The Monsters of the Mind

Part 10

I sat in the empty dining auditorium, fiddling with my phone and the paper back that had sat on my bedside table while my mind was reeling.

Upon awakening, I could feel my body heave as I rushed to the bathroom - letting last night's supper come flying up, out, and into the toilet. I had gasped for breath for what seemed like hours, trying to help slow my aching heart from what I had just seen.
I forced myself to recall every detail, every emotion, every bit of sensation from last night's dream - all surrounding Amy Bell and her untimely death in the hotel.

"Oh god, I'm so sorry Amy," I whimpered, tugging myself close to the cool glazed concrete that I rested against, "I'm so sorry..."

"Don't be, Miss Martin."

My head shot up and turned toward the doorway so fast my head was spinning.

There she was, little Amy Bell. Blood covered her dress and matted her pretty dark curls. Her eyes, still lifeless, looked upon me with a kindness that I had only seen from friends and family. She walked forward, her feet never touching the ground as she moved to sit on the side of the tub, her voice light, "I know you are afraid, but please don't be of me."

"I-I'm not afraid," I countered like a child, "You just... surprised me is all," I closed the lid to the toilet and sat on it.

Silence passed between the two of us. It was strange, talking to a ghost, or spirit, or whatever Amy chose to call herself now.

"Is everything I saw true?" I asked after some time, no longer willing to sit in silence, "No... porky pies?"

"None, Miss Martin," Amy answered, "Everything that you have seen is the truth."

"What happened afterward?"

Amy sighed, her little shoulders falling, "I really don't know. I remember waking up in the halls, but no one could see me... no one could hear me, no matter how much I cried. Eventually, I realized that I was no longer a part of this world that I found myself in. I must've cried for hours..."

"You were a child," I spoke, "That... THING took your life from you."

"But I don't believe it was Jimmy, even though it looked like him," Amy sighed as she explained, "Some years ago, I found Mrs. Hall wandering the halls like I have been. She was distraught and I wanted - needed - to know the truth about why it was that Jimmy had targeted me, a little girl who had come along with her parents while they were on a business trip. She told me, after crying for some time, that Jimmy has two lives sharing a body - at least that's what a man named Dr. Bose believed."

"Two lives?" I blinked hard, "Like... two different personalities?"

"I'm not sure," Amy's ghost admitted, "I didn't understand, nor did I believe her. Then, Maya and her friends came here - that's when all of us realized what it was that he was fighting."

This was raising more and more questions. Who was this Maya? What did she have to do with the hotel and it's secrets? And, more importantly, how many spirits were trapped here?

Amy's spirit stood, her face now glum, "It is my time to leave you, Miss Martin. I wish there was more I could offer."

"Just answer me this," I asked, "Why come to me? I'm not exactly the most capable person to assist any of you. I'm just a twenty-eight year old in university..."

"You have an extraordinary gift, Miss Martin," Amy smiled, "You can see us, hear us... talk with us. From the moment you entered this hotel, I knew that if anyone could help free us, it had to be you. Maya was similar in that sense, but she was too young - only a teenager. She still was a child, like me, and she needed to get away from here, to be free to live out the remaining years she had left before adulthood came for her.