Where Does My Heart Beat Now- Chapter 7

A Chapter by Sympathy Heart

Chapter 7

The night air was warm for the end of April. Gabriel quietly tiptoed out of the dark house so he wouldn’t wake anyone, and ran to the large wooden shed near the pasture gate where he kept Bo’s tack. After tying the bay horse to the fence railing he proceeded to saddle and bridle him; instead of taking his truck into town he decided to use a quieter form of transportation when he and Kate went on their ghost walk through the semi-dark streets of Jefferson.

Back inside his room, Kate pulled on her jeans and jogging shoes before pulling on a light sweater in case the weather changed while they were out. She was just walking out of the screen door when Gabriel showed up with Bo right behind him.

“Are you ready to go?” He whispered.

Kate took the steps two at a time, stopping on the left side of Bo, “You bet. Let’s go ghost hunting!” She allowed Gabriel to help her up into the saddle even though she had been riding for years.

Once in town, Gabriel tied Bo up to the wrought iron fencing outside of the Jefferson Museum and motioned for Kate to follow him. While walking down the street, she saw an old two-story building ahead of them. At a closer look she could see a mural painted on the side of it. Several seconds later she figured out that that was their first stop on the walk. Both of them stood in front of the building, staring at the dark windows with different colored lamps and curtains framing them. Up above the windows, a balcony ran the length of the building, stopping at the right side where a spiral staircase dropped down to the tiny flower garden below.

“This is one of the old hotels that was eventually turned into a bed and breakfast. As far as I know, it’s a private residence, now. It used to be several stories taller…” Gabriel pointed up to the roof to show her a part where the remains of another story still stood. “A long time ago there was a fire that burned down the top stories, leaving these two.”

“Where do the ghosts come in?” Kate questioned while keeping her eyes on the balcony.

“Well, people have reported seeing several different ghosts. Some say they’ve seen a lady inside the house, standing on the bottom step of the staircase. Then, others have claimed to have seen a man dressed in a Civil War officer’s uniform. They say you can clearly see the brass buttons on the uniform. Another entity some have seen is a young boy walking his dog out here in the street,” when Gabriel looked over at Kate he found her staring up at the building like she was watching something invisible to him. “There’s also a female ghost that’s been seen walking along that balcony. Now, look over there,” he turned her around to face the dark tree line perpendicular to the hotel. “Right behind those trees is the Big Cypress Bayou, or the Big Cypress River. The paddleboats used to travel that, and you can still take tours on them during the day. During the Civil War era there were some gallows down there. Over the years people have thought that there’s a secret escape tunnel the slaves used to get to the river without getting caught; if they were caught, they’d face those gallows. A few years ago when they were remodeling the hotel, they dug through the floor in the basement and found the tunnel.”

Kate seemed impressed by how much her husband knew about the history of the town, but froze stiff when she heard a noise off to the left, “Did you hear that, Gabriel? It sounded like a dog.”

“That’s just the owner’s dog,” he started laughing at her frightened state. “This is just the first stop, and you’re already spazzing out.”

“I’m not scared. The noise just startled me,” Kate objected defiantly.

“Right… Come on,” Gabriel led the way back around the corner and stopped in front of a tall, rectangular building with a row of windows near the top of it. In the very center of the front wall were dark, wooden double doors, shut to keep out unwanted visitors… or to keep in its unrestful inhabitants. Just the outside appearance was enough to give someone the chills. “Welcome to the Jefferson Saloon, home to one or two known spirits. On a ghost tour a few months ago an older woman said she saw a young woman looking out of that far right window; supposedly one of the prostitutes who used to work here when the saloon was still open for business. Well, among the group was another woman who claimed to be a medium and could see spirits and communicate with them. That crazy lady scared those poor people half to death when she said the spirit wasn’t up in the window watching them, but was in fact right behind the woman who had first noticed her.”

A cold chill ran right down Kate’s spine. If that had really happened, then she didn’t want to stick around to see it happen a second time, “Okay, so where’s the next stop?”

A smile appeared on his face as Gabriel pulled her along down the street. He could feel her tremble in his grasp and wondered if the walk was truly frightening her, or if the weather had turned cooler. Eventually, they came to a tall bricked building with a bright light streaming through the glass door on the upper level.

“Where are we, Gabriel?” Kate’s voice faltered slightly when she spoke.

“This is the backside of the Jefferson Hotel. Do you see that room closest to us?”

“Yeah.”

“That’s one of the most haunted rooms in the hotel. Some very strange things have happened in that room. Remember me telling you about the faucet handles? Well, right there in that room. If you go inside the hotel during the day you’d never know what goes on in that place after dark,” Gabriel pulled her next to him to get her out of the way of the police car that flew past them and turned onto another street. “I guess I should have mentioned the jail’s right next to the hotel.”

