Graveyard Shift

by Michelle Dorey

  Carmel’s chin jerked high, “Of course. He doesn’t believe me though. None of you do. But I know what I saw. This place is bad. It’s haunted with bad spirits.”

  “Haunted?” Amanda couldn’t keep the surprise from her voice. “Carmel, you’re the first person to say that about this place. Some of the residents have been here for years. There’s never been any talk of ghosts. Not that there would be, of course. That isn’t real.” Her forehead tightened, “You believe in that kind of thing? Carmel, that’s not only impossible it’s not good for you. It’s scaring the hell out of you!”

  Carmel handed the empty glass back to Amanda, “I’m sensitive to these things. I knew this place was bad the moment I set foot in here. Ryan Stone was wrong to put me here. I can’t stay.”

  “Dr. Stone was your doctor before you came here? How long have you known him? I wasn’t aware that he had a practice other than working here.” Amanda took the glass and set it on the table next to Carmel’s bed. Talking about Dr. Stone would be more grounding to Carmel than indulging her with any more talk of ghosts and bad spirits.

  “I’ve known Ryan for a long time. He’s been a friend as well as my physician. But if he doesn’t release me from this hell-hole, well...” Her voice trailed off and she turned her head to gaze out the window.

  That would never happen. The woman was so old she was likely to pass away in this home. Even so, a distraction wouldn’t hurt, would it? Amanda leaned closer, “Where would you go if you could leave, Carmel? Where would you rather be?” There had to be something in Carmel’s life that Amanda could use to help make her stay more bearable.

  Carmel peered up at Amanda, “I’d go home of course. It’s quiet there. I don’t like people around me all the time, telling me what to do, meddling in my affairs.” Her gaze softened and she smiled, “I don’t mean you, dear. I can see that you have a kind heart. If I ever had a daughter, I would have liked her to be like you. I know that you’re busy but you take the time to listen. You care.”

  Amanda smiled and looked down at the floor for a moment. “That’s nice of you to say that.”

  Carmel shook her head slowly, “ It’s true. Your mother never appreciated you. She was a drunk and your father distanced himself from both of you. Yet, you did well.”

  Amanda’s eyes grew wide. It was true what the old woman had said about her parents. She couldn’t count the times that she’d been more of a parent to her mother than a child. How often had she cooked dinner to get something solid into her mother and covered her with a blanket when she’d passed out on the sofa?

  And as far as Dad was concerned... he had given up on all of them. He got up, went to work, came home, watched TV and went to bed. By the time she was in high school he had stopped being interested in anything about her life. His weekends were spent on the golf course, or in the basement with his model trains during the endless winters.

  From the time she was twelve she’d pretty much raised herself.

  Again, Carmel’s voice sparked. “Yes, from your twelfth birthday, you realized it was all up to you, didn’t you, Amanda?”

  Amanda’s hand lifted to her chest, her gaze skewering the old woman. “How could you know that?”

  “I told you I’m a sensitive, my dear. I’m able to see flashes of your past, feel the pain and loneliness you endured growing up. I also see the worries you have now—about money, your daughter and your husband’s illness.”

  Oh my God. Amanda’s step faltered and she gripped end of the bed to steady herself. “I...” But words failed her. Her mind was reeling with what the old woman had said.

  “It’s not that farfetched, Amanda. Most people use about ten percent of their brain. I’m one of the very few who have been gifted with a sixth sense.” Carmel leaned forward and her face flashed an impish grin. “You’ve never met anyone like me, have you?” She sat back with a self satisfied expression. Batting her eyes at Amanda, she said, “Maybe now you’ll believe me when I tell you that there is evil here.” Her gaze darted around the room and she whispered. “It’s close. It wants me dead.”

