The Hauntings of Cold Creek Hollow (Haunted Series)

by Alexie Aaron

  “That girl talked about ‘the club,’” Ralph added.

  “Oh my, could all this be caused by the Hellfire Club?” Mia asked. “But Sherry Martin was hung, not interfered with,” she puzzled.

  “Burt claimed there were many hands,” Bernard said evenly.

  “We are way over our heads here.” Mia looked at her friends. “It’s not going to get better is it?” she asked the room. “I think it’s time to talk to Father Santos.”

  “Way ahead of you,” Bernard said, lifting the cell phone and hitting speed dial one. “Father, this is Bernard… Yes, thank you, we are with Mia now. We have some information... Yes, come over. You may need to hear this in person… Sure, wait a moment... Father wants to know if he can bring a couple of friends?”

  Mia nodded and offered, “We’ll order in.”

  “Mia says bring the cavalry... Sure, I’m thinking Thai?” Bernard waved his hand for a pencil and paper. “Yes... yes... Remember your ulcer... okay... Seven it is.”

  ~

  Burt looked at the small screen and was spellbound. Here was digital evidence that ghosts do exist. “Play it again, and hand me those earphones.”

  Beth handed him the ear buds and pressed play. She was much happier with Burt’s reaction. Here was a fellow hunter, a scientist, and a friend.

  “I heard a crack before the clop clops...”

  Burt looked at Beth.

  “Yep, I think Murphy was out there scouting for me.”

  “So Amber’s been sprung,” Burt started.

  “Mike call you?”

  “Nope, actually it was Amber. She apologized for not coming to see me but...”

  “It was one of the conditions of her release. I was surprised Mia withdrew the charges.”

  “What I understand from the hospital gossip is that Tom made her sign the complaint. Whit and he ganged up on her. Then Whit shanghaied her, left her at her parent’s place in Chicago before leaving for New Jersey,” Burt said.

  “Why didn’t she answer your calls?”

  “Doesn’t have her phone. Beth, she did call me though. I barely remember it. The nurse put the phone to my ear. I was still restrained at the time.”

  “Well then, I’ll have to take the pins out of my Mia voodoo doll.”

  “Plus, she sent Father Santos,” Burt said distractedly. “If it weren’t for him...”

  “Santos! You’ve met Santos! Oh my god, what’s he like?”

  Burt gave the best account he could of the priest’s visit. “Understand, I wasn’t at my best at the time.”

  “Ted and I just missed him. He left the station mere minutes before we pulled in.”

  “Why was he there?”

  “Amber was possessed, you freaking idiot,” Beth said exasperated. “I heard a lot of Latin was said, and no one was allowed back there.”

  “So she’s okay?”

  “As okay as Amber gets.” Beth packed up her gear. “So when are you getting out of here?”

  “The doctor has to sign off on me, and then I have an exit interview with the staff psychologist who is convinced I am bat-shit crazy.”

  “Look at the evidence, you believe in ghosts, Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny,” Beth said dryly.

  “Get out of here,” Burt said.

  “That’s what I’m doing. Later,” she said and walked out the door.

  ~

  Ralph insisted that Mia clean up all the salt before Father Santos and friends arrived. “It just shows bad upbringing, salt everywhere. Hell, this is no better than the corner diner.”

  “He’s the one who told me about the salt,” Mia complained.

  “I’m sure he would be a bit put off with the rosary being used as a piece of hardware.” Ralph picked it up and tried to unbend some of the links Mia had damaged.

  “Ladies, please, a little peace.” Bernard walked through after hunting down enough silverware. “You would not believe what that crazy woman was using the forks for... bookmarks.”

  “What a whack job. Butter knives would have made more sense,” Mia said smiling.

  “Now don’t you start,” Bernard said as he waved a finger at her.

  The doorbell rang, and Mia went to the door and looked through the peephole. On the other side were Father Santos, a very tall man and a waif. She opened the door and tried to look less Cooper and more sane.

  Father Santos came in and wrinkled his nose.

  “We know... We can’t find the source,” Mia said quietly.

