Finding Me: Book 1: All I've Ever Wanted (A New Adult Romance Series) (29 page)

Chapter 33

Jenny sat on her sofa reading a book. It was the most recent horror crime fiction by Jim Phoenix. She was just getting to the part where the child came home with the bloody severed head of her friend in a trick-or-treat bag, nonetheless. A small scratching sound came from the ceiling. Jenny turned her attention upwards and then back to her book.

Another noise, similar to the first, came from above her. Jenny put the book down and looked at the ceiling. She thought Matt had regained his strength and had gone about making unsolicited furniture re-arrangement in the house. Jenny put her book down and started her way up the stairs. There was a small noise like papers ruffling against each other. It was coming from the office. She headed towards the office door.

'Matt? Is that you? Thought you were in bed.' she said as she opened the door. 'I guess it must be the wind. Damn cold in here. Wonder who left the window open?'

Jenny felt for the light switch and flicked it on. The room came into view in an instant. The middle light of the three track flared brightly and then popped. The glass fell to the floor.

'Bloody hell. If it ain't one thing, it's another. Top of it all, the window is dead shut. Not sure why it's so cold in here though.'

The first and third light bulbs on the three track lighting flickered for a moment as if on a dimmer switch. Jenny walked back to the light switch. She turned the lights off and back on. With the power going through the lights the second time, the remaining bulbs shone brightly as the sun and exploded. Their glass fell towards the shells left from the middle bulb.

'Forget this nonsense. I'll have Matt deal with this tomorrow.' Jenny said as she went to shut the door behind her. She sauntered towards her brother's room and put her ear to the door. The sounds of his soft snoring came through the door. She smiled and took a walk towards the stairs, but stopped short when she heard footfalls downstairs. They weren't large stamps, but rather a lot of little feet running around.

Jenny paused on the stairwell and tried to look down. 'Is...is anybody there?' She asked with an unsure voice.

The bathroom door across from the office slammed shut while the office door swung open. The paper rustling noise picked up again. Jenny turned and ran into her brother's room. She shut the door behind her.

'Matt.  Matt.  Wake up.  Matt!' she said, trying to keep her voice down the best way she could.

Matthew groaned and rubbed his eyes. He turned on the lamp on the nightstand near his bed. Matthew’s eyes were sunken and red. His body was drenched as were his bed sheets.

'Did you just wake me up to tell me that?'

'There's someone in the house!' Jenny said. 'I heard noises up here so I went up to look. The bathroom door just slammed shut. I heard footsteps downstairs. I think someone's broken in. I'm not sure how they got in.'

'Hand me that Bull Worker.'

'What?'

'The gym thing. Mr. Stretchy.' he said, pointing to a steel cabled portable home gym.

Jenny reached over and grabbed it for him. 'Here. Just be careful.'

'You mean we should be careful. I'm not going out alone.'

'My hero...' Jenny said sarcastically.

'Whatever. Just step back from the door.' Matthew cracked open his door and looked through. The bathroom door was still shut, but there were noises coming from downstairs.

The two walked through the door to the hallway. Matthew took the lead. He held his home gym like a baseball bat. They slowly made their way towards the bathroom. A sound of the tap running along with a woman humming could be heard through the door.

'Are you sure this isn't just some sort of trick Kate's playing? One time she said she was possessed by Madame Curie and she tried to steal our microwave?'

Matthew told Jenny it wasn’t Kate as she had left much earlier. Just then, the humming rose to a song that neither Jenny nor Matthew could place. The water slowed down.

'Hello? Who's there?' Matthew shouted. 'Whoever you are, you're trespassing and we're calling the police. I'll give you to a count of five to come out or I'll come in there! Don't make it hard for yourself. If you leave now, we won't call no one. Swear.'

'One....Two....Three.....Four....Five!' on the fifth count, Matthew rushed into the bathroom. He opened the door and ran inside holding his portable gym back in an offensive position. The light was on, but the room was empty. The sink was dry as a bone.

'What the hell?' Matthew barked.

Laughter came from the living room downstairs. It sounded like kids. Then came the crash of the cutlery. Matthew pushed past his sister and ran downstairs threatening to deal with whoever it was by himself without waiting for the police.

Matthew swung his Bull Worker as he rushed into the kitchen. There was nobody to receive the connecting end of the blow and it passed harmlessly through the air. The drawers in the kitchen opened and shut manically while the fridge opened up and food started to fly off of its shelves. A jar of relish narrowly missed hitting Matthew in the head. It smashed into the wall behind him and left a green slime trail on the wall.

'What's going on!' Jenny screamed.

The sound of children laughing came from upstairs again. The two could barely make out the noise of the bathroom and office doors slamming over the commotion in the kitchen. A knife stuck into Matthew’s shirt, pinning him to the cabinet.

'Jesus, Matt!' Jenny cried.

A glass from the counter launched at Jenny, but she ran out of the kitchen quick enough to avoid being hit. Matthew ripped his shirt free as he swung his Bull Worker at a jar of pickles. A plastic jug of mustard hit him in the stomach, leaving him winded and doubled over in pain.

