by E. C. Bell
“This wasn’t my fault,” Erickson said. He still looked like he wasn’t sure what to do next. Barely noticed that most of his afternoon group were piles of quivering Jell-O.
“I don’t care,” Willoughby said. “Get control of yourself, Doctor, and look after your patients. I’ll take care of this situation.”
“Good,” Erickson said. “You do that.”
He walked to the door and then left without looking back. A few of his patients followed him out of the room, but the majority stayed, so Willoughby told the two orderlies to take care of them. Then, she turned to me.
“What happened?” she asked.
“Otto got hold of one of Nurse Melodie’s pills,” I said. “And it killed him. Maybe some of it is still in his mouth, or his throat, or his stomach. There has to be proof.”
“Any idea what it was?” she asked.
“No idea,” I said. “You’re going to have to test for everything.”
“Will do,” she said. Then she frowned. “When there’s a death we’re supposed to wait for the ME to make the call.”
“If you wait, that might be too long,” I said. “I get the feeling this stuff, whatever it is, will be undetectable fairly quickly.”
“Right,” she said again. She stood and reached for the phone. “I’ll call the police,” she said.
“Talk to Sergeant Worth,” I said. “She knows me. She’ll get here quick. And, Nurse Willoughby? Tell her Melodie’s still on the grounds. She’s at the old greenhouse, and she needs to be stopped.”
“How do you know where she is?” she asked, then shook her head. “Forget it. I don’t want to know.”
“Probably not,” I said. “But I gotta go. Can you tell me where Building One is?”
She looked puzzled, but told me. Then she turned back to the phone, and I left.
Franklin was in the basement of Building One, and he needed my help. He had to move on before he disappeared. I just hoped he had enough strength to hang on until I got there.
I walked through the door into chaos. Patients were running up and down the halls, and staff was trying to get some control, and failing miserably. I was glad I was going to be able to get out of the noise and confusion, even if it was to help a spirit who’d been attacked by one of his own.
I reached the elevator just as the doors opened. Dr. Parkerson, sporting two black eyes and a bandage across the bridge of her broken nose, walked into the hallway and looked around.
“What’s going on here, now?” she asked.
“A patient died,” I said. Then, before she could respond, I stepped into the elevator.
“Where are you going?” she asked. “You and I need to talk.”
“I gotta go to Building One,” I said. “It’s a ghost thing. I’m sure you don’t want to hear about it.”
I pushed the button for the main floor, but before the doors closed, Parkerson stopped them. “Does this have to do with Phillipa Wonderly?” she asked.
“It does,” I said. “She has to be stopped.”
Parkerson stepped back into the elevator and pushed the button to close the doors. “I’m coming with you,” she said.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” I replied. “You should take care of things here. Besides, Phillipa’s pretty pissed at you. She’ll probably do more damage to you than she’s already done.”
I reached for the button to open the door, but Parkerson stayed my hand. “The staff can handle things here,” she said. “I have to help you.”
I didn’t think she would be much help, to be honest, but she didn’t look like she was going to be dissuaded. “You’re sure?” I asked.
“I’m sure,” she said. Then she sucked in a ragged breath and let it out slowly. Her system for calming down, and I was glad to see she practiced what she preached.
“All right, then,” I said. “Let’s go to Building One.”
BUILDING ONE WAS a wreck slowly falling in on itself. It was also all boarded up, and it took us precious minutes finding a window that was loose enough to pry open. It did my heart good watching Parkerson break her nails as she helped me removed the boards, but I was the one to smash the glass. I took off my housecoat and threw it over the ragged edges of the window jamb so we could both climb in.
“Where are we going?” Parkerson asked.
“The basement,” I replied. “Do you know where it is?”
“Yes,” she said and led the way to the basement stairs. They looked more or less whole, but I had a couple of bad moments when my foot went through the third step down.
“Be careful,” Parkerson said, quite unnecessarily, I thought.
“I am,” I grunted, as I stepped carefully around what was left of the step, and down to the basement floor.
