Sueno Espiritu

Mulder and Scully were driving back from a case they had just wrapped up in Arkansas. Mulder had insisted on taking the "scenic route" by driving to Arkansas from Iowa, just so he could see his old friend, Rich, who lived in Iowa. Mulder had insisted that it would be a nice drive. It wasn't exactly "scenic". They were somewhere in the middle of Iowa, and all there was to look at was corn fields and an occasional tree. They would board their plane in Iowa; that is, if they ever made it to the airport. The weather was not being friendly.

Mulder glanced out his car window at the overcast sky. It was going to pour any minute. The dark clouds kept building up heavier and heavier.

"Mulder, we're gonna get caught in this storm if we don't find a hotel soon", commented Scully, who was sitting right next to Mulder.

"Well, about 20 miles back there was a sign that said there should be a hotel. But it should have been there 10 miles back", replied Mulder.

"Oh, that's just great", Scully complained. "Do you even know where we are?"

Mulder bit his lip and shook his head no.

Just then, a large flash of lightning lit up the sky, followed by a loud clap of thunder. Scully jumped at the noise and Mulder began to groan as the rain began to spill down.

"Scully, I can barely see the road!" he said.

Suddenly the car skidded and veered off the road. Their eyes opened wide and they both screamed in terror. Mulder tried to step down on the brakes, but it wouldn't help. The car continued to crash down the small hill until it finally came to a stop at the bottom.

"Shit!" yelled Mulder. "Are you okay Scully?" He looked over at Scully, who looked shaky.

"Yeah", she replied in a trembly voice. She looked up at him with wide eyes. "But I'll have one hell of a sore neck tonight... Are you okay?"

"Yes, I'm fine", answered Mulder. "But how are we going to find a place to stay? Our car is useless. We won't be able to walk far in this rain."

"We're gonna have to try", said Scully as she opened up her car door and stood up outside in the pouring rain. "Jesus, it's cold out here. Come on Mulder, let's go. There has to be some shelter near hear."

Mulder reluctantly got out of the car and walked around it to stand next to her.

"Let's go this way Scully", he put his arm around her to steer her to his left.

And so they began to walk in the pouring rain to a destination they weren't even sure existed.

Half an hour later they were both exhausted and soaking wet. They practically had to hold each other up.

"Look over there", Mulder pointed up the road about 30 feet. He pointed at a small sign that was covered in moss and was half hidden from weeds amd vines. It read, "Welcome to the Night-o-Sleep motel."

They both looked at each other and darted quickly up to where the sign was located. Sure enough, the road turned off into a smaller road that led to a tiny motel nestled at the top of a small hill. There were lights on, so it was obviously open.

"What are you waiting for? Let's go", said Scully, who was already making her way up the hill. She grasped Mulder's arm and dragged him along behind her.

Mulder didn't answer her, he just caught up with her as fast as he could. He couldn't tell her what was really wrong; she would laugh at him. But something about this little place just gave him the creeps.

Mulder and Scully stood together in the motel's lobby. They had just finished telling the clerk their "tale" of how they wound up there.

The clerk raised a heavy eyebrow. "Are you sure you want to stay here? This motel is haunted." It was hard to tell if he was teasing them or was dead serious. He let out a throaty laugh. Scully grimaced.

Oh boy, thought Scully. Just what we need. We are soaking wet, tired and stranded, and here we are, stuck with a motel clerk a who's few bricks short of a full load. She glanced over at Mulder who was looking very interested in the clerks little story. Mulder had on eyebrow raised and had that "x-file" look written all over his face. Scully knew Mulder too well. She knew that in a few seconds he would ask for more information about it.

"Tell us more about this 'haunting'", Mulder said, looking intently at the clerk. Scully smiled to herself.

"Oh, there's not much to tell," began the clerk in his raspy voice. "On the day October 13, 1964, a young woman by the name of Jessica Manner was murdered by her fiancé. Her fiancé’s name was Derek Lamp. He caught her cheating on him the day before their wedding, in this very motel. He was so enraged that he killed her. After he murdered her he killed himself. Today her spirit haunts this motel. Funny, though. No one has any actual proof that they've seen her. Even more strange, anyone who has had an encounter with her merely dismissed it as a dream."

