by Jill Sanders
“I don’t know why I’m so hungry. We finished off the entire pan of chicken enchiladas earlier.”
This time it was his stomach that growled. He chuckled. “Shhh, don’t say it too loud. I only had a cold turkey sandwich earlier.”
“I did invite you over for dinner.” She glanced up at him and grabbed another handful of popcorn. “Remember?”
He nodded. “I was busy doing some research.”
“On?” she asked, taking another sip of hot chocolate.
“My brother.” His tone flattened.
Her eyes met his again. “I’m sorry.”
He shook his head. “Don’t be.” He shifted and set his own mug of hot liquid down on the nightstand. “I’ve done everything I can, except call my parents to confirm.”
“And?” She waited.
“From everything I can tell, it could be true. My parents were raised in Hidden Creek. Actually, it’s one of the reasons I chose to move here. That and the fact that it has the least crime in the entire state.”
She nodded and finished off her hot chocolate. “What did you find?”
“Well, I know from what my parents have told me that the summer of their junior year, they both went to camp. My mother told me how she had been so sick that summer that she’d actually missed the first month of her senior year.”
“Do you think…” she started, only to have him nod in agreement.
“I checked around. The only camp that was running back then was Holly Grove. The summer of their junior year, Holly Grove had been closed due to repairs. They didn’t open back up for almost two years, after it had changed ownership.”
“I’m sorry,” she added again.
His arm moved around her and he pulled her close.
“What are you going to do now?” she asked, enjoying the feeling of his chest rising and falling underneath her head.
“I guess I’ll have to call them in the morning.” He scooted down further until they were laying down. “I’m sorry about leaving you alone today.” She started to shake her head, but he stopped her. “I shouldn’t have left you alone.” His hand brushed through her hair, touching her neck underneath, causing goose bumps to rise all over.
“Michael.” She sighed and drifted into sleep.
Chapter Twelve
Once more, his night was shattered when he felt the building of energy in his room. After a year of it, he was becoming accustomed to the figure appearing at the foot of his bed. What he wasn’t prepared for this time was the warm soft body that was tangled with his own.
“Xtina,” he said softly, “our visitor is here.” He couldn’t believe how normal his tone was.
“Hmm, she’ll go away,” she murmured.
He glanced at his clock and frowned. “It’s almost two.” He frowned and looked at the figure. “She never stays that late.”
Xtina’s eyes opened slightly and she sat up. “What is it?” she said. Only afterwards did he realize she wasn’t asking him.
The figure moved towards the window, then he watched in amazement as her hand rose and she actually pointed out it. Her eyes moved back to Xtina’s, then his.
“Go,” she mouthed. “Now.”
Shivers spiked all over his body.
“What?” he asked when Xtina started getting up from the bed. His hand reached for hers. “You can’t be serious?”
She turned and looked at him as the figure started to disappear. Her eyebrows were arched up. “She wants us to go somewhere.”
“At two in the morning?” he growled out.
She nodded slightly. “I’ve learned not to question it too much. Besides, tell me you can fall back asleep after that.” She motioned to the empty spot at his window.
He groaned. “Fine, but let’s put on some clothes first.” His eyes moved to her exposed skin.
“Well, duh.” She smiled. “Go grab my clothes from the…” She stopped when he held them up. “Thanks.” She leaned over and kissed him quickly. “Do you have a jacket?” she said once she was dressed. “I kind of left my house without one.”
“Yeah, I’ve got a couple flashlights too.” He pulled out his winter coat from the closet and handed it to her. “It’s probably big, but then…” He tugged on the Colorado sweatshirt and she got the hint.
“It wasn’t another man’s. I just bought it big so I could…” She shook her head. “Never mind.” She slid on the jacket and took the flashlight from his hands. “Let’s go.”
“Where?” he asked once they were outside. “She pointed that way,” he said towards her house, but then turned and shrugged. “Does she want you to go home?”
