly felt a chill go through her. Goosebumps prickled her flesh.
“What are you saying?” Molly said, mouth dry. “That this is a method to get out of here?”
“So the rumors go,” Ada said. “The difficulty is in knowing enough about the gateway to take full advantage of it before it closes. The trouble is, no one ever knows about it because they get called to the Visiting Room before they know how to use it. And even when they do know, they don’t have the courage to do what needs to be done.
“A prison is only really a prison in your mind. Which is why I commit a crime every now and then to increase my sentence. It increases the chance someone will remember me. I have no interest in going on to the next stage of wherever we’re supposed to go. I’ll probably remain here forever.”
“But how do you keep yourself sane?” Molly said. “How do you not die of boredom?”
“I have lessons,” Ada said. “Every day there are thousands of new spirits. Each person has something worth learning. And though by now I have learned a great deal, there’s always more to learn. The world is constantly changing, full of new concepts and ideas, new technologies. I’ll never see it for myself, but I love learning about it. I know about the sun and planets, about all the latest scientific discoveries. I know about religions and how they continue to have an impact on everyday living. I learn about politics, history, society. Life is too interesting to get tired of.”
“You never doubt your decision about staying here indefinitely?” Molly said.
“I doubt there’s ever been a decision made by anyone that didn’t have some form of doubt attached to it,” Ada said. “Even the most obvious ones. Some days, during my lowest moments, I dream of ending it. Of wanting the dark. That’s the great thing about having so much time, a few years or even decades, wishing I might die. It gives me enough time to dust myself off, get my head back on straight, and get back on the horse. I get back to living, or at least the closest thing to living that there is here.”
“The gateway has defensive casing,” Molly said. “How can I get through that?”
“How do you think?” Ada said. “What have you seen that can move through the glass casing material?”
“Nothing,” Molly said. “Every time I touch it I feel the icy coldness of it. There’s no way for me to go through it.”
“Perhaps not you,” Ada said. “But if you were to hold onto another entity that could go through it…”
It took a moment for Molly to understand what Ada was saying. The blood drained from her face. The idea of it turned her bones to jelly.
“No,” she said. “I can't.”
“You have to if you’re to stand a chance of getting out of here,” Ada said. “Not that there’s any guarantee it’ll work. It’s just a theory. But after all these generations, all this time, it’s the only way I can think of that might work.”
“But those things…” Molly said. “I never want to touch them.”
“You’ll have to weigh up what you want,” Ada said. “How much you want it. You might decide the price isn’t worth paying, or you might decide that it is.”
“Why are you telling me all this?” Molly said. “Why do you care if I get back or not?”
“I don’t,” Ada said. “But if you do get back, if you do manage to make it back to Earth, I want you to deliver a message for me.”
“To who?” Molly said.
“To the descendant of a family I did some terrible things to,” Ada said. “An apology will never fulfill the evil I did to them. But perhaps, it might heal some spiritual wounds.”
“How do you know they’ll even remember you?” Molly said.
“Because they’re the last ones to open a gateway for me,” Ada said. “They were at a séance, cursing me. It didn’t work, of course. I’m here, and curses don’t work here. I’m already dead after all. But I saw the hatred in their eyes. They were once a rich and powerful family. I cannot return them to the state they once were, but I can apologize.”
“What do you want me to tell them?” Molly said.
She blinked, realizing Ada had already convinced Molly she was going to at least try to go. This old lady, whoever she was, was an artist of people’s emot
ions.
Ada gave Molly the message. She made Molly repeat it back to her several times, fixing the words until they were precisely what she wanted to be delivered to the family.
Molly felt a squeezing sensation in the pit of her stomach. Could she end up in a worse place than this if she failed to escape?
She didn’t know, but what she did know was she didn’t want Sam and Casey to end up here along with her. And that was what was going to happen if Wayne Lopez managed to get his hands on them.
Molly did not want them to be here, no matter how much she missed them. She would not let them. She would do anything she could to stop that from happening.
“Have you tried this before?” Molly said. “Has anyone?”
“Yes,” Ada said. “But no one in recent memory has succeeded. Including me. There are very few times when a Visiting can happen. And when it does, you have to be ready. But we weren’t. We were too terrified of what the guards might do to us. We could not bring ourselves to touch them. We feared what would happen if we did. I guess none of us had a good enough reason to go back to Earth. That’s the problem with this place. It’s not great, but yet it’s not that bad either. Things could easily get a lot worse, all the while never getting easier or better. Is your reason strong enough?”
Molly was silent a moment.
“There was a figure at my ceremony,” Molly said. “At the back of the hall. I saw him, but no one else did. I guess they were too distracted. He was one of Wayne Lopez’s men.”
“Wayne Lopez?” Ada said.
“The man who killed me,” Molly said. “A criminal, a drug dealer. A bad man. He’s still alive somewhere, and the fact one of his men was at my memorial suggests he will return. He wants something from me, but I didn’t give it to him. Now, he’ll go after Sam and Casey. He won’t stop until he gets it.”
“And do either of them know where this item is?” Ada said.
“Yes,” Molly said.
She saw no harm in letting this old lady know the truth. She was never going to get the chance to return to Earth, never mind pass on the message to Lopez.
“Sam, my boyfriend, knows,” Molly said.
“And you’re worried they’re going to talk to him, do something terrible to make him tell them where it is,” Ada said.
After/Life: Anger: A Paranormal Ghost Romance Page 5