Chapter 6: Wandering Ghost

"What are you doing?"

"What?" Carol cried jumping back into the couch.

Teddy laughed as he walked over to her.

"You scared me," Carol told him angrily but could not help smiling as well.

"Why are you reading my notebook?" Teddy asked holding out his hand for it.

Carol flipped the book closed before handing it to him. "It was really good; though, you might want to work on your spelling."

Teddy rolled his eyes as he dropped the notebook back on top of the other books. "It's a rough draft. It's going to have a couple of spelling errors."

"There are more than a couple," Carol told him.

She stood up and stretched her arms.

"Is there anymore?"

"Yes, but no to your next question, you can't read it," Teddy told her.

"Why not?"

"Too many spelling errors," he joked.

"Is this the story you told me you were working on?" Carol asked.

"No," Teddy shook his head. "I'm trying to finish my aunt's last book."

He pointed to another notebook that was twice as thick as the one Carol had been reading.

"May I?" she asked.

"Go ahead but it's not any good."

Carol quickly skimmed the first page and had to agree. "Wow, that is boring," she told him. "How can you make murder sound boring?"

Teddy shrugged.

"I think you should stick to your other story," Carol encouraged, tapping the top of the notebook's cover.

"No, I have to finish my aunt's book. I think it would have met a lot to her."

"Then do this one when you finish."

"Maybe," Teddy said still unsure.

He started picking up the books scattered across the table.

"Do you need some help?" Carol asked.

Teddy nodded and handed her a couple of the books. Carol quickly gathered the rest on the table before following Teddy into the library.

One book slipped from her arms nearly hitting her foot.

"Yikes," Carol cried doing a quick skip back to avoid the falling book.

She picked the book up and hurried into the library.

"Those go over there," Teddy said pointing to the bookcases next to the window.

Carol nodded and begin to set the books on the shelves that Teddy had indicated.

"Was that Caroline in your story the same one in your aunt's book?" she asked over her shoulder.

"I don't know," Teddy responded.

He set the last book on the shelf and went over to help Carol with her books.

"I guess I was inspired by Caroline and Hunter's story," he admitted.

Carol stood on her tip toes, stretching to put the book on the top shelf. Teddy took it from her and set it in its place with ease.

"Thanks," Carol said.

She stepped back and looked over the rows of books, trying to see if she could recognize any of the titles. To her surprise, most of the titles were in a foreign language. It was the more newer looking books that were in English.

"What is with the foreign books?" she asked.

"My aunt was into collecting books from other countries," Teddy told her. "A few of them are antiques."

He pointed over a display cases with several very worn books in it. There was a title card for each of the books but before Carol could read it Teddy called her over.

"What is it?" she asked.

"Watch this."

Teddy felt along the wall between two of the bookshelves and gently pressed a slightly redder stone. The wall slid open, revealing Teddy's study.

"Cool. Instant access to the library," Carol said stepping into the study.

Teddy flipped on the light.

"There are a few of these secret passages and doors. I only found about five so far. I'm not sure how many there are," he told her.

"This house just gets more fun the longer you stay in it," Carol laughed but only partially met it.

"There's another one here," Teddy said pulling down an old-fashioned oil lamp that stuck out of the wall like a weird lever.

Carol realized that it would not have looked out of place back when the lamps was the only source of light in the room.

Again, the wall slid back revealing a stairway leading down.

"Where does it go?" Carol asked peering down the stairs, but it was too dark for her to see.

"To a small room that someone once used for storage," Teddy told her pushing the lamp back up to make the wall slide back in place.

"Have you ever found a dead body in one of these secret passages?" Carol teased.

"Surprisingly, no. Exceptional considering this house's bloody history," Teddy told her fiddling with a few of the folders on his desk as he talked. He glanced over at the clock dangling from the wall.

"Whoa, it's late," he said.

"Um, Teddy, can I ask you something?" Carol asked hesitant.

