by Rose Pressey
I moved closer to him. “Yeah, the thing darted right in front of us.”
“Maybe we should get out of this room,” he said.
That sounded like a good plan. Brannon placed his hand on the small of my back, guiding me toward the door. After moving down the hallway a short distance, we made it to the morgue. I hadn’t been sure Brannon was serious about actually going into the room. Now he was right in front of the door, and it looked as if this was really happening.
Before actually stepping into the room, I poked my head in. It looked like the others, except this one had an actual place to store the bodies. I’d have to draw the line if he wanted me to get in one of those storage drawers. My fear would be that it would become stuck with me in there. I wouldn’t even let him do it if he wanted. Not with me here. He’d have to come back for that.
We moved on to the next room. It was even cooler in there.
Now that I was in the room, was it okay to run out? I felt as if a bunch of people had entered with us. Now they were following us. I wished that I could see them. I wanted to know what I was dealing with. I couldn’t believe the feeling was so strong in the room.
Brannon pushed on the door, but it didn’t budge. “Hmm. It seems to be stuck.”
I tried not to freak out, but it was hard. In fact it grew harder by the second. He pushed on the door harder this time, but still nothing happened.
“Are we trapped in here?” I asked, trying not to sound as panicked as I felt.
Brannon pulled on the door again. “It appears that way.”
No one would ever find us in here.
“Is there anything I can do to help?” I asked.
I wasn’t that strong, but I’d give it a try. I moved over to the door to help him. When he pulled on the door again it opened, almost knocking him over.
Panic had officially set in. This was the worst feeling. It felt as if I couldn’t breathe. My body shook from the adrenaline. I tried to remind myself to take deep breaths. I hoped that I didn’t pass out. I’d had no idea this place would have such an effect on me.
Brannon didn’t seem to be affected as much. If I could handle this place, then I could handle any other haunted location. I released a few more deep breaths, trying to relax. There was nothing to worry about, I reminded myself.
We rushed out and moved into the hallway. The shadow appeared again. It was different this time though. The shadow didn’t move. It was fine with letting us know it was there. The thing wasn’t trying to hide. I sensed that it was planning its attack. I didn’t know what to do next. I couldn’t just stand here and let it happen. But what could I do to fight something that I couldn’t see?
Brannon pulled out his recorder and asked a few questions. “What is your name? Is there anything you’d like to say? Are you trapped in this building?" Brannon asked.
I couldn’t imagine being trapped somewhere. Annie never talked about it, but she seemed as if she wanted to stay at the library. She’d never explained why she stayed around. I assumed it was because she didn’t want to leave the books. I could understand that. I loved books too. Not enough to stick around the library for eternity though. Or maybe I could. There were much worse places to be. Like my current location.
I couldn’t hear anything now, but maybe it would come through later when we listened to the recording. I checked the temperature and it was definitely colder in this room. That was a sign that something was here with us.
When the thing moved, I knew what was about to happen. I tried to scream, but I was so shocked that no sound came out. So much for not allowing it to attack me. It whizzed by my head and I ducked.
“Did that thing try to attack you?” Brannon asked.
“I think it did,” I said.
I glanced over my shoulder to see if it was still back there. Nothing was there. I was grateful for that. I moved closer to the door for a quick escape.
I didn’t know if I’d ever been that scared. It would take forever for me to calm down. My legs and arms shook. I still wasn’t breathing normally. I needed a spa day after this visit. There would be no time for that though. The closest I would come would be a couple of cucumber slices on my eyes. Maybe I would get a vacation day soon.
It felt as if a weight had been lifted off my chest when we got out of the room. I walked as quickly as possible without actually running.
“Are you in a hurry? Usually I have to slow down for you,” Brannon said.
“Actually, I want to get out of here as soon as possible.”
I couldn’t hide the way I felt from Brannon. At least he knew that I was being truthful with him. We finally reached the front doors. I hoped they weren’t stuck too. Brannon opened the door. I breathed a sigh of relief.
Even more relief fell over me when I closed the car door after getting in. I released a deep breath and blew the hair out of my eyes. We pulled out of the driveway. I didn’t look back. Finally the heavy feeling had gone. It felt good to leave the gloomy place.
“So what did we find out about the place?” Brannon asked.
“That the place is extremely scary,” I said.
“What about what was written on the wall? Do you think that meant anything?”
“Portal to hell? I think it might be correct. Maybe someone used this building to open up a portal?” Brannon said.
Chapter 15
Our trip to the asylum was still bothering me the next day. I tried to push it to the back of my mind though. The other thing on my mind was what had happened to the video. Brannon couldn’t arrest Heath without the evidence of the video. I would continue to look for it, but I was at a loss as to what could have happened. I still thought Heath had somehow gotten into my apartment and taken the bag. It was too big of a coincidence that he had just been looking for it. I didn’t want Brannon to think that I was just making it up either. Tammy could tell him that it was real. She’d seen it too. I supposed it would just be our word against Heath’s though. He knew that video would put him in jail. That was why he’d threatened me to get it back.
