Title: The Lost and Forgotten

Authors: Shadow's Echo (also known as Cindy from CindyandSandy)

Rating: PG-13 (some swearing!)

Disclaimer: I don't own Mulder, Scully, or any of that happy crap…but I do own Amelia and other such characters.

Chapter 5 – Ghost Stories

Mulder sat in his motel room waiting for Scully. He thought back to his high school and early college years when girls were constantly draped over his arms, and women would do anything to get his attention. He realized now that beautiful women could only bring happiness for so long before they began to bore him, and he wished for more. Up until a few years ago Mulder had been supplied with and endless amount of beautiful women, but now the women he truly wanted to be with were few and far between. And the real woman he wanted was right in front of him everyday, and she unknowingly tempted him with every step, every breath she took. He longed every minute to hold her, touch her, tell her that he loved her, but his fears of losing her far overwhelmed those temptations. He would rather spend the rest of his life with her not knowing than spend the rest of it without her.

He suddenly heard a loud knock at the door, and he lazily pushed himself off the bed and to the door. He opened it to find a drenched Scully.

"It's raining out?" Mulder asked, peeking out the window.

"Yes, Mulder, it is." He handed her a towel as she peeled off her coat. She graciously took it and dried her hair. She took some try clothes out of her bag and, while she changed, Mulder brought her up to speed.

"I received this case from a principal of a private school out here in Colorado. She said over the past three years, there were eight murders committed at this school in the dormitories. All eight are still unsolved, and the most recent is the most brutal. This is Isabell Christiansen, age twelve." Scully walked out of the bathroom and he handed her a picture of the girl. She was a blonde little girl, very short for her age, with a wide smile. It appeared to Scully that she seemed to be very happy and that she probably had a lot of friends before she died. "Her feet and hands were sawed off and have yet to be found." At this piece of information Scully gasped a little. Why would anyone do anything like that to an innocent child that was once so happy and alive?

"Any suspects?" Scully asked, trying to hide her feelings.

"None. Anyone in the school had access to her. But she was found in a room that was presumably locked."

"Why was it locked?"

"Years ago a young boy was murdered in that room by a serial killer who had escaped from prison. The man found the secluded school and hid in that room during the boy's classes. When the boy returned the man killed him to keep from being found out. The body was never recovered, but the man was found, and he was put to death. That room is the room the girl was found in, along with the seven other bodies."

"And you're assuming this has something to do with the original boy's living-dead spirit haunting the school." She said, rather sarcastically.

"The school is believed to be haunted."

Scully sighed. "What does the principal believe?"

"She doesn't know what to think. I think she is willing to believe in anything that will solve the case, right now. She called me because she thought this case may need a…uh… different view than what the local police had."

"Had? They decided to close the case?"

"This murder happened six months ago, and there had been no leads. So they gave up. It was far too much to handle another case, when they knew it was the same as the others. So they locked the room and no one is allowed in there. There's really nothing else they can do."

"Did they interview some students?"

"A few. Every time they said the student snuck in the room at night and never came out. All the students interviewed reported seeing a young boy with dark hair wandering the halls at night after the murders. Some even claim he had blood on his hands. They also say they had never seen him at the school before. There is also no record of him attending those years."

"Interesting. But couldn't that just be because they've heard too many ghost stories about the room, and someone else in the school knows about their little game of sneaking in the room. Perhaps they are just "playing" on it and killing them when they sneak in, just because they are a sick, insane freak." She let her skepticism shine through.

"Perhaps…but unlikely." Mulder lied down on his bed and turned off his light. Scully sighed and did the same. She knew that things were about to get interesting.

A/N: Isn't that 100% better?! C'mon, you know it is!