Don't Wake the Dead

by C. C. Wood

  Even with her grumpy attitude, I liked her a lot. Birdie laid it out for you and didn’t hold back, even when it might hurt your feelings. She didn’t pretend to be anything other than who she was and she expected the same from everyone else around her. Which meant she didn’t give anyone special treatment. People were people as far as she was concerned.

  After we were settled at a table, Mal looked around. “I see you went with dark and seedy,” he joked.

  “Well, the only honkytonk in town tends to get wild around midnight. I thought this would be better if you guys wanted to talk.”

  Stony smacked the table. “That’s definitely what I want to do. I want to know what happened at the graveyard tonight. That was some freaky shit.”

  “Yeah, dude. I didn’t think zombies existed until I saw one with my own eyes,” Blaine stated.

  We all looked up as Janice, our waitress approached. I was grateful for the interruption. It was always unnerving to talk to other people about my abilities. There was always the risk that they would reject me. I didn’t understand why I felt that way about Stony and Blaine, since they’d readily accepted the fact that I could see and talk to spirits.

  “What can I get ya?” she asked.

  Janice had worked as a waitress at Birdie’s since the place opened up twenty-five years ago. I doubted that she would ever retire.

  “Hey, Janice. I’ll have a Woodchuck and a cheese pizza please,” I answered.

  The guys ordered beer and an assortment of wings, nachos, and pizza. My eyes widened at the amount of food they requested, wondering how they were going to eat it all.

  “We get really hungry after filming a show,” Stony explained.

  “I’ll say,” I murmured.

  After Janice walked away, Stony and Blaine looked at me expectantly.

  I blew out a deep breath. “Okay, so I can raise the dead,” I stated.

  They looked at me blankly.

  “Seriously?” Blaine asked.

  I nodded.

  Their silence made me nervous and I fidgeted in my seat.

  Finally, Stony smiled widely. “That is so cool! Do you, I dunno, call for them or something? Or do they just show up?”

  “Uh, they just show up,” I answered, relieved that they didn’t seem upset at the knowledge.

  “Damn, I bet you’re a lot of fun on Halloween,” Blaine said.

  I shook my head. “Definitely not. I usually stay home and pass out candy.”

  “You don’t go around scaring the kiddies and such?” Blaine asked sounding disappointed.

  “Nope.”

  “Why not?”

  I laughed. “Because I don’t like scaring children or giving people heart attacks.”

  “But it could be fun,” Blaine insisted. “We could all go together.

  “Not doing it,” I stated firmly.

  “Fine,” he huffed, sulking for all of two minutes until our drinks arrived. “Janice, you are an angel.”

  She gave him a cold stare in return. “Your food’ll be here in a few.” Then she turned and marched away.

  “Ah, I think I’m in love,” Blaine said as he placed his hand over his heart. “It turns me on when a woman scorns me.”

  Blaine and Stony seemed content with my broad explanation of what happened at the graveyard and the conversation moved on to other topics.

  As we ate and drank, I realized that this was the first time I’d felt at home with people I worked with. At the insurance company, I’d always felt like an outsider, even when people tried to include me. It was so difficult to maintain the facade of normalcy whenever I was around other people. I had to pretend I didn’t see or hear the things I did.

  With Mal, Blaine, and Stony, I could just be myself. It was liberating. I didn’t feel as though I had to constantly keep my guard up and watch what I said.

  For the first time in my life, I could be Zoe Thorne…whoever she was.

  Chapter

  The next day Mal, Stony, and Blaine were all crowded around my kitchen table as we planned our trip to The Baker Hotel in Mineral Wells. I was also making dinner for them. I enjoyed cooking, but rarely entertained anyone but Jonelle. Tonight, I’d made a big pot roast with potatoes and carrots. I also had fresh green beans from the local farm stand and homemade garlic cheddar biscuits. I thought Stony’s eyes were going to pop out of his head when I told them what we were eating.

