Indelicate Murmurs

          What’s the scariest thing that’s ever happened to you? Surely, you must be joking. You are talking to a dead guy after all. My death was truly the stuff nightmares are made of. Any of you guys know Stephen King? Tell him if he’s looking for inspiration, I have the perfect story for him.

            You see I grew up in a small town. When I say small, I mean very small. It’s only 85 miles long from end to end. It’s one of the smallest counties in the entire state. The place doesn’t even have traffic lights. Everybody knows everybody and if you want anything to do, let’s just say it’s going to be a bit of a car ride. Some 15 miles away you can find civilization with a Walmart, Applebee’s, Chic-Fil-A and whatever else your heart may desire. Not in this town though. Oh no. Forget about anything like that. The most exciting thing to do here is to go hang out in the parking lot of a grocery store with all your friends. If you’re lucky enough, you just may get run off by the cops. Exhilarating, I know.

            I was only 19 years old then with my whole life ahead of me. I had recently finished up high school and was awaiting the start of community college the following fall. I did the one thing that made sense to me. I got myself a job. It wasn’t really anything to write home about. It was a simple server job at this French inspired bistro about five minutes up the road from my house. Often times I found myself walking to work. Talk about convenience. Le Petite Bistro was this little restaurant that served quick bites and drinks to the masses. The owner was this sweet but sometimes quirky woman who reminded me an awful lot of Ouiser Bordeaux from Steel Magnolias. There were good days working with her and then there were some bad ones. It was as simple as that. You just had to roll with it and hope for the best. Most nights after I finished up at the bistro, I walked home in the dark along Secondary Street. That street was always so beautiful lit up with its different street lights along each side. I would often occupy my mind with the different businesses around and observe how they looked so much more different in the dark. There was Reardon’s Appliances, the Art Gallery on Secondary, the U.S. Post Office, Miller’s Texaco and Henley and Hunley’s Funeral Home. I always had to smile as I walked past the Texaco as that was once run by my grandfather Frederick Miller for many long years. It was his legacy and with his name printed on the building- I could never forget that. By the time I’d get home most nights I would usually be so tired I would just go straight to bed. Unlike most of my friends, I would not go hang out in the grocery store parking lot with them.

            There was one night in particular though, the night I should say, where that changed for me. It was closing time at the bistro. My good friend Allen and I were finishing up our closing duties. He was mopping up the kitchen while I was sweeping the dining areas. After we had finally finished and locked up the building, Allen stopped me before I headed off for the night.

“Hey man, any plans this evening?” He asked me curiously. I could tell he was up to something but what it was, I had no clue.

“Not really,” I told him. “I may do some reading when I get home but that’s about it. I’ve been getting sucked into this really good book called The Coffin Dancer by Jeffrey Deaver. It’s an intense read.” Little did he know but I had kind of an obsession with thriller/suspense stories at that point in time.

“Oh ok. That sounds cool. I was just going to ask if you’d be interested in going ghost hunting with me tonight?”

I assumed he was joking. “Ghost hunting? You mean like going into creepy buildings and talking to spirits like the TAPS guys on Syfy?”

“Yeah! Exactly like that. What do you think?”

I didn’t really hesitate with a response. I was totally in. “Count me in dude. Sounds like fun. Where can we go at this hour?”

“Rolling Meadows Nursing Home,” he said.

            Those four little words rang out in the canyons of my ears. I knew that place. I had never been there but I had heard some super creepy stories while I was growing up as a kid. We jumped into Allen’s jet black Toyota RAV 4 and off we went. Along the way, we ended up calling a mutual friend of ours, Drake and we ended up bringing him along for our little excursion. Drake was what you would call a skeptic at the time. He had grown up in a strict religious household so he didn’t necessarily believe in ghosts. And that was fine. We didn’t judge him for it one bit. He was still open minded enough to come though which we were glad of.

            As we started getting close to our destination, Allen pointed at it up ahead in the distance. He decelerated the car now to a snail’s pace as we moved along the tree strewn dirt road. It was more than just dark out. It was purely pitch black. There was nothing like setting the tone for a ghost hunting adventure. My heart, the crazy rock drummer that it was, pounded away at its set within my chest. Its sounds filled my ears which added to the already eerie tension which had developed over the course of the car ride. Allen turned the car wheel sharply into the driveway and we came to a halt.

            The driveway was long and had a concrete U-Shape to it. It was surrounded by different patches of ornate landscaping which had all but seen better days. We retrieved our things from Allen’s car and stepped out into the night. It was beautiful out. I could tell we were near the ocean. I could hear waves crashing in the distance somewhere. It was peaceful. My eyes adjusted to the dark of the night and soaked in the building before me. It wasn’t exactly The Overlook Hotel but it was most certainly creepy. I almost didn’t want to go in. Something compelled me forward though. While Allen and Drake just sort of stood there, I walked toward the multi-unit white edifice and found a way in. The doors were covered in overgrown briar patches and various plant species. I found a way in through a large but empty bay window on the front of the building. I had a flashlight that I took from Allen’s car so I scanned it around the room I was about to jump in. Everything appeared to be as quiet as the grave. There was nothing to worry about as far as I was concerned. I climbed inside.

