If anyone had told Alice Drummond that she'd be spending her working hours in a haunted library she would have laughed them off with that quiet smile of hers. If she'd known the truth though, she would have run from the building, never to return.
Descending into the bowels of the building she quietly hummed to herself as she waited in the elevator. She didn't notice the floor number on the display screen start to pixelate and then disappear altogether, leaving behind a scattered "Error" message. Oblivious, she exited the lift, confronted by fluorescent lighting.
Employees always found the basement somewhat off-putting, unable to provide factual reasons other than an unsettling feeling and the occasional strange occurrence that couldn't be explained. No one ever mentioned the oddities they encountered when working. Some were too strange to be believed, some too unnerving and they only occurred when staff were alone, conveniently eliminating the possibility of witnesses. From low whispers over lunch to raucous confessions at New Year's Parties, all shared a common theme. Once they left the building, all phenomena ceased. In fact it caused enough chaos to force some staff to quit. One woman had even threatened to sue, claiming she'd been chased by a mop and then locked in a storage closet for hours. And of course there were those that claimed they never saw anything at all. It didn't bother Alice though. She was usually too busy to notice or care.
Blinking at the sudden contrast in brightness she made her way to the overflow, printout list in hand. Filed in compact storage eight years ago, the underground shelving had freed up space for a computer lab and community room upstairs. The absence of books had been startling in the beginning but it had drawn larger crowds with art shows, lectures and holiday events. Then again Alice had seen the transition from card catalogs to online collections and survived it so it wasn't an unfamiliar feeling. For some the turn had been too brisk, leaving many scrambling but not Alice. Several computer courses later she had fumbled her way through to a certificate of digital literacy. She couldn't type as well as some and often found herself lost when younger patrons made requests but she still had her job so she considered it a mark in the win column.
The printout in her hands was full as she walked down the aisles, looking for the right section. She slowly turned the wheels, moving the shelves down the anchored track to retrieve requests. She had given up trying to decipher the minds of young people long ago and so didn't bother to understand why so many were requesting books on vampires and superheroes. Her branch had only recently started carrying comic books, something Alice thought was an insult to books in general but she'd kept the grumbling to herself. The Head Librarian was a younger man who'd likely grown up on such things.
As she puttered about, her arm feeling the strain of moving shelves to and fro, she didn't notice when one of the wheels on a unit started to turn of its own accord. She was far too busy reaching for a book. Quietly the shelves behind her started to slowly slide in her direction, inching along the grooved track. Her nails scrabbled for purchase on the spine of a book as the weight of 2000 pounds of paper crept towards her 110 pound body. She made a face and dug in with her nails, pulling until she wrenched the book free, staggering back. Exasperated she marched out of the unit, not noticing how the gap had narrowed between shelves. Her shoulders brushed the sides as she exited, her brow furrowed as she stared down at the paper in her hand, shifting the heavy books in her arms.
The wheel continued to rotate as she walked away, halting with a jerk when she looked up. Alice frowned, swearing there'd been something in her periphery. She shook off the uncanny feeling of being watched and struggled to dump the books on the nearest cart. It happened to be the one with the bad wheel that she'd already warned Miranda twice about getting fixed. Alice muttered in Gaelic under her breath, using all the limited vocabulary her grandmother had taught her as a child. That girl was trouble and this time she was going to make sure Roger knew it. As she moved to shuttle everything back towards the elevator she heard a loud bang behind her and nearly fell over in surprise.
Turning in apprehension, she watched as the compact shelving moved, wheels spinning madly as each shelf rolled into the next in succession. The sound was cacophonous as metal slammed into metal with such violence it knocked the wheels out of the rubber track, punching books onto the floor.
The sound echoed throughout the basement, reminding her she was alone. Alice stood frozen, heart beating like a frantic rabbit. She'd never before been witness to anything of the supernatural sort and yet here and now she felt a tingling at the back of her neck. Each shelving unit was locked in place for safety reasons and could only be manually disengaged. And yet there was no one else in sight.
Unwilling to find out if anyone was playing tricks on her she swallowed the fear growing at the back of her throat. Gripping tight to the car she whipped around and double-timed it to the elevator. She pushed the call button several times, fighting the urge to look behind her. When the doors finally dinged open she was confronted with a stranger. There in front of her stood an old woman in a long dress. Alice was about to tell her that the area was restricted when she glanced down and noticed the woman didn't have any legs. For a beat it didn't register until she looked at the woman's face. An eyeless ghoul stared back. Alice shrieked, her voice echoing through the basement but there was no one to hear her screams.
.oOo.
