Unliving Love

by Jason A Grimm

  Chapter 20

  Back Home

  “Is that the house?” Tracy asked as they drove towards the old restored Three story Victorian style home.

  “Sure is.” Mike said from the backseat as he was stretching his neck so he could see it out of the window.

  “It’s absolutely gorgeous.” She had slowed the car down to a crawl as they began to drive by it. “It’s huge.”

  “Stop and look at it.” Jen said as she put her seat back up into a sitting position. “It’s dark but with the streetlights you should be able to see around the outside.”

  Tracy brought the car to a halt. “Are you coming?” She asked as she turned to face Jen. “Just want a peak around it so you don’t have to come if you don’t want to.”

  “You sure?”

  “Yep, I’ll be fine. I’ll only be a minute.” She climbed out of the car and began walking up towards the house.

  “Did you tell my parents about what all you plan on doing while we are here?” Mike asked Jen as he watched Tracy walking towards the house. “I mean do they know we are going to be spending time at Wes’s?”

  “Actually I did.” She smiled as she turned back to face him. “To a certain degree anyways, I told them that Tracy and Grant are in a paranormal club and they had to do an investigation. Told them that it’s like a final report for them, which is true actually but I didn’t tell them about Wes, Em, and Him. I just thought it would help you take your mind off of things too.”

  “Em?” Mike gave her a questionable look. “I didn’t realize you two were so close.” He started thinking about the talk he and Tracy had the night before the game. Just how close are they? He thought to himself.

  “Well I feel close to her for some reason. I think it’s a woman thing.” She paused and turned to look out the window trying to locate Tracy. “I guess maybe I feel like I can relate to her.”

  “I see.” Actually I don’t see… I hadn’t put much thought into what Trace had said with everything going on but now. His thought trailed off as he began to worry again about the idea of a ghost attaching itself to Jen or even more so a demon attaching itself to her. “What did mom and dad say?” He asked trying not to let the worry come out in his voice. I need to ask Trace about this and see what she has to say about it. He thought.

  “Your mother loved it. Did you know she watches those kinds of shows? She said something about wanting to visit a prison in Mansfield, Ohio. Your dad thought it was pretty silly though, said if it keeps you busy then whatever floats our boats.” She turned to look out the window and saw Tracy making her way back to the car. “Here she comes.”

  Tracy opened the door and climbed in the car. “So beautiful.” She turned to face Jen. “Which way now?”

  “Just down the street and take a left, second house on the right.” Mike spoke up from the backseat. “Can’t miss it.”

  Tracy put the car in gear and began to drive. “Is this the only house on this block?”

  “Yeah it’s all one piece of property.” Mike answered. “Made it all the more creepy when it was run down.”

  A minute later they were pulling into Mike’s parent’s driveway.

  “Hang on a sec. I’ll see if anything is in the garage. It doesn’t look like it but I’ll make sure. That way we won’t have to unpack everything since it locks.”

  “Good idea.” Jen said. “Hate to have to unpack the car then pack it all back up tomorrow.”

  Mike climbed out of the car and disappeared into the house.

  Jen and Tracy sat in silence until a few minutes later a loud grinding noise sounded from the garage and the door began to rise revealing Mike inches at a time. When the door was up he waved them in and Tracy slowly pulled into the garage.

  “This makes things so much easier.” Jen said as she climbed out of the car. I’ll grab our clothes real quick. Will you pop the trunk?” She asked Tracy then made her way to the back of the car to grab their bags.

  “Ladies first.” Mike said as Jen joined them at the door. He stepped to the side allowing the two ladies to walk inside first giving them a smile as they walked past.

  “Welcome ladies.” Mr. Lachey said in a loud voice. “Welcome, come make yourselves at home.” He stopped each one with big hugs and kisses on the checks “I’ll take those.” He grabbed their bags and ushered them into the living room where they were met by Mrs. Lachey.

  “How was your trip?” She gave Jen a big hug. “Everything go ok?” She asked as she released Jen and hugged Tracy. “Dinner is almost ready.”

  “This is what took me so long to get the garage door opened.” Mike said in a loud voice as he closed the door behind him. He walked over to the oven and peaked in. “Smells good can’t wait.” He took one last inhale then made his way into the living room to join the others.

  “We made up the spare room for you Tracy and of course Jen and Mike you two can have Mike’s old room.” Mr. Lachey said as he plopped down into his favorite chair.

  “Sounds like a plan.” Mike responded. “I’m actually tired.”

  “Going to go check on dinner.” Mrs. Lachey said as she made her way back to the kitchen. After a couple minutes she yelled out to them “It’s ready, go ahead and take a seat at the table and I’ll bring it in.” She pulled a large pan out of the oven. “We timed this perfectly.”

  Soon dinner was served and they all ate their fill, Mike and his father actually ate a little more than their fill and soon regretted that decision. The conversation that was going on up to dinner turned into lots of “This is so good.” and “Best food I’ve ever had.” Dinner ended with a resounding “I am so full.” except for Mike who declared that he “Was so sick” and “Ate way too much.” Once everyone was done and they let their food settle Mike and Jen cleaned up the table and the kitchen as his parents conversed with Tracy. They talked about school and Tracy’s particular choice of study. When Mike and Jen joined the conversation Mr. and Mrs. Lachey were asking about the day ahead of them and what all they were planning on doing at Wes’s house.

