Chapter Two
Star West slapped her brother awake. They didn’t have time to sleep. Sam’s eyelids fluttered but didn’t open, she moved to slap him again but with cat like reflexes he caught her hand, and she let out a breath of relief. “Stop hitting me woman, I’m awake.” He told her before groggily getting to his feet.
“About time, I’ve been slapping you for the last ten minutes.” She mused. “I thought you were supposed to be tough.” He stretched and grimaced.
“Yeah well, you try being catapulted through the air by a ghost; let’s see how well you fair.” He shot back. “I take it he took her.”
“Yes.” Star said with bitterness. “We only have till midnight to stop this thing Sam, or we’ll have to go through the whole thing again next Halloween.”
“We’ll find her Star.” He told her softly before collecting the flashlight, the fall had busted the bulb and Sam tossed it away with an annoyed growl.
“Did you find the house while you were out there?” She asked him.
“Think so, it’s about a mile away, with any luck we’ll find her there, let’s get going.” He locked the Chevy up and they took off through the woods. The thing that struck them the most as they ventured into the blackness was the silence. Not a single hoot of an owl, or rustlings of animals could be heard, not even gusts of wind that had picked up quickly, penetrated the eerie woods.
Sam stopped and handed her a pair of binoculars equipped with night vision, that he had extracted from the trunk of the Chevy, he pointed out a faint light in the distance, following it Star made out through the scopes a rundown farmhouse a few yards ahead. “That has to be it.” He whispered as she handed the binoculars back. They had scoured every newspaper article they could find about the tragedy but none gave the exact location of the house, they had only a brief grid reference to work with, but the house fitted the story.
An agonized scream filled the air. “That’s her.” Star hissed stalking ahead. Sam caught up to her and tugged on her arm.
“Let’s be smart about this, I don’t want him getting the best of us twice. I’ll try and get him away, you wait till he’s took the bait before rescuing her, clear?” Star nodded and watched him move ahead. From the sound of the scream it seemed to have come from the tattered barn that sat off to the right of the house, it should been easy to get to once Sam had the ghost occupied. It still amazed her how this all seemed the norm. After the car crash that claimed their parents and had left her and Sam fighting for life, things were different; coming back from the brink of death had changed something. They had glimpsed a world that only the dead should see, and as a result they could communicate with and see the dead.
The screams died away and Star took this to be her que, as silently as she could Star made her way up to the barn. A commotion reached her ears and she froze, Sam came crashing through the mouldy wood of the building and landed in a thorn bush a few meters away.
Star threw herself behind a large tree truck and didn’t dare breathe, despite everything movies told you ghosts were very corporeal and they had the strength of an elephant, particularly this one as it was cold hard vengeance that fuelled it. Guns, iron, salt were all useless. The only thing that could hurt them were the secrets they fought so hard to hide, the unfinished business that kept them from the light… or the fire.
Star dared to peep out and saw Sam get to his feet, only to be thrown on his ass again, “come on Sam.” She breathed; her watch had stopped at ten past nine, whenever you encountered the dead time froze. This ghost was packing some serious heat and they had to resolve him quickly and to do that they needed Kay.
Sam had he’s complete attention so Star bolted across the grass to the barn. He would have probably sensed her but they didn’t have the luxury of time. Kay was shackled to the ceiling looking utterly terrorized and spent, blood was running from multiple cuts and Star signalled for her to be quite while she looked for something to break Kay’s bonds.
The chains were as old as her grandfather and broke with a few pounds of a hammer she found nearby. The ghost definitely knew she was here now, supporting Kay she hurried out the barn and practically had to drag the woman over to the house. A stiff kick granted them entry and Star set Kay onto the dirty wooden floor while securing the door. She heard a door slam at the back of the house and hoped it was Sam.
After pulling numerous decaying furniture over the door, she scooped up a shaking Kay and guided her to a room to their left, Sam followed close behind. “That should keep him busy for a while, but we need to hurry.” He helped Star deposit Kay onto the floor and propped her up against the wall. “I’m sorry sis but we haven’t got time for this touchy feely crap, we have to do it my way.”
“Just go easy.” Star warned before moving to the cracked window and looking out.
“What does he want…?” Kay whispered as silent tears rolled down her cut cheeks. Sam exchanged a look with his sister before sitting crossed legged in front of her.
“You.” Kay just stared at him with blank eyes.
“What…? I don’t understand…” Star heard him sigh and gently pushed him out the way.
“Go search the house for anything useful.” She ordered him. Star loved her brother more than anything but he wasn’t much good at showing empathy. Throwing her a scowl he left. The house was gutted, scorch marks were still present on many of the walls and there was a burnt smell lingering in the air.
“The man’s name is Giles Peterson, this used to be his house.” Kay just stared at her with frustrated confusion.
“I don’t care; I just want my son…” She started to cry and Star tried a different approach. “What do you know about ghosts Kay?” This stopped her tears at least.
“You people are crazy…” Star smiled.
“We get that a lot.” She admitted. “But believe it or not they are real. Me and my brother were involved in an accident two years ago, we nearly died. Upon waking in a hospital bed I had a conversation with my mother,” Star trailed off as she remembered her mother sitting across from her looking flawless with wavy blonde hair and manicured hands. “It wasn’t till a nurse came in to give me my meds, that I realized something was off, you see she couldn’t see her; the poor girl thought I’d gone nuts when I told her I was talking to my mother. She told me that I was mistaken because my parents had died a day earlier in that very hospital.” Kay who had been listening with widening eyes gasped.
“The accident changed us Kay, it’s like we’ve got a foot in both worlds, this one and the after.”
“Are you saying this…Giles is a ghost?” Star nodded solemnly.
“It gets worse.” She said on seeing the pure disbelief on Kay’s pale face. “We didn’t just happen upon you tonight, we were looking for you. You see sometimes the dead can’t crossover or won’t because they feel they can’t leave, something ties them here and until that’s resolved they can never be at peace.” Kay’s eyes darted around as if looking for the quickest way out, she got to her feet slowly, and Star took in her ripped sweater and ruined jeans.
“What does this have to do with me and Tyler?” Star stared at her, grief welled up inside and she forced herself to stay focused.
“Because six years ago on this very patch of road, you killed Giles Peterson.”