Ghost Hunted

by BL Maxwell

  Chapter Sixteen

  After, we cleaned up and changed into clothes that were more suited to sitting at a laptop and listening to a few hours of audio recordings. Jason set up the laptops so we could sit on the bed side by side and listen to them. I checked his bandages again and didn’t see any new bleeding, the super glue had helped close the bigger cuts. I was relieved to see that walking around earlier didn’t seem to make them any worse. It was late in the afternoon, so we didn’t have much daylight left. And we both knew after the sun went down the activity would once again begin.

  We sat there for a while, both of us fast-forwarding past hours of blank recordings.

  Then Jason grabbed my leg while he held his headphones closer to his ear with his other hand. His eyes were wide and shock played across his face while he sat there frozen next to me and listened. Then he slowly turned to look at me with his mouth slightly open.

  “What is it, Jason? What did you hear?” He didn’t answer me, just passed his headphones over to me. For once, I couldn’t read the look on his face, so I took mine off and put his on. He reversed the recording to where he had been listening.

  At first I didn’t hear anything different, just the same creaks and occasional skittering of whatever creature was running around this place. Suddenly everything got quiet . . . really quiet. It started like a low hum, almost like an insect flying around a room. Then it got a little louder. It sounded like a voice lost on the wind.

  I put both hands to my headphones. “Can you play that part again?”

  He used the touchpad to back it up and then started it again. This time it was clear. It was a voice, a woman’s voice. It sounded pained, like whoever it was, was enduring the most horrible pain imaginable. Then I heard it: “Help us. Please, help us.”

  I sat there stunned. “How is this possible?” I asked Jason, not really expecting an answer.

  When we’d set up the EVP equipment, I’d thought maybe we’d get something, maybe a forgotten conversation from years ago. Or some ghostly shuffling sounds. But I never in my wildest dreams expected to get an actual voice.

  “We have to help them, Wade. That’s what they’ve been trying to get us to do all along. They need our help.”

  “Help with what? This is fucking crazy. I thought we might hear something, but I never imagined it would be them asking for help.”

  “Not them, it’s Louise Chalmers. I don’t know how I know, but I know. It’s her.”

  “How do you know that, Jason? How could you possibly know any of this?”

  He lowered his eyes as he got up off the bed and walked over to the window. Effectively shutting me out with his back to me.

  “I’m sorry for getting you into this, Wade. I’ll never be able to say that to you enough times. This has been a shit show from the start, and I will totally understand if you don’t want to be a part of it anymore. If you want to leave you can take my car and just come and get me tomorrow. But I can’t leave. I have to try to do what I can to help them.”

  “Jason, what the fuck are you talking about? Do you really think I’d leave you here? We’re in this together, and don’t you forget it.” I spun him around, and found myself in front of him poking him in the chest. I didn’t even realize I’d risen off the bed.

  “We came here because this has always been your dream; well, you were always my dream. There is no way in hell I am leaving you here. You figure out what you want to do, and you include me in those plans because we are in this shit together.”

  “I couldn’t stand it if anything happened to you. Don’t you understand, you fool? You need to leave. I’m not sure I can keep you safe. Leave now before it’s too late.”

  I squeezed him tight to me. “I’m not leaving, no way. We came together, we leave together. Then we go home and have sex like horny teenagers. Or we don’t. But either way there is no way I’m leaving you. Your feet are barely healed enough to stand on. Don’t think I didn’t notice you limping up the stairs.”

  “Okay, Wade . . . okay. We’ll do it your way. But any sign of trouble and you’re out of here. Don’t think I’ve forgotten how that glass almost took you out when we were down in the basement. I think it’s best if we stay away from there.”

  “Well, how do you propose helping them? What can we actually do?” I was so out of my league; I had no idea about these kinds of things. And I didn’t think Jason actually knew much more than I did.

  “I think we need to listen to more of the EVP recordings. Let’s see if we can get any other clues.” He released me from his arms but took my hand. “Come over here. Let’s listen some more.”

  “If you’re sure. Come on, let’s see if we hear anything else.”

  We settled in again and each listened to an EVP from a different part of the house. The top floor didn’t seem to have anything that recorded. Then we moved on to the other floors. Finally, we were ready to listen to the one from the basement. As soon as Jason cued it up, we both plugged in and listened at the same time.

  At first there was silence, then a mumbling. A voice saying the same thing over and over but low enough I couldn’t understand what was being said. Jason was focused solely on listening to the recording.

  I put my hands on my headphones and tried to concentrate harder. Then the sound blasted through the speakers, and I thought my eardrums would burst. The screams were the same that we’d heard when we were down there. At least I heard it; Jason was still standing there in a trance, or whatever it was. I pulled the headphones off and shoved them away.

  “I don’t think I can listen to this. It’s too fucking intense.”

  “It’s okay, Wade, I’ll listen. I want to find out if he does more than scream and mumble. Maybe between the two of them we can figure out what they need to get out of here.”

