So sorry it's taking me a long tim to update. I hope this chapter makes up for it.
Aramis sat in the living room, light above him turned on while his friends retired for the evening. He wanted to make sure he got everything he needed for tomorrow and wanted to make sure everything was right. He knew Charles was having seconds thoughts now about the house since his aunt told him everything the family neglected to tell him. His laptop sitting on a small table next to him dinged to let him know he got a message and opened the box to see a reply from his friend. He read through the message and nodded, glade he got a second opinion on the matter and flipped through the Bible he was reading until he found the correct page, marking the page as he went back to the message.
"Are you still up? It's almost one in the morning," a tired voice said from the stairs.
Aramis looked up to see Porthos walking into the room, half asleep and collapsed in the hair. "And why are you awake?"
"Not sure. I woke up to the sound of someone giggling in my ear and when I turned the light on my closet door closed. Can't sleep now."
"Giggling? I would imagine Jamal was behind that? That sounds like something a child would do."
"Probably. So what are you still doing up?"
"I promised Charles tomorrow we are going to put these souls to rest and I asked a friend from when I studied at the Church if the course of action I want to take might work."
"Will it?"
"Yeah. I will need for you to dig up at lest five graves behind the field. While you're doing that, I'm going to find where John had buried the slaves he killed and once I find them, I'm going to dig them up and we're going to re-bury them and give them a proper burial."
Porthos looked at Aramis like he had two heads. Surely he didn't hear the words graves, dig up, and re-bury. "I'm sorry, I must be sleeping and this is a dream. Did you just say you wanted me to dig up five graves and you were going to dig up the slaves and re-bury them?"
Aramis laughed and set the Bible down. "I did my friend and you are not dreaming. This is the only way to put these souls at rest and they need a proper burial with a proper prayer."
Porthos shook his head and looked at Aramis. "Why five? Wouldn't there be more?"
"I'm thinking five right now. Charles said he saw four shadows and then we have Jamal…"
"Who doesn't seem bothered about being a ghost." There, he said it. He's been denying this whole time but now he was going to admit the house was haunted. "I've always wondered that."
"I have a feeling it has something to do with Charles. When Charles went to his room, I asked his aunt if any of the other men in the house has seen Jamal when they were kids but she said to her knowledge, they never said anything. I'm thinking Charles had a gift when he was child and saw Jamal and just saw another little boy to play with."
"Can we at lest keep him?"
CRASH
Porthos shot up from his chair while Aramis turned his head when the sound of glass hitting the floor. Porthos walked around the chair he was sitting in and stared at the glass that covered the floor behind his chair and then looked at the small table where a vase used to sit. "Aramis, that was the vase that was sitting on the table."
Aramis got up from the chair and walked over to his friend. "It would seem someone wasn't happy with your suggested on wanting to keep Jamal. So I'm going to assume that one of the spirits here is Jamal's mother or father, though I'm going more towards mother."
"Should we be…" Porthos stopped when he heard someone walking around the kitchen and looked at Aramis before walking down the hall to investigate and when he walked into the kitchen he had to duck when a glass cup flew at his head. Turning to see the glass shatter on the floor, he spun around when he heard more noises and was shocked to see the cabinets suddenly fly open and the chairs that sat at the table where pushed across the room in all directions. "Aramis. You need to get in here."
Aramis was already in the hall staring at the shattered glass when he heard the sound of something scrapping on the floor and walked behind Porthos to see the chairs fly. Pushing pass his friend, he walked into the kitchen in time to see the light above the table turn on and off and the sound of giggling. "Jamal? Is this your doing?"
"I don't remember Jamal being this mad," Porthos whispered as he was pushed from behind. The push felt like it was further up his back so he knew it wasn't Jamal. "No, I think it's one of those shadows Charles saw in the basement."
"Then it would seem they are not so happy with our intention on helping them," Aramis said. He saw the basement door fly open and the sound of footsteps running down the stairs and took off after them. When he got to the last step he saw Jamal standing by the door on the other side of the room, staring at him with a smile. "Hey there Jamal. It's finally nice to meet you."
The little boy waved and then pointed to the door before disappearing into thin air. Aramis opened the door, looking behind him to make sure Porthos was behind him incase he was locked in the room, and stepped inside. The room was a lot colder than the rest of the basement and the first time he was in there he never got a good look at the small room but now he really got a good look. On the wall, there were faded marks and on the wooden floor, more faded marks. Pulling his phone out, he snapped a picture of the floor and opened up his newest app that brought out details in pictures, which comes in handy at crime scenes, and pushed buttons until he got the picture just right.
"Everything alright in here?" Porthos asked. He saw how pale Arami's face was and walked over to his friend to see what was wrong but stopped when Aramis held his phone up for him to see. On the screen was a circle with a star in the middle, other symbols in the empty spaces of the circle surrounding the star. "Is that what I think it is?"
