by Shannon Cook
Jayme and Robin looked at each other. Neither one of them knew if they could do such a task! “Do you want to do this one or should I?” Robin asked.
“I'll do it,” Jayme replied not knowing what to do.
“Thank you,” Cissy replied.
Jayme got up and walked towards the front of the bus. Casey opened up the door and Jayme stepped off the bus. She approached the old farmhouse slowly, cautiously, as intense anxiety came upon her. The house was massive! It had a severely damaged covered front porch that extended the entire length of the house and then continued down the right side to the back. The large windows were smashed and cobwebs draped from the ceiling of the porch and the railings.
She got cautiously walked up the broken porch steps and grabbed the rusty door handle. She turned it slowly and pushed the door open. The door let out an ear-piercing screech. She stepping inside the house and looked around. The entry was huge! Tall cathedral ceilings, large archways into the other rooms, and a grand curved staircase directly in front of her! “Wow!” Jayme stated. “This must've been a beautiful house in its glory days!” She slowly walked through the main floor of the house. Searching for Cissy's girlfriend. She couldn't find anyone or anything.
Jayme made her way up the stairs and found the master bedroom. She walked into the empty room and looked around. It had a different feeling in that room than in the rest of the house. She stood in the middle of the room, nervous, as she slowly turned around. Rattling noises came from behind her. She quickly turned around, only to discover that the door handle to the closed closet was rattling violently as if someone was trying to open a locked door!
She walked over to the door slowly. What am I doing?! She wondered! Jayme got the cold sweats, and her body was trembling in fear! Then, to her surprise, the closet door busted open and a pitch-black beast charged out of the closet right at Jayme!
Jayme let out a bloodcurdling scream as she ran as quickly as she could out of that bedroom!
Back at the bus, everyone heard Jayme scream from within the house! “She must've encountered the demon,” Cissy calmly stated without care.
“A demon!?” Robin panicked! She jumped to her feet, rushed out of the bus and towards the house. The front door was wide open and she charged towards it! When she got inside, she stopped and looked around. She couldn't hear her girlfriend screaming anymore. She yelled Jayme's name as she ran through the extensive main level of the house.
Meanwhile, upstairs, Jayme was being pinned down on the hallway floor by the demon! It was a pitch-black beast with a body of a cougar, bear-like paws, and a head like a gargoyle! It let out a bone-chilling growl as it showed its razor-sharp fangs! Its eyes glowed a deep blood red as blood and saliva oozed out of its mouth and onto Jayme's face!
Jayme immediately projectile vomited directly into the demon's face! This angered the demon! The demon grabbed ahold of Jayme and picked her up! It stood on its hind legs, used all its force, and chucked Jayme across the hallway and into the plastered wall!
Robin heard the loud thud and felt the entire house shake! She rushed upstairs to see what just happened! To her relief, the demon was nowhere in sight! She slowly walked down the hallway and was horrified when she found her wife pressed face-first into a wall! “What the hell happened to you?!” Robin panicked!
“A degusting horrifying beast chucked me across the hall!” Jayme shouted. Her voice was muffled and Robin couldn't make out a word she just said!
“I'm sorry, dear,” Robin said. “What did you say?”
Just then, the demon re-appeared behind Robin, unbeknownst to her. With all its force, it lifted Robin off the floor without touching her. She dangled three feet off the floor for a moment before she too got chucked into the wall right next to Jayme.
“Ugh!” Robin grunted. She tried to peel herself loose, but she was stuck!
The demon let out a sinister laugh and vanished. Moments after the demon vanished, the entire house began to violently shake! Robin and Jayme could feel the wall they were stuck in begin to move backward.
What they didn't know was, the wall behind them was moving towards them! They were both at a loss as to what to do! Then, Cissy's girlfriend finally appeared! She tried her best to get the walls to stop closing in on the two strangers in her house! She knew she didn't have much time before Robin and Jayme were to become human pancakes against her wall! She jumped up, anchored her ghostly feet flat on the wall, gripped the backs of Robin and Jayme's shirts, and gave a great tug!
