The Monsters of the Mind

Part 18

Harvey sighed deeply, one hand reaching up and running through his hair. He seemed older than when I first encountered him - but, at this point, I had begun to realize that further along to each ghosts' story, the more they became how they looked like during their last moments.

Harvey was speaking again, his voice thick with anger and distress, "I took one of the cricket bats and stormed to Jimmy's room while he was out. I destroyed his tv, his gaming console, and other personal effects. I knew at the time that it was wrong to do so, but my anger - that rage - I just couldn't control it."

"Do you think it might have something to do with the fact that there is something in your family bloodline that makes your anger go out of control?" I asked.

Harvey's brow furrowed, "I'm not sure what you're getting at."

"The locals in town seem to believe that the Hall family used to be demon worshippers," I explained, "I heard about it from one of the managers at a diner I visited - that's why no one comes here, why people are afraid of Jimmy in particular."

"I never heard about that," Harvey admitted, "I do know that anger does run in our family though, and not always in the best of ways. My own rage I get from my father, but I had been trying to control it more as I got older. 

"Anger and rage eats away energy, energy that I could use for something more productive. But then, I had completely lost it. No doubt Jimmy had seen what I had done and started working on his next little trick."

Harvey was shaking now, his entire body filling with anger.

"Perhaps we should take a break," I stood from my seat, going toward the ghost, "Obviously what followed must've been painful."

"We can't," Harvey turned, his eyes that had been lively now seemed dull, "I only have a bit of time left and much to tell you still. Everything that follows is of the utmost importance. You need to know before I fade back into the walls of this place."

I nodded, understanding.

Harvey started up again, "Jimmy decided to retaliate in the most painful way possible. He took one of two crossbows from the destroyed medieval display cabinet and rigid it to shoot me when I entered my own room for the evening. I was lucky the bow had hit me in the leg and not somewhere else that could have been more fatal.

"I had to go into A&E to get stitches and tetanus shots - staying overnight for observations. When I came back the following afternoon, Jimmy had completely vanished. He knew what he did and had apparently hidden in the basement - based on what Rose told me. I was seeing red again and decided to punish Jimmy for nearly killing me - a second time."

"Don't tell me you locked him in the basement," I groaned, already knowing the answer.

"I did, and I'm not proud of it," Harvey admitted, "I had completely lost it and at the time, I thought he couldn't do any damage down there. I was wrong."

Harvey perched back on the pool table, his voice going quiet, "I take it the locals mentioned a fire, here at the hotel?"

"Yeah," I answered, "it was contained but a lot of stuff was lost."

"We all lost personal effects in that fire," Harvey admitted, "Photos, papers, old clothing - all of it went up in flames. It was the one time that I had seen Jimmy remorseful for something he had done - especially when Rose's old doll that was handed down to her from her grandmother came out destroyed beyond recognition.

"There was a time, following the fire, that he had tried to make it up to both of us. But, it didn't last. Things went sour again - Jimmy had set another trap and had nearly killed his own mother when she walked into the main office. At that point, I had had enough of him. I blamed him for keeping me trapped in the hotel, for all the troubles that had caused our family grief... for the pain that he had inflicted upon us when we had done everything in our power to keep him happy and safe."