Kate stared at him, an eyebrow raised, “Yeah, I’d really love to stay in a hotel full of ghosts with a nuthouse less than thirty feet away,” she chided sarcastically before taking a few steps toward the corner of the building. She turned around to see if Gabriel was following and was shocked to find the spot where he had been empty.

“Are you coming?” Gabriel whispered in her ear and cracked up laughing at the effect of the surprise. He quickly caught her after she lost her balance and stood her back up.

“God, don’t do that, Gabriel,” she barked, her eyes blazing. “That’s just wonderful. You made me dribble on myself.”

Gabriel continued to laugh until it became too much for him and he had to wipe the tears from his eyes, “I’m sorry, honey, but I couldn’t resist.”

“If you’re done acting like a jerk, where to next?”

“The Big Cypress Coffee Shop,” without another word, he scooped her up into his arms so she could rest her legs and proceeded to walk across the quiet street toward the coffee shop. After setting her down, he dug around in his jeans pocket for the key and unlocked the door.

Kate looked inside skeptically, unsure if she wanted to go in even though Gabriel was with her. I don’t like the looks of this place, “We’re not going in there, are we?”

“Why, you scared?” He taunted.

“No!”

“Then, come on. I’m not going to let anything happen to you… and I won’t do anything to scare you, like hide behind the counter or sneak up behind you, again.”

“You better not.”

Both of them stepped into the large room, only Kate was hesitant at first. The entire room was dark except for the candles burning in the window. Kate curiously walked around, looking at the assortment of pictures on the wall while Gabriel lit a candle for them to use. In the very back of the high-ceilinged room was a staircase leading up to the second level. A chilling sensation overwhelmed her at the sight of the pitch black hallway at the top of the stairs. For some odd reason she felt like she was being watched, but Gabriel was all the way on the other side of the room with his back turned to her. Whatever it was, she didn’t feel comfortable about it.

All the while his wife was standing at the foot of the stairs; Gabriel was searching around the place for something Sean had told him to look for. When he found Kate staring at the blackness of the upstairs hallway, he asked, “Kate? What are you looking at?”

“What’s up there?”

He looked up the stairs to where she had mentioned and frowned, “I believe there’s another room up there, but I’m not entirely sure. There’s always a way to find out,” and with that, he started up the stairs with Kate a few seconds behind him. She took each step cautiously, listening to the creaks and groans they made at the slightest weight. She hoped the old stairs wouldn’t give way, causing the two of them to fall from a height of close to nine feet.

The hallway loomed ahead of them, giving off a foreboding feeling that ran all the way through them. If anything was up there in the darkness, there wasn’t a chance of seeing it, for they stood in complete and utter darkness. It also didn’t help that Gabriel had left the candle downstairs.

He tried to focus his eyes in hopes of seeing anything and saw a closed door at the other end of the hallway, “Ah! There’s the room. Let’s go check it out.”

About halfway down the hallway, Kate stopped with that same sensation of being watched as she had earlier. She slowly turned her head, but of course, didn’t see anything.

“What’s wrong, Kate?” Gabriel had turned around when he realized she had stopped moving.

“Do you have the feeling that we’re being watched?” She sounded worried and somewhat frightened.

He hurried over to her and wrapped her up in his arms, “Hey, nothing is going to hurt you in here. You’re just spooked,” he gently kissed the top of her head before heading back down the hall.

Once Kate was a little relieved she followed him, but stopped again near the door Gabriel had gone through. She was positive something strange was happening; a sudden cold burst of air soaked through her body causing the hair on her arms to raise and her body to shiver. As soon as the cold had entered her body it vanished, leaving her shaking. The strange phenomenon left her frightened and ready to get out of the coffee shop, or at least leave the upstairs, “Gabriel, can we go back downstairs, now? Please? I don’t like it up here.”

The form of her husband appeared from the doorway with a worried look on his face, “Are you okay?”

“I just want to go downstairs. This hallway is making me uncomfortable.”

“Alright,” he led the way down the creaky stairs, Kate practically clinging to him the entire time.

The light from the candle sitting on one of the wooden tables provided refuge for the two of them. Kate finally relaxed enough to examine some of the old sepia-toned photos hanging on the wall nearest the counter. It wasn’t long before Gabriel walked up beside her.

She was reading a caption beneath one of the photos when all of a sudden her head was jerked back painfully, “Ow, Gabriel! Quit pulling my hair!”

“I didn’t do that. My hands are right here. See?” He held up both of his hands to show her he was telling the truth.

“Then what-.”

Right as she started to say something Gabriel flashed the candle her direction to illuminate the area. His face turned to one of real fright, his features washed of all of their color; Kate’s hair was standing straight out on its own as if someone was examining it, but the space behind her was void of any being. That could only mean one thing…

“Oh, s**t! Run!”

