Chapter Fourteen
The first flight from South Dakota to Alabama was schedule to leave at 6:35 A.M., and for Myka, Pete, Claudia and Steve to make that flight, they left the bed and breakfast two and a half hours before.
At the clinic, Tuesday morning at 6:00 A.M., Ronnie began dreaming about a construction crew replacing the decaying wooden floors in the lobby of Archie's Bed and Breakfast with new wood.
Within the dream, Roy O'Neal (a mentally challenged construction worker) was being picked on and bullied by another worker named Tony Smith. Roy verbally channeled his anger towards the head of his hammer, but when Tony took away the hammer, Roy snapped and attacked Tony with a handsaw. Tony's hand—the hand holding the hammer—was severed off, and soon after Roy retrieved his hammer, he began using it to fight off the other workers who were trying to restrain him. The wooden handle to the hammer quickly broke and the head of the hammer fell in the space that would eventually get covered by floor slats.
Roy was soon subdued after his hammer broke, and within fifteen minutes Roy was taken away by the police. Tony was rushed to the hospital along with his severed hand, and when the other workers resumed their work, the hammer head to the broken hammer was overlooked within the floor and was covered up by floor slats.
Ronnie was quickly startled awake by a man demanding for her to wake up.
Ronnie shot up into a sitting position and her gaze quickly landed on the ghost (Roy's ghost) that was standing next to her bed.
When Roy saw the fear in Ronnie's eyes, he told her, "I can't hurt you, nor do I want to. So please don't be scared."
"Easier said than done," Ronnie replied.
Roy nodded in agreement before saying, "My mental illness only inflicted my body and not my soul, but of course it took me a few days after my death for me to realize that I was no longer inflicted with mental illness or my body's limitations."
"You're a spirit," Ronnie said as if that fact was suddenly clear to her.
"Oh, you thought I was actually standing here in the flesh," Roy said, also as if that fact was suddenly clear to him.
"You're my second ghost and both of you have appeared to me very solidly and not ghostly," Ronnie explained.
"I now understand your confusion," he replied. "Anyway, when I was alive, my name was Roy Alexander O'Neal, and I gave you the dream that you just had; although, for me it wasn't a dream; it was the memory to the worst day of my life. In fact, that day had changed the course of my life and not for the better."
"I can imagine," Ronnie replied.
"I believe you can," Roy replied. "Anyway, I know that you now associate with that group that goes around and collects objects with special supernatural properties."
"They call them… well, we call them artifacts," Ronnie informed.
"Yes, well, the head of my hammer is an artifact," Roy said. "I don't know how I did it, but somehow I cursed the hammer head of my hammer with rage. When someone is as close as forty steps from the hammer head, they become angry and the closer someone is to the hammer head the angrier that person will become. So you need to tell your associates about it, so they can bury it so deep that it won't affect anyone else."
"I'll tell them at the first chance I get," Ronnie assured Roy.
"Thank you," Roy replied. "I wasn't really a bad person when I was alive, and I couldn't rest while knowing that that hammer head was hurting people because of me; in fact, it took me thirty-five years to find someone like you."
"How did you know to come to me?" Ronnie asked.
"Someone is going to open the bed and breakfast again very soon and the last two times the bed and breakfast had opened, the shorter man of your associates showed up," Roy began. "The first time he had, I didn't know what he was doing, but when he showed up the second time, I figured out that he was searching for my hammer head; even though he didn't really know what he was looking for. So I followed him. I tried to communicate with him, but obviously I couldn't. I had even followed him back to that building within the side of the mountain. I tried to follow him inside the building, but something had kept me from entering the building. Anyway, as I said, someone is going to open the bed and breakfast again soon. I was certain that your associate was going to return to the bed and breakfast, so I came here to try to communicate with him again. I attempted to communicate with him soon after he left the building at the mountainside. Of course he wasn't able to hear me, but I kept trying. I followed him here and then I saw you talking to Craig. Anyway, I need you to tell your associate that the hammer head is what is causing the mischief."
"I'll make sure my associates know about the hammer head," Ronnie told Roy.
"Thank you," Roy said. "I can now finally rest."
"You're welcome," Ronnie said just as the door to her room opened.
As Nurse Kandy Johnson—a nurse who Ronnie hadn't met yet—entered the room, Roy walked towards the exit.
