by BL Maxwell
“Jason, let’s go!” I was frantic now. I wanted to get the hell out of here and now. I didn’t want to find out what happened next. I wanted out!
I grabbed the back of his shirt and started dragging him toward where I thought the door was. We should have been fairly close to it, but it seemed like it was taking us forever. The tinkling was now a high-pitched roar. It sounded like there were thousands of glasses in the room and they were ready to explode into a million tiny, sharp shards.
“Come on! We need to get out of here now,” I yelled at Jason, while he struggled against me. The more I pulled him from behind the more he pulled away from me. Finally I wrapped both of my arms around his waist and started hauling him out of the basement. He was fighting me in earnest now, trying to pry my hands off him.
“Stop. Stop, Wade. Let me go! I need to stay here,” Jason pleaded with me, then yelled when pleading didn’t work.
“You’re going with me, Jason. No way I’m leaving you here.” I forced myself to pull him even harder, but with him struggling against me, I wasn’t making much headway. Why was he fighting me?
“You don’t understand. This is where I need to be. They said I can stay and I want to stay.”
“Jason, stop it! You’re mine and you’re going with me.” With that I pulled with all my might and managed to open the door and get us over the threshold. I flung us both onto the ground away from the opening. As soon as we were clear of the door it slammed shut, leaving a cloud of rusty dust in its wake.
Chapter Eight
“Jason, are you okay?” I scrambled to my knees and started checking him for injuries, but I didn’t see anything obvious; no cuts, or visible injuries. He was curled up in a ball with his arms clutched over his head.
Slowly he uncurled himself and looked over at me. He had the look of someone who was just waking up, not quite sure what was going on and trying to figure out where he was.
“Wade? What are we doing out here?” He tried to get up but seemed to be having trouble getting to his feet.
“Take it easy; we’re safe. Just take a minute and get your bearings.” I squeezed his shoulder, hoping he’d stay seated until one of us figured out what had just happened.
He sat up and stared at the door then turned to face me. “Why are we out here? I thought we were going into the basement?” He sounded so confused. And I wasn’t really sure what to tell him, so I went with the truth, and explained the events he had no memory of.
“I tried to get you to leave but you wouldn’t. It was like you couldn’t hear me; you wanted to stay in there. Do you remember that at all? Why would you want to stay there?” I realized my hand was clenching his arm and I was shaking him. I pulled away from him but immediately reached for him again, rubbing his arm where I’d gripped him. “Jason, are you okay?”
His mouth dropped open in shock. “I don’t remember any of that. I was so creeped out when we were setting up the equipment down there earlier. No way did I want to stay in there alone. I don’t understand how any of this could be happening.”
“Don’t worry about it now. Let’s just go upstairs. If you don’t want to put any equipment downstairs, we can wait and do it tomorrow.”
He considered his answer before speaking. “No, I’m okay. Let’s get inside and set everything up. We can start monitoring the cameras from our room and see if we can figure out what’s going on. I want to look at the footage from the basement and see if it recorded anything while we were down there.”
“You’re sure? I don’t want either of us to get hurt doing something like this. It’s supposed to be fun remember?”
His green eyes were intense; he was desperate for me to stick with him and not give up. There was no way I was leaving him, not now. I knew how much all this meant to him, and I’d see it through. Maybe at some point we’d get a chance to talk, and I could tell him how I really felt about him. Or maybe I never would. Either way, we’d make it through the night. We’d figure out everything else after we were safely back home.
I stood up then held my hand out for Jason to take. He looked up, his eyes flicking between mine and my hand, before reaching up and grasping it. I hauled him up to standing and for a few seconds neither of us let go. Then I dropped his hand and turned to walk to the front steps.
When I got to the top, I turned back only to see Jason still standing where I’d left him, looking up at me. “Well, you ready?” I asked.
He nodded, then walked up the steps and across the porch to stand next to me in front of the door. I turned the knob and we both walked in. Jason tried his flashlight and this time it worked. Doing a quick sweep of the room, nothing was different. We were both being overly cautious as we walked over to our backpacks and picked them up.
Everything was as we’d left it earlier. Nothing had been taken or messed with. So we headed toward the back of the house to put cameras there. Because this floor was made up of bigger rooms and they were more open, we opted to put a camera in all four corners of the space, hoping that would cover it all. If it didn’t we could change it up tomorrow. But for right now we were both anxious to get to the relative safety of our room.
“Here, let’s split it up. We’ll both take one of the corners at the back of the house and that way we’ll get it done sooner,” Jason suggested.
“I don’t want us to be out of each other’s sight. Too many weird things have happened already, and I don’t want to chance anything else.”
Jason looked up from the backpack and held my gaze. “I think you’re right. We shouldn’t get separated as long as we’re here. The things that have happened already . . . I can’t even begin to explain away. But I’m worried what could happen if we split up.”
“Let’s get this done. So do you think just the cameras in the corners are enough? Even though the rooms are bigger, that seems like a lot of space left uncovered.” I looked around the room and tried to work out how much area each camera would cover.
