A shiver ran down her spine, and her eyes widened in fear. This was bad, very bad. Going against her normal curiosity, she threw in the towel.
“Let’s go!” She grabbed Faith by the arm. Quickly, she led her and Kyle towards the main doorway. There was no way she was going back through the dark passageway. “I’m serious. If anything starts to happen just run,” she said as Faith slipped behind her.
The loud sound of a slap from behind her made her spin around. Faith cried out and pulled away from her. Her face was red. “What the fu—” Faith squawked, furiously rubbing her cheek.
“We need to get out of here. Now! Let’s go,” Shawn repeated forcefully.
The three of them raced out of the kitchen and returned to the sitting room. Althea and Lanie looked over at them with concern. Kyle sat on the floor and tried to calm himself. “That was really weird,” he said. Faith just stood by Shawn’s side and rubbed her cheek. Shawn reached up and touched the reddened spot.
“Are you all right?” she asked tenderly.
“What the hell was that?” Shawn could hear the fear in Faith’s voice.
“Where did the three of you go?” Althea asked.
“I’m so glad I’m staying in the van tonight,” Kyle blurted out with obvious relief. “Not staying here.” He rocked back and forth like a frightened child.
“Someone slapped me,” Faith told the others.
“Did they say anything?” Shawn asked, moving closer to Faith.
“‘Sinner,’” Faith said with a grunt.
“Does someone want to tell me what’s going on?” Althea asked.
Shawn chuckled slightly, more out of fear than humor. “It appears that our entity is hostile,” she said. “Probably a poltergeist. They tend to be more physical than your ordinary ghost.”
“Hostile?” Faith groused. “Excuse me, but this sucker is more than hostile, it’s violent. I don’t get it. The guys went in there earlier and nothing happened,” she said. “Did it?”
“Nothing like what I just saw,” Kyle answered. “It was just an empty kitchen.”
“Maybe it doesn’t like women,” Shawn said. “And the kitchen is where the murders took place,” she added in a low voice.
“Excuse me?” Faith looked startled. “Murder? Wait, you said murders, as in more than one?”
“I think so.” Shawn still trembled from what had happened in the kitchen. “I get a sense of something.” She shook her head, frustrated. “I can’t quite grasp the image. Are you all right?”
“I… um,” Faith stammered.
The normally controlled woman seemed flustered and more than a little frightened. “Faith, whatever we encountered is simply energy trapped in this plane of existence,” Shawn said, hoping to calm the ashen-faced Faith.
“Oh, really? Well, it isn’t very comforting when a professional ghost hunter and psychic tells you to run,” Faith pointed out. “I’ve filmed about a dozen of these things with you, and not once did you say ‘let’s get out of here.’ Usually it’s all earthy-crunchy ‘I feel a presence’ kind of crap. ‘Let’s get out of here, now’ is the type of thing I usually hear when people are shooting at each other or bombs are going off.”
“Will someone please tell me what happened?” Althea looked from one to the other.
“I got the whole thing on tape,” Kyle said.
“Let me see.” She rushed over eagerly.
Althea watched the playback. “This is thrilling!”
* * *
As it grew dark, candles were lit and the crew set about preparing to film. “We need more light in here,” Althea said.
“You said candles,” Jasper said.
“Look, I want spooky but we still need to see the house and the talent. Bring in some lights from the van and run the cables out.”
“Hey, if it’s spooky you want, just try getting a bagel from the kitchen,” Faith said. “That was a really eerie encounter.”
“This is going great.” Althea beamed while Kyle and Jasper scurried about to fill her demands.
“Great?” Faith asked.
“Yeah, with what Shawn said at the cemetery and then with the whole thing in the kitchen. We even picked up a voice calling you a sinner on the tape. It’s very faint and could have been a gust of wind, but if you listen real closely, you can hear it.”
“The batteries are dead again,” Kyle grumbled, interrupting the conversation.
