Note: there really is a bed and breakfast in St-Francisville, Louisiana, known as Myrtles Plantation. And yes, it has a history of violence, and yes it is believed to be the most haunted house in America. There have been many rumors about what happened in the house, and many ghost stories as well, however most of those stories or rumors have been proved to be incorrect (though I'm not sure about which ones). As for those who love to believe in ghosts: those who reside in the house are considered to be mischievous, but won't cause any real harm. So I want you all to bear all this in mind when reading this chapter.
After we had our breakfast, the man showed his hospitality to let us have a shower. Unfortunately, he told us we had to leave as soon as we finished showering. Because his wife couldn't have either of us inside her house any longer. If the ghosts are nothing to be afraid of in this town, some of the living would be.
During daytime, the fragments still glowed, but in the daylight they didn't glow bright enough to tell us which way to go. We asked around where to find Myrtles Plantation. Some people wet themselves when we mentioned the name, which didn't mean any good. Especially since those people deliberately pointed us into the wrong direction afterwards. There were but a few skeptics who pointed us into the right direction. This way, it took us many hours to even find the road that lead us there. The plantation was to be found somewhere in the outskirts of that town, and according to what I read, easily recognizable by the cherub statue at the front.
By the time it was night, we found the place! An idea that crossed my mind that time, is what would happen if we destroy the sword. The sword seemed to be the thing that attracted everything, so making it disappear would stop attracting those things. But would it also repel them? If so, then we would destroy the one thing that drew tourists to this little town. We would be responsible for destroying the town's economy. Then again, what is more important, the lives and free wills of every living creature on this planet? Or keeping a town alive? Asking this to myself I realized I was starting to sound like Talim.
"Is this the plantation?" Talim asked me, the minute we arrived.
"I think so!" I said. I had seen enough pictures to recognize it. Suddenly, I noticed some kind of figure hanging on a tree. I blinked my eyes a few times, and then it disappeared. That's when I didn't just think we were at the right place.
"I'm pretty sure we are here now!"
"What makes you so sure!" she asked.
"Chloe is 'hanging' around here!" I tried to remain my wits, but inside I kept trembling.
Talim didn't know who I was talking about: "Who is Chloe?"
"Someone who used to live here!" I answered.
"You actually know people who lived here?" she sounded surprised.
Like I'm talking about the most normal thing in the world, I answered: "Sometimes people are much better known when they're dead!"
I took one fragment out of my pocket. Since the darkness of the night was coming, it started glowing much brighter. I pointed it next to the plantation first. It was quite bright. But when I pointed it at the house, it was even brighter.
If possible, I shook even more then before at that moment: "T... this is the place!"
"Why are you shaking?" Talim couldn't understand, "You've already faced an undead pirate, a Will-O'-The-Wisp, a Charade,..."
"Those were more fleshed beings!" I reminded her, "This is different! Even that Will-Of-Thisp had an obvious weak spot!"
It was pretty obvious that Talim wasn't discouraged. She certainly was even braver than I am. I marched towards the front door, and Talim followed. Then something hit me. Figurally, that is, but it got me to a halt.
"What's the matter?" Talim wondered.
"Why are all the lights out?" I answered her question with a question.
"Maybe all the guests are still sight-seeing!" Talim suggested.
"Then why isn't there even any light from a kitchen, or a lobby or whatever?" I was still not convinced everything was OK.
"Since this is a haunted house, maybe the owners and employees are trying to scare each other!" she suggested.
"Of course." I agreed sarcastically, "A whole bunch of grown men and women, who would play tricks on each other. Without even using flashlights!"
Talim noticed the problem as well: "Maybe this house has been abandoned for a while!"
"Now why would that be!" I asked, even though I already knew the answer.
I moved closer. I noticed vague apparitions of two little blond girls in the veranda, and looking at Talim's face, she saw them too. This will be likely be the most terrifying event in our lives, I thought to myself.
Because we had an unlimited source of light, we didn't need to use any flashlights, or switch on the lights in the house. We moved through the hallway. I saw something move at my right-hand side. I turned around in fear, but I was relieved to see there was nothing wrong.
Talim saw me making the sudden move, so she asked: "What is it? What did you see?"
"Nothing." I answered, "But knowing this place is haunted, it would be easy to get scared of your own reflection."
