Anna's Room: Finale

When my senses finally returned to me, I found myself inside the room I had been previously peering into. Now, however, I was enclosed inside the big glass tube, lying in a crumpled heap on its metal bottom. I lifted my head a bit and saw a pair of white sneakers wrapped in blue hospital slip covers.

"Ah, someone has returned to us!" A heavily accented male voice exclaimed from above the shoes. He sounded Russian or German or something like them. I was never good at recognizing accents.

Pulling myself to my feet I proceeded to glare angrily at him while I examined his face. The man appeared to be in his fifties and was not ugly in any way but neither was he strikingly handsome. He was simply a rather ordinary looking Caucasian man with a few wrinkles and sunspots to mark his age. Only his eyes gave way to what he really was inside, after all, they are the windows to the soul. His blue eyes were brimming with evil.

The one thing that identified WHO he might be, was the embroidered name, "Dr. Sandobar", on the doctor's coat he wore over the blue hospital scrubs. A bit of movement caught my eye, the twitching of a foot on the metal table behind the doctor.

"Anna!" I screamed and smacked the glass with my hands. There was a slight crackling in the air and an electrical charge shot through my hands and arms. Startled, I stepped back a bit. It didn't really hurt, but was definitely an uncomfortable sensation.

"Ah, my dear. We have been planning this for some time now. This containment tube was made especially for you. The energy field around it prevents you from using your powers." His mouth sneered into a proud grin.

"Your daughter," he took a step aside and gestured at Anna still strapped on the table, "is only one key part of our whole plan. You, are the other key."

"I am, of course, Dr. Sandobar. I have long studied the occult and the paranormal." He strode over to stand next to Anna's left side. "When I first started working at this hospital so many years ago, I accidentally stumbled upon the spirit of a young woman. She was no ordinary spirit, as she had been possessed by a powerful demon in life. When the woman died, the demon remained merged with her spirit and has been waiting to find the one who can get her a new body."

Dr. Sandobar grabbed Anna's chin in one hand and squeezed, holding her head straight. "Her body is a little young, but it is better than nothing." Anna blinked and opened her eyes. They widened when they fell on the Dr's face peering down at her. She squirmed and whimpered. I desperately wanted to hold her in my arms and comfort her.

"We were going to use you," He released Anna's face and looked over at me in the tube. "but you up and died on us long before we were even ready." Dr. Sandobar paused and gave a long stare of disappointment. Anna turned her head so she could see me.

"Mom?" her question was barely audible. "Mom?" a little louder this time.

"Anna! It's me honey. It's Mom." I instinctively banged on the glass and again got that awful shocking feeling running through my arms and torso. "I'll get you out of here honey. Hang in there sweetie." I reassured her as best as I could in the calmest mom voice I could muster at that moment. How I was going to get us out of this room, I had no clue. Wait, did he say I died?

Dr. Sandobar seemed to read me like a book. "You see, your daughter is surprised at your presence not because of the situation, but because," dramatic pause inserted here, "you died 3 years ago."

My head went reeling. What? No. I've cleaned house. I've held her in my arms. I've been there all this time. Or have I? There are lots of holes in my memory where I can't quite recall the full events of a day. It would make sense why the psychiatrist and everyone else for that matter, seemed to ignore me and not answer until my husband spoke.

"Your spirit has been existing in denial for 3 years my dear." Dr. Sandobar continued to explain things to me with a look of beaming pride that would have made him seem like a bubbling child telling of his first big discovery, if it weren't for those awful evil eyes.

"If you think back, you'll realize you can't recall much of the last few years. Time in the spirit world passes differently than it does in the real world. You have been causing some panic within your own home with all of your cleaning." He grinned widely. "You were haunting your own family and didn't know it!"

Striding over to a counter on Anna's right side, he picked up a large clay jar with a clamped down lid. "So, let us get back to business. I have the body," he glanced at Anna, "I have the spirit." His eyes fell on back to me. "Your spirit, my dear, was a welcome surprise. We didn't need a spirit, but because yours is so powerful, the demon wants to use yours to supplement the one she has now. You didn't realize you had the power to control objects in the real world did you?"

He didn't wait for an answer but instead took the clay jar over to Anna and placed it between her legs. "We had tried to surgically put together a new body since the demon is able to control living tissue, but it was too difficult to get all of the parts to work together, even with antirejection drugs. Therefore we settled on using a complete body. Unfortunately, this meant having to wait until someone in the real world either stumbled in here by themselves, or cleared the path to the tunnel. Because you see, even though I, like you, have the power to control objects in the real world, I cannot venture beyond the walls of the hospital. You, on the other hand, having died in an accident outside of your home boundaries, are not held to such constraints."

Just as he finished his spontaneous lesson, the door flew open and in piled the paranormal crew. One big gasp of amazement seemed to escape the crew as a whole. I banged on the glass and screamed at them to help, ignoring the shocks of energy that ignited my arms each time I connected with the side of the tube.

Dr. Sandobar chuckled. "They can't see or hear you my dear. We are in the Spirit World, they are in the real world. All they see is dusty old equipment. Now, let us continue."

Dusty equipment or not, those little handheld machines of theirs must have been blipping like crazy because they were all abuzz. Dr. Sandobar seemed oblivious to their excitement and completely ignored their presence as they wandered throughout the room. He began to mutter something quietly as he slowly unclamped the lid on the jar. Once open, a dark cloud began to ooze upwards out of it. I shuddered as I felt the weight of the evil presence envelope me.