"Sure," he said then asked, looking over at her, "why are you awkward all of sudden?"

"Well, it is about when you had cancer."

Teddy leaned against the table and ran a hand across his bald head, "what do you want to know?"

"When you found out you had cancer how did you deal with-" Carol began to pull on her finger nervously, "with the possibility of dying?"

"I wouldn't let myself think like that," Teddy told her shaking his head as he did. "I was scared that if I thought like that, that it would be like I had given up. I wanted to focus on living. On beating the cancer."

Carol nodded her head still yanking on her pointer finger.

"I admire you for being as strong as you were. You just buckled down and did what you had to."

"Did you not remember that part I told you that I was scared?" Teddy reminded her. "But why are you asking me about that? Is something going on?"

"No, no, no," Carol said a little too quick. "I was just-curious."

Teddy pushed himself away from the desk and walked over to her. "Why are you acting so funny? Come on, you know I think of you as much as a sister to me as Lizzy and Julie. There is no need to be awkward. I'm here for you."

Before Carol could figure out what to say her phone began to ring, vibrating in her pocket.

"It's my mom," she said surprised to see her mother's digits in the caller ID.

She quickly left the room and headed for the stairs before answering.

"Hi mom," she said placing her phone against her ear.

"Hi Carol."

She could hear her own awkwardness reflected in her mother's voice. She resisted the urge to start pulling on her finger.

"Your voice mail said you needed to talk to me. It sounded important," her mother said getting right to the point.

"It is," Carol said pausing a third of the way up the stairs. "I'm-"

The words stuck in her throat unwilling to come out.

"Carol? Are you still there?"

"I am," she said trying to breath. "But-I shouldn't tell you this over the phone."

"Do you want to meet?" her mom asked. "I don't even know where you are living now."

She did not sound angry but annoyed making Carol clutch the phone, wanting to break it.

"I moved in with May," she said.

"Are you into the cult stuff now?"

"No mom," Carol snapped. "And May is not-look can I-drive down to your home and we can talk then?"

There was a long pause before her mother answered.

"Okay. Should I expect you in the next few days?"

"No, I'm going to Singapore for a few weeks."

"Oh, by yourself?"

"No, with Julie and May."

"That sounds fun."

"It should be."

There was another long pause of silence and Carol sighed. It would have been so much easier telling her mother about her failing heart over voice-mail.

"When I get back," she began trying to calm down, "can I call you again? So, we can meet."

Once again there was a pause.

"Okay," her mother finally said.

Carol swallowed, relaxing, "then I'll see you then. Bye."

"Bye."

Carol was about to hang up when her mother called her name.

��What?" she said lifting the phone back to her ear.

"Take care of yourself," her mother said.

"I will."

"Bye."

"Bye."

Carol turned off her phone and let her hand drop to her pocket.

That was pleasant. Talking to her mom always made her feel like she been scrubbed raw.

Carol sighed once more and went to her room.

The balcony doors started to rattle as the wind blew against it. She turned the lock to make sure the doors stayed shut.

The sky was getting darker as more clouds gathered. It was starting to look like it was going to be a bad storm.

Her stomach rumbled loudly reminding her that she had missed dinner.

She yawned again as she grabbed the doorknob, planning to go downstairs to find something to eat, but paused.

She thought she heard something like a soft whispering somewhere in her room.

"What is that?" she said looking around the room for what was making the noise.

As she approached the dresser the whispering grew louder that she could now hear the words.

'Lullaby, baby-bye, cradled in blue, Mother and angels keep watch over you. Under your slumber robe, precious one, rest, Lullaby, sleep-a-bye, in your soft nest.'

It was the voice of a little girl singing but, where was she?

She went over to the balcony doors again. As she looked out for the singer, she remembered a ghost store she had read in Julie's aunt book. It had been about a little girl and her older brother who murdered their parents in their sleep. The story said that both their spirits haunted this house. The little girl's spirit singing her mother's lullaby while her brother liked to play pranks on the living.

