Chapter 4: Objective

Approaching the porch of the chapter house, Alessa and Janie strolled in companionable silence, each lost in her own thoughts.

Glancing up at the front door, Alessa took note - not for the first time - of the myriad surveillance cameras flanking her from every side, an uneasy shiver slithering down her spine.

"Those things give me the creeps," Alessa muttered, motioning towards the two cameras pointing down towards the door and the path. She couldn't see them, but she knew there were others as well, peeking out of bushes and camouflaged behind rocks and benches.

"I don't know why. They're here for our own protection," Janie shrugged, averting her eyes.

That was true, Alessa supposed. The year before she and Janie enrolled, a widely-publicized hazing scandal had embroiled the university in a drawn out lawsuit, a disastrous PR spectacle that had dragged on for months longer than would have been necessary if the university had had proper video evidence to prove that their expulsions were justified. The administration had learned from their mistake and promptly installed a state-of-the-art surveillance network across the entire ESU campus.

"I know. I just… I don't like the feeling of being watched every time I step out of the house, I guess. And I feel like a lot of students don't even seem to notice that we're under constant surveillance…" Alessa trailed off. "I don't know. The whole setup just seems like some sort of violation, you know?"

Now pointedly digging through her bag, Janie paused briefly before responding. "Eh, I think you're being oversensitive. Who cares? You have nothing to hide. Right?"

Janie's tone was nonchalant, but the tense undercurrent radiating off her didn't jive with the casualness of her words.

Puzzled, Alessa persisted. "I just think it's weird. One time I was sitting on a bench between classes eating lunch, and when I got up to toss my garbage, there was movement in the bushes. At first I thought maybe it was a squirrel, but then I caught a glint of sunlight off glass as the camera actually followed me. So I walk up to it to get a better look, and this huge guy appears out of nowhere and practically snarls at me to back off."

"What's so crazy about that?"

"It's not what he said, it was how he said it. All I did was look at the camera, and then, I don't know, it was just so unnecessarily -" she grappled for the right word, the memory still sending a chill through her bones, "- menacing."

Janie finally quit rummaging through her purse, a key clutched in her fingers, and looked up at Alessa with an exasperated sigh.

"Less, I think you're just reading into things. I'm sure the cameras are expensive. I'm sure you weren't the first freshman he'd had to reprimand that week. I get that you aren't used to it, but it's really not that big of a deal. I don't hear anyone else complaining about it, anyway." And with that, Janie pushed through the front door, abruptly bringing the conversation to an end.

Alessa eyed the camera on the porch one more time, her lips pressed into a hard line. Maybe Janie was right - maybe she was being hypersensitive. But the relentless gaze of that cool glass lens just felt somehow insidious to her - she couldn't explain exactly why.

As Alessa followed Janie over the threshold, she realized that on the plus side, the administration's over-the-top reaction had enabled Alessa to score a great room in this gorgeous old house. To discourage future hazing incidents, the school had also done away with rush week. Instead, they decreed that any freshman who wished to join a Greek organization had only to read the descriptions of each house and check a box on their housing form, and it'd be up to the lottery system from there.

Though Alessa had never really been interested in joining a sorority, she'd been drawn to Zeta Epsilon Pi's big white colonial farmhouse with a wraparound porch, so she'd checked the appropriate boxes, and hoped for the best. By a stroke of luck, Alessa had won one of the two available rooms; the other had gone to Janie.

The house had a big kitchen, dining room, and living room on the main floor which the sorority used as shared space. The upper floor had been divided into 14 bedrooms, half of which still had the elaborate original fireplace mantles. Throughout the home, large windows framed by stark black shutters looked out over acres upon acres of rolling green hills.

Janie was waiting for Alessa at the bottom of the stairs. "Coming up?" Any traces of the uncomfortable tension from their conversation on the porch had evaporated; Alessa guessed Janie was just stressed about her schoolwork and ready to head back to her desk.

As Alessa crossed the foyer, there was a clatter of high-heeled footsteps from the kitchen and Lizzie Green bounded down the hallway in all her blonde, buxom glory. "Hey girls! Just wanted to remind you two that dues need to be paid by the end of the month. Is that cool?"

"Sure thing," Janie replied with a grin. Alessa forced a smile and nodded in agreement. She tried not to hate Lizzie - she really did - but it was just so easy.

The sorority president had never been openly hostile towards Alessa, but at the same time, it was clear that she would never have approved Alessa's "sisterhood," as Lizzie liked to call it, if it weren't for the university's policy. And the fact that Lizzie was a walking male fantasy and obviously reveled in the fact - while simultaneously pretending that she was oblivious to her own physical gifts - inspired nothing but loathing in Alessa. Even at seven o'clock in the morning, Lizzie always managed to look perfectly put together, not even an eyelash out of place. It was nauseating. Alessa knew that she was simply feeling envious of Lizzie, but all the same, she just couldn't shake her dislike.

"Okay, great! Have a good night, girls!" Lizzie continued into the living room with an exaggerated swing of her long golden waves and Alessa promptly feigned a mild gag. Janie rolled her eyes at Alessa's behavior, but her smile betrayed her accord. "She's not that bad," she mouthed, mounting the stairs to their rooms.

Alessa chose not to respond.

As they reached the top of the staircase, Janie exclaimed. "Oh! That reminds me." She walked purposefully into her room and started rifling through her desk drawer. "I came across something that I thought might be of interest." She handed Alessa a printout of an article from the school newspaper. A photo showed Lizzie and the other board members in front of the sorority house. The headline read:

ESU'S ZETA EPSILON PI CHAPTER CELEBRATES 40 YEARS

"What's this?" Alessa asked.

