The Ghost Of You

Chapter Thirteen

Atwood, Colorado Thursday, July 11th

"Zack?" I heard Hannah ask. I turned around and saw her in a corner, her knees to her chest and her puffy red eyes looking at me with such sadness.

"Hannah!" I exclaimed rushing over to her and pulling her into me.

"Zack, it's been so long, I was so worried" She sobbed into my chest.

"Worried about what?" I asked, stroking her hair.

"I was worried you either left or something happened to you" she replied.

"I would never leave you Hannah...Not again" I corrected myself.

"I tried to reach out to you..." Hannah started.

"It's okay Hannah, I'm here now" I said in a soothing voice.

"I don't really know how this works, I think about you and then sometimes you come and sometimes you don't" Hannah said, confusion lacing her voice.

"Well I only see you when I'm asleep" I replied.

"Hmm, maybe it all depends when I try to reach out then. It's hard to tell the time down here" Hannah said.

"Why do you stay here Hannah?" I asked.

"What do you mean?" She asked.

"Well, I don't know, I guess I just assumed once you had passed away, you would be able to go where ever you wanted" I said. She lifted her head and looked at me.

"I must be in Hell" She said, her eyes watering.

"What? Why?" I asked, pulling her closer to me.

"Well, I'm reliving my nightmares. I see Mark almost everyday, he brings me food in a dog bowl and makes me eat with my hands. If I speak I get hit, if I look at him I get hit, and if I try to escape I get chained to that wall and don't get fed for a week" Hannah said, pointing at the wall opposite us. It had one long chain attached to the wall by a metal loop, and at the ends of the chain there were cuffs. Hannah's tears were coming full force.

"Did he do this to you while you where alive?" I asked her.

"I don't know. The night I got put down here was June 2nd, I only remember because I was meeting Lily, I finally wanted to tell someone what I was going through. But Mark had interrupted us. He dragged me back to the house and locked me down here. I've been here ever since. I guess I passed away at some point because you tell me I'm dead, but I don't remember dying. Everynight I feel closer and closer to death but I guess that's just me falling into my Hell loop. I guess you must be my little sliver of Heaven" Hannah told me. It just made me squeeze her tighter.

"You know, Lily and I went to your funeral today" I said. I don't know if this will make her feel worse or make her feel better.

"Yeah?" She asked, lifting her head to look at me.

"Yeah" I replied.

"Was it nice?" Hannah asked.

"It was beautiful. Everyone was there, Except Sarah and Fred but we went to the diner after to see them, Mark attempted to give a speech" I said.

"Attepmted?" She asked.

"Yeah, he started crying he was just too "upset" and couldn't talk" I said, finger quoting 'upset'.

"Then what happened?" She asked.

"I gave a speech instead" I replied, giving her a small smile.

"Oh Zack, I bet it was beautiful. I wish I could have heard it" Hannah said with a small smile.

"Maybe one day I'll quote it for you" I responded.

"I would like that" she said, placing her head on my shoulder.

"Zack" I heard a whisper from the distance. I knew it was Lily and that I needed to try and get as much information as possible.

"Hannah listen, Lily can hear us talking right now, or at least hear me talking right now and we're trying to make sure Mark pays for your death but I need to know how we can do that" I said cupping her face in my hands so she would look at me.

"Well I would think the best place to start is here" Hannah said gesturing to the room.

"I know, but it's locked" I said, sounding discouraged.

"The key is on his key ring. I don't know how you can get that from him but this is the only place where I think you'll find what you're looking for. I'm sure since my death he has cleaned it, but maybe there's something.

"Okay, maybe Lily has some ideas of how we can get down here" I replied.

"Please hurry Zack, I'm so miserable" Hannah said. I could see the pleading in her eyes.

"I will Hannah, I promise. Your death will be avenged" I said before bringing her face to mine and kissing her as hard as I could. I wanted her to feel my promise. For this kiss to mean Mark would pay and she could move on. Somewhere better. I want her to know, I love her.

"Zack" I heard a voice call out. I opened my eyes and had to blink away the light that was coming in through the window. I was on my back looking up at the ceiling.

"So?" I heard Lily ask.

'So' I thought, so what was next. How do I get Hannah out of that Hell loop and help her move on. To help her be free, be free of Mark. We needed to get into that basement, I knew in my gut there had to be something down there, mostly because if there wasn't anything to prove Mark was guilty... It would be over. There's nowhere else to look where there might be clues or evidence. So step one, get the Marks key ring.