Chapter one
Jack Riley stood
outside the drab white building, wondering what the hell he was doing
there. This whole thing was
ridiculous. The building was the Ridgeway
Hospital
He had met
Mortimer Tokkett, the very old and apparently very senile man that held the
deed to the property a few days ago. He
was a strange old guy, hard to track down.
He had to meet him in his dark old house, with lawyers and real estate
people in tow. The creepy old guy would
only sell the property to someone that was willing to spend a night in the
building, and if they still wanted to buy it in the morning they were welcome
to do it.
Sure, there had
always been rumors that the place was haunted, but any old building in any town
always had that mystique about them.
This Mortimer guy seemed pretty sure about it though, but Jack would be
damned if some bullshit urban legend told by a senile guy with one foot in the
grave would keep him from getting the land.
So he agreed. He was allowed to
bring four other people with him, so he gathered some people that supposedly
knew a thing or two about ghosts. Plus,
his assistant Audrey. He was waiting for
them now. Audrey was already with him.
Audrey Trent was
wondering what she was doing here also.
She had been Jack Riley’s assistant for five years now, and it could be
a very demanding and thankless job. The
long hours didn’t matter much, she supposed. She didn’t have much of a life
anyway. Only her cat Norton relied on
her, and he didn’t rely on her that much at all when she really thought about
it. Jack Riley relied on her for
everything and all she usually got for her help was a meager paycheck and a lot
of demands and insults. She never spoke
up or stood up for herself. She had
always been that way; quiet, trying to avoid confrontation.
She didn’t think
she was very attractive or special in any way, so she usually just went about
her life, not expecting anything and not getting anything. She wondered if Norton would even miss her
tonight while she stayed in a haunted mental hospital.
The thought of
staying here frightened her, but Jack wanted her here and she couldn’t say no
to her boss.
Jack looked at
Audrey with contempt. She wasn’t the
best assistant, totally useless with other people, but she was good with
errands and paperwork and didn’t cost him much money. Plus, she continued to work for him while
most people would have gotten fed up and left a long time ago. If he had to waste a night in this place, he
might as well have her here and get caught up on some work. ‘Where were these ghost experts?’ He thought
to himself, standing in the cold October air.
Harry Watkins was running late, but wasn’t he
always? He had stopped at the
convenience store to stock up on some snacks for the night and it had taken
longer than he thought. Harry was no
stranger to snacks. He couldn’t help it,
when he was nervous, he ate. When he was
depressed, he ate. Unfortunately for him
his life was an endless cycle of depression and anxiety, so he was quite
obese. So he had stood in the store
aisle, feeling guilty for all the high calorie snacks in his arms trying to
talk himself into putting them back while simultaneously trying to justify
buying them.
The
justification won out, but now he was late getting to the building where he
would be spending the night. He wasn’t
even sure why he was doing this. He had
gotten a call from some woman named Audrey, and her boss wanted to pay him
$100.00 to spend the night in what was rumored to be a haunted insane
asylum. They had found him because of
his website, which was all about paranormal activity in the area, with a good deal
of it devoted to the Ridgeway Hospital
They seemed to
think he was some sort of expert on it, but in reality he was just a geek in
his mid thirties, living with his parents and blogging about cool ghost
stuff. Well, if they thought he was an
authority on the place, let them think it.
He could use the money and it would finally get him access to the place
so he could get some good pictures for his site. He pulled up in front of the building, got
out of his car and made his way to the front door to meet Jack Riley and his
assistant Audrey.
“You’re late Mr.
Watkins.” Jack told him, sounding annoyed.
Harry sensed he seemed quite comfortable being annoyed.
“I’m sorry, Mr.
Riley is it? I got tied up with
something, but I’m here now and it’s still a while until nightfall.”
“I didn’t ask for
an excuse, I was simply stating a fact.” Jack shot back at him. “So you know all about this place, huh? Enlighten me.”
“Well, basically
it was an insane asylum built in the 1920’s.
It was originally meant to be a place for frazzled housewives and people
suffering from nervous breakdowns, but as society changed it came to be used to
house the criminally insane. It got
quite a reputation for cruelty and some claimed they were doing experiments on
the inmates by the time public outrage had it closed down. Of course the most famous inmate was Henry …” Jack cut him off abruptly.
