by Alexie Aaron
Mia lit one disk after another and tossed them around where she landed. She turned off the head light, stepped to the side of the fallen man and began to assess his injuries as she pulled out her mini first aid kit from her cargo pocket. “He’s got a hell of a bump on the back of his head,” she reported. “Probably concussed. There is a cut over his eye. I’m going to butterfly that after… Hold still. I’ve cleaned it, and I’m applying the bandage now.” Mia took off one glove so she could open the adhesive strip.
Cliff opened his eyes a slit. He saw his hero was the small investigator that he was talking to before the floor gave way under him. To him, she looked like something out of a Steampunk movie. She was half Borg and half angel. He looked around when she released his head and saw that they were in a square room at the bottom of a two floor silo. The walls were stone and mortar and solid with the exception of a rusty door at one end. He felt Mia run her hands down his legs.
“Can you move your legs?”
He did so.
She asked the same of his arms, and Cliff almost passed out when he tried to move his right arm.
“Stop,” she ordered and gently probed his shoulder with her fingers. “Shit, I think it’s dislocated. You won’t be climbing out of here,” she said.
“There’s a door,” Cliff managed as he got control of his pain.
Mia turned and got up and walked the few feet to the metal door. She lit her light and touched her ear “Burt, are you seeing this thing?” She pointed out the wheel-type handle she thought was reserved for naval vessels.
“Yes. It looks heavy.”
“I take it that where we are isn’t on the blue prints,” Mia said, hoping Ted was one step ahead of her.
“That would be correct,” he said.
Mia stepped back and reached out and tried to turn the hatch-door wheel. She couldn’t budge it. “It’s not moving for me. Here’s the deal, we can’t climb out of here with Cliff’s shoulder dislocation, and I’m not leaving him here alone. From what I can see as I look up at the bottom of the last half of the slide, I don’t think that it would hold the weight of two full-sized men to safely pull him up. I can’t open the door by myself. I need Cid, a crowbar, and a sling to isolate Cliff’s arm. I think he may be woozy, but he can walk. Talk it over up there and let me know.”
Cliff watched as Mia examined the other walls. She stopped in the middle of the room and moved her hands back and forth.
“What are you doing?”
Mia looked over at him and explained, “I’m trying to figure out which way that door is facing. Are we facing towards the basement of the Rosemont or away from it? I didn’t think to keep track as I was descending.”
“I’m sorry I can’t be of much help.”
“I take it you had no idea this thing was in the Rosemont,” Mia said as she gently moved Cliff away from where Cid would exit the contraption.
“I’ve stood over that spot for most of my adult life. The floor back there was in such good repair that we didn’t have it redone with the rest of the lobby. I thought, who would see it but the employees,” he explained.
“I’ve seen something similar in a bar down south. This one was much larger and had stairs, but it led to a speakeasy below the restaurant. There’s a mansion built roughly around the same time of your hotel that has a series of slides built into its walls. I guess that was the time of secrets.”
“I’m sorry I got you involved in this. You seem like a nice bunch of people,” Cliff said. “But Burt was the only one that believed me and…”
“The place is haunted. I’ve seen the ghosts. They are the ones pulling the stunts. They are sabotaging you, but I don’t know why.” Mia grinned at something she was thinking and added, “Yet. I’ll find out. I suspect the goofballs pulled this stunt too.” She heard her com become live so she pointed to her ear to let Cliff know she was listening to someone speaking.
“Mia, here’s the deal. Cid’s coming down with supplies. He’s going to call out his turns so we can figure out what direction the door is facing. It could be a dead end. If so, we will have to call in the fire department and have them rescue Cliff,” Burt informed her.
“Sounds good to me. In the meanwhile, Cliff and I will hang out, shoot the bull, that kind of thing. The guy’s in pain, by the way, so don’t take too long,” she counseled.
“I hear you. No lollygagging,” Burt said with his voice even.
Mia put her hand to her mouth. She knew she had pushed a button that would resume her stay in the doghouse.