'Matt! Get out of there!' Jenny yelled as she ducked back into the kitchen to pull Matthew out. He lost his balance and she went crashing to the floor. Matthew narrowly avoided being gored by a butcher knife as he slammed the kitchen door shut.

Footstep sounds came back from the upper part of the house. They could also hear steps from the bathroom to the office. The doors slammed open. Their bedrooms were victimized next. There came a growl from Matthew’s bedroom accompanied by laughter. It wasn't a child's laugh anymore. It was something much more deep. Something much more primal.

'What the hell is that?' Jenny was screaming now.

Matthew looked upstairs and then back to the kitchen. He could hear everything slam around in the kitchen and the footsteps kept up in the first floor. He couldn’t possibly fathom what was happening and exactly why it was happening. Just then, Jenny remembered Matthew had told her about Henry being a Parapsychologist.

'Henry....give Henry a call.' Jenny said as she held her brother close.

Chapter 34

Phil Green looked over a video footage with his partner Chris Mills. They were sitting in Chris's car. A beat up mutt of a car whose lineage was more 'junkyard' than 'store front.' The car’s door handle was held together by wire and duct tape. The rest of it quickly deteriorated from there.

'See that? Right there! Told you....now pay up!' Chris said.

'Still can't believe it.' Phil looked puzzled.

'Believe it, it's right there on tape, so prise open your wallet you tight arse'

'Did you know she was? I mean...wait a minute. Weren’t you the one who got the call from her in the first place? This was all just one big set up, wasn't it?'

'You’re accusing me of setting up a job for us?' Chris laughed and went on about how it was universally acknowledged that a single woman in possession of fine looks, a jaw-dropping figure and good fortune, always wanted a man.

'Birds and the bees pal, birds and bees.' He continued with a wide grin appearing on his face.

'Stand to reason. A beautiful woman, twenty-something, painfully shy, very reserved staying in her dad's mansion. She doesn’t go out which means she has neither men nor women to speak of. The old man had concerns of the paranormal invading his daughter’s bedroom! Instead of thinking more about her well-being. If you know what I mean.'

Phil was clearly irritated. 'Please don't tell me you met her on that message board thing! What was it? Bob's List or something?'

'Don't knock it! 'Chris jumped in. 'I mean; do you blame her? She's in the prime of her life and ...a girl needs attention, especially pretty ones....'

'But Lord Winchester?' Phil shakes his head.

'Whatever his name is. He doesn't know women! How can he! Sees her as his precious young daughter in cotton wool. His wife passed away long ago. Dare say if she was around, things may have been different. I did her a favor.

'Just saying!' Phil went quiet, looking at the tape again. After a short while, he asked Chris if he was sure he really wanted to present a fake 'haunted findings'. Chris was a sweet-talker and had soon begun to allay his fears.

'Don't worry. If we convince him the place is haunted and the ghost is harmless. We can continue seeing each other. For a while at least. If all works out, then I'll introduce myself. No point in being hasty about these things' Chris grinned again.

'Your call mate. But in my books you ought to have done the decent thing, gone to see her old man'

'Sure. Whatever. Blimey, you going soft on me. Think Cal's religion has rubbed off on you too much pal, I have needs and so does she. We're both adults. I don't think Lord Winchester would appreciate the expected, “Hi Lord Winchester, don't know you, but I got a thing for your precious daughter. Please, could I bang her regular like, at least till we know things are gonna work out? Oh, by the way, she's ok with it.”'

Phil conceded to being old school and Chris only pointed out the impossibilities of a formal approach working out between him and Lord Winchester. He basically requested that Phil left him to do what he wanted to do the way he wanted to do it. Chris sat in his car seat. A small spring poked into his rear and three more joined poking into his thighs.

'Fine. We'll do it your way!' Phil said as he got out of the car.

The two made their way up the driveway. 'Here goes nothing...' Phil knocked.

The door knocker was old Victorian style and looked more silly than sinister next to the modern brick home. There was a lawn gnome guarding the front door. Bird shit covered its head.

'Mister Green and Mister Mills. What a pleasure. Won't you come in?' Lord Winchester met them. He was dressed in a pair of house slippers, a smoking robe, and a full suit underneath it all.

The two entered the house. It looked like a mixture of nouveau riche and rummage sale. A garden gnome, matching the one out front sans the bird shit, held a tray in its hand. On the tray was an assortment of spirits. They walked past the gnome and entered into the kitchen area where Penny Winchester was preparing a green drink. Neither Chris nor Phil knew what was in the drink. Best not risk it, Phil thought. She was younger than Chris. But Chris was right on one thing; she was pretty.

'Good morning, boys.' Penny Winchester said as she closed her nightshirt up to no avail. 'Like a cup?'

'Sorry Luv, would but...we're on a diet. Thank you though.' Phil said.

'Both of you on a diet? At the same time?' remarked Lord Winchester.' Come, come, it’s not as bad as it looks.'

'It's a support system really. I don't need to lose weight, but Mr. chubby here can drop a few stone, eh?' Phil said with a bit of sarcasm directed at Chris.

