Find Me : Novella

by E. J. Bennett

  There was a backdoor. I just had to pass through the living room with the fire place from hell. I crept to the door and peeked into the room. The fire was out. The logs looked untouched. No damage whatsoever. I was really freaked now. Maybe it was just my imagination. That's it. Being isolated in this old uninviting house was just playing tricks on my mind.

  Cautiously I stepped into the room. Nothing happened. I near enough ran for the door that would lead to the kitchen then the back door. The kitchen door slammed shut in my face. I barley stopped, and just missed colliding with the door.

  The fire shot back to life. Thoughts accelerated in my mind. Everything that my grandmother ever said was true. Mary was reaching out, she wanted to be found. My breaths came in small gasps. "Find Me!" the voice sounded desperate, it was a heartfelt plea. I just wasn't sure that I could do what she was asking of me. All I knew is I needed to get out of the house.

  "I will find you Mary, but first you need to let me leave," the fire died down and the windows slowly reopened. I ran to the front door, once my hand had firmly clutched the handle her voice sounded close to my ear "He killed me," it was just a whisper. I pulled hard on the door and ran out. The sky had darkened quickly. It was almost night fall. I ran down the drive and to my car. Then I remembered that I had no car keys. I had left them in the house, along with my bag. There wasn't a chance in hell I was going back in there.

  Chapter 6

  Clouds were rolling in. It looked like a storm was heading this way. I looked around trying to remember the quickest way into town on foot. I cursed my grandmother under my breath for living so far from civilization. Through the woods then past old man Joe's c house was the quickest route.

  I rushed into the woods and was eloped by darkness. It couldn't have been any darker in a coffin pilled with dirt. I tried focusing on my surroundings in the vast darkness with little light that penetrated the large branches.

  I wasn't sure what was worse. The dark woods or the house, my fear had opened a door for new insecurities to creep in. I could have sworn I heard footsteps. I hid behind a tree and pressed my back firmly against its trunk. The sound of my own pulse throbbing in my ears is all I can hear. I set off in a sprint and ran clumsily through the woodland. I tripped and feel over the tree roots scrapping and grazing my knees and hands as I go. I don't stop or slow down. I just had to get out of the woods and back home. Dad could get whoever he wanted in to sort the house because that was it for me. I wasn't facing a ghost for no one. Even if that meant no university and a shitty job that paid minimal wage that barley covered the bills.

  The sky opened up letting loose big, chaotic drops of rain, the wind picked up and my hair whipped into my face. my view became even more obstructed.

  My lunges burned and the muscles in my legs throbbed from the pressure I had put them under. I wasn't a unfit girl, but I also wasn't one for exercise. The hooting of an howl made me jump in freight. I could hardly see to the point I was running blindly.

  Strong arms wrapped around me and I let out an ear piercing scream that echoed around the vast forbidding trees. My ears rang from the high pitched noise.

  "Sssh I am not going to hurt you," a deep male voice proclaimed. He let go of me and put his hands up as if to show he meant no harm.

  I took a step back and studied his face. His black hair that was a little over cut and falling into his eye and deep chocolate eyes looked familiar.

  "Adrian," I whispered, my hands were shaking violently. The last time I had seen him, he was a overly cocky young boy with an ego the size of a football pitch. He was overly confident with an arrogant flare. He was a few years older than me and liked to think he was a know it all that just bored me to death. Let's just say that our friendship got off to a rocky start and died a violent death.

  He had long messy black hair back then with an overly freckled face. His height didn't seem to fit his child like face.

  Looking at him now his freckles had made way for an even honey complexion and his facial features had become more defined and sharp. He now bore the look of a super-model even down to the leather jacket.

  "Mia, why are you running through the woods in the dark?" he looked at me with a confused expression. My mind was blank. What did I tell him?

  "Why are you walking around at this time of night," I had gone on the defensive and I knew it.

  "I was on my way home from work when I saw you running out of the tress like...." He trailed off. He was probably going to say like a crazy woman. I could feel a blush covering my cheeks and was glad that the darkness would hide its red tint.

  He pointed to his pickup truck that was parked feet away and I was shocked that I hadn't noticed it before with its bright headlights lighting up the surroundings.

  "Do you want a lift?" he asked and I nodded my head eagerly. He placed his hand on the small of my back while he guided me to his truck. Heat surged in the place he was touching and was refreshing against my chilled skin.

  He opened my door and I quietly climbed in. I felt a little aqwaurad. That was strange as I was usually a bold character.

  We set of down the road and he gave me a small smile. "So what brings you back to this town?" he asked me.

  "I was sent here to get my grandmother's home ready for sale," I answered not going into much detail.

  I noticed that we had turned into the road that would lead back to my grandmother's house and without thinking I leaped for the door handle.

  "Hay, what is wrong?" he asked. The door was locked which was lucky for me as he was doing nearly sixty down the country lanes.

  "Why are we heading towards my grandmothers," I asked. My voice was shaky and I had trouble getting my words out. The fear that had wrapped around my insides had made me tongue tied.

  "I need to get some papers for your father. He contacted me this afternoon. He has been trying to reach you all day, by the way," he said and I gave him a little glare. He already knew why I was here.