'Lullaby, baby-bye, soar in your dreams. Over the house top, the mountains, and streams. Higher and higher, love, soon you will fly. Into dreamland on love's lullaby.'

The balcony doors flew open nearly hitting Carol. She jumped back in time as the doors banged against the wall, leaving a deep imprint of the knob in the wall.

'Lullaby, baby-bye, cradled in blue. Sleep on and dream on your nap-a-bye through. In your sweet slumber love's lullaby her. Lullaby, sleep-a-bye, Mother is near.'

Carol grabbed the doors and closed them again. Didn't she lock them?

"It's not a ghost. It's not a ghost," she told herself still looking around the room for the source of the singing.

She reached for the small lamp on the dresser and tried to turn it on. There was a click but no light.

"Oh course," she muttered.

She was starting to get that creeping sensation of spiders running up her back.

'Love clothes the lily in radiant white. Love feeds the lambkins, and guards through the night. Love watches over each hamlet and hall. Love never fails, but it cares for us all.'

Where was that coming from?

She looked over at the mirror above the dresser, but she couldn't see her reflection, only dark swirling fog. A small hand reached out of the black flog and pressed against the glass.

Carol was too shocked to scream but quickly stepped away from the mirror and then ran to the door. She tripped over her suitcase and hit the floor.

Pushing herself back up she reached out in the darkness for the doorknob. Light poured into the room from the lights in the hallway.

Carol stumbled out of the room and closed the door behind her.

Breathing hard she stared at her bedroom door unable to understand what had happened.

Was that...a ghost? Did she really have a visit from a ghost? This house was supposed to be haunted...but really haunted?

She glanced down at her heart monitor to make sure her heart rate wasn't too high.

Ghost? Really? She never believed there were such thing. She didn't even believe in an afterlife.

"It's got to be a trick," Carol told herself.

She grabbed the doorknob but then shook her head. How many times had that line been uttered in a horror movie only to foretell someone's death?

She let go of the knob and went to May's room instead. If anyone could tell her if it were a trick it would be her cousin. How many times had she seen May read books about ghosts or watching documentary about them? How many times had she endure May go on about charms and protection from the spirits?

"May," she called knocking on the door.

There was no answer, but Carol could see lights were on through the cracks under the door.

The hallway lights began to flicker and somewhere in the house she heard a child giggling at her.

Her calmness vanished and she banged on the door.

"May, I really need your help!" she called.

After Teddy had shown May her room she had quickly unpacked and then took a nap.

Truth be told, she hadn't been sleeping. Either she couldn't sleep or when she finally did fall asleep it would be full of vivid nightmares that would wake her in a cold sweat.

When the sun set and the grandfather clock downstairs began to call out the ninth hour, she woke up from another nightmare.

She bolted up before she was even awake, breathing heavily. She looked around the room confused where she was.

The clock finished its chimes before May finally realized where she was and the terror, she had experienced had just been a nightmare.

"Dammit," she muttered pressing her hand against her face.

She could feel her palm slick with sweat, shaking against her cheek.

May kicked the comforters off her feet that somehow got wrapped around them. Getting out of bed, she went to the bathroom and splashed some water on her face to wash away the sweat off her hands.

"You got to get a grip-dang it," May cried when she looked at her reflection and realized she had forgotten to take off her makeup before her nap.

Blackness was running down her face making her look like she belonged in a horror movie.

May grabbed a towel and started to wipe the mess off her face. It took a while and another towel before she got it all off.

May set the towel down in the sink and looked back at her reflection once more.

"Hello gorgeous," she sighed after seeing the bags that were hanging under her eyes. Her eyes had a hint of red in them from the lack of sleep and she even looked paler.

There was still a hint of black eye liner smudged on her nose but May didn't care.

"You need help," she told herself and sighed again.