“Dude, you’re ballsy,” Allen said. “Be careful, ok?”

“I think I can handle myself.”

Drake chimed in, “This place seriously gives me the creeps. I can feel goose bumps on my arm already. Something isn’t right.”

“We haven’t even been here five minutes yet. Chill out man. Thought you were a skeptic?” Allen asked playfully.

“I am,” Drake said. “There isn’t anything wrong with me being open minded though is there? Plus this just makes me think of something out of Silent Hill. I swear if some messed up twitching nurse comes out of a dark hallway, I’m done. Stick a fork in me- I’m out of here.”

            We all laughed. Allen and I both knew Drake was just being goofy but there was some truth to what he said. As the silence of the place settled into our bones, we relaxed. We explored all over the place, scanning our flashlights up and down every wall. We poked our heads into every room. Everywhere we went I could hear extra sets of footsteps that belonged to no one. They just sort of followed along in the darkness and observed from the shadows. I dared not turn around. I easily could have but decided not to in fear of what I might find.

            A sharp turn into the dark led us up a long hallway caressed by the dark of the night. Mother Moon watched over the building from the heavens above. As we walked along slowly, her gorgeous eyes appeared to gleam through every window. Allen and Drake sort of broke off venturing into different rooms that they would find. I stood there in the center of the hallway stock still. I listened intently. There was something up ahead in the distance. Just on the very end of the right hand side, I could hear what sounded like someone throwing back the covers in bed. Every hair on my neck stood at attention. All I could think was, “Oh shit.”

            I knew what I heard. I could hear it quite plainly. I hunkered down in the doorway of a nearby room and called out to my friends. Someone was in that room at the end of the hall. They were out of bed now and coming to the door to see who was in their house.

“Allen?” I called out. “Drake? Where are you guys? Someone else is here.”

            Within the blink of an eye, an elderly man in a white hospital gown appeared in the doorway I was now getting overly anxious about. His hair was disheveled and the look on his face was not a pleasant one. His eyes locked on mine. I froze. This elderly man, whoever he was, bore right into my soul. We both just sort of sat there locked in this epic staring contest. I couldn’t back down. Even if I wanted too, I don’t think I could. Suddenly some faint piano music could be heard coming from a room very close to me. It struck terror in my heart and I’m guessing it got to Allen and Drake because they came flying out of that room where the music was.

“Oh my God! What the hell was that?” Allen screamed in disbelief.

Drake replied, “Dude, that piano totally freaking played by itself. We never touched it.”

I got up and approached them. “Guys, lower your voices. There’s some serious activity in this hallway. I just discovered the spirit of an old man down that way.” I gestured in the appropriate direction. Both Allen and Drake turned their heads.

            The elderly man was no longer at the end of the hall though. He was in the center of it and walking toward us slowly. Drake, the more religious one out of all of us, grabbed his cross necklace and held onto it tight.

He held it out in front of him and started to repeat in a firm but clear voice, “May the power of Christ compel you.”

Allen chuckled softly but Drake continued and he did not falter. He kept repeating that same mantra over and over again like he was a highly trained exorcist. Allen and I just sort of stood there watching to see what would happen next. The elderly man flickered before our eyes now. He flickered like he was a distorted image and then he vanished completely. Drake turned around in disbelief.

“I can’t believe it. It actually worked,” he said.

            All of a sudden a gigantic heat wave surrounded me. From where it came I know not where. I felt like I was suffocating. I fell to my knees trying to catch my breath. I clawed at my throat, gasping for air. Allen ran over to me and grabbed a hold of me. He kept trying to get through to me. He kept reassuring me it was going to be okay.

            Drake didn’t say anything. I think he must have sensed it deep down. For what happened next was like something straight out of the movies. He walked right up to me, still holding that cross and he pressed it into my forehead hard. Using his other hand he shined his flashlight in my face.

Allen let go of me and started to yell with him, “Hey, what are you doing?”

“Just trust me, ok? I know this looks insane but I got a feeling,” Drake replied.

            Drake then tried repeating that same mantra once more that he had been repeating when out of no where something came over me. I fell to the floor violently and began convulsing all over. I could feel as my eyes evolved and rolled into the back of their sockets for their new transformation. Something was happening to me. Within a matter of seconds, my body went limp. All was quiet. Drake leaned down to check and see if I was still alive. No pulse. Out of nowhere he was suddenly thrown across the room by an unseen force. Needless to say, when he hit that concrete wall way at the other end, his neck snapped in multiple places. There was no coming back from that.

