Haunted II: Awakening

by Christian Burch

  “Really? I offer to take you on a walk and you bring me to this huh?”

  DJ looked expectantly from Greg to the puppy and back. He nudged the box with his snout and whined. The puppy grew excited upon seeing the two new visitors it had. Its tail shook back and forth, smacking the sides of the box. That’s how small the box was. DJ barked once and sat down next to the box, giving his opinion.

  Chapter 24

  Two left the apartment, three came back.

  Greg walked into the apartment, carrying the puppy in one hand, curled up against his stomach. With Christmas only a few weeks away, this could be an early present for Zoe. She couldn’t say no to animals and had a passion for lost or abandoned pets. He undid DJ’s leash but his dog continued to look in anticipation at the puppy.

  “Okay fine. Here you go.”

  Gently, he put the pup on the ground and let DJ sniff away, and lick to his heart’s content. The apartment was quiet. Joey was at his moms again and Zoe was probably in the bathroom or cleaning their bedroom.

  DJ was snout to snout with the pup and it was lifting its backside in the air, squeaking at him. Occasionally the puppy would jump and DJ would jump back, then return a few seconds later to sniff and lick it. Even though DJ was a one hundred and ten pound boxer, Greg didn’t think twice about leaving him along with a puppy. If Joey, as a baby, could pull, bite, and hug on him without a bad reaction from DJ, he wasn’t concerned about a puppy.

  Standing in the doorway to their bedroom, all thoughts of the puppy were vanished. He tried to work up some saliva to call out Zoe’s name but his mouth remained dry. Slowly he stepped into the room and approached the bed, trying to keep quiet.

  Zoe hovered about six inches above the covers, apparently still sleeping. Greg’s heart dropped because he knew this could only mean one thing. It was back! Was waking her up the safe thing to do or is waiting for her to come back down better?

  As he debated, her body glided down and came to rest on top of the covers. Within a few seconds her eyelids fluttered open and she looked towards him.

  “Greg,” she called, her voice sleep filled. “What’s wrong?”

  His eyes were wide and his face was pale. His girlfriend had just been hovering above the fucking bed. He decided it he was going to keep it to himself but figured it was time to tell her the truth about his past.

  Chapter 25

  “There are some things that I need to tell you concerning what happened in Fairmont and it may seem… unreal.”

  A yelp from the doorway distracted them both. The puppy was squatting in the doorway, seeming to smile at them.

  “And who is this?” Zoe asked with delight.

  “Sorry, I completely forgot. When we were out walking, we came across a cardboard box with this little one inside. Some asshole left him on the side of the road with no food, and a bowl that must have contained water at first but was empty by the time we got there.”

  “I can’t believe some of the people in this world. I’d like to leave them abandoned somewhere, without food and see how they enjoy it.”

  “I figured you’d react that way so I brought her home.”

  “It’s a girl?”

  Greg nodded, face still somber.

  Picking up the puppy, she sat down on the bed and asked him to continue with what he was going to tell her. Zoe listened intently, without interrupting, as Greg told his story in full. He expected her to leap up at certain parts and claim that he was full of shit or making it up. Instead, she nodded and took it all in without skepticism.

  “I hope your silence doesn’t mean that I’ve scared you away or anything. I have to say that you’re taking this exceptionally well, all things considered. My own doctor looked at me like I’d grown a second head or something and I pay him to listen to me.”

  She shifted on the bed.

  “I’m not going anywhere Greg. So you think the demon has come back?”

  “Do you have any other explanation that makes sense out of you defying gravity half an hour ago? If so, I’m all ears.”

  Still not able to distinguish reality from fiction in her head concerning the flashbacks she was having, she shook her head. Maybe this thing that was afflicting Greg was affecting her also.

  “What do you think we should do?”

  “I’m not playing around this time. I’m going to call a priest or something to come in and bless our apartment.”

  Chapter 26

  Two Weeks Before Christmas

  The house was decorated and ready for Christmas. She’d finished putting the outside lights up yesterday and she was happy with the result. One corner refused to stay up so she did her best to ignore that small hiccup. Jessica knew that tomorrow, she would get the ladder and fix it, come hell or high water.

  Joey had helped her pick out the perfect tree and they’d hung up the ornaments tonight before he went to bed. The manger was lit and stood next to the tree, Wise Men and shepherds kneeling to baby Jesus. She also had an elf on the shelf named “Barry” that somehow was in different places each morning. That was the first thing he inquired about each morning when he woke up. She loved doing these things with Joey, and especially now that Jason was gone.

  At nine thirty, Jessica was exhausted. Jason had walked out two days ago, after she told him he had a week to clear out. There was a fight but not a blowout like she expected which gave credit to the notion that he was cheating on her and had somewhere else to shack up.

  The bastard even had the nerve to say that if she hadn’t forced him to move out, he was going to within the month anyway.

  A hot shower was one way to deal with stress and work out the stress built up in her muscles. She took a hard look at herself in the mirror. Even though she wanted nothing to do with him anymore, she couldn’t help but wonder what this new girl had that she didn’t.