  As I finished cooking the meal, Mal laid out the game plan for filming the next night. When he asked if I’d ever been to the abandoned hotel, I laughed.

  “Oh, yeah. Jonelle got it in her head that a group of us should go our senior year in high school.”

  Mal leaned forward. “Is it really haunted?”

  I had to laugh again. “Definitely. You won’t be disappointed. There’s a very mischievous child named Nancy. She roams the place and gets up to all kinds of trouble. She loves it when people come to visit and does whatever she can to get their attention.”

  “So you think we’ll get some good footage?” he queried.

  “I’m certain of it.”

  As I served the meal, Blaine eyed it greedily. “I don’t think I’ve had a home cooked meal in years,” he commented.

  I stared at him. “What have you been eating then?”

  “Mostly take out and frozen dinners.”

  “Uh, you could have learned to cook for yourself, you know,” I pointed out.

  He and Stony looked at each other and laughed uproariously.

  “What’s so funny?”

  Mal answered my question. “Blaine hasn’t been allowed anywhere near a kitchen since the time he nearly burned down our apartment during senior year. Every time he’s tried, it’s been a disaster.”

  “Hey, I resent that. I made scrambled eggs one time,” Blaine said defensively.

  “You mean yellow rubber, don’t you?” Stony teased.

  Blaine had no response for that, so I assumed that they’d been inedible.

  “Why don’t we focus on the delicious meal that Zoe made for us?” Mal suggested.

  As we ate, I was once again struck at how comfortable I was with these three men. After years of alienation and loneliness, I’d fallen into an easy camaraderie with a group of fellow misfits.

  Teri had been correct when she said that they lived in my world. Most people walked around every day, completely blind to the things happening around them. Mal, Stony, and Blaine might not see the same things I did, but they were open to the possibilities.

  After we ate, I scooped bowls of ice cream for everyone as Mal went over the scripts and shots he wanted to get. He’d been inside the hotel earlier in the week, planning which floors he wanted to focus on and looking for areas where activity would be concentrated.

  As I read through the introduction and closing scenes in the script, I found myself tapping my fingers on the table. It wasn’t necessarily bad, but it was a bit boring.

  “Something wrong?”

  I looked up to find Mal frowning at my drumming fingers. “Huh?”

  “You’ve been doing that for the last ten minutes,” he replied, nodding toward my hand. “Is something wrong with the script?”

  I hesitated. I was so new to this that I wasn’t sure I should even say anything. What did I know about filming a paranormal investigation show?

  “Be honest,” Mal encouraged. “I’d like to know what you think.”

  “It’s just a little…bland, I guess.” He didn’t speak, just nodded, so I continued. “I mean, you three are so funny and entertaining in real life and, to me, the script doesn’t show that like it should.”

  He seemed to consider my words. “What changes would you suggest?”

  I picked up a pen. “May I?”

  “Sure.”

  I went through the first sheet and made a few changes to the dialogue he intended to use for the introduction. When I finished, I slid the page over to him. Now that he was looking at it, I felt nervous. I didn’t know anything about televisio
n or scriptwriting.

  Before I could tell him to forget about the entire thing, he looked up at me. “I like this.”

  “Really?”

  “Yeah. You’re right. This sounds more like us when we’re together. I think the audience would enjoy this,” Mal admitted, his eyes going back to the page. “Would you take a look at the other parts of the script I’ve completed so far and tell me what you think?”

  “I’m sure they’re fine, Mal. You don’t need me to—”

  “Just look at them, Zoe. Please?”

  We all went back to our respective activities. Mal and I working on the screenplay while Stony and Blaine argued about who was going to carry certain pieces of equipment. Apparently, one of the cameras was “heavier” than the other even though they were both the same size. When their discussion became heated, I glanced at Mal to see if he was going to intervene.

  He shook his head at me. “I don’t bother anymore. They argue more than an old married couple.”

