Came Back Haunted (Experiment in Terror #10) - Karina Halle Page 0,55
and mine.
We park outside the house around nine, and despite being in the middle of a city and so close to the I-5, it’s still and dead quiet. A light drizzle is falling, clouds hanging low, and there’s a definite nip in the air.
Dex locks the car, and we give each other a steady look, the kind that tells me to pull up my big girl panties and do this thing. I’m nervous, as per usual, the house looking darker and more foreboding than before. But I’m excited at the same time, and that’s what I try to focus on, for my sanity’s sake if nothing else.
Atlas didn’t meet us this time, which I think was a relief to both me and Dex since he creeps me out and rubs Dex the wrong way, and the key was under the mat like we were a couple of friends dropping by to water the houseplants.
“You ready?” Dex asks, his camera already out, the key in his hand.
I have my flashlight in one hand and the EMF in the other. I nod, giving him a shaky smile as my stomach fizzles with nerves.
He puts the key in the door and the handle turns, opening with a loud, steady groan.
The darkness calls to me again, a magnetic pull that’s so much stronger this time than the last. I glance up at Dex to see if he’s noticed the difference, but he just walks right on through, flicking on his light as he goes.
I swallow down my fear and step inside.
I swear it feels different this time. Maybe even looks different, like the gold in the wallpaper has flaked away, the floors dull, laced with deep scratches in the wood.
Familiar looking scratches.
My mind rewinds to last night at the bonfire, the scratches in the log.
Yeah…they remind me of that.
The door slams shut behind me, making me jump.
“It’s okay,” Dex says in a calm voice, thankfully not pointing the camera in my direction. “It’s just extra vibey tonight.”
“You feel that too?”
He nods. “Come on, let’s not spend any more time in here than we have to. You want to walk ahead of me?”
I cock my brow, warily walking around him. “Just like old times.”
“I’ve got your back,” he says with a quick wink.
Right. But who has my front?
I take in a deep breath, turn both my flashlight and EMF meter on, and start walking down the hall toward the room at the very back. I try to focus on Max when I can, hoping he’s watching, hoping he’ll make an appearance soon. There’s no way he can’t know we’re here. I assume every time that door opens in this house, every dead thing inside turns its head.
The thought makes me shiver. I need to knock it off.
Dex keeps the camera focused on my back, and every now and then I look over my shoulder and give it a haunting look, knowing he loves it when I get all dramatic like that. It definitely helps me believe I’m in a role and not reality.
But the closer we get to the cavernous room at the back, the more scared I get. It’s hard to ignore how things change with each step, like the pressure is getting heavier, my ears feeling like they want to pop. It’s not too dissimilar from stepping into the Veil, which isn’t a good thing.
“There are obviously more spirits in this house than just Samantha Poe,” Dex says for the camera’s sake. “We’re going to see if we can make contact with them.”
We are? I ask in my head.
Sorry, he apologizes.
But I guess it makes sense. If we’re going to be investigators, mediums, then we have to be open to many possibilities, not just one. Many voices, many beings, many opportunities.
I keep walking, ignoring the pressure building in my ears, the feeling that the air is getting drier, thinner, my breath becoming shallow.
Then I stop.
Before us is the black dining room, up a couple of steps at a higher level.
It’s cold as hell and the beams from my flashlight and his camera seem to disintegrate in the air, like the light is being choked from them. There’s a strange wind too, blowing back strands of my hair. It smells damp, reminding me of the winds that whirl around inside a cave.
“What is it?” Dex asks. He’s right behind me now, his presence only mildly comforting.