Turn

4

It was just after five o'clock in the morning when Virginia awoke. Next to her was her copy of Frankenstein, and she was still in her clothes from the day before. In the darkness, she could see Catherine's outline, fast asleep in bed. Quietly, Virginia slid down from her bed and grabbed her towel and shower caddy. Slipping out the door, she padded down the hall and wondered if there was anybody else up at this ungodly hour. She set down her caddy and turned on the water to a delightfully cool temperature that would cut through the heat on her skin.

As was her habit, as soon as the water touched her skin, she started to hum some tune that had lodged itself in her head. After going through it for the fourth time, she realized that it was something her mother had always hummed to her. She was stricken with guilt for not including her mother more in her new life. After the divorce, Janet only had her daughter and now, Virginia was gone.

Stepping out of the shower, Virginia wound her hair up in one towel and dried off her body with the other. She made it back to the room and yanked the towel off her head to let her damp blonde hair fall limp. Pulling on a pair of high-waisted jean shorts and floral, short-sleeved crop-top, she grabbed combat boots and wound her still-damp hair up into a loose bun. Glancing at her phone, she wondered what she would do for the next three hours. In an effort to find something to do, she left the room without waking Catherine and bounced down the steps. Walking outside, it was pushing six a.m. and the moon and stars had disappeared to make room for the sun, which had not yet decided to rise. So it was dark.

Virginia started walking without a plan as to where she was going, but as she crossed campus, she knew that she was walking to Eaton Hall. There was something like a hundred steps from the walkway up to the front doors of Eaton Hall, and Virginia turned to walk up them all. It was one of the few buildings on campus that Virginia hadn't yet been inside, and since she had all that time on her hands, she figured she would go exploring.

Once she reached the top, she slid her keycard into the lock and then pushed open the door. All the buildings locked down at midnight and didn't open back up until seven, but they could be entered using your card. She was pretty sure it recorded who had entered, but she didn't mind particularly. Someone was always watching anyway, if she'd learned nothing else from George Orwell's 1984.

Just inside the door, it was eerily dark. Her eyes adjusted to the indoors and she bent down to look closer at the floor; it was black and white, diamond-shaped tiles. Tracing the lines with her fingers, she leaned forward and found what she had been looking for. There were two small, diamond-shaped tiles the color of azure sea, an inch or so apart, about eight feet from the door. Virginia sat down and turned over so that her head lay just over those tiles. She extended her body out and laid there in a rigid line, her shoulder blades digging into the cold floor, and wondered if she was lying on top of the body of Barbra Eaton Martin.

"What are you doing?" came a voice.

Virginia jumped and jerked herself quickly to her feet. Standing a few feet back, in the doorway out of the entry way and into the hall, stood a girl with her hands on her hips. She was a muscular girl with red-blonde hair and an eyebrow raised.

"I, um," Virginia searched for words. She went with the truth. "I wanted to see the blue tiles that are supposed to be over Barbra Eaton Martin's eyes."

To her surprise, the girl smiled readily. "Oh, is that all? You looked so guilty. Plenty of people do that, granted not many of them do it at six in the morning, but all the same."

"I couldn't sleep," shrugged Virginia. "Wait, why are you up?"

"I'm up every morning at six to go running," said the girl with a proud smile.

"So you're in Eaton why?" Virginia asked.

"I live here," she said flatly, and seeing Virginia's face, expanded on that thought. "There's some sophomores they stick here because they don't have spots for us anywhere else."

"Oh," shrugged Virginia. "I didn't know anyone lived here."

"We're a pretty chill group," she shrugged. "Want to come running?"

"No," Virginia laughed sharply. "I don't really run, but thanks for the offer."

"Sure. Anytime," the girl smiled. "I'm Tracey, by the way."

"Virginia," she extended her hand and they shook. "Nice to meet you."

"You too," Tracey nodded. "But one more question: why were you laying on the floor?"

Dropping her head, Virginia debated on what answer would be best. "Well, I mean, there's the story, of the body buried there."

"You wanted to see if Barbra Eaton Martin would fit?" Tracey's light brown eyes sparkled as the sunlight peeked through the window for the first time that day.

Virginia just shrugged.

Tracey laughed. "You're weird. I like it."

"So, is this place haunted?" asked Virginia drolly.

"Oh definitely," smirked Tracey as she walked past Virginia. "You can hear the ghost of Lionel's wife roaming the halls at night. Some people can even see her."

And then she popped out the door, fairly skipping down the steps and darting off in a run. Virginia shook her head and looked back down at the two blue tiles.

"If you're down there," sighed Virginia. "Don't go haunting me, okay? I've already got a dead chick in my dreams, I don't need you around when I'm awake. Thanks."

Turning to leave, Virginia stopped and looked back at the tiles. "I'm insane. You're insane. This is insane. Whatever."

Walking outside, she was looking directly at the rising sun. Squinting her eyes against it, Virginia sat down on the front steps and closed her eyes, feeling the warmth on her face. Leaning back on her hands, Virginia bathed in the warm glow of the morning light, letting her mind clear and her body relax. That is when she saw the redheaded woman walking toward her.

"You can't get rid of me, Virginia," she said. "Actually, I'm not sure you want to."

"I didn't want to before," Virginia sat up. "Because you were just in my dreams. But now that you're appearing to me in broad daylight like I'm a crazy person, I wouldn't mind you just moving right along."

Smiling, the woman named Virginia Anne Davis looked down at her. "I'm not that easy to get rid of, sweetie. Besides, I may have a use for you yet."

Virginia opened her eyes and stood up slowly. "I hope the rest of the day isn't as weird as this morning was. I really hope not."