'A few stone? Really? Is that what you think?' Chris asked.

Phil hushed him playfully and moved straight to address the reason for their visit. They had come to discuss their findings on the haunting matter.'

'So, you found it? You found the ghost that haunts my daughter’s room?' Lord Winchester asked.

'We believe so sir' Phil began. 'Indisputable evidence that your house is…'

'One hundred per cent haunted!' Chris cut in and continued. 'It's awesome! Things were flying around. We were barely able to record sound. The footage on the cam didn't come out. Shame really, it would have been good!'

Penny Winchester gasped in feigned surprise. But she let a smile and wink escape to Chris.

'Fantastic'. Lord Winchester uttered, hands clasped with glee.

'Aha. Just as well I doubled up on surveillance. Expensive I know, but anything for my Penny.

'Huh?' Chris was puzzled. But Phil was praying he hadn't just heard what he thought he'd heard.

Lord Winchester first apologized for not mentioning he had called in another team after Phil and Chris to investigate as Penny had become so confused and scared and he just couldn't watch the torment continue without doing much about it. He told them the team had fitted some covert night cameras and had the feed sent through a network. He kept apologizing for no particular reason and praised the sophistication of modern technology that had allowed for such to be possible. He told Phil and Chris not to worry about their reimbursements as he planned to settle that still.

Penny's face looked blank. She looked at Chris. Chris's face was blank as well. They both turned to look at Phil. Phil's face was one of having had a revelation.

A sudden knock at the door broke the sudden silence of the group.

'Ah... Hopefully, it's them.' Lord Winchester went back to the front door and opened it expectantly. Chris, Phil and Penny could hear some conversation at the door. Phil told the group he had a bad feeling about what was going on.

Within a few moments, Lord Winchester was back with two casually dressed men who appeared to be smarter than Chris and Phil.

'Chaps, this is Guy and Jeremy. They work for Cyber Hunters isn't it?' Lord Winchester looks to the two men for confirmation. The two men smiled. Guy had blonde curly hair in a mullet and a bushy moustache. He was burly, as most guys named Guy usually were. Jeremy wore his hair crew. His forearm was hairy, and across his right knuckle tattooed in gentle pink roses a word was spelt. The word was KILL. It was hard to miss.

'Right chaps, do you have the recording?' Lord Winchester’s excitement was glaring. He was like a child waiting to unwrap a Christmas present.

Guy took out a DVD disk from the inside of his jacket pocket. Phil was now convinced that the show before them certainly wasn’t looking good.

Lord Winchester took the disc towards a DVD player by an entertainment center. He inserted the disc and pressed the play button.

'I think I left some equipment in the car. I'll be heading...' Chris said.

Lord Winchester looked up from the scene on the screen and over to Penny Winchester.

The screen showed two thermal images. One looked male, the other female. It was hard to tell. But what helped the viewer make an accurate determination was a 7-8-inch bright red rod that was attached slightly lower to one of the hips that wobbled up and down in motion with the walking movement of one of the figures. The other figure had two pear shaped pink blobs that were attached to its chest. All good visual clues.

However, what made Lord Winchester instantaneously forget his recently found pacifist Buddhist faith was the way the two figures fell on top of one another on the ground, rather aggressively. The top figure seemed to be using the 7-8-inch rod in some intense thrusting motion to the other figure’s hips. It made interesting viewing.

Guy and Jeremy smiled. They had a habit of doing that.

Lord Winchester distanced himself from his daughter and took a step towards Chris. 'You swine! How dare you!'

'Err. I can explain that.' Chris said as he backed up towards the door, his arms were shaky.

'I'll give you ghost! You bounder! Lord Winchester turned and walked out to the landing. He opened a door space under the stairs and began to retrieve an old hunting rifle.

'About our fees, I think we'll wavier it on this occasion.' Phil said as he started edging towards the door.

'Yes, first one's on us' Chris collaborated with Phil's sudden generosity and was now racing him for the exit.

Penny Winchester feigned surprise. She did a lot of feigning. Then her eyes settled on Guy and Jeremy, and she fluttered her eyelids and added a cute smile. Guy and Jeremy smiled. They did do that a lot.

What happened next was not clear, but Chris and Phil agreed that they had never left a property in quicker time. Phil was nice enough to remind Chris of how he had warned him earlier as his friend floored the pedal and sped away.

'Wait till Cal hears this one. You do like life the hard way. Keep your libido in your pants next time'. Phil berated Chris though he knew it wouldn't be heeded. Chris was that type of guy.

'Don't worry, your secret's safe with me' Phil sighed.

'Thanks mate. I owe you one'

'The things I do. The things they say I do' Phil couldn’t help but repeat. He asked Chris what their next line of action would be while he unwrapped a stick of gum, and began to chew.

As they made the distance between the Winchesters and themselves, Chris told him he had received a call from someone who thought his house, which he bought as a property to flip, was haunted at Rose Wood or Rose Venue. Chris wasn’t sure of the address anymore, but they were going to check it out.