Finding the Way Back (31 page)

“Eesssssggggttt kill you!” it rasped.

I heard the sound of loud screeching in my
head and all around me, and I realized it was me screaming right
before everything went black.

* * * *

I opened my eyes slowly, but they didn’t want
to focus. At first I couldn’t figure out where I was, it was so
dark and alien. I started to feel the cold concrete seeping through
my shirt and I shivered. Connie was leaning over me with a
concerned look in her eyes. The memory of the figure came back and
I started whimpering, scrambling to stand. “We ... it. ... help
...”

“SSShhh. Lie still, Laney. Are you okay? What
happened?” Connie eased me back down and tried to keep me from
jumping up. I struggled to a sitting position but was still dizzy.
I grabbed Connie’s arm in a panic. “Get me up. We gotta get out of
here.”

“Laney, stop, wait until I get help. You may
have hit your head, you shouldn’t move.” She sat on her heels and
rubbed my hand on her arm, trying to calm me down.

“I’m not being left alone down here, it’ll
get me. Help me up.” I could hear the desperation in my voice but I
couldn’t seem to control it. Tears ran down my face and my breath
was caught in my chest.

Seeing that I was beyond being reasoned with,
Connie put an arm around me and helped pull me to my feet. She
steadied me as we made our way up the stairs, and I was almost done
crying by the time we reached the top.

She led me to the sofa where I collapsed in a
heap. “I’ll get some ice,” she told me as she ran into the
kitchen.

I jumped when I heard a knock at the front
door then the sound of someone entering. Emmett, Glen and Dean
called out a greeting and I tried to wipe the traces of my tears
from my face. Connie returned with the ice and I put it on the knot
on my head.

The guys all stopped to gape at me on the
sofa. “What happened? Are you okay?” They all spoke at once.

“I’m fine,” I said, still trying to calm
down. I realized I must look a mess. I could picture my swollen,
red eyes and my disheveled appearance.

They looked at me doubtfully, standing
frozen. Men! They never knew what to do when tears were
involved.

“I think she fell or was pushed in the
basement although it seemed a whole lot worse. She’s never had this
reaction before.” Connie applied the ice to my head. I had to move
it as she’d gotten the wrong spot. “I heard her screaming
hysterically from the basement,” she said. “I rushed downstairs and
found her out cold on the floor.”

Emmett came to sit next to me on the couch.
“Hey you,” he said to me, brushing the hair out of my face. “Tell
us what happened. Let me take a look at your bump.”

He seemed so concerned for me that tears
started to stream down my face. His fingers felt around the back of
my head until he found the spot. “Well, you are going to be
sporting quite the lump but it doesn’t look like you broke the
skin.” He put the ice back on the area and placed his arm around
me, pulling me close to his body.

“I feel like such a baby.” I hiccupped,
wanting to hide. I wasn’t good at being vulnerable in front of
people, especially men I was attracted to. I nestled into the nook
of Emmett’s arm and decided I never wanted to leave there.

Connie brought me a tissue. “Do you think you
can tell us now?” A small smile played at her lips but I chose to
ignore it.

Glen and Dean took a seat to listen as
well.

“I went down to do some laundry and at first
everything was fine. I folded one load, put another in the dryer
and loaded the washer.” I could feel myself holding back, I didn’t
want to tell them. No one would believe me. The story was just too
fantastic. “I felt the hair on the back of my neck stand up and I
thought someone was behind me. But when I turned to look no one was
there. The washing machine door crashed shut by itself which
startled me so I tripped and fell, hitting my head.”

Emmett, Dean and Glen all started to look
relieved as they must have thought it was just a clumsy
accident.

I took a deep breath and continued, “I was
really dizzy so decided to crawl to the stairs but a shape started
forming near the washing machine. But it was different from when I
saw my grandmother.” I looked down at my hands shredding the
tissue. The tears sprang to my eyes again and I could hardly get
the words out. “As it became clearer, it looked like a decomposed
body, and I could smell it! It was like a terrible nightmare!”
Everyone went totally still and quiet. My voice rose higher as I
continued, recalling the horror I’d felt. “Then it ... it ...
spoke.” I shuddered, unable to go on.

