Alexa’s Ghost Pt. 01

Tubby followed me but stopped right outside my bedroom door. His fur puffed up and his tail was jerking back and forth. I looked around the room and again saw nothing. I turned around to the cat and he just hissed in the direction of my vanity mirror and ran back downstairs. His behavior had me rather puzzled. "Must be a ghost," I giggled. I shook my head and climbed into bed. I fell asleep almost as soon as my head touched the pillow.

I was dreaming. I felt a cool hand brush my cheek. It trailed down my neck and slowly undid the buttons of the camisole I slept in. It felt so good to be touched like this. It had been so long. My job always got in the way of my love life and any romantic relationship I entered into had been fleeting. I hadn't bothered to even try for the last couple of years, it wasn't worth the effort. Most men I met were threatened by my job anyway. I just wasn't the little woman who needed a big strong man to protect her.

I tried to grasp the hand roaming my body and came in contact with nothing! I could feel myself being touched but I couldn't touch anything back. I jumped up in bed, startled. I turned on my bedside light and looked around my empty room. It must have been a dream I thought to myself as I got up to get a glass of water. I yawned and a white vapor cloud appeared as I breathed out. The house shouldn't be this cold inside. My window wasn't even open. I went to get my water from the bathroom tap and I caught my reflection in the mirror. My camisole was completely open in the front, all the buttons undone. My mind must be playing tricks with me. I got back into bed, hoping I could get some uninterrupted sleep for once.

If I didn't know any better I could have sworn it felt like someone was watching me. I told myself I was being paranoid and shut my eyes. I blamed Tubs for this, his paranoia was clearly rubbing off on me. I giggled to myself and went back to sleep.

It had been four days since I arrived in town and Nana's condition was stable but she had yet to regain consciousness. I was really worried and I went in search of Dr. Edwards to see if he had any new information to share about her prognosis.

I spotted him talking to a nurse and I approached them and hung back till he was finished speaking with her.

He turned around and saw me waiting for him and ushered me over to his side.

"Good afternoon Ms Woods. I'm sure you are anxiously waiting for an update on your Grandmother's condition." I nodded as I shook his hand.

"Well I do not have much more to add to what I told you last time. She is stable and that is a good sign but she's taking far longer to wake up than I am comfortable with. As long as her condition does not deteriorate there is a chance that she will make it. I don't want to give you any false hope however. Her condition is still serious and the longer she remains unconscious the less chance she has at beating this."

"Is there anything else I can do to help her?" I asked him.

"No just continue with what you are doing, read to her and talk to her. Hold her hand and maybe bring something laced with her favorite scent that you can place in her room. Anything that reminds her of better times should hopefully encourage her recovery."

I thanked him and headed back to Nana's room to spend what remained of visiting hour with her. Watching her like this, day in and day out, was really having a negative effect on my emotional stability. I had no one close enough to me that I could share this with or receive comfort from. I always used to talk to her about private matters or when I needed advice. It hit me right then and there that I spent far too much of my time focused on work and not enough time cultivating relationships. Even my handful of friends were not close enough for me to confide in them about anything that ran too deep. I needed to change that because if I lost Nana I'd be isolated and that would be entirely my fault.

When I left the hospital I headed to the store to buy more coffee. Nana never kept that much of it in the house because she wasn't as addicted to it as I was. She was more a one cup a day person rather than a six cup a day coffee junky like myself. She always used to scold me about my habit, telling me I'd end up with yellow teeth and the jitters. My response was always as long as it was several cups of coffee and not several glasses of whiskey a day, like her neighbour Rick, she need not worry.

As I came out the store, my arms bulging with coffee and creamer, I spotted Andrew parking his car next to my truck. I rolled my eyes, this was the last thing I needed right now. I plastered a fake smile on my face that I hoped would reach my voice as he approached me. There was no point making enemies while I was in town.

"Well hey there beautiful," he said with that 'I want to get in your pants' grin. "Fancy running into you again, it must be fate trying to tell us something."

I wanted to just flip him off and tell him there weren't that many places to shop around here but I held on to my smile.

"Hi Drew, you seem to catch me every time I come in here."

I walked over to my truck to put my groceries inside.

He leaned over me as I piled everything onto the back seat. Someone really should tell him that with cologne, less is more.

"So I was thinking, how about I take you to dinner Saturday night. There's a new place out on the West side of town that's apparently pretty good."

If I remember correctly that was Drew speak for 'let me ply you with wine till your legs fall open for me.'

I looked at him and tried my best to sound polite. "I'm not sure I will be able to go with you Drew, you know with my Grandmother still being in hospital and all."

