The Monsters of the Mind

Part 12

I sipped from my cup that Dr. Bose had brought me, the two of us sitting in a cafeteria-like setting. 

It was a long hallway with glass windows on one side of the room, stretching from the white tiled flooring to the brightly lit ceiling. Tables lined next to each other, several with other patients and their doctors or nurses sitting with them - some talking, others working with them. Styrofom cups were next to several people, mostly the doctors or nurses - though they never seemed to drink from them.

"Where are we, exactly?" I asked.

Dr. Bose set his cup down, the liquid clear in the white form, "Miss Martin, do you know what heaven is like?"

"If you're telling me that I'm dead, I think we might have an issue," I answered.

Dr. Bose let out a hearty chuckle, a smile spreading across his features and illuminating his laugh lines, "No, Miss Martin. You're not dead... not yet at least."

He leaned to his side, one leg crossing over the other, "I've brought your... spirit, let's say, to one of the places I call home. Well, 'called' is more of the word now, isn't it?"

I took another sip before nodding, "I saw you outside a room, calling for someone named James."

"James was Jimmy's real name," Dr. Bose supplied, "I was trying to get your attention."

"Well, it worked."

Dr. Bose nodded, folding his hands in front of him, "I'm glad it did. I've only had one other success with contacting the living, but I'm sure Amy's told you a bit about Maya."

"Yes, but only that she was a teenager who visited and has a similar gift to what mine is. I have heard Jimmy talking to another about her as well. They mentioned that I was a... 'bad egg,' just like how Maya was."

"Maya was... a visitor of the Sea View Hotel. She came in last year during a storm when she was supposed to be camping with a group of her friends on the music festival grounds. She and her friends had denied the performance - which sparked outrage in Hugo."

I cocked my head, "As in Hugo Punch? His comedy character?"

Dr. Bose scratched the corner of his nose gently, "Maybe it's best that I start from the beginning..."

He leaned back in his chair, hands folded together:

"I was contacted by Rose Hall, whom you know as Jimmy Hall's mother, and was asked to come to the hotel. When I asked why, she said that there had been an incident between Jimmy and another guest, a young girl, and she had taken a tumble down the stairs - and that she had died."

"So you knew about Amy's death?"

"Absolutely," Dr. Bose nodded, "however, there was no proof that Jimmy had caused the girl's death nor did anyone know how the alcohol had gotten into her system. The doors to the cabinet in the bar were unlocked and there was no one in there, so some assumed that she had gotten into the cabinet, found the bottles and assumed it was something that she could drink without any issues before she took her fall. Even to me, at the time, it seemed like a logical conclusion. Kids, especially between the ages of 9 and 12 are always up to something."

I agreed, "That's true, but what made you change your mind?"

"It was the discovery of a dead animal in one of the offices," Dr. Bose answered, "Though Jimmy claimed he didn't remember doing anything that would physically harm or kill an animal, he had set traps in the courtyard out back and was catching birds and animals like hares, squirrels, and chipmunks - even catching several mice. His uncle had gotten caught in one of the traps during my stay and needed stitches in his ankle as the trap was a combination of wiring and an old bear trap that had been a part of a display in the hotel on the third floor."