Kate didn’t have to be told twice, she was bolting for the front door with Gabriel right behind her and quickly pulling out the key. She didn’t waste any time getting the door open and was out in the street before he was even to the door. A street lamp provided Kate something to lean against while Gabriel slammed the door shut and locked it, then made his way over to his terrified wife.

“Are you all right, honey?” He questioned.

She had a time of catching her breath after what had just happened, “No way in Hell am I going back in there, at least not in the dark,” she flashed a glare his direction. “I thought you said The Grove was scarier.”

“I honestly didn’t expect that to happen,” he waited for Kate to regain her composure before pulling her along down the street. After that terrifying experience he wasn’t sure if she’d be willing to see another haunted place. “Do you want to see another building, or not?”

“I think I’m ready to go back home. Can we please go?” Kate was still shaking uncontrollably, making him hold her close to his comforting body.

“Yes, we can go. I don’t want to scare you too badly, but I don’t know if that would be possible after what just happened.”

The warm bed was welcoming compared to the incident at the coffee shop. While Kate rested under the heavy blanket, Gabriel was locking up the house for the night and showed up a few minutes later with a warm smile shining from the corners of his mouth. He quickly pulled on his night pants and removed his shirt before crawling into bed beside Kate. Since it was their first night of officially being together in the same house, he felt a little nervous. He wasn’t sure how Kate would react to being that close to him, but he got his answer when he felt her wrap her arms around his waist and snuggled up close to him for the warmth.

“I love you, Gabriel,” she whispered in the dark.

After planting a kiss on her lips, he also whispered, “I love you, too. Don’t you ever forget that.”

“I won’t,” she became quiet, then thought of something else. “So, when are we going to have children?”

The question startled Gabriel, “Isn’t it a little early to be thinking about children? I mean, we’ve only been married for a day. Let’s wait until we feel more comfortable around each other before-.”

“But I do feel comfortable around you. I have ever since we first met. Besides, I thought you wanted a daughter?”

“I do, but I’m not going to put you through any stress for awhile. I want to gain your trust before we even consider children,” all of a sudden, he saw something out of the corner of his eye. At a closer glance he recognized the object and smiled. Susan. “Kate, look over there in the corner. Do you see that bluish-white image?”

Kate sat up, her eyes wide at the sight of the mass over in the corner, “What is that?”

“Come here. I want you to meet her,” he took hold of her hand and slowly pulled her to the center of the room where he motioned toward the image. “It’s okay, Susan. Kate won’t hurt you.”

“Susan? Oh, no… no more ghosts, Gabriel,” Kate kept an eye on the spirit while questioning her husband. “Who is she?”

Gabriel sighed heavily. I have to tell her, “Kate, I haven’t told you the truth, and I hope you’ll forgive me after this. When I was eighteen I met Susan and we ended up getting married. A few months later she told me that she was pregnant with my child, and I was so happy. When the baby was large enough, we went and found out that it was a girl…”

A smile spread across Kate’s face upon hearing the news, “How wonderful,” the smile quickly fell. “What happened?”

“During the birth, complications arose. Susan was having problems, and she eventually lost too much blood… Yes, apparently that is possible,” he had to choke back the tears stinging his eyes. “I wasn’t in the room when she died; I couldn’t handle seeing her so weak. As for the baby, she was stillborn. When I found out my life ended right there; I was filled with a murderous rage. I thought, how could God let this happen when everything was so perfect? That night I lost my wife and my baby girl.”

The loss of a loved one was hard to bear, but the loss of two? Kate could only imagine what he must have felt after losing his wife and child, “I'm so sorry. God, that must have been torture. So, this is her? This is Susan?” She turned her attention over to the female spirit hovering a few inches off the floor. When she looked closer, she noticed that she wore a flowing dress that hung off her slim frame. The spirit had a warm, friendly smile peeking out from behind her teeth.

“Yes, this is Susan. Here, come closer… She’d love to meet you,” he turned to introduce the two. “Susan, this is my wife, Kate. And Kate, this is Susan.”

“It’s very nice to meet you, Kate,” Susan spoke in a surprisingly rich alto tone. It had a tinge of warmth hidden behind the ridges, but was welcoming. “I hope we’ll become good friends… and I hope I don’t scare you too much. I’m always wandering around the house and tend to pop up unexpectedly.”

“Why hasn’t she left, Gabriel? Why hasn’t she crossed over?”

He sucked in some air and thought about how he’d answer her, “Well, from what she’s told me, she feels as if it’s her job to watch over and protect me. Her job isn’t done, yet. It’s like she’s bound to me.”

“Oh. I understand. She can’t leave until her job is fulfilled.”

“Yes.”

Kate turned back to Susan and replied, “I know we’ll be good friends. I can sense the good in your soul.”

Gabriel quietly slipped out of the room unbeknownst to the two in order to give them time to get acquainted with each other. It would be best for them to feel comfortable around each other since they’d be in the same house. He’d return after he went to talk with his parents.

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