New Orleans Nightmare

Louise was never one to scare off easily, nor did she ever care to believe in the paranormal. One of her earliest memories was sitting restlessly in a pew during the St. Louis Cathedral’s 11 o’clock Mass, swinging her legs up as far as they could go in her Sunday best. She remembered rolling her eyes whenever the priest would cry out that God can save us from the evil spirits lurking the city. More importantly, she remembered pitying all the fervent church-goers who believed him.

Therefore, when the student body of Tulane decided to throw a Halloween party in the infamous Lafayette Cemetery, Louise was beyond unbothered. Her roommate from Chicago, on the other hand, was not.

“Violetta, what if it’s haunted? What if we see a ghost? What if it follows us back and haunts our dorm?” Sara squealed in fear while drawing some black eyeliner whiskers onto her cheeks.

“I told you, there’s no such thing as ghosts.” Louise replied with an eyeroll.

“That’s not true! My parents and I did a ghost tour when I first toured campus. The city is crawling with ghosts, especially the graveyards! God save us!” Sara squinted her eyes shut, motioning a cross across her body. 

There’s no such thing as God, either. Louise’s early memory of church were also some one of the last times she was welcomed into one. Her frequent sassing-off to the Sunday School teacher made absolutely sure of that.

Louise adjusted the bright red cape in the mirror before swinging around to Sara. She stepped out wide, puffing out her chest, and planted her fists firmly on her hips.

“What do you think?”

“I think you’re the sluttiest Super Girl I’ve ever seen.”

“Is that so? You know, most cats I know don’t wear fishnet stockings and mini skirts.” Both girls crack up laughing. It is a fact of life that nineteen year old girls must wear ridiculously scandalous Halloween costumes. At the very least it is a fact of campus.

Two hours later, the girls have fit nine underclassmen and three handles of vodka into their tiny dorm room.

“Let’s go to the fuckin’ party!” a shirtless firefighter yelled. The crowd shuffled out the door, following him to the stairwell. As they hurried down the stairs, Sara grabbed Louise’s hand and whispered drunkenly in her ear.

“This will either be the best night of our lives…or the worst.”

The group pulled up to the graveyard, where rap music was thumping loudly throughout the grounds. Hundreds of costume-clad students were sprawled out everywhere, drinking and dancing. In Louise’s direct gaze was a Victoria’s Secret Angel and a Saints player making out so intensely, they knocked a vase of flowers off a tombstone. It shattered in the grass. To her left, the Avengers are taking shots of tequila. Spiderman pulled off his mask and leaned over to hurl.

This was a mistake.

“This is way crazier than I thought! How have the cops not busted us yet?” Sara exclaimed, now batting her eyelashes at the firefighter.

“This one senior, Benji, is crazy loaded. His dad is some big shot lawyer who pays off the cops every year to let us do what we want here. Wanna grab some beers?” Sara shrugged and they walked off together.

Feeling woozy from the dorm vodka, Louise decided not to join. In fact, she had seen what she needed to from this party and had half a mind to walk home right now.

“Yo, come join us!” Fred Flintstone waved her over. A group of students were sitting around, hovering over a ouija board. Louise took a seat, intrigued by the sight. She had never seen one of these before in real life. The girl next to her closed her eyes, holding out her hands to touch the planchette.

“Spirit, are ghosts real? Are you a ghost?” Louise watched as the planchette glided across the board, spelling out Y-E-S. The crowd made a collective gasp. Louise rolled her eyes.

“Oh come on! She obviously moved it herself.” Louise is met with blank stares. “You guys actually believe a ghost did that?” 

“Here, why don’t you try it then if you don’t believe me?” The girl hands her the wooden piece.

“So I just ask it a question?”

“Yep. Keep your hands on the piece and it will start to gravitate towards each letter.”

“Alright then. Louise takes the piece from her and closes her eyes.

“Spirit…should I be afraid of you?” To her surprise, the piece starts to move.

 Y-E-S.

It must be magnets.

“Well…too bad. I’m not afraid! This is all fake!”

The piece moved again. R-E-G-R-E-T.

The group screamed out in horror.

“Oh my God!”

“It means you will regret saying that!”