  "You can pick the papers up tomorrow," I said trying to get him to turn around. He laughed and gave me a quick glance.

  "You look like you have seen a ghost. Your face is white," he pointed out. That is exactly what I had seen. He had hit the nail on the head. Why did my father have to ring him? Why couldn't he have waited another day while I was miles away from that house?

  "Hay, your car is in the driveway," he gave me a sideways glance and I sunk lower in my seat.

  "Have you got a flat tire, I can change it for you," he offered but I shook my head. I felt like I had been backed into a corner.

  "There was someone in the house. I left my bag and keys inside and just ran," I blurted out without taking a breath.

  He pulled the car to a stop and fully turned to face me. "Did you see the person?" he asked. What was I supposed to say. No but I knew who it was, the ghost that had haunted my grandmother's life. He would think I was just a naive little girl.

  "No, it was too dark for me to see them." I looked down at my lap to avoid having to face him. I felt like his warm eyes could see right through me and I did not want to blurt anything out. I did not know if I would be able to lie to him if I looked at his face. I hugged myself and realized that I was actually shaking. It was cold outside, but I was dressed rather warmly and so that could not have been it.

  Adrian did not try to make me look at him, which made me feel relieved. Someone thinking I was scared was better than someone thinking I was crazy.

  "I can drive you to where you are staying after I get the papers, your keys and bag." Adrian said. I nodded and he got out of the truck. I was all set on spending the few minutes alone in this car trying to calm down, when Adrian turned to me. "Come on, I'm not leaving you here all alone."

  I stopped, looking around the vehicle. Despite the fact I was surrounded by all the metal and glass this huge machine was made of, I could not stop shaking. The truck was clean, cleaner than my own car. But it was filled with things nonetheless. I did not know what Adrian was doing now, but he
had a lot of tools in his truck. The fact I could reach over with my eyes closed and grab something heavy and relatively heavy most of the time comforted me. And then I remembered that the thing I was afraid of was a ghost and ghosts could go through objects. I did not feel so safe anymore. Maybe the ghost would stop if there was a stranger with me?

  "Okay." I slid out of the car. I was surprised when Adrian held out his hand for me to grab. I did and its warmth made me feel comforted. If ten year old me could see me now, she would pitch a fit. I suppressed a smirk that could have been interpreted differently. We walked to the house. I was surprised to find the inside was dark.

  It was quiet too, so I could hear the loud groan of the door when Adrian pushed it open. I took a deep breath, trying to calm down as I followed him in. What would he see? Was everything I felt even real? I started to doubt myself.

  The door groaned as it slammed shut. I jumped a little, but what I saw in front of me was far more disturbing. Every single piece of ratty furniture in the room was turned upside down, having been hurled across the room. Adrian whistled.

  "I do not think you found this place this messy." He said.

  "No, I did not." It was at this point that I felt confident enough to tell the truth. "I do not know how this happened." Adrian moved away to open a cupboard sitting in the living room.

  The door groaned again. I turned and saw it standing wide open. A part of me wanted to run through that door. But before my legs could listen to my brain the door slammed shut again with such force that I could see the door frame buckle. The door opened and closed again, this time faster. The slamming noise multiplied as all of the doors in the house seemed to open and slam shut over and over again. The windows that I worked so hard to open were now moving freely.

  My breath caught in my throat. I did not know what I should do. Do I grab Adrian and run again? Would I even be able to? A stray thought entered my mind. Now that he had seen this, maybe I could tell him about Mary. Maybe he would help me. And even if he didn't, I would feel better knowing that I was not crazy.

  Adrian cursed loudly as a pan flew at his head. He was holding a large folder in one hand. He turned and grabbed my bag and keys, and then almost tackled me when he pushed me out.

  Adrian helped me slide though the door as it was swinging open. He did not let go of my bag or the folder in the other. As soon as we were outside, he grabbed my hand. By the time we sprinted to the truck the windows and the doors had slammed themselves shut once and for all. He released my hand and I climbed in the truck.

  "What the hell was that?" Adrian breathed as he got in his truck. I was shivering form fear again so when he handed me my bag I instinctively clutched it to my chest. Adrian put the folder he was carrying in the back, on a box that seemed stable.

  I didn't know how big of a relief it would be to have my things back. I looked at his face. Would this man even believe me if I told him the fireplace spoke to me? But I am not sure I would be able to go back there again. Not alone. The very thought made my stomach roll over itself.

  "Now you know what I have been dealing with all day." I sighed.

  Adrian stretched his neck and ran his hands through his hair. Beads of sweat had formed on his forehead. They shined in the faint light from the headlights. "Well, I could come over and help tomorrow. Maybe we can even figure out what crazy thing happened in there if we do it during the day. I did enough odd jobs around the house to know where most things are. And that way you will be done in time." Adrian turned to me and grinned. "And I won't even charge you."

  I smiled. At least I won't need to go in there alone. Adrian was growing on me. He seemed a lot more patient now that he was older. I was glad he had grown out of his egoistic phase. "Well, I am coming back here tomorrow morning. If you can meet me at the coffee shop across from the bed and breakfast at nine in the morning, we can come over and get to work?"

