Asylum (15 page)

            Sam
shook her head.

            “Who
would know that the Ouija board spelled out ‘help’ and ‘trapped’ specifically? 
Who would know?  And who would do something like that?  I never told anyone,
did you, Chloe?” Sam asked.

            “No,”
Chloe admitted.

            “So
me, you and Chloe are the only ones who knew, and I don’t think any of us did
it.  So if we’re being logical…” Sam trailed off.

            “The
guys next to you came down here this morning and complained about the noise
level in your room.  They said they heard you screaming, they said they hear
you talking in there all night.  I’m convinced they heard every word that was
said.  I think they were trying to scare you guys because they were angry about
being woken up.  But I can’t be sure, a whole group of girls knew you guys were
up on the roof as well.  One of them could just have easily been trying to play
a trick on you.  I mean
help
…
trapped
…it’s really kind of vague
and easy to figure out, isn’t it?” Seth asked calmly.

            Chloe
agreed with that much, although she didn‘t think any of those people were
likely suspects.  Sam’s eyebrows furrowed in a way that suggested she didn’t
think so, but she didn‘t argue.

            “So
get your stuff and we’ll all go down there together,” Seth offered.

            Chloe
grabbed her book bag and Sam picked up the Ouija board and tucked it under her
arm.  Together they walked down the quiet hall to their own room.  Seth went in
while both the girls stood on the threshold and looked around nervously.  All
the writing had been cleaned off the walls, though in places, faint smears of
red could still be seen.  Seth flipped the light on to demonstrate that it
worked.  In the bright daylight, the florescent glow was hardly noticeable.

            “So
we’re okay now, right?” Seth asked.

            Sam
and Chloe stepped over the doorway cautiously and continued to look around like
frightened animals in a new pen.  Neither of them answered Seth’s question.

            “Just
calm down and try to be logical about all this,” Seth advised.  “Nothing is
trying to hurt you.  If you get scared, just remember that you are surrounded
by people.  All you have to do is stick your head out the door and holler, I’m
five seconds away.”

            “Are
you l-leaving?” Chloe stammered.

            “I
was going to try and get some work done before the floor meeting.  If you need
me to stay awhile-”

            “No. 
We’re fine,” Sam snapped.

            Seth
seemed uncertain.  He looked to Chloe for an answer and she was able to summon
a smile and nod in encouragement.

            “Sure,
fine,” she agreed weakly.

            “Alright
then, see you both.  Meeting’s at eight, got it?”

            “Yup,”
Chloe affirmed.

            Seth
went out and closed the door.  Sam grabbed the Ouija board box and tossed the
board and pointer inside, slamming the top on with unnecessary force.

            “Let’s
give it to Jen and Mel right now, we can tell them not to bother stopping by
either.  All the writing’s already gone!” Sam fumed.

            “What? 
Are you mad that he came in here and cleaned it off?  I thought that was…well,
nice of him.  I didn’t want to have to look at it again, did you?” Chloe asked.

            “NO!”
Sam almost shouted, “No, I didn’t want to have to look at it, but he…he…didn’t
even ask!  He’s acting like we’re stupid irrational females.  Like we’re
hysterical because we’re on our periods or something!  He acts like…like he’s
smarter than us!”

            “Oh
Sam!  I don’t think that at all.  I think he’s very nice and-”

            “Of
course you do,” Sam snorted.  “You’re all like
oh-big-strong-Seth-take-care-of-me-cause-I’m-all-scared-and-female-and-stuff
.”

            Chloe
should have been angry, but Sam’s high-pitched, whiny imitation of her voice
was really funny.  She snickered and tried to get Sam to make eye contact.         “Oh…really,
is that what I’m all ‘like’?  Okay, I’ll be you:
I’m-Sam-I’m-all-angry-and-stuff-for-no-reason
.”

            Sam
shook her head, but the corner of her mouth did turn up and hint at a smile. 
She let out a long, frustrated breath and snatched up the Ouija game.

            “Let’s
just forget about it, okay?  We put it away, we’re giving it back to Jen and
Mel, its over.  No more ghosts for us, agreed?” Sam offered.

            Chloe
nodded, wanting desperately to believe it could be that easy.  Together the
girls went out and shut the door.

            *          *          *

            “Alright
everybody listen up!” Seth demanded.  In the Garner Room, sixty or so students
ambled around.  A few had taken down chairs from the stacks against the wall. 
One enterprising group had even set up one of the folding tables, and the
largest knot gathered around this.  Some sitting on the table, others in chairs
or standing nearby.  Seth stood before a row of soaring, rectangular windows
which would have given a good view of the square had it not already been dark
out.  Chloe and Sam sat on the floor against a wall with Jen, Melanie, and a
couple of other girls.  Seth cleared his throat and tried again, louder.

            “Everybody,
up here, attention!” he called.

            Around
the room, conversations died down as everyone turned to look at him.  Chloe
felt an odd sort of pride.  She knew it was silly, knew that nothing of him
belonged to her, but still…he had said that he liked her, and he was…he was
just so-

            “If
we haven’t met, I’m Seth Maird, I’m the resident advisor for your floor,” he
said.  “A couple of things…I want to welcome everyone to BHC.  I hope we’re
going to have a great year.  I’ve talked to a lot of you, and I may be biased
but I think we have the best floor!”

            Someone
hooted at this. Seth nodded and continued, “We’re going to have a lot of fun. 
We do a lot of things at Kirkbride Hall that are kind of unique.  Like, in
November, we always have a hockey tournament between the floors, and the
winning team’s floor gets pizzas and everyone on that floor gets free Birch
Harbor Bears Hockey shirts.  It’s a lot of fun.  The teams are co-ed, and we’ll
probably post a sign-up sheet on the notice board in a week or two.”

