I feel spooked from what happened earlier. Every time I turn a corner I expect some monster to jump out at me. I still don't know if there really is something in the house or if I'm just going crazy; I don't even know which I would rather be true.
It's finally time to get ready for my casual outing with Chase. Yeah, that's what I'm calling it until I can figure out what it is; but I'm glad for the distraction. Brooke gave me three options of outfits to choose from. I'm relieved she gave me the options because I had no idea what to choose from. Yet, I kind of wish she just told me what the wear. Chase will be here in forty-five minutes. He is coming fifteen minutes earlier than he originally planned because in an hour, Brooke and her parents are heading out to go to some fundraiser at her dads work and I have absolutely no desire to be in this house alone; Especially in the later hours of the day.
I stand at the foot of my bed staring at all three hoping that one of them will just jump up and say, 'pick me'. That would be a huge life savor. Unfortunately that won't be happening anytime soon, so I just rely on the next best thing.
"Eeny, meeny, miny, moe—"
"Really? You are having that much difficulty deciding what to wear?" Brooke walks in as I am trying to decide.
"Well just staring at them wasn't really doing anything so I figure that this might help," I say, sort of embarrassed from her catching me choosing my outfit the way I would choose things when I was a kid.
She rolls her eyes at me, "Okay, this is just so pathetic. Choose the middle one. It's casual yet, super cute and will look awesome on you. Oh and wear that new necklace you got, it will go with it splendidly!"
The outfit she picked was a pair of black jeans with a blue shirt. She took out gold sandals and a white sweater. I can see now how the necklace would tie the whole thing together. I sort of don't want to wear the necklace but part of me agrees that it would look awesome with it.
"This necklace is super gorgeous but it is kind of creepy that some person with the initial's 'SJ' sent it to you without anything other than that super helpful note." Sarcasm is dripping off of her last few words.
"Yeah tell me about it," I agree as I change into my clothes.
Once I am fully dressed into my outfit, Brooke hands me the necklace as the final piece. I hold it in my hands, standing in front of the full length mirror and contemplate whether it is a good idea or not. I decide again, why not, it is a really pretty necklace. I place it over my head and watch it hang down in front of me. It feels perfect. Like it has been there the whole time.
A few minutes later the doorbell rings. My heart flutters. Why is it doing that? I don't know how many times I have to tell myself that I don't have feelings for Chase. One more glance into the mirror and it's time to head downstairs. As I exit my room, I grab my purse and try to relax my shoulders. The tension from the day has built up in them and I don't want Chase or Brooke to notice.
I reach the stairs and pause, I hear Chase speaking with Mr. Geiger, very politely. Mr. Geiger is very interested in Chase's father and with what Chase wants to do with his life. I think he's trying to make up for the fact that I don't have my own father to drill my dates. Ah date, not sure if that is the right word. Maybe after tonight, I will know.
I take a deep breath and head down the stairs. When they hear me coming, both stop talking and glance up. Chase smiles at me and my heart flutters once more. Stop doing that.
"Well you look very beautiful Charlotte," Mr. Geiger says.
I smile at him. "Thank you, but you can give all the credit to Brooke."
"Not all the credit!" Brooke shouts from in the kitchen.
I smile in her direction. I know she's trying to make it seem like I'm not as hopeless as I make myself out to be but in reality, we both know it's true.
"Mr. Geiger is right, you do look amazing. Shall we go then?" He politely asks. I can see that he is a little nervous but he still doesn't falter too much.
"Yes, I'm ready," I say to him.
We start heading out the door when Mr. Geiger calls out, "Have a good night, and be safe!"
Those last two words make me shudder. I hope Chase didn't notice.
Chase guides us towards the driveway where his car is parked. His family must have money considering I'm staring at his fairly new looking BMW.
"So what is the plan for tonight?" I ask him as he opens up my door.
"Well I figured we would start with dinner and then go from there," he says with a smile.
"I do like dinner, where are we going?" I ask.
"Only the best restaurant in town," he replies as he shuts my door. Curiosity peaks my interest. I watch as he walks around the car, towards the driver's side and gets in.
"So where is this best restaurant you speak of?" I ask. I am very curious as to where he would take me. I've been to pretty much every place in this town and I can't think of where he would be speaking about.
"Well you'll just have to wait and see." He turns the key and the engine roars to life. He backs out of the driveway and heads towards our mysterious destination.
After about a twenty-minute drive or so we turn down this long and skinny road. I've never been on this road before and I suddenly feel uneasy. Is he taking me into the woods to kill me? That would be stupid considering the Geiger's know I'm with him.
After a few minutes of driving down this road we reach an opening and the most magnificent house I have ever seen comes into view. I realize now that the road was not in fact a road but a driveway.