I felt Emmett pull me even closer, as if to
shield me from the horror. His other hand caressed the back of my
neck. That was all it took to start a deluge of tears. He held me
until my sobbing stopped.

Then he asked quietly, “What did it say?”

I snuffled between each word, “It said, ‘Kill
you.’”

Chapter
Thirty-Three

“I knew you wouldn’t believe me,” I said,
wiping my eyes.

“I’ve never heard of anything like that,”
Dean said.

“That’s a good way to say you don’t think it
happened.” I could hear the hysteria in my voice and I hated it. I
needed to be calm and collected or they wouldn’t ever accept what
I’d told them as real.

“That’s not what I meant,” Dean said. “Of
course we believe you. It’s just so amazing.”

I tried to regain my composure, my thoughts
racing. It was probably dangerous to even stay here. I stood up
intending to go upstairs for a break but my head started to spin.
Emmett caught me under the arms before I could fall and helped me
back down to the couch. “Laney, I believe you. After all the things
I’ve seen and felt here, I have no doubt that you saw exactly what
you said you saw.”

Unable to find the words to express my
gratitude, I took his hand in mine and smiled at him. It felt like
an electrical shock went through me and I blushed.

“There they go,” Connie teased.

I ignored Connie’s comment and took a deep
breath. “You know, I forgot, there’s more. I also saw my
grandmother this afternoon up in the closet.”

“You what?!” Connie asked. “What did she say?
Why was she there?”

“I was looking through that trunk I’d found
with the record in it. She said the things in it were memory
keepsakes from Quentin.” I answered.

“Quentin? She told you the other guy’s name?
Quentin what?”

“Quentin Collins,” I mumbled. “When she
appears I get so flustered I just ask her things in the moment. She
leads the conversation then she just disappears. She said she comes
to me because I’m psycho-sensitive or something. She said it was a
gift.”

“What happened in the basement doesn’t sound
like a gift. It doesn’t seem like our grandmother either. I think
it’s the other ghost we thought was here.” Connie stated.

“It does seem like we have both positive and
negative energy here,” Dean said.

“You know what occurs to me?” Glen asked.

Glen was usually so quiet so every time he
opened his mouth the entire room got quiet and focused on him.

“What?” everyone asked, almost as one person
then we all started laughing.

“For some reason Laney is the catalyst. Her
grandmother gave us the clue. She said Laney has a gift. I think
she means clairvoyant.”

Everyone looked at me, seemingly not sure
what to think.

I started to laugh. At first I thought he was
joking but no one else was laughing.

“Clairvoyant? Do you mean, like, psychic? I’m
definitely not psychic. I can’t tell the future and I don’t talk to
dead people.” But even as I said the words something was tugging at
my memory. There were times when I knew that something was going to
happen, even though there was no reason I should.

“Uh, Laney,” Dean started, with a questioning
look.

“Well, sure, I’ve talked to my grandmother,
but no one else.” I shook my head trying to convey that what they
were saying was impossible but that just made me dizzy again.

“Maybe you just haven’t tried to really plug
in to your gift,” Glen said.

“Really, Glen? I’ll bet you’re right, because
I
don’t know how
to ‘plug in’ to psychic abilities. That’s
not me!” Suddenly I felt so tired I leaned back on the sofa and
closed my eyes.
How did this happen
?

“Maybe you should see a doctor,” Emmett
suggested.

“I’m fine,” I snapped. The last thing I
needed was someone telling me what to do.

“Really, Laney, you could have a concussion,”
Connie said. “Come on, we’ll run down to urgent care and get you
checked out.”

I stood up to see how I felt. It wasn’t
nearly as bad as before, but the floor was still a little unsteady
under my feet. Maybe they had a point. “Fine, but I need my purse.
It’s on the counter in the kitchen. I’ll go but only so no one bugs
me later.”

Emmett stood and went in the kitchen coming
back with my orange bag slung over his shoulder. “What do you
think? Is it my color?”