  "Sure. I'll even bring some supplies. Do you want me to drive you back now, or are you taking your car?" Adrian asked.

  I looked out at my car. The thought of getting out of the truck and walking to it made me feel like I had lead weights tied to my feet. "Would you? I can pick up my car tomorrow. No sense using two cars when we're both going here right?"

  "Yes, that makes sense." Adrian pulled out of the driveway and soon enough we were headed towards town. I sank back in my seat. In a few hours I would be back in a warm bed and maybe sleep would help me forget about this. Though I was hesitant about being able to go to sleep after the night I have had. My heart was still pounding a thousand times a minute, but now I knew I was not going back there alone. So I focused on that.

  Chapter 7

  I stumbled into my room and left the bag on the floor. Despite the fact I had spent the drive in relative silence and my body had relaxed somewhat, I could not shake the feeling of a weight pressing down on my chest. I kept thinking about Mary. Why was she appearing to me now? What did 'find me' mean? She had been missing for years now. Could I really find her after all this time? And most importantly, why me? Was it because I was the only one to stop by at the house alone after grandma had died?

  I tossed and turned in bed all night. These thoughts about Mary did not leave me alone all night. I tried drinking tea and calming down but it didn't work. Despite the restless night and the headache I had in the morning, I still managed to get up early and get ready. Maybe if I cleaned the house things would calm down. I forced the toast I had for breakfast down my throat and ran out of the door. I did not want to be late.

  Adrian was sitting outside the coffee shop. I have never seen anyone seem more relaxed. He was holding his coffee cup in one of his hands, and it was leaning so far to one side I was wondering how much coffee he had spilled. He was leaning back in the chair with his right ankle resting on his left knee. He wore jeans that looked like they had seen better days and a simple plaid shirt. His clothes were obviously meant for manual labor. It made me remember the only positive thing I could ever say about him back then. Despite his cockiness he never shied away from work. My grandma did not have a bad word to say about him. When Adrian saw me, he smiled and put down his coffee cup right next to the sunglasses on the table.

  "How did you sleep?" He asked this with such worry. I touched my face. I was aware that I looked tired, but the worry in his voice made me think I looked much worse than I thought I did. As soon as I realized I was worrying about the opinion of the boy who used to call me chicken because I was afraid of a garden snake. I huffed out an annoyed breath and forced my hand away from my face.

  "Well, enough, considering what happened last night." I sat down opposite him, putting my bag on the ground. "You?" No matter how hard I tried, I could not keep the poison out of my voice.

  "Relax Mia, I was just worried." Adrian spoke softly, and it endeared me to him immediately. I did not know he could even speak with that amount of compassion.

  "And," he added, "since you asked, I did not sleep a wink last night. Even if I wasn't coming with you today, I would have had to give my morning shift to someone else. I would not be able to focus.

  "Morning shift?" As soon as the words left my mouth I realized I was so frazzled yesterday I did not even ask him what he was doing now.

  "Yes, I run my uncle's store now. Since my cousin decided to move and I had always been interested in it, it seemed like a good fit. I have been doing it since I graduated high school." Adrian said. I remembered his uncle's shop. It was the only place in town you could get any things related to home improvement. The only thing I remembered about it was that dad once went there to buy gardening supplies. I frowned as I tried to remember if I had entered in there when I was buying supplies for the house. Even if I did, I did not see Adrian there. He would have been hard to miss.

  "That seems nice." I looked at Adrian's coffee cup.

  Adrian chuckled. "We can go after you have had your coffee. In the meantime you can tell me how big of a mess we need to worry about. What did you find in that house?"
/>
  "Sure." I ordered my coffee and then started talking about everything I got done. Talking about mold and stuck windows and smells that would usually make me gag at the mere mention of them was far easier than talking about the little girl that spoke to her through the fireplace. Adrian was pitching in with suggestions about how we could make our job easier.

  "Well, it does not seem like we can do much when fixing up the house is concerned. Your father might just need to tear it down. We can just make sure that all of the rotten things are removed and we can scrape out all of the mould, sweep up the cobwebs and see what furniture is done for. " Adrian scratched his head. The more he talked the more impressed I was. He was looking me straight in my eyes and I found myself nodding along. "But we will take a look today and see if the house is really as bad as it seems to be."

  I was so happy I did not have to go in that house alone again that I drank my coffee super fast. We walked down to his now completely packed truck and we set out.

  Adrian drove to the house in no time. We unloaded all of the stuff he had brought. It was mostly durable brushes and heavy duty cleaners I didn't have yet, and some of his own tools. The first thing we attacked was the kitchen. We figured I had already cleared out some off it so we might as well finish it.

  I cleaned the floors and the surface mold while Adrian tackled the heavier and smellier things. I wound up dropping the sweeper in annoyance and staring to scrub the mold and grime off with a brush. My hands started hurting and I had not finished this room yet.

  Adrian was muttering while attacking the grime I did not manage to clean yesterday. He yelped once and I jumped up, brush in hand, only to find that he had a spider crawl over his hand while he was cleaning above the cupboards. Then we slowly moved from the kitchen to the living room and further out.