  Amanda shook her head. “No. Look, you were right about my upbringing and what I’m going through at home. I will grant you that. But this other stuff. Ghosts? No. Once you’re dead, that’s it. You have some kind of ability to read me. I don’t understand how it works but—”

  “It’s like when dogs are able to tell if their owner is about to have a seizure. They can also smell cancer in a person long before medical tests detect it. So if you believe that, which of course is documented, why can’t you believe that there’s an afterlife?”

  Amanda scoffed. “So dogs have ghosts too, Carmel?” She waved a hand. “No. It’s one thing to be...a...” she made finger quotes, “‘sensitive’ or something. That’s a sense from living people. It’s another thing entirely to expect me to believe in ghosts and goblins.” She shook her head. “That’s just nuts.”

  Carmel started to rouse from her seated position, and Amanda stepped over to help her up. She waved the nurse off with a brush of her arm. “I’m fine.” She stared into Amanda’s eyes. “But I won’t be for long. And neither will you.”

  Amanda wasn’t sure if Carmel’s last comment wasn’t just anger that she didn’t buy into the ghostly crap Carmel was spewing. Even so, as she slipped her hands into the pockets of her sweater she felt a cold quiver of fear in her stomach.

  Carmel slumped onto the bed and sighed. “You need to listen, young lady. I’m not safe here. And soon you won’t be safe here either. No one will be.” She snorted, “But maybe not that other one, that Linda creature. She’s probably in cahoots with all the evil here.”

  Looking up at Amanda her voice was firm, “She hates you. But you know that already. She will undermine you in any way she can to get ahead. Watch your back, Amanda.”

  TEN

  THE NURSING HOME WAS SILENT AS A TOMB when Amanda finished making the two A.M. rounds with Linda. She saved room eleven, Carmel’s room for last. But even the old lady had settled down, her soft snores muffled by the comforter she nestled into.

  Amanda walked up the corridor pulling her chin down to her neck, stretching the strain out of her suboccipitals. There’d been too much sitting in one place looking at the computer monitor. When her chin rose again, movement at the edge of her line of sight made her pause.

  She peered over to the hallway leading to the sunroom. It had happened so fast, but she was positive she saw someone moving in the darkness towards the doorway of the room. Linda was at the nursing station and all the other support staff had left hours ago. One of the residents?

  Amanda made her way along the short corridor to the sun room. A sliver of light showed under the wooden door. She paused for a moment debating whether to enter or get Linda in case it was an intruder rather than just a patient sleepwalking or fighting insomnia. But that couldn’t be.

  All the outside doors at the nursing home were locked at night. And no one would get past the main entrance where a security guard watched from the front desk.

  She took a deep breath reaching for the handle of the door. It had to be a resident who had wandered in there. When she stepped inside she did a quick scan of the room. The windows overlooking the back gardens reflected her image but that was the only movement in the room. But she’d seen someone. They had to have come in there since it was the only room in that section of the floor.

  “Hello? Is anyone here?” She walked slowly across the room, past the card game tables and over to the area where two wingback chairs faced each other. A quick check showed only the furniture—nothing nor nobody hiding behind them.

  Suddenly, the lights in the room went out!

  Amanda’s heart jumped in her chest. She spun around staring hard at the door she’d just come through. “Who’s there? Please turn the lights back on.” Her hand was already in her pocket scooping the pen light out.

  The beam of light extending from the small flashlight barely reached the door. She took a few s
teps closer, trying hard to see who was there.

  Thud!

  Amanda spun around at the sound behind her. Her light shone quickly over the two chairs and the low table between them. She jerked back seeing the scrabble box laying on the floor, tiles spilled in every direction. What the heck?

  Carmel’s words whispered in her head, ‘This place is haunted. It isn’t safe.’

  No! She walked fast to the door, shining the light before her. In another moment the room lit up when she flipped the light switch. She opened the door peering down the short hallway for any sign of a person racing away. But it was empty.

  She turned her pen light off and then strode over to pick up the pieces of the board game. Someone was playing a joke and she was in no mood to laugh.

  The room became pitch black. Again.

