Ancestral

Awake

I awoke in a bright quiet room, the only sounds were the soft rhythmic beeping of a monitor, and slow rhythmic breathing of Ben, who was asleep in a chair beside the bed. Before I could stir, the door opened, and Sylvia walked in carrying two coffees. I turned my head toward her as she entered and she let out a low, “Hallelujah.” Walking over to the bed she whispered, “Welcome back.” She set both coffees down and reached for the nurse’s button.

A few seconds later a voice sounded from the wall behind me, “Yes? Do you need something?”

“We were supposed to tell you when he woke up.”

“Thank you, I’ll let the nurse know.”

The metallic voice woke Ben up and he stretched before realizing that I was awake. Sylvia handed him a coffee and sat in the other chair. “How are you feeling?” she asked.

I wasn’t feeling much of anything. The headache was still there but manageable, and I was in a bit of a fog, which I assumed was from the drugs they gave me. “Ok, I guess.”

Ben remained silent, just watching me with concern in his eyes. Sylvia smiled. “Nice try, you’re not going to be ok for a few days yet. You gave us quite a scare. Good thing Ben called and told us where you were. You might have lain there for hours or even days before anyone thought to look up that overgrown path.” She put her hand on his, but he remained stoic.

I looked at him, but he wouldn’t make eye contact with me. “How did he know? I thought he was away for the weekend?” I could see something was bothering him on a profound level and, knowing Ben, he wouldn’t talk about it until he was good and ready, and right now I didn’t have the strength to wheedle it out of him.

“He won’t say,” she squeezed his hand and laughed. “Stubborn bastard. Maybe you can get it out of him later.” With that the nurse came in to check on me and all personal conversation halted while she did various tests and asked all kinds of questions. They wanted to observe me for at least another night, so It looked like I wouldn’t be going home quite yet. While this was going on, my housemates excused themselves to give me some privacy.

Ben mentioned something about the cafeteria on his way out and I realized I was beginning to get hungry. When I asked the nurse if I could get something to eat she smiled and replied, “That’s a good sign, but we’ll have to wait for the doctor’s approval before we can get you anything, but I’m sure he won’t have a problem with it.” She put all the equipment back in its proper place, and as she left she said, “He’ll be in to see you shortly, but in the meantime, I’ll send someone in to take your order for lunch and dinner.”

I was left alone for the first time since my accident, and for the first time I had a moment to think about the memories that Silas had shown me. The pieces were beginning to come together, but there were still gaps. I would need some time for my head to clear before I could really begin to look at the bigger picture. I also realized that I had a number of very specific leads that Heather could start looking into immediately. But of course, she was not an intern yet and there was lots of paperwork to do before I could bring her on. But maybe, given the connection of this story with our shared housing situation, she might be willing to start early, especially if we kept track of her hours and did some juggling later on.

About a half an hour after the nurse left, Ben returned to the room alone.

“Where’s Sylvia?” I asked.

“She went home for lunch. Andi is coming in this afternoon to stay with you for a while. I’ll head back then and get some sleep.”

He did look blurry eyed, so I asked, “Were you here all night?”

“Yeah,” was all he said.

“How long have I been here? What day is it?”

“Sunday, you’ve been here just under twenty-four hours.”

“Did I see Mr. P. earlier?”

“Yup, He was here yesterday afternoon while you were in the emergency room. The twins came for a while too, but they were working a show at school last night so they couldn’t stay.”

I thought for a moment. “How long have you been here?” I asked.

“Since I got back.”

I noticed his travel bag in the corner and asked, did you go home first, or did you come straight here?”

“Straight here,” he said abruptly.

Silence filled the room as I thought about this. “Why?”

He shrugged, looking at the floor, “I just did.” He clearly wasn’t ready to talk yet, but I needed to know, so I asked. “How did you know where I was?” He didn’t answer. I pressed harder, “Please, I need to know. Who told you I was there?”

