What Eric saw when he reached the fifth floor would haunt him for the rest of his life. He saw Frank and Natalia sitting on the floor in the hallway gnawing at their wrists. The blood oozed from their wounds and they both looked up at Eric smirking. Eric started to back away and Natalia and Frank stood up and slowly walked towards him with their hands stretched out to touch him.
"This isn't real, this isn't real." Eric repeated as he kept on backing away from his two friends.
Natalia and Frank glanced at each other before they launched themselves at Eric and grabbed his arms to pull him towards them. Eric screamed and fought violently to free himself as Natalia and Frank scratched him with their nails and bit his neck. The whole time Natalia and Frank laughed. Eric threw up when Natalia's nails scratched deep wounds all over his stomach and chest.
"Help! Somebody please help me!" Eric pleaded.
Inside Mrs. Faulkner's room Natalia and Frank listened to their friend's scream for help.
"Eric! What the hell is going on out there?" Natalia shouted and banged at the door.
The door had suddenly closed as they had tried to leave and they were hoping that the team would come looking for them. Eric's screams faded and Frank and Natalia stopped banging on the door.
"Is he gone? What the hell happened to him?" Natalia asked.
"I don't know Nat." Frank said and tried to open the door.
Suddenly the lights went out and Natalia and Frank were pushed apart and hit the walls. Natalia groaned as she hit her head and could hear Frank trying to stand up.
"Frank? Where are you?" She asked.
When the lights were turned on again she saw Frank looking at her with blood red eyes and a smile that didn't belong to him.
"Frank?"
Frank looked down at his hand and smirked as he saw the knife he was holding.
"Murderer." Frank said.
"Frank, stay the fuck away from me!"
Frank approached Natalia and she jumped up on the bed, but Frank was faster than her. Within seconds he had pushed her down on the floor and started to stab her with the knife. Natalia screamed and tried to hit the big Texan, but she could feel the life leave her. Frank laughed like a maniac as he tasted the blood on the knife.
"Murderer!" Frank growled and stabbed Natalia again.
Frank then stood up and looked at the lifeless body on the floor. He looked at the knife and cut his own throat. He smiled as the blood covered his chest and he died.
-I-
Horatio, Calleigh, Jesse and Walter had heard both male and female screams and the lights had turned on and off. Ryan had come running down the stairs just before it had all started. Now nobody could hear anything.
"Ryan what is going on?" Horatio asked.
"I saw a ghost. Carol Faulkner. She was the niece of Mr. Faulkner, when Eric approached her she turned in to Mr. Faulkner and I ran." Ryan panted.
"You left him alone?" Calleigh growled.
"I freaked out! That fucking ghost scared me half to death." Ryan exclaimed, "Then I came down here and the screaming started."
"What if something happened to Eric? You left him alone, Ryan!" Calleigh said with anger clear in her voice.
"Calleigh, I freaked out! I wasn't thinking clearly."
"Enough you two! I'll go up and see what's wrong." Horatio said and started walking up the stairs.
He didn't get further than four steps up when he was suddenly pushed back down and landed on the floor. He hit his head and was knocked out. Calleigh was the first one to get over the shock and she tried to wake up her boss.
"Horatio? Can you hear me?" She asked.
Walter and Ryan looked up the stairs and then at their boss. A man that they had never seen injured before was suddenly unconscious. They didn't feel safe knowing that Horatio was knocked out.
"H, come on wake up." Walter said and shook him gently.
"Shit, he's out cold." Calleigh sighed, "Let's stay down here."
"What about Eric, Nat and Frank?" Ryan asked.
"Do we dare go up the stairs?" Calleigh asked nervously.
Ryan and Walter shook their heads and remained in the lobby.
It took less than an hour before Horatio finally woke up and when he did, Eric, Natalia and Frank came down the stairs with blood all over them. Calleigh hugged Eric hard.
"What the hell happened to you?" Walter asked.
"You're not going to believe it." Frank sighed.
"We'll believe anything." Horatio said and explained what had happened when he tried to walk up the stairs.
