The Monsters of the Mind

Part 16

Between thirty minutes to an hour passed before I was able to gain enough courage to leave my room.

It was closing in around one forty-five when I opened the stairwell door to the third floor. Taking the elevator would've been too risky, had someone decided to leave their room for whatever reason - and the stairwell keys that I had found proved to be excellent to use in case I needed to duck down into the stairs in case I heard something.

Reaching the third floor, a sense of dread covered my body as if someone had dropped a bucket of ice water on me.

The floor was very dark and the decorium was cold-looking. The age-old furniture that sat in the lobby remained dressed in cobwebs and dust - like the furniture on the previous floors had, but this felt different. The air felt thick and it felt as if the green wallpaper had eyes that were watching me in every corner. I had brought a torch and was glad I did so as the floor had no lights on, no lamps to guide me.

'I wonder why Jimmy would put someone up here, especially since this floor seems to be made for storage,' my mind wondered.

Indeed, there were boxes and old vintage toys scattered about through the hallways - an old wooden rocking horse, a set of two Starsky and Hutch cars, a spirograph, a smashed up Atari and games - random things that I had seen in thrift shops, some of them priced at only £10. There was also some random furniture as well - old trunks like the ones in Dr. Bose's room, chairs, lampshades, cording for electronics, even an old broken heater. I lifted the lid of one trunk, not at all surprised to see a set of cricket bats and balls. 

"I'll bet any money that this belonged to Jimmy at one point," I muttered.

'But, didn't Amy's memories mention about Harvey wanting to teach Jimmy how to play cricket?' my mind remembered.

"That's right..." I looked down at the bats, "Jimmy did say that."

'Well, since no one is using them,' my mind advised, 'It might not be a bad idea to take one of those suckers with us. We don't want another hit on the head.'

I could only agree. One hit was bad enough, and this floor was creepy - and not just because it was night outside either. I pulled the bat out before closing the lid to the trunk. Now, armed and ready, I began walking through the halls again with the hopes of encountering Harvey Hall's spirit.

A part of me was hoping he would be as friendly as Amy and Dr. Bose had been - and helpful - but I wasn't going to hold my breath on it. Dr. Bose had said that he would be a bit more difficult to find and the manager at the restaurant had mentioned that Harvey was a bit of a grump when he had been alive - which probably meant that he might just be a grump as a spirit, if not more. And if he was upset like I had seen him in my dream during my first night here, he might not be as forward about appearing as the other two had. And without any lights on, save for my torch, it would be difficult to locate his general area.

I stopped at several doors, listening and waiting to see what would happen. There was no sign of the former proprietor anywhere. I headed back where I came from - returning to the main lobby of the floor.

I had checked everywhere for Harvey's spirit down the hallway where rooms 301 to 307 were with no luck. I didn't really want to attempt going by Mrs. Cesari's room, 309, at this hour as she seemed the kind of woman who may throw a complaint at any given time. But, I had no choice - that was the last area I had to check.

As I started down, my only source of light began to flicker.

"Damn it," I growled to myself, tucking the bat under my arm and smacking the side of the torch, "Please don't go out on me now..."