To Love A Ghost || ONC 2023 Shortlist

Chapter Three

Oliver Christianson, or Ollie, as he insisted I call him, phoned me shortly before noon. He seemed like a good enough guy. Because of what Ed had said about him, I'd expected Ollie to be a little slow on the uptake, as my dad used to say, but I didn't get that impression. He struck me as your typical blue-collar small-town good ol' boy, but not a moron.

After apologizing profusely for smoking inside the shop, he related the story about the lit cigarette flying from his fingers into the toilet, the whisper he'd heard, and the chill he'd felt at the same time.

"Swear to God, Mr. Palmer, that's just what happened," Ollie insisted as I leaned against the kitchen counter fixing myself a grilled cheese sandwich and a microwaved bowl of tomato soup. "Ain't never had nothin' like that happen before, not ever in my whole life."

I flipped the grilled cheese in the pan and stirred the soup, setting the cook timer for another minute. "And nobody else saw this?" I asked, my voice revealing my clear skepticism despite my attempt to hide it. "Nobody saw or felt anything?"

"Uh-uh. I was alone. I swear it happened though, just like I said." A pause. "You ain't experienced anything weird in there at all?"

I swallowed hard. "Not really." Nope, just stuff like a disembodied voice whispering and laughing. Oh, and a set of shelving units that somehow managed to assemble themselves, followed by the most vivid dream I've ever had in my life. "So did anything happen when you came back to work the next day?"

"Well, to be honest, Mr. Palmer, I didn't go back. I told Ed I ain't goin' back in that shop. No, sir. There's somethin' in there, and it don't like me, not one bit."

Well. Ed hadn't mentioned that Ollie had walked off the job. If he was Ed McKay's best electrician and had bailed before the work was completed, then either Ed's crew were a bunch of irresponsible dipshits or whatever Ollie claimed he'd experienced had genuinely scared the living shit out of him.

"My girlfriend thinks it's one of the spirits from Roselawn Manor," Ollie continued in a hushed voice. "On account of the tunnel, y'know."

"Tunnel?" I echoed, frowning. I set my phone down, turned on the speaker and took the bowl of soup from the microwave. Then, using the spatula, I flipped the sandwich from the skillet to the waiting plate. "What tunnel?"

"Gina says there's a tunnel running from Roselawn to the basement of your shop," Ollie explained. "Guess way back when, your great-grandpa Alfred had a drugstore and medical supply place or something there. And some of the traveling medical staff stayed in the apartment upstairs. They used the tunnel to go back and forth, prolly to stay out of the weather during the wintertime. Gina says spirits can leave Roselawn Manor that way because in their world, it's all one 'n the same to them. The tunnel's like a conduit for spirits or something like that."

"It's true my great-grandfather had a pharmacy in this building, and my great-aunt Lorraine inherited it and turned it into a floral design shop," I affirmed. "I've been in the basement, and I've never seen anything that looked like a tunnel. Pretty sure I'd have noticed it if there was."

"Hm. Maybe it's been closed up then, but ghosts can prolly still get through it. All I know is, there's something in that shop, Mr. Palmer. Something I ain't never experienced before. Your great-aunt Lorraine used to say the place was haunted too, you know."

I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose. "I'm well aware. My great-aunt was...eccentric that way."

Ollie chuckled. "Yeah, she sure was a character. Gina said whenever she stopped by to see Lorraine, she felt a presence in there and up in the apartment, too. Wish she'd said something to me about it before I started the job, I'll tell ya that much, but she said whatever's in there ain't actually bad. Coulda fooled me," Ollie snorted.