Asylum (9 page)

            Sam
laid the board down on the cement between herself and Chloe and placed the
planchette at the center of the board.  Chloe let out a frustrated breath,
hesitated for a moment, and then reached out and placed two fingers on the
piece.

            “Alright,
I will be the mystical séance type person,” Sam announced.  She closed her eyes
and cleared her throat, Chloe giggled.  “Quiet, please, you’re interrupting my
communion with the spirits,” Sam warned in her most serious voice. 

            “Okay,
okay Miss Cleo,” Chloe laughed.

            “Call
me now!  Call fer your free readin’” Sam mimicked a Jamaican accent.  Both
girls laughed.

            “Alright,
let’s do this thing,” Sam said clearing her throat.  Chloe stifled her laughter
behind a smirk, as Sam closed her eyes and again placed her fingers on the
triangle.

            “Are
there any spirits that wish to speak with us tonight?” Sam asked.

            They
waited, fingers laid lightly upon the planchette, watching intently.  The piece
did not move.  Sam squeezed her eyes tightly shut as though she were
concentrating hard, but all the same her lips seemed to be fighting off a smirk.

            “Guess
they’re not feeling talkative tonight.  That’s too bad,” Chloe said.

            “Any
spirits out there, any spirits at all?” Sam asked again.  They both watched as
the white planchette moved ever so slowly, just a hair, and then stopped.

            “You
moved it!” Chloe accused.

            “I
did not,” Sam said, but her grin looked guilty.

            “Why
are you smiling then?  You moved it!”

            “It
was the spirits,” Sam vowed solemnly.

            “Spirits,
my ass,” Chloe muttered.

            “Okay,
we have established contact,” Sam explained, “Now we can question it.  What do
you want to ask it?”

            “I
don’t wanna ask it anything,” Chloe snorted.

            “Okay,
I’ll ask it something then,” Sam closed her eyes again and pressed her lips
together in imitation of total concentration.  “Does Seth want to get his funky
on with Chloe?”

            Sam
dragged the planchette over to the yes.  Chloe squealed and punched Sam
playfully on the arm.

            “Does
Sam secretly think Dr. Willard is hot?” Chloe demanded and then moved the
planchette furiously back and forth over the yes.

            “What?!”
Sam screeched.  She shoved Chloe and the two girls laughed until their sides
hurt.

            “Chloe! 
You’re such an-” Sam broke off mid-sentence, her mouth hanging open.  Her eyes
grew wide. “Clo, look!” she hissed.

            Chloe
followed Sam’s line of sight to the planchette.  For a second, she suspected
Sam was still kidding her, but she quickly realized, with a horrified clench of
the stomach, that the planchette was moving.  It was moving so slowly it was
almost unnoticeable, but it was definitely edging at a snail’s pace towards the
letters…all by itself.

            “It’s
the wind, it’s the wind or the board’s uneven, it’s the wind,” Chloe mumbled. 
She slammed closed the part of her brain that tried to remind her that there
wasn’t a single breath of wind just then.

            Sam
reached tentatively towards the planchette and placed a finger on it.  The
piece immediately stopped.

            “Weird,”
Sam whispered, “Chloe, put your finger on it, come on, let’s ask it something.”

            “No,”
Chloe whispered back, crossing her arms and stuffing her hands into her
armpits.

            “Chloe…”
Sam pleaded.

            “No!”

            “Please?
Just one question, alright?  Let’s just ask it one question and I’ll put it
away, right back in the box,” Sam argued.

            “You
swear?  Just one question and you’ll really put it away?”

            “Yes,
yes!  Come on, your finger!”

            Chloe
reached out and placed one finger directly across from Sam’s.  The planchette
felt warm to the touch.  Chloe hoped she was imagining it.

            “Who
are you?” Sam asked.

            The
white triangle moved slowly at first and then quicker and with greater
confidence towards the first letter.

