Chapter 9
Abby grunted, falling hard onto her side onto the cold floor. The feeling of being pulled out of cold water by her arm and dropped onto the ground. The change in temperature was jarring, wherever she had been had been so cold and suffocating she could swear she had been drowning. She coughed the cold from her lungs. Wherever she was now was still cold but a warmer than where she had been. Wherever the hell that had been.
“Pull my arm out of the socket.” She rubbed her shoulder under the pack strap. Flexing her fingers trying to dispel the tingling.
Being teleported around a building would be pretty cool if it wasn’t getting in the way of their job, and now she stuck in a storage room in the dark. In the back corner no less. Unfortunately, she found the process pretty unpleasant, she felt like someone had grabbed her too tight by the fore arm and dropped her on the ground a few feet. It left her a little queasy and her arm like she’d slept on it, tingly and slightly numb at the fingertips.
Silently fuming as she lost her patience. So far, she and Patty had been spared from whatever the banshee was plaguing Holtz and Erin with and she wanted to. Abby was getting annoyed and now she was just ready to smash the mirror just out of spite, consequences be damned. Abby continued to rub at her arm, trying to restore proper circulation throughout. What had happened? It actually almost like frost bite. She paused and pushed up her sleeve and cursed. A dark handprint shaped mark encircling her arm. It felt hold to the touch and stung
“Now that’s just unacceptable. She’s so going down now. Stick her in a jar shove it in the freezer, tap on the glass, see how she likes it.” She grumbled pushing her way through the sea of boxes. “Force her to listen to Holtz’s music....”
She was surrounded by boxes, stacks and stacks of boxes. It looked like it was the same supply room that Holtz had been dropped into earlier. Interesting. And also somewhat infuriating. Abby had begun to swear out loud, to the but thought twice and kept quiet, silently fuming as she lost her patience. If this banshee really was listening it was best to stay quiet. So far, she and Patty had been spared from whatever the banshee was plaguing Holtz and Erin with and she wanted to avoid it.
Abby stopped. Something glowing dimly behind a stack of boxes next to the door. The light slowly formed a face of a little girl. Her ghostly eyes peering unblinking at her, watching. The ghost flinched back and faded away again when Abby shifted. They shared a long look that sent a shiver up her spine, meeting ghosts never got old.
“Hello?”
“Hello.” A small voice said from behind her. The little ghost floated up and around Abby keeping her distance. She looked young very young. Younger than Hannah or Fiona. Probably around six or seven years old she guessed maybe younger. Her gaze went from Abby to the pack and back to Abby several times. The look on her face serious but curious. Abby slid her pack off and set it aside and sat on the floor, her hands up in a gesture of peace.
The little girl floated through the box and approached Abby with caution of a small child talking with a stranger, until she was a couple feet away. In a simple style dress that ended at her knees, her hair short with a large bow on top. Abby couldn’t place the time period, possibly around the 1920s? Abby regarded her with wonder, how lucid these ghosts were tonight.
“Beau said you’re gonna try to help us. But said you can’t.”
“We’ll try?” The little girl blinked looking very unconvinced.
“How? Like magics?” Her voice had a slight echo in Abby’s ears.
“In a way I guess.”
“It's just best to hide from her. She’s seen you, now she wants you too. Gotta hide if you don’t wanna help her.”
“Why?”
“Dunno.” The girl shrugged.
“Can I ask? Do you know how long you or the Lady have been out?” She shook her head.
“No?”
“Nope. Always been...I like to watch the other kids play..the Lady lives in the mirror. The mirror broke, now we can touch. But then bunch of others came, they weren’t here before. They were mean. But the Lady got out again she's mean too.” The ghost's stream of consciouness took most of Abby's concentration to follow. She think she understood what she was trying to say but decided not to ask anymore questions.
“We'll stop the Lady.”
“But you can’t! She wants you! She’s gonna take your friends and you. Or get rid of you. Just like that boy.” Like the boy. Abby remembered what the employees had said about their coworker, the one that had seen the Lady. Then thought back to Holtz.
“We’ll help you.” She stood lifting her pack again. The little ghost still looked skeptical but nodded, a wisdom in her face unnatural for a child to have. Abby had so many more questions she wish she had time to record it, maybe if she got her and the other children into the containment unit and back to the lab? It was always hard dealing with docile children. It seemed almost cruel. She peered at her watch without really looking at it and shifted. The girl’s form pulsed a gentled blue light beneath her translucent skin, her wide eyes looking back at her unblinking she was relatively peaceful.