Janie sighed. "I figured you hadn't been reading your emails. There's a big anniversary coming up in a couple days and the board hosted a small celebration with some university officials, including a local historian who works at the library. Read the third paragraph."

Alessa scanned the page. In the middle of the article was a quote from a Mary Brighton, the librarian Janie was referring to.

--

Local historian and university librarian Mary Brighton took a few moments at the commemoration ceremony to share the history of Z-E-Pi's chapter house. According to Ms. Brighton, "The house which is now occupied by the Zeta Epsilon Pi sorority was one of the first properties acquired by the university during the expansion drive of the 1930s. Eastern State officials were able to purchase 200 acres of land including the home for a very reasonable sum after the passing of a wealthy family who had owned the property. From that time until the founding of the Zeta Epsilon Pi chapter, the building was used for offices and storage."

--

Alessa looked up. "Do you think this has something to do with the ghost?"

Janie shrugged. "I thought it seemed pretty promising. You saw the 'passing of a wealthy family' part? And you said his clothes look like they're from around the turn of the century, right?"

"Yeah," Alessa agreed, though she didn't mention that her limited knowledge of historical fashion was gleaned mainly from romance movies with questionable attention to factual detail. Regardless, this was the best lead she'd gotten yet. "The timeline does seem about right. Thanks for this."

Alessa folded the printout, tucking it into her pocket. She'd read a little about the building on the ESU website, but it didn't mention anything about the original owners. "I haven't put a ton of effort into researching the house yet, but nothing I came across so far went back further than the founding of Z-E-Pi. This is the first thing I've seen which might actually be related."

"I thought maybe that librarian might know who the family was and what happened to them. Or if there are other reports of hauntings." Janie spoke the last word in a dramatic eerie hush, a smile in her eyes.

"Don't mock me!" Alessa giggled at Janie's theatrics. She couldn't remember the last time she'd giggled at anything.

Janie grinned. "I'm just kidding. Seriously, though, aren't there usually multiple reports of sightings or other 'disturbances' when a place is haunted? Have you heard anyone else talk about seeing anything?"

Alessa ignored Janie's teasing and shook her head. "No, but they'd be more likely to tell you about it than me. Everyone seems hesitant to send more than a quick hello and goodbye in my direction."

Sarcasm oozed from Janie's reply. "I wonder why. Couldn't be your inviting demeanor and abundant enthusiasm for life." She gave Alessa a scolding look before continuing. "But no, no one's said anything to me either, and I certainly haven't experienced anything myself. But who knows, maybe someone has and they're just afraid to say anything because everyone will think they're crazy."

"Like you think I am?"

"Exactly." Janie laughed. Alessa knew Janie believed her, even if she didn't want to admit it.

Janie's expression softened. "In all seriousness, though, I'm a little worried about you, Less. You've been so distracted lately…" Her tone changed back to goading. "And you kinda look like shit."

Alessa tossed a throw pillow at Janie's head. She was right, but still.

Janie deftly swatted it to the floor, feigning insult. "What! I'm sorry, you just look like you haven't slept in days. Have you been studying that much?"

"Oh, God, no." Alessa took a deep breath - she hadn't told anyone about the nightmares yet. "I just… haven't been sleeping well. I keep having these dreams."

"Ooooh, sexy dreams?" Janie raised an eyebrow.

Alessa glared at her and reached for another pillow.

Janie laughed, throwing her arms up in defense. "Okay, okay, I guess not!"

"Definitely not," Alessa confirmed. Even now, she could feel the panic from her nightmares welling in her gut. She tried to shake it off before continuing. "It's not exactly the same every time, but I'm always in some sort of jail, just waiting. It's like I know someone is coming to do something horrible to me, but I don't know exactly what."

Janie grimaced. "Sounds miserable."

"I can't even describe it," Alessa agreed. "But at the same time, it's weird because I feel almost… relieved, I guess."

"Relieved?"

Alessa hesitated for a moment - she knew how this must sound, but it was the truth. "Yeah, because, well, I know the ghost won't be able to hear me being tortured or whatever."

Janie suddenly looked up from the hole she'd been picking at on her jeans. "Wait, when did the ghost get there?"

"I never actually see him," Alessa explained, "but somehow I know he's there with me, in the prison." She was at a loss to explain how exactly she knew this, but she did - she guessed dreams were just like that. "It's weird because the feelings are really vivid - it's so disturbing that I have trouble going back to sleep after - but besides that, things are pretty fuzzy."

"Weird."

"Yeah."

Janie thought for a minute. "And why exactly are you in a prison?" she wondered.

Alessa shrugged. "Your guess is as good as mine. All I know is that it's a futuristic sort of prison, but I'm not sure how I know that since I only ever really see the inside of a dark cell." A dark, cold, desolation-filled cell, she recalled, her skin crawling with an involuntary shudder.

She thought she saw something flash in Janie's eyes, but Janie only grunted in response, her attention focused again on the rip in her jeans. After a moment she looked up, and whatever strain Alessa thought she'd seen in Janie's face was gone.

"So, what's your plan with the ghost?"

Alessa considered. She'd only seen the apparition a handful of times over the course of the semester, and it'd never lasted more than a few seconds. Besides her guess about him being from the early 1900s, so far all she'd been able to determine was that he seemed about her age. And that he had the most brilliant blue eyes she'd ever seen. And that she couldn't stop thinking about him, no matter what terror his fleeting visits may invoke in her.

Alessa sighed. It was definitely time to get to the bottom of this.

Fingering the article in her pocket, Alessa resolved that tomorrow would be the day.

"I think I'm going to stop by the library after the physics exam. Let's see what that Brighton woman knows."