What Lies Beneath

Chapter Thirty-Eight: Whispers in the Wind

Charlie pulled his now bloodied axe out of Agatha's head before continuing on his way. He had always planned on killing her, but he didn't think that it was going to be so easy. Now he needed to find the rest of the guests. He had plans, whether the house liked it or not.

Darla stood outside of the ominous house. She could feel the ghosts inside rattling and screaming as if they were trapped in a cage. The noise was almost too much, but she wasn't alone. She had her mother next to her, whether she could see her or not. With her mom by her side Darla could do anything.

Taking a deep breath, she started towards the door, but before she reached the steps, she heard her mother scream, RUN!

Darla stopped, startled by the sudden urgency in her mother's voice. Before a question could form in her mind, she felt the pressure of strong arms wrapping around her and pulling her away from the house. Panicking, Darla tried to break free, but her arms were pinned down by her sides as if they were in an iron vice. The only thing that she could think to do was plant her feet like anchors, but the person pulling her was too strong and simply tugged her along, dragging the dirt clumps with them.

She didn't want to give up, but she knew that there was no way to escape. The only comfort was that she wasn't alone. She could still feel her mother near her. A small part of her wondered if her mother knew that this was going to happen, did ghosts know everything?

Just as that thought crossed her mind the person holding her threw her into what looked like a shed. Darla landed on top of a dirt mound. The sudden trauma to her lungs caused all of the air held within to burst out. Turning over on her back Darla stared at the man who had taken her.

"Who are you?!" The question sounded raspy and forced. She hadn't waited for her lungs to fill back up before she had spoken. Something told her that she wasn't going to make it out of the shed alive.

"Your nightmare." It was all he said before lunging at her. Even in the darkness she could see the distant light from outside glint off of a metal surface. She didn't feel it when the blade went into her the first time. She supposed that she was in shock, but that soon wore off after the seventh stab of the knife as it penetrated her abdomen.

The last thing that Darla saw before everything went black was the man's face twisted with so much anger and darkness that he didn't even look human, that is if he ever was in the first place.

"What do you mean you own it?" The question hung in the air awaiting an answer.

"I mean that I own it." John stared at his two-house guests. What else could he mean? The property had been in his family for years.

"How can you own it?" Joe felt so confused. None of this was making any sense. How could John own the house and the town that was in the middle of all of this? Is this why Paul sent them here?

"It has been in my family's name for generations. My Great-Great-Great grandfather was one of the first settlers there."

"Then why are all of these kids suddenly asking for rides to it?" Bobby hadn't said anything in a while and was feeling a bit left out, but mostly confused.

"I don't know. I didn't even know that someone had gotten through the fence. There is a security code on the gate that should have sent out an alarm to my company who should have notified me immediately." John pulled out his phone and began tapping at the screen.

"What are you doing?" Joe knew that it probably wasn't any of his business, but after everything that had been going on, he wanted, no he needed, to know everything that was happening.

"I'm checking to see if I missed any alerts over the last few weeks, but it doesn't look like I have. Something is wrong. I need to call the office, excuse me." John placed his phone to his ear and then left the room.

"Do you think that he'll be able to figure out what's happened?" Bobby looked a little worried. Joe knew how he felt. No matter how close they seemed to get to the answers that they needed, the further they became.

"I honestly don't know. I thought that by coming here we would finally get the answers that we needed, but it looks like all we're going to get is more questions." Joe could feel himself slipping into what could only be described as a deep depression. Nothing was working out the way that he thought it would. He couldn't help but curse the kids who had gotten them involved in this whole mess.

"Do you think that we will be able to help them in time?" Bobby had never really thought about what would happen to the kids if they couldn't do as Paul had directed. Then again, they didn't really know what it is that they were doing. They were going off of a little information and a gut feeling. How did they get themselves into this mess?

"I don't know okay. I don't know anything! I thought that we were doing the right thing by trying to help these kids, but I don't know anymore." Joe felt defeated. What was the point to any of this? Nobody had really asked for their help, well Paul kind of did he supposed. However, they didn't have to do anything. They could have just left well enough alone, but instead, he had to find out the truth.

"Don't kid yourself Joe. You knew that those kids were in danger and convinced me that I needed to help you from the very beginning. You can't give up now. Especially not when things are finally coming together. I know that we don't have all of the answers and who knows, maybe we never will, but we can't just leave those kids trapped in that house. I don't know about you, but I can't just walk away. Not when someone needs my help." For all of Bobby's big talk, he still wasn't sure that they should be doing this. Yes, he wanted to save those kids, but he didn't know if it was possible.

"I know, Bobby. I just can't believe that this is happening. Nothing makes any sense anymore and the deeper we go, the more I fear that we won't be able to save ourselves let alone these kids." Joe's tone was solemn, and the weight of the room was heavy. There was no getting around the fact that, try as they might, they may not be able to save the kids.

"I just talked to my partner and he has assured me that the property is still under my name and that no one should be on it. So, either he is lying or something very diabolical is going on right under my nose." John's face was red and his whole body seemed to be giving off intense vibrations of anger and frustration when he reentered the room.

"Maybe he's just trying to cover his mistake?" Bobby offered up the first solution, but they all knew that that wasn't the case. Something strange had been happening since day one and now they were going to get to the bottom of it.

*HEY GUYS, CURIOUS TO SEE WHAT HAPPENS NEXT? STAY TUNED FOR CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE: BEN. AS WE ARE NEARING THE END OF PART TWO IT IS IMPORTANT TO KEEP IN MIND THAT THE BIG BATTLE IS COMING SO BE PREPARED, BUT ALSO KNOW THAT THERE IS STILL A LOT MORE STORY TO TELL. PART TWO ENDS WITH CHAPTER FORTY SO TAKE SOME TIME AND CATCH UP. ALSO PLEASE REMEMBER TO VOTE, COMMENT, AND/OR SHARE. YOU GUYS ARE AMAZING!*