"Hi, I'm Kandy," she began while walking towards the bed and glancing around as if she was searching for something. Just as Roy and Kandy were crossing paths, Roy faded away and Ronnie saw that Kandy had gotten the shivers. Also at the exact moment when Kandy had gotten the shivers, Ronnie had seen that Kandy's resting aura had shifted very quickly from green to very dark green (almost black). As quickly as Ronnie saw the change in Kandy's resting aura, Kandy's resting aura shifted back to its original green. "I will be your nurse for the next few hours; although, I hear that Dr. Cahill will be releasing you shortly."
"I heard that too," Ronnie replied as Kandy looked slightly confused about something as she continued to glance around. "Did you lose something, Kandy?"
"My mind," Kandy mumbled.
Kandy didn't mean for Ronnie to hear, but Ronnie did and she asked, "Why do you think that you had lost your mind?"
Kandy gave Ronnie a surprised look before replying, "Before opening the door, I would have sworn that I had heard you and a man talking to one another. But clearly there is no man in here and no place to hide."
"How often do you hear people you can't see?" Ronnie asked.
Kandy slightly laughed as if she heard a joke before jokingly saying, "That is for my psychiatrist and me to discuss; not you and me."
"But you do occasionally hear voices when there is no one to be seen?" Ronnie quickly asked.
"Ms. Mendes, we aren't going to discuss whether I'm hearing voices or not," Kandy replied.
"That's fine, but you should know that the man you heard moments ago was Roy Alexander O'Neal," Ronnie informed.
"Really?" Kandy questioned incredulously. "And where is Roy Alexander O'Neal now?"
"He left when you came in," Ronnie replied.
"I didn't pass anyone as I was coming in," Kandy said.
"Actually you did," Ronnie informed. "Apparently you can hear and feel ghosts, but you can't see them."
"So Roy Alexander O'Neal is a ghost and you had talked to him?" Kandy asked as if for clarification.
"He is and I did," Ronnie replied.
"How often do you talk to Roy?" Kandy asked as Ronnie saw that Kandy's emotional crackles had shifted from a yellowish green color to a pure yellow color.
Ronnie shot Kandy an uncertain look before she answered with, "Just this once. He had been trying to communicate with someone in Univille for a long time, and I know the person who he had been trying to communicate with. So I agreed to talk to the person for him."
"I see," Kandy replied in a tone that a psychiatrist would use when mollifying a patient.
Ronnie chuckled without humor before saying, "Even though you can hear ghosts, you don't believe in them." Before Kandy could say anything, Ronnie continued with, "Why did you go into medicine when you think of yourself as mentally ill?"
"I'm not discussing my health or mental health with you, Ms. Mendes," Kandy quickly replied. "However, I would like to discuss as to how long have you been seeing ghosts."
"I don't know if this is in my chart or not, but I died last night for a few minutes," Ronnie replied. "Before I died last night, I have never seen a ghost as far as I know, but since being revived, I have seen and spoken with two ghosts."
"So you being able to see and speak with ghosts is all new," Kandy replied also in a tone that a psychiatrist would use.
"Yes," Ronnie replied. "Although, I can tell that you don't believe I have really spoken with two ghosts."
"I believe that you believe, if that helps," Kandy replied.
"It doesn't help, nor does it hurt," Ronnie told her. "In fact, it doesn't matter to me one way or the other if you believe me or not."
"Fair enough," Kandy replied. "And, since Roy had left when I stepped in, am I correct to assume that you aren't seeing any ghosts at the moment?"
"You are correct," Ronnie replied. "There are no ghosts here right now; or if there is, they're not showing themselves to me."
"Good," Kandy told Ronnie. "Anyway, I just came in to talk with you and see if you need anything."
"I'm good," Ronnie replied. "I just want to go back to sleep until it's time for me to be discharge."
"Okay," Kandy replied. "Sweet dreams."
"Thanks," Ronnie replied.
Kandy turned and as she was leaving, Ronnie turned over onto her side and closed her eyes.
At 7:05 A.M. Dr. Gavin Bell (Univille's twenty-eight-year-old psychiatrist) knocked on the doorframe to Ronnie's door as he entered without seeing if Ronnie was awake.
Ronnie was in a REM sleep when the knock woke her, and she quickly sat up and looked around.
As Ronnie was trying to get her bearings, Gavin said, "I'm sorry to wake you, Ms. Mendes, but I understand that you will be release soon and I want to talk with you while I can."
"Okay," Ronnie replied as she focused on Gavin and forcing herself to think clearly. "Who are you?"