            “H!”
Sam said aloud.  The planchette paused briefly and changed direction.

            “E,”
the girls said together, “L… P.”

            The
planchette stopped over the P.

            “Help?”
Sam wondered.  “What do you mean
help
?  How do we help?”

            The
planchette moved forcefully across the board.

            “T..”
Sam repeated, “R… A… P… P…  E-”

            A
sudden and intense gust of wind shrieked through the bell tower, whipping
Chloe’s hair to the side.  She yanked her hand away and leapt to her feet.

            “That’s
enough, Sam!  Put it away, put it away, PUT IT AWAY!” she screamed.

            Sam
held up her hands in a gesture of surrender.  Unaided, the planchette lurched
suddenly to the left, framing the letter D with its window.

            “Trapped,”
whispered Sam.

            “I
don’t care! Put it away, now!  You said one question, just one question!” Chloe
said as her voice grew higher and closer to a true hysterical pitch. The wind
carried the moan of the old pines bending in the nearby forest as it whipped
around her.  Chloe covered her ears and watched Sam with pleading eyes.

            “You’re
right, I’m sorry.  I’ll put it away,” Sam admitted loudly, the wind seemed to
have brought back her caution.  She made to grab the planchette, but in one
impossibly quick act, the corner of the board lifted against the wind, and the
entire board flew forcefully against Sam’s hand, flipped up, and smashed into
one of the tower posts.  The planchette skittered away and then followed the
board tumbling down the slate roof and into the dark below.

            The
wind stilled almost instantly.  Chloe felt her heart thumping so hard it seemed
it would break a rib.

            “Oh
my God, Sam, Oh my God!” she whispered.  The girls’ expressions were mirror
images of terror.  Sam reached out and grabbed Chloe’s hand.

            “Sssshhhh!”
she demanded.

            “What
is it?
What
?” Chloe’s voice was barely audible.

            “I
don’t know.  Something.  A little noise, I can’t tell wha-” They both froze and
listened.  Sam was squeezing Chloe’s hand so hard, her fingers were turning
purple.

            “That!”
Sam whispered, “Did you hear that?”

            “Like
a jingling, like a really faint jingling,” Chloe confirmed.

            The
faint metallic sound became a muffled thud, and then another, and then another…
beneath them, coming closer.

            “The
stairs!” Chloe squealed, “It’s coming up the stairs!”

            The
girls backed away from the trap door.  Chloe pressed herself against the metal
railing in a futile effort to get as far as she could from it.  The footsteps
were quicker and heavier, like someone was running the final few steps.  The
trapdoor burst open, hinges squealing, and fell with a bang against the cement.
Chloe and Sam wrapped their arms around each other and screamed in unison. 

            Seth
shot out of the ominous dark hole like a bullet, his face a ghastly shade of
white.

            “What?”
he demanded, “What is it?  What happened?”

            Chloe
felt Sam’s grip on her back slacken.  She let out a long shuddery breath and
realized that she was still holding Sam’s shoulders tightly.  The girls locked
eyes for a long moment and then Sam let out something that sounded like a cross
between a sob and a giggle.  Chloe felt an overpowering desire to laugh, but
didn’t dare.  It wasn’t the kind of laughing that would be easy to stop.  It
wasn’t the kind of laugh that came from a sane mind.  Instead she shoved her
hand into her mouth and bit down, turning her back to Sam and Seth until she
felt somewhat composed.

            “What
happened?” Seth repeated, taking a step closer.

            “I
don’t know!  I don’t know what the hell just happened.  Everything was fine and
then all of a sudden the Ouija thing just started moving by itself and the wind
started blowing all crazy and the board flew up and almost took my head off and
then it went over the railing and it spelled out “help” and…and…”trapped” and
we heard noises and oh my God, oh my God, we were so scared!” Sam rambled
without stopping for air. Chloe rocked back and forth continuously, nodding her
agreement.

            “Get
your stuff! You are going back to your room, right now!” Seth ordered.