He shuffled his feet for a moment before answering, “Said her name was Maggie. Showed me a building I’d never seen before, but I knew where it was somehow. Said it was urgent, so I called and asked if you were ok. Mr. P. was starting to get worried ‘cause you hadn’t shown up for lunch or the tour of the basement. I told him where to look and said it was important.” He looked up at me, and I briefly saw the anguish and fear in his eyes. “Then I left. Drove as fast as I dared, but by the time I arrived you were already here.” Then lowering his eyes to the floor again, he said. “Been here ever since.”

“I know Maggie,” I started. “I know where she’s buried.”

His head snapped up. “You know…but how?”

“I have so much to tell you. I’ve met them all, Maggie, Sylas, Marcus…”

“You mean Cid and Mark?”

I nodded. “Sylas has been showing me things, sad and painful things, but joyful things as well.”

“Mark came home with me,” he ventured. “I thought I could get away from them, but I couldn’t. He followed me.”

“Are you alright?”

“I was scared shitless until Maggie burst in yesterday morning to show me where you were. Then I knew they wouldn’t harm us.”

“Is Mark with you now?” I asked.

“No. Once I was focused on you, he left me alone.

Just then Andi walked in, accompanied by the two theater majors. After they all said hello and spent a moment with me, Andi took Ben and his bag out of the room and sent him home. When she returned, she said. “He’ll probably sleep all afternoon and evening, poor boy. But it’s what he needs. The twins prattled on about the show they were doing at school, sharing all the gossip about who had a crush on whom, and who they thought was screwing around behind someone else’s back. It was the minutiae of everyday life, complicated, messy, and exciting, at least to the twins, and it was good to hear. I had been putting far too much focus on the dead. It was refreshing to engage with the life of these two and all the hopes they had for the future.

Andi tried to calm them down, but I wouldn’t let her. “I’ve been asleep for an entire day,” I said. “I’ll let you know if I’m feeling worn out.” After an hour or so they left, and Andi settled down prepared to listen, or watch me sleep, whichever I needed. The twins had tired me out more than I realized, but I didn’t regret encouraging their energy. I closed my eyes for a minute to gather myself before addressing her and I almost dozed off. Maybe I actually did, because when I opened my eyes the light in the room was slightly different. Andi was engrossed in a book and looked up when I stirred.

“That was a quick nap,” she said. “The doctor came in while you were out and didn’t want to wake you. He wouldn’t say anything definite, but it sounds like you may come home tomorrow if nothing out of the ordinary happens. He’ll stop in again later.” She set her book down and looked at me as if expecting me to say something.

“What?” I finally asked.

“I know something is going on. I can feel it.” She continued to hold me in her gaze as she elaborated. “The house feels different, empty. And Ben is beside himself. He won’t talk, of course, but he feels different too, stronger and richer, like a sauce that’s been reduced. And then there’s you.” Her look intensified. “I can’t identify anything specific, but it’s as if you’ve become an opening, a doorway, and everything is passing through you.” She closed her eyes as she said, “I can see some of it. Someone named Maggie, a tragic tale, and then there’s…” Her eyes flew open in disbelief. “Miss Foster?” she whispered. “Our Miss Foster?”

I nodded. “Yes, and many others.” I hesitated, not knowing where to begin. “The boys in the basement. Their names are Sylas and Marcus, Cid and Mark if you know them well. Cid…”

“He is with you right now, and I suspect that Mark is with Ben.” She seemed alarmed at this realization, as if she needed to do something to protect us, to warn Ben.

“Don’t worry. Ben knows.” I tried to calm her fears. “And so do I.” This didn’t seem to help much, so I continued. “Cid has been showing me things, his life, his time here in this town, his connection to the boarding house. Neither of them are malevolent, they just want their stories to be told. They want to be remembered.”

“But you ended up here.” She gestured to the room and the larger building. “That’s certainly not harmless!”

“I tripped. I was just following my natural curiosity and I lost my footing.” She didn’t seem convinced. “Ok, don’t tell Ben I told you this, but it was one of the spirits who told him I was hurt and where you could find me. Yes, they guided me to that old building, but they didn’t cause my accident, and in fact, they got me the help I needed.” This time I was holding her gaze as she tried to process what I was saying. “Relax. I think I have most of the story now, I don’t think there’s much more. Once I have it all, I bet everything will go back to normal.”