Page 20 of Chasing Ghosts
“It looks like…like a bedroom.”
In the middle of the room sits a bed with a lamp on the table beside it and books and a little hand mirror.
“What is this place?” Our lights flash over the unsettling scene.
“I don’t know. It’s not on any of the blueprints for the house.” I know. I studied them extensively before I even got the go-ahead on the show. When I’m investigating a place, I am very thorough.
“It damn sure isn’t in the history of the island.” She gives me a cute as fuck look before taking another step into the room. “Why…why does it feel so…?”
“Repressive down here?”
“I was going to say terrifying, but yeah, repressive fits too.”
“There is a sense of…unease that just clogs the air. I'm not sure what it is?” I watch as she looks over everything in the room. “Are you alright?”
“Yeah. I’m good. For now.”
She goes over to a picture sitting on a dresser. When she turns to me, her eyes are huge and scared. “It’s…it’s Jebidiah Anders, Mac.”
“The cult leader?”
I take the picture from her trembling fingers and bring it closer to the light. She starts pulling the drawers out like she’s looking for something.
“All these clothes? They’re all women’s clothing.”
“This is…what? A hidden bedroom?”
“This isn’t a bedroom. It’s a cell.” She starts yanking out the drawers now and dropping them on the floor behind her.
“How do you know, Cori?”
She sticks her hand through one of the holes and pulls out a thick leather-bound book.
I cut the feed to my camera. “How did you know that was there?”
“I don’t know. I just…did.”
Chapter Fifteen
Cori
The book I found ended up being the diary of the madman who led one hundred and sixty people to their deaths. On purpose! One hundred and sixty people died to satisfy the power-hungry needs of one psychotic madman. He thought it would make him more powerful, thought he could collect souls of all the people he ‘took with him’. Reading it kind of made me sick to my stomach.
Especially when I got to the part about the thirteenth wife. When I find that little tidbit, I run to Mac. I think there’s something up with that number from the night me and Roxie did our EVP session, but I want to run it by Mac to find out what he thinks.
Before I can reach where he is talking to Theo and Ripley, I’m pulled up short by what I see. Standing on the other side of the room is a big, black shadow. The same…thing that was in my room the first night we came here. It moves in a serpentine slither, even though it’s in the shape of a man. And when it notices me, it starts moving towards the group.
“No!” All three heads turn to me as I rush to stop that thing.
I don’t make it halfway there before a force is picking me up off my feet and throwing me back. All I can do is hang onto the book in my hand and wait for my body to hit the ground. The force of…whatever happened is so strong my breath is knocked out of me. All I can do is lie on the floor and stare at the ceiling above me. Mac is the first person to reach me. “My God, what happened? Are you alright?” His hands go all over checking me to make sure I’m not hurt. All I can do is nod for him as I get my breath back. He helps me sit up, and I look around, but don’t see the dark thing lurking anywhere in the room anymore. “Jesus, next time you try to get attention, maybe don’t try so hard.” Ripley looks a little freaked out. “How did you even do it?” “Do it?” “Yeah. How did you pull yourself back like that?” Theo is on the other side of me and gives Ripley a ‘look’. “No way Cori would do something like that. We all saw her fly backwards. No one here would do that crap and risk injury to themselves. Not with the weather so bad and no boats coming and going.” “Cori wouldn’t do something as immature as that in the first place, but Theo’s right. Nobody would be that reckless. Mac’s defense of me catches Theo and Ripley by surprise. “You really believe something pushed her back? What? A ghost?!” Ripley starts going down the hallway I had just walked up. I guess she’s looking for wires or some sort of pulley.
The commotion has caused others to come find out what happened. Roxie runs over to check on me as I try to stand up.
“Easy, baby.”
The echo of gasps that circle us has my cheeks turning bright red.
“Baby?” It’s high-pitched, verging on a shriek, and comes right from Ripley. “Did you just call her baby?”
