Читать книгу October Ghosts - Jenny Plumb - Страница 7

Wednesday evening, Seth was leaning against the wall in the cafeteria lobby next to Jessie. They were waiting for the women so they could have dinner with them when Seth's cell phone rang. He dug it out of his pocket, and looked at the caller ID. Dread filled him as his mother's name appeared on the screen. There were only two reasons she would call. Someone was dead, or she was on one of her drunken rants. Since it was early evening, Seth was certain it was the latter. Taking a deep breath, he swiped to answer and put the phone to his ear.

"Hi, Mom."

"When will you be home?" she slurred.

"I'll be home for Thanksgiving." He didn't remind her that they'd been over that at least thirty times before.

"But I want you home now."

Guilt washed over him. "I know, but I'm four hours away. I can't just come home on a whim. I have classes tomorrow." Moving away for his last two years of college had been a calculated decision on his part. He needed to be far enough away from his parents that he couldn't drop everything and see them when his mother called like this. Living with them and going to community college for his first two years, had almost made him snap. It was hard to study when they were both drunk and yelling at each other in the other room. And even harder when he had to drag his drunk mom to bed after a bender and make sure she was lying on her side so she wouldn't drown in her own vomit in the middle of the night. If his bastard of a father passed out somewhere, Seth left him where he was and hoped for the worst.

"Your father screamed at me for making chicken soup for dinner! Chicken soup, Seth."

Seth gritted his teeth and with barely restrained anger, asked, "Is Dad there?"

"He stormed out. Left me alone in this big empty house with nothing to do but miss you."

Taking a relieved breath, he nodded absently. "Have you eaten any dinner?"

"I don't want to eat alone."

His mom's plaintive whine grated on his nerves. He'd been trying to convince her to divorce his father since he was fourteen, but she was always full of reasons why she couldn't. He'd promised himself that he wasn't going to bring it up anymore when he moved away. She was a grown woman with a decent job. If she wanted to stay with a verbally abusive drunk, there was nothing he could do to stop her. Besides, she gave as good as she got and as far as he knew, neither one of them had ever come to blows.

"Why don't you call Aunt Becky and ask her if she'll have dinner with you?"

"You know how your father feels about my sister!"

Rolling his eyes, Seth was about to point out how ridiculous that statement was when he noticed Jessie waving out of the corner of his eye. He looked up and saw Olivia and Paula coming toward them. "Sorry, Mom, I've got to go. I'm about to have dinner with my friends."

"But, Seth, honey, I'm alone."

"Mom, I want you to get yourself some dinner, turn on the TV for company, and just enjoy having the house to yourself for a little while."

"But, Seth—"

Feeling especially guilty, he hung up on her. He knew from experience she would keep him on the phone for hours if he let her, and he'd be a wreck by the time they were done. But unless she'd already polished off the bottle of wine she was working on, she wouldn't call back.

He shoved his phone in his pocket and tried to shove down his emotions along with it. He'd had years of practice, so it wasn't too difficult to smile at the women as they got in line together.

"Hey," he said.

"Braden and I made the reservations this afternoon!" Paula said excitedly.

"For all four Saturdays?" Jessie asked.

She nodded. "It's all planned out."

"That's great. Is Braden joining us for dinner?" Jessie asked, eyes darting toward the cafeteria.

"Of course. We'll tell you all the plans once we get inside."

"Great," Jessie answered with much less enthusiasm than before.

Seth watched as Olivia linked her elbow with Jessie's and leaned the side of her face against his upper arm. He still hadn't been able to figure the two of them out. Jessie clearly liked Paula even though she was dating someone else, but Jessie and Olivia spent all their free time together and they were quite touchy-feely with each other. Plus, he knew Jessie had some kind of relationship with a woman named Angie, because he spent the night with her sometimes. It was all very confusing, but Seth didn't want to pry. They'd only been living together for two and a half weeks, and he didn't want to rock the boat or make his new friend uncomfortable, because he genuinely liked his roommate.

Soon the four of them had found Braden, and they were all sitting at a table together with their dinners.

