HAUNTING HEARTS
Cruising up the old driveway to old the Mac Danvers place, you just see the old two floor mansion's ratty old green roof. With the windows rolled down the wind rippled through my hair, my mind drifted back to a very peculiar phone call I received to two days prior.
"Haunt Busters Inc., what's the haunting status, Rosa Ophelia speaking"
"Ms. Ophelia, my name is Richard Langston of the Historical Building Society in Merit, Georgia." The man on the other end answered with fierce determination.
"What can I do for you, Mr. Langston?" I asked with infinite patience.
There a building here just on the out skirts of town, that can be traced back to the earliest dated settlement. The building its self has been abandoned for seventy-five year, its last occupant was a man by the Emilio Mac Danvers, he was found brutally murdered in kitchen/dining room," Richard sighed but continued "The house has remained closed; till recently, we've reopened the building. And we've been having these strange incidents…"
"Incidents? What incidents?" I questioned further.
"We've had incidents of doors slamming, screaming children though none children are aloud on the tour, and there was this one other incident that had caught my attention," He sighed again with indignation "A male employee of ours was pushed down the second floor staircase. He's currently in physical therapy. His doctor says the damage is not permanent and that he'll be back with us by the end of the year." He croaked the last few words, almost as if choking on his own words.
"It does not sound like anything unusual, Sir," I murmured into the mouthpiece of the headset "Has anything or anyone else recently seem out of the ordinary, people acting odder then usual, some a bite out of character?" I continued to question.
"Yes…, actually our grounds keeper, now that mention it, every time he enters the house, he begins to behave in the most peculiar way. He's normally a very charming old chap but when he's in the house he seems to be more dark and brooding." Mr. Langston babbled on.
"Hmm…" was all I said at the moment "you may have a dangerous haunt on your hand,"
"So, you'll come?!" He pleaded desperately.
"Yes, I'll be there. I'll leave…" I leaned back to check the calendar "I'll leave tomorrow morning; you can expect me at the house the next morning, Mr. Langston. I'll also need the address of the building in question, Sir." I answered, while I jotted down the address he recited.
"And I hope you don't mind but since the reputation of the Historical Building Society rests on this case; I must insist that employee be present with you at all times, to make your investigation plausible, Ms. Ophelia." He said with the power of his position behind it; I rolled my eyes, desperation and pride were a very nauseating combination in any operation.
"Who will I be baby-sitting?" I asked very disgruntled that my professional honesty would be in question.
"My grandson, Warren will be with you during the investigation," The name rang all sorts of bells and whistles but I couldn't place it. "He knows not to interfere with your investigation or your equipment, He'll be no more then your shadow throughout the night."
Then it hit me, Warren Curt, skepticism is all but his middle name. He was a genius scientist. We meet at a physics conference; He was everything a girl could want charming, good-looking, and a smile that could make the Mona Lisa look shabby. Everything was smooth sailing until I made my speech on 'Electro Magnetic Fields and its uses in paranormal investigations', he picked apart all my evidence, question all my research. It wasn't till I ran off the stage in tears, that he stopped harassing me about my presentation.
As my thoughts returned to present day, I could barely feel wind blasting against my numb ears as I made it around the finial bend in the driveway. There it was Mac Danvers Mansion, built 1482 by French-Scotsman, Pierre Mac Danvers, during the early years of piracy, and there on the wrap-around porch was Warren 'knit picker' Curt.
He climbed down the stairs as if he owned the house its self, as I brought the rental car to stop before stairs and got out. "Well, look what I have here, a jerk perhaps or maybe a bastard, you can never really tell you know, heck I bet you're a real back-stabber." I spat at him.
"You know, I wanted to apologize to you about what happened at the conference, I shouldn't have pushed you to the point where you broke down in tears. I'm sorry; I behaved so horrendously and humiliated you all in one hour." He said as he shot her a chagrin look, while he made a slow approach like a zoologist approaching a deadly animal
"Fine, just stay out of my way and you might make it through the night." I snarled through gritted teeth as I brushed past him carrying some of the equipment.
"Sure, Love" He answered in a corny English accent.
At nine o'clock, the equipment had been checked and double checked making sure everything was in top working order, with Warren dogging my every step. We would bump into each other every now and again; I could feel the heat of his breath caress my neck lazily.
By ten o'clock the house started to come alive. "What was that?" Warren whispered, gripping my upper arm in a vise like grip as something crashed into something else.
