A/N: I know how much you all hate me after that cliff hanger ;D
Thank you for reading, enjoy!
Quinn wasn't sure as to why Rachel was leading her out of the front door. She wasn't sure what Rachel was about to reveal to her and she wasn't sure why Rachel was still holding her hand. The gesture had made Quinn feel slightly calmer and comforted and she began to wonder why there was a slight flutter in her stomach every time she laid eyes on the brunette.
The corners of Quinn's mouth subtly downturned as she stepped out of the front door and realised that Rachel was no longer holding her hand. She felt strangely disappointed by the missing touch and she looked down at where their hands had once been linked.
Quinn stopped walking, simply staring down. Her eyebrows had knitted together in confusion whilst her hazel eyes were wide and questioning. Rachel said nothing. She simply looked at Quinn, reading the mass amount of ever changing expressions that crossed the blonde's face. She waited for Quinn to say something.
"How?" Quinn whispered. She was staring down at her hand. Rachel had never let go of her, instead her hand was passing right through Quinn's. Quinn's eyes shot up to Rachel's and she locked onto them, searching everything in the chocolate orbs. "You're a ghost?" Rachel nodded. "But, how? I felt your hand Rachel, I could hear your footsteps- hell, I could even see your breath!" Quinn wasn't so much angry as she was shocked and intrigued as she almost shouted at Rachel. Quinn raised her previously captivated hand and tried to touch Rachel's cheek, flinching slightly as it passed through. A small tingle tinged her fingertips and spread up her arm. She pulled her hand away, satisfied that Rachel was actually a ghost, but that still didn't explain how she had appeared human.
Rachel sighed and broke Quinn's stare, instead looking up to the baby blue sky. "I'll tell you everything I know Quinn, but it's a long story so you might want to sit down," she said, motioning to the stone step in front of the door. Quinn perched on the edge, still looking at Rachel, who sat next to her. Quinn remembered the last time she had sat next to her, in that room, how she had felt solid but cold. She had never met a ghost that could appear human before.
"How are you-" Quinn started but Rachel held up her hand, motioning for the blonde to be quiet. Quinn bit her lip in frustration.
"All in good time Quinn. I'll start from the beginning shall I?" Quinn nodded eagerly; slightly annoyed that she couldn't just ask Rachel everything there and then. "I died five years ago. I was a senior at McKinley High, I was prom Queen and I had just led the Glee club to a victory at nationals." Already Quinn was captivated. She wasn't surprised that Rachel had been prom queen, after all, she was gorgeous and as for glee club, she secretly wished that she'd be lucky enough to hear the ghost sing. "Sometimes, when my dad's would argue with each other, I used to get out of the house and go anywhere for a while to get away from it. Then one day, I found this place," she said, waving a hand behind her head. "I remember some kids at school mentioning it, saying that some guy killed himself and his family here and that it was haunted, but I didn't believe in such things back then. So, nearly every day, after school, I'd come here for a couple of hours, y'know, before it got dark? Just to be on my own in a place that was silent and argument free for a while. Things were okay at first, I mean, sometimes, things would fall over on their own, or I'd hear something I wasn't quite sure was real but it didn't freak me out." She looked at Quinn seriously; her deep, brown eyes welled with emotion. "I swear to God Quinn, if I had the chance to go back in time and change me ever finding this place I would." Quinn looked away, unable to hold Rachel's unsettling stare but she placed her hand on top of Rachel's, slightly disappointed that her gesture was in vain as it simply passed straight through Rachel's ghostly hand. Rachel shrugged at Quinn and decided to continue with her story. "Anyway, one time, the arguing was really bad between my dads. They'd woken me up and I had a test the day after so I climbed out of my window and decided to try and get some peace at my beloved house. I'd never been after dark so at the time, the idea of it seemed weirdly exciting. I had brought a sleeping bag and supplies and I was fully intending to camp out, my dad's would never even realise I'd gone. Only, it didn't go to plan at all.
"The last thing I remember from my human life was standing at the top of that huge stairway, about to find somewhere to sleep. Then I heard him. A man's voice called my name, but the voice was deep and malicious and I remember this feeling of coldness and evil wrap around me like a blanket." Quinn's head snapped to attention. She remembered experiencing that exact same feeling that night when she was a child- were these spirits alike? She was brought out of her thoughts as Rachel began to speak again. "I remember shivering and shouting 'who's there' into the darkness, demanding to be answered. I remember something connected with my head, and it knocked me to the ground. When I stood up, my head was bleeding and I felt dizzy. By that point, I was scared out of my mind but then, I saw someone. It was just a shadow- or so I thought- but it was definitely human. Before I could run or even say anything, it started to move, the shadow became a person dressed all in black. I never got a look at its face until I felt hard hands shove me backwards- down the stairs." Rachel gulped; fear replaced anything else that was previously held in her eyes. "I remember it so clearly still. Its eyes were empty, black sockets and half of its head was missing, as though a close proximity gunshot had taken care of that. It had claws instead of nails and its teeth were pointed as it grinned when I began to fall. It was in that moment that I knew I was going to die. You know when they say your life flashes before you? Mine did. In the space of a few seconds, I realised that everything would change, I was about to leave everything I know behind, I was about to die. I didn't know where I'd end up or if anything would really happen and I think that scared me more than dying.
