“You know,” Rachel said as soon as she saw them.
“Is it that obvious?” Sammy asked.
“Well, you guys are sitting there watching the door. I mean, maybe if the television was on or something, it would be less obvious,” Rachel said and took a seat in one of the armchairs. “Do you want to hear me out?”
“Is there a reason for me to hear you out?” Sammy asked. “I mean, you could always just leave.”
“I don’t want to do that, Sammy. I thought maybe we’d bonded. I know it’s only been a couple of days, but I do want to be your friend,” Rachel said.
“How could we have bonded? Everything has been lies, but go ahead. I do want to hear what you have to say,” Samantha said.
“Zach was a producer for the channel that wants to broadcast our show. You probably know that now, though. So he was supposed to check in and pretend like he didn’t know us. He got your permission to explore the house to research for his book, but his actual plan was to fake some activity for us to catch. We didn’t know what he was going to do. That way it would look more authentic when we discovered the haunting. He was supposed to go to bed with a headache after dinner, but then nothing happened.”
Something about the way Rachel said nothing happened made Sammy think she was holding back. “So you were going to use my bed-and-breakfast to fake footage for your show. I guess you all figured I was an easy mark because I’d just opened the place,” Sammy said. “Is there anything else?”
“I stayed after everyone else left because something did happen to me. I really don’t think it was Zach.” Rachel’s voice shook with fear. “I couldn’t leave after that. I didn’t want to leave you here alone with that thing.”
“What did you see?” Cameron asked and leaned forward. Rachel gave him a dirty look, but she told her story.
“I was reading in bed, and it was super late. Like I’m pretty sure it was approaching three in the morning. I heard something out in the hall, so I got up to go check it out. I figured that Zach was finally getting started with his plans. When I got out to the hall, there was no one out there. I heard moaning coming from Zach’s room, and I thought that was a weird way to start the whole thing. I knocked on his door, and I thought I heard him tell me to come in. I went in and he was in bed facing away from the door. He just sort of moaned at me again, and I figured his headache must have been real. No big deal, right? We could always set something up for the next night.”
“He was still alive at three, then?” Sammy asked. “Did you tell the police that?”
“No. I wasn’t sure if he was really still alive or if I’d dreamed the whole thing. I was afraid too. I didn’t want them to know that I was the last person to see him alive.”
“Because they would have thought you had something to do with it,” Cameron said.
“Yes, but I didn’t. I really have no idea what happened to him.”
“Is that it?” Sammy asked. “Did anything else happen?”
Rachel’s story began with her going back to her room after finding Zach in his room. He’d seemed as though he was in pain, but Zach hadn’t asked for help, so she left him alone. She also figured that the sound she’d heard in the hallway was one of the other guys or possibly the cat.
When Rachel went into her room, the closet light was on, but she hadn’t turned it on before leaving. “I thought it was weird, but I convinced myself that I’d left it on when I fell asleep. It’s not especially bright or anything. I went over to close the door and froze halfway across the room. At first, I thought I was hallucinating, but I heard soft laughter coming from in there. It sounded like a child, but there was something off about it. I heard something shuffle around, and then the light went off.”
Rachel said she wasn’t sure what to do, so she just stood there for a few minutes, waiting to see if something else would happen. Her mind told her to run, but her body would not move. She felt a breeze against her legs, and the giggling started up in the hallway again.
“Then the temperature dropped in the room so fast that the hair on my neck and arms stood up. A growling noise came from the dark closet, but at the same time, something tapped on the window glass. What finally broke me out of my paralysis was the feeling of fingernails softly dragging across my ankle. Something under the bed said my name, and I ran to Jim’s room.”
“You didn’t tell anyone about any of this?” Cameron asked.