“No.” She shook her head. “Jessie’s there.” Then worry crossed her eyes and she took off towards the house quickly.
“Xtina,” he called after her, catching up with her before the porch. “What’s wrong? You don’t think…” He dropped off when she stopped at the front door, their breaths bursting from them in quick puffs of smoke.
“Please, oh please…” She closed her eyes and then opened the door slowly.
The room was dark and he reached over and flipped the beam of light into the room. There was a small figure on the sofa, curled up tight under a thick blanket.
“She’s okay,” Xtina said, then turned back towards the doorway. She jumped back quickly and gasped. He turned, ready to spring into action, when he noticed the figure standing on her porch.
“Go,” she mouthed again. This time she pointed slightly to the left. “Now.”
Xtina glanced back quickly to her sleeping friend. “Scared me,” she said as she shut her front door.
“Yeah.” He took her hand and walked towards the figure that was floating off towards the forest. “Now we just need to follow a ghost….”
“Not a ghost,” she supplied, causing him to smile.
“Right. Now we just need to follow that”—he nodded towards the figure— “into the dark woods, in the middle of the night armed with only flashlights and our wits.” He chuckled. “For some reason every eighties horror movie is playing in my mind right now.”
She chuckled. “Stop it. I’m sure she just wants to show us something.”
“Right, like the ghost in Poltergeist…. or the one in the Shining where the girls want Danny to play.” He shivered visibly.
She slapped at his arm playfully. “Now you’ve got me freaked out.”
“That’s great. Coming from the girl who vanquished her first ghost at the tender age of….”
They followed slowly along. He took her arm a few times to help her over a fallen tree branch.
“How much farther do you think?” he asked, feeling like a child.
“I don’t know. When I was a kid, I used to explore these woods. At least when I could escape. I spent countless hours out here, but…” She shook her head. “I’ve never been this far in.”
“Maybe we should go back?” He glanced over his shoulder then down at his watch and saw that they had been gone almost an hour.
“No, let’s keep going.” She took his hand. They walked for another ten minutes until they finally came to a big clearing.
“This is the edge of the Miller’s Farm.” She stopped and nodded towards a long barbed-wire fence across the field. “I’m not sure who this field belongs to, but that”—she pointed to an old barn— “is Bob Miller’s dairy farm.”
The smell had hit him a while ago and he knew there were cattle around somewhere. “She stopped moving.” He nodded to the figure. She stood in the middle of the field, her misty form hovering above the grain that was gently blowing in the night wind.
“Let’s go see.” Xtina took his hand.
“Has she ever done this before?” he asked as they moved closer.
“No. Then again, she’s never tried to say anything before either.” The figure turned towards them, then drifted into nothingness.
“Guess this is where she wants…” he started to say, then felt something solid under his foot. He moved his flas
hlight to the ground, then wrapped his arms around Xtina quickly to stop her from moving forward.
“What?” she gasped, then glanced down to where his flashlight beam hit.
There, in the middle of a grain field, was a gaping hole leading down into blackness.
***
Xtina squeezed Michael’s hand harder. “What is it?”
“Looks like an old missile silo. They were built all over the States during the Cold War.” He took a giant step back, making sure to take her with him. “We’ll have to come back out here when it’s daylight.”
“Why did she have us come now?” She took out her flashlight and inched forward. “There must be…” She gasped when the beam hit something white and covered in fur. “There.” She pointed. “What is that?”
She waited as he moved slowly around and got a better look. “Looks like a dog,” he said. “I don’t think it’s moving. It must have—” A small cry echoed from the massive hole. “Damn,” he said, moving closer. “Looks like I’m going in.”
“You can’t.” She walked around to him.
“There’s a ladder here.” He pointed his beam to the other side. “If you’ll shine the light, I can see if the rungs will hold up.”
“This is crazy. You can’t risk your life for—”
He turned to her, stopping her words. She took a deep breath. “But you’re going to anyway. Aren’t you?”