The Psych Department was well-respected at the University of Arkadia. Housed in Weaver Hall it had spent the past 90 years evolving into a modern institution through a painful period of bunk theories and questionable experiments. If asked some would tell you there were still several odd ducks that worked within its walls and they all seemed to be centred in the Paranormal Studies Laboratory.
Walking past their door one would see "Burn in hell Reyes" was written in red sharpie, a rather permanent exclamation of hatred against one of the more incorrigible professors and her strange experiments. Occasionally a student left the lab with a less than satisfactory experience but due to a binding waiver form and the full force of the university's legal team, they were never able to do anything about it but complain. That isn't to say that Reyes didn't employ some possibly questionable techniques.
Her latest study involved pitting two test subjects against one another. Raven referred to them in private as her "little rats". They consisted of broke students looking for beer money, a reality she was happy to exploit. It was unlikely anyone else would have allowed her such liberties with their minds and bodies; the fact that she was allowed to conduct her 'tests' using the university's money was a bonus.
"All right. I'm gonna turn over the next card. Now I need you to concentrate. Tell me what you think it is." Raven held up an oversized card with a star printed on it, practically daring the blonde in front of her to screw up.
Jennifer paused for a moment, hesitant as she played with her necklace while nervously glancing at the card.
"Square."
Raven fought the smirk that pulled at the edge of her mouth. "Good guess, but wrong."
Her hand moved to her homemade 'shockbox'. Built of whatever she had lying around in her junk drawer she was rather proud of the crude construction. Of course, she'd still be submitting an expense claim as it did take time out of her busy afternoons. Normally she'd be playing Mario Kart online with her old lab partner Kenneth. Stationed at Ramstein, he never had much time to talk but she sure did enjoy racking up a future beer tab whenever she beat his ass on Rainbow Road.
If pressed she'd admit she sometimes enjoyed being a dick to people. Her current rat's attitude made it that much easier for her to flip the switch and deliver a jolt of electricity to the 'English Major' who'd been smacking her gum since she sat down. So it wasn't without a certain amount of enjoyment when Jennifer jumped in her chair. Raven was sure to take notes though because at the end of the day she still needed to present a paper and data was data.
Then she turned to the real gem of the study, Andrew. A man with the kind of hair you just wanted to run your hands through. He had an easy-going smile and seemed eager to please. Raven had glanced at his hands and hips in his first interview and wondered just how eager he really was. After the study was concluded she had every intention of finding out.
"Clear your head. All right. Tell me what you think it is." She held up another card.
"Is it a star?" He flashed those pearly whites and ooh boy he was dangerous. He knew exactly what he was doing. Fortunately Raven knew how to play that game too.
"It is a star. Very good." She returned his smile with one of her own.
It was poor Jennifer's turn again and yes, Raven was enjoying the back and forth of it all. A little flirt and a little hurt. She couldn't help if they were both hopeless when it came to ESP. After all she was 'doing science' as she would often claim when Monty questioned her ideas.
"Think hard. What is it?"
"Circle," Jennifer blurted out, seemingso sure this time. Alas Raven had to expose her failure as well as rub it in.
"Close. But definitely wrong."
This time she left the switch on a beat longer and watched with glee as Jennifer spit her gum out at the shock. Finally! The feeling didn't last long though as 'Jenn' pulled out a new piece from her purse and started chewing. Ignoring the smacking of Jenn's mouth flaps, Raven just tightened her smile and turned to Andrew, holding up his next card.
"Alright. What is it?"
He paused for a moment as if he was actually thinking about it rather than guessing. "Figure eight."
"That's five for five. You can't see these can you?" She ignored the even-sided cross printed on the card and just focused on Andrew.
"No I swear they're just coming to me." He licked his lips and she thought of all the ways she could put that tongue to use. Andrew was beaming. Jenn looked like she'd eaten something that disagreed with her.
"Nervous?" Raven did her best to keep the edge out of her voice.
"Yeah. I don't like this," Jenn frowned.
"Well you only have 75 more to go. What's this one?"
The girl paused for a moment, looking to the ceiling as she cautiously answered. "Couple wavy lines."
Fighting a frown Raven quickly glanced at the card. Lucky guess. But she wasn't about to give Jenn the satisfaction of celebrating.
"Sorry; look like this isn't your lucky day."
She inched towards the shockbox, drawing out the anticipation. Andrew winked and she smirked back as she flipped the switch.
Jenn wasn't the least bit pleased, having caught the look between the two. "You've gotta be kidding me!"
"What's the problem? You volunteered didn't you? We're paying you aren't we?" Raven leaned forward, brow raised.
