Raven's Rest (2 page)

“Sure do.” Lonnie’s face turned grave. “Hey, let’s keep that just between you and me, though. If my ma overheard me talking to a guest about ghosts, she’d give me one hell of a tongue-lashing. Unless they come especially because of the inn’s reputation. Then it’s all right. Some people do, you know. They request the rooms that have the most activity.”

I chuckled. “I’m sure I’ll be just as happy in the ghost-free Ulalume Suite.”

For a moment I thought Lonnie was about to give me a reassuring pat on the shoulder. I wouldn’t have objected. Instead he just grinned at me with that toothy smile of his. “I’ll tell the spirits to leave you alone, Mr. Cook.”

“Michael.”

Lonnie nodded. “Michael. Hey, you need anything, you just ask.”

Well, I needed a new life. I refrained, however, from letting Lonnie know that. Some things were best kept to yourself.

APPARENTLY LONNIE
was doing double duty as both check-in clerk and bellboy, as he showed me to my room himself. Or maybe, at that time of night, he just didn’t have much to do. I retrieved my suitcase from my car, and he led me upstairs, chatting all the way about the inn, the town, and his life in general. My mind was still pondering that sudden cold chill I’d experienced, so I only half listened to him. I learned he’d graduated from Banning High School two years previously, so he was either nineteen or twenty, and that he was dating a girl named Maria.

I noticed that the doors to the rooms had placards next to them with the name of the suite. No numbers. We had to pass the Annabel Lee and the Lenore Suites to get to our destination, and no sounds came from within. I knew the place was booked up, but so far I’d seen no one other than Lonnie, nor had I heard a peep out of another guest.

“Is it always so quiet here?”

Lonnie answered me with his customary good cheer. “Almost everyone staying here right now is with a business convention. Book publishing. The convention is actually in Rockford, but we got the overflow, I guess. Or the ones that wanted to stay in some out-of-the-way place and don’t mind driving the forty miles into the city. Maybe a few of them wanted to take in some of the festival. Anyway, they’re all in the city right now at their convention. Probably drinking too much and telling really bad jokes. You know how conventions are.”

I didn’t, but I could imagine. We arrived at the end of the hall. The placard on the wall announced that this was the Ulalume Suite. With a flourish, Lonnie opened the door and ushered me in.

If it wasn’t the fanciest suite the Raven’s Rest had to offer, I’d hate to see what was. To me it was amazing. The room was dominated by a huge four-poster bed, the blue covers matching the carpeting. There was a fireplace, a writing desk, and a mahogany chest of drawers on which was perched a big television. To my right was the bathroom, and through the open door I could see shining fixtures and a sunken bathtub in the corner. If I never left the room at all, I’d be happy with my stay at the Raven’s Rest.

Lonnie indicated the fireplace, above which, on the mantel, was a small bust of Edgar Allan Poe himself. “This is gas. The logs are fake, of course. If you want, I can turn it on. Get rid of the chill you felt. Or I can show you how it works.”

He turned it on for me as I wandered around the room, checking out the furnishings and even running a hand down the thick drapes, which were neatly tied back to allow one to see the view, which was just blackness, as it was night. Knowing Lonnie was expecting me to say something, I chuckled. “This is fantastic.”

“It’s something, ain’t it?”

Lonnie left shortly after that, armed with a sizable tip from me. As soon as the door closed behind him, I immediately felt a pang of loneliness, or perhaps it was regret. Was I doing the right thing? Yes, I was. There was no doubt about that.
Keep telling yourself that, Michael, and maybe you’ll start believing it. You had to get away. You had to leave. You had to start afresh.

And what better place to hide myself away than Banning, Illinois? Kevin would never think of looking for me here.

Could he track me by my credit card? It was in my name only, but I wouldn’t put it past Kevin to try to get the information somehow. He’d controlled nearly every aspect of my life for the past five years—since I was Lonnie’s age, in fact. It wouldn’t surprise me to learn that he’d memorized my credit card number. Could he call the issuing bank with some story about it being stolen, give them the number, and see if any recent charges had been made?

I didn’t know if that was possible, but to my mind it seemed plausible enough that worry began to eat away at me. Kevin had never laid a hand on me, not yet, but me running out on him might change that. The thought of his reaction upon locating me filled me with dread.

