Dark Soul (Haunted America Book 2), page 4
“You’re so brave, Hildy. If it had been me, I would have already packed my bags.”
“I don’t feel brave, Liz. I’m terrified. I just know I have to find out what happened here, and why this place is different.”
“You’re braver than you think, Hildy.” Lizzy gave me a quick hug as the guys walked our way.
Charlie stopped in front of me and shared what they had been discussing while they prepared the equipment. “Okay, so here’s the game plan, we are going to do a walkthrough of all three floors together tonight, and then tomorrow we will break off into groups. Does that sound good?” Lizzy and I nodded.
Oliver took the lead with one camera, with Lizzy following close behind, I fell in behind Liz with Charlie beside me, and Cooper brought up the rear with the second camera.
We walked the entire bottom floor, including the old servant’s quarters with no incident. I was feeling confident that maybe, just maybe, we wouldn’t run into whatever I had encountered earlier.
I was wrong.
We started walking up the stairs to the second floor, and I almost tripped when I caught sight of what was waiting for us at the top.
Simon Clayton.
Blood dripped down his body from the large gash in his throat and he was staring right at me. I stopped moving up the stairs and grabbed Charlie’s hand.
“Hildy, what is it?
“Do you see him?” I whispered to Charlie. Everyone froze at my words. Oliver and Cooper aimed their cameras toward the top of the stairs, but I knew that Simon wasn’t allowing them to see him. He was there for me.
He raised his blood-soaked hand my way, pointed at me, and in a raspy voice said, “Follow me.” I began walking up the stairs, it was like I couldn’t control my legs. They were moving without me telling them to do so. My gran had told me about ghosts being able to do this sometimes, taking control of a person’s body by using their spiritual energy. I had never experienced it before now, and I could safely say, I hoped to never experience it again.
I reached the top of the stairs and turned left, heading toward the guest bedrooms.
“Hildy!” Charlie yelled.
“Charlie, just let her do her thing. We’re right behind her, we won’t let anything happen to her.” I heard Cooper tell Charlie from my dazed state.
I had lost sight of Simon, but I heard his ghostly voice say from farther down the hall, “This way.” I kept walking down the long hallway. I could hear the footsteps of the others trailing close behind me. We were coming to the end of the hallway when I saw Simon again. He was standing next to the door at the very end of the hall. Blood was pooling at his feet. He turned as if he was going to open the door, when suddenly, he vanished. The door slowly creaked open on its own, and I knew Simon had pushed it open even though I couldn’t see him. I began to come back to myself and I turned to find Charlie right behind me.
“What just happened?”
“I saw Simon Clayton. He wants us to go in there,” I said, shifting my attention toward the door.
“That was Mr. Clayton’s study,” Oliver said. “We aren’t supposed to go in there, it was one of Mrs. Whitley’s rules.”
I looked over my shoulder at him. “We have to. There is something in there I’m supposed to see. Why else would Simon lead me here?”
“Does anyone else find it weird how she’s calling a ghostly kid by his first name?” Cooper asked.
“Now is not the time, Cooper.” Charlie slashed a warning glare at him.
“I’m going in. You guys can stay out here if you want to, but I have to go in there.” I turned and made my way inside.
I knew Charlie would follow me, he would never let me go into an uncertain situation by myself. I looked around the dark study trying to find a light switch when across the room a lamp was turned on. I looked behind me and saw everyone else still standing in the doorway.
I motioned them forward, and then turned to take in the study. The room was a typical man’s room. It was solid white with a bookshelf on one wall, a long couch against another, and a large mahogany desk sat in the center of the room. The tall lamp that was currently on stood beside the couch. There was nothing on the desk, and like most of the house, the room was bare.
“Didn’t Mrs. Whitley say this room was full of priceless antiques she didn’t want us to accidently break or something?” Lizzy asked.
I nodded absentmindedly at her question.
“Look at that bookshelf,” Oliver said in amazement. He wandered over to the large shelf, trailing his finger along the spines. He began to pull books off the shelf to peer at the covers.
“So, what do you think you were supposed to find in this room?” Charlie asked. Suddenly, a loud grating sound came from where Oliver stood in front of the bookshelf. He held a book in one hand and was staring at the newly formed hole in the wall, where a section of the bookshelf once stood.
“Is that a secret passageway? Please tell me that is a secret passageway. That is so cool!” Cooper excitedly said, walking over to look inside. “It looks small, like it was built for a child or something. There’s no way a full-sized adult could fit in there.” At that comment, everyone turned to stare at me.
“What?” I asked, already knowing what they were thinking.
“Come on, short stuff. You know you’re the only one who can fit in there.”
“She doesn’t have to go in there if she doesn’t want to, Cooper. It’s dark in there. Not to mention creepy,” Lizzy said.
Oliver knelt down and pointed his flashlight in the small tunnel. “If Hildy could climb in a couple of feet for us to get a good shot of her in there, that would be enough.” He turned and looked at me hopefully.
“Hildy, you really don’t have to do this,” Charlie said. He eyed the passageway with disdain, and I knew what he really meant was, do not go in that tunnel. He was just trying to let me make my own decision.