"I am Dr. Gavin Bell, but you can call me Gavin," he replied. "Would you mind if I call you Veronica?"
Ronnie noticed Gavin's aqua blue resting aura and his darker blue emotional crackles and slightly hesitated to say, "Sure, you can call me Veronica."
"Excellent," Gavin replied.
Before Gavin could continue, Ronnie asked, "Are you the first shift doctor and Dr. Cahill the third shift doctor?"
"I do mainly work the first shift and sometimes part of the second shift, but I'm not here because Dr. Cahill's shift had ended," Gavin began. "I'm here because Kandy had expressed some concerns about you."
"You're Kandy's psychiatrist," Ronnie quickly said.
"I am a psychiatrist," Gavin confirmed. "However, I can't really answer you if I'm Kandy's psychiatrist."
"That's fine, because I wasn't asking if you were Kandy's psychiatrist or not," Ronnie informed.
"Yes, well, I can't really say one way or the other if your assumption is correct either," Gavin informed.
"Okay," Ronnie replied.
"Anyway, Kandy tells me that you believe that you can see, hear and talk to ghosts," Gavin said and then closely watched Ronnie's reaction.
Ronnie's reaction remained indifference as she replied, "I'll be gladly to comment on your statement or inquiry, whichever it is, when my parents and/or a lawyer get here."
"Veronica, I'm not the police, so you don't need a lawyer present." When Veronica chuckled with little humor, Gavin asked, "You don't believe me that you don't need a lawyer."
"I believe you would, as the police would, use everything I say against me, so I'm not going to say anything else without my parents being present or a lawyer being present," Ronnie replied before laying back down and facing away from Gavin.
"Veronica, I understand that you had just turned seventeen and the symptoms of schizophrenia can present themselves as early as sixteen. In fact, there had been documented cases that symptoms of schizophrenia for a few patients had occurred prior to their sixteenth birthday." Gavin was quiet for a moment and when he saw that Ronnie wasn't going to respond to him whatsoever, he sighed and said, "Fine. You win. I will contact your parents and we will try this again with them here."
Gavin watched Ronnie for a brief moment and when he saw that Ronnie again wasn't going to respond to him whatsoever, he turned and walked out.
Ronnie waited until she was certain that Gavin had actually left her room and the area of her room before turning over and glancing at the door. She then took a hard breath before readjusting her bed for a sitting up position and turning on the TV. After a short search for something that she was interested in, she settled for a rerun episode of 'Charmed'.
Thirty-five minutes later, around 7:45 A.M., Valerie (while pushing a wheelchair with a bag of clothes setting on the seat), Shayne (while wearing his sheriff's uniform) and Kandy entered the room.
Ronnie looked their way as Kandy was slightly pleading, "Sheriff Mendes; Mrs. Mendes, will you please stop and think about what is best for your daughter."
"We are definitely thinking about what is best for our daughter," Valerie replied, slightly angrily. "And no disrespect to you or to Dr. Bell, but you two are the two who need professional help; not my daughter."
Kandy glanced towards Ronnie while saying, "Veronica's hallucinations are not going to go away over time by themselves."
"I'm quite certain that this discussion about me hallucinating has something to do with me seeing ghosts, and they're only hallucinations if I hadn't actually seen the two ghosts," Ronnie retorted.
Kandy gestured towards Ronnie while saying, "Your daughter clearly believes that she is seeing ghosts."
Before Ronnie could respond, Shayne replied, "As far as anyone truly knows, Nurse Johnson, my daughter has seen two ghosts within the past twenty-four hours. You can't prove otherwise, and I certainly can't prove otherwise. Also, if you had been a part of the discussion that Valerie and I had with Dr. Bell, you would have heard all about the message that Veronica had conveyed to Nurse Abby Leighton from Craig Leighton—her deceased brother. Veronica said things that she could not have said or even known about unless it did, in fact, come straight from Craig himself. Nurse Leighton believes that the message was from Craig and so do Val and I. So I believe Veronica when she says that she had seen two ghosts."
"Clearly I'm wasting my time while trying to convince you that Veronica needs help," Kandy replied.
"I know you overheard Roy O'Neal's ghost when he spoke with me. I also saw that you had felt him." When Kandy gave Ronnie a confused look over Ronnie's last comment, Ronnie continued to say, "I saw you shiver slightly when you and Roy had crossed paths. So I don't understand why you rather believe that you hear voices that aren't really there than that you can actually hear and feel ghosts."
