Waverly Hills Sanatorium asylum or hospital, at one point in time it had been both of those things. It closed its doors in 1998 when it could no longer afford to remain open and no one had looked back. The building showed signs of deterioration from its abandonment. Most of the windows had lost their glass and were either boarded up or just left open, with plants and ivy crawling inside the window. The roof had sprung leaks that weren't tended to and the ensuing water damage had brought down some of the ceiling panels on the second floor of the two-story building. It had rotted a good portion of exposed wood. It was dark, damp, and dusty with mold growing in just about every corner. And to a collection of former patients and employees, it was home.
Mifa looked around the lobby of the place and wondered, wisely in silence, how anyone could choose to remain in this desolate place. The staircase immediately on their right still stood just fine but the railing had given way in segments. The linoleum floor seemed mostly intact here but you couldn't tell what color or colors it had been due to the layers of dirt, grime, and dust on it. The same could be said for the majority of the walls as well. The windows in here had been boarded up but there were gaps in the boards and some ivy vines had crawled inside. There were four doors off of this room. One stood immediately to their left on the wall behind them. A double door was on the wall to their left and was obviously the front door as it was far more ornate than the others. Across from them was another door and to their right, beneath the balcony of the second-floor landing was the last. A shadow detached itself from the corner of the lobby and materialized as a perfectly normal looking male orderly. He looked to be in his mid-twenties, had dark brown eyes, and close-cropped brown hair was of Latino descent and wore a white uniform.
"Miss Ayana?" he asked, extending a hand. Ayana reached out and shook the man's hand firmly.
"Yes, indeed," she confirmed.
"And this is my partner, Officer Zannah." Mifa reached out and shook his hand, in turn, noting that for ghosts, they still seemed to have a good grip. But maybe that went in with the whole mental image or projection thing. She would have to ask.
"Pleased to meet you, I'm Ramon Suarez," he replied in a pleasant baritone. He then got down to business. "I heard the team out front this afternoon. They came into the lobby but no further. They made mention of getting dinner and their equipment and then coming back tonight. They'll be back soon I'm sure. Thank you for coming"
"Not at all," Ayana replied. "That's what we're here for. Is there any particular area of worry?"
"There was a patient who has managed to give this place quite a reputation. She died in the fifties. She is very aggressive to men when they go into her room. She always was, even when she was alive. She would always lash out at the doctors or orderlies when we would go into her room. When she killed me with her fork... Well, that's when they started locking her down in a feeding chair for the day."
Mifa pressed her lips together, trying to forcefully not ask the questions that kept springing to mind. It was strange trying to control her impulses again, something she thought she had overcome in her childhood. But oh, so many things kept springing to mind.
"Is she able to physically harm the living when they come in here?" Ayana asked, either ignoring or unaware of Mifa's struggles.
"She has been known to scratch and punch," he said, "and she screams a hell of a lot." He added with a bit of a rueful smile.
"Is there any way we can keep them out of her room?"
"I don't know. From things I have overheard, she has become something of a legend to the living around here. So they may be coming in specifically to look for her."
"Lock her door?"
"Her door rotted through. She was on the second floor, and the water damage up there took out most of the wooden doors."
"What's her name?" Mifa asked suddenly. She may be new but she was smart enough to figure out that if a person, or spirit, were averse to men, the female responder would be the one to handle the person.
"Ruby Jones."
Mifa nodded. "Why don't we see if I can calm Ruby down a little bit or distract her while you guys create a distraction of some sort away from her room? That way she stays quiet and you can lead the ghost hunters away from her."
Ayana turned and smiled, pride in her crimson eyes. Ramon nodded. "Excellent plan, Zannah. Excellent."
Mifa smiled and nodded but she couldn't help but feel pride. A car door thumping shut brought her attention once more to the here and now.
"Ramon, please make sure any others who need to be prepared are ready. Zannah and I will take a look at this team as they enter. See what kind of a danger they pose, if any at all." Ramon nodded and seemed to disappear from the spot he had been occupying. Mifa blinked and then looked at Ayana.
"When do I get to do that?" she whispered, knowing they had to maintain the image that both of them were well-trained and not brand new to the afterlife.
"In time, in time," Ayana assured her. "We need to see what kind of equipment this group is bringing in. And by the way, good job on the plan. It's solid. I just hope you're good at dealing with irascible people."
"Okay, number one, do you know her? And number two, who talks like that? Irascible? Really?"
"It means"
"I know what it means," she said with impatience as she interrupted Ayana. "It's just that no one really speaks like that anymore. Most people would just say grumpy or cranky or bitchy."
"I can see that standards for vocabulary have declined in America since my time."
She thought about that for a moment taking into consideration slang and modern-day text speech using only letters. "Yeah," she said, "I suppose they have."
"And as to your first question, no, I've not been to this institution before. As I alluded to before, we were given this territory because of your familiarity with it. Have you been here before?"
"Once," she replied. "When I was about 13 I came here with some friends. We didn't stay here long." More would have been said but the door being pushed open cut off any more discussion. Their attention became focused on sizing up the team that was lugging equipment in.
The first person through the door was a mountain of a man with black hair that was graying at the temples. He wore glasses over watery blue eyes. He was followed by a far more athletic man who looked like he was young enough to still be in college and who was lugging in coils of cords over his shoulders and had a case in each hand. Two more people followed them in. One was a woman who seemed to be in her late thirties or early forties with dark brown hair and green eyes. The last was a very tall, thin man with shaggy brown hair and brown eyes as well as a goatee. They both carried in cases and set them down before going back outside to get more equipment.
"Are they here to hunt ghosts or move in?" Mifa asked under her breath to Ayana, who chuckled softly in reply.
"You know you don't have to whisper until they start recording. They can't see or hear us right now."
"What about when they get those cameras and audio recorders out and going?"
"Unless you attempt to materialize, which you don't know how to do yet, they won't see you at all. And with the audio, as long as you aren't too close to the recorder or talk too loud, they won't pick you up. Why don't you go up and introduce yourself to Miss Jones? See if she can be reasonably spoken with."
"Alright. What about you?"
"I'll follow them. I'm sure I'll be meeting up with you soon. Especially if Mr. Suarez is right and Miss Jones is the reason they are here. Otherwise, keep her as calm as you can until I come for you. Do you think you can manage?"
"I'm on it," she said. Since she couldn't teleport herself around yet, she was forced to go the mundane route and took the stairs up to the second floor.
When Mifa was out of sight, Ramon again appeared beside Ayana.
" Is there anything else that I need to be concerned about? Mr. Suarez", Ayana asks, her eyes narrowing.
"Several people have gone missing in this area, and a curse present has been found in the West end of this establishment "
"don't worry I will take care of it"