Private Monkey Ghost Story

Chapter 12

I kept laughing in the darkness. Sharp, brittle laughter that I couldn't stop. The line from the movie kept flashing through my head: "Have you checked the children?" I could picture some old Nazi, all withered up, maggots writhing in his eye sockets, whispering into the phone: "Haben Sie die Kinder C"

* knock knock*

It was a barracks room, I closed my eyes and visualized the copied map in my little green notebook in my pocket. Not the map, but where I was when I drew it, and what I was thinking when I drew it. It's an old trick, but it works.

The room was unoccupied. Tandy's room was on the floor below, my room was in the further back section, and the only other person on the second floor beside me was Mann and Smith. Mann's was all the way at the end of the hallway, Smith's was next to mine.

"Private?" Captain Bishop sounded nervous.

"Shhh," I told him, ghosting by him. The flashlight beam was skittering all over the far hallway, throwing strange and menacing shadows. He started to turn toward me, but I was by him and resting my fingertips on the door as lightly as I could and still have contact.

* knock knock*

The door didn't vibrate. The sound was coming from the room itself. Somewhere inside. I used the master key to slowly unlock the door, and waited, my hand on the lever.

* knock

I shoved open the door, and took four steps into the room, carrying myself past the bathroom and the built-in wall lockers.

knock*

The sound was coming from in front of me, by the window.

I moved forward, stepping up and resting my fingers against the pipe leading into the radiator.

* knock knock*

The pipe shivered slightly with each sound.

Heh.

"Private?" Captain Bishop shined the light into the room, and I wondered what he saw. Was it just me, or some twisted shape with a hand full of steel?

"Just the radiator, sir," I told him, walking back out into the hallway and closing the door. I locked it. "Air in the pipes, probably."

At the far end of the hallway, the crashing sounded again, and another moan drifted down the hallway. I sucked on my fingertip and stuck it upwards, feeling for the breeze. Nothing. I ducked down as the moan swirled around us and started to go by. There. A slight breeze.

On the floor? Interesting.

I unlocked the door again and opened it.

"Sir, when I close the door, please shine the light on the bottom of it," I asked him.

"What are you doing, Private?"

"Seeing if there is a gap beneath the doors," I answered, stepping inside. I closed the door, and knelt down.

I could see him pan the beam over the doorway. There was about a quarter inch gap at the bottom of the door. I stood up, opened the door, and came back into the hallway.

"Well?" I locked the door.

"There's a gap, that gives air room to move, and can affect the air currents. Did you ever live in an old house?"

"No."

"If you did, you'd know that old buildings settle strangely, and that lets air in, and the air catches in places and makes weird noises. Kind of like water puddling." I told him.