He smiled. “Shine the light here.” He moved her hand to where she could clearly see the metal rungs. They looked strong enough. Actually, the entire thing looked like it had been covered up until recently. There wasn’t even any rust that she could see.
She held her breath as he took his time, one rung at a time.
“They’re pretty stable,” he called up to her once he reached the bottom. “Easy,” he said to the dog, who was now growling softly. “It looks like a border collie,” he called up. “Its leg is injured, but everything else looks good.” She heard him speaking softly to the animal.
Silently she wished she’d remembered to grab her cell phone at her place.
Why would the entity worry about an injured dog? She’d never experienced anyone from beyond concerned about living creatures. Even thought she’d always known this particular entity wasn’t a ghost, she had always assumed that it still abided by rules.
One had been that she’d always remained at the old McCullen place. Two, that it couldn’t talk or communicate, and three, that it didn’t interact with living things. All three of which had been proven incorrect in the past few days.
“You okay?” she called down after too many moments went by filled with silence.
“I’m trying to use my coat as a sling so I can carry it up.” He cursed. “Okay, I think we’re ready,” he finally said. “I’ll need lots of light. Think you can hold my flashlight too?”
She bent down and flipped on his light, making sure to have the beams hit each rung as he climbed slowly up.
When he made it to the top, she released the breath she’d been holding. He sat in the dirt, breathing hard, covered in a light sheen of sweat.
“I bet this isn’t how you planned to spend our first morning together.” He chuckled, then nodded towards the first rays of sunlight rising over the field.
She ran a hand over the dog’s soft coat. “No, but I bet she didn’t plan on spending her night stuck in a dark hole waiting for two people and a ghost to save her.”
“Ghost?” he asked.
“Whatever. I’m tired of fighting it. She’s not like anything I’ve ever experienced.” Her eyes met his. “Why would she care about a dog?”
His eyes moved back to the hole. “I don’t think she did. Her eyes followed his and she felt a shiver when she noticed the glimmer of light coming from the bottom.
“Later,” he said. “This time I’m insisting.” He said it loudly enough for both her and the entity to hear. They both watched as the light grew dark. “I’ve got her.” He lifted the dog gently into his arms. “Later we’re going to have a talk about how you know it’s a she.” His eyes moved to hers. “But for now, lead the way back, I’ll follow.”
She tucked his flashlight into the coat pocket and started back the way they came. Instead of going all the way to his place, she stopped at her back door.
“I’ve got a first aid kit.” She opened the back door. “Upstairs.” She put her finger over her mouth to keep him quiet, but when they walked into the kitchen, Jessie was standing at the stove, a hot cup of coffee in her hand and a spatula swirling around in one of her mother’s cast iron pans.
“Morning…” she said, then turned and gasped when she saw them. “What happened?” She set the spatula down and rushed towards them. “Oh, you poor thing. Was it hit?”
“No, it fell,” Xtina supplied as Michael laid it gently down on the rug.
“I’ll get the kit and some old blankets.” She quickly disappeared up the stairs. When she came back down, Jessie was piling a big scoop of eggs and bacon onto plates.
“I figured you’d be hungry after your trek.” She set the food down.
Xtina looked to Michael. “Don’t ask me how she knew.”
“Well, it wasn’t as if you two were stealth leaving here. I saw you head into the woods and figured you’d gone for some crazy walk.” She shrugged and then sat down. “So, are you going to fill me in?”
“Later.” She handed Michael the kit and towels. “How’s she doing?”
“Much better. Her leg doesn’t look broken, and she’s actually moving it around. I think she’s just in shock and cold.”
Xtina ran a hand over the dog once more. “And pregnant,” she added with a smile.
“Okay, totally freaked out right now.” He glanced towards Jessie.