Chapter Four
Stephen Murphy lay back on the ground and looked up at the stars. He had exhausted his energy planting the last of the maple seedlings he received from Burt and was content to watch the stars until he recharged.
Burt was determined to offer something in compensation for Murphy’s contribution to the team. But how do you pay a ghost? Ted had previously set him up with cable television so he could be educated and or entertained. Murphy didn’t have much in the way of daily needs so they came up with something that he had loved in life. Murphy loved trees. True, he had felled quite a few in his lifetime, and one had taken his life. This hadn’t stopped his love of the tall denizens of his northern Illinois land. He had removed quite a few in building his farm buildings and cleared several acres of the mighty hardwoods from his farmland. After his death, others cut into the forest, almost obliterating it from the land. Now, he could do something to reclaim his forest and actually plan its regrowth.
He gazed upward in amazement. The night sky never ceased to impress him. Although, he noticed that since he was dead, a number of stars seemed to have disappeared from his sight. Cid explained that it was light pollution from Chicago that made it harder to see the night’s sky. The stars were there but harder to see. He suggested a few NOVA programs that would educate Murphy along these lines.
Cid didn’t have to see or hear Murphy in order for them to hang out together. A few scratches of Murphy’s axe along the ground or taps on a table top were all the tall, handsome young man needed to understand the 150-year-old ghost.
If Murphy had a problem or needed further communication, he sought out Mia. She could not only hear and see him, but she could touch him too. Their chemistry was hard to deny, but the rules of the ether could not be broken. Mia would live out her earthly existence in the arms of another man, no matter how Stephen wished it were otherwise. She picked a smart, funny, courageous man that worshiped the ground she walked on. Murphy saw her bloom because of the way Ted nurtured her. To Ted, Mia had no faults, just personality quirks. They rarely fought. Murphy and Mia fought a lot. She had an acid tongue at times, and he was just plain stubborn. Maybe Murphy and Mia weren’t a match made in heaven, but here on this blue marble in space…
Stephen sat up and tried to push thoughts of the petite blonde out of his mind. But when he did, she just crept back in. She was his friend. She never gave up on him. He protected her and fought for her. There were times when he could have let her die, but instead he fought to bring her back. As Mia was fond of saying for herself, he needed a shrink. Did the ghost of Freud take appointments? Or Jung? Hell, at this point, the alive and kicking Dr. Phil would be welcomed. He got to his feet and started down the hill towards the dark farm. The PEEPs males had gone on an investigation with Mia near the big city. He had declined because he had work to do.
Murphy passed by his grave. Ted and Mia had built a marble monument over the icehouse where his mother had laid his broken body. Mia had taken care and transplanted wildflowers to adorn the gravesite. At one time, a secret compartment in the monument had housed his axe head. It was long gone, and with it Murphy had gained the freedom to move about the world without a tether. He had worked on and developed powers that would aid him and his friends when they faced entities with negative agendas.
The only dark cloud in Stephen’s sky was Angelo Michaels. Murphy had a natural dislike for the man who could turn himself into a bird. The man who took so much
away from Mia wasn’t to be trusted, but more importantly, Angelo wasn’t to be underestimated either. Whatever Angelo’s plans for Mia were, Murphy was going to make sure that the birdman would have to go through him first.
~
“How long have you been able to see ghosts?” Cliff asked Mia.
“Since birth. It runs in my family,” she said.
Above them they heard the stop/start sliding of Cid Garret. He was calling out his turns to Ted as he made his way slowly down.
“I can see the lights from the bottom on the walls,” Cid mentioned as he passed into the last half of the trip. “The slide is more of a clockwise spiral now. Let’s set this spot as twelve.” He called out the hands of the clock until he had reached twelve again. By the time he was halfway around the next clock, the slide straightened, and soon he was on the ground. “I’m looking around, and the door is behind me. I’m thinking west.” Cid listened to Ted a moment before addressing the captives in the room. “Ted says the door should lead below the basement. Perhaps a subbasement that’s not mapped.”
