AN: Chapter two. I know in my profile it said I wouldn't be updating this until after I was finished with Big Brother Newsies Style, but I can't sleep, so I figured I may as well listen to my Impatient!Specs muse and write up this next chapter. Besides, I'm gonna scare you guys out of you socks in this chapter…
Dutchy
No one slept that night, except for Skittery, who didn't even seem awake while speaking. So when Kloppman came to 'wake us up', there were more groans than usual.
I walked to the mirror, and a freezing cold breeze suddenly seemed to envelope me, even though the morning air was already heating up. I shivered and walked to the sink, splashing my face with cold water. I just needed to wake up.
I suddenly felt a hand on my shoulder and I spun around, but none of the guys were close to me. They were all shaving or showering, not paying any attention whatsoever to me. I just shrugged it off; Specs always said I had an overactive imagination.
On the way to the distribution office, I caught up with Skittery.
"Hey Skittery…do you know Dutch?"
He gave me an incredulous look. "No…why are you askin'?"
I shrugged. "Just wondering."
All of a sudden, a wave of nausea hit me like a runaway carriage. I doubled over and dropped to my knees, and within a few seconds, Specs and Skittery were kneeled beside me.
"You okay, Dutchy?"
I clutched my head as a sudden headache began to pound my skull. I'd never had something like this come on so suddenly- it was like a hammer beating on my head, along with a case of the flu.
I suddenly felt myself being lifted, and the sudden movement was enough to send me spiraling into darkness.
Specs
We got back to the lodging house, and I told Skittery to go sell. Dutchy couldn't be unconscious for long, and I had more extra money than Skittery anyway. I'd survive missing a day.
I was sitting on my bunk, reading a book, when I suddenly got a chill. In the middle of July, I got a chill. That was plain weird.
"Specs…"
I barely heard the whispered word, but it caught my attention, just the same. I immediately looked toward Dutchy's bed, but he was still as unconscious as he had been before.
"Specs…come help me…"
Okay, I definitely heard it that time, no mistake. There was definitely a female somewhere around here. I got up from my bunk and looked around, shivering as another cold breeze ran through the room.
"Hello? Is anyone there?" I asked timidly, feeling pretty stupid talking to an empty room. I suddenly heard a clatter from the washroom, and I walked slowly toward the closed door.
Wait a second. We never closed that door…otherwise, it would be a sauna in there when we got back.
We didn't close that door.
"Who's there?" I asked, louder this time as I stood in front of the door.
"Come help me…I need you…"
The voice was as soft as the wind, almost undistinguishable amid the sounds from outside. But it was definitely coming from behind that door. All I had to do was open it.
My heart was beating in my throat as I reached for the doorknob, surprised at how cold the brass fixture was. I gently pushed forward, and the door easily swung open.
Nothing. Just the washroom.
"Is anyone in here?" I asked, cautiously taking a step into the room. Then, the sound of heavy breathing invaded the silence. From in front of me. From just behind the stalls. I took one more step inside, and then I shot a look in one of the mirrors.
Big mistake.
Standing behind me in the reflection was a woman- a woman with stringy, thin blond hair and blue eyes that seemed cold as ice. Her skin was as pale as a sheet of paper, and the circles under her eyes were so dark that it gave her the appearance of being simply skeletal- nothing more than a shadow.
And then the door slammed shut.
I spun around and tried to open it, but no luck. It was stuck. On top of that, the woman was gone. Vanished into thin air.
"Dutchy! Dutchy, he-"
I was suddenly cut off by a hand over my mouth- a hand so cold that for a moment, I couldn't struggle.
Then, I heard the voice. This time, she was speaking right into my ear, her breath like a blizzard's wind on my neck.
"M'n beminde…Ik geliefde je. Het spijt me…komen feruggaan mij. Alsjeblieff." She said, and then the door swung open and I fell over backwards, the coldness gone and the chilling voice no longer afflicting me.
"Specs! Are you alright?" Dutchy asked, kneeling next to me on the floor. I shook my head fiercely, getting shakily to my feet and stumbling out into the bunkroom. I collapsed on the floor in the bunkroom, where Dutchy was instantly at my side, his arm slung around my shoulders.
"Specs, calm down. Calm down." He said over and over, and slowly, I let myself do just that. I couldn't stop shaking, and I kept seeing her, no matter what else I tried to think of.
That look. Forlorn, murderous, lost, hopeless…and downright terrifying.
"Dutchy…she was saying stuff…in Dutch." I managed to choke out.
"Who was?"
"The…the ghost."
I expected him to ridicule me. But instead, he said, "What did she say?"
I thought back. "I can't remember much. Um…beminde. She said that. Geliefde…and something that sounded like feruggaan. Some of it was the same that Skitts said last night."
Dutchy thought for a moment. "She said…she called you her beloved. She said she loved you. And feruggaan means 'to return', so she probably was asking you to come back to her." Dutchy looked down at me, confusing tracing his features. "Are you understanding any of this?"
"No. I don't get it. I don't understand." I said, shaking my head. She called me her 'beloved'? And she 'loved me'? I didn't even know who she was!
Dutchy walked back to inspect the washroom, despite my protests. The door didn't shut, and he didn't find a thing. Nor did he hear any voices. Maybe I was going insane.
I didn't want to believe it. All logic pointed the other way. After all, there was no such thing as ghosts.
But if there wasn't, how in the world did I just see one?
Dutchy claimed he felt much better, and he claimed that he'd just had a dizzy spell. I didn't believe him, but he appeared to be fine, and I really wanted out of the lodging house at that moment.
But as we walked out, Kloppman was standing at the bottom of the stairs. He was watching the landing at the top, as if expecting someone to walk out. We passed by him and walked out, not a single word of farewell passing between us.
He didn't say goodbye. He simply watched the bunkroom door.
It was almost as if…he knew.
AN: That was a very fun chapter. It gave me chills just writing it. I hope I gave you guys chills- if so, I achieved my goal!
So many mysteries…the woman calls Specs her 'beloved'…and then we have Creepy!Kloppman…I'm evil. I know it.