“No, I didn’t. Not that it’s any of your business,” Rachel snapped. “By morning, I convinced myself that I’d had a bad dream, and it’s entirely possible that’s what happened. Jim thought I’d gotten lonely, and I didn’t tell him any differently. I wasn’t sure what to do. I’m sorry. I’ve let everyone down more than once, but I’m scared. I didn’t think that the stories about this place were true, but now I know. My whole world has been blown open by your house, Sammy. I was an atheist before I came here.”
“A paranormal investigator that’s an atheist,” Sammy said. “That’s not something I figured existed.”
“I wanted to be on television,” Rachel said. “I figured we could get a show, I’d eventually get a few horror movie acting gigs, and then I could move on to regular acting. I had a plan.”
Chapter Ten
The doorbell rang just as Rachel was about to elaborate about her plan. Sammy was glad for the distraction because she really didn’t want to hear any more.
Sammy answered the door while Cameron and Rachel sat and glared at each other. “It’s Elliot,” Sammy called from the foyer. “Come in,” she said and stepped back so Elliot could enter.
“Hey guys,” Ellliot said. “Hi, Rachel.”
“Hey, Elliot,” Rachel said. “I thought you were going on to the next location with the other guys.”
“I got news and I wanted to share it,” Elliot said. “The network is still interested in our show. With everything that’s happened, they think they can spin it into a viral marketing campaign. We need to get to Hollow Grove because the network is talking pilot.”
“You could have just called,” Rachel said flatly. It was clear to Sammy that Rachel wasn’t in the mood to put up with Elliot’s obsession. “You didn’t have to come all the way here.”
Elliot looked wounded. “Well, I still have a reservation here for one more night, so I figured I’d come back. Plus, I wasn’t done with my investigation.”
This elicited a huge sigh from Rachel. “Elliot, they know. I told them we fake it.”
He just stood there, looking stunned. Several times he started to say something and then quickly closed his mouth again. Sammy watched his face blanch and then turn red with embarrassment, or fury. She couldn’t be sure.
“There is something here, though,” Elliot said when he finally recovered. “There was something real at the summer camp too. I know you feel it.”
Rachel’s shoulders slumped with defeat. She’d resigned herself to putting up with Elliot because she needed to make amends with Sammy. Rachel also had to admit that she was pleased with the prospect of the show continuing. She had a plan.
“We could go legitimate,” Elliot pleaded. “Can you imagine how much money we’d make if we found real hauntings?”
“I think you’re messing with stuff you don’t understand,” Cameron said and stood up. “Maybe you guys should go.”
Sammy agreed, but she couldn’t just kick out her first guests. They’d murder her in the reviews. All she needed was one person saying the bed-and-breakfast was just a boring old house, and she’d lose her reservations. At least, that’s what she told herself she was worried about.
“It’s okay, Cameron. They can stay tonight. I’ll make dinner for everyone.”
Elliot and Rachel returned from a trip to the summer camp a half hour before dinner was due. They’d decided to reinvestigate that location and then do a full sweep of the inn after the sun went down.
They both came into the kitchen. Rachel had a bottle of vodka in her hand. “Is it okay if I put this
in the freezer?”
“Yeah, go ahead,” Sammy said.
“Hey, grab the ice tray too,” Elliot said.
Rachel handed it to him, and he emptied it into the sink. “Hey, Sammy, do you have another one of these? This shape isn’t the best for booze.”
“I don’t. I’m sorry,” she said and went back to slicing skirt steak into thin strips.
“It’s okay.” Elliot went to the sink and began washing the tray.
“I can do that, but it really isn’t needed. It just had ice in it.”
“It’s okay. I’m kind of a germaphobe.” He washed it with water so hot that his hands turned an angry red and then put the ice tray in the dish rack. “You know what, I’m sure the vodka will get cold enough in the freezer. I won’t even bother with the ice.”
“Up to you,” Sammy said.
The sound of Tut hissing distracted her from their conversation. He sprinted into the other room, and seconds later, Oatis began squealing like someone was trying to kill him. Sammy heard Cameron coming down the stairs as she took off for the den where Oatis’s cage was kept.