  Amanda stiffened and her eyes flashed wide. This time her voice quivered when she spoke. “Who’s there?” Her heart thudded fast. How could someone have reached the light switch in the time she’d picked up the board game? She’d checked every inch of the room and the hallway. She was alone.

  But...

  The lights flashed on and then as quickly off again. In that flash of light a dark shape had wavered a few feet from where she stood. She felt her own breathing stop. It had been a person, but really big!

  Her hand shook holding the penlight, aiming where she’d seen it. But again, only the card table and chairs showed. Sprinting across the room she flipped the light switch on and held her hand on it. A fast sweep of her gaze taking in everything did little to reassure her. She’d seen someone! Someone too big to be a resident or any other person she’d ever met! It was a hulking figure, at least seven feet tall!

  But not a trace of them now. How? They couldn’t have just disappeared.

  Her knees began to tremble. Leaving the lights blazing she left the room and stood gulping air, her back pressed against the door. Part of her—a very large part— wanted to race down the hallway and keep going out the front door. But the voice of reason held her in place. She couldn’t leave. She needed that job. Will was off work sick and she had Kelly to look after as well.

  “Get a grip, girl,” she said out loud. The lights flashing had left a retinal impression. That was all. It might have seemed like there was a large dark person there but that was after-image. She took a deep breath. “That’s all it was,” she said. “Just your eyes playing tricks.” Carmel’s blathering on about hauntings and ghosts had gotten to her more than she wanted to admit.

  As for the lights...an energy surge or short circuit? She didn’t know electrical stuff! She was a nurse for god’s sake. But that had to be it. She’d definitely make a note for the maintenance crew to check it out.

  Her head tipped to the side. It had also happened in Carmel’s bathroom the first night she was there. The place was old and the wiring should be checked.

  And that board game falling? It was probably set too close to the edge and gravity...Just coincidence that it happened right when she was in the room. What the hell, her walking on the floor is what caused it to fall, that’s all. She wouldn’t even speak the final words in her mind—that it happened when she was in the room, scared shitless.

  Plucking her phone from her sweater’s pocket, she checked the time. Two twenty-four. Linda would wonder what the hell was taking her so long finishing up the rounds.

  One thing she knew for sure—there was no way she was going to tell Linda what had just happened. Carmel might be crazy about this ghost stuff but she sure had Linda’s number. That bitch would get the word around about her being scared at night; she’d put money on it.

  After a few more deep breaths Amanda felt calm enough to face the old battle axe again. She pushed away from the door taking steady steps down the hallway to get to the main corridor again. Each step away from the sunroom made her knees firm up, thank god.

  When she rounded the corner a voice stopped her dead in her tracks.

  “You saw one of them didn’t you?”

  Amanda turned at Carmel’s voice. The old woman clung to the edge of her gaping doorway, her eyes wild in a face almost as white as her nest of hair. Her own feet were rooted to the floor in shock; Amanda was barely aware of Linda whisking past and putting an arm around Carmel.

  “No! I need Amanda! Get away from me, you bitch!” The old woman’s arm flailed uselessly at Linda.

  “Be quiet. You’ll wake the others.” Linda tugged at the woman, steering her back into the room.

  As Carmel’s room door eased closed behind them, it was enough to break the bond holding Amanda in place. Turning away she dashed down the hallway back to the nursing station. Let Linda handle Carmel.

  She had to get her hands to stop shaking. She dropped into one of the chairs, her breath coming in pants.

  All the while Carmel’s words echoed in her head. ‘You saw one of them.’

  ELEVEN

  IT TOOK LINDA a good twenty minutes to settle the old woman back in her bed. She’d been right all along about the old biddy. Carmel might be able to pass herself off as a fragile hothouse-flower to someone like Amanda but the language coming out of the old lady’s mouth would make a sailor blush.

  From the second Amanda scampered off to the nursing station Carmel began a foul rant; vicious, vile insults spewed from her mouth as Linda manhandled her back into bed. Carmel’s voice ricocheted between shrill cries to a deep, throaty growl as she spat out filth.