Cliff looked up at the man. “There were rumors of a wine cellar. My dad could never find it. We have one in the basement on the east wall.”
Cid touched his ear. “Did you hear that?”
Mia’s com went live, and she heard Ted say, “I see the room on the blueprint, but it’s in the northeast corner. You should be pretty central to the building. Hello, sweet pea,” he said.
“Hello, Teddy Bear, good to hear your voice,” Mia said.
“You’re live with everyone, including Mike who’s found some interesting facts. Go ahead, Mike.”
“Mia, the door or hatch will open if you and/or Cid apply equal opposing forces. Hands on twelve and six, turning counter clockwise. But before you do, I’ve sent down three facemasks. We don’t know what’s on the other side of that door. As my mother is fond of saying, dollars to donuts it ain’t fresh.”
“Thanks, Mike.”
Cid pulled out the masks from the pack he was carrying. Mia helped Cliff with his after she isolated his shoulder with the arm sling. Cid helped him to stand, and he directed him to stand behind them so he would not be in direct contact with whatever came through the door from the other side.
Cid tried to move the wheel on his own. It wouldn’t budge. Next, Mia took hold of it at the six o’clock position, watched the nod of his head, and they turned at the count of three. It moved a bit and stopped. Mia picked up the crowbar and wove it through the spikes of the wheel and waited for Cid’s count. Once they used the bar for leverage, the wheel began to turn. Cid and Mia had to put their combined strength into turning the wheel until a loud pop was heard, followed by a hiss. Mia pulled out the crowbar, and Cid continued to turn the wheel by himself. The hinges screamed, but the door opened. The three of them stood staring at the back of another door. This time there wasn’t any way to open the door. No wheel, no lever.
Cliff lifted his mask. “It’s like the pass door between two hotel rooms. It has to be opened on the other side.”
Mia lifted up her mask and reported her findings to Ted. Cid tried to get the sharp edge of the crowbar into the seal of the door, but there was no place to fit it in.
“Mike’s headed downstairs with Audrey,” Ted reported.
“I could try to OOB through the door and see what’s over there. Maybe direct them,” Mia suggested.
“Have you ever moved through metal like that before?” Ted asked.
“Not like this, but I never went back in time either and I did that,” Mia pointed out. “I won’t know unless I try.”
“Burt?” Ted asked.
“Go ahead and try, Mia, but don’t push it if it won’t work. We can still get Cliff out another way,” he reminded her.
“I hear you. Okay, let me give this a go,” Mia said. She walked over and sat down with her back against the wall.
“What’s she doing?” Cliff asked Cid.
“Kind of hard to explain, but she’s going to try to see what’s on the other side of the wall.”
Cliff shook his head, still confused, but kept quiet as it looked like the young woman fell asleep.
Mia moved out of her body past Cliff and Cid. She approached the door. It had a lot of iron in it, but she concentrated on where the rivets were. She thought about the smallest of microbes and reduced her persona as small as she could and pushed through. It was dark on the other side. She resumed her natural persona and moved away from the door. She was in a room that, from what she could see, had no exit. She felt along the walls and confirmed that it was surrounded by earth on the other side. She found a set of stone steps and followed the risers upward towards the ceiling. The original passageway was blocked off. Mia moved through wood and old lino until she was in the basement laundry of the Rosemont Hotel. She recognized the room from an earlier walk-through with Cliff. She smiled and retraced her steps until, once again, she was reunited with her body.
Cid heard Mia sigh. He moved over towards her and squatted down. “Come on, Mia, this is no time for a nap.”
“Asshole,” she said as she opened her eyes. “Tell Mike the entrance is in the laundry room. He’s going to need to move the folding table and cut through the lino.”
“Did you hear that?” Cid asked.
“Yes,” Mike answered. “There is an older man that followed us down here named Henley. Says he’s the janitor.”
Cid turned to Cliff. “There’s a guy in the basement named Henley?”
