The Haunted 6: The Hunt

One more to go.  If you’ve been paying attention, you’ll know the obscure references I put in all the stories that are connected.  If you reread them, you’ll probably still miss them unless you know what you’re looking for.

 “NICKY!!!”

Carlie screamed again and again, not sure what else to do.  Where were the covers?  Where did they go?  Where was her torso?

Nicky ran in, stopping for just a moment to assess the situation. “What in the devil?”

Carlie sighed desperately. “Quick, where’s my torso?  Did you take it?”

Nicky looked at her like she was crazy. “Of course not.  Tell me, can you feel it?”

Carlie closed her eyes for a moment, trying.  She could feel it nearby, but not exactly where. “It’s close.  But I can’t…”

Nicky had a suggestion. “Can you put your head on your hips and walk around like that?”

Carlie scowled at her. “It doesn’t work like that.  Never has.”

Nicky thought for a moment, picked up her head and helped her hips and legs out of bed.  As she did so, she thought of something else. “Maybe if you concentrate, you can tag where it is.”

Carlie shut her eyes. “It’s down.  Downstairs, I think.”

All roads led downstairs.  What was going on there?  What sort of malevolence was drawing her always down there?  And why pick on her?

Nicky had to go downstairs on her own, but called up. “Found it.  And your bedclothes too.”

She felt Nicky’s hands on her. “Quick, bring it upstairs.”

A sudden falling sensation gripped her for just a moment before Nicky grabbed her. “Hey, be careful.”

Carlie sighed, checking to see that she was still connected in that strange magical way.  Her hands gripped Nicky tight as she placed her hips together with her waist, Carlie feeling that rush of sensation as her two halves were reconnected.  As she retrieved her head, getting it back in place with another rush, Carlie glared at Nicky. “What’s going on here?”

Nicky looked defensive. “What do you mean?”

Carlie ran down the list of things, including the fact that, even though the memory was clear, she couldn’t remember exactly when Nicky started for her. “What do you mean?  I’ve always been here.  You know that.”

Carlie huffed in defeat.  She did remember Nicky always being around, although she couldn’t recall exactly how long. “Well then, what’s happening here?”

Why did it always feel so weird in the basement?  What took the saw?  What took her clothes?  Who was that Nicky appeared as?  What took her covers and her torso?

Nicky thought for a moment. “Your parents passed away.”

Carlie shrugged it off. “Yes, but I don’t think they’d ever do anything like this.  It has to be something else.”

Nicky relented, admitting that Carlie was right. “But how old is this house?”

Carlie didn’t know, so went and looked it up.  It wasn’t a new construction, she knew that, but the records were available online.

1949.

 “The house is almost 60 years old?”

Nicky commented that she thought it would probably have been older. “But, still, houses that are old sometimes have unexplained this happen in them.”

Carlie shook her head. “Whatever this is, I want it out.  This is my house.”

Nicky thought for a moment. “We need a plan of attack, a way to get through the whole house to find out exactly what’s going on.  Since you don’t like it, I’ll start in the cellar.”

Carlie nodded, trying to think of what she could use. “Do we need smudging sticks or something?”

Nicky shrugged. “Not sure.  We’ll figure it out when we find out what’s going on.”

As they separated, Carlie quickly changed her clothes, then decided to look all over her bedroom.  Things were happening there, first.

But, wait, she thought of something else and went into the kitchen.  Nothing out of place there, but a tick in the back of her mind suggested that something had happened, something she didn’t remember.

She realized something then.  The fire damage wasn’t as visible anymore, as if someone had started to erase it.  What was going on?

As she went from room to room, not knowing what she was looking for, she had to figure something out.  What was it?  What was really going on here?

As she went into the magic room she stopped in her tracks.

Nothing.  The room was completely empty.

She stepped back for a moment before she heard something in the room, something that sounded like a voice.

As she stepped in, she stopped dead.