"Well, this is even crazier." Natalia said, "Frank and I apparently killed Eric, only we don't remember doing that. Then Frank stabbed me and then committed suicide."
"You're standing right before us alive." Walter said.
"Exactly. I remember hearing Eric screaming and how Frank's eyes were blood red, but it was like a dream." Natalia said.
"Ryan's eyes were red down in the basement before too. We think it's a sign that the ghosts are pretending to be us." Eric said.
"Were Frank and Nat's eyes red when they killed you?" Horatio asked.
"No… okay, so maybe the eyes isn't the only sign. But I mean, I know that Nat and Frank would never kill me." Eric said.
"We know that too." Ryan said.
"It was like a dream for me too." Eric sighed and sat down on the first step of the stairs, "I'm going crazy by this. This can't be real. Frank and Nat scratched and bit me and then suddenly I woke up with bloody clothes, but not a single scratch or bite mark on me."
"The ghosts are playing mind tricks on us." Horatio said.
Ryan was looking closer at the windows and suddenly saw a hole in wooden boards that covered the windows.
"I found a hole!" He exclaimed and stuck his hand through it.
He banged on the window to attract attention from the officers outside.
"Let's pull the boards away." Horatio said and they all got to it.
Then they just watched as the officers outside did nothing to help them. They didn't hear their screams or their banging on the windows for help.
"Is that dude entering the house?" Walter asked and pointed at an officer that opened the door that was right next to Walter.
They all looked at the door and frowned as it didn't open. When they looked out the windows again the door was open, but from the inside it was closed.
"What the hell is this shit?" Frank asked, "How can they be inside the house when we can't see them?"
"They're not. The ghosts are tricking us." Ryan said.
"Okay team, let's try and find out what happened in 1845." Horatio said.
"Why?" Eric asked.
"Maybe it can get us out and while we look we might just find a hidden door that can help us out of here." Horatio explained.
"We stick together though." Calleigh said.
"Yes. Maybe if we solve the case from 1845, we can be set free or whatever you want to call it." Horatio said, "But we have to do something."
The team nodded in agreement and started to walk up to the fifth floor to look through the rooms of the Faulkner family again.
-I-
Tom had finished the autopsy on the body and was expecting the team or at least someone from the team to drop by and hear what he had found. The man had died from massive head trauma but Tom couldn't tell who the killer was. Tom also came to voicemail every time he called someone on the team.
"Dr. Loman?" A voice asked from the door.
"Yes?"
"I'm Dt. Stuart Grayson; I need you to go back to the crime scene." Stuart said.
"Why?"
"Something horrible has happened." Stuart said, "There is blood all over the place and the team... well, you'll have to see for yourself."
Tom frowned and nodded.
-I-
"Maybe we're dead." Walter suggested when nobody had said anything for a while.
"Dead?" Frank asked.
"Yeah, we're dead and this is an illusion in our afterlife." Walter explained.
"I sure hope not. It will probably mean that we're stuck here forever and I really don't want to have to guess if you are yourselves all the time or if a ghost is pretending to be you." Ryan said, "Not to mention that I'm sick of seeing things that aren't fucking real and see people outside the house ignore us. I don't want to be here and wonder if…"
"Ryan!" Horatio interrupted, "Stop worrying. I'm sure there is a reasonable explanation to all of this."
"Maybe it's not." Natalia said, "What if the ghosts actually do exist and they're not planning on letting us leave."
"Think positive." Calleigh said.
"How the fuck are we supposed to do that!" Ryan exclaimed, "We're in a fucking dream land or something! You saw what went on in the lobby, we were screaming for help and nobody heard us! It's not normal to see a person enter a house and on the same time not enter it."
"I'm just saying that we have to be positive so that we don't give up!" Calleigh growled, "If you lose hope then you lose a reason to fight for your life too."
"This is Mrs. Faulkner's bedroom." Frank said and interrupted the bickering, "Were I killed Natalia and then myself."
"And this is her diary." Horatio said and picked up a very dusty small book. He found some interesting pages and read it out loud for the team.
I cannot live with him anymore.
He has become violent and evil. He hits me and the boys.