“You could be right. We’ll set it up, and like you said earlier, we can check the monitors and make any adjustments we might need. How are you doing with that camera? Do you almost have it?”
“Almost.” I finished attaching it to the corner at eye level and walked toward where Jason was attaching his. Once he was done, we worked our way back to the front of the house and the bottom of the stairs. We placed a camera in one corner facing the front door and one facing up the stairs from the other corner. If anyone or anything tried to come in, we’d see it.
“I’ll set up the perimeter alarm on the front door. It’ll make me feel a little more comfortable once I know the alarm will alert us to anything opening this door.”
I was glad he was thinking this way. I didn’t want any more surprises, and I was pretty sure after what happened in the basement he felt the same.
Jason was busy with the perimeter alarm, and finished just as I was packing up the tools and everything we’d used to set up the cameras. He had several small HD cameras that he’d bought over time, each was no bigger than a deck of playing cards, but I knew they’d cost him a small fortune. I’d wondered why he needed so many, but now, as we set them up, it barely seemed like he had enough—this house was so huge. He turned to look at me with a raised brow, checking to see if I was ready, and I nodded in the affirmative.
We started up the stairs, and as soon as we got to the top it happened again. The loud bang startled us both and we ducked from the noise. It took me a second to realize, the door to the basement was once again opening and closing. I saw my fear reflected back at me from his eyes when we looked at each other. In an instant, we were in motion and sprinted as fast as we could to the top of the stairs, past our room, to the end of the hall. Jason pulled out a camera and hurried to attach it so we would have a view along the length of the hall.
My nerves were so on edge and I had so much adrenaline pumping through me my hands were shaking. “Holy shit, I don’t know how many more surprises I can take.”
Jason’
s voice quivered. “Let’s finish this, and we can stay in our room the rest of the night. I want to know if something is in the hall, outside of the room.” I swallowed the lump that had formed in my throat and found I could only nod in reply.
“Last one. I’m going to set it up outside our room.” Jason dug out the camera, and within a few minutes, he was finished and we were hurrying back into our room.
For me this was the most important one. I wanted to know what was going on outside our room, especially if we needed to get the hell out of here.
Jason opened the door, and I practically fell into the room with him close behind. Everything was the same as when we’d left, and that simple fact calmed me just a little. At least whatever it was messing with us didn’t seem to be doing it all over the house; mostly it was in the basement and the front of the house.
We both moved to sit on the bed. After a few glances around the room, Jason pulled out his laptop and started syncing his program to the cameras, the perimeter alarms, and the laser grids. I took mine out and did the same. His had the top three floors, while mine showed the first floor and the basement.
“How does it look?” Jason asked. He was looking at the images on his laptop screen and making sure that everything was working.
The screen showed the various camera views of the halls and rooms where we’d installed them. So far, the images were pretty clear.
“Everything seems to be working.” I glanced over at him, but his eyes were transfixed on my screen, not his own.
I looked down at the screen to see what had drawn his attention. The views were all similar, various debris and mess and the infrared made it seem washed out, but it was very easy to see small details. I watched each individual feed, but nothing stood out.
“What’s up, dude? It all seems fine. Nothing going on that I can see.”
He met my eyes then. The look on his face stopped me from asking more. It was one I wouldn’t soon forget. Cold fear. He’d seen something that had shocked him so bad his mind couldn’t work out what to do with the information.
“There,” he finally said and pointed at one of the feeds. It was the one in the basement. I watched but didn’t see anything different than I had when we were down there. I could see all the chairs and glasses, but—then I saw what he meant. It was a blur on the lens at first, like maybe a slight mist had formed and was moving through the room.
I rewound it and watched again, and then I felt the same fear I’d seen on his face only a few minutes ago. Because for the first time in all the years we’d been doing this, we were seeing what had to be the real thing. We were seeing an actual ghost. And he did not look happy we were there.
It had to be Robert Chalmers, the man who’d died in the basement. The image of him was faint, but it was easy to make out his appearance. His clothes were ragged, like he had been wearing them for a lifetime. Sometimes, he appeared to be somewhat solid yet still rippling, for some reason, he wasn’t quite able to make himself whole. The solid glimpses of him were the most terrifying, because then you could see the ghastly detail of his face. He had gone mad and starved to death, and that was exactly what his face reflected. Gaunt with scraggly hair and beard, eyes wide and unseeing. Staring off into space then darting around like he was looking for something. He seemed to blink in and out of our vision; one second he’d be there then he’d appear as a mist again.
My eyes met Jason’s, and he appeared as scared as I felt. This wasn’t fun, this was something that would end up leaving us with nightmares for the rest of our lives. My mind kept going back to the fact that we were in the middle of nowhere by ourselves. It was a good twenty-minute drive to Placerville, but the roads were very narrow and winding. It wouldn’t be easy to drive out in the middle of the night.
