Larue Donavon 3 - The Ghoul Next Door (23 page)

“
Where does this door lead?”
I asked as I twisted the doorknob.

Cooper stepped behind me, then
followed as I stepped into the dark space. As soon as he’d joined
me, the door slammed.

“
What the hell?” I said as I
pounded on my flashlight, but nothing happened. “My stupid light
won’t work. I can’t see anything.”

Cooper fumbled with the doorknob. “The
door is stuck.”

“
Oh, great. Just what I
need. I already can’t breathe. We’re going to die in here, then we
can haunt this place. This is exactly what this evil spirit wanted,
to kill me. Well, mission accomplished.”

“
Larue, you need to calm
down before you have a full-fledged panic attack.”

A scream pierced the air, bouncing off
the old walls.

“
Sounds as if someone is
being murdered down there,” Cooper said nonchalantly.

“
Maybe they are and we’re
stuck up here in a closet. We look like idiots. Where’s the camera
man? Excuse me, camera guy. Do you want to let us out?”

Shuffling noises sounded from the
other side of the door, then finally we were released. “Ugh. Thank
you. I couldn’t breathe in there.”

The camera man covered a laugh with
his hand. I knew this part of the footage wouldn’t get cut out of
the scene. See, I knew I’d end up making an ass out of myself on
TV. At least Cooper had been involved too. I didn’t want to be the
only idiot.

I tried to catch my breath after
almost being suffocated. “What was that scream?”

He shrugged. “I didn’t hear
anything.”

“
You didn’t hear a scream?”
Cooper asked.

He shook his head. “Nope.”

I grabbed my camera. “Come on. Let’s
head back downstairs and make sure everything is okay.”

After hurrying down the stairs, we
found everyone accounted for in the living room. Cooper and I
exchanged a glance. There was no point asking if someone had
screamed. We knew the spirits had only been playing a trick on us.
By the snickering fest Candy Cherry and Mr. Fine were involved in,
I had my suspicions that they’d somehow been involved.

“
I’m glad you all came back
down. We’ll take a break, okay?”

I nodded. That was fine by me. We
could call it a day for all I cared. Mindy grabbed my arm and
pulled me outside.

“
Let’s sit for a while,” she
said.

On the front lawn to the left of the
stone path was a small bench. Mindy and I sat in silence for a
minute, enjoying the brightly colored leaves and the crisp fall
air. The leaves on the branches above us rustled as if letting me
know I was being watched by an unseen presence. I was never
completely alone.

I knew something was on Mindy’s mind,
something heavy on her shoulders. I had put too much strain on our
relationship. I wouldn’t blame Mindy if she wanted to put distance
between us for a while.

Mindy didn’t have the same bounce in
her step. Her hair was flat to her head and the rosy glow from her
cheeks had vanished. I couldn’t let her continue to go into the
house with me.

“
Mindy?” I touched her arm
catching her attention. “I’m worried about you. I wouldn’t be upset
if you didn’t go back in there with me. It takes its toll, I know.
Believe me, I know.”

She stared at me. “That’s why I have
to go in there. I don’t want you to deal with this
alone.”

“
I’m not alone in there.
Cooper is with me. He can see and talk to the spirits. He knows
when they’re there. You don’t.”

“
But we are a team. I don’t
quit the team,” Mindy said.

She always knew how to make me smile.
“I know you don’t.”

That was the reason why I knew I could
always count on Mindy.

I looked at her. “There comes a time
when you have to quit. Players who have injuries quit the team. I
don’t want you to be injured beyond repair.”

She shook her head. “I won’t let that
happen.”

“
You aren’t going to take no
for an answer, are you?” I asked.

“
Would you?” She met my
gaze.

I paused, then answered, “No, I guess
I wouldn’t.”

Mindy pushed a strand of hair behind
her ear. “I won’t lie. I am afraid of this thing attaching to me
like it has Jennie, but I like to think I’m a strong person, so all
I can do is continue to try and fight it off.”

“
You are a strong person.” I
hugged her.

“
I can say that this has
been an adventure. It is incredibly creepy. The scratches appearing
on her body, the things moving around the room with no one even
remotely near, and the sounds—all the banging is enough to drive
anyone crazy. Even from the look in Jennie’s eyes you can tell that
something is trying to take over her body and spirit.” She stared
at me. “Do you think the same thing is happening to
you?”

I contemplated her question. But
giving her an honest answer wasn’t an option. I didn’t want to
scare her any more than she already was. But honestly, I knew that
this thing was affecting me. To what extent, I didn’t know. I hoped
I could be strong like Mindy said and fight the thing
off.

Finally, I said, “No, I don’t. If I
thought it was getting to me, then I wouldn’t do the show. I’d quit
and get as far away as I possibly could.”

Did she see through my lie? Probably.
Mindy knew me well. I had never been good at keeping secrets from
her. Would I be able to keep up the fight? There was no other
option, I had to.

“
Well, I guess we should get
back in there.”

Mindy stood and stared up at the
house. “Yeah, I guess we should.”

“
It would be much more fun
to head to Dad’s Doughnuts, huh?”

She laughed. “We are
so
having a margarita
night when all this is over.”

I hoped that was true. What would
happen if something went wrong? I couldn’t imagine never having
another margarita night. No more cheese? No more tequila? No
way.

Mindy and I moved toward the house,
but our steps were slow. We were in no hurry to get back in
there.

“
If the thing talks to you,
then just ignore it,” I said as we made our way up the
path.

“
It can talk to me?” Her
eyes widened.

