He Loves Me Not: Haunted Hook-up

by Matt Coolomon

  “So are we just going to walk up and ask the cops what’s going on, are we?”

  Jules flashed a mini tape recorder she had in her shoulder bag. She gave Theo a camcorder. “We’re reporters for the Campus News. I’ll do the talking.”

  “Where did you get this?” The camcorder looked familiar.

  “Don’t ask. I think it belongs to Keller’s boyfriend. I wouldn’t turn it on and look at any of the clips unless you want a peep show.”

  “But we can’t…”

  “Oh don’t worry,” Jules cut in. “We’re not really going to film anything with it. You just stay back, and like I said… let me do the talking. Just make it look like you’re filming, okay?”

  Theo was no sleuth. He wasn’t at all comfortable with pretending to be a reporter, or a cameraman or whatever. It seemed he had no choice, though. They were approaching the main entrance to the auditorium and Jules strode ahead and confronted a lone policeman standing on the steps.

  Theo opened the camcorder and pointed it. The policeman was no older than them. He blushed when Jules addressed him.

  “Good afternoon, Officer. My name is Julie Masterson, reporting for the Campus News. Can you give us any details of what has happened here?”

  She thrust the tape recorder in front of the guy’s face. Theo grinned as he marveled at his girlfriend’s audacity. He kept the camcorder pointed at the cop.

  The cop manufactured a smile for the camera. “Er…” He took out a notebook from his pocket and read from it: “An incident involving a nineteen year old female occurred last night at the Haysville State University Auditorium…” He thumbed back over his shoulder, “The Haysville Police Department are seeking a tall Caucasian man, approximately forty years of age, short dark hair and pale complexion, to assist with their enquiries.”

  “Was he wearing a brown suit?” Jules asked into the recorder. Then she thrust it back into the face of the young policeman.

  “Um… no further comment,” he said, leaning to talk into the device.

  “Oh come on, man… everyone says she saw a ghost,” Jules tried pleadingly. “Was it the ghost in the brown suit or what?”

  The cop folded his arms. “No further comment, ma’am.” He smiled to the camera. A big toothy grin. This guy had been coached.

  “Can you tell us the girl’s name? Did her boyfriend report the man to police?”

  “No further comment,” the cop said again. “The boyfriend couldn’t confirm what he saw.” He blushed, shaking his head. “I mean the alleged boyfriend.” He smiled into the camera again, worry clouding his face. “No further comment!”

  “Oh, so the alleged boyfriend thought he saw a ghost, huh?” Jules went on, smiling now.

  “I think you need to move along, miss. I mean ma’am… This is a police exclusion zone. Forensic investigation in progress.”

  Another uniformed officer and two plain-clothes detectives, a man and a woman, burst from the auditorium, flinging the doors open and letting them slam shut.

  “We’re done here, Chas,” the uniformed guy said to the cop Jules had been interviewing. “Lock it up and let’s go.”

  Officer Chas quickly locked the auditorium door and kept the key. He jumped in with his superior officer, and the two police cars were gone.

  Jules plopped down on the steps. “Huh!”

  Theo sat beside her, peering back at the doors. “So much for that idea, I guess.”

  “So much nothing… we’ll come back and have a look tonight.”

  Theo gulped. His pretty girlfriend was kind of scary in a way. “How can we check anything out tonight? They’ll have this locked up for a week.”

  “Oh, don’t worry about that. We can get in easy enough.”

  “We can? How?”

  Jules shrugged nonchalantly. “Easy.” She took the camcorder and inspected it. “You know, maybe we should have a look at what’s on here. It could be interesting.”

  “No, we can’t do that!” Theo cried, aghast.

  Jules was giggling. “Why not? Knowing Keller, anything juicy will be up on You Tube anyway. Besides, we’ve both seen the show a dozen times at least.”

  “But we can’t just look at their stuff, it’s too personal,” Theo argued, claiming the camera and holding it out of Jules’ reach. She was trying to get it back, giggling and carrying on. “You were right before… it is a peep show. You don’t want to see it,” he told her.