“What’s your name?”
“Gabby.” The girl finally blinked then smiled but her smile quickly dropped as a sudden chill set in. Gabby covered her face with her hands and whined. “She’s back. GO!”
The door slammed open hard with a cold burst of air and Gabby shot up and swished out the door in a luminescent streak. “COME!”
Abby hoisted up her pack and sprinted on after her.
“I was just asking no need to get defensive.” Erin shrugged cooly as she and Holtzmann walked along in the dark.
“I’m not getting defensive.” Holtzmann hissed back, holding onto the elbow of Erin’s sleeve. They crept along the dark carefully, hopefully not to attract attention to themselves. She couldn’t help be impressed that Erin Gilbert was teasing her, she was a bad influence…good influence?
“Alright.” Erin agreed and was quiet. Then quickly asked, “Is it a secret?” The question surprised Holtzman though, she had already assumed from the question that Erin already knew her middle name, which was a bit of a relief.
“Not really, I just don’t care for it is all.”
“Fair enough.” They were quiet again. “Is it embarrassing?”
“Good gravy! You’re relentless.” Holtz said through a laugh “I am a bad influence.”
“I wouldn’t say that.” Holtz’s cheeks warmed and her grip on Erin’s arm tightened a little. “Now Abby…”
“You know, Abby guessed it first try and I’ve been kind of scared of her since. I swear the force is strong with that one.”
“Oh, she’s totally psychic.” Erin confirmed with a nod.
“We should study her some more after this. We started to before but….” Hotlz stopped to a strange sound It sounded like distant chirping at first, high pitch ringing. Not as intense as before but still unpleasant. “My stepmom just wore out my middle name, I just associate it with shrill yelling…I’m sorry I hate to be rude my dear, but It’s so unfair you can’t hear that.”
“No. I hear something too. Sounds like…” She straightened and looked over her shoulder, “Like a dog.”
A dog? She didn’t hear a dog; she still heard the ringing. Holtz tried to follow her line of sight but saw nothing. But she did start to hear the barking now that Erin mentioned it. The barking echoed and sounded far away, like it being at the end of a tunnel. Holtz tightened her hold on Erin’s arm and gently pulled her towards her. Erin shuddered.
“Lemme see the goggles for second. I wanna see something.”
Erin took them off and handed them over. Strapping them on she gave the room a quick look around. The room was one big cool spot but the activity she’d seen in the walls was calm. The low buzz in her ears wasn’t bad, it was more of a hum now. The kind of low deep hum a large machine like a freezer would make, the kind you could feel in your chest down to your feet. It seemed to draw her towards another mirrored support pillar. The ski ball machines up one by one down the row flashing and playing their music, the balls began to shoot out on their own towards them like air canons.
Clutching their wands, the two ran straight for the front the mirrors above them splintering as they passed. Patty skidding into the fray just as the passed back through the arcade. Shooting each of the balls in the air like before.
“Where’s Abby?” Erin asked Patty just shook her head. As the two did battle with the ski ball machines Erin backed up a couple steps her back reaching the mirrored pillar.
Something grabbed her hand and a coldness seeping into her palm and up her arm. And the sensation of a light tugging and pulling her forwards away from the pillar. She pulled away and tried to shake the pins and needles out of it. The room seemed to gradually go quiet and she felt heavy and slow again. The air felt wrong and strange to breath again and there was now an overwhelming foreboding, that something was watching and getting closer. A cold spot settled in next to her and a small cold hand slipped itself over hers and held it tight.
“Who’s there?” There was a gentle tugging on her sleeve and Erin looked to her side a little voice whispered into her ear ‘Don’t move’
Finally the ski ball machines stopped attacking and Holtz all but dropped her weapons. This uneven weight pulling her down hard to her left was draining but more irritating than anything. Patty’s hands on her shoulders keeping her steady. Her breath cold in her lungs coming out in wisps of fog with each labored breath. Abby was there too now, she and Patty were talking but couldn’t hear, the feeling of cold water stopping up her ears. And Erin was gone.