“That is entirely
uninteresting Mr. Watkins. All I care
about is spending the night so I can buy the property and build my
condos.” Jack glanced down at his smart
phone and started checking emails.
“Okay Mr. Riley,”
Harry said, “but you should also know that it’s said the spirits of some of
those insane criminals still reside here, angry and demented, wanting revenge.”
“Yes, I’m very
frightened Mr. Watkins.” Replied Jack,
not even looking up from his phone.
“That’s why you’re here, to save me from the bogeyman. Now where are
these other two ghost chasers? Miss
Trent?” His voice was sounding more
impatient.
“I gave them the
address and told them the time to be here Mr. Riley,” Audrey said, “I don’t
know why they aren’t here yet.”
Jack stared at
her for a moment.
“So why aren’t
you calling them to find out where they are, Miss Trent?”
“Oh, of course.”
She answered, fumbling for her phone.
Harry didn’t like
the way Riley spoke to her. She seemed
very nice, and he gave her a smile as if to let her know he was on her
side. He didn’t particularly like Jack
Riley.
Audrey hung up
her phone. “They didn’t answer Mr. Riley, but I’m sure they’ll be here soon.”
“Uh huh.”
Muttered Jack, more interested in his emails.
“I’m not even
going to answer it.” Frank Newman told his wife Susan. “How is it going to look if they know we got
lost getting there?”
“We’re ghost
hunters, not explorers. Who cares if we
made a wrong turn?” Susan snapped back
at him. “You worry about the stupidest
things.”
“Me worrying
about stupid things is the only reason we have a business at all.”
“Some business,”
She said. “A small store that sells
ghost detecting supplies and an occasional job checking out supposed hauntings,
and not one of those ever produced a ghost.”
“Look” countered
Frank, “We both decided to go into this line of work, don’t make it sound like
it was all my idea! Let’s not argue
about this now.” His voice trying to
sound calm. “We need to get there. There’s 300 dollars in this for us.”
“I still say you
could have gotten more. Why did you take
the first offer?”
“300 dollars was
more than we made all last month!” Frank
shot back, “I wasn’t going to take a chance on losing out. Now where are those directions I wrote
down? What street am I supposed to turn
on?”
Susan fumbled
with some papers.
“Left on Locust
Valley Road .”
She said, “With all this electronic ghost equipment you couldn’t have
gotten GPS?”
“Just let it go,
Susan! Let’s just get there.”
They pulled up to
the building just as the sun was starting to go down.
“Here they are
Mr. Riley!” Exclaimed Audrey. “Now everybody’s here.”
Jack, Harry and
Audrey watched the Newmans, obviously arguing in the parked car before they
finally got out and started unloading equipment from the back seat and trunk.
“That certainly
is a lot of junk you brought with you.”
Jack Riley told the Newmans once they made it up the walk to the building.
“It’s a lot of
sensitive electronic equipment Mr. Riley.”
Frank said, “We are very professional and want you to get the most for
your money.”
“About the
money,” Started Susan, “It might cost a bit more than my husband agreed to on
the phone, after all professional parapsychologists are not chea…”
Jack Riley cut
her off abruptly. “You will be paid the
amount originally agreed on Mrs. Newman, not a penny more.”
Frank and Susan
glared at each other, but neither said another word about money.
They stood
staring at the front door of the building until Jack cleared his throat.
“The key, Miss
Trent?”
“Oh, of course
Mr. Riley.” Audrey had completely
forgotten she had the keys to the building. She was always doing scatterbrained
things like this. No wonder Mr. Riley
was always getting mad at her. She
approached the door and tried several of the keys, fumbling as she did.
“Give me those!”
snapped Jack, snatching them from her hands.
He started trying the lock, but seemed to have as much trouble as
Audrey. Harry smiled at her, but she
quickly looked down at her feet, and he felt an urge to put his arm around her.
Jack managed to
get the door open and they all stepped inside.
They found themselves standing in a large entrance area, with long
hallways going off in several directions, their doors long gone. Light was still coming through the tall grated
windows, throwing shadows across the trash and debris that was scattered on the
floor. Rodents and other animals had obviously been residing here in the years
since it became abandoned.
“Alright, there
are cots and blankets and lanterns in the truck outside,” Jack stated “let’s
get them in here and get set up before it’s completely dark.”