            “We
made this bet-” Sam began.

            “I
know all about your bet, I’m your R.A., and I say bets off.  Now get your
stuff…Move!” Seth was furious.

            He
snatched up the pile of blankets and gave Sam a push towards the trapdoor.  The
girls gathered up the empty two liter, flashlight, and vodka and cautiously
began descending the narrow stairway.  Seth followed behind, swinging the
trapdoor shut.  The three of them were engulfed in total dark.  Chloe stopped
and reached out to touch the wall when it occurred to her that she might not
feel the wall.  If she felt something warm or fleshy or…

            Immediately
she felt Seth’s hand press lightly against her back, a surprisingly gentle
touch for how angry his voice had sounded.  She started down again, comforted
that his hand stayed there.

            They
came to the bottom of the stairwell and waited while Sam fumbled to find the
doorknob.  A few seconds later they were back on the brightly lit hallway of
the fourth floor.  Seth herded them toward the main stairs.  The dormitory felt
abandoned.  All Chloe could hear was the hum of florescent lights above them. 
Not a word was spoken until they were safely back at their own door.

            “I
can’t believe that you would both do something so stupid,” Seth accused quietly
as Sam unlocked the door.  He followed them into the room and tossed the pile
of blankets onto Sam’s bed.

            “How
did you know we were up there?” Sam wondered.

            “Your
little friends down at the end of the hall.  I had three or four complaints
tonight about them being loud and annoying and I had to go down there and break
up playtime.  The one with the curly hair told me they were waiting up for you
guys to get back.  Told me she had made a bet that you guys wouldn’t spend the
night in the bell tower.  I figured that if you were half as drunk as the rest
of them, you’d be lucky if you hadn’t already fallen off the roof.  I heard you
screaming for help before I was even in the stairwell.  I thought one of you
had fallen!” he accused.

            Something
didn’t seem right to Chloe.  She tried to put her finger on it.

            “Wait,
you heard us yelling
help
?” Chloe repeated.

            “One
of you,” Seth agreed.

            “The
word
help
, you heard someone yell that?” Chloe asked again.

            “Yes. 
I heard someone distinctly call out
help
, why?” Seth watched her
warily.  Sam and Chloe turned worried eyes towards each other and then back
towards Seth.

            “Because
neither of us yelled help, not once,” Sam mumbled

CHAPTER FIVE

            “Okay,
so maybe I didn’t actually hear the word
help
, I just heard you guys
screaming and thought
help
.  That would be the logical assumption,” Seth
argued yet again. 

            He
sat in the desk chair, leaning it back on its rear legs across the room from
where Chloe sat on her bed, back against the wall.  Sam lounged against her
pillows, thoughtfully peeling the label off a pop bottle.

            “That
still doesn’t explain the other stuff, the Ouija board, the wind…” Sam
contested. 

            Over
the last hour Sam had given Seth a much calmer and lengthier retelling of the
night‘s events.  Chloe sat quietly through it, murmuring assent when Sam asked her
to back up specific happenings, not daring to look at Seth.

            “You
were pretty high up, above the trees, and you’re more exposed to wind,” Seth
explained.

            “The
pointer on the Ouija thing moved by itself!” Sam snapped.  He sighed.           Chloe
glanced at him.  He looked tired.  His jaw was shaded with the dark growth of
early morning stubble and his eyes looked bloodshot.  As she watched, he put
his hands on his face and rubbed it as though he could wash off the
sleeplessness.  He opened the drawer of Chloe’s desk and rummaged around until
he found a pencil.  As both the girls watched, he leaned forward and dropped it
on the ground.  For a second, it didn’t move.  Then, slowly at first, it began
to roll towards the door, picking up greater speed the closer it got.  Almost
to the door it slowed, stopped, and then rolled backwards.  The three watched
as the pencil rolled back and forth in ever shorter arcs, finally coming to a
stop a foot from the door.