The Fine Line Book One Between Worlds Series (27 page)

“
Maybe the others crossed
over already.”

“
Crossed over?”

“
Many believe that when
you die, your spirit leaves your body and you have the choice to
either stay on earth or go into the light. If someone dies
tragically, the person may not even realize that they’re dead and
will miss the light altogether.”

“
What about the little
girl?” Matt asked.

“
Well I found something
here,” she replied as she pulled out another clipping. “Apparently,
our house was owned by a Mr. and Mrs. William Cleary. They had a
daughter, Emma. She died suddenly. It says here she fell down the
stairs and broke her neck. I had a dream about this. I was falling
down the stairs. I was chasing a ball. When I fell, my neck broke.
All this time, these spirits have been trying to communicate with
me about how they died. They’ve been trying to find answers. I just
wish I would have known all of these things before now.” She looked
down at the clipping in her hand. “Look at the picture of
Emma.”

Matt got up and walked to her, looking over
her shoulder. The picture featured a little girl with a red ribbon
in her hair, exactly the child Olivia had always described.
“Unbelievable. What’s the date of the death?”

“
June 1868. According to
the article, Michael Sims was working for the family at that time
also. It says here that her parents left the home after she died.
They left Sims in charge of maintenance and care. He eventually
bought the home.”

Matt sat back down.

“
So, a little girl died in
the house, there have been multiple murders, and the butler hung
himself. Doesn’t this sound outrageous to you?”

“
It can’t be outrageous.
These are clippings; news articles,” Robin added.

Matt continued combing through the
information. “These property records say that there is a cemetery
on the back of the property. Do you ever remember seeing grave
sites in the woods behind the house?”

Robin shook her head. “I’ve never gone back
there. Have you seen headstones in the woods?”

“
I’ve never really been
back there to explore either.”

Robin kept reading through the stack of
shuffled papers. “Oh my God,” she whispered as she clasped her hand
to her mouth. “Matthew, our house served as the county morgue in
the early 1900’s. It was purchased by the county. The basement was
used as an autopsy room.”

“
This just gets better and
better,” Matt bit out smartly.

“
Listen to this,” she
began again, “’Pikeview Manor said to be haunted.’ It says in this
article that after the morgue moved to the other side of town, the
Rawlins family moved in around 1925. They lived there for
approximately five years. The wife, Sophia Rawlins, died during
child birth in our house.”

Matt looked at the article and shook his
head.

Robin kept reading, “Then in 1931 another
family moved in. They moved out within three years. Family after
family have moved in and then within less than five years, moved
out. The O’Bryans said the house sat empty for at least 12 years
when you and I bought it. Which means it was abandoned in 1986. It
says here that another family moved into it in 1936 and then
another in 1940 and again in 1948… the list goes on and on. The
occupants in 1980 talked to local press about strange things
happening in the home. ‘Ginger Morgan, resident of the historic
Pikeview Manor reports strange phenomenon occurring in the home.
Morgan reports hearing voices, seeing figures in the house and on
the property, talks about encounters with a phantom child who is
believed to be the deceased daughter of the Cleary family, and
reports violent occurrences. Morgan reports that on one occasion
while walking down the stairs, she was pushed by an unseen force,
breaking her arm and ankle. Morgan says she hears terrifying noises
coming from the basement; screams. Objects being moved, appliances
coming on with no explanation and items from the home disappearing
are also common.”

“
Some of those things
haven’t happened to us though,” Matt said relieved.

“
Maybe they won’t,” she
replied.

He vehemently disagreed. “I don’t think so.
I think we’ve just been so busy that we haven’t noticed anything
like this.”

After contemplating the information and
reading through every shred of paperwork, Matt and Robin returned
home. Armed with knowledge of the house and its past offered some
security and above all else, an understanding that they lacked
before. They felt less apprehensive now.

Matt dropped Robin off and then left to pick
Olivia up from a friend’s house. With much to contemplate, Robin
felt she needed a brief escape. She went to the study and worked on
some case assignments. Behind the study wall, she heard loud
knocking. Startled by the noise, she jumped and then looked toward
the ruckus. She ignored it and went back to reading and typing when
she felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. She felt cold
breath all over her body and heard breathing in her ear.

Calmly she whispered, “We both know what you
are. You don’t belong here and you need to leave.”

Her hair flew up as if she had stepped into
a wind tunnel. Still staring at her computer screen, she didn’t
turn around for fear of what she may see. She heard the knocking on
the wall again, still feeling the freezing cold breath on her neck.
“This is not your home,” she whispered. “It’s ours and you need to
get out.” Her voice stayed calm and determined even though, deep
down, she felt terrified.

The books she had read about demonic
entities explained that it was common for sections of the room or
the entire room to become very cold or very hot. She realized these
atmospheric changes had occurred frequently in the house.

To prove to herself that she could be
stronger than the darkness that surrounded her body, she switched
her computer screen off and prepared to stand. As she reached for
the laptop lid to pull it down, she heard deep growls behind her.
It was unlike anything she had ever heard before. She froze and
then looked up into the darkened screen. The image reflecting back
at her took her breath.

The dark, cloaked figure stood directly
behind her. She knew the dark entity had been ushered in by the
sinister deeds committed by Mr. Sims. Still she wondered if the
entity resided on the land long before the home had been built. By
murdering women and stealing innocence, Sims had surely empowered
the demon.

Abruptly Robin turned, but saw nothing.
Striving for bravery, she stood and walked out of the room. She
walked down the hallway and to the top of the stairs when she heard
the kitchen door slam and a conversation between Matt and Olivia
rose up the stairs. Relieved that they were home, she continued
down the stairs calmly.