Right, thought Scully. And I'll be visited by the tooth fairy tonight. She rolled her eyes. "We'll take the rooms anyway, right Mulder?"

"Yeah," he replied, still staring at the clerk. He couldn't put his finger on it, but something just wasn't right about this clerk. The clerk looked back at him and Mulder felt a chill run down his spine.

The clerk glanced away from Mulder. He took a key from the wall. "Sorry, only one room left."

"That's fine," said Scully, eager to get away from this nut and into their room, to take a hot shower and get some rest.

Mulder took the key from the man and said, "If we need anything, we'll just come down to ask. Thanks, Mr...?"

"Palm. Mr. Palm," finished the clerk.

As they walked up the stairs to their room, Scully leaned over and whispered in Mulders ear. "He's a complete nut."

"I'm not so sure Scully. I'm not so sure," replied Mulder, looking slightly distracted.

Mulder and Scully stood outside their room, room number 42, as Mulder tried to unlock it with the room key. He fiddled with it for a while until he finally opened it. "Ha," said Mulder triumphantly.

"Mulder, what exactly did you mean when you said you 'aren't so sure'? You aren't sure of what?" Scully asked warily.

Mulder bit his lip. "Well, maybe he was telling the truth. Maybe there really is a ghost here. I mean, you have to admit, this place is kinda creepy. Don't you ever get freaked out?"

"Freaked out? Why? This is just a motel." She didn't admit to Mulder that she did feel kind of freaked out. You're just tired, she told herself. "Really, Mulder. You must be joking."

"Maybe I am, maybe I'm not," Mulder replied playfully, trying to lighten up on the subject. He knew that Scully would think he's crazy if he told her he actually did believe the clerk.

Scully raised one eyebrow at him and gave him a smile. She gave him a light push on the shoulder. She then glanced around the room. "Mind if I take a shower first? Then you can take yours and after that we can get some shut-eye."

"Go right ahead Scully," Mulder said to her. "I'll call right now to get some car assistance in the morning. Then I'm going to take a quick look around the motel." He picked up the phone and dialed the operator.

"Thanks Mulder," Scully said as she made her way to the bathroom.

Mulder hung up the phone and picked up the room key off of the desk. He quickly walked out the door and shut it behind him. He glanced both ways down the hallway before he made his way down the staircase leading to the lobby. Mulder wanted to question Mr. Palm more about this "ghost". The story fascinated him. Although he was curious about it, he couldn't help feeling uneasy in this motel. Something felt wrong here and he didn't know why he felt that way. He knew that Scully thought he was crazy for even giving Palm's story a second thought. But he was far more than open to extreme possibilities. He wondered how Scully was doing up there in the motel room all alone. He decided to make his chat with Palm quick.

When he reached the lobby he looked over towards the front desk. Palm was no where to be seen.

"Mr. Palm?" Mulder called. No answer. Just then he heard a loud scream coming from down the hallway. He pulled out his gun and ran in the direction the scream came from.

Scully closed her eyes as the water ran over her body. It felt good to just stand still and relax. Then her thoughts drifted to Mulder. Mulder and his ghosts, she thought to herself, smiling. He couldn't really be serious, could he? She answered her own question. Knowing Mulder, of course he could be serious.

She finished washing her hair and turned the water off. Scully got out of the shower and looked at her pile of clothes from that day. She didn't like the idea of having to put them back on after she had walked do far in the rain. At least they're dry now. Scully glanced into the mirror and looked at her reflection. She saw something move in the shower. She quickly turned around and to her relief, nothing was there. You're letting Mulder get to you, she thought. She looked back in the mirror. For a split section she saw the image of a woman standing behind her. The woman had dark brown hair that whisped across her face. She had a deep frown set on her pale face, and her dark eyes looked intently at Scully. Scully's heart raced and she stifled a scream before she turned around. Nothing was there. I'm losing it, she thought. Still, that shook her up enough to take her clothes and change out of the bathroom.

Mulder approached the room where the scream had come from. He came just in time to see Mr. Palm opening up the door to the room.

