Grave Possession (Wraith 3) (8 page)

I stepped forward, following the people around me, my heart banging in my chest. Taking one final step toward the hallway, I looked over and saw a pair of familiar ice blue eyes staring at me. The crowd pushed from behind and I stumbled into complete darkness.

Each room was composed like a nightmare, bloodied bodies, creepy clowns. Silent demons hid in every corner. I shrieked, bumping into those around me. No one cared. They were too busy freaking out themselves.

After a moment, my goal became to get out of the house. That was all. I wanted out. With that mission in mind, I barreled through the crowd, pushing and wedging my way between the excited people.

“Watch your hand,” I heard Amber say. In a brief flash of light, I saw the wicked grin on her face. She spoke to a guy in the shadows, lifting her eyebrow in encouragement. “Or don’t.”

The room turned hot and stuffy and I can’t discern my friends from the goblins hired to staff the house. I spotted a hazy light ahead and narrowed my focus. The exit was that way.

I left my group, chasing the light, until I came to a fork in the hallway. The faint blue light led me to the left. Eerie red smoke filtered from the right. I chose right, going after the fake dramatics.

The crowd thinned, which made the air cooler, and I continued down the corridor. I passed a room with a row of fish tanks, zombie heads floating inside. Gross. A man with an eye patch sat in a recliner staring at the tanks. He moved and I screamed.

“It’s from the TV show.”

I spun and found zombie Connor standing behind me. His blue eyes unmistakable even under the guts and gore. I took a breath and said, “What?”

“That guy with the eye patch is from ‘The Walking Dead.’ Totally weird.”

“Yeah, weird.”

“What are you doing here?”

“My friends and I came down – that girl Amber told us to come with you guys.”

“Well, I’m trying to get out of here.”

“I think you took a wrong turn.”

“Then why are you down here?”

“I was following him. I thought you were too.”

“Him?” He pointed to an empty room and I saw who he was talking about. A man in what seemed to be a white doctor’s coat stood patiently amid a red fiery glow. “No, I wasn’t following him. This place creeps me out. I was looking for an exit.”

“Well, want to find out what his problem is?”

“Not really. Can we skip this one?”

He frowned but seemed to consider it. We never walked away from someone needing our help. “Can we?”

“I’m really freaking out, Connor. I hate this place.” I slipped my hand into his. “Can we just get out of here?”

He glanced at the old man and then back at me. “Okay, I’ll come back. It’s not like he’s going anywhere.”

Connor kept his grip tight and dragged me back into the crowd and through the reminder of the haunted house. The last couple of hallways seemed to be the worst – darker and scarier than the others. Claustrophobia took over and my heart pounded in my ears. One final zombie lunged at me and I buried my face in Connor’s arm like a big freaking chicken. By the time we got outside, I was hanging off his back.

“Oh, God, I’m sorry,” I said, releasing him from my grip.

“It’s okay,” he smiled. “It’s not often that you need someone – me. It felt kind of nice.”

“What? I always needed you. Too much.”

“Whatever,” he said with a laugh.

I spotted Ava and waved. She shouted, “Oh my God, I thought you were gone!”

“Just lost,” I said. Her eyes darted down to where Connor and I were still attached. I
removed my hand from his. “Connor came to my rescue.”

The group chattered excitedly about the horrors inside and, to my distress, Amber said, “Who wants to go in again?”

“I’ll go,” Connor said, along with Tony. Ava wavered for a moment but saw the panic on my face.

“Nah,” she said. “I’ll hang out here and practice my zombie kills.”

The group filed back in line and Ava and I sat on the curb. “So, what’s scarier? Ghosts, zombies or hanging out with your ex-boyfriend?”

“It’s that obvious, huh?”

She wrapped her arm around me and said, “Only to me.”

“Good run?” Ava asked. She sat on her bed amid a pile of papers and art books.

“Pretty good.”

“Did your running partner show up?”

“Doesn’t he always?”

I picked up my stuff to take a shower. The maintenance guy was back, sorting through this toolbox. This time I didn’t trip. “Watch your step,” he said, pointing to the water standing on the floor. The knees of his coveralls were wet.

“It’s leaking again?” I asked.

“Yep. It’s almost like someone’s messing with the bolts.”

“That would be weird.”

“I’ll be done soon.”

“Okay.” I started to edge out of the room. “I’ll just come back later.”

I heard a stifled sob from the bathroom stall.

“All morning,” he said, shaking his head. “I tried to get her to come out but she won’t talk to me. Anyway, I’m hoping this will be the last time I’m up here.”

I backed out of the bathroom and ran into Lila. She peered around me. “Oh, good. I was hoping Mr. Williams would get here today. That leak is turning into a pain in the ass.”

“Yeah,” I said. “Um, can I talk to you for a minute? I’ve been meaning to catch you when I had a second.”

“Sure.”

I followed Lila down to her room. She had a single since she was in charge of the residents. Inside, Lila gestured to the couch and I sat down, holding all of my shower things and feeling gross in my sweaty running clothes.

“I’m not trying to tell on anyone or sound gossipy, but a couple of times I’ve been in the bathroom someone has been in one of the stalls crying. A lot.”

Lila’s expression instantly turned concerned. “Do you know who?”

I shook my head. “No, I’ve never seen her. Just her feet, but I don’t recognize her shoes as being anyone in the dorm.”

“Her feet? What about them?”

“Well, she has black Converse low-tops, which isn’t such a big deal, but I also saw she has a flower or clover tattooed on her ankle.”

Lila frowned and shook her head. “That doesn’t sound like any of our residents. Anything else?”

“Dark hair,” I offered.