“That is terrifying! Supergirl, take it back! Apologize!” Again Louise rolled her eyes.

“I’m not taking anything back. This is all fake. I’m not afraid of no damn ghosts!”

She pushed herself up off the ground.

“Okay, I’m done playing. Happy Halloween, everyone.” She took a quick scan around the cemetery. No immediate sign of Sara, and Louise was too over this damn party to spend ten minutes searching for her. She takes out her phone to text Sara.

Heading back, all good?

Her phone buzzes in her hand.

Ok, be safe! Staying at Jeremy’s tn!

The firefighter had a name.

Louise walked back to campus. The empty streets of the Garden District were nearly pitch black and silent. Louise knew she shouldn’t be walking home alone this late at night, but she was too buzzed and annoyed to care.

I thought Tulane had a competitive admissions process. How stupid are my classmates to believe in that dumb shit.

Deep in her thoughts, Louise was interrupted by a ruffling of sorts. On a humid, breezeless night like this one, the sound was nothing if not unnerving. The ruffling continued. Louise turned around. Nothing was behind her.

She sighed in relief, picking up her pace ever so slightly. The relief didn’t last for long.

Footsteps treaded behind her. She turned around again, but saw nothing. Louise walked even faster this time. The sound was getting closer; the person was getting closer, but she still saw nothing when she turned around.

Louise had completely sobered up. Her heart was thumping in her chest, hands sweaty and shaking as she gripped her phone. She rang Sara twice, but no answer. Now the footsteps were so close they were practically right behind her. This time, she didn’t dare turn around.

She burst into a sprint, yelling out for help. Finally, she spotted the lit entrance of her four-story dorm building. Running up to the door, she scanned her key and shoved the door open.

Peeking out the door, she saw nothing. Not a single soul, not even a shadow.

That night, she dreamt about a man in white chasing her. He had no face.

The next morning, Louise woke up in a cold sweat. This was the first time all semester Louise was upset to have the dorm to herself.

As she got ready for class, Louis peered out the window. She locked eyes with a student standing on the roof of an adjacent dorm. The girl waved at her and smiled. Then she jumped.

Louise screamed in horror. She heard the thud of the body crashing onto the floor. She screamed even louder. 

Seconds later, someone knocked aggressively on her door. Louise swung the door open in a panic. It was Jenny, the floor RA. Her eyes were wide with fear.

“Are you okay?!” 

“I–I saw a girl….she… she jumped…” Louise stuttered, unable to get the words out. She pointed to the window. Jenny’s eyes widened even more. She ran to the window, but the body could not be seen from this height.

“Louise, stay here, okay?  I’m gonna call security and page the other RAs.” Louise nodded as Jenny ran out of the room, slamming the door shut.

Louise sat in her bed, shaking uncontrollably.

An hour later, Jenny returned. Louise perked her head up, anxious to hear the news.

“Hey Louise. I reached out to all the RAs and campus security. We searched Hollins Hall. Nobody jumped. Is it possible you saw something else?’ Jenny shifted sheepishly in place, gazing in pity at Louise.

“No, no. That’s not possible, I saw it with my own eyes.”

“I don’t know what to tell you. We searched everywhere.”

Louise glanced down at the floor. She could still hear the thudding sound of the body.

“You know, we have some great counseling services on campus. I’m going to refer you to one of the therapists in case you have anything you would like to talk about.”

“Okay.” Jenny must have thought Louise was a nutcase.

“If you are alright, I’m going to head back to my room and let you have a moment to yourself. But you know where to find me if you need anything. And watch out for that email from Tulane counseling.”

Louise simply nodded. She had never felt more confused in her life. Despite everything Jenny said, Louise knew what she saw.

That night, Louise had another nightmare about the man in white chasing her. He still had no face.

The following morning, she woke up to Sara packing a suitcase.

“What are you packing for?” Louise opted not to tell Sara about what she saw out the window in the morning before. She had come to the conclusion that her hungover mind had been simply playing tricks on her.

“I’m going home for the weekend! Remember? My flight leaves at like 10 but I have class all day, so I need to pack now.”

Louise did not remember. A whole weekend by herself sounded terrifying given the circumstances. She hadn’t even been able to process being followed home from the party, let alone her strange dreams and hallucinations. All she knew is that she did not feel safe.