"Yeah but I didn't know you were going to be giving me electric shocks. What are you trying to prove anyway?" Jenn was thoroughly miffed, a disgusted look plastered across her face.
"I'm studying the effect of negative reinforcement on ESP ability."
"The effect? I'll tell you what the effect is! It's pissing me off!" Jenn stood, glaring.
Raven shrugged. "Looks like my theory might be correct then."
"You know what? You can keep your 50 bucks! I'm done!"
"Ok. Bye."
Raven gave a little wave as Jennifer ripped the sensor off her finger, grabbed her purse and stalked out of the lab, slamming the door behind her. It wasn't a total loss. Money had been saved AND Raven had found a shiny new toy to play with.
"That went well." Andrew pulled the sensor off and put his hands behind his head. "So you think I'm psychic doc?"
She smirked for a moment. "Oh I definitely think you've got something. But we're going to have to do some in-depth studies to know for sure."
Before they could reach any real consensus about what these 'studies' would consist of, a blonde came barrelling into the room.
"This is it Raven! This is definitely it!" She brushed past the two and started rummaging around in for equipment. "Did those UV lenses come in for the camera yet? And that SD card. I need it. The one you erased yesterday."
"Just gimme a minute," Raven gave Andrew her best hundred watt smile before walking up to Clarke, sneer pasted on her face.
"I'm right in the middle of something Clarke." Raven explained through gritted teeth.
Clarke glanced over at Raven's next conquest who'd pulled out his phone and was now surfing Tinder. Broad-shouldered and clean-shaven he was along the lines of Raven's usual prey. She raised a brow. "He clearly doesn't know what he's getting into does he?"
"That's the whole point."
"You know I'm pretty sure your sample size is gonna be tainted if you keep sleeping with your subjects." Clarke crossed her arms at her friend's blatant disregard for the scientific method.
"I could easily change the parameters. 'Measuring the effect of positive reinforcement on ESP ability'."
"They gonna give you winning lotto numbers while you're riding them into the floor?"
Raven shrugged and smirked. "One can only hope. What's up?"
"Someone spotted a free-floating full torso vaporous apparition at the main branch of the Public Library. It blew books off the shelves from twenty feet away and scared the shit out of some poor librarian."
Raven made a face and crossed her arms. "That's great. You get on that. I'll be here, holding the fort along with other things," she glanced at Andrew.
Clarke shook her head, undeterred. "No Raven you're coming with us on this one. Monty went down there. He took PKE valances, went right off the top of the scale. Buried the needle. We're close on this one I can feel it."
Raven took a deep breath, pushing the air out her nose. As much as she hated being dragged away from a sure thing she'd made a promise. Anything of substance and she'd make an appearance. They were a team no matter what nonsense Clarke and Monty had found. And because she was an adult she sucked it up and went to go break the bad news.
"I have to go now Andrew but I'd like to work with you some more. Could you come back to the lab say at…"
"Eight?" He flashed her a brilliant smile. It was slightly irritating because she was probably going to have to throw this fish back.
"You know I was just gonna say that."
.oOo.
Clarke and Raven walked up to the Library, currently undergoing extensive renovations.
"As your friend and the current skeptic of this group, I have to tell you you've finally lost it. You and Monty have been running your asses off meeting and greeting every schizo in the five boroughs who says he had a paranormal experience. Clarke," Raven grabbed her arm and look her in the eye. "Have you ever actually seen anything?"
Clarke shrugged her off as they walked in through the heavy oak doors and gave her a weak grin. "There was that sponge migration."
"Oh bullshit Griffin!" Her outburst earned them several pissed off glances that she completely ignored. "When are you gonna own up to the fact that this is all just…" She waved her hands in the air, "bunk and hokum?"
"Bunk? And hokum?" Clarke fought a grin, biting her lower lip. Raven had an extensive vocabulary and was usually blunter than she had to be.
The mechanic shrugged, "I finally got around to using that word of the day calendar you guys got me."
Clarke frowned. "But it's September."
"Yeah so?"
As they walked through the Reading Hall they spotted Monty. He was easy to pick out in the crowd, sitting on the floor under a table, fiddling with one of his many gadgets. Engulfed by his trenchcoat, the young doctor was immersed in his work and didn't notice Raven sneak up on him. She quickly pulled out her phone and swiped to her dash, tapping her "Foghorn" app before pushing the play button right above the table. The poor doctor jumped, smacking his head. Slowly he crept out to join his colleagues, rubbing a red welt that was forming on his forehead.
"Well?" Raven folded her arms
"This is big Raven. There's definitely something here."
