Zak stumbled off the bottom basement step colliding right into a charging Aaron Goodwin. The collision sending them both stumbling backwards, devices hitting the cement floor, and muttered curses filling the air.
"Aaron is that you?" Zak groaned, as he fumbled around for a flashlight.
Aaron bent over, breathing heavily, one hand resting on his knee the other on his ear. "Dude..."
When Zak finally found the flashlight, he shone it where Aaron's voice was resonating from. "Oh shit!" The bright beam immediately made visible the blood dripping down Aaron's neck from his left ear . "Oh my god, what happened?" He scrambled to his feet, hurrying over to his friend.
Aaron eyes bulged, "I – I think it was a board. I had just told the spirit to scratch me or push me and then suddenly a board comes flying at my head."
"George." Both men jumped at the angry whisper.
"Mary?" Zak asked hesitantly, shining the flashlight to the darkest corners of the room. "Was that you?"
Aaron suddenly swayed on his feet, "Dude, I'm not feeling too hot." Zak muttered a curse before reaching to steady his friend. "We need to call it a night and take you to the hospital."
After the three investigators packed up their gear and left the building to head for the nearest ER, Mary appeared in the basement with a shrill, "George!" He had scared the nice men away.
"Yes, darling?" A wooden board dropped to the floor. "You called?"
Mary narrowed her eyes, "You hurt one of them." She would never understand why George liked hurting people. She always tried to warn people from coming to the basement (A few of George's personal belongings where locked in a glass cabinet in the basement so he was forever bound to this room) but they never heeded it.
George sighed heavily from across the room, "Why are you surprised?"
The female spirit frowned, "They were nice. You scared them away. They'll never come back! No one will..." Her eyes watered, "Mr. Kent wont let anyone come here."
George cocked his head, studying the figure in front of him. "The tall one...he looks familiar, doesn't he?" Mary stiffened causing George to smile as he stepped towards her. "Hmmm, I wonder where I've seen him before." He paused, pretending to think for a second. "OH! I know. He looks just like that man that suffocated in your arms back in 1923."
Mary crossed her arms, sending him a frosty look. "He looks nothing like Fred." Her eyes widened as she said his name. She hadn't spoken his name in over 80 years.
"Fred!" She gasped his name, tears running down her face as the heat of the flames burned her eyes. The man she was clutching coughed, the thick, black smoke filling his lungs. "M-Mary..." He choked out, a shaky hand reaching for hers.
Mary let out a sob, though it was barely audible through the screaming of the others. The other seventy some people who were trapped like them. Bodies littered the floor, unfortunates trampled as everyone in a panic had rushed towards the doors to escape the flames. The ones that were still alive were huddled at the door, beating on it with fists, desperately shouting for help. It was no use though.
The fire had only gotten stronger though it would be the smoke that ended them all.
"Fred." Mary whispered fearfully, eyeing the flames that licked at the body beside her. "I'm scared."
"I – I love you." Her husband breathed, one last time before his body became limp and his eyes lifeless.
And Mary never left him, not even as the flames caught on her skin.
"He reminds you of your husband." George stated factually, arms crossed.
Mary didn't even bother denying it.