Gravity, a young adult paranormal romance (20 page)

We came out to a pencil-thin hallway. It was
only big enough for one person to go through at a time. I went in
front and edged forward. Theo followed me, took hold of my hand
again. I had never suffered claustrophobia, but the battered walls
suffocated me. Although I had been looking forward to the cheap
thrills, I didn't like being in the orphanage, not only for Theo's
fear, but for reasons I couldn't quite name.

In the next room, a boy our age was sitting in
a creaky rocking chair. He had his legs pulled up beneath his chin,
wearing what looked like ripped, dirty pajamas. His tortured eyes
remained on a spot on the floor. 

"He locked us in the closet," he gibbered,
rocking back and forth, the chair squeaking in time with his
movements. "He locked us in the closet and we couldn't get
out."

Next to him was, I guessed, the closet door he
spoke of. It swung open, revealing hanging plastic skeletons that
began to shake. Henry started laughing behind us. The boy in the
rocking chair stopped for a second to glare at Henry's disrespect,
then went right back into his act. Seeing that made my anxiety
lesson a bit. I heard Theo chuckle beside me. Seeing the real
people behind the illusion always made it easier to believe all of
it was fake.  

In the next room, red light cast a bloody glow
on the walls. We seemed far behind the others, who I couldn't see
or hear anymore. Dizziness swept over me suddenly, a metallic taste
on my tongue that seemed both familiar and wrong. Like I had bitten
down on the inside of my cheek. I licked my finger, but of course
underneath the light I couldn't tell if it was blood or not.
 

Children's voices filled my ears, and I
cringed, looking around for the source. They were all talking at
once, and I couldn't separate the words. Pushing in, trying to tell
me, trying to —  

"What's wrong?" Theo whispered. As quickly as
they had come, the voices stopped, along with the funny metal
taste. My mouth was suddenly parched.

"Nothing," I whispered back, not wanting
either her or Henry to see me afraid. I pulled a water bottle I'd
stuck in my purse out and took a swig, swallowing hard. "I think
all the fog is making me nauseous, that's all."

Piles of broken furniture sat in the corner. A
discarded playpen remained in the center of the room. I ran my hand
along the splintered wooden rail. A china baby doll with a smashed
face lay inside, covered by a moth-eaten blanket. I realized that a
subconscious part of me was waiting for Jenna to pop out from
behind a corner, and tell me it was all a joke.

The next room was wider. A wall of cages stood
on the one side, reaching to the ceiling. A disembodied voice spoke
to us suddenly. "When the orphans became too difficult to deal
with, they were kept in these cages," the voice warbled. It sounded
like it was being put through a distorter. "And when there were too
many of them, The Master left them here and forgot about them,
leaving them to their doom."

"Where's that voice coming from?" I heard Alex
ask. His voice shook like he was as scared as Theo.
 

"It's not the dark ages," I said. "There are
such things as speakers." I realized that's where the children's
voices must have come from, too, but I kept that to myself just in
case. A scuffling noise started up from behind us.
 

"Oh, boy," Henry breathed, and we all turned
around to see what he was referring to. Two guys with sheets draped
over them were running full speed in our direction, their arms
outstretched. Loud growls emitted from their throats.

We ran as they chased us towards the red EXIT
sign. I propelled myself forward as fast as I could go; I knew they
wouldn't hurt us, but my adrenaline still screamed in response to
the spooky atmosphere. The boys veered off to the left at the last
minute, leaving us alone.

"Thank god," Theo moaned, stumbling out into
the night. "I need a valium." I wondered for a moment if she was
going to throw up. The boys followed her out.

"Always having to take care of the women,"
Alex joked to Henry as he rolled his eyes. We all knew Alex had
been just as afraid as anyone. I was about to follow Henry
out.

"Ariel..."

 
Confused, I turned to my
right. I had definitely heard my name.

"Ariel..."

 
My heart was thumping so
hard I worried I would have to grab it with my hands and push it
back into my chest. Whatever haunted me followed me there. That was
the plan, but I didn't know if I could control it. As I started to
creep down the hall, which was barren except for a stack of crates
at the end, everything began to get fuzzy. Blood rushed into my
temples. I was going to pass out. Pinpricks of black filled my eyes
like wasps.   

A child is standing in front of me.
Its back is against the wall. Hair chopped around the ears, face
dirty with grime. I can't tell if it's a boy or a girl; at that
young age where unless they wear pink or blue it's hard to
tell.

I walk slowly toward them,
compelled. Nerves jump beneath my skin, warning me of a danger I
ignore.  

Is it another trick? No. This is
definitely a child. And then it runs to me. Grabs my arms,
shrieking in my face. Rancid breath stings my eyes. No longer a
face, it is a screaming hole.

Chapter 14

I staggered out of the orphanage, disoriented.
Something had just happened, but my thoughts were on lockdown. I
couldn't quite grasp exactly what had occurred, or how long the
span of time was that I had suddenly lost.  

"Thanks for joining us," Alex said smugly,
stubbing out his cigarette on the side of the house.

"Fire hazard," Theo muttered, rolling her
eyes. She was busy fixing her bun, bobby pins in her
teeth.

"Are you okay?" Henry asked, touching my arm.
He pulled his fingers away and rubbed them together. Soot covered
them. I looked down at my forearms: ash marks, almost in the shape
of fingerprints, stood out on my pale skin. I brushed them away.
Old houses could be so dusty.

"Do you want to go home?" I asked Theo, who
was looking much better. The night was dark and full of voices. Our
fellow haunted house survivors were still milling around, talking
about how scared they had been inside the orphanage. Stars filled
the sky, clearly visible since we were farther out near the
country. 