She lowered herself to the floor and leaned against the wall, still trying to relax. She felt tense and strung out. It was getting harder to hide it from other people. It was a good thing that Carol was going through something and was too busy with whatever that was. Otherwise, May felt Carol would have seen through the mask she was putting on. Then there would be the pestering, "are you okay?" "Why can't you sleep?" That would go on for a while until May caved in. Then there would be the even longer hounding of going to see the doctor which May did not want to. They would just give her drugs and she did not need to be doped up.

With another sigh, May forced herself up. She went downstairs and stole a couple of beers from the refrigerator before heading back to her room. She locked the door behind her before popping the lid off the first beer. Taking a quick gulp of that, she unzipped her suitcase and pulled out a Ouija board. It was not that cheap board you could buy for twenty bucks at some retail store. This board was made from the bark of a willow tree with each letter and number carved by a knife made from the bone of a cat. Near the bottom of the board were the words yes, no, and a skull of a human between them.

May touched the board almost lovingly while trying not to remember how much it cost her before placing it on the bed covers and then set the planchette on it. She pulled out a bag of candles and quickly lit them.

A moth fluttered around one of the six candles. The candles were set on top of books around the board.

May sat cross legged in front of the board and carefully placed her fingertips on the planchette. Taking a deep breath, she called out, "Margret? Are you here? Please speak to me."

Nothing happened. Though, the planchette did feel colder though but didn't move.

May looked around the room, hoping to see a sign of a ghost. Beside the eerie lights flickering over the walls caused by the candles, there was nothing to suggest that there was any apparition about.

May sighed and let go of the planchette.

"Look Margret, I know you are probably very busy being dead and all that, but I could really use your help," she said feeling a bit silly talking to the empty air. "You see, I have been a witch for almost four years now and I have been studying every book about spells and potions I can get my hands on, but I still can't do any magic. I was hoping you could give me a few tips."

May looked back at the board but the planchette still had not move.

Feeling defeated May put her fingers one last time on the planchette.

"Margret-"

The planchette flew out of her hand, off the board and across the room, burying itself into the wall.

"Whoa," May cried jerking back and nearly knocking over one of candles.

The planchette started to move upward, dragging itself through the plaster and wallpaper.

May did not move but watched in utter shock as an unseen hand use the planchette to etch deep cuts into the wall.

S-H-U-T-U-P

May frowned at the words.

She heard the faint sound of a child's laughter and patters of bare feet running across the wood.

"Just yoke it up," May said crossly.

She picked up the planchette off the floor and threw it disappointingly back on the board.

How was she going to explain the wall to Julie?

May tried not to think of it and bent down to blow out the candle. As she did a sudden ice coldness washed over her.

May froze, her eyes darting to side to side, looking over the room. The tiny flames were flickering as if something was blowing on them.

May slowly stood up, still looking around.

"Who is there?" she asked.

Suddenly, the quiet was broke by loud pounding on her door. May had been so startled that she jerked back in both surprise and fear. She jostled the bed and one of the candles tittered ominous. For a second time May's heart stopped and she lunged forward trying desperately to catch the candle before it hit the floor.

Luckily, she caught it in time. Melted wax ran over the wick, extinguish the flame, and onto the palm of her hand.

She inhaled sharply in pain as the wax solidified just after burning her skin red.

May set the candle down on the floor and hurriedly started to scratch the wax off when she realized someone was still pounding on her door and calling her name.

She recognized it was Carol calling for her. Pushing herself up, May wondered if Carol had seen a ghost.

Carol stopped knocking realizing that May was not going to answer for some reason.

"Great, now what am I going to do?" she groaned as she turned away from the door. "Well, I guess I could stop being a baby and freaking out."

She stepped away from May's door, apprehensive about returning to her room, when the door opened behind her.

May stepped out into the hall, closing the door behind her.

"What's wrong?" she asked rubbing her red palm with her other hand.