Wanting to calm myself and splash some cold water on my face, I went into the bathroom. As I switched on the light, I marveled at the silence. The inn seemed so remote. Outside, there were no police sirens, no muffled voices from drunks leaving the bar that Kevin and I had lived right across the street from. I couldn’t even hear any dogs barking. It was almost eerie, the quiet. I wasn’t used to it.

After I washed my face and took a few deep breaths, the panic attack that had been threatening to seize me abated a little. If Kevin found me, I’d deal with it. I was an adult, and he had no hold over me. I could do whatever I wanted. He couldn’t make me go back with him. Oh, he’d yell and call me names, but nothing he could do would convince me to go back to Rockford. I had no friends who would miss me. All the people I knew were Kevin’s friends. I’d made my decision.

I dabbed at my face with the washcloth and examined myself in the mirror. I liked what I saw. Okay, I wasn’t model material. Abercrombie & Fitch weren’t going to be banging at my door, beseeching me to pose for their latest ad. But hey, if you were into the gay geek look, I was your guy! Thin, with long brown hair (okay, it could use a trim… and maybe a style) and intelligent-looking hazel eyes and a sense of fashion (geek chic), I was pleased with my features. I truly was.

Which, for someone who’d been in a verbally abusive relationship for half a decade, was a step in the right direction.

The trouble with someone constantly telling you that you’re stupid or silly-looking or whatever is that, after a while, you begin to believe it. Or at least I did. Kevin had me convinced that if I ever left him, I’d never find love again. No one else would want me. I was absentminded. My red-framed glasses (admittedly large for my face) made me look like a weird sort of bug. I couldn’t cook worth a damn. (Okay, he might have had a point there.)

Ah, and I was a lousy lay. Couldn’t forget that one.

Well, Kevin Alexander, that was the old Michael Cook. The new Michael Cook knew that he was smart, that he was good-looking, and that there were other people out there who could fall in love with him.

I gripped the edge of the bathroom counter until my knuckles turned white. “Oh please,” I said to a God I wasn’t sure existed, “let me get through this. If you can guide me through two days, I’ll take it from there.” What was it, Monday? Yeah. “Just help me along until Wednesday. After I’ve got a few days under my belt, the fear will ease up enough, and I’ll know I can make it.”

I couldn’t go back to Kevin with my tail between my legs, begging for forgiveness. I just couldn’t.

“
Bryan
.”

I blinked, certain that I’d heard someone speaking, saying a name. It sounded so close, I glanced over at the shower curtain, sure that someone was lurking behind it. “Hello?” I said aloud. “Anyone here?”

I walked out of the bathroom, certain that Lonnie had returned and had gotten my name wrong. No one was there. Sure that I’d heard a voice, I even opened the closet and peered in there. No, I was alone in the room. Maybe it was one of the ghosts Lonnie had told me about. I chuckled to myself and went over to the bed.

Sitting on the edge, I removed my shoes and massaged my feet for a moment. I’d imagined the voice, of course. I was just nervous. It was my first night away from Kevin. Naturally I was going to be jumpy.

I lay back on the bed, which was wonderfully firm and warm. Would I be able to sleep? I was exhausted, true, but that didn’t always mean I could sleep. Maybe I could find some boring movie on television to help lull me off to dreamland.

Something cold touched my cheek. It felt like icy fingers brushing my skin. The sensation lasted a mere second, but it was enough to make me jump to my feet, sure that someone was behind me on the bed.

Of course no one was there.

Lonnie’s stories of ghosts had fueled my imagination. That was all.

I couldn’t shake the feeling, however, that I wasn’t alone in the room.

I SLEPT
fitfully, even though an old
Thin Man
movie did its best to induce sleep. After a morning shower, I decided to take a walk around town and see just where I’d settled myself. It had been too dark when I’d arrived last night to really get an idea of what Banning had to offer, so I donned some jeans, a pastel blue T-shirt, a blue button-down shirt over that, and a canary yellow sweater (I liked layers) and went out for my stroll. I wore my black canvas basketball shoes, the ones Kevin hated, just to spite him. He’d always said they were a stupid purchase. “Only kids and young guys refusing to admit they’re not kids any longer wear those,” he’d said on more than one occasion.
Well, you know what, Kevin? Fuck you!