  He was followed by a giant of a man dressed in a very black suit. Mia’s head was even with his very expensive Italian belt. His black eyes twinkled as he smiled down at her. She was instantly filled with awe and reverence. Mia felt all the tension melt away as she looked into his eyes - because of this, she briefly wondered if he was God.

  “Hello, Mia, I’m Angelo Michaels.”

  “Angelo,” Mia repeated as he passed.

  Next came a very pale woman who could not have been much older than Mia. Her eyes blinked as she looked at Mia. She reached out and touched her hair. “I thought for sure it would have been white.”

  Mia leaned forward and whispered, “Preference by L’Oreal.”

  “Ah, I get the strangest looks with mine. I’m Sabine.”

  “Mia. Nice to meet you, Sabine,” she said and waited for the last two people, that were revealed as Angelo moved out of the doorway, to stop fighting long enough to enter the apartment.

  She thought she had caught a West Indies accent in the midst of a heated debate on the Chicago mass transit system. The other voice was familiar. It belonged to her Aunt Beverly on her father’s side.

  “You look as if you’ve seen a ghost,” Beverly said as she spied Mia standing open-mouthed at the door.

  “You’re dead. I went to your funeral,” Mia squeaked.

  “Her breath may smell like death, but I assure you, young woman, your aunt is alive. I am Gerald Shem.”

  “Mr. Shem, I’m not joking. I saw her in her coffin. I watched them lower it into the earth, and I helped...”

  “Pelt it with dirt clods,” Beverly finished. “Don’t call him Mr. Shem, call him Gerald. Lord, girl, you haven’t changed... Well, the bangs and throat bruising are new, aren’t they?” She put a hand to Mia’s throat and lifted her hair with the other hand. “Tsk, tsk. A - what did you call it - overlay, yes, an overlay did this?”

  “Yes, and I was dead for two minutes. I can admit it, how about you?” Mia demanded.

  “Okay, the IRS was hounding me, and I didn’t have the cash so...”

  “You faked your death. Does my father know?”

  “No, I think you’re the first Cooper to find out. Congrats.” Beverly walked in and helped herself to the best chair.

  Mia closed the door, mouthing “What the hell?” to Bernard who raised a hand and gave her a puzzled smile.

  It took a few minutes for the group to get settled. Bernard managed to find Charles Cooper’s liquor cache. He almost fainted when not only did the cabinet contain booze but glasses as well. Mia patiently took the drink orders and returned with refreshments for everyone, including her dead Aunt Bev.

  Father Santos got up and updated the group on what happened with his visitation with Burt Hicks and Amber Day.

  “So Chastity is gone but not destroyed,” Mia confirmed.

  “If we can find her body then...”

  “We can send her on,” Sabine completed.

  “Okay, Bernard, you said you had some information.”

  Bernard looked at Mia, and she nodded at him to take charge. He started with the information they had gathered, cited their source material - at the mention of the box, the group could not help but glance its way - and came to a conclusion.

  “You’re saying a Hellfire Club here in Illinois,” Bev snorted.

  “It’s not impossible...” Gerald started. “Seems to me, throughout history, that wherever the rich and bored reside, we have seen groups like these, people with god complexes, superior na
rcissists with little to no regard for humanity.”

  “Wouldn’t we already know?” argued Bev.

  “Not if the financiers died out there. It takes money to bribe officials to look the other way. There were rumors,” Bernard said.

  “Out at Cold Creek Hollow I have always felt an evil lurking. When the three remaining houses were restored, something woke up.” Mia just stared at a fixed spot in space and continued, “It got hungry, and it started hunting. I saw through Sherry’s eyes how it got to her. It lured her, made promises and then took pleasure in destroying her. It tried to take April, but Murphy put an end to that. When Burt and his team ventured into the foundations of the church, it lashed out, pushed and pulled a man of over six feet and two hundred plus pounds into the basement and held him there. It didn’t do it alone, did it, Father?”

  “He said he felt six or seven sets of hands,” Father Santos replied.

  “Rebecca Winfield talked about ‘the club.’ Maybe this club was meeting in or below the church basement when it was struck by lightning.”