Everyone groaned in exasperation. It wasn’t an uncommon occurrence on these assignments. Entities drew energy from whatever source they could find. The crew’s equipment was a favorite source of power. “What happened at the cemetery?” Faith asked Shawn while Kyle went in search of new batteries for the cameras.
“I just sensed something,” Shawn said, and Faith glared at her. “Okay, I sensed that two people who should be there aren’t,” she tried to explain.
“I’m not liking this gig,” Faith said. She looked towards Althea. “I know you wanted us to be surprised, but this is ridiculous.”
“I think it’s safe to say that Whispering Pines is haunted,” Shawn concluded.
“No kidding,” Faith shot back sarcastically. “I think that was confirmed when something slapped me.”
“I can see you’re troubled by that,” Shawn said.
“Well, yeah.” Faith waved her arms frantically. “Other than the nuns back in school and one ex-girlfriend, someone slapping me across the face isn’t something I’m accustomed to.”
“Maybe if you hadn’t cheated on her, the girlfriend, not the nuns, she wouldn’t have slapped you,” Shawn said, not really comfortable with the idea of someone reacting violently.
Faith pulled Shawn off to the side. “How much did you see when you took that tour around my head?” she asked in a low voice.
“That, my dear, was just an educated guess.” Shawn laughed in response. “All I saw was you caught in a war zone and you watching me get out of my car earlier today.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“Okay, one little blurb of you having sex, but that’s it,” Shawn said.
“That’s it?”
“That was more than enough, thank you very much.” Shawn was growing weary of the conversation. “Don’t you find this place interesting?”
“No. I find this place scary,” Faith said. Shawn rejoined the others, and Faith followed.
Lanie primped while reviewing her script. Althea set everything up for Kyle and Jasper to start filming. Once everything was in place, they began. Althea gave Lanie her cue as the camera began to film in front of the fireplace.
“Welcome to Whispering Pines,” Lanie said. “This mansion was built in 1907 by sea captain Horatio Stratton. Captain Stratton had amassed a small fortune, though no one knows where the money came from. He settled here with his young bride, Anna, just outside of the small seacoast town of Stewart, Massachusetts. He built Whispering Pines deep in the woods.
“By all accounts, Captain Stratton was a cold, distant man who rarely ventured into town. Anna, on the other hand, was well liked by the townspeople. The couple lived alone. Their servants weren’t allowed to stay on the premises after nightfall, even when the captain was away at sea. Somewhere around 1912, Captain Stratton’s spinster sister, Catherine, came to live with them.”
Both Faith and Shawn rolled their eyes at the term “spinster.” Lanie continued her monologue for the camera. “The two women were often seen together in and around town and seemed to be very close. No one could have predicted what happened on the morning of October 31, 1916. The servants arrived early that morning and discovered Captain Stratton alone in the house, sitting calmly in this very room, smoking his pipe. What the maid found in the kitchen sent her screaming from the house. The kitchen was covered with blood. Captain Stratton never offered an explanation, he simply instructed the staff who were brave enough to remain behind to clean up the mess in the kitchen.
“His wife and sister were never seen again. Despite rumors and in
quiries by the local authorities, no one ever learned what happened in this house eighty-six years ago this very night. Not even Captain Stratton’s young son, Richard, who had been away at boarding school at the time, ever discovered the truth. Captain Stratton simply lived out his life in solitude until his death at the age of eighty-nine, quite possibly taking a dark secret with him to the grave. The son, Richard Stratton, built his home on the very edge of this property, and when his father died, Richard left Whispering Pines and its dark secrets behind.
“Over the years, several of Captain Stratton’s descendants have tried living in this once-elegant mansion. No one has managed to stay for an entire night. Dr. Shawn Williams and reporter Faith Charles have agreed to spend Halloween night here. Dr. Williams wants to learn the secrets hidden here at Whispering Pines. Ms. Charles wants to prove that the local legends are nothing but a myth.”
“Cut,” Althea called out.
“Nice guy.” Faith scowled. “Anyone else think he killed them?”
