This Is Just The Beginning

Chapter 39

~Stella's POV~
We got out of the car and went upstairs to the intelligence floor. Hailey saw us and came up to us.
"Hey, there you guys are. You... aren't gonna believe this.." She told us.
Kelly and I looked at each other a bit concerned.

"What is it?" I asked.
She made us follow her to a board they had.
"Mama up." Bella wanted me to carry her.
"Hey, we have MaKayla here. She's watching a movie in the break room. Want me to take her?" Kim asked me, pointing to Bella.
"Yes, that would be great. Thanks." I said.

Kim took Bella to another room while everyone else talked with us.
"Ok so.. what did you guys find?" I asked Hailey.
Hailey showed us the board.
"Do these faces look familiar?" Hailey asked me, showing me two photos.

It was a man and a little girl. It was them. The ones I've been seeing.
"Um... yea, yea... who are they?" I asked.
"Jacob Edwards. And Hallie Edwards. Father and daughter. They both died 15 years ago. Hallie was 4. Jacob was 27." Hailey kept explaining.

"But how did they die?" Kelly asked.
"Hallie was abused all her life. Her mother died at birth, leaving Hallie with her father. Neighbors always said they heard screaming and loud noise coming from the apartment, however, when the police arrived, Jacob always somehow managed to keep them out of the apartment. One day, Jacob just beat Hallie to the point of no return and.. she just died. And not wanting to go to jail, Jacob shot himself in the head. When the neighbors heard the gunshot, they called the cops." Jay explained.

Hearing this just made me cry. Imagine if I didn't get out of Grant's hold, and I died at birth. Bella would've been trapped with him.
Antonio gave me a tissue.
I wiped my tears and I just could've believe this. I couldn't stop crying.

"Hey you wanna go to the bathroom? Just calm down a bit?" Kelly whispered to me.
"Bathroom's down that hall on your right." Ruzeck said.
Kelly rubbed my back and I looked up at him.
"Come on.. let's go." He told me.

We went to the bathroom.
"What's going on?" He asked me.
I wiped my tears, but it took me a second to even get some words out.
"Imagine you never got me out of Grant's hold... where would I be right now?" I asked him.

"Still with him?" He asked.
"Ok... now imagine I died giving birth to Bella. Where would that leave her?.. With him. And we both know - especially me- what he was like... what if she..." I was saying, but I couldn't bring myself to finish that sentence.

"Hey... it's ok... you guys are safe now... you'll never have to see him again..." he told me. He wrapped me in his arms.
"What if..." I tried to say, but Kelly cut me off.
"Don't talk like that... just breathe..." he told me.

I took some deep breaths and I eventually calmed down. We went back out.
"Ok... are you ready for us to continue?" Hailey asked.
I nodded my head.
"Have you ever heard screaming, yelling, heavy footsteps, running?" She asked me.

I nodded my head and looked at Kelly.
"We have a recording of the noises that the neighbors would hear. Can we show it to you and can you confirm that this is what you've been hearing?" Jay asked.
"Yea... yea sure. Maybe Kelly will actually believe me now." I sort of chuckled.

Jay got the recording and showed it to us.
It was from one of the neighbors. You could hear screaming, running, and crying.
"No, no daddy!" We could hear a little girl scream with terror.
"Where are you?!" We could hear a deep, angry voice.

Then we heard something like a door slam.
"I won't do it ever again!" I heard that same exact phrase. That terrified, piercing, young scream.

"That. I heard that before. Same tone, same voice. Everything." I said. Jay paused the recording.
"That was Hallie. That was the last thing she said before she died." Hailey said.
"Ok, but what do we do now?" Kelly asked.

"We aren't ghost busters, Kelly. There's nothing we can do." Ruzeck said.
"So what do we do exactly? I mean, I guess these... ghosts... aren't gonna leave Stella alone. So what do we do?" Kelly asked.

But before anyone could answer him, I had a question.
"But... why would Hallie only let me see her. Not Kelly?" I asked.
"Well.. it seems that she trusts you and feels safe... she probably sees you as a motherly figure.. and because of her father, she's scared of Kelly so it seems that she doesn't let Kelly see her." Kim spoke.

"And Kelly... Ruzeck's right. There's nothing we can do. My best advice, if these spirits are really bothering you, is to just move." Atwater told us.
I looked at Kelly.
"How long have you guys living in this place for?" Kim asked us.
"Not long... like... maybe a couple weeks. Maybe like 6.." I said.

"Do you guys have somewhere to go if you were to move out now?" Jay asked.
I looked at Kelly.
"We could... asks the Caseys?" I told him.
He didn't agree or disagree with me.

"We'll... figure something out..." Kelly said.
"Thank you guys so much..." I told them.
"Yea, take care you two." Jay said.

Kelly and I got Bella and we left the district.
"Babe..." Kelly asked me.
"Yea?" I asked him.
"I'm sorry..." he told me.
"For what?" I asked him.

"For not believing you..." he sighed.
"It's ok... but.. what are we gonna do now?" I asked him.
"I'm not sure... but are you sure you want to leave?" He asked.

I nodded my head.
"Yes I'm sure. Babe... that place doesn't even feel like a home to me anymore..." I said, starting to tear up.
"Hey it's ok... we'll move... how about we... see if we can meet up with Dawson and Casey somewhere and explain the situation." He told me.

I thought about it and then I called Dawson.

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