“Here goes nothing,” I said and let go of Kane’s hand. It was surprisingly hard to let go of that particular safety net.
I put my hand over Chloe’s and was immediately transported to another place. It was dark, just like before, but now I could see some lights there. The candles. I could see the candles burning.
I turned to Chloe.
“It took you long enough,” she said. “It feels like I’ve been waiting here forever.”
Then I looked down and saw a circle of light around us. That was the circle of salt in the physical. This was its spiritual dimension.
“I was afraid to cross it by myself,” Chloe said.
“It’s good you waited,” I said. Then we stepped forward together. I felt a tingling against my body as we passed the boundary, and as soon as we did, we found ourselves in pitch black darkness.
“I don’t like this,” Chloe whimpered. “Can we go back?”
“Let’s just brave this through? At any sign of trouble, we can go back to the salt circle, all right?”
We turned around then to see where we came from but now we only saw a faint light in the distance.
“I’m scared, Meredith,” Chloe whispered.
“Me too,” I said. “But you know what they say. The only way out is through.”
We walked in the darkness, trying to spot anything, but there was seemingly nothing there. Just pure darkness.
“Do you feel anything?” I asked Chloe.
“Besides dread and fear? No.”
“Me neither.” The darkness felt oddly empty this time. Less threatening, but no less scary.
We kept walking. We didn’t even know what direction we were going in.
“What if we get lost?” Chloe said.
“Then they’ll just wake us up,” I said. I hoped that they would, but there were no guarantees in this. We might be looking totally calm in the physical, while in here, wherever here was, we were screaming our lungs out. I hoped that wasn’t the case.
We kept walking what felt like a very long time. And then something changed. I heard a voice in the distance.
“Did you hear that?” I asked Chloe.
She shook her head.
I listened closer and heard something again.
“It’s coming from that direction,” I said pointing to our left. “Let’s check it out.”
“Are you sure that’s the best idea?” Chloe whispered.
“It’s why we’re here,” I reminded her.
I held her hand tighter and walked in the general direction of the sound. It wasn’t long before I could hear it more clearly. It sounded like an old recording. A man was preaching something about fire and brimstone.
“I hear it too,” Chloe said before I could ask her the question.
Once we were close, I could see a light. An old projector played images across the screen. The abandoned church was bright and white on what looked like a summer’s day.
“Welcome, my children,” the preacher said, beaming with a smile. “This is as much my house as it is yours.”
Parishioners entered the church. The preacher started talking about forgiveness and loving one’s neighbor. But the longer he went on, the darker the sermon got. Until he was outright calling for all the sinners to be punished.
“Hate is a way in,” I heard a voice in my head say. “And he paved the way for me.”
“Who are you?” I asked the darkness.
Chloe gave me a strange look. I guess that answered that question. I was the only one that could hear this particular voice.
“I am as old as time itself,” the voice said. “And no, you cannot defeat me. You are not strong enough.”
“What do you have against mediums?”
“They are tricksters and liars all. They pretend they’re helping us, but all they do is disturb our rest.”
The voice sounded like a man one moment, like a woman another. And then like a child. In some instances, it even sounded like all of them at once.
“So you kill them?”
“To teach them a lesson. To give them a chance to repent for their wickedness.”
“Thou shall not kill, sound familiar?” I said.
The voice laughed.
“Silly girl, there is no death. It’s the physical that is the lie. The darkness is the truth.”
“Interesting, please tell me more,” I said, trying to think of a way to get out of this one.
“You think you’re a clever girl, don’t you, Meredith Good?”
“How do you know so much about me?”
“Your reputation precedes you. You’ve sent too many to the false promise of the light. The truth lies in the darkness.”
“No offense, but you sound kind of nuts. Could you stop killing people so we could all go back to our regular lives?”
Laughter. “Gladly,” the voice said. “The mediums were just a ruse to get to our real target: you.”
“Well, hate to break it to you, but I’m very much alive and I intend to stay that way. Oh, and while I’m at it, I’ll continue sending people to the light. It’s kind of my job.”
“You crack jokes, but I can feel the fear you give off. It’s quite intoxicating.”
“First of all, eww. And second of all, you sound like one of those cliché Bond villains that reveal all their evil plans in the end. I mean, I know it can be therapeutic to finally speak to someone about stuff like this, but dude, it’s not very smart.”
“You’re right where I want you, Meredith. I’d say you were the stupid one in this situation.”
“Show your face so we can just get this over with. And I’m not talking about that demonic look you use to scare off the amateurs. Show me your real face. If you dare, that is.”
The truth was, I wasn’t half as brave as I pretended to be, but I had a feeling that a nonchalant attitude was the only way to piss this creep off. From my estimation, he was just another dead guy with a superiority complex.
Now if he would only show me his true face…
I looked around in the darkness.
“Don’t tell me you’re scared of little old me,” I mocked.
Then he appeared. A guy dressed like a preacher a long time ago. He was old, but not elderly.