It didn’t take me long to find Franklin. Actually, it didn’t take me long to find Franklin and Jasper and a number of other ghosts I’d never seen before.
They were silently standing around Franklin. Jasper was crouched beside him, with his hand on the old man’s chest. Franklin had little light left, and what was left was leaking from the ragged tears in his body. It looked like Jasper was trying to give Franklin some of his light, some of his strength, because his own was weakening, lumen by lumen.
“I don’t think that’s going to work, Jasper,” I said. “You’re only going to hurt yourself that way.”
“Jasper’s here?” Parkerson gasped. “Jasper’s actually here?”
I didn’t bother answering her, because Jasper looked up at me, luminescent tears leaking down his face. “I have to try,” he said. “This is my fault. I have to try something.”
The ghosts around the two of them began to moan, and one of them reached out a hand to Jasper. “Let us help,” she said. “If we can.”
One by one they linked auras, and when she touched Jasper, he brightened appreciably. The light pulsed down his arm to Franklin, and he groaned. At least he was conscious. Maybe I could still do something for him.
“Please let me through,” I said. “I can help him.”
They silently parted, and I entered the circle. Crouched by Franklin and Jasper, and shivered as I felt the energy of all the ghosts coalescing around me. I looked up, and they’d connected again. It almost looked like a single aura, all around us.
“Franklin,” I said. “Can you hear me?”
His eyes shifted, like he was dreaming.
“Franklin,” I called. “Answer me, now.”
“He can’t hear you,” Jasper said.
Damn. Jasper was right.
For a second, I thought about using my rudimentary sign language skills, but stopped with the foolishness almost immediately. He was deaf, and his eyes were also closed. He wouldn’t be able to see what I was trying to say, any more than he could hear me.
What could I do? Maybe joining the circle of light would help pull him to consciousness. I placed my hand over Jasper’s, on Franklin’s chest. I did it carefully, so I didn’t break into Jasper’s space, but so that my aura would join his. So that I could lend Franklin my strength, too.
His eyes blinked, and then opened. He stared first at Jasper, and then at me.
“What is this?” he finally rasped. “An intervention?”
A small ripple of nervous laughter from the ghosts around us, but neither Jasper or I joined. “Almost,” I said. “Franklin, I’m here to help you move on.”
“No!” Jasper cried. He pulled his hand away and glared at me. “No, I need him,” he said. “He can’t leave me.”
“I’m sorry, Jasper,” I said, “but Franklin can’t help you any longer.”
“She’s right,” Franklin said. “I’m done, boy. I tried to stop her, but I wasn’t strong enough.”
He looked deep into my eyes, and I felt him pulling my strength to him. He lightened a little, and then a little more.
“Where will I go?” he asked.
“Wherever you want,” I said.
And then he asked the question they all ask.
“Will it hurt?”
“No,” I said. “It won’t.”
As I gave him his options, he lightened more and more. I asked him what had been holding him here.
“The war, I suppose,” he sighed. “That damnable war. I never did get over it. Couldn’t figure out how to let it go, get past what it did to me.” He stared up into my face and smiled sadly. “That’s a real shame. Isn’t it?”
“Yeah, it is,” I said. “But it’s time to let it go.”
“I know,” he said. “I’ve hung on to it all way too long.”
His light had grown as we talked, and he was now almost clear, but I hadn’t seen one light bee form. Something was still holding him here.
“Is that all?” I asked. “Is there anything else keeping you here?”
“I’m worried about Jasper,” Franklin whispered. “And the others. Phillipa is out of control. She needs to be stopped.”
“I’ll stop her,” I said. “And I’ll help the rest of them, if they want me to.” I smiled down at him. “After all, that’s what I’m supposed to do.”
“That’s your job,” he said. The first light bee formed and popped free. It was white, I saw. White was good.
“Yes,” I said. “It’s my job.”
“Glad you figured that out,” he said. Another bee formed, and another. He looked at Jasper. “Keep up your lessons,” he said.