  “Who’s married?” Stony asked.

  When Mal and I burst into laughter, he looked bewildered. “What’s so funny?”

  “Nothing,” answered Mal. “Let’s get back to work.”

  He winked at me before he huddled behind his laptop once again.

  I felt Teri before she leaned in behind me and I stifled a sigh. She’d agreed to stay out of the kitchen tonight and let us work. It was typical that she would decide to eavesdrop.

  “I’m telling you. He likes you.”

  I discreetly flipped her off and heard her laugh before her presence faded from the kitchen.

  Still, I couldn’t stop thinking about her words. Surely she was wrong. Mal was my boss now. Getting involved would be a monumentally bad idea.

  Right?

  Chapter

  I stood at the base of the towering Baker Hotel, staring up at the building as the light of day faded away. The brilliant pink and orange hues from the sunset glinted off the windows, almost hiding the face of a little girl in a white dress. Her light brown hair curled in fat ringlets, a style from nearly a century ago.

  Without thinking, I lifted my hand to wave at her, smiling as her eyes lit up and she waved back. Of all the spirits I’d met over the years, Nancy was one of the sweetest. I didn’t understand why she was still tethered to The Baker Hotel. As far as I could tell she hadn’t died a horrific or violent death, but somehow she hadn’t moved on.

  “Is someone up there?” Stony asked as he came up next to me.

  “Yes and no,” I answered softly.

  “Huh?”

  I turned and smiled at him. “It’s Nancy, the little girl I told you all about last night. She’s watching us from one of the windows.”

  Stony tilted his head back. His eyes narrowed as if he expected he would be able to see her if he squinted hard enough. Then, in an oddly sweet gesture, he lifted his own hand and waved too.

  “Did she see me?” he asked.

  I glanced back up to the window where Nancy had been. She was gone.

  “I think so,” I lied.

  Stony seemed to sympathize with the spirits that were still around us. Considering how attuned he was with the spectral plane, I shouldn’t have been surprised at his ability to empathize.

  “Are we ready?” Mal asked.

  I picked up the gear I’d brought from the van and followed the guys inside. As soon as the door shut behind us, the last rays of sunlight vanished, leaving the lobby of the hotel in murky twilight.

  As I walked to the center of the room, I could already feel the spirits milling throughout the hotel. Some were merely echoes of the past, like recordings of random moments that were imprinted on the very walls. Mal and the guys called them residuals. Some had been drawn to this place in life, thus they were drawn here in death. You could talk to them, but they were muted and vague. The parts of them that made them human had already passed on, leaving behind a half empty, ethereal shell.

  Others had suffered and died here. Those were usually the most coherent apparitions. Their thoughts and emotions were as sharp and clear as they had been while they were alive.

  Those types of ghosts were the most difficult to talk to because they understood that they were dead. Even if they had long ago accepted it, there was sadness in them, as if the weight that tied them to a place had crushed their personality as well. They could communicate, but hearing their stories was heartbreaking.

  They were all here, lonely and waiting. It made me sad to think of so many of them passing their days unseen and unheard, utterly alone.

  A glimpse of white flashed in my peripheral vision and I turned my head. Nancy peeked out from behind a pillar, watching as Mal, Stony, and Blaine unpacked equipment. I smiled at her as I squatted down to open the bags I’d carried in as well.

  She grinned back before scampering away, disappearing into the gloom of an open doorway.

  I doubted it would be the last time I saw her tonight.

  Once all the cameras, meters, digital recorders, and flashlights were all looked over, the backup batteries were checked for a charge. Mal explained after the first time I witnessed the ritual that spirits often used the batteries in the devices as energy to manifest.

  It also explained why I had to replace the batteries in my remotes and other appliances so often. And maybe even why my electric bill always seemed to be high.

