The Haunting

Eight

Quinn

Once I was outside the house, I answered the incoming call, which was from Lindsay.

"Finally you managed to answer," Lindsay said, exasperation visible in her tone. I could vividly imagine her rolling her eyes and scowling in my head, which made me want to chuckle but suppressed it.

"Sorry about it, Lind. Had to go outside the house before I answered your call," I said, sighing. "You know, I'm not letting anyone know about this yet,"

"Yeah, right," She replied. "So, about the ghost hunters topic, I have some great recommendations."

"Go ahead,"

"So," she started and then briefly paused before she spoke again. "I know some professional ghost hunters that have performed countless successful exorcisms. April and Alex, the twins who had been commonly known as the town's most popular ghost hunters. Those two are extremely experienced in their job and I'm sure they're going to figure out what's wrong with your house."

Lindsay spoke without a pause, and I listened carefully. Never have I ever thought that one day I will be talking about such topics, it's just, weird how things change. I sighed and reconsidered my choice for the millionth time, and then finally spoke

"Fine, we're going there,"

Meanwhile

Doris

As I sat on the armchair, I kept glimpsing at Judy every minute.

She was sitting on the couch, watching some animations on the tv. But though she stared at the screen, her eyes were still unfocused, as if she was preoccupied with thoughts. The tense silence filled the room, and the only sound breaking the silence was the slightly turned-down sound of the cartoon.

Lisa was sitting around the table, drawing something in her sketchbook. Mom was upstairs taking a nap and dad wasn't home. I sat there on the armchair, bored, and finding nothing to do. Judy hasn't moved since we came here, not even a single limb, which confused me. Even though I felt a little frightened of her for the way she has been reacting lately, I still managed to muster up the courage to go sit next to her. I wanted to test her, to see her outcome.

She turned her head and glanced at me, then turned her gaze back to the tv. I swallowed the lump forming in my mouth hard, and tried my best to focus on the tv screen. The animation playing on the tv was getting boring and I wanted to change the channel but I was too apprehensive of her reaction.

I slowly outstretched my hand and placed it on the remote control which sat between us. Before I could move it, Judy grabbed my hand and squeezed it so tightly that I whined in pain. Her wide eyes gazed at me with a menacing look, sending chills down my spine. I yanked my hand out of her grip and spontaneously jolted up from the couch.

"Stop it, Judy!" I yelled, staring at her unemotional face, teary-eyed. "You're taking it way too far! What's wrong with you? Huh? What! Tell me! I'm fed up with this!"

The words forced their way out of my mouth too fast that I didn't even have a chance to rethink them. There was an observable upswing in Judy's rage, as she shot me a death stare before she jolted up from her seat and grabbed my neck. She lifted me easily as if I was a doll. Her iris vanished and her eyes became scarily white. I started gasping for air and kicked with my legs but she wouldn't release me.

"Do you know how much you've angered me? Bear the consequences now. Your Judy is gone and she's not going to come back."

Lisa began screaming hysterically at the horrendous scene occurring in front of her. I was beginning to lose consciousness and I dreaded that I was on the verge of dying. I tried to fight against her grip but all my attempts were pathetic and barely even affected her. I was preparing myself to die but hope refilled me when I heard footsteps rushing down the staircase. Once mom came down, Judy dropped me and she fell to the ground, unconscious.

Mom scurried towards us and was utterly dumbfounded at the sight she witnessed. Judy was lying on the floor, with her body shaking furiously. I took a couple of deep breaths before I crawled over to Judy with mom. Once we were beside her, she stopped shaking and opened her eyes.

"Mom?" She muttered with her normal voice. I smiled, thinking that she's finally back to normal. Mom hugged her and Judy started crying.

"Mom, help me, she's making me do things I don't want to do," Judy whimpered. Mom tried to soothe her, but she won't stop sobbing. Lisa crawled towards me and rested her head on my shoulder. She was crying too, and I tried to comfort her. I have no idea what's happening to us, but I'm sure something is seriously wrong with this house. When mom and Judy pulled away, mom came towards us and pulled me and Lisa into her lap.

"Let's go to Sharon's, I don't feel comfortable in this house anymore."

Quinn

Standing in front of the door, I hesitated to ring the doorbell.

Lindsay crossed her arms and tapped her foot, impatiently waiting for me to ring the doorbell. I rethought my decision one more time before I sighed and placed my finger on the button. Pressing it, the doorbell rang and we awaited a response. I pushed Lindsay in front of me so that she can be the one to talk. When the door was opened, I was shocked to see the girl I bumped into a few days ago.

"What do you want?" She asked straightforwardly, staring at Lindsay with an expressionless face. When her eyes landed on me, shock spread across her face as I could assume she recognized me.

"We need your help... In some paranormal stuff," Lindsay spoke, sighing. The girl - who Lindsay told me was called April - looked really reluctant to agree, and she took way too long to respond. She looked like she wasn't expecting to see us, I could tell by how surprised she looked. Silence fell among us and settled for a while before she cleared her throat and spoke up.

"I'm sorry, I can't do it," She said with an apologetic expression before she shut the door in our faces. We stood there, a little stupefied by her outcome. I let out a sigh of disillusionment, as I stared at the closed door in sorrow.

"Don't worry, Quinn," Lindsay said, placing her hand on my shoulder. "April is just not ready now. We can visit them later again."

"Fine," I breathed out.

***

Lindsay drove me back home, and the drive was strangely silent.

Usually, me and Lindsay gossip non-stop about everything and anything, but this time we just remained quiet and barely said anything. Honestly, I wasn't in the mood for conversing, as my mind was preoccupied with an enormous amount of thoughts and concerns. I just kept staring out the window, contemplating the nighttime views as we drove by. The moonlight was casting its glistening rays on the roadway, beautifully illuminating the path. Driving in the night has always been my favorite thing.

When we arrived at my house, I was dismayed by the number of police cars standing in front of our house. My heart began beating faster as I feared the likelihood of something terrible happening to my family. Getting out of the car, I bid farewell to Lindsay. She noticed the police cars too and asked me if I wanted her to accompany me but I just told her it was okay. I don't want to involve her in our problems, she has her own.

Walking towards the house, the police officers didn't let me enter the house, which added more to my apprehensiveness.

"Let me enter! My family is in there!" I shouted, trying to escape from their grip.

"Ma'am, no one is in the house," a police officer said. I froze, surprised to know that they weren't in the house. Then where are they? When I glanced at our friend, Sharon's house, I immediately presumed they were there. But why would they go there? Something must have happened in our house.

Coincidentally glancing at the window, I was horrified to see something engraved through the fog on the windowpane.

You will all die.