Paula immediately launched into the plans they'd made. "This Saturday, we'll spend the night at the Benson Hotel. We got one room with two queen beds on the seventh floor. Once we check in, we'll check out all the supposedly haunted areas, and if nothing supernatural happens, we'll split into smaller groups to see if that prompts anything. The next Saturday, will be a tour of Portland's Underground Shanghai Tunnels. Because it's October, they have a special haunted tour, and we have tickets for seven-thirty. The third Saturday, we'll spend the night at the Heathman Hotel and we actually got room 510, which is supposed to be haunted. Then on the last Saturday, we'll be taking the twilight tombstone tour of the Lone Fir Cemetery."

"That all sounds fun, even if we don't see any ghosts." Jessie sounded enthusiastic. "I've never stayed in a hotel as nice as the Benson."

Paula grinned at him, and the two of them monopolized the conversation, discussing the amenities at nice hotels.

Seth easily kept track of what they were saying without diverting much brainpower to their conversation and instead surreptitiously watched Olivia. He found her strikingly beautiful. He knew Jessie was attracted to Paula, but he found everything about Paula off-putting. The mask of thick makeup, the costume of revealing tight clothing, and the brash personality all reminded him of an actress performing instead of being a genuine person. Olivia, on the other hand, seemed genuine with her lack of makeup, comfortable yet pretty clothing, and introspective personality. He found himself attracted to her in ways he hadn't experienced before and then felt like an ass since she clearly had something going on with Jessie.

Jessie asked, "Is the hotel going to be okay with us wandering around, when our room is on the seventh floor?"

Braden regarded him with disbelief. "Are you serious right now? The hotel doesn't police their guests. We paid plenty to be there, so we can go wherever the fuck we want."

Olivia glared at Braden and snapped, "It's a valid question. You paid for one room, but they have hundreds. If we're traipsing around bothering other guests, they could ask us to leave."

Seth looked down at his tray to hide his approving grin. He loved it when Olivia stuck up for Jessie. It was sweet and cute at the same time, since she usually never raised her voice or disagreed with anyone. He'd never heard her defend herself, only Jessie. He finished eating while Paula and Braden argued about what they should do if a staff member did ask them to leave.

Three days later, on Saturday afternoon, Seth and Jessie were packing for their excursion.

"Hey, Seth?"

"Yeah?"

"Could you do me a favor tonight?"

Seth nodded absently while stuffing a clean shirt in his backpack. "Probably. What is it?"

"If we split up to check out different areas of the hotel, I'm going to suggest that I go with Paula and you go with Olivia. I was hoping you'd back me up when I do."

Seth stopped packing and decided it was past time for him to talk to Jessie about Olivia. He liked Olivia and wanted to ask her out, but he had to make sure Jessie would be okay with that first. He turned to face his roommate and sat on the edge of his bed to give Jessie his full attention.

"Why wouldn't you want to go with Olivia?"

Clearly surprised, Jessie turned to look at Seth. "It's not that I don't want to go with Liv, it's that I want to go with Paula. I uh… kind of like her."

"Yes, I know. That's obvious, but—"

"It's obvious?" Jessie asked with dismay.

"Maybe not to Paula, she's pretty self-involved, but it's obvious to me. But what I don't get is your relationship with Olivia."

Jessie shoved a small bag of toiletries inside his backpack. "We're just friends."

"It seems like more than that to me."

Jessie shrugged with his back to Seth. "Okay, we're close friends."

"So, you wouldn't mind if I asked her out?"

Jessie spun around and scrutinized Seth. "You like her?"

Seth nodded. "I do."

"Oh."

"So are you going to change your statement about just being friends?"

Jessie sat on the edge of his bed, facing Seth, and shook his head. "No. I just… I don't know if you'd be right for her."

"Why not?"

"I-I can't say."

Seth scowled. "What do you mean, you can't say?"

Jessie frowned and looked down at his feet. "I mean it's not my place to say. Look, you can ask her out, and I think you'd be great boyfriend material for most any girl, but if Liv says no, it's probably got nothing to do with you personally."

"Well, that's frustratingly vague," Seth grumbled.

"Sorry." Jessie scowled and then stared out their little window. "Olivia has skeletons in her closet. I'd like to tell you about them, but I can't break her trust."

