Set somewhere in the first or second season (since I just started watching the show and that's as far as I've gotten:)
Jim Clancy worked his way slowly back down the dark hallway, avoiding the cobwebs and broken bits of furniture sitting useless and forgotten since who knows when. He had just searched every room down that hallway to no avail.
His wife was somewhere in this long-standing house, and he knew she needed his help. If able, she would, by now, have given a signal as to where she was. As it was, Jim was only aware Melinda was being held somewhere in this house because Willis Pike, her stalker of recent days, had been taken in for questioning on suspicion of kidnapping.
Once in custody, the lunatic had confessed everything. He had learned of Melinda's gift because she had tried to help his latest victim cross over. The victim who had been 'haunting' Willis Pike for some time until Melinda--seeing a ghost attached to the man--had innocently offered her help only to have the horrifying truth told to her by the tormented spirit. Having no physical evidence, the police were unable to make an arrest.
After that night, Pike began toying with them. Sending threatening and cryptic messages to Melinda; messages hinting at what he planned to do to her. Jim hoped none of those threats had come true.
Melinda had been taken by Pike, that was fact. Now he and most of the police department were searching this detestable old house for her while Pike was at the police station probably still laughing just as he had been the entire time he'd confessed to the kidnapping.
He was toying with them all; enjoying the game. But if he had lied about where he'd taken Melinda, led them on a wild goose chase….
Jim started making his way back to the staircase that would take him back to the first floor. On his way by, a door caught Jim's eye. He had passed it by earlier, assumed it was a linen closet, but something was telling him to open it now.
The door led up to an attic. Dark, with only one small window filtering in dirty light, and dusty--as all attics are. It looked as if it covered the expanse of the house.
Jim heard a scuffling in the corner. Too loud to be a mouse. Next came the whimpering. Jim moved through the shadows, pushed past deteriorating boxes and books strewn about the floor, and found Melinda curled up against the far wall, her hands tied behind her back.
"Melinda! Thank God."
At first, Melinda didn't recognize the sound of his voice. In the state she was in--confused and hallucinatory due to the drugs Pike had used to control her,--it was just another alien noise invading her muddled senses.
Melinda's eyes were open as Jim moved towards her. She tried to scream but nothing came out. A few tears managed to roll down her face as she tried to back away, sliding herself backwards across the wood floor using her legs, knocking into boxes and shelving.
Melinda rammed into something immovable and tried in futility to shrink away from her perceived attacker.
"Melinda, please, I have to get you out of here," Jim said in earnest. He attempted to cup her face in his hands, but Melinda struggled against the touch. "Mel, it's me. It's Jim. Look at me."
Melinda couldn't see through her tears or the shadows swirling about her, but she leaned towards the soothing voice now, eager to feel the faintly familiar touch once more.
Jim wrapped her in his arms, holding her close and brushing away her tears with his warm fingers.
Melinda huddled into his chest and, slowly, her trembling slowed.
"Jim," Melinda gasped, only now recognizing who was holding her. "S…so many…can't l…leave…."
Jim shook his head, half in confusion at her words, half in protest. "We have to go, Mel. You can't stay here, we need to get you to the hospital."
Melinda could feel the rumbling in his chest while he spoke and momentarily gave in to the warmth and safety he provided, but resisted again after he swiftly removed the ropes binding her hands.
"N…no, no, Jim," she intoned, Jim slipping an arm under her legs to carry her out. "Here…need help."
"I know, I'm gonna get you help, sweetheart."
"How could he not understand?" She thought. All of Pike's victims were here, in this attic, and they needed her help to cross over. She couldn't get the words out to make him understand.
Melinda clung to Jim's neck and tried again to get out the words.
"W…waiting…help. Help me…." She could only manage a weak whisper.
Jim looked down at her, his heart breaking at her feeble plea. Whatever that bastard had shot her full of had made her delusional. And scared. He swallowed back his emotions and continued down the creaky stairs. He didn't have time to soothe her or calm her fears, he needed to get her to a doctor.
Jim held Melinda closer. "Everything's okay, Mel. I'm here, you're safe now."
He thought about the fear he had felt when he'd found out she was gone, but couldn't imagine the fear Melinda had experienced. He tried not to think about what she'd been through, because if he did, he might lose it. The minor scrapes and scratches covering her face, neck, and arms hadn't escaped his attention.
Jim shifted Melinda in his arms when she burrowed further into him before going limp, giving into the protection she was craving.
"They're…everywhere…" she murmured over and over as they descended the stairway, her breath gliding across Jim's neck.
Jim reached the first floor and walked swiftly out the front door towards the ambulance he'd called along, ignoring the questions being thrown at him from the policemen who had been searching the rest of the house. They would have to wait. Making sure Melinda was alright came before everything.
She clung to Jim when he tried to set her down, her hair sticking to her tear streaked face.
Jim gazed into her eyes, his own softening with sympathy as he read the fear and pain in hers. He knelt down and let her hold onto him, his arms closing around her waist, as a fellow paramedic checked her over.
He had her now, she was going to be fine. He tried to forget every scenario he'd come up with while searching for her, but that might take some time. The nightmarish scenes in his mind were hard to banish.
Jim continued to whisper soothing words into Melinda's ear. Her eyes closed, lashes fluttering, she moved as close to him as she could, holding on to him as if he was the only thing that she trusted was real.
Hearing a faint whisper, Jim leaned down to hear what Melinda was saying.
"I…I love…you."
I'd like to know what people think of this chapter before continue with the story. Please let me know!