He is no longer the man I married.
He is a monster.
"They were in need of couple's therapy." Ryan muttered.
"Ryan, this is serious." Natalia sighed.
"I am serious."
"No, you're not. You're trying to be funny." Natalia said.
Ryan just stuck his tongue out at her.
"Enough!" Horatio growled, "Act like adults and not kids. Instead of giving up Ryan, why don't you at least pretend to be interested in getting out."
Ryan nodded, "Sorry."
I think he is in love with Carol.
I saw him look at her with the same look he once gave me.
When we were in love he would look at me with the softest eyes and smile.
Now he does that to her instead of me.
Poor Carol adores her uncle. She has no idea what kind of a man he really is.
"So the wife knew that Mr. Faulkner wanted to screw his own niece too?" Ryan asked.
"Apparently. But it was Ms. Wilson who saw them kiss." Horatio said.
"I wonder where he murdered them." Eric said.
"Let's check the rest of the floors." Horatio said.
The team searched all the floors before they went down to the lobby again. Horatio picked up a vase on a table next to the stairs and threw it at the window. The vase broke but not the window. Walter decided to shoot at the window and the bullet went through it, yet the officers outside didn't notice.
"How can they miss the sound of a gun being fired?" Walter asked, "Something really strange is going on H."
"Hey! We're in here!" Horatio yelled, but the officer's didn't respond.
"H…"
"Yeah?"
"Where is everyone else?" Walter asked.
Horatio turned around and noticed that he and Walter were the only ones left in the lobby.
"Maybe they went down the basement." Horatio shrugged.
Horatio and Walter started to walk down the basement and the first things they saw was Ryan's lifeless body on the floor by the showers. Horatio touched his body, but nothing happened.
"It's a trick. It has to be." Walter whispered.
"We should keep on going." Horatio said.
The two men continued down the hallway and soon saw Eric banging his head against the wall.
"Must kill. Must kill. Murderer." Eric cried and blood started to ooze from a head wound.
Horatio reached out a hand to touch Eric on the shoulder, but Walter stopped him.
"Let's leave them alone. I don't think it's safe to touch them." Walter said.
Horatio nodded and they walked passed Eric. Suddenly Calleigh came stumbling passed them with blood all over herself. She kept mumbling the same words as Eric and then disappeared.
"Let's leave H." Walter pleaded.
"No, we have to find the rest of them." Horatio said, "These are our friends."
"No, it's not. It's the ghosts." Walter said.
Horatio shook his head and continued walking. Water hesitated before he followed his boss. They walked down some stairs and made many turns before they saw something that made them want to throw up. Jesse and Natalia were sitting on the ground eating each other's flesh. Natalia ripped away Jesse's arm from his body and started gnawing at it.
"Fuck this!" Walter exclaimed and turned around to leave, but Horatio grabbed his shirt.
"We have to check Walter." Horatio said, "Ghosts or not they have invaded our friends' bodies."
Walter followed the red head further down the hallway and soon they came to an old storage room for food. Inside was the entire team. Horatio and Walter watched as Frank killed Natalia, Calleigh, Ryan, Jesse and Eric. They realized that it was what had happened in 1845.
"Frank is Mr. Faulkner." Horatio said.
Just as they turned to walk around there was a blinding flash of light and Walter covered his eyes. When he could see again he saw the team standing in front of him with blood red eyes.
"Um, I'm going to leave now." Walter said.
Horatio reached his hands out and smirked. The rest of the team followed him and Walter started to back away.
"Don't touch me you fucking freaks!" Walter growled and started to run back the way he and Horatio had come.
He could hear them laughing and running after him. Walter could barely see where he was going and he realized that he was lost.
"Leave me alone!" Walter yelled and then was knocked unconscious as he ran straight in to a wall.
-I-
"Walter? Wake up." Horatio said.
Walter stirred and slowly opened his eyes. He had a terrible headache and groaned as he sat up.
"You're normal right?" He asked.
"Yeah, we all are now." Horatio said.
"Where's everybody else?"