“Fine. I’ll go in just a little ways,” I said, walking over to Cooper and Oliver.
They looked like little boys in a candy store.
I shifted my eyes to Charlie. “It will be fine, babe.”
He didn’t look so sure.
Oliver handed me his flashlight and I bent down to crawl inside.
“Nice view,” Cooper said jokingly.
“Look at her ass one more time, brother.” I heard Charlie growl. Someone was in a mood.
As I crawled deeper into the passageway, I realized it morphed into a staircase about five feet in and better yet, I could stand up. I pointed my flashlight up the stairs. There was no sign of Simon or any other ghosts.
“Is this far enough?” I yelled out at Oliver. I sat down on the bottom step and peered out of the opening. They were all crowded around the entrance and gazing in at me.
“Yeah, that’s perfect Hildy.”
I could hear Oliver giving me directions, but I was no longer listening to him. My attention was on the shuffling sound coming toward me.
“Charlie, I think there’s someone in here with me,” I said, shining my flashlight up the stairs.
“Come back out,” he demanded.
“What if it’s Simon?”
“I don’t care. Come out now.”
I glanced back at the entrance and I could see him looking in at me from the study. More like glaring at me. “Okay, I’m coming out.” I started to rise from my perch on the stairs, but before I could fully stand up, I felt a presence behind me. It was breathing on my neck.
“Charlie…” I wasn’t able to finish my sentence because whatever was behind me grabbed hold of my hair and yanked me up the stairs.
I screamed with everything that was in me.
“Hildy!” I heard Charlie yell. It sounded far away.
My hair felt like it was about to be pulled from my scalp, and my back hit every step on the way up. As quickly as it began, I stopped moving.
My entire body hurt.
I desperately looked around for whatever had dragged me up here. I couldn’t see a thing. I had dropped my flashlight at some point on my journey up the stairs. There was a small window that had drapes currently covering it. I rushed over to move them out of the way, hoping that I could get a sliver of light in from the moon. Luck was finally on my side. There wasn’t much light coming in, but it was enough.
I was standing in what appeared to be a playroom. Toys littered the floor, and from the layer of dust that covered them, I would say no one had been up here in ages. Two dolls laid propped up next to each other against the wall, and there were several puzzles laying in various places on the floor. The room appeared frozen in time, waiting for the children to come back to resume their activities.
There was a small shelf that stood in the corner full of children’s books. I dropped to my knees and ran my fingers along the spines of them. I stopped when I got to a brown covered book that seemed out of place from the rest. I pulled it off the shelf and opened it to the first page. It was a journal. More importantly, it was Mary Clayton’s journal. This was what I was supposed to find. I tucked the journal under my arm.
I stood up, tuned back around, and came face to face with the ghost of Mary Clayton. I recognized her from the many pictures I had seen of her when she was alive. She was dressed in a long, flowing nightgown. There was water cascading down her body and dripping on the floor. Her hair was plastered to her head and face, obviously from the water. It was long and hung down to her waist. My gran used to say that a person’s eyes, dead or living, was the door to their soul. You could judge all intentions, just from one glimpse. Mary’s eyes were sad and lost as they gazed into mine, but I sensed no ill intent from them. I didn’t know what to do. She didn’t feel evil.
My breath left me in a whoosh as I realized what that meant. Whatever evil I felt in this house, it wasn’t Mary Clayton.
She tilted her head as if she was listening for something. She looked behind her and then back at me. “Run.”
I didn’t hesitate.
I whirled around and dashed blindly down the stairs.
I felt something dark and evil closing in behind me.
“Charlie!” I screamed at the top of my lungs. I started taking the stairs two at a time.
I could hear my name being called from farther down the stairs and I knew I was almost there.
Laughter erupted in the passageway. The raspy sound sent chills up my arms. It almost had me. I saw light coming around the next turn in the staircase and I ran faster.
Finally, I could see the opening, and Charlie.
His eyes went over my shoulder and widened at whatever he saw.
“Run, Hildy! Run, baby. Don’t stop!” He yelled. I had never seen him look so afraid.
He could see it. Whatever it was.
I cleared the last stair and dove for the small doorway. I sent the journal sailing through the opening. Charlie grabbed my outstretched hands and began to pull me through, when something grabbed a hold of my ankle.
It burned.
“Something has my foot!” I cried out. It was strong. I could feel my sweat slicked hands slipping from Charlie’s. His eyes were full of fear and determination.
“Don’t let go, please, don’t let go.”
The thing cackled over my shoulder. It thought it had won. It gave my ankle a hard yank and I slipped back into the tunnel.
Sweat ran down Charlie’s forehead as he held on with his full strength and tried to drag me back his way. I could hear him yelling something, but my brain couldn’t comprehend what he was saying. I was too scared.
It gave my foot one more solid pull, and just when I thought it had won, Cooper and Oliver reached in and grabbed my arms. They began to pull me back in the room and the thing screamed in outrage. With one more hard pull, I went flying out of the tunnel and landed in Charlie’s arms. Oliver slammed the door shut behind me.
