HELL´S HUNDRED ACRES (continued):

"We´re not alone in here, did you know that?" I said to Edith.

She looked sort of lost for a moment, but then she smiled thinking it was another one of my many wild dreams. I decided we should talk after building up some suspense over lunch, for it seemed that even in my silence the fear of a child was present.

"OK, so why do you say that?" she said as she took me by the arms.

I took a deep breath and hoped for the best because this good be a long, long night. "I, um, need to be serious for a moment. You know how I´ve been sharing with you for the past two months all these crazy shit and so far you´ve been a doll and all of that..."

"Yeah..." She looked at me with her mouth wide open and listening to every single word I was spitting out.

"But I believe there´s a strong reason why I´ve been acting like this...and I can assure you it has very little do with psychological issues."

"Well, you know I didn´t have all the answers, honey, why do you say that now, don´t you think it´s a little ridiculous?"

"Alright..." I stopped and sipped some wine. "Do you remember you told me that this place used to be a factory of some sort?"

"Yes...oh, don´t tell me you´ve been investigating it because I can tell by the way you´re looking at me...is it bad?"

"Uh, no, it´s nothing bad, really, but..."

"So why do you sound so serious, tell me."

I threw my hands over my face. "Don´t...I can sense there´s something unusual in this room, something, like supernatural, like from another time, like someone was trying to call me, like..."

"A ghost?"

"And what if I told you I did see one last night while you were asleep?"

Edith didn´t say a word after that; she just approached me and tapped my shoulder, "Fine..."

"That´s it? That´s your explanation, FINE?"

She kissed me, yet her touch seemed rather distant, like she wasn´t there at all, I felt like I was losing the battle, "Listen, I got some stuff to do as well. When you come to your senses you can come upstairs."

The studio began to feel abnormally cold and I became very agitated and nervous. As Edith slowly left I fell on my knees feeling like a helpless animal. I noticed how hardwood floor felt incredibly hot; it was burning, but at the same time I didn´t get hurt at all. Suddenly I turned my head and my studio was gone. It was filled with debris and broken machinery like conveyor belts. The tall windows were all smoked and rusty and there was a pungent smell of oil. I realized the sun was still up, I could even feel a slight breeze coming from the outside.

HI AGAIN...

I turned around and knew who it was. Caroline had come back.

HELL´S HUNDRED ACRES

I left Edith a note on the counter by the kitchen; this I wrote,

Hey beautiful, see you in the afternoon, still settling some things at the place in Chelsea. A.B.

Monday again, damn, December 22nd already. Time flies and I feel like I´ve done so little. We were still working to enable the Chelsea loft, looking good , so far. By mid January it would be fully functional, oh yeah. But what I was probably dying to tell Edith was about my encounter last night; it seemed very much like putting the pieces of a puzzle together. Caroline had been ´stuck´in that building for ages.

I did a little research using my "modern machines" and this caught my attention, "Hell´s Hundred Acres", a vulgar term they used in the past for this neighborhood for the constant fire accidents caused in the factories, especially the one I lived in. Because this particular one was sturdy enough the damages to the property were minimal, but many people perished in a fire back in the 1950s, which leads me to believe that was one of the main reasons why ghosts would be around here. Still, solving this was not gonna be easy, it would be homework, I suppose.

On the other hand, tomorrow I still had to do some packing for my journey home, so I spent most of my morning making sure both of my lofts were properly taken care of while we were away. The landlord, Ben was a swell guy, actually he was the one who gave me the helpful information about the history of these buildings.

Oh, but tomorrow would indeed be a night to remember because it was Droogie´s big pre Christmas bash. All of a sudden I was supposed to feel more important, I even had fans from the underworld. For sure I never expected to have received so much when I got this place in good old Mercer Street, I guess you could call it a present from above.

(continued...)