"It would seem the killings happened here. John didn't find a book to help but instead found a book on witchcraft," Aramis said in a sad voice. "No wonder the slaves want revenge on the family."
"If there are markings in this room, do you think the bodies are buried here?" Porthos asked, looking around the room.
"We'll need to lift the boards up so we can dig but I do believe you're right. This would be the place to bury those you kill." Aramis turned to leave when the door slammed shut. "Here we go again." He tried to open the door but it was locked. "Porthos, do your job."
Porthos went to walk over to the door but was suddenly lifted up and slammed up against the wall. "What the hell?" He tried to push off the wall but he couldn't move. "Aramis! A little help here."
Before Aramis could so much as take a step, he too was lifted up and slammed against the door, unable to move. "Porthos, this isn't good."
"ATHOS!"
Both Aramis and Porthos stopped their struggles when they heard a familiar voice yell in fear. Looking at one another they started struggling even more, knowing Charles was in trouble. Jamal suddenly appeared in the middle of the room, looking from one to another with curiosity.
"Jamal," Aramis said, keeping his voice friendly as possible. "Jamal, you have to help us. Charles is in trouble." But Jamal just stared at him. "Jamal. Do you remember Charles? Do you remember playing hide-and-seek with Charles?" Finally he got a smile and nod. "Right now Charles is in trouble. I know these spirits are your family but please, Charles is not like his ancestors and would never hurt anyone."
"If you don't want to believe him, then believe me," Porthos spoke up. "Charles has never hurt me and never treated me wrongly. Charles did forget about you but his memory was messed up but he does remember you and remembers the fun times you had."
Jamal looked from Porthos, to Aramis, and back to Porthos with a smile. The smile a child gives when they are going to do something that goes against adult rules. He ran over to Aramis and when he went right through him, he disappeared and Aramis was able to move again. Jamal appeared once more and ran towards Porthos, disappearing as he ran through the man and Porthos was now able to move.
"Now break the door down," Aramis said, hearing another yell from above them. Aramis watched as Porthos rushed at the door but as he made his way, the door flew open. "Thank you Jamal." Aramis took off out of the room behind Porthos, and ran up the stairs.
"Aramis! Porthos!"
Aramis turned around the corner of the kitchen when he heard Athos yell for them and saw his friend standing by the front door, arm around a shaking Charles. "We're here," he said, stopping in front of his friend. He noticed a bruise on Athos's cheek, and a scratch on Charles's neck. "What the hell happened to you guys?"
"Never mind, we're getting out of here," Athos said, opening the front door and all but pushed Charles out of the house.
"Where too?"
"Anywhere but here."
They ran to Athos's car as the older man opened the backdoor and pushed Charles into the car before getting into the driver seat, pulling the visor down for his extra keys to fall into his lap. Porthos took the backseat while Aramis took the passenger seat and Athos all but sped out of the driveway.
"Are you guys okay?" Aramis asked, turning to his friend as he drove a little over the speed limit.
"Not really," Athos said. "Something grabbed Charles right out of bed and dragged him into his room. Took me a good minute or so to break the door down. Got a good punch to the face by someone that wasn't even there, and I'm pretty sure Charles is going into another panic attack."
"I got the kid," Porthos said, holding Charles close to him. "We had an experience too. Got ourselves held up against the wall in the basement by the slaves."
"Turns out John was reading a book on witchcraft," Aramis said. "We found some symbols on the floor of the small room and when we got in a jam, Porthos talked some sense into Jamal and the kid helped us get out."
"Jamal helped you?" Charles asked, still shaking but now that he was away from the house, he was slowly coming around.
"Yeah. It would seem the kid is just following in his family but when we told him you were in trouble he helped us," Porthos said. "Now where are we going Athos?"
"An Inn just in town," Athos said. "I don't want Charles in that house any longer."
The ride was quiet after that, everyone just letting their bodies relax after all they've been through. The radio was on low but it was soothing and gave them all something to focus on until Athos pulled into the parking lot of the Inn. They got out and walked into the Inn, getting two rooms connected by a door. They didn't want to be away from one another. Once they got their rooms and settled into the room Athos and Charles would be sleeping, Athos told Aramis and Porthos everything that's happened.
"I would like to look at those scratches," Aramis said, sitting Charles on the bed and helping him remove his shirt. Taking in the four scratches he shook his head and walked into the bathroom for the first aid kit.
"What are we going to do?" Charles asked. "I love that house but I'm scared to be there now. I can't tell the family I don't want this house."
"I know what to do," Aramis said, walking into the room. Sitting on the bed, he told Athos and Charles what they needed to do and also what happened to them. They all agreed that at first light they were go back to the house and put Aramis plan into action.
