Haunted Hideout: Paranormal Suspense (The Haunted Ones Book 1) Page 9

  But there was someone upstairs. The someone who had pushed him and then locked the door! But each step higher, was more and more puzzling. They were running water in the bathroom? His eyes narrowed. A diversion. He’d bust in the door and they’d jump him from behind. Ignoring the closed bathroom door he darted into Lydia’s bedroom and then the boy’s. Nothing. He peered into the small bedroom next to Lydia’s. Again, clear.

  They could only be in Angela’s, if they weren’t hiding in the bathroom. He tiptoed across the hallway, wincing from the squeak of the floorboards.

  He inched into the open doorway and pointed the gun, scanning the room quickly. A glance into the closet came up empty. He left the room and went down the hall, opening the bathroom door and then stepping to the side, out of the line of fire. After a minute, listening hard for anything besides the water rushing into the tub, he edged out and swung around, his gun high, ready to fire. But again, nothing. He’d gone through the whole upstairs and come up empty. There was nowhere else to hide that he hadn’t checked.

  He went back to the bathroom, peering around before he stepped inside. Leaning over, he flipped the lever, shutting the water off. He stood watching the water, thinking hard. Who turned the water on? Could they have got out of the bathroom and raced down the stairs without him hearing? And what about Lydia and the kids? They would have yelled if they’d seen anyone.

  What the hell kind of cat and mouse game was going on?

  His shoulder still hurt from landing on the floor. Someone had definitely pushed him but where were they? He shook his head. It made no sense, but they had to be outside the house now. They sure as hell weren’t inside! He leaned and yanked the plug up from the drain before leaving the room.

  When he reached the bottom stair, Lydia stepped out of the living room. She leaned closer, whispering. “Did you find anything? What the hell is happening here?”

  He pulled her arm so that they were closer to the kitchen out of earshot, “Look. Someone pushed me down the stairs and then locked the door to the cellar! If you didn’t do that then maybe that old guy that Mark keeps seeing got in. But he’s not here!”

  “What was upstairs? It sounded like someone was running a bath! We haven’t left the living room since the lights went out. What the hell is going on, Jake? Are we even safe here?” Lydia looked like she was ready to kill him or start crying.

  “Let me check the outside. There’s got to be footprints!” He ushered her to the front doorway and grabbed his jacket from the hook. “Lock the door behind me. Don’t open it for anything. Got that?” He slipped the jacket on and then opened the door. He paused, seeing the pristine drifts of snow that had gathered on the front veranda. Even to the lump of white that was the vehicle, nothing marred the velvety surface of the banks of snow.

  He stepped back inside and shut the door, locking it. When he turned, Lydia’s face was screwed tight with worry. “They’re not at the front of the house. No one’s been anywhere near it.” He left her where she stood and continued down the hall to the back door.

  When he opened it and peered out at the snow, again it was smooth. Nothing had disturbed the blanket draped by Mother Nature. He took the cell phone out and shone the light out into the yard. Again no sign of footprints. An icy blast of wind hit his face and he stepped inside once more, locking the door. What the hell? No one outside and he’d checked every inch of the house.

  By this time the kids had joined Lydia standing in the hallway staring at him. Angela was the first to break the silence. “There’s something wrong here. I don’t think there’s any guys trying to break in. It’s. This. House.”

  NINETEEN

  Angela

  ANGELA TOOK A DEEP BREATH and rubbed her hands over her arms, trying to warm up. The way everyone was staring at her, their mouths hanging open would have been funny in any other situation. But not now.

  “I think this house may be haunted.” She didn’t have to wait long to be shouted down. She’d expected Jake and Mom to protest and was ready for it. The thing that cinched it was the water running in the bathroom. That room was seriously creepy.

  “That’s crazy! Angela!” Mom shook her head and let out a long sigh.

  Jake walked past them and hung his coat on the hook by the door. He slipped his gun into the holster at the back of his pants. “The house is old, Angela, but—”

  “She’s right!” Mark’s face colored, masking the freckles in a pinkish hue. He continued, “I saw that old guy staring in the window. But you didn’t see any footprints. And how did he just disappear from the beach?”

  Angela’s stomach fell to her knees. She’d thought the poor kid had been making it up. And now he was the only one on her side! She took a deep breath and let it all out in a rush. “I saw a face in the mirror. A girl with dark hair and then she was gone! She opened my bedroom door earlier and I saw her again!” Her heart raced reliving it in her mind.

  “Why didn’t you tell me?” Mom took a step closer, her hand rising to circle her shoulders but Angela batted it away.

  She snarled at her mom. “You wouldn’t have believed me! Hell, you accused me of stealing that whiskey and then drinking it!” Mom’s eyes opened wider, as the knot of the mystery bottle appearing unraveled in her head. But even if a ghost or entity had put it there, why Jack Daniels Honey? Dad was dead and...