Carol tried to keep her voice from breaking as she retold the terrifying experience in her room, "there is something in my room. In the mirror. It keeps singing this lullaby about-"

"Calm down," May soothed her.

She glanced up at the flickering lights and frowned

Carol realized she had been rambling as badly as Julie did. So much for that false bravura. That lullaby was too creepy to shrug off.

Carol nervously pulled on her pinky while May walked over to her room. The door rattled as May tried to open it.

"Did you lock it?" she asked.

Carol shook her head.

May stepped back uncertain.

"We should go back to my room. I have some charms that can help," she said.

Carol watched her try to open her own door, but it also refused to open.

The light bulbs above them began to buzz as they struggled to stay lit.

Carol suddenly felt cold and shivered. May looked unsure, even frightened and that scared her.

"Lets' go downstairs. Maybe there is an extra key on the desk," Carol suggested.

May agreed and both walked down the stairs together. Carol kept glancing over her shoulder nervously.

They reached the bottom of the steps. The floorboards creaked as they stepped on it.

Then the lights finally went out and everything went black.

Carol blinked, blind as a bat. She reached for the wall and began to feel over it, searching for the light switch. She found it but nothing happened when she flipped it.

"May, the lights won't turn on. Is this-a ghost thing?" she asked her voice trembling slightly.

May didn't answer her.

Carol's eyes began to adjust to the dark and she could make out the general outline of May standing by the front door. But once again, the door refused to open, held shut by an unknown force.

Carol broke into a cold sweat as she realized how trapped they were. They couldn't just not get into their rooms; they couldn't leave the house!

She reached out in the dark and found May's hand.

"It's going to be okay," May told her trying to sound optimistic but Carol felt how clammy her hand was.

"They are just trying to scare us," May continued, as she walked through the dining room to the kitchen. "They are too weak to do anything more harmful."

"They?" Carol croaked. "I thought it was just the little girl."

May once again did not answer and Carol realized why.

Behind the kitchen door were the sounds of heavy breathing. The quiet thumps of something heavy moving around. Pots clattered and banged as they were knocked off the counter.

"You can't be scared," May repeated. "You have to show them they can't get to you."

She put her hand on the door and Carol gripped the one she was holding tighter.

"Don't," she warned.

May nodded and they both backed away from the door, returning to the front entrances.

"What now-" May begin to say when the hallway lights suddenly turned back on. But instead of the normal yellow light it was red and a hundred times brighter.

Both May and Carol backed up, holding up their hands to shield their eyes from the light.

Between her finger Carol could see a woman wearing a long dress that covered her feet, glaring down at them from the top of the stairs.

She screeched at them in a high cracked voice, "get out of my house!"

Carol did not care what May said about standing your ground; she dragged May with her as she bolted for the living room.

May tripped over the rug and fell, pulling Carol down with her. Carol narrowly missed bashing her head against the corner of the coffee table as she fell on the carpet.

"Carol, you have to calm down," May grunted as she got up. "You can't let ghosts play with you like this."

Carol rolled over to look at her cousin when something dripped on her face.

It ran down her cheek and felt cold when she touched it.

She held her fingers up and saw blood on them. More droplets of blood fell on her and she looked up at the ceiling to see a large water stain of blood oozing out through the second-floor carpet and into the living room.

May looked up just as a drop of blood fell on her.

Carol got up, wanting to leave but May grabbed her arm to stop her.

"The ghosts are trying herding us," she tried to explain. "We have to stay here. We got to-"

'Lullaby, baby-bye, cradled in blue, Mother and angels keep watch over you. Under your slumber robe, precious one, rest, Lullaby, sleep-a-bye, in your soft nest.'

Carol shuddered as the disembodied girl sang.

May squeezed her hand again and Carol tried to stay there as May told her to do.

'Lullaby, baby-bye, soar in your dreams. Over the house top, the mountains, and streams. Higher and higher, love, soon you will fly. Into dreamland on love's lullaby.