Robin and Jayme were pleased to be free from being stuck in the wall, but were horrified when they turned around to notice the wall from the other side of the hallway was closing in on them! They found the nearest door and had to quickly side-step towards it! To their dismay, the door was locked! Jayme turned around and looked at her wife in horror!
“I think this might be it,” Robin cried.
“Robin, my love,” Jayme said, “If we're going to die right now, I want to be kissing the woman I love.”
Robin forced a smile and squeezed between Jayme and one of the walls. The two women made out passionately as they got pressed closer and closer together by the walls closing in. They were now so tight together, neighed one of them could budge a muscle! They just kept their mouths locked together as they could hear and feel their bones begin to crunch. The walls would not stop moving closer together. Jayme and Robin were now pinned in a ten-inch space between a wall and a door! They were in excruciating pain by that moment! They both had multiple fractured bones in their body from being crushed.
They both passed out from the pain. Lips still locked together as the walls continued to close in tighter on them! The door behind Jayme finally broke off its hinges from the force, causing Jayme to fall backward and Robin to fall on top of her.
“Ugh,” they both grunted. Robin rolled off of her wife and tried standing up. She couldn't. Both of her legs were broken.
“Do you need a hand?” a voice asked from the corner of the room.
Jayme and Robin looked over and noticed a ghost standing in the corner.
“Are you Cissy's girlfriend?” Jayme asked.
The ghost smiled and nodded. “That'll be me, my name is Alec. how is Cissy?”
“Cissy's dead too," Robin said.
Alec was shocked! “Dead too? Who else is dead that I know!?” she panicked.
Robin and Jayme glanced at each other. That's why Alec hasn't moved on yet! She doesn't realize she's dead! “Take a seat,” Jayme sighed.
Alec sat down on the floor next to them.
“How can I say this,” Jayme began. “you're dead.”
“I am?” Alec responded with a sarcastic chuckle. “No, I'm not.” It was evident now that Alec knew she was dead, just didn't accept it.
“You must move on and leave this place!” Robin demanded.
“What if I don't want to leave this place?” Alec snapped.
“Then Cissy's soul will be trapped on that bus for all eternity!” Jayme snapped back as she pointed towards the window.
Alec walked over to the window and looked down at the bus sitting in the driveway. “You mean, she's in that bus right now?”
“Yes,” Jayme replied. “She is,”
At that moment, Alec vanished. Robin and Jayme stared at each other. “Where'd she go?” Jayme asked.
Robin shrugged. “Maybe she went to the bus,” she replied.
Jayme rolled over to her stomach and pulled herself across the floor to the window. She painfully pulled herself up with the windowsill and looked down at the bus. “Yes, Alec is down by the bus,” she stated.
“We should get back down there,” Robin stated.
“How?” Jayme asked. “We can't walk!”
“We'll have to crawl,"
Outside at bus 340, Cissy stood in the doorway of the bus and was having a conversation with her girlfriend Alec. They agreed to move on to the other side together. A blinding flash of a white light blanketed the area and filled the insid
e of the house as well. A blast of air shot through Robin and Jayme as they struggled to get down the stairs.
“What was that?!” Robin panicked as she frantically looked around.
Suddenly, both Robin and Jayme's bones were no longer broken. They were able to get to their feet again and were able to rush out of the house. They ran as quickly as they could back to the bus. When they got back inside, they looked around. “Where's Cissy?” Robin asked.
Casey smiled. “She's moved on, her girlfriend and her made to decision to make that journey together.”
Robin and Jayme were relieved. yet quite confused. “Father,” Robin said. “We had received multiple broken bones in that house, we could barely move!” She informed her father. “All of a sudden, they're not broken anymore, how did that happen?!"
Eva placed her hand on her daughter Robin's shoulder and said, “Alec told us,” she informed Robin. “They must've healed you two before moving on.”
“We are capable of almost anything now,” Irwin chimed in. “Except getting off this bus,” he snarled.
Casey rolled his eyes. “When is it your turn to get off this bus?” Casey was getting tired of Irwin and his remarks.