“Let’s rewind and see what recorded when we went down to the basement earlier,” I suggested. Jason seemed like he wasn’t sure he really wanted to see what had happened. This shook me more than seeing Robert Chalmers in the basement. Jason had lived for this stuff. He’d always wanted to see an actual ghost, but maybe his vision and the reality were very different. I wasn’t sure. I just knew he was having a really hard time coming to terms with what he’d experienced earlier and what we’d just seen on camera.
I rewound the recording back about an hour and started going through it on fast-forward. At first there was nothing, just dust and debris. Same as we’d seen every time we’d gone into the basement. Then something changed. There were flashes of light, similar to a strobe light, but that made no sense at all. We both knew there were no working lights down there or anywhere in the house.
Then he was there, Robert Chalmers. At first he acted confused about where he was, when he tried to touch the bar his hand went right through it. He stared at it in disbelief. Walking slowly around the room, he looked at all the chairs and broken glasses, until finally he stopped in one area and he didn’t move.
Jason looked over at me. He still had a shocked look on his face. He leaned closer to the screen and just watched for a moment.
“He’s in the cell. See those metal strips still attached to the wall? That’s what he was chained to. I don’t think he realizes he can leave. He thinks he’s still trapped here.”
The spirit seemed to snap to attention, and something changed instantly with him. He swiftly turned to the left then to the right, again looking like he was searching for something. Then he ran right at the door, and with his hands outstretched in front of him, he hit it. We could hear a noise through the recording. The same noise we’d heard earlier. He was trying to get out, trying to open the door.
Only the wooden door on the inside opened inward, so when he was running at it, somehow it was pushing out the metal door and it was clanging back making that sound we’d heard. He stopped running at it and seemed to consider what to do, then he spread his arms and let his head fall back. Suddenly everything in the room started moving like it was caught in a windstorm.
Dust started swirling. Broken glasses were soon whirling around the room and through the form of Robert Chalmers. The chairs that had been lying broken all over the place started to shake and then they too were airborne. None of it seemed to affect him. He kept standing there with his arms outstretched while the wind seemed to increase in power.
“Look at the door,” Jason whispered.
I had to blink my eyes a few times. We’d both been so focused on what was happening on the screen neither of us had spoken. I startled a little at his voice then looked down at the screen again to see what he meant.
The door was shaking like there was wind pushing from the outside in. It seemed to rattle on its latch, then with a big whoosh of air the door opened. As suddenly as it had all begun it stopped. Everything that was flying around the room was suddenly frozen in place for a split second before crashing once again to the floor.
Jason watched on in apparent shock, his hand covering his mouth. Which was exactly how I felt. There was absolutely no reason for us to stay longer. I’d risk driving the road at night just to know we’d be safe once we got the hell out of here.
He finally looked at me and blinked before he went back to watching the video. I did the same, waiting to see what would happen next. Even though I really didn’t want to know. I was convinced this place was haunted, and the spirits did not want us here. Or they were so powerful they didn’t care if we knew about them; they were no longer trying to hide the truth. This house was haunted. As haunted as any house could be.
The people who’d stayed here in the past and said the house seemed to come to life after dark were completely correct. There was an energy in the house and slight noises that seemed to be just low enough you couldn’t quite make out if you were really hearing something or just imagining it. My nerves were constantly on edge, which also contributed to the freak out factor. And looking at Jason, I was pretty sure he’d come to the same conclusion.
We both continued to watch the screen. I waited to see what would happen next
and dreaded it all the same. At first there was nothing. The spirit in the basement had gone, or at least he wasn’t visible at the moment. Suddenly, there were shadows by the open door. Jason appeared on the video and peered into the room first, using his flashlight to look around. He continued to scan the room, and then he abruptly stopped. From this angle his face was clearly visible. One minute he was looking around the room and the next his face went slack.
He stood there frozen, still holding his flashlight. He remained there for a few seconds before I came into view behind him, and as soon as I was in the room the door slammed. Jason still didn’t react. His flashlight blinked off and he stood there like a statue, not reacting in any way, not even blinking. Then the room seemed to explode into motion, all the glass and debris started to visibly vibrate—something we hadn’t been able to see in the dark. But still Jason didn’t move, didn’t react. I could see me grabbing his shirt and trying to pull him toward the door. Then there was a blur directly in front of him, something we hadn’t seen when we were in the room.
We both leaned closer to the screen. I tried to make sense of what I was seeing. The blur took the shape of a woman. She was reaching out her arms to Jason, and then she took a few slow steps toward him.
He still didn’t move, did not seem to even see her or was unable to react if he did. She continued to reach toward him and slowly moved closer and closer until finally her face was within inches of his. She seemed to inhale deeply and a fine mist started coming from Jason’s mouth and into her own. She did this a few times and then finally I was able to pull him away from her.
She turned and looked right into the camera, walked closer to it, a high-pitched scream ripped from her while she tore at her face in apparent rage. Then she was gone. The door opened and we were able to throw ourselves outside.