They got all
their belongings and set themselves up in separate rooms, other than the
Newmans who set up at a desk in the entrance of the wing containing everyone
else’s quarters. They had a huge array
of meters and cameras setting on the counter top. Harry asked what they were for.
“Well, we have
basic cameras, still and camcorders. We
use them to document the area and try to capture any activity that might
occur.”
“Have you?”
Harry inquired.
“Have we what?”
Frank seemed confused.
“Have you ever captured
any activity?”
“Well, no.”
Frank explained, “But cameras are just a small part of it. We also have digital recorders to try to pick
up any disembodied voices that we can’t hear normally. We have thermal scanners to pick up on any
cold spots, and of course we have an EMF meter.”
“EMF meter?
What’s that?” Harry asked
“An EMF meter
measures fluctuations in the magnetic field.
These fluctuations could be the result of paranormal activity.”
“So have you
found any fluctuations with it?”
“Well,” Frank
said, “We’ve noticed some stuff. It’s
hard to say exactly what caused it, but it’s very exciting.”
“Perhaps you’ll
get lucky tonight and we’ll see some sign of Henry.”
“Henry?” Frank
was confused, “Who’s Henry.”
“Henry Givens.”
Harry explained, “The worst criminal
occupant ever housed in this hospital.”
“Why, uh, why
the worst?” Stammered Frank.
“Henry’s crime
was that he killed several children in his neighborhood. When the cops searched his place they found the
children’s dismembered body parts everywhere. What really made them gag was
that some of the flesh was in pots on the stove. Henry had been eating them.”
“Eating them?”
Frank repeated, shocked.
“Yes, eating
them.” Harry confirmed. “They put him in here after the trial. They say that the parents got together and
paid a guard to kill Henry for what he had done, so after lockdown he slipped
in Henry’s room to do him in.”
“…And?” prodded
Frank
“In the morning they
found the guard dead in Henry’s room, with half of his organs eaten.”
“Oh my God.”
Said Frank, visibly shaken. “Well,
unpleasant as that may be, Henry is long dead now, right?”
“Yes,” Harry
confirmed, “But in the 70’s some kids were in here partying and one of them
passed out and the rest left him here sleeping.
The next day they found him dead, his eyes and most of the flesh on his
face missing.”
“Come on, now.
That has to be an urban legend.” Frank
said, laughing nervously.
“Perhaps it is,” Harry replied, “But legends
usually have a grain of truth somewhere in them. Well, happy hunting!”
He made his way
back to his room, but on the way he passed Audrey’s room and stopped at her
doorway.
“Have you got
everything set up okay Miss Trent?” He asked.
Her back was to
him and she jumped, startled.
“Yes Mr. Watkins. I didn’t see you there.”
“I’m sorry.” He told her, feeling foolish. “I didn’t mean to frighten you.”
“It’s okay.” She
reassured him, “I guess we’re all a little on edge.”
“I guess we are.”
Harry agreed. They stood there looking
at each other for a moment, then it started to get uncomfortable.
“Well, let me
know if you need anything.” Harry
finally said, and hurried off to his room.
‘He’s a little
strange’ Audrey thought to herself, ‘but he seems nice.’
A little while
later Jack called them all out in the hallway.
He stood up in the dim light from the lanterns and addressed them all,
“Listen people,
I just want to get through this and leave at dawn and go sign the papers that
say this land is mine. Do whatever you
have to do to make sure nothing happens that might upset that plan. I don’t know about ghosts or spirits or maybe
some shit that Mortimer Tokken might have planned, but I don’t care. Again, I just want to get through the night
and leave in the morning in one piece.”
He looked one by one at each of their anxious faces.
“Okay boys and girls,” Jack Riley said,
“Let’s get to it. I have a feeling it’s
gonna be a long night!”
Chapter two
The night passed
without paranormal incident, as there is no such thing as ghosts. Harry and Audrey had a brief, unsatisfying
sexual encounter in an out of the way room that gave a momentary anomalous reading
on Frank and Susan’s EMF meter, but nothing else interesting happened. Jack was free to obtain the property as he
fulfilled the odd stipulation of Mortimer Tokken, who died a few weeks later
and left everything to his small dog Mr. Scruffs.
© David Ferraris 2013