“Funny boy,” I said, laughing. I reached for
it then felt myself swaying. Emmett stepped forward and swept me
off my feet. “Ouch,” I squealed, surprised. ”You’re hurting me! I
fell on that hip. Put me down, I can walk.”

“Can, but won’t,” he said, walking for the
front door as he readjusted his arms and got a better hold on me.
“Sorry, is that better? Glen, you and Dean can stay here and make
sure the equipment is working. Set up a camera in the master closet
and one in the other area she was talking about in the basement. I
hope you brought your sleeping bags. We might be staying the
night,” he ordered. “Let’s go, Connie.”

I struggled a little in his arms,
complaining, ”Hey, I’m not a defenseless female here.” I kicked a
little but it was just for show. I stopped when he almost lost his
grip.

“Just settle down, you’re going to hurt
yourself even more if I drop you,” he said putting me down on the
porch. “Why don’t you try the stairs yourself? We don’t want both
of us to fall down if I’m carrying you.”

I started down the steps. “I’m fine, I can
walk.” With that I swayed again, and didn’t quite grasp the
railing. Emmett caught my arm and pulled me towards him to lift me
again, although he was more careful this time of my hip. Giving up
what was a ridiculous claim anyway, I leaned my head against his
chest and just gave in. His aftershave smelled delicious and my
cheek skimmed his hard chest and soft t-shirt. Now I was getting
dizzy for an entirely different reason. I scarcely had time to
enjoy the moment before he was sliding me into the front seat of
his truck. Connie took the seat behind me in the extended cab and
we drove to the hospital.

For something called ‘Urgent Care’, it sure
took forever to get seen by someone then to get out of there and
back home again. The good news was the doctor didn’t think I had a
concussion but gave me a list of symptoms to watch for over the
next few days. The bad news was that the symptoms she listed were
things like headache, balance problems, mood disruption, fatigue. I
had those all the time, why would this be any different? My hip
seemed to be only bruised but I was supposed to watch that for the
next few days too. Maybe I should have been a doctor. Who couldn’t
give a diagnosis like that—‘I think you’re fine, so go home and let
me know if you get any worse.’ What a waste of time. Except it did
give me one more thing to worry about. When I checked in they asked
for my medical insurance information. Since my divorce was just
finalized I was covered through the end of the month on Simon’s
insurance policy. But after that I was on my own. One more thing to
add to my to-do list.

It was just about dark when we left for home.
The encroaching twilight was unsettling and I thought back to what
I saw in the basement. I twisted my shirt in my hands and wondered
if I should say anything. Should I even go back and stay in the
house?

As we stopped in front of the house, I felt
my anxiety rise again. I wanted to face whatever was in the house
but then again I didn’t. How could my grandmother be in the same
place as the other entity in the basement, whatever or whoever it
was? Did each one not know the other was there? Were they separated
by different parts of the house? It just didn’t make sense to
me.

I stepped out of the truck carefully, as I
was still a bit dizzy. The sensation was going away but I worried
that the ringing in my ears would take longer to dissipate.

Emmett came around the side of the truck and
held out his hand to me. Smiling I took the offered hand and let
him escort me into the house. I appreciated his support, both
physically and emotionally. It was difficult being vulnerable
because I hadn’t had anyone to help me in a long time. I hadn’t
wanted to lean too much on my mother since she had her own
problems. Emmett was the first friend I had made in a while. My old
friends hadn’t liked my choice in a mate so we had lost touch. I
hadn’t wanted to hear their advice and after a while they probably
got tired of my complaints, especially since they had warned me
beforehand about Simon.

Since we hadn’t moved any of the equipment
from the previous investigation, everything was still in place and
ready for another night of ghost hunting. Sitting in our magic
circle of spirit crusaders, as I now liked to think of us, we began
to discuss the coming evening. No one looked very rested. Dean and
Glen were still dressed for their day jobs in dress slacks and
rumpled shirts. Dean was sporting an attractive five o’clock
shadow. The late nights were all starting to take a toll on the
group.

“I know we thought we would do another quest
for answers,” Emmett started, trying to sound positive. “But I
think for Laney’s sake we should put it off for one night and come
back tomorrow.”