“That would explain what I felt at the cemetery,” Shawn said. “Anna and Catherine are the ones who aren’t buried with the family, and Stratton is the reason why. He killed them and hid the bodies, denying them a decent burial.”
“Maybe we should do another shot in the kitchen before we leave the two of you alone,” Althea suggested.
“No.” Faith and Shawn flatly refused.
“I’d rather walk through broken glass,” Faith said with vehemence.
“What has gotten into the two of you? The last shoot I did with you guys, you willingly crawled into a rat-infested dungeon,” Althea said.
“We also did tequila shooters with the crew before we went in there,” Faith said.
“You what?”
“She’s kidding,” Shawn reassured her. It was a lie, but Althea didn’t need to know that they had decided to celebrate Shawn’s birthday a little early. It was a boring shoot in England where nothing remotely interesting was happening, except the constant rain.
“Look,” Faith said, “a few rodents is one thing, but being bitch-slapped by some unseen entity that probably hacked his family up just for kicks is not my idea of a good time.”
“We’ll all go in together,” Althea offered.
“All of us?” Lanie squeaked.
“More camera time.” Althea tried to bribe the self-centered blonde.
“Normally, I’d be all over that,” Lanie said, “but when Faith comes running in looking like she just wet her pants, I don’t think so.”
“Jasper, you and Lanie go first and take shots of the kitchen.” Althea ignored their protests. “Kyle, Faith, Shawn, and I will bring up the rear. Come on, people,” she urged the nervous-looking group. “Shawn, how can you pass this up? You have the great Faith Charles willing to admit on camera that there’s something here.”
Not totally convinced, the crew nevertheless gathered their equipment and Lanie and Jasper went off to the kitchen. Shawn and Faith listened carefully to the radio contact they shared with Althea. They were nervous, but after a few moments, it was more than apparent that nothing was happening.
Reluctantly, Shawn followed Kyle and Althea back to the kitchen while Faith trailed behind them, once again clutching at Shawn’s shirt. As they stepped into the kitchen, Shawn was shocked that it was now warm and absolutely nothing was happening.
“Maybe it’s gone,” Faith said as they stepped farther into the room.
Just as the words escaped her mouth, Shawn felt uneasy. The temperature suddenly plummeted. “Why is it cold all of a sudden?” Althea asked as everyone looked around nervously.
Shawn’s heart pounded against her chest. She could feel something closing in around her. “Sinner,” the same low voice from earlier hissed into her ear while a cold hand gripped her throat and began to choke her. She struggled to breathe and was aware that Faith was trying to pull her away from whatever had a hold on her. Suddenly, Faith went flying across the room as if someone had shoved her.
Faith struggled to her feet. Shawn fought to free herself from the icy hand that gripped her throat. The others managed to free her before rushing both her and Faith out of the room. Once they were safely back in the sitting room, Faith wrapped her arms around the trembling Shawn.
“Wow, whatever that is, it doesn’t like either of you,” Althea said, visibly shaken by the events.
“Kyle, shut the camera off!” Faith barked while she rubbed Shawn’s back. “What are you saying?”
Shawn felt the fear rolling off of Faith’s body. She also sensed that Faith felt a need to protect her. The thoughts that she sensed from Faith muddled the images of what was in the house that were filling her mind. Reluctantly, she pulled herself away from Faith’s tender embrace.
“It went after us,” Shawn said in a weary tone. “It didn’t bother anyone else except us.”
“Why?” Faith asked, keeping her voice level. Shawn could see that Faith was desperately trying to make sense out of what was happening. “Maybe it’s what you said earlier about it not liking women.”
“It didn’t do a thing to Althea or Lanie.” Shawn dismissed the theory. “Just the two of us.”
“And maybe Milo,” Faith added.
“I thought you drove Milo off?” Lanie piped in.
“No. Why does everyone think that I’m some kind of bully?”
“Did he say anything?” Shawn asked.
“No. He just took off like a scared rabbit.” Faith folded her arms across her chest in a defiant manner.
“Can we call him?” Jasper suggested as he put his camera down.