Since it was my day off, I had the whole day ahead of me to do whatever I wanted. I had a few errands to run. My weekly grocery store visit had to be done today. All of that could wait a few hours though. There was something else I had on my mind. Sure I was scared, but I had to be strong. It wouldn’t hurt if I sneaked over to the asylum for a little look around. I just couldn’t get caught. Brannon didn’t need to know. He had enough to worry about at the moment. The shadow was still following him. I wished there was some way I could help him with that. I needed to figure out where the shadow had come from and what it wanted.
After a brief mental tussle between good and bad decisions, I finally made up my mind that going to the asylum was my only option. I pulled up to the looming and dreary building. It looked as if no one was there. That meant I could snoop around a little without being caught—at least that was what I hoped. I’d just peek inside the windows. There was no harm in that. Maybe I’d find out why Heath and Patrick were together. Why had Patrick wanted me here? I didn’t believe it was to investigate the paranormal. I was beginning to think they had wanted me to find Alex at the funeral home. Maybe they had been trying to frame me for the murder. That could be why they had asked me to this house. Maybe they had planned on killing Alex here. How long had Heath and Patrick known each other? I hadn’t meet Patrick until after Alex’s death, but that didn’t mean Heath and Patrick hadn’t come up with some kind of plan long ago.
After getting out of the car, I hurried over to the building. I didn’t want to go up onto the steps in case someone saw me. I’d parked the car where I didn’t think anyone would see it. Now I just had to stay out of view. I peeked inside the window. It was too dimly lit to see much. I wondered if any of the windows were open. Of course I hadn’t even checked the door. When I spotted the back door, I glanced around and then wrapped my hand around the door knob.
When I pulled, the door opened. This was almost too easy. My anx
iety was high, but I decided to go inside anyway. I stepped inside the building. The door led into the back kitchen area. The place had been topnotch when first built. Now it looked like all the other abandoned places I was used to hanging out in. I couldn’t believe that I was actually walking around the place. If I got caught it would all be over for me.
Maybe it was the fact that I was walking into a potentially dangerous situation—scratch that, I was definitely walking into a dangerous situation—but it felt strange in there. Add that it was extremely haunted and that doubled the eerie vibe. The floors creaked under my feet. I hated that I made noise, but if no one was home I guessed it didn’t matter. There was no furniture, so I knew Patrick wasn’t living here. I supposed if I was caught I could just say I thought the house was abandoned. After all, there wasn’t a no trespassing sign. I made my way from the kitchen, down the hall, and to the foyer.
I slowly climbed the stairs. My head was like on a swivel. I was on high alert for any strange occurrence. Mostly I was worried that someone would come back to the house and find me there. Brannon would most definitely say this was a bad idea.
I reached the top of the stairs and paused at the landing. The large hallway stretched out in front of me. On the left were two doors and on the right were three. Four of the doors were open. The one on the right at the end of the hall was closed.
Of course that was the one that caught my eye. I walked down the hall, peeking into the rooms on each side. Apparently, I wasn’t going to find anything. The whole house was empty. So why was I still looking? I reached the last door. I’d come too far to turn back now. I’d just look in this one last room and then get out of there. No one would have to even know I had been there.
As soon as I opened the door I saw his body. The owner was on the floor. Clearly Patrick was a goner. This could not be happening again. As I was ready to leave the room, I spotted something not far away from the body. Did I really want to risk the killer coming in here and finding me just to check out the bag? I hoped that the killer was long gone by now. I hurried over and picked up the bag. Sure enough it was the bag that had the video in it. There was nothing there this time though. It was empty. It looked as if Heath had gotten what he wanted out of there and the bag had been tossed. Maybe Patrick had emptied the bag before he’d been murdered.
It felt as if the walls were closing in on me. I had to get out of the room. I ran down the hall and toward the landing. I’d almost made it to the staircase when the shadow zipped right in front of me. I stumbled back, startled by what I’d seen. After seeing the dead body, I hadn’t expected to see a ghost.
The shadow had disappeared through the wall to my left. Chills covered my arms and the hair on the back of my neck stood up. There was no time to investigate the spirit now. I had to push forward and get out of the place.
Finally, I snapped out of it and moved forward toward the first step. I ran so quickly that I almost tumbled down the stairs. A couple of times I glanced back to see if anyone was there. I had no idea if the killer was still around. Thank goodness I made it to the bottom without falling. I rushed over to the front door. I hoped I could get out that way instead of having to go all the way to the back of the house. I wanted to get to my car as quickly as possible. When the door opened for me I breathed a sigh of relief. I’d been worried that it could have been locked and I wouldn’t have the key to open it.
I ran out of the house, down the front steps and down the driveway toward my car. The scene played in my mind on loop. I was officially a magnet for murder. What would everyone say this time? I had the worst luck. Well, other than the dead people of course. They were definitely having it much worse.
I glanced over my shoulder. Much to my elation, no one was behind me. Now more than ever I suspected Heath of murder. The evidence against him kept mounting.
When I reached the car, movement caught my attention. Someone ran around a tree, disappearing into the wooded area. It was a man, but the distance kept me from knowing the person’s identity. Was it the killer? Could it have been Heath? Maybe he’d known I was in the house the whole time.