"But, when I opened my eyes, I was still in the house. I couldn't feel any pain, I felt absolutely fine, and for a second, I questioned whether any of it had actually happened, but then I stood up. I felt a rush of cold air, as though all the life and warmth had left me. When I looked down, I saw myself lying on the floor with a twisted, broken neck. I didn't know what to do, I remember thinking that it was all just a very lucid dream but as I ran out of the house and along the dark path, something stopped me. Physically stopped me, almost like an invisible wall, just at the end of the path.
"It was then that I realised I was trapped. That- that thing had bound my soul to him and the house. As hard as I tried, I never escaped, so here I am today. I'm strongest when I'm in the house- where I died. I think it's the connection my sprit body had to my physical body or something like that. All I know is that in there I can be almost human again but out here, I'm invisible."
Rachel stopped for a while as she let Quinn try to comprehend everything she had just been told. They sat in silence for a while and Quinn just didn't know where to begin. She licked her lips nervously and broke the still. "Is that what was after me the other night?"
"If you mean the man who killed himself and his family in that house then yes." Rachel sighed. "I think that his soul was wrapped in so much anger and contained so much hate that instead of moving on- he became something else entirely- tied here by his own rage," Rachel said, beginning to shake her head. "Though I don't know what he became. All I know is that he's trapped me here and only appears at night. He used to chase me around the house when I first died. He would somehow hurt me, even though ghosts aren't supposed to feel pain. It was as though he was destroying me from the inside out. All I could feel when he was around would be like a huge black hole, sucking me in from my centre. It was horrible. But then, I found his weak spot." Quinn cocked her head in interest. "That room that's locked," Rachel jerked her thumb backwards, "the one I pulled you into? That was the only renovation that ever managed to get built to the house. It's not originally apart of the house so he has no control over it and can't get in. That's why I was in there, it's where I hide out at night," she told Quinn with a defeated smile. "You know, it's funny," Rachel said, slightly bemused. "I used to come to this house to escape my parent's arguing but when they found me the next day, I found myself wishing more than anything that I was still alive, listening to them ramble on at each other. Anything would have been better than dying here. I tried so hard to call out to them, to let them know I was here, but humans can only see me in the house on a full moon. I watched them breakdown and cry over my lifeless body and all I could do was sit there and watch them hurt. One day, they visited the house again but it was to say goodbye to the house. I'd always figured they had some clue that I was there all along, though they never said it. I remember them walking through the front door for the last time, talking about their new apartment in New York, and that was the last time I ever saw my dads." Rachel told this to Quinn, but she didn't seem sad whilst telling her. She almost seemed wistful, as though she had come to terms with the fact that she was no longer involved with anyone or anything from her human life anymore and Quinn realised that she had let them go a long time ago.
Quinn suddenly felt an overwhelming amount of remorse for the ghost, she almost felt like it was her duty to help this trapped girl move on, only she had no idea how she intended to do that. She stood up swiftly, facing Rachel. "I want to help you Rachel, I don't want to see you suffer in this house. It's not right; you should be living your afterlife!" She told Rachel sternly. Rachel looked at her in awe and licked her full lips.
"You really think that I've not tried everything I could? Face it Quinn, I'm trapped here. That's why, when I saw you, I didn't want to unveil all of this to you. All I wanted was for someone to make me feel slightly less lonely and I thought if I told you I was a ghost, you'd take one look at my huge mess and never come back again," she smiled and looked at Quinn in the eyes. "But I realised you weren't like that. Even after a couple of days I could tell you were different to most people. I don't know if it's your ability that made you that way but I felt like I could trust you- that's why I told you all of this, not because I thought you could help me. No offense, but you didn't even realise I was dead so I didn't think you'd hold much knowledge on the subject of helping me."
For a moment, Quinn felt hurt. Not only at the fact that Rachel had basically called her useless but also because she was right. Quinn had no clue about trapped spirits and how to help them move on- hell, she still had trouble distinguishing between the living and the dead. Then, a thought popped into her head.
"You said that this ghost- thing is what's keeping you trapped here? If we somehow managed to get rid of him, then surely that'd mean you were free?" Quinn said thoughtfully.
Rachel looked at Quinn whilst chewing the inside of her mouth as she mulled the idea over. "Well, I'd presume so, but the million dollar question is, how can you get rid of something like that?"
Quinn, for the first time throughout the conversation, gave Rachel a childish grin. "Did you ever see the exorcist?"
Rachel's eyes grew wide, filled with alarm. "No. Absolutely not. He's too strong, too dangerous and-"
"He's only solid and dangerous in the house yeah?"
"That's correct."
"Well then, if we lure him out and keep him out then we should be able to do it- without getting hurt. Or worse," she gulped the last part, considering the amount of danger she would be putting her and Rachel in if they did this.
