Shards of Black Glass

Alice Sayans

I look around the hotel, admiring the astrolabes and antique china on the tables.

    As my first time under the Wiza Hotel in Springfield, Missouri's roof, anxiousness bubbles in my gut. As a house-turned-hotel, it still held symbols of the previous owner’s taste. I knew everything there was to know about the place's history from reading about it in highschool for a project. 

Suddenly, I catch sight of a blue-white dress, which quickly disappears around a corner. I look around, thinking someone else must've seen it. But, no. Everyone else was working on their cameras or texting on their phones. I could hear Zak, Alex, Mark, and Jae talking in the next room, waiting for the interviewee to show up.

    Steeling my nerves, I race after the blue-white flash of dress up to the second floor landing. Looking around, I see the dress fall over the stairs leading upward. Smiling to myself, I race up the stairs. Up and up and up, I run. Finally, I pause on the fifth floor landing, looking down the long hallways. I see a figure standing by a large window, looking out into the deep blue sky.

    Bravely, I walk towards her. She looks around at me when I'm about three feet away. I try to stifle my gasp, but fail.

    Her pale, beautiful face looks like that of a painting. Her lips smile, but her big, brown eyes don't. I see a thin, knife-edge thick line across her neck, bleeding red blood. The line passes right through the woman's jugular. I see red dots on her expensive, Civil War era-looking gown.

    She smiles sadly at me, and says, "Great persistence and determination, Saira. Very great."

    She says, in a voice like birdsong, "My name is Alice Sayans. I'm sure you've heard of my husband, as he was a most famous owner of this building. But you won't find any record of me in Louis's diary pages. No. As his young, stupid, and inhabitable wife, I didn't deserve to be remembered. After another failed attempt to get me pregnant, he killed me, in his anger. Slit my throat. Tell your friends my story, child. Look in the basement as soon as you can. I will be down there to guide you." And, with that, Alice disappears into white smoke.

    I hear footsteps pound up the stairs, and turn to see Zak. I expected him to be with the interviewee, but no can do. Anger traces furious lines across his face when he catches sight of me. Stomping over to me, he asks, "Where did you go? The interview already ended! Why are you up here?" I blink at him, then say, in a dreamy, far-off voice, "I was conferring with Alice. Come, we need to check something."

    I push past Zak, and run to the stairs, leaving him wearing a bewildered look behind me. I descend to the fourth floor, and hear his footsteps above me. He catches up to me on the third floor landing, just as I'm about to swing around the banister to continue downward. Zak grabs my elbow, stopping my momentum. I swing back into him, elbowing him in the side. He grunts and lets go off my elbow, but spins me around to face him.

    "Who's Alice?" His hazel eyes gaze into mine, and I feel an unnatural fear rise in my chest. "Alice Sayans. Louis Sayans's wife. He killed her after a failed attempt at getting her pregnant. She said that there's something in the basement, and we need to go see it." Without saying anything more, I pry Zak's fingers off my shoulder and turn to continue my descent.

    Alex, Mark, and Jae look up as we come down the stairs. Without saying anything, I swing around a corner, and find myself facing a plain white door. I yank on the padlock, then see the owner rushing towards me. As a tall man with gray-streaked black hair and light brown eyes, the owner may look intimidating at first, but is really nice once you talk to him.

    He stumbles to a stop beside me, saying, "Miss, I'm afraid you cannot access the basement. It's staff only." I look the man in the eyes, and say, "This is about Alice Sayans. Sir, please open the door. She said that there's something down there. Please, open the door." The man looks down at me, confusion and grief warring in his eyes, then sighs and pulls a silver key off of a ring in his belt.

    The owner unlocks the padlocked door. Opening it, I run down the stairs. Complete blackness envelopes me, but I don't notice the absence of light. Some instinct inside of me tugs me in random directions. I only notice after a while that I'm dodging piles of trash, leaping over toppled racks, and ducking under overhanging boards. I hear the boys follow me, but ignore them as I dodge around a horrible-smelling trash can.

    Suddenly, bright white light flashes above me. I yelp and slam my eyes shut, my retinas flaring with pain as the light bulbs above me burn to life. I squint, slowly opening my eyes, and see a square patch of dirt in the corner of the basement. I sense the boys crowd up behind me, and walk towards the dirt.

    I look up, and see Alice hovering a few inches above the dirt. She nods, and gestures towards the ground. I fall to my knees beside it, horror filling my chest. Zak kneels next to me, and looks at me. We both nod at the same time, as if sharing a thought, and start to dig. Alex gives his camera to the owner, who holds it like it's a bomb. Mark and Jae stay upright, filming. Zak and Alex's hands join mine in digging.

    Alex gasps after a while, and Zak and I look over at him. A white hand is poking out of the brown dirt, like a zombie crawling forth from the grave. I dig more feverishly now, and soon my hands touch something. I brush away some dirt, and find myself staring down at a dirty, blue-white section of silk. Nausea turns in my stomach, and I stand to walk over to the top of the earth mound, where the head would be.

    I dig my hands into the soft earth, clawing for something that I can latch onto. I feel my fingers brush soft skin, and brush away a thin layer of soil. And, there, staring up at me, is Alice Sayans.

    Pale skin covers her face. Her large brown eyes gaze upward at me, unseeing. Her full, pink lips are parted, as if she wished to whisper something. I see a pale, red line on her throat, cutting across her jugular.

    Sadness wells up inside me, and I look up. Alice smiles sadly, and says softly, "Take my body, Saira. Burn it, and scatter the ashes in the cemetery, across my husband's grave. So that, finally, I can be over him for once." I nod mutely, and Alice disappears into white smoke, which quickly fades.

    Mark, above me, yelps, "Did you guys see that?" We all look at him, and he points to where Alice was floating. "I just saw a kind of white mist right there. It appeared, glowed, then disappeared. I'm pretty sure I caught it on camera." We all stand and move over to Mark, who rewinds him camera's video.

    On the small screen, we see Mark pointing the camera at a spot above Zak's head. A small, faintly glowing ball of light hovers there. Suddenly, the ball expands, growing more translucent and bigger. It resembles a woman's pale face, then disappears as suddenly as it appeared. Zak runs his hands through his spiky hair as Alex laughs. Jae and Mark high-five each other. Only I seem to remember the body lying a few inches away.

    I kneel next to Alice's head. Sadness and grief well up inside me. Gently, I put my fingers on her eyelids, and close her eyes. Now, it looks kind of as if she's sleeping. Sleeping in dirt. With a thin, straight line across her neck.

    Zak kneels next to me, and pats my shoulder. I look over at him, and see his eyes glimmering with several emotions. "How did you know this body was down here?" he asks, watching me carefully. I sigh and say, "Alice told me. She told me to come down here." Zak looks startled, but asks one more question. "What do you mean, she told you?" I look down at Alice's peaceful face, then back up at Zak.

    "She told me. I spoke to Alice Sayans's ghost."