"Well I hope you can make it." He handed me his business card. "Call me if things change or if you want some company." He winked at me as he walked into the store. I'd have to change my shopping habits in future because I really wasn't interested in becoming Drew's latest conquest. How that man didn't have a list of STDs as long as his arm, I had no idea. He was not at all my type anyway. I wasn't interested in guys who spent more time looking in the mirror than I did in the mornings.

I climbed in my truck and headed back to the house.

After having supper and lavishing attention on one needy, spoiled feline, I took the blue prints of the house and headed down to the basement. I was armed with a flashlight and several tools I thought I might need. The false wall was located behind an old furnace. There was a large crack in the plaster board below a water pipe that must have burst recently. I could see the patch up job they tried to do and a brand new section of pipe connected to the older plumbing. Nana needed to stop hiring cheap handymen. One good thing about the shoddy work these guys did was breaking through the wall would be a piece of cake. I smiled as I raised a hammer to the wall, this was going to be fun.

It didn't take me long to hammer out a hole big enough for me to crawl through. I grabbed my tools and turned on the flashlight and made my way into the dark, unexplored part of the house. As I crawled through the plaster wall I saw an old rusted iron gate. It was deteriorated to such an extent that it was missing several rungs in places. I opened the latch and walked into what appeared to be some sort of room of worship. There was a stone alter on the far side and the domed walls had some sort of script written on it in places. The symbols were totally foreign to me. There were several flag stones protruding from the main walls located in several totally random positions, they weren't placed in any logical order. I wondered how old this place was and if Nana even knew it existed. I stared at everything with complete fascination. It felt like I had stepped into a completely different era. It was kind of like being inside an adventure story like Indiana Jones or something similar. I couldn't contain my curiosity as I made my way further into the room and starting inspecting the symbols on the walls.

After coming to the conclusion that there was no way I could decipher any of the glyphs, I made my way to the alter. It was made of smooth, intricately carved stone and the top had more of the symbols carved into it. There were also, what appeared to be, pieces of mother of pearl inlayed on the borders of the alter top. I ran my hand over it to try and remove some of the dust obscuring parts of it from my vision.

I suddenly felt an incredible chill in the air. I rubbed the goosebumps on my arms, the temperature must have suddenly dropped at least 15 degrees. I looked around the room nervously and nothing seemed any different. There must be a shaft in here somewhere that let in cold air when the wind picked up outside. I could pretty much come up with a rational solution to everything. Being on the force had conditioned me that way.

I resumed removing the dust and grime from the alter. It's was incredibly beautiful, the carvings were probably crafted by a master stone mason and the inlay work was flawless. I decided to take some photos of everything with my phone. I wanted to take these to a historian to see if I could get any information about this place.

It was getting late and I made my way back up to the main house. I could continue exploring tomorrow.

After inspecting my appearance in the bathroom mirror, it appeared I was wearing half the dirt I had removed from the alter. I deserved a treat and I ran a nice hot bubble bath for myself. I popped the cork from a nice bottle of perfectly aged red wine. Nana didn't skimp on some things, I thought with amusement. After pouring myself a large glassful, I went to soak in the tub.

I felt the tension leave my body as the warm, scented water caressed my skin. I sipped my wine and sighed, blissfully content. I should make more time to pamper myself, it felt good to just lie in the bath and relax. I closed my eyes and just surrendered myself to the pleasure of it all.

I had dozed off in the bath. I awoke feeling rather chilly, the bath water now tepid. I got out and dried myself and headed off to bed. My nice warm quilt should do the trick and warm me back up again. Nana had made the quilt for me out of material from my parent's old clothing. I felt close to them when I saw it and I used to pretend they were holding me in their embrace when I lay under it. I put on a warmer nightgown, which I had borrowed from Nana. It wasn't my style but it was warm and fuzzy.

I went to fiddle with the thermostat, my room felt cold despite the heating being on and the rest of the house remaining pleasantly warm. I touched the heating panel, it was hot. I scratched my head in confusion and checked my window again, it was closed.

I had to check that there weren't any holes in the floors or walls that were responsible for causing a draft. I would do that in the morning, I just wanted to curl up and go to sleep. I snuggled into my quilt and drifted off.

I awoke the next morning and found my nightgown crumpled in a heap on the floor next to my bed. I must have taken it off in my sleep. Maybe I was too hot during the night.

I shrugged as I climbed out of bed to take a quick shower before heading to visit with Nana.

She was being examined by the nurse when I arrived, so I waited for her to finish up. I decided now would be a good time to do some research on the alter room in the basement. I called Mr Hobbs and asked him if he knew anything about it. He informed me that it was nothing Nana had discussed with him but he did know that the house was one of the oldest in town and that I could possibly find out more about it's history in the town archives.

