Came Back Haunted (Experiment in Terror #10) - Karina Halle Page 0,53
eyes to try and see something but all I pick up is the sand closest to me, illuminated faintly by the fire. In the distance there’s darkness, then the lights of hotels and houses.
Feeling the hair raise at the back of my neck, I turn back around and face the fire. In the distance, the light from Dex’s phone is now gone.
What the fuck?
“Dex?” I call out, rubbing my hands up and down my arms, feeling a deep chill come over me despite the warmth of the fire.
I don’t hear him. I only hear the rhythmic pounding of the waves.
And that scratching sound again, like someone has taken a stick and is drawing deep lines in packed sand.
Shit.
Now my body is abuzz with nerves, telling me to turn around, to look at what’s making that noise. To face the darkness, the truth.
A puff of hot breath falls on my neck.
I yelp, jumping to my feet, backing up until I almost fall in the fire.
There’s nothing there at all.
Just the log and the empty sand behind it and that infinite black.
“Perry?”
I whirl to the side to see Dex approaching, boots crunching in the sand.
“Where did you go?” I ask, barely finding my voice, my pulse pounding against my throat.
“I was right over there somewhere,” he says. “My phone died. Thankfully I had the fire to guide me back. Were you going to come look for me?”
I nod absently and then look back at the log.
I walk toward it, crouching down to pick up the bottle of JD. As I do so, my eyes drift over the back of the log. Long, deep indents are carved into the back of it, like a pair of claws took a swipe at the wood.
Right where I was sitting.
My eyes trail over to the sand behind it, where similar claw marks are visible, leading off into the darkness.
Was that there before? I can’t even remember.
“I’m getting a bit cold,” I tell him, giving him a quick smile before handing him the bottle. “Let’s have a shot and head back to the room. I think we need to abuse the hot tub.”
“Sounds good to me,” he says. He takes a shot then gives me the bottle so I do the same. We quickly kick sand on the fire, putting it out into a puff of dark smoke.
I make sure we walk back to the hotel by way of the side roads, taking solace in the lights and civilization.
Eleven
Our mini vacation did us a lot of good. Despite the couple of strange and scary things that happened, we returned home to Seattle feeling relaxed and refreshed and utterly satisfied with each other. Fat Rabbit, Rebecca, and Lucinda were there to greet us, and Rebecca gave me a birthday present (though she told me to open it later, alone).
Since it was such a long drive from the Oregon coast, we decide to be lazy and order some Korean BBQ via UberEats. I make a pot of jasmine green tea to go with the meal (our livers need a break), prepared to have a quiet, calm night in.
But then I can’t stop thinking about the house on Seneca Street. My mind keeps being taken back there, back to Max, to the woman in the washroom, to that terrible dark addictive energy of the place. To something like destiny.
I’ve just finished swallowing a bite of beef bulgogi, watching David Attenborough narrate about blue whales on the TV, when I say, “I think we should go back to the house tonight.”
Dex, sitting next to me on the couch, gives me a look of shock, rice balanced on his fork. “What?”
“I mean, if you’re up for it.”
He frowns. “You want to go to the house? Tonight? Why?”
I shrug. I don’t actually know why tonight. Why it can’t wait. I guess I feel a little guilty about having this nice weekend away while Max is stuck in that house, still dead. I was all prepared to pretend that seeing him was in my head, but now that I have the confirmation from Jacob that it really is him, in his own limbo, it feels more pressing.
Besides, I can’t keep this to myself much longer. I need Dex to see him. I just hope that can happen.
“I just figure we’re not doing anything and we both have a lot of work to catch up on this week. But I totally get if you’re too tired. That was a long drive.”