Then, motherly instincts kicked into high gear. I HAD to get Anna out of here before that demon could did something to her! Once again I found myself completely lacking any weapon, and so again I depended upon my arms.

With all the strength and concentration I could gather up, I slammed my fist into the glass. Nothing. I did it again. Nothing happened. Again and again. The shock was easy to ignore now. Bam, bam, bam. I slammed the glass over and over.

Finally, there was a "chink" sound and a tiny crack appeared in the glass. The dark cloud was at least 3 feet high and still growing. The paranormal crew had gathered close to my glass prison and were watching with breaths held. They too, must have noticed the crack appear because they pointed and whispered. Luckily, the doctor was still oblivious, confident that his containment chamber would hold.

I renewed my attack on the glass wall and with every third slam of my fists, I could see the crack getting bigger. Then more cracks appeared. Slowly, dreadfully slowly, the cracks grew longer and wider. I started using my shoulder, my elbows, my knees. Every part that I could get leverage. If someone COULD see me, I'm sure I looked like a crazy woman having a fit of madness.

The evil grin was appearing in the dark cloud and it started to lean over Anna. I screamed and threw my whole body at the cracked glass. It burst outwards in a glorious shower and I tumbled head over heels onto the floor. Still running on high gear, I immediately regained my feet and rushed at the doctor. Grabbing him by the front of his scrubs I threw him away from Anna, knocking the table of tools to the ground. Not knowing what else to do, and not really thinking, I grabbed the clay jar and slammed the lid shut. A shrill scream filled the air.

One of the paranormal crew members who was wearing headphones, batted them off of his head as if they were biting spiders. He must have heard the evil demon's shriek.

I lifted the lid and slammed it down again. Another scream. The dark cloud enveloped my head. I couldn't see the jar, but I could still feel it in my hands. I grasped at the cloud and discovered I somewhere in the center of it, a hard spot that I could grab. Latching on to that spot I threw whatever it was into the jar and slammed the lid again. This time I pressed the lid clamp down and held my breath. The dark cloud dispersed and the evil weight was lifted off my heart and shoulders.

Setting the jar safely under the table, I quickly set about unbinding Anna. Once free she wrapped me in her arms and I picked her up as if she was still a baby. I held her close for several long moments, just relishing the feeling of holding her close. Then all at once the crew got even more excited. The burly leader poked Leah and pointed toward the metal table.

"Anna?" Leah leaned forward and held out her hand. "Remember me? I'm with the ghost crew." Anna unburied her head from my arms and looked at Leah. Not really wanting to, but knowing I should, I loosened my hug and allowed Anna to head toward the girl's outstretched hand. I noticed that Anna's hand seemed somewhat transparent compared to Leah's. Then, as their fingers touched, Anna's body all at once became solid and opaque. Leah grabbed Anna's hand and pulled her into a hug.

"I'm so glad we found you! You father is worried sick!"

The crew peered in my direction. Whether or not they saw me with Anna, I don't know, but it was clear from their faces that they could not see me now. Leah handed her handheld machine to the leader, picked up Anna and carried her out of the room. Anna glanced over in my direction but I don't think she could see me anymore. I watched her go, glad that she was safe again, but apprehensive about what was to happen next.

That's when I remembered the doctor. Whirling around, I saw that he was gone. I looked under the metal table, and the jar was also absent. I flew out of the room in a panic. I had to get that jar back! Stopping in the hallway I glanced in either direction. Which way would he go? He couldn't leave the boundaries of the hospital, and that helps...somewhat. I raced down the hall to the nearest stairwell. When I paused to decide on going up or down, I heard a door rattle from somewhere above me. I sprinted up the stairs.

The rattling turned into a loud banging, as if someone was ramming the door. When I was about two floors below the noise I looked up and saw Dr. Sandobar, jar in arm, kicking the door furiously. He saw me just as I reached the floor below him and that's when the door finally yielded and flew open beneath his foot.

With renewed urgency I leapt up the last flight of stairs and pursued the doctor out onto the roof. I caught a glimpse of his foot going around the corner and immediate followed. My motherly instincts must have pushed me faster than him, because I caught up to him in an instant. Like a movie cop chasing down a perpetrator, I jumped onto his back and threw us both tumbling to the ground. The jar slipped out of his arm, thankfully not breaking, and rolled a few feet away.

My sights on the jar, I rolled and stumbled to my feet. I grabbed the jar and ran back to the stairwell. I didn't dare look behind me lest I trip (do spirits trip?) but I could sense Dr. Sandobar in hot pursuit.

I probably should have just tried the front doors or looked for an open window, but since I was only thinking of getting away from the doctor, I ran to the tunnel. As I dove through the small doorway into the darkness of the tunnel, I wondered if the tunnel was considered part of the hospital.

Suddenly my shirt collar hit my throat and I was yanked backwards toward the doorway. Planting my feet against the wall, I wrenched myself out of the doctor's grip and turned to face him. Apparently he could not enter the tunnel because he was desperately trying to grab me with his hands. I reached up and slammed the door on his arms. He screamed blood murder and struggled to reopen the door. I ran.

* * *

I keep the jar tucked away in a far corner of the attic. Someplace I know my husband and daughter would never go. I still clean house, but do it only when they are not home or when they are sleeping. I tried leaving notes for my husband but he does not seem willing or able to deal with a ghost wife. Anna and I talk though, via a small chalkboard she leaves in her room. I relish those moments of conversation.

I check on the jar daily. Although I know Dr. Sandobar is confined to the hospital limits, I don't want to take any chances. And so, life goes on.