“I will,” Jasper said, tears running freely down his cheeks. “I’m going to miss you, Franklin.”
“And I’m going to miss you,” Franklin said. “But hey, who knows? Maybe we’ll see each other on the other side.” He smiled again, and a couple more light bees flew free. “Stranger things have happened,” he sighed, and then, suddenly, the room was awash in a blizzard of light bees as he moved on.
Jasper sobbed, and the rest of the ghosts moaned, and I needed water more than I could say. But I wasn’t going to get any anytime soon, because Parkerson screamed.
She was dangling in the air, her feet kicking as she tried, desperately, to find purchase.
“Isn’t this cute,” Phillipa said, behind her, with her hands around the doctor’s throat. “We all got together for one last lesson.” She shook Parkerson like a cat would a mouse, and Parkerson’s face turned purple.
I scrambled to get my feet back under me as the rest of the ghosts screamed and ran as far away from Phillipa as they could. “Please, Phillipa, let her go.”
“Help me,” Parkerson grunted. “Help me, please.”
“No one’s going to help you,” Phillipa said, and gave her another shake. “You left me at his mercy. At his mercy!”
Her voice rose to a screech, and I knew that if something didn’t happen soon, Parkerson was a goner.
“Let her go,” I said again. I was finally able to stand, but I was shaking like a leaf, and didn’t know how effective I was going to be against her.
Mom couldn’t do anything. Why did I think I was going to figure it out? But I staggered toward her, my hands held out in front of me so I could lay hands on one of them. Parkerson, at least. I hoped that I’d have enough strength to pull her free, and save her life for the moment, anyhow.
But before I touched her, Jasper walked past me. Through me, really, and I could feel his strength. The strength he was gathering from the rest of the spirits in the room. He stopped in front of Phillipa.
“Let her go,” he said. “Phillipa, this isn’t the way.”
“I think it is,” Phillipa said, but for a second, she looked uncertain. And darker. She looked darker. Was Jasper doing that? Was he somehow pulling strength from her?
I saw that Parkerson’s feet were almost on the floor. Just a couple more inches, and she’d be standing on the bottom step again. I glanced at her purple face and saw with horror that her eyes were rolling in her head. She was going to lose consciousness, if Jasper didn’t hurry.
“It isn’t,” he said again. “And you need to stop.” He took another step toward Phillipa and grabbed the aura of her arm. “Stop. Now.”
“No,” she said, but her arm dropped and Parkerson fell to the floor, coughing and choking. I grabbed her with my last bit of strength, pulled her away and then sank to the floor beside her, and watched Jasper stop Phillipa in her tracks.
“You can’t do this anymore,” Jasper said.
“Yes, I can,” she said. But she sounded weaker, and when another of the ghosts moved to Jasper’s side, her light darkened at an alarming rate. “She needs to pay,” Phillipa said. Her voice sounded weak.
“No,” Jasper said. “She doesn’t. You need to let it go.”
Another ghost walked up and stood with him. “Listen to him, Phillipa,” she said. “He’s right.”
“But she hurt me,” Phillipa whispered. “As much as Rafferty did.” She scowled and her light brightened as she fed off her own anger.
“Yeah,” Jasper said. He sounded strong and calm and in control. First time I’d ever heard that tone in his voice. “She did. And she’s sorry she did.” He looked over at Parkerson, and then at me. “She is, isn’t she?” he asked me.
“You’re sorry for what you did to Phillipa, aren’t you?” I asked the doctor. She nodded, then grabbed her hurt throat.
“Yes,” she whispered. “I am. I should have believed her. If I could do anything to make it up to her, I would. I’ll make sure Julius is brought to justice as soon as he gets out of the hospital. I promise.”
“See?” Jasper said. “She’s sorry, and she’s going to do what she can to make it right. And that’s really what you want. Isn’t it?”