  We began on the ground level, working our way up to the floors that Mal had earmarked until we reached the top. Though I could see and hear most of the ghosts we encountered, Mal and the guys wanted to see if there was any sort of physical evidence, so I wasn’t on camera much.

  Until we reached the ballroom on the top floor.

  I sensed Nancy’s presence, but didn’t see her. When nothing seemed to be happening, we took a short break and stood out on the narrow terrace. The full moon had risen and bathed everything around us in the pale light. It was beautiful and still, only a sporadic breeze broke up the heat left over from the warm late spring day.

  After spending a half hour eating snacks and drinking water on the small balcony, we gathered the cameras and other equipment and headed back inside.

  As soon as we re-entered the ballroom, the air changed. The temperature around us dropped dramatically.

  “Do you feel that?” Stony asked.

  Blaine lifted the digital thermometer they used to measure ambient air temperature. Before our eyes, it registered forty degrees Fahrenheit. I shivered and exhaled hard, my breath pluming in front of me.

  “It’s cold,” I muttered.

  I didn’t recognize the presence I felt in the ballroom. Nancy was gone. This was something bigger. Darker. It scared the crap out of me because I’d never experienced anything like it before.

  “Zoe, can you see or hear anything?” Mal asked softly.

  My voice was nearly a whisper when I answered. “No.”

  We circled the perimeter of the room, taking measurements. Mal would occasionally ask me if I saw or felt anything. Other than the oppressive weight of the invisible phantom that hovered over the room, there was nothing.

  “Well, I’d say this is a bust,” Blaine stated.

  Suddenly, all the hair on my arms stood on end and the nape of my neck prickled. Before I could warn the others that something was happening, the deep, deafening peal of a bell shook the room. The bell tower was empty, the bell long ago falling from its mounting.

  Yet we all heard it.

  I cringed and covered my ears with my hands as the bell clanged again, the reverberations shaking the entire floor.

  As the vibrations began to fade, I turned to Mal. “We need to get out of here. Now.”

  In unison, we gathered up our things and made a mad dash for the old-fashioned elevator. The car began to descend just as another, final clash of the bell rang out.

  The elevator shuddered and I fell over. Mal’s hands closed around my waist, pulling me back and anchoring me to his body as he braced his back against the wall. I held
my breath until the car stopped on the lobby level.

  We spilled out of the elevator, all of us breathing hard.

  “What the fuck just happened?” Stony yelled.

  It was the first time I’d ever seen him ruffled. Not even after the zombie incident in the cemetery had he been unsettled.

  Mal shrugged. “I have no clue.”

  They all turned and looked at me.

  “Any idea, Zoe? You said you’d been here before.” Mal’s expression was expectant.

  I shook my head. “I’ve never felt anything like that before. When we were here before, all the spirits I met were…harmless.”

  “Well, I sure as hell don’t want to wait around and see if whatever that was intends to just scare the shit out of us or use our guts for garters. Let’s get the fuck outta here,” Stony exploded.

  I guess everyone agreed because we had all the cases packed and outside the hotel in less than five minutes.

  Within fifteen minutes, we were back on the road, heading toward Kenna. The interior of the van was utterly silent as Mal drove us along the rural roads I’d mapped out for him the previous evening.

  “Anybody bring an extra pair of pants?” Blaine asked. “I think I shat myself.”

  After a second of utter, shocked silence, all four of us broke into howls of laughter. As I wrapped my arms around my belly and rocked back in forth in the passenger seat, the fine tremor that had been running through my body since the event finally ceased.

  As we finally began to calm, Stony asked, “Is that what that smell is?”

  Of course, that question set us off again. Tears streamed down my cheeks and I hooted uncontrollably.

  Mal finally had to pull over to the side of the road to wipe his eyes because he was crying as well.

  After a long while, our gales of laughter died away into intermittent chuckles and they finally quieted completely.

  “Oh, I needed that,” Stony commented.

  I understood what he meant. The wild emotions careening through me earlier were soothed and I felt steady once again.