"Mr. Palm, who was that? Did you hear the scream?" asked Mulder.

"Yes, uh, I did. I heard the noise and came running," Palm replied, looking uneasy.

"Let me go first," Mulder said, seeing Palm's uneasiness. Besides, Mulder had a gun.

Mulder positioned his gun and stepped cautiously into the room. He flipped on the light. No one was in the main room. A thick layer of undisturbed dust covered all of the furniture. Mulder quickly opened the closet, only to be greeted by a cloud of dust and cobwebs. Mulder coughed and closed the closet door. He slowly opened the bathroom door. He glanced around; no one was there either.

"Mr. Palm?" he called. Palm appeared in the doorway. "Who was staying here?"

"Um... Well, no one," answered Palm.

"I thought you told us there was only one room left," Mulder said accusingly.

"Well, there was only one room left. This is the room where Jessica was murdered and where Lamp killed himself. I don't rent this room out."

Mulder stood silently. "Then who screamed?" he asked at last.

"That's up for you to decide. But I told you, this place is haunted."

With that, Palm walked quickly out of the room. Mulder stood in the middle of the room looking bewildered. He had to tell Scully this. So he shut the door behind him and made his way back up to their room.

Scully quickly finished getting dressed when she heard Mulder jiggling the key around outside their door.

"Hold on Mulder, I'll let you in," she called as she was pulling her shirt over her head.

Mulder walked into the room just as she was pulling her light cotton shirt on.

He raised an eyebrow. "What are you doing changing out here?" he asked.

"Well, um..." Scully grinned sheepishly. "When I got out of the shower I saw a someone, a woman, standing behind me in the mirror. When I turned around to look, no one was there. But the look on her face, Mulder. She looked so angry, so... evil."

It was then that she realized how foolish she was sounding. "But it was probably nothing," she added. "Just my over-active imagination." She laughed just a little too much. Mulder knew she was scared.

Mulder stood looking at her. He didn't know what to say, so he just said, "Yeah, who knows?"

He decided to tell her about what happened on the first floor. "Scully, something really weird happened when I went down to speak with Palm," he started. He told her everything that happened, in detail. "And then he said to me, 'I told you. This place is haunted,'" Mulder finished.

Scully stared back at Mulder. "How do you know that it wasn't a real person who was snooping around in there?"

"That's what I thought at first, but when I walked into the room to check it out, I noticed that there was a thick layer of dust covering all the surfaces in the room. Nothing in there has been touched for a long time. And Palm told me that he didn't rent that room out. He said that's the room where Jessica was murdered and where Lamp committed suicide."

Scully sighed, not knowing what to think. "Well, Mulder, I don't know what happened. What I do know is that we both need to get some rest. Take a shower and then we'll get some sleep."

Mulder agreed reluctantly and went into the bathroom to start his shower.

Scully walked over to the window and looked out at the blackness. She had the creeps. This place has an odd atmosphere, she thought. In fact, it's just downright creepy. What if there really was a ghost...? No way, she thought, before she could think about it any further. But then her thoughts drifted to the woman she had seen in the bathroom mirror. She looked so angry....

"BOO!"

Scully shrieked and must have jumped ten feet in the air. She whirled around to see Mulder with a wide grin on his face, laughing his head off. "Gotcha," he gasped between spurts of laughter.

"That wasn't funny!" she scolded him, beginning to laugh in spite of what she had just said. She gave him a hard push and he pushed her lightly back.

"Oh yes it was," Mulder said. He lightly poked her in the side and she giggled.

"Was not," she said as she poked him back.

"Was too."

Mulder stuck his tongue out at her and gave her a goofy smile. Scully couldn't help but laugh. Sometimes he seems so innocent, like a little boy, she thought. She was about to give him another playful tickle when she suddenly realized how sore her neck was from the car crash earlier. "Ouch," she said, not realizing that she had spoken out loud. She rubbed her neck.

"Do you have a sore neck?" asked Mulder.

Scully nodded her head. His hand brushed hers as he put his hands on her shoulders and begin to give her a neck message. She felt her muscles tense and then start to loosen up. She slowly closed her eyes. It felt so good.