Signing I said, "Something fell or just banged up against the house" as calmly as possible. Then there was a creaking sound above us as flecks of wood and paint trickled down on us. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw it or him as the case may be. A man wearing an old cowboy's hat, denim pants and a white button-down pressed shirt with a starched collar. His face was weather beaten though he wore a faint wary smile, it was almost sad. He would have appeared human if not for the faint pearly mist that swirled around his ankles.
Then as suddenly as he appeared he vanished, "did you see that?" I asked without giving him, so much as a hint of what I saw.
"I'm afraid, so" he said in awe
"What did you see?" I questioned.
"I'm not sure but from my research of this house's history, I think we just meet a dead man…"His voice drifted off as he wrapped me in his arm, "if we make it through tonight, I'm taking you out to dinner."
I shoved out of his arms, before I shot him a in-your-dreams glare. And started down the hall towards where the apparition appeared. I could hear Warren's shuffling footsteps following close behind, "I'm not forgiven, am I" he sighed "I didn't mean to rip through your presentation like that, it just sort of happened." I rolled my eyes while I crouched down to touch the maple floorboards, the surface felt as it was burning.
There's nothing to forgive, you made a jerk out of your self and made a fraud out of me!" I yelled, tired of his constant flirting.
"I screwed up, ok!' He raged behind her. I ruined everything between us and I've been banned from every conference of scientific discover!" I turned to face him when something shoved me at him, forcefully. Warren caught me before I hit the floor
Then there was a weird burning sensation the back of my left leg, I cried "AHHHHH!" it was not a hot burning feeling. It was more like extreme frost bite, the pain was overwhelming. Then it vanished, leaving me holding my leg.
"Let me see, Babe. Let me see." Warren cooed as he lifted my pant leg and there it was still faint but we watched the words, slowly appear, 'TRUST HIM' became more prominent. "I guess we have a third party's opinion" Warren chuckled, wiping away the tears that slid down my cheeks.
"I guess so." I smiled breathlessly, knowing he finally believed in my work and that I wasn't crazy. I wrapped my arms around his neck, and pressed my lips to his. Then something clicked, "you said you did some research on the house, right?" I asked retching out of his arms.
"Well, yeah, isn't that how it's done?" He asked "You researched a location's past to present."
"Yes, but you said the figure we just saw was Emilio Mac Danvers, but during my research I couldn't find anyone with a picture of him, so how did you manage to find one?" I asked.
"I looked him up in the old town halls archives and there he was with his brother, Michael and his girlfriend, Maria Santiago." He answered as they walked back to the living room.
"That's weird because in my research, he no girlfriend and his brother married a Maria Santiago just a few weeks after his death. His brother inherited everything after Emilio was murdered." I reported.
"True, Michael was under suspicion as the main suspect, but was cleared of all charges after Maria vouched for him, saying that he had come for dinner the night of the murder." Warren continued.
"What about Maria?" I questioned.
"Michael said the same as her. Then the case went cold." He said not quite following her train of thought.
"What if Emilio had more than one murder? What if Maria was in on it? I mean she married the man accused of killing her assumed boyfriend, who would do something like that" I said as I shared my train of thought with Warren, when the temperature in the room dropped.
"I think you might be on to something, let me try something," Warren circled the room saying "Emilio, we know you're here. We saw and have felt your presents. Show yourself, so we can have answers." There was then a breeze as bitter as a snow storm, and then he appeared before us. But he was different now, his smile had completely vanished, the man before us was a sadden soul. "I'm Warren and this Rosa," he said to the sprit, who merely nodded in acknowledgement.
"Do you know who murdered you?" I asked, this time he spoke 'yes'. "Did your brother kill you?" He answered again was 'yes', "Was Maria involved and if so what parted did she play?" and He answered once again 'Yes, bait' his face was crumpled with pain. "I'm sorry, you were betrayed like that." the pain eased a bit but it was still visible on his face, he mouthed thank you.
"You're welcome" I returned with a wistful smile. "We get them for this." I told him determinedly.
He shook his head and came towards us reaching for Warren's hand and then mine. And said "Be happy together…" in a mere whisper, Smiled a true smile before vanishing again into little balls of light. We looked down at our hands that were linked at the fingertips. When our eyes met we knew there is so much more between us. He smiled and gripped my hand in his massive one. And we just stood there for who know how long.
"Lets get gone!" she said and dragged him from the house.
"Is this a 'Yes' to dinner?" He asked once they made it to their cars.
She turned her head slightly. Her eyes glittering and a sneaky smirk crossed her face. Then she turned away not saying a word.
"That's not a no!" He cheered as she opened the passenger door to his truck.
Author's note
This my own story hope you liked it!.