“What was that?” he asked as she brushed past him down the hall to check on her pets.
“I don’t know. Something is bothering Oatis and it’s got Tut spooked.”
Of course, when they walked into the den, they found nothing. The only sign that anything was wrong was Tut sitting in the center of the room, growling at the back corner.
“Let’s just put Oatis in the laundry room for now. That way he won’t be so far away,” Cameron said and picked up the cage.
Everyone stayed together in the kitchen after that. Rachel explained that she wanted to wait until after it got dark to explore the house, but Sammy picked up on her fear. The atmosphere in the house had shifted. Something uncomfortable permeated the air.
They finished making dinner, and all sat down at the dining table to eat. Sammy noticed about halfway through the meal that the world had gone quiet again. She looked out the front room window, and the breeze was obviously blowing through the trees. But it was silent. No one was talking, but she knew she should have at least been able to hear something.
That’s when the front door opened and closed.
Chapter Eleven
“Hello,” Sammy called out, but there was no answer. “Hello,” she tried again, but still nothing.
She went out to the front entryway, but there was no one there. What was there was the old mirror hanging in its spot. Sammy stood there and gazed into her reflection. She looked tired and worn. The longer she stared, the more her face morphed into something monstrous.
“Zach?” Sammy heard Rachel call out from the dining room, and it broke her out of her stupor.
She blinked her eyes, and the mirror was gone. It had been a hallucination, and Sammy couldn’t help feel a bit disappointed. Still, she turned and hurried back to the dining room.
Rachel was standing with her back against the wall, and Elliot was bent over holding his stomach as if he was going to be sick. Sammy could hear Cameron in the kitchen.
“There’s no one here,” he called out before walking back into the dining room.
“What was that about?” Sam asked Rachel.
“When you walked into the other room, Zach came into the doorway between the kitchen and dining room. I mean, it looked like him,” Rachel said.
“There’s no way that thing was Zach,” Elliot said.
The lights flickered, and the sound of a train roaring on nearby tracks filled the house. It was so loud that some of the paintings on the wall rattled.
“That’s the first time I’ve heard a train,” Rachel said. “I didn’t even know this place was that close to tracks.”
“It’s not,” Sammy said. “That couldn’t have been a train.”
Above them, a loud thump followed by a dragging sound made everyone except Cameron jump. He looked up at the ceiling as the second thump and drag resounded through the dining room.
“It’s moving toward the stairs,” Rachel said. “We should go. We could leave out the back door.”
“Elliot,” an old woman’s voice called from the landing at the top of the stairs. “Elliot, get mommy a drink.” It was followed by a throaty cackle.
Elliot’s face turned as white as a sheet. He dropped to his knees and covered his ears with his hands. “She’s dead. She’s dead. She’s dead.” Tears burst from his eyes.
“Oh, Elliot. Stop being such an insufferable little bitch. You always were such a baby. Everyone is going to blame me for the way you turned out. Everyone is going to say it’s my fault you did what you did. They won’t understand that I did my best to make you into a real man. Even the belt couldn’t keep you from turning into a weirdo little sissy,” the voice called from upstairs.
“No. No. No. No,” Elliot chanted as someone started to walk down the stairs. He threw up on his shirt and pants, and then ran out the back door.
As soon as Elliot was gone, the activity stopped. The reprieve wasn’t to last.
“I’ll go see if I can find him. If he took his car, there’s not much I can do,” Cameron said.
He went outside through the back door and left Sammy and Rachel alone. “Do you want to finish eating?” Sammy asked.
“Not really. What was that all about?”
“I’m not sure. I think that was two separate events, but I can’t be sure. Both of them seemed to freak Elliot out,” Sammy said.
“Yeah. I mean, seeing Zach scared me, but you should have seen Elliot. I thought he was going to pass out.”