Scully turned to look at Mulder when she realized he had stopped. He gazed intently into her clear blue eyes. She gazed back into his hazel eyes as Mulder pulled her close to him. Their eyes locked.

Is this really happening? thought Mulder in amazement. He had wanted this moment to come for too long. He had begun to think that it never would.

Mulder's lips brushed against Scully's. They hesitated for a moment and then their lips met in a sweet, innocent kiss.

Scully pulled away after a moment and rested her head against his chest. She sighed happily as Mulder brushed through her auburn hair with one hand. At the same moment, she was also very confused. How is this happening? Why is this happening? Should I pull away? We're partners! Maybe we shouldn't be doing this. But then, what are we doing that's so wrong? She decided to stay put. She liked the way she fit so perfectly in Mulder's arms.

Something in the window caught Scully's eye. She looked at the window and gasped.

"Scully, what's wrong?" he asked softly.

"Mulder, look at the reflection in the window," she whispered in a voice that was just above a whisper.

He looked, at first only seeing him and Scully holding each other in the reflection. But then he saw it. It was like a miniature movie being played on the window. A miniature horror movie, that is. He couldn't believe his eyes.

They watched as a man, strangely familiar, walked into a room where a young woman sat. Scully gasped as she instantly recognized the young woman. It was the woman in the bathroom. The man entered to room with a knife. They struggled and the woman pleaded, but he killed her. He then killed himself, finishing off the little "movie".

Mulder and Scully stood there, shocked. Even Mulder, who always leaned more towards the paranormal explanation, could not believe how this could happen. It was like a dream.

"BOO!!!" said a voice from behind them.

Mulder and Scully both shreiked this time. They whirled around and came face to face with... nothing.

"Mulder," Scully said nervously. She gripped his arm.

"Scully, what the hell is happening?" he asked, bewildered.

An evil laughter filled the room. A lamp was knocked over, hitting the floor with a shattering sound.

Mulder and Scully clung tightly to each other, not knowing what would happen next. They both wished, almost simultaneously, that they had not left their guns on the night stand across the room.

The other lamp was knocked over, also shattering to the floor. The room was pitch black now. But they could still see the glint of a silver knife in the darkness.

"Mulder!" Scully yelled, and then blacked out.

Mulder awoke in bed the next morning. He glanced over and saw Scully snuggled up to him in his arms. He smiled and pulled her close. Then the events of yesterday started to come back to him. He remembered the car crash, and how they walked for half an hour to find a place to stay. They had come across the Night-o-Sleep motel, where they spent the night. But then the events of last night came flooding back to him. He remembered the story of Jessica Manner and Derek Lamp, the unexplained scream on the first floor, and the images that appeared in the window’s reflection. He remembered was the evil laughter, the broken lamps, and the glinting knife. The last thing that remembered was his and Scully's kiss. He smiled to himself. But how did Scully and I live through that? What happened? Was it all a dream? He was almost disapointed that it might have been a dream. After all, they had finally kissed...

He hated to wake her up. “Scully,” he whispered, brushing a strand of her auburn hair off of her face.

“Mulder!” she yelled in her sleep. She awoke with a start and sat up quickly in bed. “Mulder, I had a horrible dream! There was this... this THING that knocked over our lamps, leaving us in complete darkness, and then there was this knife, it came towards us, and all the while we were standing there together, helpless and- and... Mulder, you and I...” Her voice trailed off. She was going to say 'You and I had kissed' but decided against it. She loved Mulder, but how would she know if he felt the same way?

“Scully, shhh, calm down. I’m okay; you’re okay,” Mulder comforted her. God, maybe this wasn’t all a dream. It’s exactly what I thought I dreamed.

She hugged him fiercely. “I’m just so glad that you’re okay.” She pulled herself up and gave him a kiss on his forehead.

Mulder returned the hug and kissed her cheek. “Scully?”

“Yes?” she replied, much calmer.

“It wasn’t a dream.”

“WHAT?!” she jumped back, out of his arms.

“I said it wasn’t a dream. I dreamt the exact same thing. Or, I thought I dreamt. What are the chances of that, Scully?” Mulder said.