Seth reluctantly respected that decision and sighed. "Okay, I'll try not to take it personally if she rejects me."

"Good."

Curiosity getting the better of him, Seth asked, "What about Angie?

Jessie fidgeted with the straps on his backpack. "What about her?"

"You spend one night a week with her. Are you a couple?"

Jessie shook his head. "No. We're… complicated. She's living with a guy named Isaac, and sometimes I go spend the night at their house. They're a couple, but they're in an open relationship, and I'm like a… well, a friend with benefits, I guess you'd call it?"

Seth tried to hide his shock, but it wasn't easy. Jessie must have seen it because he blushed and looked down at his lap. "I know it probably seems creepy to most normal people, because they're in their thirties and I'm nineteen. But my mom is kind of horrible, and I never met my dad, so Angie and Isaac kind of… help me feel like someone cares if I do well in school and stuff."

"It's not creepy," Seth said immediately, realizing he meant it after the fact. "It's unusual. Not creepy. My parents suck, so I get it. If Angie and Isaac give you the things your mom can't, then I'm not going to judge you for that."

"Really?" Jessie asked, making eye contact again.

"Yeah."

"Thanks."

Even though Seth didn't think it was creepy, he didn't exactly want details either, but he felt compelled to point out the obvious. "I'm not sure how ethical it is for you to pursue Paula when you're in a relationship with other people. Plus, you know she's dating Braden."

Jessie shrugged. "I wouldn't make a move on her while she's dating him. But if I spend some quality time with her, maybe she'll decide she's with the wrong guy. And if she did want to date me, I'd stop seeing Angie." He frowned and added, "Well, we'd probably still be friends, but I'd stop sleeping with her."

Seth nodded. "Still, not entirely ethical in my book, but Braden is an asshole. So sure, I'll go with your plan when you mention it."

"You will?"

"I will." With a decisive nod, Seth got up and finished his packing.

Seth, Jessie, Olivia, and Paula all rode the MAX light rail train downtown and walked around the city for an hour to see the sights and grab a quick dinner from a food cart. Braden texted Paula once he'd checked into the Benson Hotel, and the four of them met him in the lobby.

"It's beautiful," Olivia commented, taking in the chandeliers and polished staircase.

"This place is huge," Jessie said, awestruck.

Olivia pursed her lips when Braden groped Paula's ass right there in the lobby as they kissed hello. It wasn't that she was a prude, but she thought that level of affection should be done in private. She also saw Jessie frown and moved closer so she could link her arm around his at the elbow.

"Do we take the elevator or the stairs?" Seth asked.

"Elevator for now," Paula answered, leading the way.

They had the elevator to themselves, and they took it up to the seventh floor. Braden unlocked their room and went in, followed by the others.

Paula put her bag on the bed closest to the window. "We're not really here to sleep, but if we get too tired to stay awake, Olivia and I will take this one." Then she pointed to the one closest to the door. "Seth and Jessie can have that one."

"What about Braden?" Olivia asked, setting her bag next to Paula's.

"He'll be staying awake to film, but if he does doze off, he'll be in the chair." Paula pointed to a cushy office chair pushed under the room's small desk.

Braden nodded and opened his large black suitcase. It held an expensive-looking camcorder, a collapsible tripod, and rolls of cords and wires.

While Braden started setting up equipment, Paula got out her notebook and said, "I'm going to give you guys a little history to set the mood."

Seth and Jessie both sat on the edge of their bed, while Olivia went to stand by the window and look out at the city, more interested in the view the hotel had to offer than the supposed past ghost sightings.

Paula's voice took on a slightly lower pitch as she read. "A man named Simon Benson had this hotel built back in 1912, and he ran it for several years before selling it. Many people report seeing his ghost. It's most often seen on the seventh, ninth, and twelfth floors or the main stairway. He's a thin man in a tailored business suit of the time. And he's usually seen at the end of a hall, turning a corner. On the stairway, people often say they feel a tap on the back of their shoulder, but when they turn, no one is there. Simon was well known to speak on the evils of alcohol, and down in the bar, people often complain that drinks are pushed out of their hands or tipped over on the table when they hadn't touched them.