They heard screaming outside coming from down the street. The mad shrieks grew closer until they were on the front porch. The terrible screeching was followed by a heavy pounding on the door.
“Let me in, please,” Elliot pleaded through the door.
Sammy and Rachel went to the door and opened it quickly. Cameron was coming toward the house as well. “I found him,” Cameron said grimly. “He was a couple of blocks away, but he suddenly started crying out and running back toward the house.”
“They’re after me. You have to let me in. Please help me,” Elliot pleaded.
The women stepped aside and let him in. “Who is after you?” Sammy asked as Elliot went into the living room and curled up in the fetal position on the sofa.
“It’s my mother and Zach. They’re after me,” he whimpered and actually put his thumb in his mouth like a frightened child.
“Why?” Sammy asked. “Why would your mother and Zach be after you?”
“What’s going on, Elliot?” Rachel asked. She sat down on the floor next to the sofa and rubbed Elliot’s back soothingly. “Tell us what happened.”
The light started to dim again, and the roaring train sound came out of the night air. Upstairs, in the back of the house, the cackling began again, and Elliot started to shake as if he was seizing.
“Tell us or they’ll get you,” Sammy said flatly.
Cameron and Rachel’s heads swiveled around to look at Sammy. She shrugged her shoulders. It was a cold thing to say, but she had the feeling that Elliot didn’t deserve her compassion.
“I killed Zach,” he whined. “I did it, and now he’s going to get me. My mother hated me, so the bitch is probably helping him. They’re going to get me.”
But as soon as his confession left his mouth, the lights stopped flickering and all of the strange sounds stopped.
“It’s a trick,” Elliot said. “They’re just trying to get me to let my guard down.”
“I’ll call the police, and you’ll confess,” Sammy said. “They’ll leave you alone if you do the right thing.”
“How do you know?” Elliot asked.
“I just do,” Sammy said.
As she pulled out her cell phone, Sammy looked up into the corner of the room. The dark wretch, the one that looked a lot like a decayed Tabitha Murphy, scurried out the window and into the night.
Epilogue
It turned out that Elliot had killed
Zach because the producer had planned on coming clean about he and The Boo Crew wanting to fake the paranormal activity for the show. Elliot was afraid the network would can the show, and he couldn’t have that.
The murder had been relatively easy. He’d poisoned the ice cubes for Zach’s grape soda. Elliot wouldn’t tell the police what he’d used, but that didn’t matter. Everyone hoped that the toxicology report would tell them what they needed to know eventually.
Sammy and Cameron talked about it, and they decided that he should stay. Whatever their relationship was, they knew they could figure that out later. But what they couldn’t do was separate.
She knew that the paranormal activity around her wasn’t going to stop, and Cameron was an anchor. He could keep her sane and grounded while she ran her business. Plus, Cameron seemed to genuinely enjoy the work involved with running the bed-and-breakfast.
“I like the cooking and cleaning,” he said when Sammy asked him if he was sure that’s what he wanted. “After preaching to those crowds three times per week, I like the quiet work. It’s honest too. That means a lot to me right now. You understand, don’t you?”
Sammy did.
After a few months, Cameron surprised Sammy with a gift. He’d tracked down the owner of the abandoned summer camp and purchased it for her.
“You said you were going to use the money to help someone,” she said when he presented her with the deed.
“I did, Sammy. I decided that I wanted to keep the money in my family. You’re my family. And can you imagine how your business will explode if you offer haunted summer camp tours as an add-on to the bed-and-breakfast.”
“Thank you, Cameron. I love you. I hope you know that,” she said and embraced him.
“I love you too, Samantha. I always have, and I’ll do anything to make your life whatever you want it to be.”
Sammy sniffled as Cameron held her tighter. Before they parted, Sam’s eyes drifted up to the corner of the room. The twisted wretch that looked like Tabitha Murphy clung to the ceiling behind him.
Dark Ends: A Horror Collection Page 38