We laid sprawled in stunned silence for a few minutes before the adrenaline finally left me and the first sob wracked my body. Charlie cradled me in his arms and slowly began rocking back and forth. I burrowed into him.
He just held me for a while.
Finally, I was able to get my emotions under control. I lifted my head and looked at Charlie and almost started crying again. The raw emotion on his face was unbearable.
“I got you.” It was almost like he was reassuring himself more than me.
“Yeah, you do.” I leaned my head back against his chest.
“Hildy?” I heard a weepy sounding Lizzy say. I turned around and looked at her, Oliver, and Cooper.
They were sitting right behind us, and when I turned, Lizzy wrapped me in her arms and held me tight. When she let go, Oliver and Cooper took turns hugging me and making sure for themselves I was all right.
“Let me see your ankle,” Charlie said.
I sat back against his chest and lifted my left leg to show him my foot.
“What the hell?” Cooper grabbed hold of my ankle and tilted it, so everyone could see it. There was a blackened hand print that wrapped completely around my ankle and the top of my foot. Lizzy and Oliver wore matching shocked expressions. Oliver reached behind him and grabbed his camera and began filming. I didn’t mind, but Charlie looked annoyed, and when he opened his mouth to say something, I placed my hand on his arm and shook my head.
He didn’t act surprised about the handprint. Then I remembered the look on his face when I was running toward him.
“You saw it, didn’t you?” I could tell by the haunted look in his eyes that he had.
“I can’t talk about it now. I just can’t, Hildy.” He cupped my face in his hands. “We can talk about it tomorrow, in the daylight. I can’t think about it in the dark. Okay?”
I nodded, then turned my head and kissed his palm.
We sat there in silence for a little bit, just being together, and safe.
After a while, Charlie pulled out his phone to check the time. It’s almost 10:00. Why don’t we call it a night? We can meet after breakfast tomorrow and discuss where we go from here.”
We stood, Cooper reaching out a hand and easing me from Charlie’s lap. When I tried to put pressure on my foot, I hissed in pain. Without any hesitation, Charlie swept me up in his arms. He started to walk out of the room when I remembered the journal.
“Wait,” I looked frantically around the floor, releasing a breath of relief when I saw it lying beside the couch. “Charlie, I found Mary Clayton’s journal while I was in there.” I pointed to where it lay at the end of the couch, and Cooper walked over to pick it up from the floor. He moved back toward the door and handed it to me.
“There must be something really juicy in there for a ghost to want it so bad,” Cooper said.
I stared down at the journal in my hand and absently nodded my head in agreement.
“Be sure to turn out the light, Coop. We don’t want Mrs. Whitley to know we were in here,” Charlie said, striding out the door.
The light went off and Cooper came out in the hallway, quietly shutting the door behind us.
We walked to the end of the hallway until we came to Lizzy and Oliver’s room at the opposite end from the study.
“Are you guys going to be okay down here?” Charlie asked.
“Yeah, we should be,” Oliver replied, opening their door.
“Wait, should be?” Lizzy asked as Oliver pulled her inside the room.
“Night guys” Oliver said over Lizzy, who kept rambling on about the safety precautions they should take.
I smiled, listening to Lizzy as the door closed.
We reached the top of the first flight of stairs and Cooper turned to us with a serious expression on his face.
“I know you are busy worrying about us down here, but the million-dollar question is, are you guys going to be okay up there on the third floor? You can stay down here with me, or I can camp out on your floor.”
“I appreciate the offer, but I think we should be fine.” Charlie clapped him on the back and walked toward the other staircase.
“Goodnight!” Cooper called as he bounded down the stairs.
Charlie hefted me in his arms and started the trek to the third floor. We walked in silence. I knew both of our minds were still back in that study and what had almost happened there.
We moved down the long hallway. Charlie only stopped long enough to open the bedroom door and close it behind us.
I figured he would set me down on the bed, but he bypassed it and walked straight to the bathroom.
He strode into the room and sat me on the countertop. Then he turned toward the shower. He reached in and turned the knob and stuck his hand under the water. The shower started steaming up and he turned around and made his way back to me. He whipped his shirt over his head and did the same with mine. We still didn’t speak. I watched him unbutton his jeans and pull them down his hips, he stepped out of them, then picked me up off the counter. He placed me on my feet and began undoing my own pants. I placed my hands on his and took over. I quickly took the rest of my clothes off and stepped under the hot spray of the water. Charlie joined me, and his hands went straight to my hair. He gently removed my hair from its bun and tossed my elastic tie on the pile of discarded clothes. He picked up my bottle of shampoo, he must have sat our bath things in here earlier, poured a generous amount in his hand and began to massage it in my hair. He leaned me back in the water and washed it out, and then grabbed my vanilla scented body wash and lathered it all over my body. After he rinsed all the suds off me, I repeated the process with him.
When we were clean, we stood there wrapped up in each other’s arms for a while, the hot water cascading down on us. Charlie just held me and gently stroked his hands down my body, comfortingly. We stayed that way until the water grew cold.
Charlie finally turned the water off and stepped out of the shower. He quickly dried himself off and then grabbed another towel and did the same to me. He swung me up in his arms again and walked back into the bedroom.