"I was in the hallway when I heard what I did, and I'll admit that it sounded like a man's voice, but clearly I was mistaken," Kandy quickly replied. "In fact, what I heard could have been you talking like a man."
"It wasn't me you heard," Ronnie quickly said. "I can't even sound like a man."
"Regardless, when I hear things that aren't there, I prefer to get the actual help that I need," Kandy replied before turning and walking out.
"All righty," Valerie replied before fully facing Ronnie. "Anyway, good news. You have been officially discharged." Valerie grabbed the bag of clothes and lifted it up. "And since the clothes that you had on yesterday had gotten ruin, I brought you some more clothes."
"My Webster Grove shirt was ruin?" Ronnie quickly asked as she went to get out of bed.
"Sorry, sweetie, but the staff had cut your clothes off of you once you got here," Valerie replied.
"I like that shirt," Ronnie grumbled.
"Perhaps you can get Chloe to send you another one," Shayne suggested.
"I might be able to," Ronnie said with a slight shrug.
Shayne gestured towards the hall while telling Ronnie, "I'll wait out in the hall so you won't have to step into the bathroom to get dress."
"Okay," Ronnie replied.
Shayne left and when Ronnie went to take off the hospital gown, Valerie asked, "Did Roy O'Neal tell you what he wanted?"
As Ronnie swapped out the hospital gown for her clothes—a purple pullover shirt, blue jeans and her three-inch high-heeled black ankle boots—she told Valerie about Roy O'Neal.
After Ronnie was fully dress and was sitting in the wheelchair, Valerie pushed her into the hallway.
After rejoining Shayne in the hall, Valerie continued to push Ronnie towards the exit, but before they could reach the exit to the hospital, Gavin made another pitch for Ronnie to seek treatment for schizophrenia.
"I don't have schizophrenia," Ronnie proclaimed.
"It's common for a patient of the disease to feel that he or she doesn't have it," Gavin replied.
"Dr. Bell, just because you believe that ghosts are figments of people's minds doesn't make you right and my daughter wrong," Shayne told him.
Before Shayne could continue, Gavin replied, "After you and your wife left my office, Sheriff Mendes, I contacted Barb—Barb is the general counsel for the clinic. Anyway I contacted Barb and told her that I wanted a court order so I can treat your daughter, but unfortunately Barb agrees with you. Apparently superstition in Univille runs deep, and my medical degree in psychiatry means little to nothing in this town. Anyway, Sheriff, I can't stop you from taking your daughter home; however, I do want you to know that I am available twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week if Veronica would decide that she needs help."
"I won't," Ronnie quickly said.
"Okay," Gavin replied in a tone as if he was accepting defeat. "Since Univille is a small town, most likely I will see you around. So, until we meet again."
"Bye," Valerie, Shayne and Ronnie told him before Valerie continued to push Ronnie towards the exit. Shayne walked beside Valerie.
Once outside the clinic, Ronnie stood up and walked the remaining distance to Shayne's sheriff SUV.
Minutes later, Shayne dropped Valerie and Ronnie off at the bed and breakfast and then continued to the sheriff's office.
Artie was still at the bed and breakfast, but he was leaving through the front door when Valerie and Ronnie were a few steps from it.
"Welcome home, Ronnie," Artie told her.
"Thanks," Ronnie replied in a slightly urgent tone. "But before you leave, I need to tell you that you and I were both right about Archie's Bed and Breakfast. There is an artifact and there is also a ghost."
"And you know this how?" Artie asked.
"Roy O'Neal's ghost came to me this morning and gave me a dream about how he had unintentionally imbued the head of his hammer with his anger and the head of his hammer is underneath floor slats within the lobby area. So now, every time people get close to that hammer head by forty steps they get angry."
"If Roy O'Neal haunts Archie's Bed and Breakfast, how could he come to you?" Artie asked as if to make Ronnie see reason. "He wouldn't even know about you."
"The second time you went to Archie's Bed and Breakfast while looking for the hammer head, Roy realized what you were there for—even though you didn't know what you were searching for—and after you gave up your search, he was with you—while trying to communicate with you up until you walked past the front door to the warehouse. The warehouse wouldn't let him into the warehouse. Anyway, since Archie's Bed and Breakfast is about to open once again, he came back to try to talk to you again. Last night he followed you from the warehouse to my hospital room and then he saw me talking with Craig."
Artie pursed his lips before asking, "You wouldn't be holding out on me, would you? About possessing another artifact that you don't want to give up?"