I wasn’t going to stick around to see if someone came out of the wooded area after me. Once away from the building a good distance, I had to call Brannon. I wasn’t looking forward to placing this call. Could I tell him to just go to the asylum and check without telling him what I’d found?
Unfortunately, Brannon didn’t answer the call. I couldn’t wait so I dialed 911. The more I thought about it, the more I realized I couldn’t go too far from the asylum. I’d pulled over at the side of the road to make the call.
Officer McCubbins arrived, pulling up beside my car. He’d only been on the police force for a few months. I’d seen him around town though. Why hadn’t he gone to the asylum? I rolled down the window when he approached.
“The place is just down the street.” I gestured over my shoulder.
“Ms.Van Raden, I’m going to need you to go back to the house.” He tipped his sunglasses down and peered at me with his big brown eyes.
I frowned. “What for?”
“Procedure,” he said.
Now my anxiety was even higher.
Once back at the asylum, officers were already coming and going inside the building. I supposed they’d already found the body. I wanted to give a statement and get out of there.
Brannon had pulled up just in time to see me being stuffed into the back of the police car. Unfortunately, I doubted there would be anything he could do to stop them from taking me to jail. What would I do now? What would the library board say? Of course the board would fire me right away. This was just the big mess-up Mrs. Agnew had been waiting for.
I watched out the window as the officers talked. Brannon looked terrified like I’d never seen him before. I felt bad for putting him in this situation. I knew he’d try to help me out of this, but I knew there was nothing he could do. My life flashed in front of my eyes—my life behind bars. This couldn’t be happening to me. How could I prove that I had nothing to do with this? The officer opened the car door. Brannon rushed over.
“You can get out of the car now,” the officer said.
“What happened?” Brannon asked the officer.
“They think it’s a suicide. We have no reason to hold her.” The officer stepped behind me and unlocked the handcuffs.
Well, they should have realized that from the beginning. I wouldn’t say anything though and push my luck. I was just glad to get the handcuffs off.
I rubbed my wrists once they were free. How embarrassing to be in that situation. Brannon looked at me for a moment. He probably was at a loss for words.
“Listen, Ms. Van Raden, for your own safety and to keep you from going to jail I need you to stop snooping.” The officer fixed his dark eyes on me.
I had no choice but to agree to it right now. I nodded. That seemed like enough for him. I didn’t even look at Brannon. How could I stop snooping? If I stopped then that might mean I’d go to jail or someone else could end up dead… including me. The officer walked away, leaving me alone with Brannon. Brannon walked me to my car.
I didn’t look back as I drove away from the house. I couldn’t believe I’d come that close to being arrested. Then again, maybe I should believe it. I’d been at the scene of two crimes.
Had Patrick really killed himself? The police had to have a reason to believe that. Still, something didn’t feel right about the whole thing. I hadn’t even seen any weapon. Had he taken pills? Had the police found them on his body? I had so many questions that I needed answers for. They didn’t even seem concerned about the man I’d seen run away from the house. Well, except for Brannon. He said he’d look into it.
Chapter 16
A chill fell over the entire area as I stopped by the cemetery gates. It was time for another tour. I hoped that tonight was a relaxing and stress-free evening.
The tour-goers hadn’t arrived yet. Before every tour I worried that no one would show up. So far t
hat had only happened twice. I knew there were bound to be times when the tour would be slower than others. Regardless, I didn’t like it.
The whistling of the wind surrounded me as the wind picked up. The tree’s bare branches swayed back and forth. A chill filled the air. There was an unmistakable feeling that someone watched me. When I looked back, Mrs. Clatterbuck was standing extremely near to me, as close as she’d ever been.
“Good evening, Mrs. Clatterbuck.” I smiled.
The scowl remained on her face. Her large brown pocketbook was looped on her right arm. Having a ghostly purse was actually kind of cool. I’d often wondered what she kept in there, and then one day I’d found out when she’d spilled the contents. She had ghostly items in her purse. It contained typical purse things like scrap pieces of paper and pennies.
“I warned you before,” she said.
“Warned me about what?” I asked. There had been so much that I couldn’t keep track.
She looked irritated that I’d asked. “I warned you that the spirit was coming for him.”
“Is that the spirit that’s following him?” I asked.
Movement to her right caught my attention. At first it was just a misty form, then it became more solid. The male ghost materialized in front of me. Was this the spirit she was talking about? He wore a brown suit and dark short hair parted to the side. Thick black eyeglasses covered most of his small face with pale blue eyes peering back at me. Did he have a message for me? I’d seen and been around a good number of ghosts, but this was freaking me out a little.
“What does he want?” I asked.
The two ghosts stared at me without answering. The more I stared at the man the more familiar he looked. Where had I seen him before? Had he been with Mrs. Clatterbuck in the past at the graveyard? No, I would have remembered seeing him.
Voices echoed from the alleyway that led to the graveyard. The presence of other people must have scared the ghosts away. They disappeared as quickly as they had appeared. I wished I knew what Mrs. Clatterbuck meant. Who was the other ghost?