“Why don’t you ever fade away?” She asked, wondering at his reticence and unwillingness to talk of his former life.
“I guess no one really cared about me,” he answered, thinking of the last time he had faded away.
…
18 April 1994
Chris appeared and found Shaun screaming at the wall… Again. Shaun appeared to have had a mental breakdown after Chris had been pushed down the stairs. He had been questioned by the police and due to alibis had been no longer persued as a suspect. But the guilt he felt was rather suspect. He appeared to have snapped under the pressure and eventually after being found in the basement and loudly accusing a poor janitor of stealing peaches from the family orchard, his firm had sent him to be assessed of mental capability. From his long stay at the asylum, he obviously failed the initial assessment. Shaun spent a longer than average stay in his head at most times he had conjured Chris into his thoughts. There was obviously something that was eating at him. Chris enjoyed the company of other ghosts residing around the asylum, when he visited. First was an old gal from the nineteen twenties called Cheryl. She was a crass and flirtatious spirit, who had been committed to the asylum by her husband. She had nothing wrong with her, but the times allowed him to lock her up due to her largess behaviour and what she called ‘zazzle’.
The next spirit was a sweet teenage pale brunette from the nineteen fifties who had apparently killed four men because she could not stand for anyone to touch her skin. They had tried innocent shoulder pats or less innocent knee touches and she felt it a sin. So, she had taken her father’s butchers knife and stabbed any of the men who dared try to touch her. He learnt that her father was a strict devout Catholic and any time he saw her talk with a man, he used to make her drink boiling water and scrub her skin clean with sandpaper to stop the sin of lust from corrupting her. He had died suddenly from a heart condition and her mother had tried to support them, but had become a woman of the night and Grace had mistakenly killed her, when trying to cure her of sin. The trauma had then led her to trying to cure others the same way. Luckily the cops had caught on quick enough to prevent even more mayhem in the little church. She was sent to the asylum after killing the priests son for an innocent hand touch at dinner. The priest had been so grief stricken, that he had condemned her to hell. She had killed herself in the most bizarre fashion to repent her sin.
In the asylum he had also found a genuine serial killer who spoke with passion about mutilation and killing women who plied their trade along streets. Finding the man peculiar and oddly shy, he had finally asked if he was ‘Jack the Ripper’. The man had cackled an odd hollow laugh and walked away becoming a non-seen spectre.
He had grown so fond of the ghosts and didn’t even consider that Shaun may not last as long as a mental patient. His psychiatrist was frequently telling him to ignore the pain which lead Shaun to push down and repress the bad memories. Soon after, Chris no longer appeared within the asylum. He tried to find a way back, as he had enjoyed the conversation of the other spirits. But eventually he found that he was stuck in the building and wandered the halls without purpose. He became angry and trying to get attention or interaction used all his energy to move the physical objects around him. At first it was small. A move of a stapler, a pencil, a hole punch. Then he moved chairs, desks, toppled shelves. He sometimes shattered the lights, while meetings were being held.
12/03/2026
She walked in and Chris could tell she was nervous as sweat beaded on her brow and she practised her speech in front of the twelve seater boardtable. Chris had heard an executive member saying they had to suffer through her presentation due to her father in-law owning a majority share in a company they wanted to work with. He went down to where the man sat talking with an elderly gentleman and listened as they conversed, “She is a weirdo! Don’t fucking bother. She used to be panting after all the team in college! Just give her a smile and she’ll worship us!” The young man with an arrogant and condescending tone sighed.
“You know it won’t be that easy to pull them into bed, Kyle! Her husband is a fucking war veteran and his family has morals. Do you really think he married her because she was pretty?”
Chris scowled as the young man laughed too hard at the girls expense.
“Maybe she’s just really good in the sack! Had a girl like that once, really boring to look at but wow, had a firecracker in her pants!” The younger man laughed.
“Doesn’t matter I’ve put one of my imipramine anti-depressants into her coffee to make her more pliant. She’ll be buzzed for a few hours.”
“Good, maybe I should have one to get through her speech!” They left the room and Chris realised they probably had made a mistake if the depressant was making her sweat. He got up there and saw that the meeting room was filled. He saw the two men enter and lean against the wall, due to the lack of seats. The young woman was sweating more than when he had left and he wanted to shout for someone to call a doctor, but was surprised as she spoke in a strong clear voice and seemed to engage the room with her smile. After a few minutes she suddenly put her hand dramatically over her chest and her face fell as she crumpled forward.
Everyone yelled and called for the floors defibrillator and first aid officer. Chris could see that it was no use as they worked quickly and efficiently, but the moment was already gone where they could save her. 5% was the rate which they could have been able to. He noticed the guilty look from the two men that he had heard previously.
He waited as the ambulance paramedics wheeled off the still warm body and he looked expectantly at the area that was left bare. After a few minutes a flickering light started and he shielded his eyes as the room glared with sunlight so vibrant and so sudden it almost startled him.
She blinked up at him and asked in a small voice, “What happened?”
He could only reply, “Welcome to eternity, sweetheart…”
Maxine the Magnificent 