  “And how would you know what it is?” she challenged him. “Did you look while I was talking to Deputy Dolittle?”

  “No, I didn’t look. I just know.”

  “But how do you know?” she had straddled Theo’s lap and was kissing him.

  “Same way I know you’re wearing red panties,” he whispered to her.

  She sat up, mock horror splashed across her face. She had on a skirt and tights underneath. There was no way Theo had seen her underwear.

  “How do you know they’re red?” she cried, a big smile forming. One of disbelief. “You saw them in my laundry basket last night. You guessed!”

  Theo shrugged nonchalantly.

  “Well what about Dr. Martin? What color are her panties?” Dr. Martin was a middle aged associate professor walking to her car right then. She was wearing a grey skirt and coat.

  “How would you check if I told you, though?” Theo queried. “They’re pink or white, kind of in between, maybe a pink pattern on white. But how will you know I’m not just making that up?”

  “Hmm. Good imagination there, ghost man. What color is…”

  “Black,” Theo said before the question had been verbalized. He had sensed the color black in Jules’ thoughts. That was easier than calling playing cards.

  She stared, dumbfounded. “I didn’t even say what.”

  “Well what was it you were thinking of? I only picked up on the color.”

  “It was my bra. How did you do that, though? You haven’t got x-ray vision, have you? Ooh actually that would be fun!”

  “No. No x-ray vision unfortunately. Just a weird sense thingy that allows me to detect color and auras and moods and stuff like that. I don’t really tell anyone about it.”

  “Oh, okay…” Jules was kissing him again and playing with his hair. She took his glasses off and put them on herself. “Woo… that’s freaky.”

  Theo could see okay without glasses. He couldn’t read well and would have a headache within a few hours but for a little while it was fine.

  “I actually have to get to a class,” he said. He was enjoying sitting there with his pretty girlfriend on his lap, but there was the gene sequencing assignment to hand in. He checked his watch. “Well it’s probably a bit late for the class but I really need to get a paper in before the deadline.”

  Jules kissed him softly once more, moaning into his mouth. “Hmm… me too. I need to get to class too. But tonight, okay? Meet me right here at seven and we’ll go have a look for your silly ghost.”

  She replaced Theo’s glasses and got up off him. He caught her hand and pulled her back for another cuddle and kiss while a couple of guys from one of his classes stood just across the driveway watching with mouths agape.

  “So we’re what… breaking in tonight?” he asked his girlfriend. “Is falling for you going to land me in much trouble, do you think?”

  “Trouble? Me? No, I’m a good girl.”

  “Oh yeah? A good girl, huh? You look like a bad girl… but really pretty and sweet.”

  “Pfft. The bad girl is just an image. I like the pretty and sweet idea better.”

  Theo kissed his girl again. “I kind of like how you played reporter just now and had that cop singing from his notebook. I thought you were great. Really sexy actually.”

  “Oh? Well you’ll love it tonight when we break into the police exclusion zone,” Jules teased, whispering in Theo’s ear.

  “Yep… going to land me in all sorts of trouble. I can see it coming,” he sighed.

  Jules giggled, but she also peered up at hi
m coyly. “Say it again?” she asked.

  “Say what again?”

  “That you’re falling for me…”

  ***

  Theo was most definitely falling for Jules. He had missed his class almost completely, just making it in time to hand his assignment in before the five o’clock deadline. It was grocery night, but he had to make another stop on his way to the market. He called in at the scooter dealership where he’d bought both of his vehicles; the one he used now and the one that had been stolen.

  “I’ll take the black one there with the pink visor,” he said, pointing to the helmet he had picked out for Jules. He figured she would want black, but he noticed the brightly colored highlights in her life too.

  It didn’t take long at the supermarket. He didn’t really cook… just heating up ready-made meals and otherwise it was cereal, eggs and fruit. He frequented the refrigerated section for the main meals. There was always a range of pasta dishes that you could simply microwave and eat. Frozen pizza and cardboard TV dinners didn’t appeal at all.