“Oh right. Have fun.”

That afternoon, while nearly dozing off  in Physics 203, she pondered going home for the weekend herself. But nothing she faced here could compare to the chaos of spending another night in that tiny two bedroom house with six others.

As the professor wrapped up his lecture, Louise received an email from Tulane Counseling, inviting her to schedule a therapy appointment. She chose 1 PM Friday, the next day.

That night, Louise’s nightmares got worse. She dreamt that Sara’s plane had crashed, sending all two-hundred passengers to their gruesome deaths. In the aftermath of the wreckage, Sara’s body was contorted, bloody, and badly burned, sprawling on the ground. Right before she woke up to her own shrieks, she again saw the man in white with no face.

“Sara, Sara! Are you safe? Is everything okay?” Louise cried into the phone. She had rang Sara about a dozen times before finally getting an answer.

“Hey, I’m fine. I just got off the flight. It’s almost 2 AM, what's going on?”

“I had a dream…that your plane crashed.”

“Well, I’m alright. But don’t do that again! I have to take a plane back! I don't need that bad omen.” Sara chuckled to herself.

“Goodnight.” Louise hung up the phone, clutching her hands to her racing heart.

The next evening, after an unhelpful on-campus therapy appointment, Louise took a trip to the 7th Ward. Her mom would lose it if she knew. Louise’s mother always warned them to stay far away from the 7th Ward, one of the most dangerous neighborhoods in the city. But Louise had someone to visit.

Priestess Adelaide was one of the most renowned modern day Voodoo priestesses in Louisiana. She was one of the few legitimate practitioners who didn’t sell out to make a quick buck scamming tourists. Louise’s mother was to this day a devout catholic, but her aunt was quite fond of Voodoo and saw the Priestess at least once a month. Louise trusted her not only for this reason, but because she needed to. Once a skeptic, Louise was now convinced that the strange happenings of the last several days were in fact a result of her reckless ouija board playing.

She approached the quaint blue house at the end of the block. 1777 N Dupre Street, she had arrived. The small porch was decked out in plants, crystals, and clanging windchimes. The windows were completely blacked out. She tapped lightly on the door, her body buzzing with nervous anticipation. The door creaked open, revealing an elderly black woman dressed in regal garb. Her layered dress was purple and gold, her headscarf burgundy red. She gestured for Louise to step into the house. Inside, the house was lined with various altars. Dolls, candles, skulls, random jars presumably holding animal remains, and hundreds of random knick knacks filled the living room. The sight sent a chill down Louise’s spine. In the center of it all was a dusty brown leather chair.

“What you waiting for? Sit down then.” Louise fell back into the chair, startled by both the Priestess’s aggressive tone and the thickness of her Creole accent.

The woman lit a candle, waving it around Louise’s head.

“So, you think a spirit is after you, huh?” Louise nodded.

“Here, drink this.” Priestess Adelaide poured the contents of a steaming kettle into a teacup and handed it to her. Louise blew on it and then took a sip. It tasted strongly of herbs.

“We are going to cleanse you of all negative energies and protect you from this spirit, alright?” Now the Priestess waved some lit sage across Louise’s body. The smoke filled her nose.

“Give me your hand. I need to feel the energy of this spirit.” Louise held out her hand, which the Priestess gripped too tightly. Her callused hand felt rough against Louise’s soft skin.

“NO! NO!” Her eyes were shut tightly as she screamed out. Louise wondered if this was part of the ritual.

“Get your ass out of here, girl! That ain’t no spirit you brought into this house; it’s a demon!” She threw Louise’s hand.

“What?” Louise cried.

“There is a damn demon inside you, and you need to get the hell out of my house NOW!” As the Priestess’s voice rang out, thunder cracked loudly into the air, shaking the entire house.

Louise sprinted out the door as fast as she could. It was pouring outside. She ran the whole way home, shivering and soaked. Not a single student could be seen or heard as she entered the dorm.

Back in her room, Louise yanked open the bottom drawer of her dresser. She clutched the rosary and bible to her chest. Holding them as tight as possible, she ran into the closet, sat down, and closed the door. She rocked back and forth, desperately crying out for God to save her.