  “I brought some equipment from school.” Tracy said as the two sat down at the table with them. “I have some cameras, recorders, thermal gear, just the normal investigation stuff.”

  “So you have to do this for school?” Mr. Lachey asked.

  “We have to do an investigation for class. It’s our final project. We can do it any time in our last two years and when I found out about the house here and they were coming back I imposed.” She smiled and took a sip of her drink that still sat at the table. “My teacher likes it more when you use a place that isn’t well-known for hauntings. Lots of people go to places that are popular and are known for sightings.”

  “Uniqueness is always nice.” Mrs. Lachey said. “I want to go to a prison in Mansfield, Ohio. I saw it on one of those shows on TV and thought it would be lots of fun. Oh, and that hotel that Stephen King wrote about in one of his books. I can’t ever remember the name. Have you ever been?”

  “We actually took a trip to Mansfield last year and it is loads of fun, not the hotel yet though. Grant, the guy you met back at school, he actually had a rock thrown at him.” She let out a small laugh. “It hit him right in the back of the head.” Tracy turned her head and showed the spot with her hand.

  “That’s it.” Mrs. Lachey looked over at Mr. Lachey “We need to go. It’ll be fun.”

  Mr. Lachey smiled and shook his head as he let out a small laugh. “Whatever you say dear.”

  “Well why we are talking about everything maybe we should talk about what the plan is for tomorrow.” Mike jumped into the conversation. “Best to get a game plan now so we can get going first thing tomorrow.”

  “True.” Tracy responded. “I think the best plan is to make the down stairs living room our base it’ll give us some room for all the monitors and a good spot for all the cables to be lead out from.” She stood up and pulled a piece of paper out of her pocket and unfolded it. “Ok I have a list of all our equipment
and we can jot down beside it where we plan on putting it all. Computer monitors, and power supplies go in the living room. We will need a table to set it all on though. We have fold up ones at school but we were lacking room” She smiled.

  “There is a large table we could bring out of the dining room.” Mike said.

  “That would be great.” She looked back down at her list. “I would like to place a camera looking up the small stairwell.” She looked up to see Mike and Jen nod in unison. “One camera in the little room at the end of the hall with the drawings, or what we think is the room. Mike do you think he still has the wardrobe in the one room?”

  “I would say he does I can’t be sure but I will know what room it is either way.”

  “That’s a good point.” Tracy smiled, her eyes still fixed on her list. “Ok and that leaves one more camera. Any ideas on where to put it?”

  “What about the third floor?” Jen asked.

  “I don’t know.” Mike answered. “I’m not even sure how to get up there.”

  “Well maybe we should look in to it?”

  “I think that we have enough area with the first two floors.” He smiled. “Not to mention have plenty of stuff going happening on the first two floors, who knows what is on the third.”

  “I have to agree.” Tracy said. “I say we just keep to the bottom two floors for now. If we are led up there then cool, if not no big deal.”

  “Yeah you’re right.” Jen said. “So what about the front room facing up the stairs?”

  “I like that idea.” Mike said with a smile, obviously happy that Tracy had agreed to not mess with the third floor. If her research was right and that is where the sex slaves that Warren owned had lived then who knows the amount of angry souls that could be there.

  Tracy nodded and scribbled on her list. “Ok that’s the cameras I have digital recorders and some hand held cameras so we can look around other places.”

  “This sounds like it’s going to be just like a ghost hunter show.” Mrs. Lachey said with a huge smile on her face.

  “Would you like to come?” Tracy asked noticing her smile.

  “How many nights are you planning on doing this?”

  “A couple probably.” Mike answered.

  “Maybe, but this is your stuff and I’d hate to impose. I’ll have to wait and see how it goes I guess. Maybe on the second night, who knows.”

  “Ok sounds like a plan.” Tracy took another sip of her drink. “The digital recorders we can put with the cameras and around the house so we can pick up any sounds or voices. That pretty much takes care of what we are going to do with the equipment.”

  “That was quick and easy.” Jen smiled. “When do you want to start setting up?”

  “Well we can set up as early as we want but we should start the investigation late, as close to nightfall as we can. The spiritual energy is higher after sundown so it’s not just the creep factor like most people think they do it for on TV.”

  “Ok so we get up, go walk through the house then set everything up.” Mike said.

  “So we’ll get up and drive all the equipment over there, walk through, unload, and set up.” Tracy repeated as if setting it to her memory. “Sounds like a plan.”

  “I agree.” He said. “And on that note.” He stretched his arms up over his head as a yawn began to form. “I think it’s time for bed, between the ride and dinner I’m actually pretty tired.”

  “I’m tired too actually.” Jen said. “Haven’t gotten much sleep lately so a nice comfy bed is sounding so good right now.”

  “That’s the big meal syndrome.” Mr. Lachey said with a smile. “Anytime you eat a large meal you always get tired.” He laughed as he patted his belly. “Needless to say I get tired a lot.”

  “I’ll show you where your room is Trace.” Jen said as she stood up. “I’ll meet you in ours.” She leaned down and kissed Mike.

  “Can’t wait.” He said as he stood up.

  The rest of the table followed suit. Mr. Lachey walked over to his chair and sat down. Mrs. Lachey followed him to the living room and sat on the couch near him.

  Tracy, Jen, and Mike said their goodnights and made another round of hugs before they made their way to their rooms.