Page 11 of The Haunting of Lockton
“No.” Sadness glinted in Alan’s eyes. He vanished from the chair and reappeared by the fireplace, straightening a framed photo of my mom. “Boys weren’t s’posed to like boys. Not like how it is today.”
“Right,” I said, sad as I thought—again—of the experiences he’d never get to have.
“Perhaps it’s why I pry so much into your business.” He glanced back at me. “I want you to experience all life has to offer.”
Because he couldn’t. Not anymore. Which was why I liked to do things that made him happy, like buying his favorite books and giving him as much access to the outside world as I possibly could. And all the entertainment. He loved movies.
I watched an episode of the documentary with him before showering and getting dressed. Alan walked with me to the front door and stood behind the screen as I got into my car, giving me a small wave before he blinked out of sight.
The house looked so lonely as I drove away. No nearby neighbors, which was fortunate since Alan loved taking walks. But it made his existence sadder somehow. I was his only company, and I wasn’t exactly a burst of sunshine to be around.
True to my word, I stopped in at a fast-food place for a breakfast croissant and scarfed it on my way to work.
I worked at Ivy Grove Ghost Tours. October was our busiest month, but tourists came year-round. Many of the older folks in town were irritated by all the attention, but those of us with a brain knew how valuable it was. Tourists kept the town running. Even more so since Redwood Manor had been turned into a bed-and-breakfast, drawing in more crowds.
With Halloween over, our busy season had ended, and sign-ups for the tours had slightly decreased. We were still fairly busy though, both with the general bus tours that traveled to various haunted locations in Ivy Grove and the more immersive guided tours.
Along with the tours, we also had a souvenir shop and museum in the back with photos visitors had taken over the years of possible ghosts, along with historical artifacts from some of the haunted locations, like Arthur Warren’s journal, where he brainstormed ideas for the horrible experiments at Lockton Asylum.
A fun part of working there? I got to dress up. In my everyday life, I tried to blend in as much as possible, but at work, I became someone else. It was exciting. The costume shop down the street—also open year-round—got quite a lot of business from us.
Once arriving at work, I went into the bathroom to change into one of my many Victorian-era costumes—a dark red swallowtail coat and an embroidered blazer with a black shirt underneath. I leaned more toward Gothic Victorian costumes, which fit in better with the feel of the shop.
I also just really loved looking like a vampire sometimes.
“Buckle up, buttercup,” Madison said as she rounded the corner from the short hallway. She wore a pink pinstripe blouse that was tucked into a high-waisted skirt, and her blonde hair was pulled back in a tight bun, making her look like a strict—but still pretty—schoolteacher from the late 1800s. “We’re being graced with royalty today.”
“Um. What?”
“The Knox Brothers, remember? Val told us they were coming.”
“Oh. Right.” Yeah, it had completely slipped my mind.
The brothers were ghost hunters with a huge social media following. I hadn’t watched their show, but Val wouldn’t have reached out to just anyone. Apparently, they did a full investigation of the places they visited and had a good reputation for actually uncovering things about those places no one else had been able to.
“How do I look?” Madison ran a hand over the top of her hair. “They have, like, two million TikTok followers. If they plan to record while interviewing us, I don’t want to look like a swamp witch.”
“You’re far from a swamp witch,” I said, fighting a laugh. “More like one who lives deep in the forest waiting to lure in children to eat.”
She slapped my arm. “Remind me again why we’re friends?”
Years of friendship, and I still didn’t know the answer to that. We were complete opposites. Madison had been one of my only friends in high school and, for whatever reason, enjoyed my usually pessimistic and introverted company.
I straightened the promotional flyers on the counter advertising our tours. “So, they’ll be investigating Lockton?”
Madison nodded. “Brave souls, right? After what happened to that boy on Halloween, you couldn’t pay me to go there.”
“It’s kind of funny that you work here but are so afraid of ghosts.”
“Shut your adorable face.” She flicked my collar. “And I’m not afraid of them. I just like the nice ones. Not the horribly demented ones and their tendency to push people down the stairs.”
I snorted.
“They’ll be here soon.” Valentina entered the room in a flurry of excitement, the bottom of her ankle-length black gown swishing with her steps. She was a petite Hispanic woman with a bright personality despite her all-black attire. A miniature blackwitch hat sat atop her dark hair with a lacy veil trailing down the back. Her black-strap heels sparkled like they were the gothic version of Dorothy’s red slippers. “Bring forth thy key and grant them passage.”
Madison glanced at me. “You heard the woman. Time to open up shop.”
Valentina was slightly eccentric and theatrical, but it kind of came with the job. Not that I minded. It was a fun work environment, and she genuinely cared about me, Madison, and the other employees, Levi and Nikki. She referred to our breaks as “tea time” and brought cookies and small cakes for us to eat with different tea flavors.