  Jake walked by them again, his words thrown over his shoulder, “I don’t know about any of this, but I need a stiff drink right now.”

  Mom shot a look and then followed Jake down the hall and disappeared in the kitchen. It was just Mark and her now. Angela’s hand squeezed her brother’s shoulder, “I’m sorry for calling you a nerd...and for not believing you about the old man.”

  He looked up at her and shrugged. “Did you really see a face in the mirror?” He stepped closer, so close that his shoulder pressed into her arm. The poor kid looked fascinated and petrified all at the same time.

  She nodded quickly. “Yeah. She was about my age, and she looked sad, come to think of it.” She tilted her head at Mark. “I wonder how she died.”

  Mark scoffed. “The old guy looked pissed as hell! And mean, real mean. He probably killed her. I’m lucky he didn’t do something to me on the beach.” His eyes narrowed, “But why did he stare at me through the window? He’s a ghost, right? They can come through walls.”

  That wasn’t a reassuring thought. “C’mon. Let’s go ask Jake what he knows about this house. He said an artist couple renovated it.”

  THUD!

  She jerked at the bang upstairs. Her feet trembled from the vibrations in the floor.

  THUD!

  Mark’s hands flew, fingers clutching her arms. She stared up the stairwell, while her heart hammered against her ribs.

  Jake dashed from the kitchen, “What the hell was that?” He turned his head looking up the stairs. In another second the gun was back in his hand.

  Mom was right behind him. “Mark! Angela! Come into the kitchen. NOW!” She grabbed their arms hauling them down the hall past Jake.

  Angela twisted out of her mother’s grasp. “It’s the ghost! A gun’s not going to do much good against a ghost!” She jerked away from her mother.

  “I’ll check it out. Stay here!” Jake was gone followed by the sound of him racing up the stairs.

  Mark tugged on Mom’s arm and there were tears in his eyes. “Can we go home? I don’t want to be here.”

  Angela huffed, folding her arms across her chest, glaring. “We are home! Some house they put us in! Hell House! Our neighbor’s probably Freddy Kruger!”

  “Shut up, Angela!” Mom glowered at her and her gaze darted to Mark and back again, “You’re not helping!” She turned away, holding Mark close.

  “This is bullshit! Jake’s not going to find anything up there and he knows it! Why won’t you just admit that this house is haunted? Just admit it! It is!” And here she’d been planning to investigate why the bath had stopped on its own and that face appearing in the mirr
or. It made sense now.

  She looked over to her brother and sniffed. “Mark’s right. We can’t stay here. They’ve got to put us up in a hotel until they find something decent for us. Maybe a house in California. Somewhere warm.”

  At the grating sound next to her, she looked over. The bottle of whiskey shot across the counter and flew into her! Holy shit!

  Her mouth fell open, her eyes bulging onto her cheeks, watching. It sat there almost defiantly on the countertop. She edged away and looked over where her mother stood. Mom’s back was to her, her arms cradling Mark. “Mom?”

  Angela stepped away from the counter. “Mom!” She grabbed her mother’s shoulder.

  “What? What now? Honestly—”

  “Mom. That bottle of whiskey just moved. All on its own! The ghost! It’s in here!” She kept backing away, letting her hand drop from Mom, staring at the bottle.

  Her mother pulled back from Mark and looked down at the bottle. She looked over at Angela, her eyes getting wider. “You’re sure?”

  The bottle shot down the counter and landed with a crash on the floor.

  Angela bumped into the stove and jerked back. “Oh yeah. I’m pretty sure the ghost is making a statement, Mom.” God! That had actually happened!

  Jake stepped into the kitchen. “Nothing upstairs. I couldn’t even see anything that fell over to make that noise.” He looked at Lydia and then over at Angela. “What? What’s going on?”

  Mark was the one to break the pregnant silence. “No stiff drink for you. The ghost just smashed the bottle of whiskey.”

  TWENTY

  Lydia

  LYDIA STARED AT THE GLASS SHARDS of the bottle in a complete daze. If she hadn’t seen it with her very own eyes—the bottle flying the rest of the way down the counter and smashing on the floor, she would never, in a million years believe it. But it had happened.

  Her mouth snapped shut. If the house was haunted... She blinked a few times. Was she actually thinking that? There was no other explanation for what she’d seen. And it sure explained how the bottle had just appeared earlier. She had to stifle a nervous giggle. The ghost liked Liam’s drink? Good taste for a ghost.

  Her eyes narrowed and she spun around to face Jake. “What the fuck? You guys put us up in a house that’s haunted?”

  His hands rose stopping her in her tracks. “Wait a minute. Lydia. Listen to yourself. Ghosts? There’s no such thing as ghosts. Once you’re dead, you’re dead. There’s an explanation for all this even if it’s not immediately apparent.”