  At seven he chained his scooter in the parking area near Jules’ dorm and found her waiting on the auditorium steps. She had a bulky-looking bag slung across her shoulder. Theo took it. It weighed as much as it looked like it would.

  “Come on!” she said excitedly, grabbing his hand and leading off around the back of the building.

  “But where are we going? Are we supposed to be back here?” There was an open steel door that led to the basement, where they found another door, locked. “We shouldn’t be doing this, Julie.”

  “Oh, stop whining and give me a boost,” his intrepid girlfriend told him. “Here, hold my backpack.”

  Theo set both bags on the floor and made a cup of his hands which Jules used as a step to reach the frosted glass window above the heavy wooden door. She had a nail file and poked it through the frame of the window, working away at something. “There… got it!” she said, grinning down at Theo.

  She lifted the window and crawled through. A moment later she opened the door and let Theo in.

  “We’re going to be in big trouble if we get caught,” Theo pointed out as he handed Jules her backpack and hoisted the heavy bag over his shoulder. He followed her through a huge storage area for costumes, with mirrored dressers and small purple-curtained cubicles for changing.

  “See… this roof is iron, Julie,” he said pointing at the ceiling, indicating the stamped metal plate. “This is why you can’t get any readings. We must be under the seating area where you’ve been setting up.” They left that room and entered a hallway. “The iron roof finishes back there, though. I wonder where we are now.”

  “I think we’re under the stage,” Jules suggested. “See there? That’s where the actors climb up and down to change costumes during the performance. This is backstage right here.”

  Jules was right. They climbed a small wooden ladder and lifted a trapdoor that led them up onto the stage.

  “Set up right here,” Theo said. “I can feel something. Try out your thingy. See if you can get a reading.”

  “What can you feel?” Jules whispered excitedly. “What is it?”

  She got out the EMF/GPR. Theo was looking up at the balcony opposite the stage. They were directly facing the one where the ghost had been seen many times over the years. A part of the carpeted aisle had been sectioned off with yellow tape. “That must be where the girl fell,” Jules said. She was pointing the thing. It was brightly lit. Jules bounced a little with excitement. The reading was strong.

  “Hold on, Theo,” she whispered, unzipping the bag slung across his back. Inside was a complicated looking camera.

  “What’s that?” he asked.

  “It’s a camera I borrowed from the biology department.”

  “Borrowed?” He raised one eyebrow.

  “Yes, Mr. Spock,” she replied, “completely honestly. I checked it out and signed the forms. It has infrared and night vision for observing nocturnal animals.”

  She fired up the device and aimed it at the balcony. The EMF/GPR she set in front of her on the arm of an auditorium seat.

  “Are you there, spirit?” Theo called up to the spot she was filming. “What is it you want?”

  Her… Viki Cranston. Was the responding thought that resounded in Theo’s mind. He could usually communicate with a spirit. Not always clearly. Often the response would be nothing more than a feeling, an emotion. This was quite clear. Viki Cranston was obviously the name of a woman who would be significant in what this spirit was after. There was something more, though.

  “No. This isn’t Viki Cranston,” he called up to the balcony. “This is Julie Masterson. This isn’t the woman you seek.”

  Theo had detected sudden, intense interest in Jules. The spirit was uninterested in him. It was fixated on his girlfriend.

  “This is off the dial!” Jules said excitedly looking down at her jury-rigged device. “What’s up there, though? I can’t see anything.”

  “No, me either. But I can feel a presence. We need to find out who that woman he mentioned to me is. He called her Viki Cranston. Let’s get out of here now, though. This spirit is enraged. He isn’t happy with us being here at all.

  Julie packed away the camera and her EMF/GPR. They hurried to the front door, unlatching it from the inside and peeping out to be sure no one was around to see them.

  ***

  Henderson Jiles was very familiar with campus. He had been employed there during his physical life and had experienced many of these strange, other-worldly visits since he had lost touch with what he had believed to be real. He was no longer sure of what was in fact real, of time and dimension, of what was physically true and what was imagination, or perhaps memory. He understood that he was somehow trapped in the spiritual realm, but he had no knowledge of how he got there or why.

