Out of the Mist by EvergreenWritersGroup Page A

Can't you smell it?”
    “ No, Gail, I can't.
Calm down.”
    “ I know what I saw. I
know what I heard. I'm out of here, with or without you.” Gail
wrestled out of his arms and, naked, headed to the door.
    “ Okay, okay. I'll go
to the front desk and see if there's another available room.”
Marcus pulled on his pants. “Wait here. I'll go see.”
    “ Oh, no you're not.
No way. I'm coming with you. You're not leaving me alone in here.”
Suddenly realizing her nakedness, she grabbed her robe.
    They made their way
to the lobby. After ringing the desk bell several times, Ned
emerged from a door behind the desk. He rubbed his bleary eyes and
suppressed a yawn.
    “ There are ghosts. I
saw them.” Gail blubbered. Her arms flailed. Marcus half-heartedly
corroborated his wife’s statements.
    Ned glanced from Gail
to Marcus. “Ah, yes. Room 428.” After a pause while he searched for
words, he continued. “That’s our best room. There’s no such thing
as ghosts. Not in this hotel. You are the first guests in that room
since it was remodelled.”
    Gail, despite her
frenzy, glimpsed the recognition that washed over Ned's face. “You
know something, don't you? I don’t care a fig what you say. There's
something about that room, isn't there?”
    Ned glanced
away.
    “ Gail, hush.” Marcus
put his arm around his wife.
    “ He knows something.
Something about that room. It's haunted, isn’t it?” Gail glared at
Ned. “I want another room. I’d leave this hotel for good, but it’s
too late to go anywhere else.”
    “ No, ma'am, there are
no ghosts. The hotel—the room—isn't haunted. I know no such thing.”
Ned leafed through his book, turned around, and pulled a key from
the slot. “Here, room 202. I'm sorry for your bad experience. This
room is on the house. I’ll refund your money in the morning. Let me
help move your bags.”
    “ That's quite okay,”
Marcus said. “We can handle it. Come on, Gail, let's get moved so
we can get back to sleep. Morning will be here before we know
it.”
    “ I'll wait in the new
room while you get our stuff.”
    “ If you like, you can
leave your things there till morning,” Ned suggested.
    “ No.” Gail shot more
daggers at Ned. “I want our stuff out of there now. You hear me,
Marcus? Now!”
    Marcus and Gail
headed to the stairs. Gail, out of breath when they reached the
second floor, said, “There's something fishy. He knows something’s
wrong. Why else would he give us a free room?”
    “ Oh, Gail, he just
wants to keep his guests happy.”
    Marcus unlocked the
door to room 202. “Wait here. I’ll be back in a few minutes with
our belongings.”
     
    1938
     
    Sally, the
chambermaid, hesitated before room 428. She pooh-poohed the tales
about the hotel and room 428 in particular. A murder and suicide
about 10 years previously was common knowledge around the area.
There was nothing odd about it, just an explicable happenstance
sparked by jealousy, rage, and despair. The weirdest and scariest
stories were the ones about guests who woke up in bed to find
bodies beside them, except they weren’t real, of course. They must
have been ghosts, for what else could they be? And then there were
bodies that fell from the balcony and disappeared. Not to mention
other mysterious tales generated by the rumour mill and gossip gone
amuck.
    There were few jobs
in Cape Chignecto for a 56-year-old woman, and Sally was elated
when hired as one of three chambermaids at Ocean End’s Hotel. A few
ghosts wouldn’t stop her.
    She tiptoed over the
threshold. Her eyes darted about the room. “Get hold of yourself,”
she mumbled. “It’s just another room to be cleaned for the next
guests.”
    Sally stripped the
bed and gathered the soiled towels. She scrubbed the tub and sink
and placed clean, folded towels on the rack. To others, those were
mundane chores, but Sally took pride in her work. If she did a job,
it was going to be done right, whatever task it might
be.
    Later that