I pointed her to the mirror as I said that last bit. Talim suddenly reminded me of something: "Where to now?"
"I'm not sure!" I answered.
The fragment was glowing quite bright, so we must be really close. We could even be standing right on top of it, and not realize it until the next morning. I decided to take another fragment out of my pocket, again to compare their brightness. Suddenly, there was a loud bang, like a gun blast. Both Talim and I turned to the door. The door suddenly shut itself right in front of our very eyes. We heard footsteps coming closer to us. After they reached us, they went on, up the stairs, like whatever was causing this had no interest in us whatsoever.
"What is that?" Talim asked me.
I held up my hand, as to say 'wait'. I was counting the steps 'it' made on the stairs. After seventeen of them, the footsteps stopped.
"Seventeen!" I thought out loud.
Talim had no idea what I was talking about: "Seventeen what?"
"He went up to the seventeenth step!" I said, "According to the stories, one of first owners of the house was shot when he opened the front door. He ran up to the seventeenth step..."
"Where his wife found him, and where he died in her arms." Talim continued for me, "I've seen it happen in my dreams!"
That's when I decided to tell her about the part of the story she most likely hasn't seen: "For some unknown reason, that guy keeps reliving the last moments of his life over and over again!"
That's when we heard someone going down the stairs.
"I don't remember anything about someone coming down!" Talim said, "You?"
"No?" I answered questionable. Then it got really cold. I could actually see my breath, and that during summer in Louisiana! Talim on the other hand felt something besides cold. She was about to pass out again.
"Such..." she was getting to weak so say anything.
I grabbed hold of her, and ran into the first room I could find. My thought is that the wife, even after reliving it thousands of times, is still looking for someone to blame for her husband's demise. And tonight, she picked us.
Whatever room we just entered, I hoped there was no other ghost inside. Unfortunately, contrary to what George A. Romero suggests in his movies, the dead are quite fast. That woman had entered the room as well, and shut the door behind her. A typical scene from a movie, which I always like to see, but I could never imagine myself being part of such a scene. There was only one way I saw to get out. I grabbed a chair and threw it through the window. It broke, but it didn't shatter as it should. I decided to use Talim's tonfas's to break the window. Of course, I could just as simply open it, but in a ghost house like this you can never be too sure whether that would work. I helped Talim to get out through the window, and we ran around the house.
"I knew this was a bad idea!" I remarked, once we regained breath.
"If we don't do this," Talim convinced me, "then the evil sword will never disappear!"
Again, I tried what I wanted to try from the beginning. I compared the brightness of one fragment with another. I soon realized that we would have to look under the ground.
"Let's get inside, and look for the basement." I said.
I can't believe I actually suggested us to go inside a place I don't want to be inside. No matter, with any luck, we would have to go in and back out, with nothing else in between. We searched every door. Every door that was locked, Talim kicked open. It took us a while before we found a door to the basement, but we found it none the less. That's when I felt another cold spot.
"Let's get down!" I nearly ordered her.
She didn't care about how I sounded, she wanted to go down as much as I did. I closed the door behind us, and we ran down the stairs. Down there it was still cold, but not unusually cold for a basement.
Again I used the fragments to pinpoint the sword's location. Until I was sure that I was standing right on top of it. Remembering what Spawn told us, I realized that the cave, through the course of about 400 years of natural disasters and of people colonizing the new world, the cave might be buried by now.
"We should've brought some shovels with us!" I remarked.
Talim was a little upset with me saying that: "You're telling me this now?!"
"We can't get out the way we came, I know!" I tried to calm her down, "But maybe if we try the win..."
I looked at one window when I said that, but then I saw someone standing there. It was like the ghosts didn't want us to leave.
"They don't want us to go." I said out loud.
"Why not?" Talim wondered.
"I can think of only two reasons!" I answered, "One, they want to drive us nuts, or starve us to death. Two, they are tired of wandering around here forever, and believe that if we take away the sword they will be free!"
"Then maybe we should tell them we want to destroy the sword!" Talim suggested, "Then they will let us go out and loo..."
"And risking the chance of us leaving and never coming back?" I added.
Talim then realized the problem too. I put one fragment down where we had to dig, put the other in my pocket, and start looking for something we could use to dig up the cave.