"On the ninth floor specifically, people often report seeing a little boy. The general consensus is that it's one of Simon's sons who wanted to stay with his father. No one has ever felt a malevolence from the child ghost, just playfulness. He likes to move small belongings around the rooms on the ninth floor, like cell phones, wallets, and jewelry, but nothing ever goes missing."

"That's it?" Jessie asked. "No gruesome deaths or vengeful spirits?"

"I'm afraid not," Paula said. "That will be next Saturday's adventure. We're starting with the tamest of the bunch first."

Jessie nodded. "That's fair. So what's the plan?"

"We're on the seventh floor, so once Braden has the camcorder ready, we'll all walk the length of the hall together. Then we'll use the stairs to go to the ninth and walk all around that floor. Then up to the twelfth. If we haven't seen or heard anything supernatural by then, we'll go back to the lobby and check out the original staircase. Then we may split up to see if that gets us any results."

Braden held up a small camcorder. "This is an extra. If we end up splitting up."

"Sounds great," Jessie said. "I'm ready."

"But first," Paula said, "a libation."

Olivia frowned. She wasn't certain, but she thought that meant alcohol, and she didn't approve. She was pretty sure they were all underage, with the possible exception of Seth, and if Paula was serious about her project, she should want everyone to be sober.

"Libation?" Jessie asked.

"Did you bring it?" Paula asked Braden. He nodded and pulled a plastic bottle of vodka out of a side pocket on his suitcase.

"We'll toast the ghosts of the hotel and then all take a shot," Paula said.

"I don't drink," Olivia said.

"Neither do I," Seth added.

Olivia smiled with approval at his quick response.

Seth continued. "Besides, a libation in the literal sense is an offering that you pour out. So if you wanted to pour booze down the sink in honor of the ghosts, then sure, that's a libation."

Paula scowled. "I guess we could pour one shot down the sink."

"That would be a waste of perfectly good vodka," Braden argued. "There's no reason not to toast them and then drink it."

Paula smiled. "Come on, guys, just one shot?"

"I'll take one," Jessie said.

Olivia pursed her lips and walked directly over to her friend and fellow sub. There was no way she was letting Jessie make that kind of mistake without trying to stop him. She leaned down and whispered in his ear, "You do, and I'll tell Angie." She stood back up, crossed her arms, and glared at him.

Jessie shook his head and glared back at her for a few seconds. When she didn't back down, he broke eye contact and sighed. "Never mind," he said. "I'll stick with soda."

Nodding once, Olivia went back to stand by the window and noticed Seth giving her a smile of approval.

"What a bunch of pussies," Braden muttered as he turned over two of the glasses on the counter to pour shots.

Seth's voice was dripping with sarcasm as he said, "Yeah, because doing the right thing is totally a pussy move." He turned to Paula. "I'm not going to stay if tonight is all about getting drunk."

"No, please don't go," Paula said, sounding sincere. "We're not pressuring anyone into drinking." She scowled at Braden and said, "Apologize."

Sighing, Braden, muttered, "Sorry," before downing his shot in one gulp and then pouring another.

Jessie stood and said, "We could still join in the toast with something non-alcoholic. Since Simon Benson was anti-alcohol, maybe toasting him with soda will make him more likely to appear."

Paula grinned. "That's a good point."

"We can get some soda from the vending machine," Seth added.

Soon Olivia was holding her plastic cup of Sprite up in a toast with her friends. Jessie appeared to be somewhat disgruntled about his Sprite, since Paula and Braden both had vodka, but Olivia was still glad she'd talked him out of drinking.

Paula said, "Thank you to Mr. Benson for creating such a wonderful building that has stood for over a hundred years and given millions of people luxurious shelter for the night. Cheers!"

"Cheers," they all said and clinked glasses before taking a drink.

"All right," Jessie said, setting his glass down and rubbing his hands together. "Let's go see some ghosts."

Paula walked to the door but didn't open it. "Remember to keep your voices down. If we get complaints, we may be asked to leave. Braden will stay in the back of the group to film, and if we run into any other guests, he'll hide the camcorder. Technically, I don't think we're supposed to be filming here." She opened the door, and they all gathered in the hall.