Phillipa stared at Jasper, and her form darkened even more. I noticed, with a start, that Jasper was now as bright as Phillipa was dark. He was taking her power. She sighed and closed her eyes. “I feel sick,” she said. “Sick.”
She leaned forward, and then collapsed on the floor close to the spot where Franklin had so recently disappeared. “All I wanted was to make us all strong,” she whispered. “That wasn’t so wrong, was it?”
“It wasn’t what we wanted, though,” Jasper said. “You made us follow you after you hurt Franklin. We were afraid, Phillipa. Too afraid to stop you.”
She looked down at the concrete, and then up at Jasper’s shining face. “What I did to Franklin,” she said. “Why did I do that? He was one of us. What was wrong with me?”
She looked past the ghosts, at me. “Can you tell me?” she asked. “Why would I have done that?”
“Revenge sickened you,” I said softly. “Jasper’s right. You need to stop.” I stared into her eyes, mustering strength from somewhere. “You need to move on.”
“But I don’t want to go to hell,” she whispered.
“Then don’t,” I said. “It’s really as simple as that. You can come back and try life again, if that’s what you want. Or pick heaven, if that’s what you believe. Or hell. Or you can choose to stop, forever. All you have to do is choose, Phillipa. Honestly.”
“I want to try again,” she said. “I did my life so badly, last time. I’d really like to try again. If I could.”
“Then you will,” I said. “If that’s what you choose.”
“I do,” she said. “I choose another life.”
She was clear and began bleeding light bees. Black and red, but I’d expected that. Jasper gasped and took a step away from her as if he was afraid of what he was seeing.
“I don’t want to do that,” he said.
“You don’t have to,” I said. “Not now. But Phillipa does. Don’t you?”
“I do,” she said, and then, as simply as that, she was gone. The last of her light, finally white, wound through the rest of the ghosts, and then it was gone, too.
I turned to the rest of the ghosts. “Anybody else?” I said. “While I’m here?”
I was half kidding, but two more ghosts shyly put up their hands. They were already shining almost clear, so it took no time to talk them through the process. Their light bees flew and they moved on. And I was done. I had no m
ore left and was dying of thirst.
“I’ll come back,” I said to the rest of them. “And I’ll check on you all. And when you’re ready, I’ll help you. I promise.”
I tottered over to Parkerson and grabbed her arm. “Time to go back to your office,” I said. She nodded and pulled herself to her feet, almost yanking me over in the process. When we linked arms, I couldn’t tell which one of us was helping the other.
“Jasper, you need to come with us,” I said.
“Why?” he asked. “I told you I’m not ready to move on.”
“I think it’s time you and your shrink had a heart to heart,” I said. “Because I think she needs to apologize to you, too.”
“I do,” Parkerson said, looking around like she actually thought she’d be able to see ghosts, now that she believed. “I really do.”
“Then let’s go to your office,” I said.
“Why?” she asked. “Can’t we do it here?”
“I need some water,” I said. “Desperately.”
“And I’d rather not talk to her in front of everyone else,” Jasper said. “It’s—it’s private. You know?”
“So, let’s go back to your office,” I said to her. “Please.”
“All right,” she said. And I knew that she was the one who was practically carrying me as we left Building One and went back to Building Thirteen.
Jasper:
My Final Session
I STOPPED PHILLIPA from hurting anyone else. Not all by myself, but still, I did it. And then Marie was able to move her on. We made a good team, we really did.
That was probably the coolest thing I’d ever done, but for some reason, I didn’t feel cool. I just felt tired.
Maybe it was all the strength it took. Or maybe it had been watching Franklin move on. He’d looked so happy, so at peace before he disappeared. I wanted that, too, but I didn’t feel happy, or at peace. Had never felt that way my whole life and death. Not even close. And I didn’t know how to get there.
Marie figured that talking to Dr. Parkerson would help me, but I didn’t see how. It had never helped me before. No matter what she said to me, or the drugs she fed me, the ribbons of colour—the ribbons of emotion—kept flowing from everyone I encountered.