“Don’t look at me. She’s always been an animal whisperer.” She rolled her eyes. “She’s the one that told me my cat, Mr. Rogers, hated his name and preferred Limp Bizkit instead.”
Michael chuckled. “You’re making that up.”
Jessie motioned to Xtina, who just nodded.
“He’d seen them on TV once and liked the music.”
Michael laughed, fully, causing her to laugh too. Soon the entire room was full of laughter. Xtina laid her hand on the dog again and smiled. “She likes the sound of our laughter. She’ll sleep for a while, if she can have some of the bacon.” She nodded to Jessie, who handed over two slices. “Here, you give it to her. She’s smitten with you.” Xtina winked at Michael, then chuckled when she saw his cheeks heat.
They sat around her kitchen table and ate Jessie’s breakfast as the sun rose and the injured dog slept. When Jessie disappeared upstairs to shower, they talked about their plans to return to the silo later that day and do some serious exploring.
Both of them agreed that at least a shower and a few more hours of sleep were in order before they made the trek again.
“We’ve got to plan this out better. Bigger flash lights, emergency supplies,” he was saying when Jessie appeared again, freshly showered.
“Going camping?” she asked, swallowing the last of her coffee.
“Um, more like exploring,” Xtina said. “We found an old missile silo.”
“Cool, is it the one near the Miller’s?”
Xtina and Michael turned to her.
“What?” She shrugged and stuffed the last piece of bacon into her mouth. “My folks used to go out there when they were kids. Actually, a lot of people did.” She turned to Xtina. “Even your parents.”
“How do you know?” she asked.
“I saw a picture of them…”—she flung her purse over her shoulder— “in my mom’s high school year book.” She started towards the door.
“Can you bring it by later tonight?” Xtina asked.
“Sure, I work a full shift today, so I won’t be by until after dinner.”
“Okay.” She watched her friend go and wondered why Jessie had never mentioned seeing the picture of her parents before.
Michael�
�s hand reached out and touched hers. “While she’s still asleep and we have the house to ourselves, why don’t we head up and shower. I’m filthy and smell like wet dog.” He nodded to the stairs and she felt her heart skip. He smiled.
“Sure.” She took her plate to the sink.
“I’m going to run home and get a few things, a change of clothes. I’ll be right back.” He walked to the front and disappeared.
Moving over to the sleeping dog, she pushed her hands through the dog’s soft fur. It was dry now and she thought about giving it a bath later that evening so she didn’t smell, something even the dog agreed with, apparently.
“Rose.” Xtina smiled. “What a perfect name,” she said softly. It was one of the dog’s favorite smells.
She’d always loved animals. Unfortunately, after her parents had found out that she could sense them, they had never allowed any in their house.
Glancing around, she raised her chin. This was her house now.
Standing up, she put her hands on her hips and looked around. She hadn’t changed much since moving in. She had a coffee maker, a new microwave, a TV, and a few other things, but nothing major.
The walls were still that bright yellow she’d always hated growing up. The floors were old cracked tile that was too cold in the winters and too hard for her liking. Then there were the rooms upstairs. She was still sleeping in the small room she’d had as a child while her parents’ large master bedroom sat empty.
She hadn’t even gone in their room yet, let alone thought about moving in. Their bathroom was huge, much like their bedroom, yet she’d crammed herself into the small guest bathroom she’d shared with her grandmother when she’d lived there.
Well, it was time she changed all that. She marched towards the stairs and stopped when Michael walked in the front door without knocking.
“I hope it’s okay.” He glanced down at the small bag in his hands. “I figured until she was well, I’d bunk here.”
She smiled. “Perfect. It’s okay, as long as you don’t mind helping me move some furniture around.”
He set his computer bag down at the base of the stairs and followed her up the stairs. She’d removed all the paintings that lined the stairs the second night she’d been there. They just creeped her out as did all the old-fashioned paintings her mother had hung around the house. Now the walls were completely bare, at least until she found several large pieces of bright art to hang on them.