Chapter Five.

“Mom” Jake said, as they were watching tv on the couch.

“Yes, sweety?” she replied as she grabbed the remote and turned the volume down so she could listen to what he was about to say.

“Something doesn’t feel right” he said with a concerned look on his face.

“what do you mean?” she responded.

“I mean Hailey, the ghost stories, the little girl in the car, the bleeding. It’s all weird, something is off, but I don’t know what, she also seems a bit uncanny. A part of me wants to believe her but I am failing to. I mean ghosts and demons, really? These are things that only exist in films and myths. It makes it hard for me believe her.” he said to his mother.

“Well honesty Jake, who’s to say what she’s been telling you is wrong. I mean yes, it may sound a bit absurd at first glance but if you really think about is Hailey the kind of person to make such things up? Hailey loves science, in fact she lives by it and always turns to it if she is looking to prove a point about almost anything and everything. Someone like that does not randomly start believing in ghosts and demons unless they have a really valid reason to do so, and I’m not saying that she’s completely right, but she might not be completely wrong either. Have you ever considered that?” Diane said with raised eyebrows as she looked at Jake.

“But there is one thing that really freaks me out about this entire thing. I was meant to ask her while we were at the house, but she did not seem okay, not even close to okay. She was acting strange while we were there. Remember this one article I was reading on Friday morning about the weird murders from the house down the road from ours?” he asked her

“Yes, the one about the girl who murdered her parents and one of the officers that was at the scene of the crime?” his mom asked curiously

“how old was the girl?” he asked her

“I don’t remember reading, I mean there was not much written about her other than her name and that was part of the flinch family, that was probably it” She replied, waiting to see where Jake was going with this.

“Exactly, there is nothing about her in this article, besides I read over it again while Hailey was asleep just to make sure I didn’t miss anything but there was nothing. The only thing I gathered about her is her name and the fact that she lived with her mother and father. Yet, Hailey told me how old the girl was. She has never heard about the article before and I’ve never shown it to her, but she told me how old the girl was the year of the murder and she didn’t even react to it, she just brushed it off as if it were nothing.” He said to his mother as he waved his arms around.

“That is a bit strange, but don’t you think your just over exaggerating? I mean it could have been a wild guess.” She said as she tried to put some sense into the whole scenario.

“What’s strange was what happened earlier on today as well. When I walked outside the she was staring at something, the house where all of this happened maybe, I don’t know. But she was so focused that she did not even hear me calling her. She was standing there like a statue just staring, its only when I held her did, she react. She was also ice-cold mom, like she had just stepped out of the fridge or something.

I mean kind of get her for not hearing me as I walked up to her, she could have easily zoned out or something, but she didn’t even notice that fact that she was bleeding.” He explained to her.

“Wait what? Is the house visible from our garden? I thought it was much further down the road.” She spoke.

Jake groaned as he chucked himself back on the couch.

“Uhg, that’s not the point mom.” He said irritatingly.

“Okay sorry, I was just surprised. Jake you are probably looking way too far into this. I just think something spooked her and she is trying to recover from all of that, I mean is her mom okay, did anything happen at home?” she asked trying to calm her son down.

“Yes, I mean I don’t know really. You know she hardly speaks of her mother, they don’t get along well remember, she’d rather talk about something stupid than talk about her mom, but okay, maybe I am overthinking the entire thing.” Jake stretched out his arms as he yawned “well, I think that’s it for me, I’m going to bed.”

“Okay sweety, sweet dreams.” Diane said with a smile on her face

Jake got up and started making his way to his bedroom, he stopped at the bottom of the staircase and turned around.

“Oh and mom” she said gently.

“Yes” she replied as she turned over to look at him.

“Thank you for listening to me, I really appreciate it.” he said. With a gentle voice and slight smile on his face.

“You’re welcome sweety, you still haven’t escaped the sex talk though.” She said as she pointed at him with a raised eyebrow.

“uhg, good night mother” he said as he rolled his eyes and walked up to his room.

Diane stayed in the lounge for about an extra hour before she dozed off on the couch. She woke up to the Television switched off and a blanket over her, she figured Jake probably came back downstairs and found her passed out on the couch and switched off the television and tucked her in. She grabbed the blanket and wrapped it around and set the house alarm just before she made her way to her bedroom to get a good nights rest.

Waking up as late as usual, Jake walked downstairs in his boxers and slippers to go get some food. Diane was already in the kitchen preparing some breakfast.

“Good Morning” he said in a sleepy voice as he rubbed his eyes.

“Moring sweety, did you Sleep well?” Diane replied as she flipped the pancakes that she was cooking. “I didn’t know you were much of a gentleman.” she said to him.

“Mom what are you talking about?” as he sat down and grabbed an apple from the fruit bowl Infront of him.

“Last night” she replied, “you came back downstairs with a blanket for me and switched off the tv.”

“uhm no, I said good night and went to bed remember.” Jake said as he took a bite of the apple in his hand.

Diane froze for a moment, trying to figure out what really happened last night and who switched off the television and tucked her in. The house phone rang, Diane got a bit of fright from it and knocked over her mug of coffee that she placed next to her while she was cooking. She titled her head back and started cussing out of frustration.

“It’s okay, I’ll take care of the phone” Jake said as he jumped out of his seat.

Diane went to go look for a dustpan and broom to sweep up the broken glass. Still trying to figure out what happened last night and not paying too much attention to what she as doing she cut her finger with the sharp pieces of glass on the floor.

“Ouch!” she said as she put her finger in her mouth to suck the blood.

“Mom, are you okay? Jake said, as he hung up the phone and knelt down to help her.

Jake held her hand and walked her away from the broken glass. He quickly went to the stove to remove the pancakes before they started burning, only to find out that they were already burnt to the crisp. He cleaned up the mess while his mom attended to her cut finger.

“You seem awfully Jumpy today. Is everything okay?” Jake asked.

“Yes, I’m fine thank you, just a little mistake that’s all.” She said with a smile on her face as she tried not to make it as obvious that something was wrong.

“Okay well, I’m going to go get ready so we can take the rest of the stuff to the house.” He said as he brushed the broken glass off the dustpan into the bin.

“Are you not going to have your breakfast” She asked.

“You mean this?” Jake said as he picked up a burnt pancake with his thumb and index finger and held it high in the air “yeh I think I’m good mom” he said as he laughed.

“I’m sorry sweety I can make more for you if you wa –”

“No, don’t worry about it, the apple I had will be good for now, besides, we have to get going soon. I’ll get something to eat on our way to the house.

The two got ready and started packing some stuff into the car, Jake decided to drive his car so he could carry some of his stuff as well, it also gave them more space to take extra stuff anyways. Jake pulled out of the house first and started making his was over to their new house.

Just as Diane was about to walk out, she noticed that the window in the lounge was not shut properly. Which was weird because she never opens that particular window, she went to close it and stood there for a while wondering as to why it was open.

She eventually brushed it aside and left, locking all the doors, and setting the house alarm. As she got in the car, she got a call from Jake, she picked up.

“Is everything okay?” Jake asked immediately “I don’t see you behind me”

“Everything’s okay, I was just locking up the house.” She responded

“Okay, I’ll see you soon.” Jake hung up

Diane started her car, switched on the radio, and started making her way to the house. she continued to wonder about the open window and what Jake told her about not tucking her in last night. None of made sense to her, and if someone else was in the house then the alarm would have gone off, but it did not.

“I’ll have to check the security footage tonight” she thought to herself as she off ramped the highway in the town.