  I leaned my head on his shoulder while he listened. After a while I fell asleep, nestled in the crook of his neck. He made me feel safe, like nothing could hurt us as long as we were together. Then the dream began, at first I didn’t think it was a dream. I was in that in-between area of not quite awake and not fully asleep.

  I was in the house but it was different, it was clean. The paint not peeling, the windows clear of dust. I didn’t see anyone at first. But I recognized I was at the top of the staircase on the first floor. I descended the stairs and stopped at the bottom. Still not seeing anyone else I walked toward the back of the house, and started to walk past the kitchen. Then I saw her, Louise Chalmers; she was in the kitchen at the stove. She had on a long dark skirt and a light-colored, high-collared blouse. Her hair was worn high on her head in a bun. She seemed solid, as if it was really her, not her spirit. She was cooking something, or preparing to. She moved back and forth from the corner of the room to the stove.

  I stood and watched her for what felt like a few long minutes but was probably only a short few seconds. Suddenly she froze; there was absolutely no movement. It was as if she’d somehow become a statue. Then she slowly turned and looked right at me.

  “I know who you are,” she said.

  I turned my head to look behind me, thinking she had to mean someone else.

  “I know your name is Wade and the other man with you is Jason. I know why you came here.”

  I stood with my mouth hanging open. How was this possible? It had to be a dream. It had to be. I shook my head, trying to wake up, but nothing changed: she was still there.

  “I need your help. We both need your help. My husband and I, we want to move on but we can’t do it without you and your young man.”

  I cleared my throat and swallowed repeatedly, trying to speak, but finding it incredibly difficult. “What do you mean? How could we possibly help you? I mean you’re . . . you know.”

  “Dead? Yes, we’re dead. But we’re trapped. We want to move on. We need to be together. It’s been too long. All these years we’ve been so close yet unable to see each other. Not until I used your friend. I’m sorry he was injured. I regret that immensely, but it was imperat
ive I finally be able to see my beloved. I had to choose one of you, and he was most open to my influence. I took a small amount of his essence and used that to take over his body.”

  “You hurt Jason badly. His feet were cut; he could have been injured even worse. He hasn’t been himself since it happened. He’s trying to act like he’s okay, but I know it terrified him. And your husband tried to hurt us both more than once.”

  “I’m very sorry. He had gone mad at the end of his life. I’m afraid since he’s been trapped all this time, he does not realize he’s safe and can move on. Which is why I need your help.”

  “But what can we do?” I didn’t know what to say to her. It wasn’t like I talked to dead people every day, or ever.

  “You can help us. You’re both more powerful than you realize. Your young man is very aware of spirits; he just needs to be open to them. That’s why I was able to use him the way I did. You’re a very strong empath. You’ve probably noticed how you read people and sometimes know exactly what they’re thinking or feeling.”

  This shocked me. I had never imagined my instincts would somehow be considered a “power.” Jason had always been drawn to ghosts as long as I’d known him and apparently long before that. Maybe there was something to what she was telling me.

  “What are you suggesting? I won’t put us in danger again, but we would both be willing to help you.”

  “If you are agreeable, that is half of what I need. You cannot help us without wanting to. So if you have any doubt about us, then please tell me now that you are unable to help.”

  I thought about it again, making sure this was something I would be able to give myself over to and considered how I would talk to Jason about this. I knew that he would be intrigued, but I also knew he needed to be very careful and not end up hurt again.

  “If you can reassure me no harm will come to us, I’ll talk to Jason and see if he’s prepared to help. I won’t put him in danger, not again. So if there’s any possibility of him being harmed I won’t agree.”

  She stood there shimmering slightly at the edges and seemed to consider my offer. “I do not think you or your friend will be in danger. But I would be remiss if I did not mention there are things which could happen that I will not be able to control. I give you my word I will do all I can to ensure your safety and that of your friend. That is all I can do.”

  I bowed my head as I again considered her offer. I couldn’t believe I was even thinking about it. But recalling how much pain her husband seemed to be in and imagining him suffering like that for years made me think with my heart instead of my head.

  “What would we need to do?”

  She walked closer to me and spoke in a low voice, explaining everything we would need to do. “Do you understand?”

  “Yes, I think I do. We’ll try. I can’t guarantee it will work, but we’ll try.”

  “Then that is all I shall require of you, good sir. I bid you farewell and safe travels.” With that she slowly turned and went back to cooking as though she’d never talked to me at all.

  With a start I woke up, blinking rapidly and trying to figure out exactly where I was.

  “Hey, are you okay? You nodded off there for a while. Don’t worry, I’m here with you.”

  Jason. As always he was right there keeping me safe. I scrubbed my hand across my face, trying to wake up so I could tell him what I’d just learned. But what if it was just a dream? What if I told him and he wanted to help them so badly he was injured even worse this time?

  “You promised us,” a familiar voice whispered to me.

  What the fuck? I jumped back, startled by the sudden thought coursing through my mind. What the hell was wrong with me? It was as though I wasn’t in control of my own thoughts anymore. This place was fucking with me and Jason both. I was even more convinced we should leave and never look back.

