Ghosts and Spirits

ReOpening

My night had been plagued with nightmares and demons. The little sleep I do get is interrupted by shadows moving around the room, grabbing my attention before disappearing. When I wake up I am greeted by Gracie. I pat her on the head as she nudges my face with her nose to try and persuade me to get up, let her outside and get her breakfast. "Alright, Gray, alright. I'm up..." I gently push Gracie out of my face so I can set up. When I do I take a deep breath as I stretch, trying to wake myself up the best that I can. When I take a deep inhale, with my stretch, I am surprised by a new smell. The faint smell of bourbon and vanilla.

I look around the room to see if I can find the source of the smell. Nothing is knocked over and nothing is out of place. I take another deep breath to try to track down the source of the smell, but as quickly as it came it is gone. I'm not sure if this is a spirit trying to get my attention or maybe a long lost relative letting me know they're there, but whatever it is, it's gone now. I rub my face before sliding to the edge of the bed. Getting up and heading down stairs to get Gracie taken care of.

I get settled onto the couch, hoping to answer a few emails and get a few other things done that I have been putting off. As I do, I hear my phone go off and it is my general manager, Cory, I sigh as I see the name come cross my phone screen. The first day we are opening after the lockdown and they are already having issues. I slide the green icon from the right of the screen to the left, before putting the phone to my ear, "hello?"

"Hey," I hear Cory, the tone in his voice one of stress and irritation. "Listen, uhh... We are gonna need some help down here."

"What's going on?"

"Well, maybe it's because we haven't been open in so long and they haven't had any interactions with anyone, but the spirits are very active and very unhappy. Laura and Mags have already had to back out of tours because of the activity."

"Are they okay?"

"Yeah, just got spooked I think."

I take a deep breath, sucking air through my teeth as I rub my eyes, "alright, I just got up so give me an hour, maybe two, and I will be there."

"Thanks man."

I end the call with Cory and get up to start getting ready to head to the museum. When I get there the place is pretty empty, only a few tour guides getting the place ready to open. I walk through the employee entrance and see a two guides sitting in the break room. When I get closer I see it's Laura and Michael. "Hey guys," I great as I walk up to the table they're sitting at.

"Hey," Michael looks up with a smile, but Laura seems distracted.

"Hey," I gently nudge Laura's arm, causing her to come out of the trance like state, "you okay?"

"Yeah," she nods, not looking up to me.

"What happened?"

Laura shakes her head, "just got really dizzy in doll room and I hear them giggling."

"Giggling? That's new."

"Yeah," Laura lets out a loud sigh, followed by a forced chuckle. "I don't know, I'm used to the dizziness and the noises, but the giggling just freaked me out."

"Understandable," I nod, "let me know if you need anything, okay?"

"Okay," Laura looks up to me, "thanks."

"Yeah," Michael nods in agreement, "thanks, Zak."

I leave the two of them be and head to the front of the museum, hoping to find Cory in the front room. I walk through the red curtain we use for a door to separate the employee hall and the entry room. Finding Cory at the laptop we have on the front counter. Since the virus we have had to make new restrictions to our normally full tours. We have had to limit our tours to five to six people. Adding the option to book a private tour with the purchase of our RIP All Access pass. "Hey man, what's going on?"

"Hey," Cory glances toward me before looking back to the computer, "uh... Mags had to go home, so we don't have enough people to run the show today."

"What happened to her?"

Cory shakes his head, "I'm not sure, she wouldn't tell me. She was back in the Ed Gein room. We heard her scream and then saw her high tail it out of there."

"Something must have shaken her up pretty bad."

"Yeah, but with the new restrictions we don't have enough people to run the tours."

"Can no one come in?"

Cory shakes his head again, "Mags left and wants a few days before she comes back, Alex is out of town, they had to leave because they couldn't afford their apartment anymore and I don't know when or if they're coming back. Hunter is sick, so that's a no and Julie's mother is in the hospital so that is a no too."

"Damn, do we not have anyone else on staff?"

"Nope, we lost a lot when the shut down first started. Not that I blame them, they got more unemployment being actually unemployed. But I wanted to talk to you about what to do before just closing on opening day."

"Yeah, do we have anyone signed up?"

"Yeah, a couple actually..."

"What's the line up?" I look over Cory's shoulder to the list of reservations we have for the day.

"Uh... at 10 we have a family of five. 11:30 a group of four, 2 a group of six and then at 3:30 we have two, who got the RIP All Access pass."

I nod, "alright, we can make this work with the four of us, right?"

"If we take it in shifts, yeah. One of us can lead a tour, one of us can follow, one stay at the desk for the next group and one in the break room in case we need anything."

"Sounds amazing, let's do it."

The day goes by slowly, but it goes smoothly. When we get to our final tour I am due to stay in the break room, I like to keep someone back here in case we need to call for an ambulance, with all the adverse reactions to the museum you never know what we'll need or when. As we get ready for the last tour I am up front with Michael, saying goodbye to the last tour group. They clear out quickly and I am cleared to go back to the breakroom, but something begs me to stay just a little longer. I stay and talk to Michael and Laura, who are due to take the next tour.

Michael, Laura and I laugh as we talk, waiting for our final tour of the day to arrive. Soon the bell rings, letting us know someone has opened the door, but before I can turn my head I am greeted by a newly familiar smell.