The Choice (a Painful Past)

135

I paused the story for dramatic effect, then continued in what I thought was a mysterious tone.

"Peter's condition became worse, and the neighbors claimed that they could hear him screaming every night, begging for someone to help him, to save him from the demon of the jailhouse. After two years of being stuck in this cell, Peter passed away. Some believe that his body and mind just gave up. He couldn't deal with the solitude of being trapped, like an animal in a cage. And some believe that there actually was a demon inside the jailhouse." The room was silent when I finished the story.

I felt an almost overwhelming sadness wash over me for this poor man that I didn't know.

Today, people with schizophrenia could take medications and live a perfectly normal life. When I looked out at the kids, I noticed that some of them had tears in their eyes or sliding down their cheeks. Even Ben's eyes looked a little glassy.

"Am I the only one that feels like crying right now?" Colby asked, as he pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes.

"No, I feel it too." I replied, with my voice cracking a little with emotion.

"Me too." Xander murmured.

His proclamation was followed by a round of murmured agreements from the crowd.

"Look, I thought this was going to be fun." One of the moms spoke up. "But this is getting to be too much for us. We're going to go. I'm not sure that we'll stay for the party. It depends on how long you take in here."

I nodded. "Yes ma'am. I understand. The building should be open, if you guys want to wait in there. It shouldn't take too much longer."

She took her daughter's hand, the girl named Emma, and stalked out of the room, without another word. I had a feeling that they wouldn't be waiting when we finished. I felt bad, but I had also warned the parents that some activity could occur.

I hadn't thought it would, but it was just a good idea to cover all your bases.

After they left, things continued like it hadn't even happened.

"You think this is paranormal? It doesn't really make sense that we would all feel this strongly about it." Sam suggested.

Tears welled up in my eyes, against my will, and slid down over my cheeks, as I looked at Sam and nodded.

"It h-has to be." I stuttered, fighting against the emotion that threatened to take me to my knees.

"Oh God." Colby muttered, as he placed his hand over his heart. "Is that you, Peter? Are you sad? Is this what you felt, staying isolated in this room?"

We all waited, quietly, except for the hushed sobs and sniffs that echoed around the forlorn room.

A single cat ball, that Sam had let Ben place almost in the corner of the room, where Peter's bed would have been, suddenly started flashing.

"Do you see it? Look, Sam!" Ben whisper yelled, pointing at the ball.

"I see it, buddy." Sam murmured.

After a few more minutes of them trying to get answers, the overwhelming sadness passed. I sucked in a deep lungful of air, into my burning chest. It felt like there had been a huge weight lifted, allowing me to breathe freely again.

"This is crazy." Colby whispered, seemingly to himself, as he shook his head.

"What is?" I asked.

He looked up and stole my newly regained breath with those damn eyes of his.

"The activity that we're getting." He replied. "I never believed that this place was haunted, back then."

"Well, yeah, but we didn't really believe in the paranormal back then either." Sam chimed in. "Maybe that's why we never saw or felt anything."

"This is actually the best birthday party I've ever been to." I heard one of the kids say.

I turned towards the voice, and saw Ben and his friend, Cason, standing over the now dark cat ball.

"Right?" Ben agreed. "Best birthday ever."

I smiled to myself, as another overwhelming emotion came over me. It was happiness this time. Ben's birthday was a success already, and we hadn't even made it to the actual party part of it yet.

I checked my phone really quick, to get the time.

"Shit." I muttered, noticing that we were almost an hour past my schedule. "Okay guys, let's move through the rest of the jail, because we still have the blacklight dance party and the food to get to."

"Oh yeah!" Ben exclaimed. "Hey Sam, are you guys gonna come back to the party with us?"

"Oh, uh," Sam replied, looking from Ben to me, then shrugged.

I rolled my eyes and smiled.

"If you guys have time, I'm sure we would all love for you to join us." I said.

"Well, we don't have anything else planned for tonight. I mean, we were going to just go to that stupid little bar and play pool or something, but a blacklight party sounds pretty cool." Colby spoke up, looking questioningly at Sam.

As their eyes met, some kind of look was passed between the two of them that I couldn't read.

Then, Sam nodded and smiled.

"Okay, a party sounds better than a musty bar anyway."

"Woohooo!" Ben exclaimed, as he jumped up into the air, with his fist raised above his head.

The other kids cheered right along with him, and I was positive that I even saw some of the adults chime in. Honestly, I was cheering on the inside. I wasn't ready for my time with Colby, I mean, with them, to be over.

We hadn't even gotten a chance to reminisce or anything yet. It had been completely about ghosts, so far. Almost like he could read my mind, Colby caught my eye and winked.

I felt my face flush and thanked the heavens that it was pretty dark in here.

We went through the rest of the jail relatively quick, with only a few more paranormal interactions. Sam and Colby seemed to get enough for their video though, so we helped them pack up, and headed back outside.

When the cool night air hit my face, I thought I would sob with relief. I hadn't realized just how damn hot and stuffy it had been inside the jail.

I wiped my forehead with the back of my hand and felt a thick layer of grime on my face. It was like the dust in the air had joined the sweat and coagulated on my face. It felt disgusting, and I bet it didn't look all that great either.

I reached inside my bag and pulled out one of the wet wipes that I had in there. I needed to try and do what I could with this mess, before I got into the light.

I tore the package open with my teeth and ripped out the little white square. It wasn't much, but it would help.

Thankfully, Sam and Colby were behind the group, while I was in the front, so there was no chance of them seeing me. I scrubbed my face with the little wipe, stuffed it back inside my bag, then ripped the scrunchie from my hair. I finger combed the tangled, sweaty mess the best I could, and left it down, hoping that the slight breeze would help dry it a little.