He was the only visible thing in the darkness. He even took his hat off and extended his other hand to me.
“Come on now, darling, there’s no need to make things harder than they already are. We can do this the easy way, or the hard way. Your choice. But know one thing, you cannot escape my grasp, no matter how many salt circles you put around yourself.”
“I choose the hard way,” I said and let go of Chloe’s hand.
As soon as I did, I snapped back into my physical body. I opened my eyes and saw a terrible sight. We were surrounded by ghosts. Dozens, maybe hundreds. They were all around us and they were all looking at one thing: me.
Twenty-Two
Chloe was still in a trance. I called her name. Rachel gently shook her until she finally opened her eyes.
“Remind me to never do that again,” Chloe said.
“What happened?” Kane asked me.
“Well, I met the Big Bad, if you want to call him that. He tried to make himself appear more than he was. He threatened me of course. He kept going on about the darkness. And, I think he’s trying to scare me now.”
“How so?” Mike asked.
“I see all the ghosts here right now. This room is packed with them, and they all seem interested in me.”
“What are we going to do?” Kane said. “We have to get out of here, don’t we?”
“Well, I have a theory about that,” I said. “This guy, I think it was the preacher, kept going on about how the darkness is the truth and the light is the lie. I think that means that we just have to wait it out. Come sunrise, I believe his power will diminish.”
“And if it doesn’t? What if he does something before then?” Kane said. It was obvious that he was worried for my safety. I was too,
if I was to be honest with myself. But I wasn’t about to let this guy bully me.
“Let’s just try to stay here in the salt circle until the sun comes up,” I said. But even then I could see the look on the ghostly faces. None of them looked friendly. “But there’s another way as well.”
I looked into the crowd of ghosts and finally spotted Rebecca.
“Get out of here,” I told her. “We’ll be out soon enough.”
“Are you sure?” She said.
“Of course I’m sure.”
Rebecca reluctantly disappeared. At least she could leave the inn.
“What other way?” Kane asked.
“Right,” I continued. “I believe this guy derives all his power from his fellow ghosts. He was sort of a cult figure while he was alive. He liked being adored and worshipped. Now that he’s dead, he still has that want. And it looks like his followers are still following him in death. I’m not sure if there was a mass suicide or what, but these people seem devoted. But the thing is, over the years, he has recruited other ghosts to join the cause. But from what I can tell, none of them seem too happy in the darkness but they fear the light. If I could get through to some of them, maybe they’ll let us out of the inn early.”
“And what then?” Rachel asked. “How do we stop this guy from hurting you or anyone else for that matter?”
“I’ll tell you once we’re out of here. I don’t want him to overhear my plan and try to stop me.”
Just then, a dark figure appeared in the middle of the group of ghosts. I couldn’t make out his face, but he had that hat on. I think he was trying to appear mysterious and scary, but all it did was make him look like a fool in my eyes.
“He’s here,” I informed the others. “Keep the salt handy, and if the circle starts to break, reinforce it.”
Rachel, Kane, and Mike all had salt bags ready to go.
All the candles in the room went out then, except the ones in the salt circle with us. But there was still enough light in the room for me to see the figure of the shadowy man.
“What’s this about a plan to take me down? Please do share,” he said. He sounded like a man now and I found his voice sort of hypnotic. Was he trying to control me like he did when Kane and I were walking around, unbeknownst to us on our way down to the basement?
I shook my head. “Nice try, but you’re going to have to try a lot harder if you want to get anything out of me.”
“Don’t challenge him!” Rachel said. “Can’t you just ignore him until the sun comes up?”
“That’s easier said than done,” I said. “He seems determined to have this talk, one way or another.”
The dark figure looked around. “There are many long hours until the sun shows its face. Are you sure you want to antagonize me, little girl?”
“Dude, cut the act,” I said. “I can see right through you. You have no power of your own so you have to borrow it from other people.” I looked around the room, at all the miserable looking ghosts. “If any of you want to move on to the light, I’ll be more than willing to help you. Just make a way for us to leave this place safely.” Then I turned back to the dark figure. “That offer goes for you as well, though I doubt you could ever admit that you were wrong.”
The dark figure moved in closer. As soon as he did, a ghostly wind blew away most of the salt circle. Thankfully. Rachel, Kane, and Mike were paying attention, and they pretty quickly reformed the circle, now stronger than ever.
“You’re only prolonging the inevitable, Merry Death,” he said. “Why not just give in to me and I’ll let your friends here go? If you don’t, I’ll start taking them out one by one. And I think I’ll start with your sweetheart here.”
The shadowy figure extended a supernaturally long hand toward Kane. I immediately shielded him.
“Back off, freak,” I said. Then I took the jar of holy water Rachel had brought along and splashed the shadowy figure with it.
As soon as I did, his shadowy self dissolved and I could hear an ear-piercing scream.
“You will pay for this!” A demonic sounding voice said as he slowly reformed.
Then he turned around and disappeared into the sea of ghosts.