  Jessica wasn’t vain but she did take pride in her appearance and six nights of regular exercise had kept her in shape while some of her other friends had added on some undesired weight.

  Positive attitude meant a positive life. Putting the mystery woman out of her mind, she stepped into the shower and sighed as the hot water cascaded down her body. Within a few minutes, her spa time was halted. It sounded like the bathroom door had opened.

  Pulling the curtain towards her, but keeping her body covered, she peeked around the corner. “Joey?”

  The bathroom was empty. Could have been the house settling as it sometimes did. Her grip on the curtain tightened when she noticed Barry the elf sitting on the toilet seat, looking up at her. Sometimes Joey liked to play with Barry during the day but he knew better than to come in the bathroom when she was in the shower. Plus he wasn’t one to prank.

  She hurried and finished her shower. Toweling off she couldn’t quit thinking about how the elf had gotten in the bathroom. The door was shut which could only mean that Joey had come in and placed it there. But why?

  Once in her night robe, she made her way quietly to Joey’s room and looked in to find him sound asleep in his bed. It looked like he hadn’t moved since she’d kissed him goodnight. She’d ask him in the morning about it.

  She went to the kitchen and put Barry on the counter, next to Joey’s box of blueberry pop tarts, one hand resting on the top of the box. That will make him laugh. I’ll tell him Barry wanted to eat his breakfast too.

  * * *

  A scream jolted her awake and she scrambled out of the bed, nearly tripping on her way out to see what was going on. The second she hit the hallway, she calmed down, able to tell the difference between a scared cry and one of excitement. He must have found Barry.

  The strange thing was Joey’s yells of delight were coming from his bedroom. She pushed open the door to see him propped up in bed, with Barry the elf sitting next to him.

  “So you found Barry and brought him in here with you sweetheart? Next time wait a little longer before you wake mommy up please.”

  “No! Mom, I woke up and Barry was next to me, head on
the pillow, sleeping like I was. He must have come in sometime during the night!”

  Jessica did her best to not appear frightened but she was beyond terrified. The elf stared at her with that plastic smile and she wanted to rip it off, and throw him in the garbage. But what would keep him from crawling out? Then she’d burn the damn thing!

  “Isn’t Barry the coolest mom?”

  “Sure is,” she said. “I’m going to go make breakfast okay. Come down in a few minutes.”

  “Can I bring Barry?”

  “He can stay in your room while you eat okay.”

  Barry the elf was in for quite the Christmas present. She’d watched enough horror movies to know something was off about that elf and she was going to get rid of it permanently.

  Chapter 27

  “Can you believe that they won’t come to bless the apartment unless we’re members of their congregation? What a crock of shit! If you join our church, give us money, and attend each week, we’ll come by to bless your home. If they’d said yes to blessing out apartment, I may have considered going to church, but not now.”

  “It’s not a big deal Greg. It’s been over three weeks and nothing else has happened. Do you think that maybe your eyes played a trick on you? Don’t give me that look!” She put her fists on her hips. “I’m not questioning anything you told me. I’m just saying that wouldn’t something else have happened if that were the case. You said that last time, things got progressively worse day by day. It’s been almost a month baby.”

  Greg hung his shoulders. “You’re probably right. My hallucinations have been getting worse and now I’m seeing things that aren’t there!”

  Zoe hated keeping her own dark past a secret but she couldn’t help it. She’d done a search on a Dr. Feely, hoping to shed some more light on her past and wanted to arrange a meeting if she could. According to the articles she read, he’d been brutally murdered in his sleep by his wife of twenty years around the time she was fifteen. The woman had jammed a screwdriver into his ear… twelve times. No answers were going to come from him. Even if her father were alive, he couldn’t provide her with any pertinent information with his condition. She was at a dead end.

  She put aside her past for the moment and looked to Greg, the man she loved, the father of the baby growing in her womb and wanted to lift his spirits. She knew just the way to do it.

  “Do you want to go to the tree lighting ceremony downtown tonight?”

  He shrugged his shoulders; his way of saying he didn’t care.

  “Did you know you’re going to be a father again?”

  At first he shook his head, then he realized what she’d said and looked at her face expectantly.

  “You’re pregnant?”

  She nodded enthusiastically, trying to keep from smiling until she could gauge his true reaction.

  He jumped from the chair in their bedroom and went on his knees in front of her, wrapping his arms around her and resting his head against her slightly raised belly.

  “That’s the best news I’ve heard in a long time,” the muffled reply came from where his face was buried in her shirt.

  “So you’re okay with it?”

  He pulled back and looked at her face in confusion.

  “Am I okay? I’m way better than okay now. This is fantastic!”

  They kissed and talked some more before Greg got up on the bed with her and they spooned together. Greg couldn’t keep his hand off of her belly.

  An impression formed in the chair that Greg had previously been sitting on as if something has just sat down in the vacant spot. Goosebumps flared up on Zoe’s arms and instinctively she opened her eyes. Across from her she saw the source.

  In the chair was her imaginary friend from her childhood.