"I suppose that could work. If it doesn't, then you do know that he'd probably kill you and I don't even want to know what would happen to me," Rachel said distantly as she shuddered.
Quinn smiled and said, "He can't do anything to us as long as we're outside, we just have to figure out how to get him outside," Quinn said, mumbling the last part to herself. Rachel huffed, as she realised that Quinn had already made up her mind about her whole situation and she started to regret letting the blonde get involved, it was far too dangerous for a human and she didn't even know if an exorcism would work, after all this wasn't a silly movie. But the horrible thought of her being stuck in this house her whole afterlife almost made her want to believe it could. She had been increasingly lonely for five years, bored out of her mind during the day and terrified at night. She didn't want to live like this for eternity- she wanted to put her belief in Quinn and her newly formed plan.
"Is there anything else that you want to know Quinn?" Quinn shook her head and looked at Rachel. "Then, you should go. It's going to be dark soon."
"Will I see you tomorrow?" She asked the ghost hopefully, raising an eyebrow.
"I'm always here aren't i?" Rachel said with a tinge of bitterness as she stepped back into the broken building as Quinn followed.
Quinn didn't give Rachel time to react as she closed the gap between them and held the brunette in a warm embrace. Rachel was shocked, fully aware that this was the first time she had been hugged in five years. She let herself melt into the hug and place her arms firmly around Quinn's warm body. She let her head rest on Quinn's shoulder and found herself enjoying the sweet smell of shampoo. Rachel realised that she found some comfort in the things that she'd left behind in her human life in Quinn. It made her feel almost human again and in that moment she was grateful that Quinn had stumbled upon this tatty old building.
Rachel was the one to break the hug, increasingly aware that time was ticking and that day would soon be night, then Quinn would be in danger. She didn't know why but ever since opening up to the blonde, she felt a new connection with her, one that made her want to protect her and care for the dainty human.
"You should go," she said, turning away from Quinn. Rachel was sure that if ghosts could blush, her face would be the colour of a tomato right now.
Quinn tugged at Rachel's hand as she passed her. "Stay safe," was all she said, shooting Rachel a kind look before leaving the house and shutting the door behind her.
Rachel sighed, wiping her head with her hand and tucking stray locks of hair behind her ear. She began to head for her safe room and her mind swam with thoughts about what she had just told Quinn. She didn't know how Quinn would take it at first, but now, knowing that all Quinn wanted to do after hearing it was help her, she couldn't help but admire the human.
As Quinn walked home, she was still trying to process everything in a way that made sense. She understood that Rachel was dead and that this person or thing had her trapped. She also understood that it was dangerous but she felt obligated to help Rachel. Maybe it was because she was the first person that Quinn had met in Lima or maybe it was because she was the first person to treat her like a normal person. There was something else she liked about Rachel that she just couldn't work out and the thought seemed to become hazier as the air grew colder.
When she arrived home, her parents weren't in, though her mother had been home at least. There was a note on the kitchen counter saying 'Quinnie, your father and I have gone out for dinner, would have asked you to come but you're late so there's some food in the freezer, pick whatever you like. Love mom xxx'. Quinn crumpled up the note and opened the freezer. She wasn't all that hungry but found that she was harbouring quite the sweet tooth, so she grabbed a tub of chocolate chip Ben and Jerry's ice cream and a spoon from the drawer. She ventured to her room and sat on the bed whilst pondering over Rachel and stuffing her face with ice cream.
She wondered what it was like for Rachel to have lived in fear over something so terrifying for five years, having to lock herself away in a room at night, just so she wouldn't be tortured. Quinn shivered as she felt a wave of empathy wash over her. She figured it was like how Quinn felt as a small child, only worse, after all Quinn could tune ghosts out, but she doubted Rachel could.
Quinn also started to wonder if her newly formed plan would actually work. She figured that it wouldn't hurt to ask Amy if she knew anything about Rachel's situation tomorrow, though she doubted the ghostly cheerleader had been back there since they were scared off by Rachel. Quinn grinned as she realised that it had indeed been Rachel trying to shoo them from the house. She grinned even wider when she realised that Rachel was trying to save them, not hurt them. Any longer in that house and they'd have probably had a lot worse than things thrown at them.
A sudden thought crossed Quinn's mind. If she died in that house, trying to help Rachel, would that mean she'd be trapped there too? Quinn gulped as the realisation truly dawned on her. At least she wouldn't be alone; she'd have Rachel, a thought that offered her light at the end of the tunnel, though she'd be living in constant fear every night. Quinn shoved the spoon in her mouth again as her sweet craving nagged.
After nearly eating the tub of ice cream whilst lost in her thoughts, Quinn thought it best to finish homework and get ready for bed. She went to sleep with the light on that night. Something she hadn't done since she was younger. The thoughts about the dangerous ghost and her encounter with him yesterday suddenly made her very aware of the dark around her which brought up old fears and memories. Still, the last thing she thought of just before she fell into a deep sleep was Rachel and she couldn't help but drift off with a small smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.