"In the lobby." Horatio sighed, "We all had the same vision. We all saw the team kill each other the way that Mr. Faulkner killed his family in 1845. Only in my vision you suddenly became obsessed."
"In my vision it was you who did that." Walter said and stood up.
"I talked with the others, they saw the same thing. Calleigh walked down there with Natalia and then Natalia became obsessed."
"But in Natalia's vision it was the opposite?" Walter guessed.
"Exactly."
When Horatio and Walter reached the lobby they saw the rest of the team sit at the bottom of the stairs looking very sad.
"Anything new happened while we were gone?" Horatio asked.
"No." Eric sighed.
Horatio nodded and approached the windows again, he gasped at what he saw which alerted his team and they all looked outside. What they saw shocked them. Tom was there and bodies were being wheeled out of the house, but for the team inside nothing was different.
"Who are those bodies?" Calleigh asked.
Eric suddenly recognized his badge lying on top of a blanket that covered one of the bodies.
"That's my badge!" He exclaimed.
One of the blankets fell off and revealed Calleigh's face.
"I'm dead?" She asked shocked.
"It can't be. We're here." Ryan said and banged on the window.
"Ryan, they can't hear us. We're stuck in this house because out there we're dead." Frank said.
"We're not fucking dead! We're in here!" Ryan growled and kept on banging on the window.
On the outside Tom watched as several bodies in the team were loaded in to ambulances that would drive them to the morgue.
"I'm sorry Dr. Loman." Stuart said, "We don't know what happened. The officers say that they doors closed and when they got them opened ten minutes later everyone but two were dead. They had been killed with an axe."
Stuart had a bloody axe in a plastic bag in his hands and Tom shook his head. This couldn't be real.
"Who are still alive?" He asked.
"Lt. Caine and Dt. Wolfe."
"How?"
"That's what we're wondering too. They don't have any blood on them, not even spatter. Lt. Caine is just staring straight ahead and Dt. Wolfe is mumbling words about how his friends died." Stuart sighed, "They'll be taken to the hospital for a psychological evaluation."
"These are normal people Dt." Tom said, "Lt. Caine and Dt. Wolfe are not psychos!"
"Sir, what they witnessed in there must have been terrible. It can make even a strong man like Lt. Caine have a nervous breakdown."
"This can't be true. There has to be a better explanation. Who killed the rest of the team?"
"Right now it seems like a ghost killed them Dr." Stuart shrugged.
Tom watched as Horatio and Ryan walked passed him and were put in a police car. Ryan kept mumbling words about the team. Tom remained at the scene, too shocked to move.
Inside the house, the team was screaming for help and praying that the ghosts were just playing yet another mind trick on them.
"Tom! We're in here!" Ryan yelled.
-I-
Two months later Ryan Wolfe and Horatio Caine were not considered mentally healthy. Ryan had mumbled the same words for two months and Horatio didn't respond to anything. Tom was visiting and like always he tried to make something coherent come out from both of the two men. He didn't believe that a ghost had killed the rest of the team, there had to be another explanation.
"Horatio, if you're in there… please talk to me." Tom pleaded.
"Dr. Loman." A nurse said, "He's not going answer you."
"I have to keep trying." Tom sighed, "Okay, I'm ready to see Ryan Wolfe now."
Poor Ryan Wolfe was rocking back and forth in his bed when Tom sat down on a chair next to it.
"Killed them. Axe. They killed them." Ryan mumbled.
"Who killed them Ryan?"
"They killed them. Red eyes."
Tom sighed. Ryan's words were the same as every other time he had been there.
On the same time two boys walked on the main road that passed the house. They stopped just where the dirt road that leads to the house began.
"The ghosts are screaming again." One boy sighed.
"They just want us to go there and help them get out. But it's not going to happen." The older boy said.
"Why not?"
"Because if we let them out, they'll kill all of us."
The boys continued walking and ignored the screams that came from the house. However, it was not the ghosts screaming for help. It was a team of CSI's and a Srgt, that had been trapped in the house for two months. To the real world they were dead, but inside the house they were alive and every day they hoped that somebody would let them out.
The End!
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