Chapter 2

"Agent Gibbs, I need you in my office," Vance said.

Gibbs looked up and nodded. Without a word, he headed up the stairs, leaving Tony, Tim and Ellie all staring at each other.

"A new case?" Ellie asked.

"Has to be," Tony said, "but why would he have to get called up to Vance's office for it? That usually means things aren't normal."

"Yeah, that's weird. Usually, we just get the reports from Metro or whoever," Tim said.

"Well, we'll get told whatever is going on," Tony said. "I still have a report to finish, and I'm not giving Gibbs a reason to dole out the head slaps."

They all refocused on their work until Gibbs came down the stairs.

"Gear up. We've got a dead sailor in West Virginia."

"On your six, Boss."

They gathered their gear, none of them asking the question they wanted to ask. This seemed like a normal case. Why had Vance given it to him?

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Tim looked out the window of the car as they drove through the woods in West Virginia. Something about this road seemed familiar. He wasn't sure what it was, but it was starting to make him feel a little anxious.

"What's up, Tim?" Ellie asked.

"I don't know. Just...this seems familiar."

Ellie looked out the window and then back at him with some amusement.

"It's trees. How familiar could it be?"

Tim laughed a little. "I guess you're right. I don't know why I..."

He trailed off as Gibbs pulled off the road and onto a private lane. This was very familiar. And he had a bad feeling that he knew exactly why it felt familiar.

"Tim? What's wrong? You're looking pale."

"Uh...nothing. I... Are we almost there, Boss?" he asked.

Another turn in the road and they were suddenly in a clearing at the top of a hill. There was a house there.

A house Tim had vowed never to come back to.

But it's daylight. Nothing happens during the day. It's only at night. We'll be gone by then. It won't matter. No one has to know about it.

"Feeling motion sickness, McGee?" Tony asked from the front seat.

"Maybe that's it. The road is very twisty and bumpy. Just like being on the ocean."

Gibbs stopped the car and Tim forced himself to get out quickly. The house looked exactly the same as it had before. Bars on every window and only one single door in or out. He swallowed and tried to hold back the fear. It had been years since he'd been here. Maybe things had changed.

Right. They were here investigating a murder and he thought things might have changed. Would things have ever changed for the better? He couldn't imagine that being the case. He also couldn't imagine sharing his experiences with anyone.

"Tim, are you sure you're okay?" Ellie asked.

Tim jumped a little and realized he'd been staring at the house almost without blinking.

"Yeah. I'm sure."

I'm sure I'm really really really not okay.

He grabbed his pack and the camera and followed the others into the house, dreading every step that led him back into this chamber of horrors.

Gibbs pushed open the front door without any sign of unease. Tim wished he could be like that, but he couldn't.

"Body's back here," Gibbs said.

They walked into what looked like a ballroom. Right in the middle of the room was the dead man.

"McGee. Fingerprints."

Tim nodded and pulled out the scanner. He tried to keep himself from shaking as he knelt down to do his job. He scanned the man's fingerprints.

"Ensign Michael Egner," he said. "Just received his commission."

"Reported missing?"

"Not that I can see. Not UA. Looks like he's on leave."

"And he came to some random house in West Virginia? That's just weird. And why here? Who owns this place, anyway? It looks abandoned."

Forgetting that he wasn't supposed to know anything about the house, Tim answered Tony's question while starting to take photos of the body, trying to focus on the case only and not on past events.

"No one really owns it anymore," he said. "The last owner murdered his wife and was executed. No one has ever expressed any interest in it because it's supposed to be haunted."

There was silence greeting his statement. He looked up and saw them all staring at him.

"How do you know all this, McGee?" Gibbs asked.

"Have you been here before?" Tony asked.

"It's...kind of famous for being haunted. They call this place Haunted Hill." He prayed that no one would ask any more questions, that they wouldn't ask anything more about why he knew. He was trying to hold off the memories. No one had believed him anyway.

Unexpectedly, Ellie saved him.

"Oh, this is the house on Haunted Hill? I'd heard about it before, too. I didn't realize it was so close to DC. A lot of people have been murdered here," she said. "It's usually locked up. I don't know how they get inside, but I've seen some of the stories about it. It was even featured on one of those supernatural reality shows."

Then, before they could return their attention to Tim, they heard voices.

"Where are we headed?"

"In here, Ducky!" Tony called.

"Ah, thank you," came Ducky's reply. "I was wondering if we'd somehow got to the wrong opulent house on a hill in the middle of the woods."

Ducky and Jimmy came into the room, ready to do their part.

"Here we are. This is certainly a fancy house for such a remote location. I can't help wondering why it was originally built here."

Tim managed to bite his tongue this time. He would not answer that question. He wasn't quite sure what the answer was anyway, only what he had guessed from the period in which he had been obsessed with everything about this place. He probably knew more about this place than anyone else in the world.

"Well, maybe the dead guy will tell you," Tony said. "He doesn't belong."

"Interesting."

Ducky knelt down beside the body.

"The cause of death seems obvious," Jimmy said. "That's a lot of blood on the floor."

