Asylum (30 page)

            “Don’t
yell at her!” Jen snapped.

            Chloe
threw her hands up and looked to Sam.  Sam was stuffing clothes into her own
backpack, not paying any attention.

            “Doesn’t
he know that?” Chloe asked the room.  “Doesn’t he know he’s dead, that he’s
been dead a long time?”

            Mel’s
hand faltered and dropped from her mouth.  She stopped swaying and fixed Chloe
with a stare that seemed to look right through her and deep into something no
one else could see.

            “He
knows,” she said quietly, “It’s always dark to him and he’s caught there.  He
knows
he’s dead…  I want to go home.  I want to go home now.”

            “David’s
on his way, Mel,” Jen said, she crossed the room and sat down next to her
friend, slipping an arm around Mel’s shoulders for comfort.  “We’re going
home…tonight.”

            “Well
lock the door when you leave, alright?” Sam asked.  She shoved a pair of socks
in her bag and zipped it shut.  “I’m ready, let’s go.”

            “Sam!”
Chloe snapped, but her roommate was already out the door.  With a last look at
Jen and Mel, who sat together mutely, staring back with shell-shocked eyes,
Chloe shouldered her bag and chased after her.

            Seth
was still in his truck in front of the building.  Sam raced across the sidewalk,
leapt onto the side running board and hammered on the window.

            Seth
rolled the window down just as Chloe caught up.

            “Hey-ya
Sethy old boy, heard you guys were headed down to Traverse City, you mind if I
tag along?” She smiled playfully.

            Seth
looked over her head to make eye contact with Chloe.  She dropped her head
miserably and shrugged.

            “I’ll
pitch in on a hotel room,” Sam added, “and on the beer!”

            “Clo?”
Seth asked.

            “If
you don‘t mind,” Chloe said.

            “Alright,
get in.  It’s already late and we’ve got a four hour drive in front of us,” he
sighed.

            Sam
clapped her hands excitedly and jumped down.  She gave Chloe a thumbs up and
ran around to the passenger side door.  Chloe followed more slowly.

            “You
first,” Sam offered, holding the door for Chloe.

            Chloe
climbed in and slid across the bench seat, sitting as close to Seth as she
could without actually touching him.

            “Thanks,”
she mumbled.

            He
nodded silently.  Sam got in and banged the door shut.  As they pulled away
both girls looked back over their shoulders at the dormitory.  There were more
dark windows than usual.  Again Chloe felt watched.  The building was a blank
face, the windows its eyes.

            “So
why don’t you tell me what this is about?” Seth asked.  “Traverse City is a
long way to go just to run an errand for your professor.”

            “You
know how stuff has been kind of going on in our room?  Like the writing on the
walls.  The light burning out?” Chloe began.

            Seth
nodded.

            “Well,
there’s been a lot more than that even.  We started researching the history of
the building.  We found out that all the stuff you told us was true, the guy
that burned the place down?  His name was George Townsend, he was an escaped
lunatic that came from Newberry, and before that he was in the Northern
Michigan Asylum-”

            “Traverse
City,” Sam interjected.

            “Right. 
We think…we think he’s-” Chloe couldn’t bring herself to admit it to Seth.

            “We
think he’s the one that’s haunting our room,” Sam finished for her, “and
there’s more.  While we were doing research for Dr. Willard, this guy…George
Townsend?  His name showed up on a list of subjects for us to look up, just
tonight.  Then we got back to the dorm and Mel’s acting like she’s possessed…no
lie!  Her and Jen got really drunk and were playing with the Ouija board and
trying to contact George Townsend, and all of a sudden Mel fell over.  Jen
thought she was just so drunk that she passed out-”

            “How
do you know they were specifically trying to contact George Townsend?” Chloe
asked.

            “Jen
told me everything while you were gone.  So where was I?  Right,” Sam answered
herself, “Mel falls over and Jen thought she was drunk, so she crawls over to
check on her and Mel pops up so fast that she almost smashed into Jen and she
got up and started stumbling all over.  So Jen still thought she was drunk, but
her eyes looked really strange, like filmy-”

            “I
noticed that too,” Chloe interrupted, “When I saw her, they were glazed over,
really spooky-looking.”

            “Yeah,”
Sam agreed, “But then Jen says Mel started trying to talk, but it was like…she
couldn’t.  She just kept opening her mouth and closing it and rolling her head
around and falling over, and Jen was really getting freaked out.  So then she
starts writing on the wall in their room.  The same stuff that was all over the
room in ours--help, help, help, and Jen tried to stop her, tried to take the
pen away, and that’s when-” Sam stopped and glanced at both Seth and Chloe to
make sure she had their full attention.  “That’s when she
levitated
!”

            “What?!”
Chloe gasped. Beside her, Seth snorted.

            “It’s
what Jen said!  She just rose up off the ground a few inches and hung there,
looking down on her.  That’s why Jen ran.” Sam explained.  “And that’s where we
came in.  We were coming back to drop off some stuff and go to the game and Jen
almost ran us over.  We went upstairs and Mel was writing a bunch of names on
the wall in the hallway, and then she just passes out on the floor, right there
in front of it.  And get this Seth, the names were mostly people from our
research list from Dr. Willard.  People that were in asylums, and at different
times.”

            “Wait,”
Seth said at last, “She wrote all over the wall in the hallway?  In my
hallway?”

            “Wow,
we tell him we witnessed someone being possessed and acting out the will of
person that’s been dead for like, a hundred years and the only thing he’s
thinking about is that there’s graffiti on the wall…that‘s amazing,” Sam
laughed.