"This way." Paula pointed down the long hallway, and Jessie fell in step next to her.

Olivia followed behind them with a smile. She wasn't expecting to see anything supernatural, but she was still excited to explore the hotel.

Seth was bored. The group had spent the past hour walking around the hotel, and they hadn't seen anything of note except one flickering light in the stairwell. But Paula and Jessie still seemed to be excited by the ghost hunt, so he kept his opinion to himself.

When they were walking down the stairwell, Paula said, "Let's stand by the flickering light for a few minutes and see if anything happens."

They gathered on the small landing between the seventh and eighth floor where the stairs turned. Seth leaned against a wall to wait it out and smiled when Olivia leaned next to him. Paula and Jessie looked over the railing, to see the stairs winding all the way down to the first floor way below. Braden moved down a couple of steps so he could film them all at the same time. They could hear doors opening now and then, and they heard the footsteps of people going between floors above them and below them, but no one walked past them for the next ten minutes.

The light above them flickered faster for a moment and then went out. Paula gasped and they all stared up at the fixture. Some light from the other sections of the stairway above and below meant they weren't in complete darkness, but both Seth and Paula got out their phones and turned on the flashlight function to help everyone see.

Paula whispered, "It's silent."

Seth focused and didn't hear any doors or footsteps at the moment, just silence. He turned to see Olivia's reaction, knowing she was the skeptic of the group. She didn't appear to be in awe or frightened by this possible supernatural event.

The sudden clack of footsteps directly above them rang out loudly, making everyone jump and stare at the stairs above.

"Oh my God," Paula exclaimed softly. Seth saw her grab Jessie's arm. "Do you guys hear that?"

Jessie nodded, leaning out from the railing to try seeing the stairs above. "I don't see anyone."

Seth turned to Olivia. Her eyebrows were furrowed with worry. "We've been hearing people on the stairs all night," she said.

"Yeah, after we hear a door open," Paula argued.

The footsteps stopped as suddenly as they'd started, and silence filled the air once more.

"Is someone just standing there?" Olivia whispered, crossing her arms over her stomach. "Waiting in the stairway like some predator?"

"Or was it Mr. Benson?" Jessie asked with awe in his voice.

Seth saw Olivia shudder and decided that was enough. "Or, it could be someone playing a prank." He went to the stairway and yelled up, "Hello? Anyone up there?" When the only answer was silence, Seth said, "I'm going to go check," and started up the stairs a bit slower than usual, wary of what he might encounter.

The light flickered back on, and two floors below, a door opened. They all heard laughter and voices as a couple began to ascend. Seth climbed the stairs, but before he could make it past the eighth floor, he heard a door open above him, and then there were more voices in the stairwell. He went back to the group and shook his head. "Didn't see anyone before the door opened on the ninth or tenth floor."

Paula grinned and asked Braden, "Did you get all that?"

"You bet your ass I did."

"I can't believe we got so lucky!" Jessie exclaimed.

"Me either!" Paula agreed.

"A creepy potential rapist is trolling the stairs, and you guys are happy?" Olivia asked.

"Potential rapist?" Paula asked. "The doors didn't open before or after we heard the footsteps, Liv. It was a ghost."

Seth could tell Olivia was unsettled and wondered if a past rape, or attempted rape, was the skeleton in her closet that Jessie had alluded to. Wanting to protect her, he went to stand next to her and said gently, "Or, much more likely, teenage boys trying to scare people and perpetuate the idea of ghost sightings here at the hotel."

Olivia looked at him with gratitude and nodded. "Right. Teens playing a prank."

"How can you not believe the evidence when it's right in front of your face?" Paula asked.

The light flickered off again as the people who had come from above them came into view walking down the stairs.

"Hi," the young couple said cheerfully, smiling at the group as they passed.

When the couple was out of sight, the light flickered back on. Olivia pointed to it and said, "I'm sorry, but that's not evidence of anything supernatural, and neither are footsteps."

Paula rolled her eyes and said, "Come on; let's go to the lobby and check out the original staircase."