  It was all she could do to stop herself from belting him! Her teeth ground together and she hissed the next words. “Just because you didn’t see that bottle slide across the counter on its own, doesn’t mean it didn’t happen. And we...” Her hand swept the air, indicating the kids, “...we didn’t do it. I know you think we did, but we didn’t.”

  Her eyes narrowed and she stepped closer, “What about the noise upstairs just now? What caused that? Or the water running in the tub all on its own? Hell, you were even pushed down the cellar steps! Got a reasonable explanation for that, Mr. FBI?”

  He couldn’t look her in the eye when he replied, “No. Not all of it. The thumps could have been a tree limb coming down in the storm. You have to admit, that might be the cause. As for the other things...” He shook his head and sighed, “I’m not ready to just accept that it’s caused by ghosts. And neither should you.” He looked around at all of them. “Let’s just sit down, try to stay calm, and figure this out.”

  Angela weighed in, “You stay calm! Knock yourself out trying to puzzle through this. The fucking place—

  “Angela! Don’t swear!” It was bad enough that she’d used the F-bomb, let alone her daughter.

  “Why? You just did! Mom, let’s leave. If he won’t drive us, we’ll take his car. Let him stay here to “figure it out.” Please Mom. Mark’s scared, and so am I.” Angela rubbed her hands over her arms and shivered.

  Seeing the look on both their faces was a knife to her heart. This shouldn’t be happening! They were all innocent. The horror of their dad’s death wasn’t enough? This had to happen too? She looked up at Jake. “Well? Are you going to take us to a hotel or not?”

  He looked around, shaking his head. “Look. Everyone settle down for a minute and think this through. In case you haven’t noticed, it’s a blizzard outside. It’s probably more dangerous to be out there on the roads, than here.” He looked at each of them and blew a long breath through pursed lips. “Tell you what. If you still want to leave after we’ve had dinner, I’ll take you.” He rolled his eyes and stepped over to the doorway. “I’ll get my phone from downstairs and check the road situation. Maybe the plows are out. That’s the best I can do right now.”

  Lydia watched him leave and then turned to her kids. “We’re definitely leaving here as soon as we can. But...” She hated finishing the next part, “but if worse comes to worse, we managed last night all right. We can do one more night. He’s probably right about driving conditions.” Even though she agreed with the kids about leaving, she couldn’t take a chance getting into a car wreck, maybe getting them killed. They’d manage somehow to get through one more night.

  Angela’s head fell to the side, “Seriously, Mom? You’re taking Jake’s side? This sucks.”

  She grit her teeth, trying not to lash out. But someone had to be the parent here and since she was the only one... “I’m not taking his side, honey. Let’s not argue. If I’m on anyone’s side, it’s yours and Mark’s, not some guy we don’t even really know.” She forced a smile, “We’ll get through this. Now, you two can help me clean up that mess over there and get vegetables ready for dinner.”

  Mark tugged his sister’s sleeve. “He said we can maybe leave after dinner. Let’s get this over with.”

  Angela did a theatrical eye roll but rummaged in the pantry for a broom and dustpan, muttering, “This is not over. We’re outta here after we eat.”

  Lydia walked over to the stove and opened the oven door. The smell of the roasting beef wafted up, but instead of the hunger she should have been feeling, the thought of eating was repugnant. She felt like Angela, going through the motions until they could get the hell out of there.

  And why was Jake taking so long getting his cell phone? Who knew when the next thing would happen and she wouldn’t mind the company of another adult. Even one so pigheaded as him. For God’s sake, something had pushed the guy down the stairs! What would it take to convince him?

  She got the vegetables out of the crisper and set them on the counter. Angela and Mark were quiet sweeping the glass and mopping up the puddle of whiskey. None of them would admit it, but they were all on pins and needles waiting for the next thing to happen.

  Mark sidled up to her after dumping the glass in the trash. “Mom? I have to go to the bathroom.”

  She looked down at him. Her eleven-year-old son was afraid to go to the bathroom on his own. This is what the house had done to them. She wiped her hands with a paper towel and then nodded.

  Angela’s eyes flashed wide, stepping over to them. “I’m not staying down here alone. I’m coming with you.” She silenced Mark with a look. “Don’t worry, I won’t come inside but no way am I staying down here.”

  Great. They were now all attached at the hip, afraid to be alone. Lydia sighed. “Let’s go.”

  Mark looked up at her. “What about Jake?”

  “To hell with him. He’s on his own.” She imitated the agent, deepening her voice, “There’s no such thing as ghosts. Let’s all remain calm.”

  Mark smiled and even Angela laughed a little. Shit. It was either laugh or cry. They’d all done enough crying for the time being.