  “It seems to me that with that many males around and the river being so accessible, at that time, that they wouldn’t have lost so many houses. Now if the men were trapped and perished in the fire... I’m just saying... it’s a possibility,” Sabine pointed out.

  “My old friend, John Ryan, who’s the sheriff there, looked into the archives and found a higher than average occurrence of suicides in the population in and surrounding the hollow. Not all hangings but unnatural deaths to be sure,” Father Santos said solemnly.

  “I think we need to look deeper into Cold Creek Hollow,” Angelo said to the group. “An evil has risen up, and it’s preying on innocent men and women.”

  “So we are agreed to take a deeper look into the hollow?” Father Santos asked.

  Each of the members nodded. Mia was impressed by the solidarity of the people who shared their knowledge and talents for the fight against paranormal evil. With these people Mia felt a kinship. With them, she was ordinary and accepted.

  Now that the business was finished, people started to fight over takeout menus. Bev and Gerald behaved badly, and Sabine kept touching Mia’s hair. Ralph eventually got them calmed down by organizing the food orders. By the time it arrived, shoes were kicked off and stories were told, most of them about Mia’s aunt Bev.

  Sabine sidled up to Mia and sat down, resisting the urge to touch her hair again, and asked, “Mia, have you had any experience with bilocation?”

  Mia shook her head slowly, “No, I haven’t, you?”

  “Briefly. I started out meditating, and when my mind wandered, so did I. I was so scared that I wouldn’t be able to return to my body. Another lost soul amongst all the others.”

  “Tell me about it,” Mia urged.

  “Bev had mentioned that I could use meditation to relieve myself of some of the nervous anxiety I’m prone to. I never really did it before so I got a tape from Gerald. Again, stupid me. I should have researched meditation before jumping in - not that you can’t just jump in. It’s because of my condition that I shouldn’t. But I threw caution to the wind and started. First, I felt a sense of peace. That’s when I wished I could be this calm at the market and...” Sabine paused and leaned closer, “I felt myself lifting up, and I floated about myself. Next thing that happened was, I was moving at great speed through walls, even brick walls. I was out in the air but couldn’t feel a breeze. It was a vacuum but not silent. I caught bits of conversation amongst the living and the dead.”

  Mia turned full in her seat towards Sabine and reached over and held her hands in hers. “Do continue, leave nothing out.”

  “I found myself at the market. Then I panicked. I didn’t really know how I got there so how was I going to get home!” Sabine was breathless and stopped for a moment to calm herself. “Then I floated over to the checkout and saw Bev!”

  “No way!”

  “Yes, she was buying some smokes - I know, disgusting habit, but pure Bev. I moved up to her and said, ‘Bev, it’s Sabine. I’m out of my body, and I can’t get home.’ She first frowned and wiggled her little finger in her ear - yes, another disgusting habit - before saying, ‘Sabine, think about your body and where it is now.’ I did, and I got back. But along the way I found I could interact with the entities we would label as ghosts.”

  “You were fortunate to find Bev.”

  “Yes, if it weren’t for her disgusting habits, I would still be out there floating around.” Sabine’s eyes got really big before she smiled at Mia. “I feel so good being able to tell someone who understands.”

  “I’m glad. So what did you call this?”

  “Bilocation. I’m not sure, but I think it could be developed and used as a tool to interact with earthbound entities.”

  “What happens to your body while you’re gone?” Mia asked worried.

  “It lies there, like you’re asleep. I wouldn’t leave it in a public place or you may find yourself in danger. It’s your essence, your soul that leaves.”

  “What’s so interesting that has you girls wrapped up together?” Bev asked, moving to sit down next to the two.

  “Bilocation,” Sabine whispered.

  “Ah, that nonsense you got yourself into...”

  “Yes, that nonsense,” she replied airily.

  “Well, next time stay closer to home. Oh, Sabine, could you ask Ralph for a top off?” she asked, handing Sabine her glass.

  Sabine got up, and Bev sat nearer to Mia. “Mia, honey, I am sorry about the whole funeral thing. I wouldn’t have done it except it seemed like the only way out.”

  “But your mother died expecting to see you in heaven.”

  Bev raised a hand. “She’ll get over it. I heard you inherited my fortune.”