She stumbled forwards, out of their hands, down to her hands and knees desperately staring at where Erin had stood seconds ago. Holtz called out for Erin but nothing came out. She tried again louder but nothing. Holtz ripped off her goggles and looked to her friends their mouths frantically moving but not making sound. Too tired to freak out about it a vague specter of what looked like a woman now standing in the spot. Holtz blinked and then there was a large white cat. With glowing eyes, it stared at her tail flicking acknowledging her. It then turned and ran away. She pointed after it with a weak hand.
Something logical in her brain screamed not to follow it, not to even look at it but she couldn’t help it. It stretched and darted across the room Holtz got to her feet and with a new energy, took off after it. She kept going, slowly like wading through waist deep water, what felt like minutes. Holtz came to a slow trot then stopped.
She really didn’t run very far, looking behind her was the row of ski ball machines, but she was alone now. Holtz looked around. A cat swooped past her from behind and rounded to face her. Slowly changing shape as it moved, the white specter morphing into a black shadow of a dog. A big black dog with unsettlingly large murky blue eyes. They stared at each other; she couldn’t hear anything else she could hear the wolf’s growl reverberating in her head.
“You have beautiful eyes.”
The dog then went ridged, its head snapped in horrific angle sideways to look off towards the side, sloly it followed a figure as it rounded them. Holtz couldn’t take her eyes off the dog though entranced by its otherworldly movement. It’s giant eyes finally back in her direction to make contact with hers again. Only to be snapped out of it by a shoulder bumping hers and a hand taking her free hand. It was cold.
The dogs mouth began to open, slowly then seemed to grow wider and wider exposing a dark abyss framed by rows of jagged teeth like a lamprey. And it sang. What? Holtz expected a screech or a roar or something, but the thing played a melodic voice like a damn toothy gramophone. And it was….beautiful. So beautiful she was offended.
Holtz just stopped and listened.
Holtz felt a strange sensation creeping up the back of her neck. A cold pressure built in her ears and suddenly feeling like she was shoved to the back of her own head. For a brief moment she could still see what was happening but she couldn’t move, she tried to talk but her voice didn’t work. Holtz felt herself remove her pack and drop it to the floor.
Patty and Abby had tried to follow Holtz as she bolted off into the dark again but seemed to have gotten turned around. Now they were walking towards the area they’d been at before but from a different angle. They shared a look of pure aggravation.
“Okay, when this is over, vacation.” Patty declaired with the wave of her proton wand.
“Seconded.” Abby nodded and looked off to her left and thought she spotted Erin.
“Erin!” She called out and pointed, Patty nodded and went to follow. Though they only were able to take a few steps until Erin disappeared around a pillar. Abby grunted and kept going and to Patty’s displeasure she disappeared too.
“Getting tired of this labyrinth shit, if the ghost of David Bowie shows up I’ma lose my damn mind” Patty grumbled clutching the proton wand not even daring to follow Abby. Her surroundings seemed to shutter and Patty backed away from her spot and tried heading for the entrance of the building. After what felt like way too long Patty seemed to end up back near the bar area where the mirror was and tried to enter. But instead of entering the bar, back at the ski ball machines but Holtz was there now too, staring at something.
Something stupidly terrifying.
The wolf's large eyes caght sight of her immediately and its head twisted backward its large mouth a toothy black hole. Patty recoiled stumbling a couple steps back but stood firm.
“Don’t look at it!” Hannah’s voice resounded in Patty’s head just as the mouth opened again and this time let out a harsh scree.
“Nope!” Patty yelled shutting her eyes and shot a proton stream straight at the wolf barely hitting it, the wolf whined and dissipated into a black vapor. “Aw, I looked at it.” Patty grumbled then turned to Holtz who had stumbled away from the commotion pressed against a nearby wall with a finger in her ear desperately trying to clear it. “You okay baby?”
Holtz paused and looked up at her curious a moment, as if she didn’t recognize her at first. Then she nodded back to normal. “Uh yes…and you?”
“I think you got hit a little too hard tonight Holtzy.” Patty approached her carefully examing her for more injuries, while Holtz continued to wiggle her finger around in her ear a little too aggressively.
“Yeah…” She said simply. “I think we need to break the mirror.”
“Oh, you think?”
“Yeah…yeah I think we should…” Holtz somewhat rambled and began walking towards the bar. Patty blinked and opened her mouth to say something but stopped.
“The emergency rooms gonna know us by name by the end of the month I swear…” And she followed close behind Holtz hoping not to lose sight of her again.