"A number of stab wounds, yes," Ducky said. "Any sign of the weapon?"

"Not in here," Gibbs said. "We haven't checked the house yet."

Please don't send me to check the rest of the house. Please don't send me to check the rest of the house, Tim said in his head. He wasn't sure he could keep his composure for much longer if he had to go through the house and see all the places he'd seen before, even in daylight.

"McGee..."

Tim looked up, hoping that he could just stay here and keep documenting the body. He had the camera, after all. It would make more sense. Right?

Please, Boss. Don't send me to check the rest of the house.

If he had been shouting it, he figured it couldn't be more obvious that he didn't want to check the rest of the house. Gibbs just looked at him for a moment and raised a silent eyebrow.

"...stay here and help Ducky and Jimmy. Tony, you and Bishop go check through the rest of the house."

"On it, Boss," Tony said. "Come on, Bishop. You can tell me all about the house as we go."

"I don't know that much about it, Tony," Ellie said. "Most of it came from a TV show, and you know how they embellish those things. I wouldn't be surprised if there'd only been one guy who snapped and the others never happened."

"I wish," Tim muttered under his breath.

"What was that, Timothy?" Ducky asked.

"Nothing, Ducky. I'd only just started photographing the body and the area around it."

"That means that I can do the processing of the body, Dr. Mallard!" Jimmy said. "You can supervise!"

"Very well, Dr. Palmer. If you insist. You can carry on with your task, Timothy."

Tim smiled a little and nodded. This was something he could do. He only listened with half an ear as Jimmy and Ducky discussed the body, its position, whether or not it had been moved, how many times the man had been stabbed. He was just counting down until he could get out of this horrible house and leave it behind him. He had never wanted to come back and any time returning here would be too soon.

He looked around the room. It was fairly large. The floor had probably been a beautiful wood when it was new. Now, it was grimy, dirty, stained and...

"Someone walking over your grave, Timothy?"

Tim jumped and turned around. He forced a smile.

"What was that, Ducky?"

"You looked rather grim, for a moment."

"I'm just not excited about being here. Close to the weekend, new case..."

"Yes, I agree. Poor timing, but I dare say that this young man didn't choose to die."

"Yeah. They never do," Tim said. Then, he had to turn away to hide the expression he knew was on his face.

He could still hear Dan screaming...until the screams were replaced with the worse silence. He looked up at the ceiling, half expecting to see the blood dripping again.

No. Don't think about that. Focus on the job. Focus on something else. Anything else. Don't think about that.

He was so determined to take his mind off the past that he didn't notice the time passing.

"Well, it's getting dark outside, and I don't see any sign of electricity in this house," Ducky said.

Tim looked up and then looked out the window. Sure enough. The sun was going down.

No. No. No no no no no no.

"Where did Gibbs go?" he asked, trying to swallow his panic.

"I think he was checking on Tony and Ellie," Jimmy said, pointing out the door.

"Okay."

Tim walked out.

"Boss?" he called.

There was no answer, and Tim tried not to freak out. He was getting close, he knew.

"Boss?"

"What is it, McGee?"

"Ducky and Jimmy are about done. It's getting late."

"You in a hurry, McGee?" Gibbs asked, raising an eyebrow.

Yes. All I want now is to get out of this house before it's too late. We have to get out of here!

Tim was screaming in his head, but he tried to keep himself calm and logical. The problem was that he couldn't think of any logical reason to leave right now. They had stayed all through the night at a crime scene before. It wasn't out of the ordinary. Leaving before fully processing the scene would be strange.

"No," he said, lamely. "But I don't think there's...any electricity in here."

Gibbs looked at Tim closely.

"Are you all right, Tim?"

Conundrum. Did he admit to having a problem with the house and face his disdain or did he lie about it and risk having a meltdown?

"Yeah. Fine, Boss."

He turned away and walked back to the ballroom, looking at the front door. There was only the one door. No other way in or out. The windows were all barred. They'd all tried to break out through the windows. They had all failed.

Ducky and Jimmy were just putting the body in a bag, ready to leave.

"Here. I'll help you," Tim said.

He couldn't hide the shaking in his hands as he helped Ducky and Jimmy lift the body onto the stretcher.

They left him behind to document the space where the body had been laying.

It was really getting dark outside. Too dark. He was starting to shake even more. He couldn't operate the camera.

Get a hold of yourself, Tim.

He'd almost managed to convince himself that everything was going to be okay, but then, he heard the worst sound ever.

Ducky's voice.

"I can't seem to get the door open, Jethro. The door knob appears to be stuck. Neither of us can get it to turn."

The camera slipped from his hands.

Panic took full control of him, and he lost all ability to think rationally.

Tim turned around and ran out of the ballroom. He ran at the door, pushing past Gibbs who was just walking over to the door, pushing Ducky and Jimmy out of the way and he began to pull at the knob. He tried to turn it, but it wouldn't. Then, he started to pound on the door.

"No! NO! Let me out! Let me out of here!" he screamed.

The black began to close in on his vision and he felt like he was going to die this time.

The ghosts were going to get him.

Everything went dark.