            Allen went over to my lifeless body and he talked to me. He begged. He pleaded. I had to be alive. This was all some sort of joke he thought. Right there on the spot, Allen dropped to his knees in front of me and closed his eyes. As his eye lids met, my spirit left its vessel and floated above the scene where I watched vigilantly. One look told me everything, I was definitely dead. Last thing I remembered was being possessed by the spirit of this angered elderly man who we awoke so rudely. So many thoughts ran through my head in those few short moments’ right before I died.  Scary thing is- they weren’t MY thoughts. When Drake touched my forehead with the cross I’m guessing he must have sent that spirit to his proper resting place. As for me though, I got the short end of the stick.

            My good friend Allen clasped his hands together. I watched him closely as he took a deep breath. He was looking for the right words I could tell. A few moments passed where he just sort of found himself sitting there in the dark with me before he finally said anything. He spoke and it wasn’t directed to me.

“God, hey it’s Allen. Look, I’ve never been one to pray really and I apologize for that. I’ve just never really been all that religious. Don’t get me wrong, my heart is in the right place and everything. I’m very spiritual. I just don’t go to church. What happened here tonight is a great tragedy. I didn’t know what to expect honestly other than my friends and me hanging out trying to spook ourselves. It was just supposed to be a bit of fun, you know? My eyes are open though. Oh, they are open and they are open wide. There’s more to this life than most of us realize. We shouldn’t have gone looking for answers though. It wasn’t our place. Two of my friends have died. Lord, I ask you now to please forgive us. Send these innocent souls to a peaceful place and let them be at rest. In your name I pray, Amen.”

            I floated back down to the floor and my essence sort of reinvigorated itself right there in that moment. I had an actual human shape to me again. Should I say something here? Could I? I honestly didn’t know. My right hand began to tremble as I attempted to reach out for Allen. I willed myself to touch him. My hand found its way to his shoulders.

“Allen?” I said.

            All I heard next was this intense inhale of the dense oxygen in their air and then Allen turned around to lay eyes on me horrified. He had no words. His eyes went extremely wide. His face drained itself of all color as if he had exsanguinated himself. The lips attached to his face curled and look as if they were forming words. Nothing coherent came out though. He just kept muttering and it was nonsense. Then a bright light shined through the windows of the building and swallowed us up. It wasn’t the moon either. I stood there tall within the light as its beams showed through me. Mine and Drake’s bodies were swept away by it without so much as a word. The all too familiar sounds of piano music kicked up again from that same mysterious room as before. I ignored it. Allen did not though. It grabbed a hold of his attention.

“Don’t worry about me, Allen. I’ll be fine,” I said to him solemnly. I started to back a way from him slowly when a tall shadowy figure with red eyes brushed past me walking toward Allen fast. A cloud of noxious smoke was left in his wake which filled the air.

 “Allen get out of here!” I yelled.

            My poor friend did not hesitate. He ran from the building as fast as his feet would carry him and he did not stop until he got to the car. I chased that shadowy figure down and used every ounce of spiritual energy I had to hurl his ass into another part of the building. I imagined we would cross paths again later. I then walked to the window and stood there watching my friend drive off into the night leaving me behind. There was no easy way to accept the fact that I could never leave again. It’s something that I just had to grow accustomed to over the course of time.

            “You asked me at the beginning of this, ‘What’s the scariest thing that’s ever happened to you?’ Now you know. Don’t take your life for granted. Maybe one of these days I’ll figure this ghost thing out and move on to go haunt my folks’ house. Seriously though, I share this place with dozens of other spirits and entities. We all get along for the most part but there are some of us who just don’t play nicely with others. I caution you to tred wisely. I’ve roamed these halls for a solid twenty years now. I never know what’s around the corner waiting for me next.”

            Phil from Haunting Whispers Investigations cut off his camera and shut the video screen. He motioned to the three other investigators that carried spirit boxes and other various pieces of investigative equipment. They all split off into different directions. Phil and I found ourselves very much alone.

            “That was an incredible story. I caught every bit of it on tape but I can’t guarantee it will play back the way it should. I heard it all first hand though and all I can say is I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be,” I told him.

“Tell me though, what about the shadow people? How many are there? Did the shadow man who went after your friend ever return?” He went on to ask me.

            “The shadow people are not of heaven or hell. They are there own special breed and some of them aren’t very nice. No one really knows where they come from. As for the shadow man with the red eyes, he calls himself Enenra. Some say he’s a Japanese demon. I don’t really know. I would NOT go looking for him if I were you.

Phil waved to me and disappeared in one of the rooms on the hallway with his equipment. Yes, it was the hallway where I died. Believe it or not, I took Enenra’s old room where the piano music can always be heard. It’s not so bad really. I stood there and watched. I waited. I had made contact with these guys to warn them but the real question was, would they heed my advice?

This place has been abandoned for decades now. People are drawn to it though. They come here year after year seeking to find out if there is life after death. They graffiti the walls, they bring in their Ouija boards, and they take photographs. Most of them just want to have a good scare.  If you want my advice, stop coming here. Enjoy life while you have it. We exist, okay? We’re here just like you are. I’ve come to be the protector of this place and I can tell you that your indelicate murmurs don’t always fall on deaf ears.