“
Sometimes it can get into
your head. One time a spirit told one of the investigators who went
with me on an investigation to jump out the window. Luckily, she
stepped away from the window and told the thing to get out of her
head. You do the same thing if anything like this happens, okay?
And make sure to tell me if it happens.”

I hated scaring her, but that was one
bit of information she needed to know.

She nodded. “Got it. This thing is in
for a fight if it thinks it can get through to me. I’ll kick its
ass.”

I looped my arm through hers as we
walked up the steps toward the house. “I know you will. I know you
will.”

After our investigation, we met with
the homeowner one last time. We’d make our recommendations on what
she should do from this point forward. After that, Jennie would be
on her own again.

“
Did you know who lived here
before?” Cooper asked after we’d settled around the kitchen
table.

Jennie had added splashes of cheerful
red around the otherwise white room—probably trying desperately to
elevate the negative feeling. The bright color of the towels,
mixer, and blender popped against the white cabinets.

“
A man lived in the home for
a long time before I bought the house,” Jennie said.

“
What kind of man was he?”
Cooper asked.

“
Grouchy. He yelled at the
kids around the neighborhood. But no one ever reported anything
strange with the house before when he lived here.”

I shifted in the chair. It was time
for me to tell her everything that I knew. “Someone in this house
is very open to the paranormal, attracting the dead from miles
away.”

Jennie stared, wide-eyed.

I continued, “The man who lived here
was named Heath. He mostly likes to stay upstairs in the bedroom.
When Heath died, he put himself here because he wanted to be here.
He lived here in the house at some point and he simply doesn’t want
to leave now.”

“
He doesn’t like anyone who
lives here now. It’s his space… his house and people annoy him,”
Cooper added.

Mindy shifted in her seat, then
absentmindedly tapped her fingers against the table. I felt her
apprehension from where I was sitting.

Matt pulled out a file. “Apparently,
there was a gun battle here on the property. This man and the
neighbor didn’t like each other. One was jealous of the other. So
the neighbor pulled out his gun and shot this man.”

Everyone just stared at Matt, waiting
to hear what he would reveal next.

“
There’s another woman.
She’s a teenager. I think she died near the house. Someone attacked
her. I can see the blood on her head and face. Unfortunately, you
feel what these ghosts are experiencing. She was in a lot of pain,
so you probably feel some of her pain. Her name was Elizabeth, but
that’s all I know,” I said.

Matt shared more of his findings.
“Like I said, there was a gun fight on the property.” He glanced at
me and continued, “There was also a young girl murdered and found
on the property. Her murderer was never found. The person had dug a
shallow grave and left her there.”

I held my face. The teenager was
showing her pain to me again. Jennie grimaced. She must have felt
it too.

“
The girl’s face was bashed
in. According to her, they just left her there. She’s grateful
people searched the property for her though. She doesn’t know how
long she would have been there if they hadn’t.”

“
Is there a connection
between the two?” Jennie asked.

“
No. They are separate. I
don’t think they even speak to each other, although they both stay
in the home. What are you feeling?” I asked her.

She shrugged. “I’m not
sure.”

“
I encountered several
entities. The old man is the most powerful. He has an oval face and
a long nose and deep brown, almond-shaped eyes.”

“
Is this the man you saw?”
Matt pulled out a photo.

I nodded as I stared at the picture,
then handed it to Cooper.

“
Let me share more of my
findings with you,” Matt said. “His name is Heath Nelson. He used
to own this home and farm the land, but died during the
confrontation in the back of the home.”

Silence fell over the room as we
contemplated what Matt had revealed.

Finally, I said, “The minute I walked
in your home I knew someone had abilities.” I pointed to Jennie.
“You have psychic abilities and you attract these kinds of
things.”

She stared, but didn’t
respond.

“
I don’t mean to scare you,
but it’s just one of those things. I’ve had strange visions in this
house. Now I know it’s because there are too many psychics here.” I
attempted a chuckle to lift the mood. “With you, me, and Cooper…
it’s causing the energy to be crazy.”

Jennie looked at me like she was
confused and unsure of what to say.

I tried to explain more of what I’d
seen. “I don’t usually see the spirits like this. I mean, they
usually come through as clear as day. Anyway, I saw the girl being
thrown into shallow grave and I saw the battle on this land between
the two men.”

“
What else did you see?”
Matt asked.

“
The back room… the dining
area has a lot of dead people coming through. They just walk in a
straight line through the room. It’s not good for them to be here.
It’s not good for the dead or the living. It’s having a negative
effect on you.” I pointed at Jennie. “It’ll give you a upset
stomach, ulcers, and fatigue.” Everyone stared in silence as I
continued, “I encountered Heath. He’s the elderly man who got
psychical with us. He isn’t bad per se, but he can use the body and
make it very painful for the person he decides to attach
to.”

“
I’m angry that he’s here.
He’s not nice and I want him to leave,” Jennie said.

I nodded. “He likes the back bedroom.
Initially he wasn’t very happy, but I think he’ll be okay with you
now. Sometimes he can actually be endearing, he just hasn’t shown
that to you yet. When he figured out we were here to get rid of
him, he promised to be good. He’s attracted to this house, so he
really doesn’t want to leave.”

Ben looked to Jennie.

“
One more question about
your dreams. You said they are vivid?” I asked.

“
Always. I always remember
them too.” She nodded.

I nodded. “Just as I suspected.
Listen, no matter where you go, you’re going to open
doorways.”

“
You mean it’s Jennie?” Ben
asked.

“
She comes with a door. The
dead are looking for help,” I said.