Lonnie wasn’t at the front desk. Instead there was an older black woman. I assumed this was his mother. She greeted me cordially and called me by name, even though I’d never seen her before. Well, with eleven rooms it probably wasn’t hard to learn each guest’s name. There were several people enjoying coffee and donuts in the solarium. They all seemed to know each other, so I guessed they were all part of the business conference.

Outside, the weather was chilly but not bad. The air was crisp and the sun was shining. Not bad for Day One of my new life.

The Raven’s Rest was on the edge of town, so I turned right, intending to stroll down to the main thoroughfare. If I remembered correctly from my drive into town, I had several blocks to walk before getting to Washington Street, but time wasn’t pressing on me.

I’d done a search on my laptop while watching TV in the admittedly comfortable bed and learned that Banning had a population of 4,300. Not exactly a metropolis. It was located on the Rock River and was in Ogle County. In the old days, the Potawatomi and Winnebago Indian tribes had held this land, and apparently there were still burial mounds to be found in the area. Great. Didn’t they say Indian burial grounds helped spur supernatural activity? I was only about forty miles away from my home in Rockford, which surprised me. It seemed like I’d driven farther than that, but then I’d made lots of stops and hadn’t exactly made a straight journey. I’d driven in circles, trying to decide what to do and where to go.

And I’d ended up here, in this quaint little town in an inn inspired by a writer of creepy tales. Home now, at least for a while.

I knew I should be coming to Washington Street soon, and I knew from my arrival that I’d find most of the businesses and shops along there, but I was feeling hungry, so I found a little diner and went inside. The sign outside told me that this was the Coffee Cafe and that everyone was welcome. Encouraging sign. I liked encouraging signs. Another told me they served breakfast and sandwiches for lunch. I envisioned some motherly type as my waitress, who would call me “hon” and dispense worldly wisdom.

The Coffee Cafe was just what I expected—small and cozy, with tables scattered haphazardly around the room, covered with white-and-red checkered tablecloths. Most of the tables were occupied by farmer types who were probably taking a break from their morning chores to suck down some caffeine before heading back out to the fields. Or maybe they were just townsfolk enjoying some breakfast, and I was romanticizing the farmer thing.

As I sat down at the closest available table, I noticed a young man sitting near the back counter, strumming a guitar. He was dressed all in black—T-shirt, jeans, socks, and sneakers all the same shade. Even his long hair was black. He was too engrossed in his playing to have noticed my entrance, and the woman behind the counter scowled at him when he continued to strum.

“Trey! You’ve got a customer!”

The young man ceased his playing and looked up in surprise. “I guess I do.” Reluctantly he set the guitar against the wall and rose. With a smile on his face, he approached my table. “Sorry about that. I was in another world.” Not a motherly type, but I wasn’t about to complain.

“A nicer one than this one, from the sound of it.”

He seemed to like that comment. “Hey, can I get you a menu? Or do you know what you want?”

What did I want? Well, I never wanted to see Kevin again. I wanted to start living again. Would those things be on this magical menu? “I’ll just have some scrambled eggs, some bacon, toast, and a coffee, if that’s possible.”

Trey grinned. “Not only possible but probable. I’ll have that out for you in a moment.”

I’d brought my Samsung tablet along with me, and I fired it up so I could read while I ate. Trey wasn’t kidding about my food arriving quickly. I’d barely read a paragraph before he returned with a tray. As he set the plate in front of me, he eyed the tablet. “What are you reading?”

I was sure I flushed a little with embarrassment. “Um… believe it or not,
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
. I’ve been rereading them.” I wasn’t sure why I was hesitant to reveal that I was reading one of the most popular books ever written. Maybe it was because I’d been a kid when I’d first read them, and now I was an adult who was finding out that he still loved them.

I shouldn’t have worried. Trey nodded eagerly. “Oh yeah? They’re great, aren’t they? Have you read Philip Pullman? The
Dark Materials
trilogy?”

Oh my God, Trey was a reader. Beautiful, and he read. “No,” I said, “but I’ve heard of him. I’ve been planning on getting his books soon.”