            At
this announcement, a few of the boys seemed to perk up noticeably in their
seats and lean forward expectantly.

            “Last
year, we lost to four east, by one point, so this year-”

            A
few boys clapped and hooted loudly.  The girls glanced around at one another
with raised eyebrows, as though their enthusiasm was annoying.

            “Alright,
but there are some rules we need to remember.  It’s important that everybody understand
them, because if we’re all going to live together and get along, we need to
have rules.  First off, leaving your doors open is fine.  It’s really great
when you have a floor where people all talk to each other and go in and out of
rooms and get along, but there are a couple of things you need to be careful
about.  If you leave your room, make sure you lock your door.  Things will and
have been stolen in the past.  If you’re by yourself-- no roommate--be
cautious.  The entry doors aren’t locked during the day.  It would be really
easy for someone to walk in here unnoticed and come right into your room.  So
use your head.  Second of all, if you are caught stealing or vandalizing
someone else’s room…you’re out of here.  Meaning you cannot live on campus and
if it’s bad enough you will be expelled from the school…period.  It’s happened
before.  We had a guy my freshman year that got his laptop stolen and found out
it was someone just a few doors down.  That person was kicked out the same day.
Now some of you may have heard that a room on our floor was recently
vandalized.  It happened this morning or afternoon-”

            The
room erupted in whispers, a few heads turned in Sam and Chloe’s direction.  Sam
crossed her arms and stared angrily into space.

            “If
I find out who did it, and I guarantee you, these things have a way of getting
around, that person or persons will be out of here, no questions asked,” Seth
looked slowly around the room, trying to make direct eye contact with a few
specific people.  Chloe was reminded of a teacher she had once had, threatening
her classroom after finding spit wads stuck to the ceiling.

            “Lastly,
I’ve gotten a lot of complaints about noise level on the floor the past couple
of days.  This is the first week of classes, a lot of us are excited because
it’s our first time on our own, we’re all adjusting to living in a dormitory,
so close to other people.  I understand that.  We have a policy that we don’t
enforce any rules about noise level the first week back.  However, starting next
week, there is a mandatory quiet time starting at ten pm on weeknights and
midnight on weekends.  No loud music, yelling, or talking loud in the
hallways.  We’ve got to respect each other.  When classes really start rolling
there’ll be a lot of people working on assignments, and studying, and trying to
sleep, so let’s all stick to the quiet time rule, and we’ll have a great year. 
Okay…questions?”  Seth crossed his arms and stepped back to lean against the
windowsill.

            “How
do you pick who plays on the floor hockey team?” a boy leaning against the wall
called out.

            “Anyone
who wants to play just has to sign up.  If we get a lot of people this year,
then we make up teams of five and rotate during play.  We keep the same goalie
all game though.  We’ve never had more than twenty people sign up that I can
remember.  Anything else?”

            “What
are you doing Saturday?” called a girl sitting in the center of a giggling
group around the folding table.

            “Skah-skah-Skank!”
coughed Sam loudly into her hand.  The girls in their group snickered, Jen
elbowed Chloe knowingly.

            Seth
pretended not to hear the giggling.  He put on his best poker face and gave
everyone a moment before he said anything.

            “Hopefully
spending time in the company of a uhhh….friend,” Seth’s voice hinted at the
smile his face wasn’t wearing.  Somebody at the table whistled.  “Anything
else…anything else not pertaining to my personal life?” he asked.  No one
raised a hand. 

            “Alright,
everybody have a great year.  I’m in 245 if you need anything…if you need
anything pertaining to my specified duties as R.A.,” he quickly corrected.

            The
group broke up in twos or threes, leaving in conversation, stacking chairs,
some hanging back to talk to Seth.  Chloe stood and offered Sam her hand.

            “Well,
should we start our homework or-” Chloe began.

            “Anything
but homework,” Sam moaned.

            “Let’s
hit the Eat,” Jen suggested.

            “The
Eat!” Sam agreed.  She raised an eyebrow pleadingly at Chloe.

            “The
Eat,” Chloe gave in

CHAPTER SEVEN

            Chloe
struggled to make sense out of the words floating around her head.  Dr. Willard
was not making it easy.  His toneless drone was slowly lulling her to sleep. 
It wasn’t interesting either, that much she was sure of.  The header on her
notes read:
The importance of research.
  Beside her, Sam slumped over
her desk, chin propped on her hand, pen gripped firmly, and yet, somehow, fast
asleep.  Chloe admired her technique.  It must have taken years to be able to
sleep so soundly in that position.  Had she tried it, she would probably end up
face planting on the desk.

            It
was Monday again.  They had burned up the weekend sleeping til noon and
drinking all night.  Chloe gave up and allowed her eyes to close.  She and Sam
had never discussed their ghost, not once.  Was it for the best?  It seemed
that without saying a word they had mutually agreed not to talk about it. 
Still, there was never a second where either of them had left the other in the
room alone.  If Chloe said she was going to use the bathroom, Sam would get up
and come also.  When Sam had gone downstairs to meet her parents, who came to
drop off a few more things, Chloe had followed quietly along.  She had stood
off to the side, pretending to be reading a sign posted to the notice board in
the lobby the whole time.

            Of
course that meant she also hadn’t been able to go out with Seth on Saturday. 
She didn’t feel it was fair to Sam to be left on her own for that long.  Seth
had been cordial and understanding on the phone, but had also excused himself
quickly by saying he was on his way out the door at the time.  He had not shown
up at the Eat Friday or Saturday night, and she had bumped into him in the
hallway only once.  He was carrying his skates and hockey gear, and gave her a
smile and a wink as he brushed by.