  “Wade, you promised. Remember, you said you would try to help.”

  The images came flooding back to me: seeing Louise Chalmers in the kitchen, her talking to me. Telling me they needed help. Telling me . . .

  “Oh my god!” I half-shouted out.

  Jason was now shaking me, thinking I was still dreaming and not quite awake.

  “I’m okay, I’m okay,” I said in a calmer voice. I didn’t want to freak him out. Even though I was right on the edge of losing it. I took a deep breath, hoping for some calm that I still really wasn’t feeling.

  “I had a dream, a really freaky dream.”

  “What do you mean you had a dream?”

  “Well, I think maybe Louise Chalmers was trying to communicate with me. It didn’t feel like a regular dream.” I needed him to know I really believed what I was about to tell him. Even if it did sound like I’d lost my mind.

  “Are you serious? I was right next to you the whole time you were sleeping. Your head was on my shoulder. You never moved or made a sound. How could this happen?”

  “I’m not sure. At first I thought it was just a dream, but then she spoke to me.”

  “What do you mean she spoke to you? How is that possible? Are you sure that you weren’t just dreaming?”

  “I’m sure, I’m so sure. She told me I’d think that, but it wasn’t a dream. They want to leave here but they need us to help them.”

  He took in my words for a moment as if trying to make some sense of them.

  “I understand what you’re saying, but how can we possibly help them? What can we do other than observe them? We can’t communicate with them, and . . . Wait, did you say she told you? You really do believe she communicated with you?”

  “That’s what I’m trying to tell you.”

  “But you never believe this stuff. You’re always the one that has another excuse for everything. Before we came here, you thought it was all a joke.” Jason was trying so hard to understand. This was confusing as hell for me, and I’d heard it all with my own ears . . . well sort of.

  “I know, Jason. I know I gave you shit about all of this stuff. But before we came here none of it was real to me. Now I know without a doubt it’s real. I should have listened to you all along. Maybe if I studied it more like you did I’d know what to do.” I considered her words again, and decided he needed to know everything. “She said that we both have powers, that you’re more aware of spirits than you realize, and you need to be open to them.”

  “What the fuck? There’s no way I want a spirit taking control of me again if that’s what she means.”

  “I’m not sure, but I don’t want you to be in danger again. I told her I wouldn’t help them if it meant you’d get hurt. I’d rather just leave this place and tell them to fuck off.”

  He gave me a hard look. “What else did she say?”

  I paused, considering if this was really something I wanted to get caught up in. But if we walked away could I live with myself for not helping someone that had been tormented for years?

  “She said we need to work together. That’s the only way it will work.”

  “Wait, you said she told you we both have powers. What’s yours?”

  I grabbed Jason’s hand. I needed to know he was near and he was safe. This was getting weirder and weirder. “She said I’m an empath, I can read someone easily and sometimes I know what they’re thinking.”

  He looked at me with a stunned expression. “It’s true, you can. I noticed it years ago. It’s like you can tell how someone is going to react before they do. How many times have you saved me from doing or saying something that would have turned out really bad?”

  I thought about it and realized he was probably right. “I just thought I was good at reading people. I’m not sure that really makes me an empath.”

  “I’m not sure about anything anymore. I think maybe we need to listen to her. She’s the only hope we have of figuring this whole thing out. I don’t think I could live with myself if we left and didn’t at least try to help them.”

  I leaned closer to him, needing his warmth and reassurance. He slid his a
rm around my back and that gave me the courage to tell him the rest. “She says we need to do something that will let them all pass over, and we have to do it in the basement.” I saw the moment resolve colored his features.

  “Then we’ll do what we need to do,” he said with finality before kissing the top of my head.

  Chapter Seventeen

  “We’ll need to run into town again. There’s some things we need to buy.”

  “Okay, we better go now. It’s near dark, and I’m not sure the little store down the road will have what you want. If it doesn’t we’ll need to go into Placerville, and I’d rather not come back to this place after dark. It’s creepy enough coming back during the day, but to have to walk back in after dark . . . not knowing what is waiting for us? I’d rather not,” Jason added.

  “Let’s go then. We can put all this away when we get back. We’ll still have time, but we need to get to the store before it closes.”

  We worked fast and powered everything off before practically running down the stairs, well as fast as Jason’s feet allowed, and out the front door. We jumped in the car, and drove to the nearby store, pulling up to the front of the building.

  “How do your feet feel?” I asked.

  “They’re better.” He gave me a reassuring smile that he really was okay. He reached out and grabbed my hand, something I would never get tired of.

  “Okay, what do we need?” he asked again.

  “A lot of salt and some candles. Oh, and some chalk.”

  We walked around the little store. It was really only two small aisles. But luckily they did get snow here occasionally, so they had big bags of salt. We grabbed two, just in case.

  “How about these?” Jason asked, pointing to the religious themed candles in tall glass holders. Each one had a different religious figure on them, the Virgin Mary, Christ, and so on.