Orpheus - Haunting the Dead.pdf - Dice

HAUNTING THE DEAD
RICK CHILLOT
Ed’s eyes are watering. “They died when I was
twelve. Six months apart. My father—well, he drank
himself to death. My mother… cancer.” Ed found he
was sitting in the chair again.
“I miss my mom and dad too, Mr. Lighthouse,” Tina
says. “But they’re coming back to get me some day.
Maybe yours will come back too.”
“It’s okay, Eddie,” Goodman says. “You see, you
have a connection here, just like we all do.” Goodman
smiles. He chuckles a bit. “Why spend eternity wandering
about when you can stay at a fine hotel? I saw that
you’d be joining us, but I have to confess that I was
starting to wonder if you’d get here in time.”
“No!” Ed shouts.
Tina squeals, startled, and Goodman says, “It’s all
right, honey.”
Ed turns away from them. “I’m not dead, don’t you
get it? I’m not staying here! I don’t belong here.” He
stomps away, passing through the smaller doorway,
then realizes this wasn’t the way he entered. He stops
short, and feels the breath die away from him as he sees
what’s around him.
The room is filled with bones.
It’s like the pictures of catacombs he’d seen once in
National Geographic. Leg bones neatly stacked against
the wall. A pyramid of skulls. Shelves with finger bones
laid out in rows like an butterfly collection. And in one
corner, a pile of clothing, men’s suits, ladies’ dresses,
shoes, eyeglasses, wristwatches.
“My little hobby,” Goodman’s voice comes. “The
reason I had to seal off this area in the first place. I was
the only custodian back then. Nobody used to come
down here but me, so nobody realized these rooms had
been hidden.” He sighs, and turns his face away when
Ed looks at him. “It’s not that I ever wanted to hurt
anyone, Eddie. Heck, I hate to see people get hurt. That
was my problem, you see. Now and again I’d run into
people living their lives in such misery that I couldn’t
take it. They needed someone who could put them out
( 252 )
6