            “Sam
cleaned it off,” Chloe added quickly, “Right?”

            “Yah,
sure.  So, all these names from the past aaaaaaand…at the very end of the
list…Chloe’s name,” Sam announced.

            “Then
Dr. Willard gave me a ride to the field and I asked him why he wanted us to
research George Townsend, and he said that it was because of a ledger that he
bought from an antiques shop and it was from the Northern Michigan Asylum.  He
said he was pretty sure the dealer had a letter that mentioned him, but he didn’t
think it was relevant enough to buy for his collection, but now…now we just
want to find out as much as we can about him.  Because I want to know what he
wants,” Chloe filled in.

            “And
that’s why we’re going to Traverse City,” Seth finished.

            Chloe
nodded.  Outside millions of snowflakes caught in the headlights and flashed,
tiny pinpoints of light reflected back at them.  The speed of the car made it
look as though the snow was flying at them instead of falling straight down.

            “You
don’t think it’s possible that Mel and Jen are behind the whole thing?” Seth
asked.

            “You
should have seen how scared they were tonight!” Sam snapped.

            “They
could have even been the ones that started all this,” Seth suggested, “…like a
prank.  They lent you a Ouija board, they knew you were up on the roof, they
could have been the ones that wrote all over your bedroom wall.  If you think
about it logically-”

            “No.”
Chloe and Sam said together.

            “They
couldn’t have known about the other people we were researching, the ones for
Dr. Willard,” Chloe said quietly.

            “They
wouldn’t do that.  They’re more scared than we are.  You should have seen Mel! 
You would not doubt us at all if you’d seen her,” Sam argued.

            Seth
blew out a frustrated breath and scratched his chin with one hand.

            “I
feel like I’m in a really bad episode of Scooby Doo or something,” he smiled.

            “I’m
Daphne!” Sam grinned.

            “I’m
Shaggy,’ Chloe said glumly.

            “Well,
since I’m driving the Mystery Machine, I guess that makes me Fred,” Seth
decided.

            The
girls looked at one another quickly, realized they had the same thought and
started snickering.

            “What?”
Seth demanded.

            “You’re
Velma!” Sam laughed.

            “He’s
always ready to pull the mask off our ghost and say, ‘just as I thought, the
old caretaker…Mr. McGrumbles!’” Chloe smiled.

            “I
am NOT Velma,” Seth argued, but he too was smiling.

            “Alright,
Velma, alright,” Sam soothed.

*          *          *

            After
an hour, conversation in the truck dropped off.  The snow had stopped falling
well before they came to the bridge.  Sam was slumped against the window. 
Chloe didn’t know if she was sleeping or not.  The radio played low, people
speaking in light British voices, probably NPR.  Seth draped an arm around her
and she leaned her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes.  The light whirring
of wheels on pavement, suddenly became loud and metallic.

            “We’re
crossing the bridge,” Seth whispered.

            Chloe
sat up and tried to see out into the night.  The two towers of the bridge were
up-lighted by brilliant spotlights and the cables looked as though someone had
strung them with massive strings of white lights.  The entire bridge was
flooded in light, making all else impossibly black.  Disappointed, she sat
back.  She had only crossed the bridge once before, on her way to Birch Harbor
for the first time.

            “My
Dad remembers when they built the Big Mac.  He was just a little boy.  He used
to ride the ferry to visit his grandparents in Petoskey, and he saw them
building it.  That was in 1957 I think,” Seth whispered. 

            “It
seems so big, it takes forever to get across,” Chloe whispered back.

            Seth
nodded. He pulled her closer.

            “You’re
not mad about Sam, are you?” She asked, keeping her voice low, “I know it was
rude, but she really wanted to come.”

            Seth
took awhile to answer.  Chloe listened to the sound of the metal grating under
their tires while he thought.

            “You
can trust me too,” He finally said.  “She’s not the only person that cares
about you…that wants to help.”

            “You
believe us, then? About everything that’s been happening?  About George?” she
asked.

            Again
Seth took a long time before answering.

            “I
don’t know,” he said.  “I can’t say what’s really going on.  I don’t know if
it’s the ghost of George Townsend the mental patient, or if it’s someone trying
to scare you…the important thing is that you believe it.  And right or wrong,
I’m going to be there for you.”

            “Why
do you like me?” Chloe asked suddenly.  “I just don’t get it.  I’m such a mess,
and you’ve just got it so… so together.”

            “Aaaawwww
Clo,” he chuckled, “I dunno.  Why do you gotta ask a question like that?  I
guess it’s…you’re just so…I just do, okay?”

            “Okay,”
she agreed without enthusiasm.

            He
laughed deep in his throat and dropped a quick kiss on top of her head.

            “I
just do,” he repeated.

*          *          *

            The
sun came in through the slats of the blinds of the hotel room.  Chloe blinked a
few times and rubbed her eyes.  The night before was fuzzy.  Seth waking her
up…she was sleeping against Sam’s shoulder in a cold car.  He had gone in to
get a room.  From the parking lot she could see across the road to a long black
expanse of nothing.  Lights twinkled in the far distance of the black space. 

            “The
bay,” he had whispered.

            Then
the room, standard, like a hundred other hotel rooms.  Two queen-sized beds…a
chair…a desk…the TV on the dresser.  It had smelled like chlorine.  Too tired
to care, she had kicked off her shoes and crawled into the bed nearest to the
door.  He had whispered something in her ear again, what was it?

            She
blinked a few times against the light, her neck hurt.  The pillow felt like it
had a brick in it.   She rolled over onto her side, and almost collided with an
armpit.