“Nope. I guess next time either come get me or knock on the door and ask if she’s okay. I’ll ask at the next RA meeting. It’s possible she’s a friend or something. Maybe she’s just visiting the dorm?”

“Maybe so,” I agreed. “Well, I just wanted to let you know.”

“Thanks, Jane,” Lila said, when I’d reached the door. “You said she has a flower tattoo? On her ankle?”

“Yeah.”

“Can you sketch it?” Lila asked.

“Um, probably.” I took the piece of scrap paper and pencil she offered me and did my best to replicate the tattoo. “Like that?”

“Yeah, it may come in handy, you never know. Let me know if you see or hear anything else.”

“I will,” I said. I turned and walked back to the bathroom, happy to see that Mr. Williams had cleaned up and left. I passed the sinks and mirrors, but paused just before turning the corner to the showers. Taking a step back, I frowned at the last mirror – fogged over with faint letters written across the surface.

Gotcha

“Hello?” I called, peering into the shower area. No one. Not a dripping faucet or wisp of steam. The other mirrors were clear and clean, reflecting harsh fluorescent lighting back into the tiled room.

“Got who?” I asked the empty room. I saw nothing. Heard nothing. Felt nothing. No cool blast of air. No shimmery blue light.

Using my towel, I wiped away the words. Something was off, I just didn’t know what.

*

“You think your bathroom has a Moaning Myrtle?”

Evan and I lay next to one another on my bed, shoulder to shoulder. Ava snored lightly with a pillow covering her head. I could see my body on a bean bag on the floor. My body. Me – asleep or something. The room had dark inky shadows around the edges tonight. Evan. though, was bathed in reddish light. Sometimes I thought maybe he tricked out the lighting here, like how he made ink turn into crows.

I jabbed him with my elbow and said, “No. Well, yes. But a living Moaning Myrtle. Because there isn’t a ghost. There’s no ghost. Just some chick who won’t stop crying and leaves weirdo messages on the mirrors.”

“What kind of messages?”

“Once it was Bang
Bang. And then, Gotcha.”

“So, a practical joker?”

“Suicidal freshman?” I shot back. “It’s just weird.”

“Why don’t you just knock on the door and ask her what’s wrong?”

“I don’t know.” I shrugged. “Because it’s the bathroom, and people sort of want their privacy?”

“Next time, knock.”

“I will.” Evan wrapped his arm around me and I leaned into him. I loved being able to touch him here. That was different from before. Here, we were the same.

I could comfort him the way he had always comforted me. The weight of his arm against my shoulders brought the rush I’d been looking for. Skin to skin was best way to transfer energy, but a hit was a hit.

“You’re going home this weekend?”

“Yeah, I’ll be busy but, hopefully, we can meet up.” I knew we would. I could barely go a day now without him. The shadows moved along the walls, creeping toward the windows and door. “What are those?”

“I don’t know. Décor?”

I snorted and covered my mouth. “You said décor.”

“You’re such a geek.”

“Whatever. But really, they’re not just part of the room – I can feel them. “Maybe it’s us. Our energy,” I declared.

“So, this weekend. Big plans with Louis?”

He could say that. We had Thanksgiving but, yeah, I had big plans. I needed to work off some of this tension between me and Connor. Even the high from Evan didn’t sooth that other craving as much as I’d like.

“You know turkey and stuff.” He knew. He also knew we didn’t talk about that stuff. Not me and Evan. That would be… weird. Like talking to your brother or something.

Nope, I thought, snuggling closer, feeling the warmth and studying the black shadows climbing the walls. Everything was compartmentalized. Evan. Louis. Connor.

I had no other choice.

*

Louis: See you on Saturday?

Jane: What time?

Louis: Eager much?

Jane: Totally. Like you aren’t.

Louis: Text me when you get home. I’ll come over.

Jane: No. I’ll text and we’ll meet. Alone.

Louis: Yeah?

Jane: Yeah

With our first projects turned in, the energy on campus lightened just before fall break. Ava and I had been invited to a Thanksgiving dinner the night before we left for home with Amber and some of her friends. Tonight, though, we decided to hang out with pizza in the room and chill.

“You ready?” Ava asked, situating herself on the floor with the pizza box between us. We’d decided to have a cheesy girls’ night and had picked a couple of movies to watch.

“Yep,” I said through a mouthful of garlic bread.

Completely engrossed in Zac
Efron’s chest and his beautiful, blue eyes, I said, “He’s the prettiest crier ever. Although this ghost story of his is pretty lame. Does he only see them in the cemetery?”

“Right? Why is there even a plot? I just want to wipe those tears away and then take his shirt off.”

“His shirt is off, like, 90 percent of this movie.”

“Oh, I know, but
I
want to take it off. With my hands.” Ava fake growled and made clawing motions with her hands.

I laughed with her because, man he was hot, but Ava’s comment made me curious. “What’s the status with Christian? Planning on cashing in the V card over break?”

Ava found the remote control and turned down the volume on the movie. We’d both seen it a dozen times before. “I don’t know. Maybe. It’s come close a couple times.”

“Same with us,” I confessed. “I think Louis will want to when I see him this weekend.”

Ava tilted her head. “Do you want to?”

“Yeah, but…”

“But what?”

I hugged my knees. “I’m confused I guess. The whole Connor thing.”

“Right,” Ava sighed with sympathy. “What’s going on with that anyway?”

“Nothing. We just kind of run together. Sometimes we talk about the ghosts. You know, he’s got one in his dorm. I’ve seen a couple on the street. We’re comfortable with one another, but he’s kept his distance on a personal level.”

“That’s good, right?”

“I think so.”

Ava laughed and grabbed my hand. “It’s too bad Zac Efron isn’t one of your choices. He’d be the best boyfriend ever.”