  “Oh, I guess so,” Mia said as she raised her eyebrows. “Problem?”

  Bev laughed. “I guess not, but I may hit you up for a loan from time to time.”

  Mia smiled, not committing to anything.

  “You’re a smart girl. I thought you’d be more like your mother, but aside from a couple of blonde genes, I can barely see her in you.”

  “Thank you.”

  “Yes, yes, that’s a compliment, isn’t it? Darling, she... Well I want to say something nice about her, but I can’t. And my brother dear has a reckoning coming.” Bev wiggled in her seat until she found a comfortable spot. “I bet this is horsehair,” she hissed.

  Mia laughed. Sabine came back with Bev’s drink, and the three of them gossiped until the food arrived.

  Chapter Forty-one

  It rained on Sherry’s funeral. The rain fell hard and cold. Traditional black umbrellas covered the mourners who had a hard time hearing the pastor above the pelting of the rain. Whit thought it was as if the heavens were making a comment about a body but no soul. Where was Sherry? Was she back home painting gray mist or tormenting Mia Cooper? Or did she move on to paint glorious sunsets with the other angels or, as Sherry liked to call them, “the saints of paints.”

  A vicious thunderclap hurried the dropping of roses and the giving of condolences. Soon, he was the only one standing as the rain turned the turf into mud. “Sherry, I don’t know if you can hear me. I miss you. If you are stuck there, I’ll find a way to release you. I’ll find out who took your life, and he will pay.” Whit took one last look at the mud-covered coffin and walked away.

  ~

  Mia walked around the apartment looking at it with new eyes. Gone was the overwhelming darkness of old leather and paper. Ralph had, within a few moments, brought light and life into the space. The meeting last evening had been an interesting one. Mia hoped to hear from Father Santos when the group had decided on a course of action. Gone from the kitchen was the box. The salt had been swept away, and a blessing had been said.

  Father Santos reminded the group, “It’s not in our power to determine why evil exists, only to fight it with God’s blessing.”

  The meeting broke up around midnight with Ralph and B
ernard staying until every plate was washed. Hugs and promises to talk soon were given.

  There was a sense of peace there now, but still Mia’s mind was in turmoil. A night of bad dreams hadn’t helped to ease her anguish.

  She pulled on her coat, refilled her coffee cup and left the apartment. Mia descended the stairs and stepped out the front door. She looked up the street and was reassured by the fireman sitting on his stoop. She walked up to him. “Mind if I have a seat?”

  He gazed down at her a moment and dropped his hand in the direction of the steps.

  Mia sat down and took a sip of her coffee. “You got a name?” she asked.

  He dropped down beside her and ran his hand along his arm.

  “Hairy, um, Harry?”

  The soot-covered ghost smiled.

  “Harry, I’m Mia. Nice to meet you.” She took another sip of coffee. “You die here?”

  He nodded.

  “Do you know why you’re still here?”

  Harry pulled out a crucifix from under his shirt.

  “Purgatory?”

  He put the cross back in his shirt. Mia noticed that he was missing a couple of fingers and half of his left hand. She grabbed her fingers and asked. “You lose these in the fire?”

  Harry nodded and indicated that his wedding band was missing.

  “Oh, Harry,” she said understanding. “Can you show me where you died?”

  He got up and waited for her to stand. He went through the door. Mia tried the door and found it locked.

  “A little help here,” she said and felt the knob give under her hand. The door opened, and she walked in. The brownstone exterior hid the damage well. The staircase was scarred with black scorch marks. It looked like a renovation was taking place on the first floor. The absence of workmen puzzled Mia, but Chicago was a city of permits and union labor. She figured that she may have lucked out, arriving on a lull in construction.

  The fireman motioned her to move forward, pointing at the exposed beams of the basement. Mia walked slow, balancing each step. She glanced below and winced as the floor of the basement was a good twelve feet below her. Harry pointed to the floor, and soon he lay where his crumbled body gave out on him. Mia worked her way around and found a stairway downwards. She reached Harry, and he pointed upwards. She looked up through the burned hole in the first floor and beyond to the burned-out flight of stairs on the second floor.