The house looks to be hundreds of years old but it is in outstanding condition. There must be three stories and the largest porch I have ever seen, it must wrap around the entire house. There is a four-car garage immediately adjacent to the house. My house didn't even have a two-car garage. I can't imagine what it must be like to have four-car garage.
"So what does your dad do again?" I say to Chase, partially joking but also serious.
He laughs at me and pulls the car into one of the garage stalls. He shuts the car off and takes the keys out, "He's a photographer but we come from old money. This house though, I guess it's been in our family for generations. I didn't know it until we moved here. My dad though never wanted to use my family's money, he wanted to just use his own but it was kind of inevitable when we moved here. Why buy a new house when you have one already in your name."
He gets out of the car and walks towards my door. He opens it and extends a hand towards me. I grasp it and he pulls me out of the car.
"The house is beautiful," I say to him as we exit the garage and head in one of the side doors to the house.
"Thanks. I think my great-great-great-grandfather or something built it or at least part of it, hundreds of years ago," he says. "So are you ready for the best meal of your life?"
I look at him questioningly, I still don't understand how this could be the best restaurant in town. "Yeah, but I don't mean to be rude, but why are we at your house then?" I ask.
"Well I figured since you grew up here, that you've probably been to every restaurant in town. I thought about taking you out of town but then decided against it so I came to the best alternative meal plan: my family's chef. His name is Franklin, and he is the best there is. Trust me, you'll love it," he says with excitement pouring out of him.
Chase leads me through a series of doorways until we reach the dining room. It is a very large room that is simply decorated. The table looks like it could seat sixteen people but there are only two chairs placed there. There is a white tablecloth that covers the entire table and two place settings. There are two lit candles in the middle of the table and they make the room smell like a pine forest. My mother used to use that same scent; it was her favorite. My heart aches a little as I think of her.
Chase leads me to one of the chairs and pulls it out. He offers the seat to me and I graciously accept. He proceeds to walk over to the other chair and sit down.
"This is amazing. What made you think to do all this?" I ask, curious about this lavish dinner idea.
"I thought it would be something different for you to do. Is it too much?" Chase looks nervous.
"No, no, not at all. I'm just surprised. That's all." I smile at him, hoping to ease his discomfort.
Silence falls between us and I'm not sure really what to say. Thankfully a very large man, who I'm assuming is Franklin, walks out carrying a silver platter with a silver cover on it. He places it on the table between Chase and I and whisks the cover off.
"Dinner is served," Franklin says in a booming voice. Franklin looks like the typical chef. Large, round belly, dressed in a white double-breasted coat, and checkered pants.
After the shock of Franklin wears off, I look at the meal in front of me. It's not exactly what I was expecting. Laid out in front of me was an array of options. There were pizza bites, wings, mozzarella sticks, mini tacos, mini hotdogs; you name it, it was there.
I notice that Chase is staring at me as I gawk at all the food.
"Is everything alright? Brooke told me that this is your favorite type of dinner," he says with apprehension.
"It is. Or at least it was," I say to him. The memory of the Friday night dinners with my family resurface. It was our Friday tradition to eat picking foods; that's what we called them since you could pick at them. It was always my favorite meal to eat with my family and nothing ever made me miss a meal.
"I'm really sorry, I thought it might be nice for you to relive a happy a memory with your family. I guess I made an error in judgment on that," Chase says. He looks down at the food in front of us, as if he was trying to make it disappear.
"It's not your fault. I just didn't realize how much I missed those meals with my family. Would you excuse me? I'm going to get some air for a minute." I politely excuse myself, as I had to get out of there before the tears start to fall. The last thing in the world I want is to cry in front of Chase.
I find my way to a door that leads outside. It ends up being the main front door and I find myself standing on the elaborate porch. Just standing on that porch almost makes me forget why I came out there. I walk up to the railing and lean on it and let out a big sigh. I am so stupid. Why would I let this get to me? He was just doing a really nice thing and I made a fool out of myself.
I slowly turn around and lean my back up against the railing. I stare at the door, hoping that Chase will either forget I'm here or come out and make the pain of my loss go away. I don't know why I think that. Like I've said a million times, I don't have feelings for him...If only I could actually believe myself.
As I stand there, thinking about when to go back in, I can't help feeling like someone is watching me. It's quite creepy actually. I turn my head around and glance behind me and of course nothing is there. I try to shake the feeling off but it just doesn't seem to go away. I decide before I let my imagination get the best of me, I should really head inside. I push off of the railing and head towards the door.
I reach for the doorknob but something makes me stop in my tracks. I don't know what it is, but I can feel it. It's starts to weigh down on me and I slowly turn my head to the left. Nothing is there. I turn my head to the right and when I see it, I try to scream. Nothing will come out though, it's as if my entire is paralyzed with fear.