“It actually worked!” I said to Rachel. “Good job on bringing it along.”
“Is he still here?” Chloe asked.
“No, he left. But his goons are still here.”
“Ugh, when will this night be over?” Jacob said. “I’m tired of this. If only it wasn’t so freezing in here.”
I laughed. “You should count yourself lucky that that’s the only thing you’re feeling. I wish I could go back to seeing just an empty room.”
The ghosts looked even less friendly now that I had dissolved their leader, if that was possible. I didn’t think talking would get through to these people. I needed to show them that there was a better place out there than the endless, miserable darkness they seemed to inhabit.
“Don’t you want to move on from all of this?” I asked the ghosts. “Don’t you want to see what the light has to offer?”
“Light is the lie, darkness is the truth,” the ghosts said in unison. There were all kinds of dead people in the group. Young and old. Tall and short. Male and female, from what I could make out. And they all seemed devoted to this man that thought so highly of himself.
“I’ve helped a lot of people pass from this world to the next. And while I’m not sure what’s on the other side, the people I helped saw beautiful things in the light. Family, friends, pets, beautiful scenery. Isn’t that what you want?”
“Light is the lie, darkness is the truth,” they repeated again, like drones.
“I give up,” I said to the living people in the room. “There’s really no way to get through to them. Unless someone here has experience with cult followers.”
“I used to be fascinated by cults and how people fall for them,” Rachel said. “From what I remember, it was the sense of belonging that most people were attracted to. That, and someone to tell them what to think and what to feel and what to do. Life didn’t make much sense to them, so when they found someone who told them he had all the answers, they let him take the lead. It’s easier than just admitting that life really doesn’t make much sense and that there are no easy answers.”
“Did you happen to come across any deconditioning techniques? Any ways to get through to them?”
“Well, one way is to make them see their leader for what he really is: just a human, no different than them. But some are so deep in, that facts just don’t get through to them. Even if they see it with their own eyes, they still find a way to doubt the validity of it.”
I looked at the things we had and spotted the iron filings. “It might be worth a shot,” I said.
“Absolutely not,” Kane said. “You’d have to leave the salt circle to use those, and since he wants you specifically, you should definitely stay in the salt circle until it’s safe.”
Kane certainly had a point there. We spent the rest of the night waiting for the sun to come up. I noticed that little by little, the ghosts were starting to thin out until all of them were gone. Surprisingly, the shadowy man did not make any more appearances. I wondered what he was planning because I had a feeling he wasn’t the sort to see the error of his ways and to stop what he was doing.
Rebecca appeared at the first sign of light.
“They’re all gone from what I can see. I think it’s safe to get out of here now,” I said to the others.
It was noticeably warmer now. The ghost hunters gathered their equipment and then we quickly made it to the front door as a group. The door opened immediately as if it had been easy to open all along. Sheila got out with us as well.
As soon as we did, I felt the sun’s warmth on my face and was thankful that the darkness was gone. But I knew this wasn’t over just yet.
“Should I stay somewhere else?” Sheila asked me.
“It wouldn’t hurt,” I said. “Though I doubt he’s interested in you.�
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“So what’s this brilliant plan you couldn’t tell us about at the inn?” Mike asked.
“I think the abandoned church is his center of power,” I said. “I think he might be buried there. If we can dig up his bones, maybe we can weaken him.”
“You mean salt and burn them like they do on TV?” Jacob said.
“Well, I don’t know about burning, but I think a little salt couldn’t hurt. Oh, and iron. That will give me enough control over him to make him release all the other ghosts he has under his control. And after that, he’ll be just another ghost. At least, that’s the plan.”
“You don’t need me to go to the abandoned church with you, right?” Chloe said.
“Well, about that…”
“Just say it,” Chloe said.
“Who knows how many people are buried under that church. I’ll need you to touch the bones and tell me who they belong to. I think it’s the preacher we’re looking for.”
“Fine,” Chloe said, though she didn’t seem fine with it at all.
Kane pulled me aside. “I was thinking, maybe you should be the one sitting this one out,” he said.
“I know why you’re suggesting that, but I need to be there. I’m the only one who can actually see these ghosts. I’m the only one that can see if it actually works.”
“Can’t you wait outside of the church while we do the digging?”
“No. Because if he locks you guys in like he locked us in at the inn, then I need to be on the inside in order to defeat him. It’s the only way.”
“Just promise me one thing. As soon as it starts to get too dangerous, you’ll walk out of there.”
“You know I can’t promise that, Kane. You know I have to stop this guy once and for all.”
Kane sighed. “Why do you always have to be the hero? Aren’t there any other people out there that can deal with this?”
“I’m sure I’m not the only one that can see ghosts, but I know for a fact that I’m the only one that’s here and can do something about it.”
“Fair enough,” Kane said. “Let’s go put our lives in danger for the hundredth time.”
I laughed. “That’s the spirit.”
Ghostly Town (A Ghost Hunter P.I. Mystery Book 4) Page 15
