March 13th, 2015

Bright and early on the windy winter morning I parked in the facility and for the first time Dr. Herzberg didn't arrive after me. The small jet was already there as soon as he heard my car he walked out of it and came down to greet me.

"Morning Stella," he smiled and tried to help me with my bag but I wasn't about to start letting him break rule #4.

"Oh thank you but I got it," he looked a little electric and I smiled sheepishly walking up the stairs in front of him.

"Nonsense," he swiped it from my hand, "the flight is pretty short and I booked us rooms at a bed and breakfast in Athens so we could chat up the locals for information. Fortunately they love to gossip in those small establishments."

"Yes they do."

"Are you feeling okay?" He asked when I agreed with everything.

"Just a little sleepy is all," he put my small suitcase near his and sat on the chair which faced me.

"Don't worry you have about three hours and thirty minutes to sleep." He said as if expecting me to instantly nap so he turned his head to look outside.

"Yeah I should sleep then." I said and closed my eyes hoping to fall asleep but with him in front of me it was impossible.

Every position looked silly or felt uncomfortable so I opened my eyes and with no interest got a magazine to read. He looked to be enjoying my constant nervousness and after half hour he fell asleep then I got comfortable enough to take a nap myself.

We rented a car and he drove us through Athens, Ohio which was nothing short of grey, foggy and so quiet you could hear the owl hooting. It was like my seat had spikes because I could not get comfortable looking outside with not a soul on most streets until we arrived to the Bed & Breakfast where an old couple ran the place.

"Yes here we go one room for Dr. Herzberg," the old lady with an uncomfortable wart in the middle of her forehead gave him the key which almost made me lose focus from what she said.

"Excuse me?" I asked looking at her ready to have a heart attack in the front desk.

"My apologies Mrs. Harvey but my secretary booked two rooms," he explained to her.

"No she did not; she reserved a room for a Dr. Herzberg."

"Okay then maybe she put it under my name, is there a room booked for a Stella Foster?"

"Uh let me check," she fixed her big glasses scrunched her nose inched her head forward and looked over the pages of a big book, apparently nothing here ran on the computer. "Stella, Stella..."

"Foster?" I asked so she wouldn't skip over the last name.

"Oh no my dear no Foster either," she looked up while I waited for her to come up with a solution.

"Okay well then I'll just rent another room now," the scientist patiently asked her as I lost it.

"Yes, yes, we'll just rent another room." I began to take out money from my wallet thinking the worst couldn't possibly be happening to us.

"I wish you could but it's Friday the 13th in Athens, Ohio and we're all booked up."

"What about last minute cancellations?"

"Sorry dear," the woman smiled her yellow teeth at us and I couldn't believe what came next.

"I'm sorry about the room, if it was any other day, well except for Halloween, and full moons, we'd be able to settle you two just fine but it's Friday the 13th so we got all sorts of festivities and fellows flooding our small town." Mr. Harvey the husband of the owner, an old man climbed up the stairs slowly and we followed behind.

"That's alright we enjoy Friday the 13th as well," the scientist responded a little too okay with our room situation.

"Enjoy? Are you crazy? There ain't nothing to enjoy about the ghosts, the dead, the missing people every Friday the 13th doctor."

"I see but unfortunately we're people of science so we don't get scared so easily do we?" He asked me and I nodded though my heart quaked inside of me maybe because of the stories but also because of the days to come with the scientist.

"Oh no I don't do the scaring, I leave that up to the employees of the night, I'm just a bed and breakfast owner. Now if the room is missing anything you ordered just ring us downstairs and we'll do our best." Mr. Harvey opened the room door I'd be sharing with the scientist, yes we'd be sharing a room, I was mortified with the reality of our weekend stay.

"Thanks but I believe this will do just fine Mr. Harvey," he opened his hand and Mr. Harvey put the room keys on it.

"Okay um I hope you scientists like your stay, sorry miss for not having a spare bed for you."

"It's okay Mr. Harvey, but if you happen to get any last minute cancellations let me know please."

"I will, but I wouldn't hold your breath pretty girl," Mr. Harvey diminished my hopes.

"Bye Mr. Harvey," Dr. Herzberg gave him the polite smile.

"I can't believe your secretary did this!" I looked at the queen bed with eyes wide open as he looked through the horizontal window pane outside.

"People make mistakes, we're only human after all." The scientist like now more times than not looked like he was having his own laugh and I was left wanting to read his thoughts.

"Right yeah."

"So you take the bed and I'll ring for some extra pillows or cover to lay on this side of the floor when it's time to sleep and we'll be fine," he offered.

"I really don't like this, you sleeping on the floor," I shook my head filled with guilt and not in a million years I expected him to do such a thing. I imagined he thought of everyone as below himself and his high standards but I guessed his English manners wouldn't allow him to take the bed.

"I'll be fine sleeping on the floor; it's good for my back anyways but before we get to that part I thought we could go get to know a few locals tonight."

"What do you have in mind?"

"We'll go to one of their tours tonight; people have a knack for making legends out of things they can't explain. Hopefully we can gossip our way into one of the lives of our research, we leave at seven," he asked looking at his watch.

"Okay," I opened my laptop and spent the free time researching local legends while he disappeared for a couple of hours.

Apparently Athens, Ohio was surrounded by spooky stories and although the skeptical realist in me scoffed at every single one of them I couldn't shake off the bad vibe this town had. Cemeteries forming a pentagram, a lunatic asylum, ghost sightings at the Moonville tunnel and even haunted halls of a college. And then I took notice it was on February a Friday the 13th that I thought I saw Sybelle's hand move, I guessed reading so many scary stories was making me create connections were there none.

Mr. Harvey was right as the hours advanced many people checked in and the movement around the streets outside grew. It was Halloween in March Friday the 13th here with plenty of celebrations, some costumes made me laugh while others creeped me out as I looked from the bedroom window. Then the scientist came back to take a shower which I escaped down stairs to grab something to eat while he got ready and noticed the uneasy overall dullness of the people in the bed and breakfast.

"Can I come in?" I asked.

"Please do," he said and I opened the door as he shook his hair then sprayed his cologne on.

"What do you think?" He gave me the bottle and the smell was not only strong but again familiar, everything about him reminded of some place I had already visited and I breathed in every last of it wanting to let my hands go to him.

"Um it's great, keep it," I gave him back the bottle hiding these weird feelings like the true professional I was.

"If you say so," he smiled before putting it back on the dresser and fixing his dry cleaned suit against his wrinkle free shirt then went to take his turn downstairs while I got ready.

*************************************************
No part, character, names, plot, setting, conflict or resolution, point of view, theme or symbolism of this story may be replicated.

Copyright: All Rights Reserved to A. Sena Gomes.