“I'll decide when It's my turn!” Irwin snapped. “I just like tormenting you!”
Irwin knew he could get off the bus at any moment, he just had to say one thing, but he was too frightened to do so.
Casey shut the door to the bus and began backing out of the dirt driveway.
Robin and Jayme were exhausted from their ordeal in that house and fell sound asleep within moments of closing their eyes.
IX
The next morning, in Alabama, officer Kate walked into the police station to begin her shift. Her captain pulled her aside. “Kate,” he said, “we're promoting you to detective!”
Kate was thrilled! “Thank you so much, sir! What an honor!"
“Don't get too excited,” the captain told her. “You have pack up and move to New Hampshire, today.”
“Today!?” Kate panicked! “Why the urgency?”
The captain put his hand on Kate's shoulder. “Kate, you are by far one of the best officers in the south! You have a great gift for finding missing people. You have brought so much happiness to many families,” he told her with a smile. “As you know there is a nationwide search for a missing bus with two young ladies being held hostage on it,” he continued.
“Yes, I'm aware of that,” Kate responded.
“This is why you are being promoted to the lead detective position in this case,” the captain continued. “Your gift for finding people is phenomenal!” He patted Kate on the shoulder, “Now go home, pack, and get on this flight," he handed Kate 2 tickets. "It leaves later this evening.”
“What?!” Kate panicked.
“I'm sure your wife, Mandy, would understand," her captain stated.
Kate rushed home and barged in the front door. “Mommy!” Alex and Henry yelled simultaneously as they rushed to hug Kate.
Mandy walked out of the kitchen holding a bunch of toys in her arms. “You're home early,” she said. Then she noticed the distraught look on her wife's face. “Oh no, what's wrong?”
“I got promoted today,” Kate responded. “To detective.”
Mandy smiled, dropped the toys in her arms, and gave her wife a huge hug! “That's amazing!” she said as she kissed Kate on the lips. “Why are you upset about that?”
Kate sighed. “I'm also being relocated. To New Hampshire,” she informed Mandy. “We have to move.”
Mandy's jaw dropped as Kate pulled the two airline tickets out of her pocket. “I have to leave later today, there is a missing bus with a couple of hostages on it. It's urgent!"
“Why do you have two tickets?” Mandy asked.
“My captain gave me two,” Kate replied. “I knew he thought maybe you could use one, but, we have two children!”
It was a difficult year for Kate, her brother, James was killed trying to chase down a suspected wanted to an armed robbery months earlier and her mother, Sally, suffered a heart attack and passed away after receiving news of James' death.
“I'll be right back, I'm taking a walk,” Kate said as she walked out the door. She made the long walk in her officer uniform the scorching hot sun to Mandy's parent's house. She stepped up onto the porch and rang the doorbell.
Mandy's father, Lee, answered. “Good morning!” He cheerfully greeted his daughter-in-law.
“May I come in?” Kate asked.
“Need you ask?” Lee laughed. He stepped aside and let her in. “Barb!” Lee yelled. “Make an extra cup of coffee!”
“Oh, that's not necessary,” Kate said. “I just came to tell you that, I got promoted to detective.”
“That's wonderful news!” Barb cheerfully stated!
“I guess,” Kate sighed, “the bad news is, your daughter and I have to move to New Hampshire. I'm leaving on a flight later today.”
Lee was shocked! “What!?” He panicked. “Why didn't you tell us this sooner?”
“I just found out,” Kate replied. She pulled the two airline tickets out of her pocket. “My captain gave me these this morning. Mandy can't come up with me right away, we have Alex and Henry!”
“Do you want me to fly up there with you?” Lee asked. “I can help you find a good home, while you are busy doing your detective work.”
Kate smiled. “I'd love that, father,” she said.
Later that day, Mandy drove her father, Lee, and her wife, Kate to the airport, while her mother, Barb stayed at her place and watched Alex and Henry. When they got to the airport, Mandy kissed her wife on the lips. Years ago, that would have infuriated Mandy's father. Now, Lee just smiles.