That was what I planned to do after leaving the hospital. I would also go and get the pictures on my phone made into photos to send to the historian. I had looked up a local historian located about 30 miles away in another town. If I had enough time I would drive out today to see him if I could get an appointment, otherwise I could just mail the pictures along with any information I found in the town archives. The nurse left and I went in to check on Nana.

The archives weren't that much help. They did however make reference to a couple of old churches and various other buildings that were originally located in the area around where the current buildings now stood. There were also references regarding rumors of witchcraft and occultism taking place in the area around the early 1800s. This was peaking my interest and I couldn't wait to hear what the historian would make of all this.

After I collected as much as I could from the archives I headed over to the photo shop to get my pictures developed. The woman at the shop told me to come back in 20 minutes so I headed to the diner to have an early lunch and to try and contact the historian, a Mr Willows.

His secretary answered my call and told me she would put me directly through to his office. I waited for him to answer while having to listen to some old 80's music playing over the phone. I sighed and tapped my foot impatiently.

Finally he answered, "Hello Ms Woods, sorry to keep you waiting. I was on another call. How can I help you?"

"Good day Mr Willows. Thank you for taking my call. I have recently discovered that there is, what appears to be, a very old alter room of sorts located off the basement of my Grandmother's house. I haven't explored it that thoroughly but I have taken several photographs and gone in search of information from the town archives. I was wondering if it's at all possible to arrange a meeting with you in order to see if you can provide me with any knowledge you may have."

"What exactly are you hoping to find out about the room, Ms Woods?"

"Well anything you can shed light on really, specifically what the building was used for and whether or not you can decipher the symbols etched on the walls and alter. I've never seen anything like them before and I am rather curious."

"Well you have sparked my curiosity as well. I have time to see you around 4pm if that suits you."

I wrote down the address he gave me and agreed to meet with him later that afternoon.

The drive to Mr Willow's office didn't take long despite the road works blocking traffic along the way. Someone was always digging a hole in the road somewhere, part of me thought it was done purposefully to annoy drivers.

I parked my truck and headed into the brown stone building. There were glass cases containing fragments of pottery and other artifacts lining the corridor. I wonder if anything discovered in Nana's basement would ever make it to a museum or show case such as these. It would be pretty amazing if it did and I would be the one responsible for the discovery. I smiled to myself as I knocked on the office door. A scrawny, middle aged man with round spectacles perched on the end of his hawkish nose opened the door.

"You must be Ms Woods," he said. "Please come in and sit down over here." He waved me over to a chair by his desk.

"Thank you for seeing me Mr Willows. I have brought what little information I have managed to find along with the photos I told you about. Please take a look and see what you think." I handed him the envelope containing my findings.

I watched him as he scrutinized the photos after reading the material from the archives. He held the photos under a lamp and scratched his head. A perplexed look crossed his face and he looked up at me.

"Where did you say you found this?"

I mentioned the town and the area where the house was located.

"Ms Woods this is a very unusual find. The symbols date back hundreds of years and haven't been used in anything to my knowledge in centuries. I wasn't aware they were ever used in the continental United States. I came across some documents with similar symbols which were confiscated from the Bavarian Illuminati back in the late 1700's. I have to also admit that this is not my field of expertise but I have a colleague whose it is. I would very much like to share this information with him if you don't mind."

"No please go ahead. I don't mind at all if it'll bring me closer to the answers I seek. You mentioned the Illuminati, weren't they some sort of secret society who dabbled in the occult and were connected with with political takeovers and power struggles?"

"Yes you are correct in a sense. The original Illuminati were indeed a secret society with involvement in politics, business and various other endeavors. Modern day rumors about them tend to be blown out of proportion and any secret society who may refer to themselves as such are merely a copy of the original order which to my knowledge no longer exists. The symbology however predates this order and has its roots in the occult. I don't want to give you any false information but I do believe you've stumbled upon a ceremonial temple. It is not a Christian house of worship, Ms Woods, in fact any people who were found in that temple would have probably been put to death as heretics back when it was in use. The temple itself would have been destroyed and the whole area burnt to the ground."

"Thank you for the information Mr Willows I look forward to hearing from you once you have consulted with your colleague." I stood up and shook his hand and left the office.

Great! I thought to myself. I probably had some Black arts temple of doom located under my Nana's house. I wasn't a particularly suspicious person at all but I think anyone who found out they were living above an occult temple would feel slightly uneasy.

I headed back to the hospital for the second visiting hour.

The nurse who had been so friendly to me over the last few days was beaming at me as I walked in the door. This obviously meant good news and I almost sprinted to Nana's room. I entered crossing my fingers like I did when I was a child.

She was awake and smiling at me.