As they bickered Monty continued to fine-tune the measurements he was getting. All were oblivious as they were approached by an old man with a slight stoop to his shoulders. A voice called out from behind them.
"I'm Roger Delacorte. You're the specialists from the university?" His hopeful optimism was dashed when they turned around. Practically babes in arms. His disappointment was palpable but the three were too distracted to notice.
"I'm Dr. Reyes. Dr. Griffin. Monty." The young woman introduced them with a wide smile.
Roger couldn't help but shake their hands. After all they did have titles attached to their names. But their fresh faces reminded him of those youths who'd kept pestering him about the Wi-Fi password last week. As long as they could help he would...ignore their inexperience.
The entire situation was clearly out of his wheelhouse and all he wanted was for the problem to disappear. He'd made the library his career because it was quiet and now that solitude was being threatened by a frazzled employee making wild claims that could very well all be in her head. If these 'doctors' could help then he supposed he could bite his tongue and let them do whatever it was they did. Currently they were babbling on in front of him using diction he'd never even heard of. His only consolation was the sooner they fixed things, the sooner they could leave.
"I'm sure we can be expeditious about this yes?"
"Hey now. We don't even know what you've got yet." Dr. Reyes laid a hand on his shoulder, a serious look on her face.
He rankled at her condescending tone. "If you would come this way please." He ushered them into the Returns Office where Alice Drummond was currently lying on a desk, convalescing with a jacket under her head. Roger had thought her babbling akin to griping about the legwork she had to do. But he made the introductions all the same and while he didn't believe a word of her story, he stayed to hear her recount the events in the basement. Clarke had her phone set to record as they surrounded poor Alice.
"I don't remember seeing any legs but it definitely had arms because it reached out for me."
"Arms?" Clarke felt like she was going to burst. Finally something more concrete than creaking floorboards and rusty plumbing.
Raven did her best to be reassuring. "We have a couple of standard questions that we ask in these sorts of cases. Have you or any member of your family ever been diagnosed schizophrenic or mentally incompetent?"
Alice paused, her brow furrowed before she offered up "My uncle thought he was St. Jerome."
"Guess that's a yes." Raven and Clarke shared a look while Monty pulled out his phone and started tapping away. Plausibility was plummeting.
"Are you habitually using drugs, stimulants, alcohol?"
"No!" The elderly librarian was miffed at the very question. She'd had an experience and now everyone was trying to tell her it hadn't happened. Even Roger had brushed her off before she'd threatened to call the police.
"Have you ever had a disagreement with a coworker or boss? Would anyone here ever want to harm you in any way?"
"What has that got to do with it?" Roger interjected. Just what was this lady implying?
"I'm trying to determine the scope and nature of Alice's experience so with all respect, back off and leave the science to me."
Before Roger could respond with an angry epithet, Monty looked up from his gadget, eyes wide.
"Clarke. It's moving."
All three scrambled out of the office with Clarke peering over Monty's shoulder and Raven trailing behind. They inevitably made their way over to the elevator and paused before the shiny metal doors. Alice hadn't exactly been detailed about what she'd seen but it had clearly rattled her. And that feeling had apparently rubbed off on them, their apprehension evident from their static state. Finally Clarke punched the call button and they slowly piled in, descending towards the basement and the unknown.
As the doors slide open Monty took the lead, his eyes firmly set on the PKE meter and the lights on the sensors. Clarke had her phone out recording anything she thought might be relevant. Raven brought up the rear, unconvinced that a ghost had been the cause for Alice's scare.
The familiar hum of fluorescents and the sound of footsteps filled the empty space. Rows upon rows of metal shelving stood before them, the walls a light beige that wouldn't have been out of place in a prison or parking garage. As they walked down the aisles they were confronted with a vertical stack of books taller than the units themselves. Monty and Clarke immediately began documenting and scanning the tower.
"This is hot Clarke." The sensors flickered red as Monty waved the meter over the stack.
Raven rolled her eyes. "Right. Cause nobody would ever stack books like this."
Clarke wrinkled her nose as she filmed the stack top to bottom. "Do you guys smell something?"
They walked further down the aisles and closer to an acrid sour vinegar smell. Soon enough they found books strewn across the floor. Shelving units were knocked askew and dripping in goop that clearly had no business being there.
"Clarke look at this!" Monty swept the meter over the goo, lights blinking a steady red now, the sensors extending.
"Talk about activity. Ectoplasmic residue." Clarke's eyes grew wide as she moved from shelf to shelf filming everything.
"Raven get a sample." Monty tossed her a petri dish.