She looked at Matt.

“
I need Olly,” she
began.

“
What’s wrong?”

“
Just please trust me,”
she said as she held out her hand toward Olivia.

Matt nodded with approval, so Robin took her
hand and led Olivia back up the stairs. They walked into the study
with Matt following close behind.

“
Olivia, tell me what you
see or feel,” Robin said.

“
I don’t see anything but
I can feel anger,” she answered. “Someone is very mad at you, but I
don’t see anything.”

“
Olly, where’s Emma?”
Robin asked curiously.

“
She’s not here right now.
She is afraid to come in the house. I usually see her at night or
when the bad one isn’t here. She says that the bad one scares
her.”

Robin nodded. “Thank you,” she said
sweetly.

Olivia looked up. “Can I go now?”

“
Sure.”

Robin walked downstairs behind Olivia with
Matt following.

“
What’s going
on?”

Robin explained exactly what happened just a
few moments before they arrived.

“
What does this have to do
with Olivia?” he asked.

“
I… I… I can’t explain it
right now.”

“
Robin, this is my
daughter!” he said angrily.

“
You wouldn’t believe me
if I told you.”

“
Try me.”

“
Olly is very
extraordinary and let’s leave it at that for right now.”

“
I don’t think so,” he
said forcefully. “I want to know what’s going on.”

“
Your daughter is
sensitive… to… things that you and I can’t see,” she answered
reluctantly.

“
Why aren't I surprised?”
he asked irritably. “You and I are going to take a walk,” he said
as he took her by the hand.

“
Put a jacket on,” Matt
insisted as they made their way to the kitchen. Robin broke from
him and put on her windbreaker. Matt still had his coat on and
stopped to put his hiking boots on. He grabbed a flashlight from
the kitchen cabinet.

“
Olivia, we’re going out
back,” he called, “If you need us yell for us.” Matt grabbed
Robin’s hand again.

“
Where are we going?” she
insisted as they rounded the corner of the house.

“
In the woods; we’re going
to find that cemetery.”

They made their way across the back of the
property and into the wooded area.

“
Do you remember what the
map said? Where it is?” Matt asked as he looked around.

“
Um, should be over that
way,” she answered as she pointed to the far left.

The sunlight shone through the trees, so
they didn’t need the flashlight after all. The wind grew colder as
they continued deeper into the woods.

Soon, they saw it; tall weathered white
stones coming up from the ground and a short wrought iron fence
served as a perimeter. Robin counted five stones

Matt took his camera phone from his pocket.
Robin didn’t have to ask what he planned to do. He pointed it at
the stones and took several pictures. He handed the phone to Robin.
She didn’t want to look at the pictures. She watched as Matt bent
down in front of the grave markers. He read aloud,

“
Virginia Cleary, Martin
Cleary, Leon Cleary…”

“
It’s this one,” Robin
said sadly as she pointed to a stone with the carved out lamb on
top. “This is hers.” She knelt.

Matt knelt down with her and traced the
engraved stone with his fingertips.

“
Our angel, Emma Elaine
Cleary,’” he read.

“
How sad.”

She looked over at Matt who too seemed
saddened.

He stood and grabbed her hand helping her to
her feet. They headed back out of the woods.

As they neared the house, a blood curdling
scream cut through the air. They ran to the porch and into the
house. Olivia stood in the kitchen frozen against the
countertop.

“
What’s wrong?” Matt said
running to her. “Are you hurt?”

Tears poured down her face. “I saw it
again!”

“
What did you see?” he
said as he frantically looked around.

“
It was here again! It
talked to me this time! It really scared me! It told me how much it
hates Robin. It told me it hates her baby, too. It told me that it
wants Robin to bleed just like the others.”

She trembled as Matt took her into his arms
cradling her. Walking to the couch, Robin felt his glare penetrate
through her. She felt responsible.

Finally calmed, Olivia fell asleep that
night in the master bedroom with Cookie close by. Robin and Matt
sat downstairs in the dining room.

“
I don’t know how much
longer I can do this,” he said lifelessly.

“
What do you want to do? I
will do whatever you say,” she assured him.

“
I want to know what is
happening with my daughter, Robin. I want you to tell me. So, be
honest with me now.”

“
Matt, I believe that
Olivia is clairvoyant.”

“
And what exactly does
that mean?”

“
It means that she can
communicate with the other side.”

“
Other side? Robin, you’re
going to have to speak English.”

“
She can communicate with
and see the dead. She can help them.”

Matt’s jaw dropped.

“
I don’t believe this. How
could you do this to her?”

“
I didn’t do anything!
It’s
her
gift. She’s had it all along, but when she was
sexually abused, I think that it grew stronger. She’s always been
able to see Emma. Don’t you remember?”

Robin told Matt about the things that had
happened. She concluded with

“
You should be proud of
her. She understands her gift and has embraced it quite well. I
know she can help people as she grows older.”

Matt ran his hands through his hair, just as
he always did when he was angry or nervous.

“
This situation just
continues to get even more bizarre. Just when I think we’ve reached
the outer limits of insanity, something proves me wrong. Damn it
Robin!”

She reached across the table and held out
her hands.

“
I am sorry you’re
angry.”

He nodded as he put his hands in hers.

“
I just feel like
sometimes the things you tell me have its roots in mysticism and
nothing more. It all sounds so made up. I didn’t mean to overreact.
I just refuse to put the house up for sale because of all of this.
If I do that, then I feel like we’ve lost.”