Purgatech: Aaron's Terrible Realization

Chapter 4

When I got back upstairs, I was too excited to sit down. I'd been in the room with a ghost. A real, live, in-your-face ghost. We'd even played catch. It was the most incredible thing that I'd ever experienced. I paced back and forth, trying to fit what I'd witnessed into my understanding of the world. It didn’t work very well.

I decided to call Collin and share the news with him.

He answered on the third ring. "Did you see a ghost?" I could here the sarcasm in his voice.

"Dude, you are literally not going to believe this." I explained what had happened downstairs, or at least tried to. Collin was so convinced that I was lying that he wouldn't really listen to what I was saying. He just kept laughing and telling me to quit playing around. Normally I would have found it frustrating but just then, I was flying too high for Collin to bring me down.

"Seriously though, do I need to come get you?"

"No, man. I took the job. I'm serious, this place is really on to something. I high -fived a dead boy just now." Even as I said it, I felt a little uncomfortable with that phrasing. But, it was the truth. Bobby was dead.

"Alright then, whatever. I guess they have some good Kool -Aid over there. Try not to drink too much. You double checked about the money, right?"

"No, Collin. I did not ask about money. I was distracted by the phantom apparition making fun of my ball catching abilities. You really don't believe me, do you?"

"Of course not. Why would I? But I'm glad you're having fun. Call me a couple of days before you need me to come back and get you. I expect a steak dinner on the way home since you'll be loaded up with Ghostbuster cash."

"It's Purgatech," I said, feeling oddly protective. "But thanks, man. I really do appreciate it. I'll make sure to give you a heads up when the trial is winding down."

We exchanged goodbyes and hung up.

Without really thinking about it, I dialed Katie's number. Something I was just in the habit of, I guess. Was used to sharing good news with her. The phone was ringing before I realized this was probably a mistake. Especially with the childish text I'd sent earlier.

She didn't answer and I almost hung up. Instead, I waited for the beep and left a message.

"Hey Katie. Sorry about that message from earlier. I don't know, I'm dumb, you know that. I probably shouldn't have called, I guess you've been trying to let me know you need space. I'm going to respect that. Just got a new job that’s really exciting and it should be enough to keep me from focusing on us. Of course, if you ever need anything, you can always call me." I almost said 'I love you' but caught myself at the last second. "I hope all is well. Take care, Katie."

I threw the phone onto the bed, my excitement somewhat deflated. After a couple of laps around the small room, I decided to take a shower. There wasn't really much else to do.

The pressure was low but the water heater was working overtime. I stood under the scalding water and tried to wash away the strange mix of feelings that churning around in my head.

There were little hotel style soap bars and shampoo bottles on the counter next to me. This house was definitely a strange place to run a business but it was nice to see that Purgatech was at least making a little bit of effort to be hospitable. I grabbed a bar of soap and was unwrapping it when I heard a knock.

"Just a minute," I yelled, assuming that Turner had something he needed to tell me. I soaped up and rinsed in record time and was toweling off when another knock came, this time a bit louder.

"Almost there." I was a little annoyed this time. Give a guy a minute, would you?

There was yet another knock, louder still. I threw on some shorts and went and snatched the door of the bunkroom open.

There was no one there.

I leaned out and looked down the stairs, then to the other side of the hallway. Nothing. The knock came again, three quick raps this time. I wheeled around and saw the closet door vibrating from the blows.

I was scared, won't even pretend any different.

Cautiously, I approached the door. The closer I got, the faster my heart beat. I could feel the pulse in my neck when I reached out for the knob. Just as I was about to touch the tarnished handle, the door jumped in its frame as a barrage of heavy blows fell on the other side. I ran, couldn't help it.

I made it halfway down the stairs before slamming into a person carrying a tray.

"What the hell?" he yelled.

"There's something in my room."

"Oh really? You saw something?"

"Not really. But there was knocking and then pounding coming from the closet."

He looked at me like I was stupid. "You heard something knocking on the wall in a haunted house. And you are surprised?"

I opened my mouth to say something but couldn't find any words. He was right. Of course things would go bump in the night here. I looked away and grinned, a little embarrassed.

He clapped me on the shoulder. "I get it. This place has more activity than I've ever seen. You'll get used to it soon, I promise."

"Just kinda snuck up on me, ya know? I was in the shower and thought someone was beating down the bunk room door."

"They're tricksters around here. Friendly for the most part, though. Have you met Bobby?"

"Yeah, just a little while ago. Nice kid. Or, ghost I guess." I laughed, the shock wearing off finally.

"He probably just wanted to give you a hard time. Little s**t does that. My name is Omri, by the way. Nice to meet you..."

"Aaron. Nice to meet you, too." I shook his outstretched hand. "Thanks for helping me cool down."

"No problem, Aaron. Just one of my many duties around here. Speaking of, I was actually on my way up to bring you supper."

I looked to the stairs above and below us. There were bits of food and drink spilled all over the place from where I'd knocked into Omri.

"Ah, crap. I'm sorry, man. Let me help you clean this up," I said, ears burning.

"Absolutely not. If you do the chores, I won't have a job."

With that, he grabbed up the tray and headed back downstairs. He turned to yell over his shoulder. "Go on and finish getting cleaned up. I'll take care of this and be right back with some food for you." He disappeared into the gloom of the foyer before I could say anything else.