"Somebody blows their nose and you wanna keep it?" The two wandered off without answering, putting their heads together muttering about readings. "Hey why do I always get stuck doing the gross stuff?" Raven yelled after them. She managed to get Monty's 'sample' but also ended up with her fingers coated in the gunk. "Yuck." She started wiping her hands off on the nearest books, grimacing.
It took her several minutes to catch up to them, trying to follow the sound of their footsteps. She would never admit that the place gave her the creeps but she definitely didn't like the idea of being alone in the basement. She caught a glimpse of Monty's coat down an aisle and jogged to catch up to them.
"Monty, your mucous." She tossed him back the dish, goop and all.
Before he could respond in kind a shelving unit behind them tipped over and slammed into the one next to it, spilling books all over the floor. They all jumped. Slowly Raven turned to Clarke.
"Has this…ever happened to you before?"
Clarke shook her head, eyes boring into Raven's. She was actively avoiding looking at the bookcase that had moved on its own. But her hand was held up towards it, still recording. She might be scared but she was still a scientist.
"Oh," was all Raven could muster. Maybe this hadn't been such a good idea. Andrew had been so cute. Like a chocolate lab just waiting for her to tell him to roll over. Why had she decided to come along again?
Monty was unphased by the entire event. He only had eyes for his PKE meter which was starting to act up. The lights flashed, the sensors extended, the hum it emitted slowly pitched upwards with every step they took. Raven and Clarke followed along behind, watching as he weaved in between aisles, not wanting to be left behind.
The trio walked out from an aisle and not ten feet in front of them was an apparition with no legs, reading a book. Dressed in a diaphanous gown that ended somewhere beyond where her knees should have been, she was floating several feet off the ground. Her hair was pulled back into a severe bun and she seemed engrossed what she was reading.
Monty couldn't speak, his mouth gaping open as he staring at the transparent woman in front of them.
"A full torso apparition. And its real." Clarke was giddy, beyond giddy. All she and Monty could do was stare. Their whole lives. Their whole lives they'd been waiting for something like this! They'd chased after hundreds of false leads, endured mind-numbing hours on stakeouts, fixed faulty equipment with scrounged parts and dealt with those who'd scoffed at their line of work. Finally, finally it had paid off!
"What do we do now?" Raven hissed, watching her colleagues frozen in fascination.
Clarke and Monty looked at each other with no answer forthcoming. They'd never actually encountered a spectre before and were unsure about how to proceed. Clearly the library wouldn't want it hanging around so they'd have to catch it somehow. But they had no experience and more importantly no equipment apart from Monty's PKE meter.
"Would you get over here!" Raven whispered at them, backing away from the ghost. She couldn't believe this. "Did we seriously come here with no plan? What. do. we. do?"
"I don't know. What do you think?" Clarke turned to Monty.
He looked down at the readings from his meter as if it would have the answers he didn't and Raven practically slapped it from his hand. "Stop that!"
"We have to make contact. One of us should try to speak to it," Clarke urged. From what she'd read communication was key.
"Good idea," Monty nodded.
The two turned to Raven in unison, expectation writ large on their faces. There was no denying the woman was the mouthpiece for the group. She gave the speeches and the presentations to the Board, charming everyone with her wit and easy candour.
Raven closed her eyes. "Fuck. Really?" The two silently pleaded, knowing it was two against one. "Fine," she growled and stalked out from the stacks, hoping it wouldn't be her last act on Earth.
The ghost had ignored the entire exchange and was instead holding a physical object in her ethereal hands. Raven couldn't tell if she was disturbed or impressed by the act but she wasn't close enough to see the book title anyway so it didn't matter. Judging by the woman's clothes she'd been dead a while but there was no telling how she'd died. Apart from her missing legs there were no apparent physical marks on her.
"Hi. I'm Raven." She tried not to sound nervous but the entire idea was stupid. What do you say to a ghost?
Clarke and Monty were both filming the entire encounter from a safe distance of course.
"Where are you from? Originally."
The ghost turned her head slowly and put a hand to her lips, shushing Raven who immediately paled. The ghost could definitely both hear and see her which was not necessarily a good thing. She retreated, pulling Clarke and Monty with her.
"This isn't working."
"Okay I've got something," Clarke offered.
They crept out from behind the stacks again, slowly creeping up to the ghost.
"Stay close and do exactly as I say. Ready? Get her!"
The trio leapt towards the ghost who immediately dropped the book and roared at them, growing ten feet in size. A lipless mouth exposed teeth and eyeless sockets sunk into her face. Her white hair whipped about as if blown by the wind, her dressed melting off of her to expose a skeleton beneath.
All three screamed in terror, feeling something akin to what Alice Drummond must have felt when confronted in the elevator.