Instantly everyone reached for his or her cell phone. One by one, they each found the battery dead. “Every time we come to one of these spook houses, anything with a battery just dies,” Faith complained.
“They need the energy.” Shawn began to pace nervously.
“I’ll go out to the van and plug mine in,” Althea offered. “Why don’t you boys come along and bring your cameras? I’ll take the film and we can put fresh batteries in.”
Left alone, the three women paced nervously as every creak and gust of wind made them jump. After what seemed like an eternity, Althea returned alone. “Well?” Shawn asked hopefully.
“He touched the kitchen counter and saw blood everywhere,” Althea said in a shaky tone.
“Did it touch him?” Shawn asked.
“No. And the room temperature never changed. He said there was so much blood the walls looked like they were bleeding and there was a woman screaming in agony. He did add that he had never seen anything quite so graphic or horrific, and that there was no way he was spending the night in this house. Speaking of which, it’s getting late and I need to know if the two of you are going to bolt. Honestly, I wouldn’t blame you.”
“I’m staying.” Shawn bent over and picked up her sleeping bag.
“Me, too,” Faith said, “but I’m staying out of the kitchen.”
“I’ll have one of the boys move the food out here.” Althea waved to Lanie. “Come on, Lanie, we’re camping out in the van.”
Lanie was out the front door before Althea finished talking. Faith grunted. “Well, that gave me a sense of comfort.” She grabbed her sleeping bag and looked at Shawn. “Do you want to bunk down here?”
“There’s a room on the second floor I got a very warm feeling from. I think we’ll be happier up there,” Shawn answered.
“Now you tell me,” Faith said.
After Althea gave them a set of handheld radios and Kyle moved the food out into the sitting room, they were left on their own. The lights the crew had installed for filming purposes began to dim. “Peachy,” Faith grumbled as they retrieved their flashlights. “So show me this room that gave you the warm fuzzies.”
Shawn led Faith up to the second floor, feeling a strange sense of comfort as they passed by the cameras that had been installed in the empty house. The doorknob to the room felt warm when Shawn turned it. They both stood in the doorway, staring at the si
ght of a fire burning in the fireplace.
“Althea?” Shawn said into her radio. “Did you have one of the guys light a fire in one of the upstairs rooms?”
“Um, no,” Althea responded hesitantly. “Are you getting the fire in the shot?” she heard Althea say to her crew.
“Can you see us?” Shawn asked.
“Yes. We got the fire, too.”
“I’m thrilled,” Shawn said.
“I guess we’re expected,” Faith said as they stepped into the room.
Shawn found the room warm and inviting. She looked around, smiling at the welcoming feeling that encompassed her. Shawn and Faith shared a warm glance before they placed their sleeping bags onto the floor. “Do you notice anything about the room?” Shawn asked.
“Besides the warm, cozy fire that apparently started all by itself?” Faith nudged her sleeping bag closer to Shawn’s with her foot.
“No dust,” Shawn said.
“You’re right,” Faith replied thoughtfully as she looked around. “Strange, since the rest of the house is covered with it.”
Shawn stifled a laugh when Faith once again nudged her sleeping bag closer to hers. “You know, if you keep doing that, we might as well zip them together,” Shawn teased her.
“Okay,” Faith agreed.
“Knock it off, you two. This is network television,” Althea said over the radio.
“Killjoy,” Faith grumbled. “I like this room. It feels safe and warm.”
“According to the floor plans, it was Anna’s bedroom,” Althea said.
“No wonder it’s so big,” Shawn said. “As the lady of the house, she would have had to entertain her guests up here whenever her husband was away at sea.”
“Excuse me?” Faith asked, her curiosity seemingly piqued.
“It was a custom to close off the formal sitting rooms and entertain lady guests for sewing or tea in her bedroom whenever her husband was at sea,” Shawn explained. “Also, she wouldn’t throw any formal dinners or parties.”
“Not a bad deal.” Faith chuckled. “The hubby is away for months or years, and your girlfriends hang out in your bedroom.”
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