  A teenage girl with black hair and ocean blue eyes smiled at her. She was wearing a white dress, with blood red polka dots on it. If Greg had chosen that moment to look at the chair, he would have seen nothing. She chose who could and could not see her.

  “It’s almost time Zoe. I knew you would remember me eventually.”

  Padded footfalls in the hall signaled the approach of at least one of the dogs. The girl waved her hand and the door closed and locked. Sniffing and scratching started from the other side.

  “Stop it DJ,” Greg said.

  The door shook in the door frame as DJ jumped and hit it with his front paws.

  “DJ, go and lay down. I mean it.”

  A tear fell from Zoe’s face and fell on Greg’s arm. He mistook it for tears of joy and snuggled in closer to her. The girl walked over to Zoe and put her hand against Zoe’s cheek and tendrils sprang from her fingertips, inching their way towards her nose and mouth. DJ continued to whine from the other side of the door.

  Chapter 28

  “So I’ve got the go ahead to replace the knobs? It doesn’t matter whether they decide to keep the house or sell it, the knobs need to be replaced. Great, I’ve got the supplies already. I’ll have it done by the end of today.”

  Benjamin shut the phone, picked up his tool bag and supplies then strolled up the porch steps to the house. He was five years younger than Zoe and didn’t come around often. He’d only met her once when he was six and wouldn’t recognize her if she passed him on the street. His parents had kept their distance and it just trickled down to the next generation. He only agreed to this because it was a paying job and work had been extremely slow lately.

  There were eight doors that needed new door handles and he figured he’d start up top and work his way down. The front door he would save for last. As he made his way up the stairs, a woman in a white dress with red polka dots standing in the living room went unnoticed, but she watched him closely.

  It took him less than ten minutes to have the master bedroom and bathroom doors done. Running a finger through the dust that had settled on the dressers and nightstands gave him an idea of how long this house had been vacant of tenants.

  An old cigar box sat in one of the drawers of the dresser.

  “Don’t think they’ll need this anytime soon.”

  He didn’t consider it stealing necessarily. Just another generous form of compensation from the previous owners of the house for a job well done.

  The next room was clearly a girl’s room just based on the layout, posters and color. He doubted he’d find much in here but perused the dressers anyway. Nothing worth his time but he did come across a diary.

  Flipping through the pages, he stopped and read some of the entries every few pages.

  “Damn. They weren’t kidding. This bitch was crazy!!”

  The diary was going to go with him as well, if for his own personal reasons. The entire thing was full, no pages left blank. He put the diary and cigar box on the bed, while he dismantled the next door knob.

  “Shit!”

  A screw dropped and rolled behind him into the hallway. He turned around and nearly fell over in surprise. A woman in her late twenties was holding the four inch screw in front of her face as if inspecting it for blemishes.

  “You scared me. When did you get in here?”

  No response but she did glance at him. She seemed a bit nervous. He held out his hand to her.

  “Can I have the screw back?”

  In a flash, she launched herself at him and buried the screw deep into his right eye. He fell on his back and tried pushing her off but she straddle him and kept him pinned. Blood gushed and he felt his eye deflate as she pushed it in deeper. Two deer that were behind the house, at the edge of the woods, bolted at the sound of his screams.

  Chapter 29

  “Are you almost ready to go?”

  “You want me to look perfect right?”

  “That’s a given. Hey, where did you go earlier today? I came back earlier than usual from Starbucks to check on you and you weren’t here.”

  Zoe had taken off work today because she said she wasn’t feeling well but insisted that Greg still go do his writing.

  “Oh, I went up to Walgr
eens to see what they had that was safe for pregnant women to take. Can’t be too careful you know?”

  He nodded as she walked out of the bedroom, dressed in a stunning green dress with red heels.

  “Not only are you gorgeous as hell but you’re in Christmas colors. Nicely done! You always manage to make me feel underdressed but I love it.”

  She smiled and pulled on the collar of his red shirt.

  “I think you look great.”

  He slipped his arm in hers and bowed his head slightly. “Thank you.”

  Their two dogs were sitting together on the couch.

  “We’ll be back soon guys. DJ, don’t let Maggie wreck the place!”

  He rubbed DJ’ side and Zoe went to kiss Maggie but both dogs retreated from her and DJ growled.

  “Hey, you quit that!”

  DJ whined, put his head down, but a rumble continued to issue from deep in his chest. Maggie huddled close to DJ and barked once.

  “That’s why you two have to stay here. Don’t know what’s gotten into them lately.”

  “Just dogs being dogs,” Zoe said with a smile as they walked out.

  “I feel really good about how everything’s going. Feels like it’s all falling into place you know?”

  “I know exactly what you mean,” Zoe said as she got into the car with him. For a brief second her eyes turned completely blue then went back to their brilliant green.

  Chapter 30

  The plaza where the tree lighting took place was crowded with people. Shops stayed open a few hours later than usual to cater to the families that attended the ceremony and offered bargain prices for just that evening.

  Greg and Zoe strolled arm in arm down the street, stopping at the places Zoe felt drawn too. Greg was just sort of along for the ride. He just wanted to be on time to meet Jessica and Joey at the tree lighting which was at six thirty.