AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“How was I to know there’d be a storm?” Evie asked. She’d taken up pacing again.
“I don’t know, Evil. But I’m blaming you anyway.”
“My aunt Octavia’s gonna kill me for being out all night with Isaiah,” Memphis said from the small table where he played peanut poker with Isaiah, who kept winning. “And whatever’s left of me, Papa Charles is gonna take care of when I don’t show up for work tonight. I can’t even call because the telephone lines are down in this storm.”
“There’s nobody to feed Archibald,” Theta fretted. “He’ll be so hungry.”
“Who’s Archibald?” Sam asked.
“My cat.”
“You got a cat?” Isaiah said, excited.
“Yeah. One of the Proctor sisters’ brood. I saved him from an untimely death.”
“Those old ladies in your building? They’re creepy,” Ling said.
“They’re not,” Theta said, and left it. She wanted to tell the others about what had happened with Miss Addie and the ghost. In fact, she’d meant to before, but she suddenly felt protective of the old woman—and of herself. Evie was always chiding Theta for holding on so tightly to her secrets, but secrets had kept Theta safe for years. Ever since she’d left Kansas. She wouldn’t know how to stop swallowing down her story if she tried. Besides, most people just wanted to talk about themselves, and if you held your breath, they’d rush in to fill the emptiness.
“Do you think some places just hold on to evil? That you can’t paint or wash it away? It lives on, no matter what you build on top,” Evie mused, rushing in, just as Theta figured she would.
Isaiah threw his hands in the air. “Are you trying to scare the living daylights outta me?”
“Sorry, Isaiah,” Evie said. “It’s just that ever since we started doing experiments together, I’m a raw nerve. I can barely touch something, and its history starts to whisper to me.”
As if to test or torture herself, Evie let her fingers drift from object to object, catching glimpses of their secrets:
“… I only wanted the pain to stop. That’s why I swallowed the lye.…”
“… There’s a great big hole in the middle of me, and no matter how hard I try, I can’t fill it. I try to keep the awful, empty sadness out, but it keeps coming back in.…”
“… I’m to be committed? On what cause? Because I’m a suffragette? Is it mad to believe that women deserve the same rights as men? To fight against such injustice is bravery, not insanity, sir.…”
“… I killed them all. And then I had my supper.…”
“Feels like a living tomb. So much sadness and confusion, horror and fear.” Evie’s fingers skipped lightly along the buckles of a restraining jacket. The hair on her arm prickled as the metal began its whisper-call to her, eager to tell its stories. She yanked her hand away. She did not want to be the confessor to this place’s sins.
Lightning flashed at the windows. Thunder ricocheted through the halls, making everybody jumpy. It was nearly half past four, the iron sky deepening toward dusk.
“Those men in the music room were acting out a scene from my dreams. It’s always the same: The soldiers. The card game. The Victrola. And then something dreadful happens. They’re all killed.”
“If that was supposed to make me feel better, it didn’t,” Theta said.
“Every time I’ve talked to Luther, he’s said the same thing: ‘They never should’ve done it.’ In my dreams, James has said it, too. Never should’ve done what? Who is they?”
“Sheba!” Sam waved to Evie from a doorway. He held up a key. “Who wants to say hi to Luther Clayton?”
“Where did you get that?” Theta asked.
“Stole it off Molly,” Sam said. “It’s the key to his room.”
“So that’s why you were cozying up to her,” Evie said.
“That, and she’s a real tomato.”
“Once again, Sam, I don’t know if I want to kiss or kill you.”
“Better kiss me, then, to make sure,” Sam said, and winked.