  All Henderson knew was the pain in his heart. The fact that his family, the people that he loved so dearly, were shattered and lost to him. His wife had vanished. He couldn’t even find her. His son was living in a trailer, a pathetic shell of a man. The cause of this was a filthy little bitch. A young whore he couldn’t seem to kill. He had strangled her and thrown her from his balcony so many times, and yet here she was kissing some sap of a boy in plain sight of anyone who cared to watch.

  The boy was an odd one. Henderson didn’t understand how he had known he was there. He had felt the boy invading his thought too, which had actually been quite frightening for Henderson. It was something new in this strange world of memories and pain.

  The boy left, so Henderson followed the girl. He kept a distance, curious about adventuring into the unfamiliar building. He watched her undress and get into bed. It was Viki Cranston. It had to be her this time. Henderson floated down from the corner of the room, emerging from the ceiling and lowering to a position above the young whore. He remembered his wife and child, the way they had suffered the rumors and embarrassment of those filthy accusations against him. The time and the reality of the present faded and he was back in the moment he had seen his wife’s face. The moment the police had confronted him in his home and accused him of sexually assaulting a young female student. The rage welled up inside of his heart and filled his entire existence.

  ***Chapter 8***

  Jules opened her eyes to the darkness of her dorm room. She could hear her own breathing as if the sound was inside of her head. She rolled her eyes to the side. Keller's bed was empty. She drew another breath. It hurt. A heavy weight seemed to be bearing down upon her.

  She shut her eyes again. Her heart was racing. She tried to turn her body but she couldn't seem to move at all. Her arms were not pinned, they were as if paralyzed. She made fists with her fingers and scrunched her toes. Another breath, shallow and tight; she began panting and opened her eyes to the face of a man inches from her. He was on top of her, or was he floating above her?

  Jules screamed but the sound stayed in her head, like the rasp of her breathing. You! The word resounded in her he
ad also. But it wasn't her word, her thought. You filthy little bitch. The thought was emanating from the eyes of the man; from his loathsome penetrating stare.

  Jules lay frozen as terror pounded through her veins. Her muscles cramped and knotted as she strained to move, but to no avail. The figure above her let out a snarl and a blast of fetid, decayed-smelling air washed over her face.

  Don’t vomit, Jules. You’ll choke. Hold it in. Breathe through your mouth. She took shallow quick breaths hoping the spasm would pass.

  I’ll kill you, bitch. You’ll die screaming

  Jules wanted to scream. But even that required more movement than her paralyzed body would allow.

  “Please,” she managed, barely, to form the word with her lips, though no sound emerged. The figure lowered until its face nearly touched hers. But would it actually touch, or would it go right through you? Jules seriously didn’t want to know. Just being this close to... him... felt icy cold. A violent shudder shook her body. At just that moment, her track phone began to vibrate and a stream of loud Nickelback poured from the tinny speaker.

  Somehow, either the noise or the shudder had broken the spell holding her in place. She turned to the phone, an involuntary movement, and when she turned back, she was alone.

  Sitting up quickly, Jules threw herself from the bed, landing awkwardly on the floor, and grabbed the little device. She glanced at the screen, thankful for whoever might be calling, even a telemarketer. Theo. Even better. Her trembling fingers fumbled over the button, but she managed to press it.

  She didn’t even give him a chance to speak. “Baby, where are you?” She choked and a little sob stopped her voice. “I need you. Where are you, Theo?”

  “I’m at the library, Julie. What happened? Where are you?”

  “In my... room.” She was crying now. “HE was here. He... oh God... Theo, please...”

  “I’m on my way, Julie. Try to stay calm.” His voice was filled with concern. Thank goodness he believed her. And the library was the next building over.

  Julie scooted into the corner of the room, wedging herself between the bed and the dresser and pulled her knees up to her chest, wrapping one arm around her legs. She tried to hold the phone steady against her ear.