"That necklace I was wearing was the only artifact that I had wanted to hang onto," Ronnie replied.
"The necklace that Ms. St. Clair sold you was an artifact?" Valerie asked.
"It was," Artie was the one to answer. "It was also what was protecting Ronnie against those weak to mild mannered artifacts. However, it would not have protected her against powerful artifacts. In fact, that necklace could have either killed Ronnie or have seriously hurt her if she came into contact with a powerful artifact while wearing the necklace."
"How?" Valerie asked.
"The necklace was shocking me each time I touched an artifact, and the stronger the artifact, the stronger the shock," Ronnie was the one to say.
"That transfer of energy between the necklace and the artifacts was the necklace attempting to neutralize the artifacts and it had been using Ronnie as a conductor," Artie added. "Anyway, Ronnie, tell me more about Roy O'Neal. Knowing more about him could help the others to keep their anger down."
Ronnie took a breath before saying, "When Roy was alive, he was mentally challenged and was working for the construction company that was restoring the bed and breakfast. One of the other construction workers—I think his name was Tony—had picked on him and instead of saying anything back to Tony, he channeled his anger towards the head of his hammer. Then Tony took away his hammer and Roy went berserk. Roy attacked Tony with a handsaw and cut off Tony's hand—the hand that was holding the hammer. Roy quickly retrieved his hammer, and then began using it to fight off the other workers who were attempting to restrain him. The wooden handle to the hammer quickly broke and the head of the hammer fell into the space that had gotten covered up by floor slats. Roy was quickly subdued after his hammer broke, and was then taken away by the police when the police got there. Tony was rushed to the hospital along with his severed hand, and when the other workers resumed their work, the hammer head to the broken hammer was overlooked and covered up by the floor slats."
"That's very interesting," Artie replied.
"So you believe me that I had seen Roy's spirit?" Ronnie asked.
"Let's just say that I'm keeping an open mind," Artie replied. "I still have my doubts, but I'm not going to disregard what you said either."
"I can live with that," Ronnie replied with a grin. "And while you are keeping an open mind, Artie, I did meet with the soul to the warehouse. She has acquired too much unwanted energy because of a time-loop and reality-shifts."
"Wait," Valerie demanded. "Artie, did this world in fact experience time-loops and reality-shifts."
"There were only one time-loop and two reality-shifts," Artie admitted. "The second reality-shift was us correcting the first reality-shift."
"The warehouse told me that she was in the middle of it all," Ronnie continued. "And she says that she doesn't want to move, but moving is the only way she knows that will purge that unwanted energy."
"Yes, well, I'm not willing to let go of the warehouse just yet," Artie began. "So we'll find another way for her to purge her unwanted energy."
"I assumed that would be your answer," Ronnie replied. "In fact, I told her that you wouldn't allow her to move if it can be stopped."
Artie nodded before saying, "Ronnie, you keep referring to the soul of the warehouse as a she. Did its soul appear to you as a woman?"
"Because of how strongly Leena's influence was on the warehouse, the warehouse's soul had assumed Leena's likeness," Ronnie began. "In fact, at first, I thought she was Leena… or one of Leena's relatives when I first saw her, but she quickly told me who she was."
"Not long after Leena's death, Pete and then Steve swore that they both had seen Leena's spirit," Artie began. "Leena appeared to them to assist them with urgent crises. Now I'm wondering if it was the warehouse's soul that they saw."
"It might have been Leena's spirit those times," Ronnie replied. "The warehouse had told me that Leena had stuck around and taught her—her being the warehouse—things, like how to understand the living. In fact, the warehouse told me that she thought that our speech was random sound. It wasn't until after Leena had died before she realized that our speech was a form of communication."
"So before, the warehouse couldn't understand us, but now she can," Artie said as if to himself.
"Correct," Ronnie replied.
"Okay, well, thanks for the information, Ronnie," Artie replied. "Anyway, rest and recuperate and tomorrow you can begin."
"Okay," Ronnie replied.
"Oh, and I also left Leena's warehouse manual and her journal book on the coffee table," Artie began. "I would like for you to start reading the manual while you are here."
"Okay," Ronnie again replied.
"Anyway, if anyone needs me, just call me at the warehouse," Artie replied.
"Will do," Valerie replied.
"Okay, I'm off," Artie told them.
"See you later," Ronnie said.
Valerie simply waved with a polite grin.
As Artie continued to his car, Valerie and Ronnie entered the bed and breakfast.