“He’s been with the Rosemont for years. He’s dependable,” Cliff qualified.
“The manager vetted him,” Cid relayed.
“Mia, there are two folding tables here.”
“The one across from the two large dryers,” Mia said as she closed her eyes to see the room in her memory.
They waited a few minutes, and Mike came back on. “We got the linoleum peeled back, and we are looking at a long rectangular hatch of some kind. It’s made of wood. We’re going to pry it open.”
Mike watched as Henley moved his hands around the hatch and smiled. He motioned for Mike and Audrey to move back. He took the crowbar and pried off a piece of wood that had been nailed to secure the hatch to the floor. As it popped off, the hatch began to slide back, causing the remaining lino to bubble as it moved across the floor.
Mike directed his mag light downwards and confirmed the steps.
Audrey touched his arm. “Let me go first. I’m lighter, just in case the mortar’s dried out.”
“Okay, but be careful.”
Audrey sat down and carefully lowered herself onto the first step. She did this until she felt comfortable the steps were going to hold. She descended quickly and urged the men to follow her. She took out of her pack a few LED disks and lit them, placing them around the room.
The room was filled with racks and bottles. In some areas large casks dominated the wall. They were placed in large stone cradles. She moved in an eastern direction and found the door hidden behind a rotted piece of burlap. She pulled it down and waited for Mike and Henley to catch up.
“We found the door,” Audrey reported to Ted and Burt.
Mia tested out her legs as she rose from the floor. She walked over to stand between Cid and Cliff and waited for the door to be opened.
There were a few popping noises before they saw the door open. It screamed on the hinges, but Mike was able to open it the whole way. Audrey stood smiling on the other side. She walked through and encouraged Cliff to put his hand on her shoulder.
“Just in case you feel a little faint,” she explained. “I’m stronger than I look.”
He took her up on her offer and moved through to the other room.
“After you,” Cid said to Mia.
“Thank you,” she said politely. She climbed through the two hatch doors and found herself once again in the old wine cellar. She stopped as a black mass rose from behind a large cask in the corner. “We have an entity at eleven o’clock.”
Audrey,
who was halfway up the stairs with her charge, increased her speed.
Mia pulled out a small salt shaker and prepared to encircle the remaining humans.
The mass moved forward.
“I’m Mia Cooper, and I can see you. Do you need my help?” she said with more bravado than she felt.
The mass twisted and formed into a thick squat man dressed in a pinstriped suit. His shoes shown with a perfect polish, and he had a multitude of rings decorating his thick sausage fingers.
Mia angled her head, giving Burt the best view of the creature from the micro camera. She repeated, “I’m Mia Cooper, and I can see you. Do you need my help?”
“Albert McKinney, nice to meetcha, doll,” the entity said in a whisky-rough voice.
“Are you aware, Albert, that you’re dead?”
“Seventeen holes in my back, I’d say were a good clue.”
Mia tried not to smile, but she found him amusing.
“Is that how you dolls dress these days?”
“No, I’m an exception.”
“Not very attractive, but I can tell under all that, you’ve got a bod on you. Now that other one knows how to dress. I’d ask you to bring back the bouncy redhead, but I’m not sure what’d I do with her.”
“Have you been haunting the Rosemont?”
“Me?” the entity touched his chest with both hands. “Nah, I’ve been stuck down here. You’ll have to look elsewhere. I’ve been rotting away in the large cask in the corner since one of the Abelard brothers entombed me there. Not a pretty sight. I was expecting to go to my reward but … circumstances… well, I guess I’m in for a stint in purgatory before I can move on to the big house.”
“I guess you’d know best,” Mia said.
There was a rush of cold wind coming from the opening above them. Two gray smoke spirals moved down the steps.
Mia turned to the men behind her and related all she learned so far. They could see the entity but could not hear him. She pointed to the couple walking down the stairs and said she’d seen them before. Mike had a small camcorder running, taking in whatever action it could pick up in this light.