“But Mulder...” said Scully, not believing any of this.“ That could never have happened. It’s crazy!” Deep down she knew that they wouldn’t have dreamt the exact same thing, but she had a very hard time believing that it actually happened.

Mulder looked at her and she looked back at him. He nodded his head, as if to say yes, it did happen. She just stared back at him.

Then they both had the same thought at the same time. If it wasn't a dream, then they really had kissed. They both smiled a little, then looked away from each other. It was like this all the time. If something happened between the two of them, they always ran away from it. After all they had been through together, and as much as they wanted to, this was one thing that was difficult for them to explore.

But if it hadn't been a dream, something really weird had happened last night.

“I think it’s time to ask Mr. Palm a few questions,” Mulder said.

“Okay,” agreed Scully.

Ten minutes later they were down in the lobby.

“Excuse me,” Mulder said to the young clerk at the front desk. “Can you please tell us where Mr. Palm is?”

The young clerk looked up from the magazine he was reading. “Mr. Palm? No Mr. Palm has ever worked here. I think you might mean Mr. Lamp. He was the motel manager. But he died decades ago. He killed himself,” said the young clerk.

“I think that you must be making a mistake,” said Scully, bewildered. “Mr. Palm was just here yesterday. He was our clerk.”

“No, I think that you must be mistaken, ma’am,” the young clerk replied politely. “A Mr. Palm has ever worked here.”

“Alright, thank you,” Mulder said to the clerk. “Let’s go back up to the room, Scully.”

Scully followed him as he made his way towards the staircase and up to their room.

“Mulder, this is insane,” commented Scully when they were back up in their room.

“You’re telling me,” Mulder said as he sat down next to her on the bed.

“Mulder, now that I think about it, ‘Palm’ is an anagram for ‘Lamp’,” Scully said thoughtfully. “But I still don’t believe it.”

“You’re right Scully. And remember the man we, uh, saw in the reflection? He was a spitting image of our ‘Mr.Palm’.”

“Mulder there is no way that this could have happened. It’s just not possible. There are NO SUCH THINGS AS GHOSTS.” She sounded like she was trying to convince herself, rather than Mulder. “Look Mulder, the lamps aren’t even broken.”

Mulder took a deep breath. "Scully, in my 'dream', in our 'dream', you and I... we..."

"... kissed," Scully finished quietly, her voice barely audible. Mulder wan't sure if he heard her correctly.

Sculy looked up at him. Mulder looked deep into her eyes. They slowly moved closer to each other. Their lips brushed. This is so weird, thought Scully. Everything here is weird. Usually, Mulder and I would have been... almost afraid to do this.

Out of the corner of his eye, Mulder saw something glisten from the floor across the room. "Scully," he whispered, dreading the thought of him ruining this moment.

"Hmmm," replied Scully as she reluctantly pulled away.

Mulder got off of the bed and went over to pick up the glistening object.

“Oh my God” was all Scully could say when she saw what Mulder had.

He held it in his right hand, holding it away from himself as if it would bite him. It was a silver knife that glinted in the sun.

“Scully?”

Scully paused for a while before answering. “Yeah?”

“Let’s get out of here.”

“How?”

“I arranged last night for my friend in Iowa to come give us a lift.” Mulder glanced at the clock. “He should be here any minute.”

“Definitely, Mulder. Let’s get out of here. This is too creepy,” said Scully, glancing warily at the knife.

He threw it back under the bed. He got up and put his arm around Scully’s shoulder as they walked towards the door.

They quickly left the room, slamming the door behind them.

Mulder held the car door for Scully and then slid in next to her in the back seat. “Thanks for picking us up, Rich,” he said to his friend.

“Hey, no problem. Too bad about your car, though,” replied Rich.

Mulder and Scully both glanced back at the motel before they took off. Mulder could have sworn that he saw Mr. Palm, or Mr. Lamp, or whoever he is, staring back at them from the motel window, grinning a wide evil grin. Mulder drew in a quick breath and glanced the other way. He looked at Scully.

Just by looking at her face he could tell that she had seen it too. Her eyes were wide and her face was pale, just as if she had seen a ghost. As he reached over to grab her hand, to comfort her, he thought, She really did see a ghost. And so did I.