A boy laughed from somewhere and May stiffened.

The ceiling continued to rain blood down on the both of them.

'Love clothes the lily in radiant white. Love feeds the lambkins, and guards through the night. Love watches over each hamlet and hall. Love never fails, but it cares for us all.'

The boy laughed again, and something ran behind them, but of course there was nothing there when Carol looked.

"You're going to die," the boy taunted.

'Lullaby, baby-bye, soar in your dreams. Over the house top, the mountains, and streams.

Carol tried to fight her fears, but her hands would not stop shaking. Sweat was rolling down her face.

She was not as brave as May. She could not stand there and face these spirits.

'Higher and higher, love, soon you will fly. Into dreamland on love's lullaby.'

She did not go back in the hallway but went the other way to the second hallway. The one that lead to the ballroom. It was not as empty as she had hoped.

Down at one end of the hall was a man. His face was pale, and his skin was starting to peel off like old tape. Water dripped of his soaked clothes.

"Caroline?" he asked.

Carol felt like she been hit in the gut. She stumbled back, shaking so bad her feet gave out and hit the floor again.

"Carol?" she heard May yell.

Her cousin ran into the hall in between her and the man.

"What's wrong? What happened?" May cried falling on to her knees next to her.

Carol could not answer. She stared speechless, at the dripping man who now looked at her confused.

"Carol?" May shouted again, not noticing the man.

Carol felt something cold grab her throat from behind. Fingers closed around her esophagus.

She gasped, hunching over, trying to pull free.

May shouted her name again.

Coldness wrapped around her and silence pressed against her ears blocking out May's cries.

In a world full of silence, a cold, harsh voice whispered in her ear, "why are you here?"

The fingers squeezed tighter.

"I see who you really are. You can't hide from me!"

The silence was shattered by a loud beeping sound. Her heart monitor screamed its warning.

Blackness started to close in.

Carol felt something else. Sensing it. Bubbling up. Rushing up through the floorboards towards her. Dark, foul. It came up, destroying the coldness. Ripping the hand off her.

Carol fell forward into May's lap, unconscious.

"Carol!" May cried as her cousin fell.

The monitor on Carol's wrist was beeping loudly but grew quiet after a few seconds.

May looked at the monitor alarmed, unaware of the man Carol had seen earlier was running towards them. But she did hear the dripping sound of the water coming off him. She glanced over her shoulder then jumped to her feet when she saw him.

"What did you do to her?" May cried at the man.

The man stopped but May was to rile up with anger and fear to care.

She kicked out with her foot, contacting with his stomach.

The man gave an 'uff' sound and crumbled to the floor.

May stood stiff for a moment, surprised he had been solid. Then, recovering, she stepped furiously towards him.

"What did you do to my cousin you sick bastard!"

She lifted her foot up intending to bash his head in when the man put up his hands and cried, "Nothing! I did nothing!"

May's mouth dropped open recognizing the voice.

"Billy?"

Deep below the house in the twisting maze of the catacombs, hidden from anyone who might be searching, the monster rose from his coffin.

Still a terrible sight, with bones and muscles making up most of him.

He was weak. Very weak. But he had been curious when he saw the ghost attack one of the mortals in the house.

The girl . . . the girl was familiar, but he did not know why.

He was weak but so was the ghost of the witch.

Now they both were trying to regain the strength they had lost in that brief scuffle.

He looked down at the girl lying dead on the steps. A rat nibbled at her fingertips.

She stirred causing the rat to flee in terror. She pushed herself up, looking extremely groggy. After another minute she looked up at him, waiting.

He could not talk yet. He still had to regrow those muscles. But the girl already knew what he wanted and got up to carry out his unspoken orders.

It did not matter who the other girl was or why the witch wanted to kill her.

He needed to focus on regaining his strength back. He needed to recover his power.

He needed to escape his prison.