A couple of hours later, Kate and Lee boarded their flight and took off on their non-stop to New Hampshire. On the flight, Lee and Kate had a good long talk. “You know,” Lee said, “I'm not going to miss you."
Kate looked at her father-in-law in shock and anger! “Excuse me?!” Apparently, he hadn't changed like everyone thought! Now Kate was happy to move away from him!
“Let me finish!” Lee pleaded. “I'm not going to miss you because Barb and I will be moving up here too!" He said with excitement!
“Seriously?!” Kate was thrilled! “But why? You hate the snow!"
Lee nodded. “Yes, I do. But I'll hate not seeing my grandchildren even more!”
Kate smiled and hugged Lee.
Their flight landed a few hours later in New Hampshire, where an officer was waiting for them. They got into the officer's patrol car and went directly to the station.
Lee sat in the lobby while Kate was getting briefed on the situation. “The bus was last seen at a toll booth. Oh and I should let you know the bus is being driven by a ghost."
Kate couldn't believe what she was hearing! “Sir, with all due respect, I'm exhausted, it's late and I've had one long flight! Can we continue this briefing in the morning? I need to find a hotel room.”
The captain smiled. “Certainly,” he said. “We do have a room reserved for you for the next month or so until you find a place of your own.”
“Thank you, sir,” Kate said.
Another officer gave Kate and Lee a ride to the hotel. When they got to their room, there was only one bed! Kate and Lee looked at each other. “Don't pull any funny moves,” Kate stated.
“Absolutely not,” Lee stated. “You are my daughter!”
Kate smiled, hearing Lee call her his daughter made her feel loved and accepted.
“If you want,” Lee said, “I can sleep on the couch.”
Kate shook her head. “No, I'll take the couch.”
“You need the rest more than I do,” Lee stated. “Your job takes a lot out of you.”
“But your old,”
“HEY!” Lee snapped with a little chuckle.
“We can share the bed,” Kate stated.
They got ready for bed, and they both laid in the bed next to each other. As they were laying there trying t
o fall asleep, Lee laid on his back, staring at the ceiling with a smile on his face. “This is the first time I've been in bed with a lesbian," he softly said.
Kate sat up and gave her father-in-law a dirty look. “Please don't tell me you're one of those guys!”
“Definitely not,” Lee responded.
The next morning, Kate got up and took a cab to the police station. She sat down with the captain and received more information on the bus's disappearance. The captain informed her again that the bus was stolen by a ghost! Kate sat back in her chair, confused. How could a ghost steal a bus? She wondered. Once the briefing was completed, Kate was given an unmarked police car to drive to the bus garage.
When she arrived at the bus garage, she met with Luke and discussed her plans on how she planned on locating the missing bus and bringing the two young ladies back home, as safely as she could!
Luke was pleased to hear that the police were taking this situation seriously and got the best of the best to work on his case.
Kate informed Luke that based on the information she has, it may take longer than usual to find the bus, considering it was stolen by a ghost!
Once Kate finished her meeting with Luke, she walked around the bus lot trying to come up with any leading evidence. Through a forest of trees, she noticed a vehicle abandoned on a dirt road. She carefully cut through the woods and approached the suspicious vehicle. She wrote down the license plate number, went back to her car, and ran the information to figure out who's vehicle it was. She discovered that it was registered to Jayme, one of the young ladies who was being held hostage on the missing bus!
Meanwhile, back at the hotel, Lee was busy looking online at available homes for sale in the area. He came across a beautiful small home that had been on the market for quite a while. House appeared to be in perfect condition and the price was right! A four-bedroom, two-and-a-half-bath craftsman sitting on two acres of land all for three-hundred fifty-five dollars!
He got on his phone, contacted the real estate agent, and set up a viewing of the house for the next day.
Back at the police station, Kate sat in her new office and began calling businesses around the area requesting them to give her any security footage they may have from the night the bus was stolen. She sat tirelessly watching the tapes. Nothing. Until she noticed something speed past one of the cameras! It was big and white! She rewinds the tape and played it back frame by frame. She managed to pause it in the right spot! “There it is!” she proclaimed.