Once I was back in the room, I busied myself with unpacking my suitcase into two of the drawers in the credenza. Figured I might as well make the place as homey as possible if I was going to live here for the next few months. I told myself that I wasn’t avoiding the closet door. Of course, that was a lie. I'd felt much better in the hallway, talking to Omri, but back in the room, it was hard to forget the scare that I'd had. I couldn't wait to see Bobby again and give him a piece of my mind for the little stunt.

As promised, Omri was back pretty quickly. The meal consisted of a sandwich, bag of chips, cookie, and bottle of water. He must have seen something in my face.

"Don't worry. When we have more testers in the house, we'll actually start cooking real food. This is just temporary."

"No worries, this is fine." I meant it too. My stomach started to rumble as I eyed the tray. I hadn't realized how hungry I'd been. But it was close to midnight and lunch seemed long ago.

I dug in and Omri paced around the room, babbling on about his favorite soccer team and a new rap album that was about to come out. I grunted some replies around mouthfuls of food, just to be polite. The sandwich was actually pretty good. Down the hatch in no time.

Omri saw that I was finishing my last few bites. "Well, I'm sure you're tired. Get a good night's sleep, man. Tomorrow is going to blow your mind." He grabbed the tray and disappeared again before I could ask what he meant. He was pretty good at exiting a situation quickly.

I lay down in bed and my thoughts brushed up against the ball of anxiety and hurt that was Katie. Thankfully I was too tired and I fell asleep before I could dwell.

I had a dream.

It seemed like I woke up in the bunkroom. I sat up and rubbed sleep from my eyes. Looking around, however, something didn't quite feel right. The room was different somehow. Everything was slow and had soft edges.

I realized I wasn't actually awake when I tried to stand up. It was that feeling of moving through water. I had no strength. My feet touched the floor and I rose from bed at a quarter the speed I should have. I sort of needed to use the bathroom and began to walk in that direction.

But there was no bathroom door. Nor was there an empty doorframe where it had hung. Only smooth wall.

I looked around and began to feel very uncomfortable when I realized that the window and the door to the hallway were also gone. Okay, no big deal. This isn't real anyway. Just get in bed and go back to sleep. You don't even really have to pee. It's just a dream, remember?

I did so, slowly making my way to the bed through the thick atmosphere of my subconscious. Just as I'd fixed the covers the way I like them, there was a tiny tap.

My heart dropped.

The sound was so small a mouse could have made it. That must be it, I thought, squeezing my eyes shut. Just a rodent scurrying around. What a lame excuse.

Of course, it sounded again. Of course, it was louder this time.

I'm in a haunted house. Not even that, I'm in a dream about a haunted house. There were two taps, louder. This is just my mind processing the scene with Bobby from earlier. Must be.

Ignoring the tapping didn't help though. It just go louder and more frequent until I could almost pick out a rhythm. It would have been fun to imagine a little ghost drummer in there playing his heart out. But it wasn’t fun. It was terrifying.

A screaming voice suddenly mixed in with the pounding on the door. It sounded was if someone was being beaten in there. Maybe they were being thrown against the door? It would explain why the whole thing was rattling in its frame.

"Aaron! Aaron!" Whatever was in the closet started shrieking my name.

I jumped back out of bed and looked around for a way to help. There was nothing.

The force of the blows on the door was actually causing the wood to bulge in. The screaming continued and was making it hard to think.

I reached down and grabbed the handle of the door, knowing that it would be locked. There was a sudden blow, so heavy that a large crack appeared down the middle of the door. It was as if something had become angry with me for trying to help. I backed away, not knowing what to do.

And then, it stopped. Everything went quiet.

I heard a click and saw the doorknob make a quarter turn. Slowly, painfully slowly, the door swung open.

The light from the bunkroom only made its way a few feet into the closet. I couldn't see anything so I grabbed the lamp off the credenza and went to investigate.

As soon as I approached the closet again, I could hear heavy berthing. Slowly, I made my way into what proved to be a very deep closet. There were moth eaten coats and dusty cardboard boxes in heaps on both sides.

The light revealed a girl. Or a woman, it was hard to tell. She was curled up on her knees with her face in her hands. The heavy breathing was coming from her. I couldn't tell if she'd been crying or had lost her breath some other way.

"Ma'am?" She didn't respond.

I looked behind me and was disturbed to see that the door of the closet looked impossibly far away.

"Ma'am? Is everything alright?" Again, she said nothing. Her long black hair spilled out over her hands and into her lap. The motion of her heavy breathing made it look like an inky waterfall.

I reached down to touch her shoulder. When my hand got close to her, it became very cold, as if I'd dipped it in ice water. She twitched.

"I'd like to help you," I said.

I heard the tiniest whisper. "You can't."

My hand came to rest on her shoulder. The moment it made contact, she snatched her head up and her eyes met mine.

Except they weren't eyes. There were two glowing pools of red where the eyes should have been. I stumbled backwards as she began to scream through a smile so big, it seemed to run off the edges of her face.

I heard the door slam shut behind me and was trapped in a black void with the screaming woman.

And then I woke up, gasping and thanking every god I could think of that the dream was over. I can't describe how thankful I was to see the first tendrils of morning light slipping into the bedroom.

The bathroom and main doors were back in there proper places. The window had returned to its spot on the wall. Everything seemed to be right.

Except the closet door.

It was ajar.