"No!" Theo shook her head fervently. "I'm
alright now. I just don't like it when things jump out at me. But
I'll be fine for going back inside alone." The way she held her
purse like a stuffed animal to her chest did not convince
me.

"Are you sure?" I insisted.

"You'll be all right, Theo," Alex said, trying
to put his arm around Theo's shoulders. She wriggled out and
stepped away.

"Okay, the question is now, where can we hole
up until everyone else is gone?" I asked.

"How about over there?" Henry asked, gesturing
towards an ugly jackpine squatting on the side of the yard. Barely
visible behind it was a little shack.

We sneaked over behind the tree while the
others were heading to the front. The tiny cottage looked like it
was out of a fairy tale illustration. Brown paint was peeling off
of the wood in strips, and dirty white gingerbread trim ran around
the windows.

One at a time, we went inside the shed. It
smelled stale, like old standing water. I shut the door behind us
tightly. Henry had brought two camping flashlights. He turned one
on to and pointed it at the ceiling, cutting through the gloom and
lighting up the room rather brightly.  

"Do you think they'll be able to see that
outside?" I asked.

"Shouldn't be able to," Henry said, looking
around for possible flaws. "I think the only window is that one
with the shutters. But those should protect any light from getting
out."

"It's gross in her," Theo said, surveying the
state of dirt and decrepitude. A metal bed held a mattress torn up
by nesting mice. Boxes of supplies were piled in the corner. Alex
and Theo looked through them, holding up glow sticks, old rolls of
yellowing carnival tickets, corroded batteries.

"What exactly is it that we're doing?" Henry
asked me. "I'm just curious. Are we really going through with this
whole séance bit?"

I didn't know exactly how to explain it now
that I was on the spot.

"We're going to hang out here until everyone
clears off, and then we'll go inside to hopefully...call up some
dead people."

"Just your typical Saturday," Theo said
wryly.

"You didn't really strike me as the law
breaking type," Alex said to me. "Hot."

Henry scowled at him. "As simple as that
then?" he asked, looking back at me.

"As simple as that," I echoed. "As long as we
don't get caught."

"Well then, let's not get caught," he
reasoned.   

A splintery wooden table and mismatched chairs
sat in the opposite corner beneath a shelf. Henry started rooting
around in the shelf, and found an old deck of casino cards.
"Something to pass the time," he said, more to himself even though
I was watching over his shoulder.   

Alex moved one of the chairs over and started
pulling at the braided rug beneath it.

"What are you doing?" I asked. Every movement
he made irritated me more.  

"This rug is all damp and moldy," he
complained. "I don't want my shoes ruined, they're new." He tilted
his foot so I could get a look at the sneakers in question. They
looked like boy shoes to me. I rolled my eyes. He succeeded in
pulling away the offending floor covering, revealing a small
painted door underneath. 

"Look what I found," Alex said, already
kneeling down. "Where do you think this goes?"

"No idea," I said, kneeling beside him. The
wooden door was a perfect square, only several feet across. I
scratched off some of the dark, colorless paint with my fingernail.
"But I'd love to know."   

"Come help me with this," Alex instructed
Henry.

"I didn't know I was your servant," Henry
said, but he came over anyway. A thin loop was hooked to the
bottom. Both Alex and Henry took turns trying to pull up the door
with it but it was either locked or stuck.

"If we had a crowbar," Henry suggested.
"Otherwise I think it's hopeless."    

"Oh well, not important," Alex said, losing
interest instantly as he stood up and brushed off his khakis.
"Where's the booze?"

"Nobody brought booze," Henry said, his voice
strained. "We can play cards, though." He patted the deck he had
counted out on the table. "Only the Queen of Hearts is missing, but
we can just use the joker."

"Whoopee," Alex scoffed, flopping down into
his chair.  

Theo and I stood over by the window, keeping
watch. We didn't have a great view, but I could see the majority of
the cars parked on the lawn, as the headlights came on two by two
and the drivers pulled away onto the road.

"Can I ask you a question?" Theo asked
quietly. "You don't have to answer it if you don't want
to."

I laughed lightly at the unexpectedness,
assuming it to be about Henry. "Of course, what?"

"Could this whole new found séance interest
have anything to do with..." she swallowed hard before continuing.
"Your friend?"

She pushed her glasses up on either side with
both palms. I assumed that meant a major attack of nerves. The next
words ran together as if they were one. "I mean, if you don't want
to talk about it, I won't pry. I was just curious."

"That's not prying," I said gently. "I'm
really surprised you've never asked me about Jenna before." I
looked back through the slits in the cracked shudders, trying to
decide what to say.

"I'm sorry," she said, look apologetic. "I
didn't..."

"No, no. You're fine. I had so many people
walking on eggshells around me; it was nice to be treated like a
person for once, and not just some pathetic loose end." I cleared
my throat. "To answer your question...maybe. I don't think
she's...dead." My voice cracked on the word. I shut my
eyes.

When I opened them, I saw the boys peering up
from their card game. Henry's brow was furrowed, and I knew he was
trying to decipher my look. I attempted a weak smile for him. He
and Alex looked down again, making themselves artificially
busy.

"But something's here," I continued to Theo.
"And I think it has to do with her, or why she disappeared. I keep
imagining what could have happened that night. It's like a movie in
my head but I have no idea what scenes are right."

When the last car pulled out of the gate, it
was after 10 pm. I watched a women get out of the driver's side and
shut the gate, then speed away like she felt happy to be rid of the
place. I pulled out my phone to text Corinne about being at Theo's.
The reception kept dropping to zero bars, and I walked around the
tiny interior of the shed.

"Is anyone else having crappy service?" I
asked, looking around at my cohorts. Alex whipped out his phone and
held it in front of him like he was in a commercial.