I don't know what I'm looking at, it's too dark to see but I know its there. I can only make out that it must be over seven feet tall. There is black fog surrounding the figure, like that is its shadow. I can feel it standing there. Watching me. I feel like it's smothering the air around me. I can barely breathe but what scares me the most is that it wants me dead and I don't know if I can stop it.
I still can't move. I keep screaming at my brain to make myself move but nothing is working. I watch as it approaches me, stalking me, like I'm its prey. If I could reach out, I would be able to grab it. I can feel my heart rate picking up speed. My instincts tell me to flee but I can't. I'm stuck there. I've never been this scared before and I don't even know what I'm being afraid of.
All of a sudden the door flies open and I'm being forcefully pulled into the house. Chase looks at me with horror and confusion.
"Why didn't you run inside?" Chase asks, well more like yells at me as he slams the door shut. If he shut it any harder I'm pretty sure the house would collapse.
I just stare at him in bewilderment as I'm gasping for air. I don't even know how to answer that question. I just look down at my feet and I can feel my body start to shake from the fear.
"Wh-what was that?" I ask, not really sure if I want to know the answer.
He pulls me into a hug, "I don't really know. All I know is that it is not something you want to let near you. Bad things can happen."
My breathing starts to steady in his arms. I feel safe again but only for a brief second as the realization of what he said.
"How do you know that?" I pull away from him and look him in the eyes. I can see that he wants to tell me something but doesn't really know how.
"Well, that's a story for another time. Come on, you must be hungry, let's eat something." He tries to change the subject rather quickly.
I'm surprised at his answer, how does he expect me to eat when that thing is lurking in the shadows? "There is no way I could eat right now," I firmly say.
"Okay, then you don't have to," Chase says. I can see that he doesn't want me to ask any questions but I have to. He knows something and I need to find out what.
"What do you know? And I don't want some made up story that you don't really know, you were just guessing. I want the truth. The entire truth." I cross my arms and raise one of my eyebrows. Giving him the 'you better spill the beans now' look.
Chase sighs and rubs his over his face. He ushers me to follow him into the living room. We both take a seat on one of the couches and he starts to ponder something. I give him a minute to sort his thoughts in his head.
"Well?" I ask, with slight impatience in my voice.
He looks at me and then at his hand. "Okay, well, you see my dad isn't really a photographer, he sort of researches things that most people will never experience. Sometimes his research is more of a in-person contact type thing".
"Are you telling me your dad deals with the things that go bump in the night?" I suspiciously ask. It sounds crazy, but after today, I can pretty much believe anything.
"Well yeah basically. He tries to rid them of our world and send them back to their own," He replies and glances at me waiting for my response.
"So you're dad looks for ghost then," I say. I can't believe that I'm having this conversation right now with a guy that I sort of like but now, I'm thinking he's crazier than I am.
"Well not exactly. You see there are more things in this world than just ghosts. There are things that most people couldn't comprehend believing in. Some of these things are really bad. I mean, bad as in, come from the depths of Hell, bad." He says.
"Was that thing that was out there...from Hell?" I can't even believe what I am asking right now. I sound absolutely crazy. I start to laugh. I don't know why I react that way; I must be going crazy after all because all of this sounds absolutely absurd.
"Well if it is what I think it is, then yes. It is from the part of Hell that no human soul could reach."
That does not sound promising. "What do you think it is?" I get up and start pacing the room. My pulse is racing again and I'm nervous about what he is going to say.
"If I am correct, which lets hope I'm not, then that right there is what they call a Hunter," he says, despair in his eyes.
"Okay, well I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess that it's job is to hunt things...or whatever. But what I don't understand is why it would be here, trying to get me. Speaking of which, am I safe in here?" I ask, suddenly remembering how something has been stalking me at Brooke's. I look around the living room expecting that thing to pop up. I'm guessing it's that thing outside, which makes me nervous, considering it can dwell inside houses and outside of them.
"Yeah you're perfectly safe here. In fact, this is probably the safest place to be. This house has been protected for centuries. And as for why it was here, for you, I have no idea. From what I've read, they usually don't go after living people. Think of them more like bounty hunters for souls that need to be taken to Hell."
"So if these things usually go after a soul, that means it was after mine. Also probably wanting to kill me since I'm assuming a soul can't be ripped from a living body." I hope that the latter is true but the look on Chase's face doesn't sit well with me. "Okay, so maybe this thing has the wrong person. I mean everyone makes mistakes, right?" I ask, hoping that Chase will agree. I sit down on the couch again waiting for his answer.
Chase looks down at his hands and sighs. When he looks up at me, I can tell by his eyes that I am not going to like what he is going to say. "Charlotte, Hunters are never given a wrong target." He pauses. I can see the fear in his eyes. "They also never miss their target."
Great. So now I have some Hell Hunter on my tail and for God only knows what reason.
A/N: I hope you enjoyed this chapter as well! Please vote and comment, I would really like your feedback :)