  Her language would have horrified anyone listening. Anyone that is, who was fluent in French. Carmel’s clamoring rant was entirely in the French language.

  After settling the woman into bed, straightening the sheets and blankets, Linda watched the now silent Carmel. The old lady’s eyes were narrow slits, glaring at her. Linda stood with her arms folded over her chest, meeting Carmel’s gaze. “You have to get your sleep, Carmel. And if you find that difficult, at least be quiet so that other people can sleep.”

  Carmel yanked the bed cover higher, rolling onto her side, muttering under her breath, “Mechante vieille chienne!”

  Linda’s eyes widened. ‘Nasty old bitch?’ She had to bite the words that threatened to leap from her tongue to put the old woman in her place. She exhaled softly through pursed lips. Patience, Linda. The old woman was a resident, while she was a trained, professional nurse.

  Still she waited another minute or two waiting and watching to see if Carmel would stay put. The woman had lapsed into French to deliver the final insult before giving up the battle of wills. Well Carmel wasn’t the only one in that room who could speak that language. Not that she’d ever let on that she’d understood what Carmel had snarled. Linda’s knowledge of French might be a good card to hold back.

  A coldness settled low in her gut. This was more than irritation at the old woman’s theatrics. She didn’t like or trust the old bat. That lapse into speaking French stirred old memories…

  The best years of her life had been spent in Haiti. Which was odd, since she’d been there nursing as part of the disaster relief team in 2005. Who would ever have guessed that amidst the death and carnage she’d find the one man she’d ever love? She shook her head, fighting the tightness in her throat when Lucien’s face flashed in her mind.

  ‘Stop!’ The thoughts bubbling up were too painful. There was a darker side to those memories. Haiti was where she’d almost died. She’d barely gotten out of the country alive, let alone with her sanity.

  Staring hard at the old woman, her mind vaulted to the here and now. Carmel didn’t speak with a Haitian accent. And just why did she start speaking French just now? There was something suspicious about the old hag.

  Linda’s head dipped to the side thinking. If she didn’t know better, she’d suspect the woman was trying to get under her skin by yammering at her in French. But that was crazy; Carmel doesn’t know a damn thing about her past.

  Her arms fell and she sighed turning away. This was getting her nowhere, speculating on Carmel and Haiti. It was enough to recogni
ze that Carmel wasn’t really who she tried so hard to portray. Not with a potty mouth like that.

  When Linda walked out of the room she felt a weight fall from her shoulders. She stopped and stared at the door to room eleven. Even the air outside the room felt clearer.

  Walking up the corridor to the nursing station, seeing Amanda sitting there brought to mind what had sparked the commotion. Carmel had accused the young snippet of seeing something or someone when she’d left the sunroom.

  Linda stood over Amanda, looking down at her. “She’s settled for the night. What the hell did she mean when she said, ‘you’ve seen them too?’”

  Amanda set her cell phone on the desk, pulling herself straighter in the chair. “I don’t...Look you said yourself that she’s looking for attention. I don’t know what she was talking about. It was just more drama.” She picked up the phone again and brushed her finger on the screen, going back to what she’d been doing.

  Linda settled into the chair across from her and busied herself at the computer. Two could play at that game feigning an interest in anything rather than having to deal with the other. She sneaked a glance at Amanda. Was it her imagination or had her cheeks become pinker like the girl was angry or embarrassed? One thing she did know though. She knew a lie when she heard one.

  There was something going on between Carmel and Amanda that she was hiding.

  She stifled the chuckle that threatened to burst from her mouth. She’d find out what it was and when she did it would be one more thing to use against Amanda.

  TWELVE

  IT WAS ALMOST NOON THE NEXT DAY, when Dr. Ryan Stone stepped away from the bed where Delores Winters lay. He dropped the used syringe in the sharps container and peeled his gloves off.