Ok, this is the chapter leading up to a big moment in the story, Please R&R

Chapter 8

Ghosts

As soon as Ardelia was out the door and down the road, Clarice ran upstairs and grabbed only the necessities. She snatched her purse and a small backpack full of items needed for an overnight stay. Not that she planned on staying that long, but she didn't know how long it would take to find Lecter's next clue. Within a little more than five hours, she would be in Belvedere, Ohio.

Clarice was forced to wait until the trainees, outside on duty, were too consumed in their radio's sports station before pulling out of her driveway and down the road. She sighed in relief as she pulled onto the interstate, without any sign of being followed.

The road was busy, full of people trying to get home to their lives. Clarice felt like the only one among the motorist, who was chasing anything to escape from her sad life. She wished so desperately that she could trade with anyone of them for their mediocre lives. A nice job that didn't involve chasing after dangerous criminals, a decent man at her side who didn't play maddening mind games, and maybe a couple of kids, but that dream was long gone. She pushed it out of her mind and returned to thinking about her mission now. All she could do was drive onward.

Though it had been nearly a decade since she had been in the decaying house of Jame Gumb, Clarice remembered every detail from the cobwebs in the doorway to the large moths flying around to the dirty half-starved girl at the bottom of a well. As she drove, she tried to remember the layout of the house, so she wouldn't have to stay there longer than necessary. And by eight o'clock that night, Clarice had made it to Belvedere.

She drove the long road to that scarred neighborhood, now branded "The Skinner Street." In the dusky sky, it was hard for her to determine which house had once belonged to the demented Buffalo Bill. It wasn't until she noticed an old, broken, and spray-painted "FOR SALE" sign in the front yard, that she finally found it. She muffled a dark humored laugh.

The house was clearly abandoned, probably ever since Gumb had died.

Well, who would want to buy a house where women were killed and skinned into a woman suit by a psychopath? Ok, let's get this over with.

Before walking up to the house, Clarice grabbed the flashlight she'd pack and opened the passenger side compartment to retrieve one of the guns the FBI had neglected to confiscate. She walked up the creaking front steps of the house. The door had indentions, where it had been kicked in, probably by looters. The glass was broken, also. She carefully opened the door and shined the bright light into the perpetual darkness.

Her stomach tightened and the hair on the back of her neck stood on end. She felt like a trainee again. A scared, inexperienced trainee trapped in the house of a madman. She had forgotten how frightening this place had been. No matter how hard she tried to convince herself other wise, she felt as though she wasn't alone. There were too many ghosts in this house of horrors. The peeling wallpaper looked like some wild beast had slashed his claws through them. Trash and broken furniture lay scattered on the floor as she walked through the rooms, until she came upon the door leading to the basement and the well.

She took a deep breath before proceeding down the dark staircase into the plunging black. The flashlight was steady all the while going down the staircase, but when she reached the last step, the light began to shake ever so slightly. Her paranoia was growing by the second. It was like she could hear the ghosts breathing, whispering, down here.

Get a hold of yourself, girl! This house is empty! Empty, empty, empty! And if it isn't, you've got a fucking gun! Come on, Clarice!

At this mental pep-talk, Clarice wondered around until she could find the hole. A wooden panel had been used to cover the top of the well. Reluctantly, Clarice holstered her weapon and propped her flashlight nearby, so she could see to remove the heavy panel. She hoped more than anything that she didn't have to go into the hole to retrieve the doctor's clue.

It only took a couple of tries before the panel was completely off of the dark pit. Clarice could not help but picture the woman she had seen the first time she looked down into it. A fowl stench of decay and death arose from its depths. She reached back for her flashlight and shined it into the deep blackness. There was nothing. Nothing but emptiness. She let out a defeated sigh at the vacant hole. It appeared to be a dead end for Clarice.

However, fate, if you believe in such a thing, has a funny way of surprising you when you least expect it.

"Helloooo, Clarice."

Hope you liked it! The next chapters may take me a while because I MUST get them perfect. So please bear with me in the days to come...