Fear
Part 3:
"Claire!" Theo whispered. "Claire!"
"Theo! In here!" Claire said. She was hiding in Chase's bedroom.
Theo opened the door and locked it behind them.
"We're going to have to jump out the window," Theo warned her. He opened the window as wide as it would open, and took out the screen.
"What? Are you kidding me?" Claire asked. "We're like fifteen feet up!"
"It's not too bad." Theo looked out the window. Part of the roof from the bottom floor is right outside Chase's window. If we jump from there, it won't be that bad."
"It's still dangerous!" Claire said, looking out the window with Theo.
Theo shook his head. "It's either that or let Ciara kill us. You saw the way her eyes glowed green. She clearly has a demon in her! We'll be dead by sunrise if we put our lives in her hands!"
"We need to call for help," Claire said.
"Who are we going to call? A priest?" Theo asked.
"Why not? Isn't that what we need?" Claire said.
Suddenly, the door flung open, and there stood Ciara, looking as cold and out for blood as ever before. "You should know you can't hide from a demon," she said in a deep demonic voice.
Theo and Claire both screamed.
Claire panicked and ran to the window. She climbed onto the bottom floor roof then jumped, screaming the whole way down.
"Claire!" Theo ran to the window and looked down. Thankfully, Claire didn't seem to be hurt.
"I'm okay. Theo get out of there!" Claire slowly rolled over and stood up.
Theo tried to get out, but Ciara made the window slam down and lock. Theo barely got his hands out of the way in time.
Theo looked beside him. A bottle of Chase's cologne was on Chase's desk. He thought fast and grabbed the cologne. He then sprayed Ciara in the eyes and threw the bottle at her.
Ciara screamed in pain and grabbed her eyes.
Theo then quickly ran out the still open bedroom door and back down the stairs, trying to think of any place that would be safe.
~Fear~
James and Madison Becker thought they had it all. They had their good looks, great paying jobs, and now they had each other for the rest of their lives…
Hope and Aiden watched the show as the life of James and Madison pre-meeting each other was displayed on screen. James' wife had died of cancer a few years earlier, and Madison had been in a marriage with a very jealous, very physically abusive man. She had finally gotten the courage to leave her ex and file for divorce. She then moved from Jacksonville, Florida to Salem, Illinois. It was there that she met James Becker at a single's bar. The two fell in love, and two years later, decided to marry.
Now, here they were, happy in love on their wedding night, spending the night at a hotel before departing for their honeymoon in Paris the next day. The problem was, they wouldn't be making it to Paris.
Hope and Aiden couldn't stop watching. Oddly enough, there weren't even any commercials.
As James and Madison Becker were sharing their love for each other under the sheets, they heard a loud pounding on the door.
Madison asked who was there, but the only answer was a louder pounding on the door.
James called out, confronting the knocker to either reveal himself or leave or security would be called. It was then that the intruder revealed himself. He broke down the door. Madison screamed as she realized it was none other than her ex-husband, who was out for revenge.
"You had no right to leave me, Madison. I am your husband!"
"Ex-husband! You abused me. Frank, do you know how many broken bones and bruises I had to suffer because of you?" Madison shouted at him.
"You acted up! It's not my fault you made me have to punish you!" Frank yelled.
James sat up straight. "Frank, get out of here! She's not your wife anymore; she's mine! You were nothing but a nightmare for her! It's time for you to go!"
Frank whipped around and looked at James. "I think you've got that backwards, Buddy. You took my wife from me. Now it's time for you to go." Without warning, Frank whipped out a gun and shot James in the heart.
Madison screamed.
James' eyes widened in surprise. He choked as his lungs filed with blood. He turned to Madison. "Madison, I… I love you." Then he was gone.
"James!" Madison sobbed. She then turned to Frank. "I hate you! You just killed the love of my life! I will never be with you! Never! I'd rather die."
Frank shrugged. "That can be arranged. I'm sick of trying to keep you in line anyway."
Madison's eyes grew wide with panic. "Frank, no, I'm sorry! I didn't mean it! No… Don't shoot!" She tried to run, but Frank shot her dead too. He then quickly ran out of the room, but the hotel security was were there and stopped him. Frank couldn't bear the thought of rotting away in jail, so instead, He put a gun to his temple and pulled the trigger; instantly killing himself.
Frank thumped to the ground; dead.
Then, just as it had gone on by itself, the television shut off by itself.
Hope and Aiden looked at each other with fear in their eyes.
"That was very similar to my dream," Aiden said in a whisper.
Suddenly, the lights began to flicker again, and they heard Madison's voice shouting, "Get out!"
Hope's eyes got wide. "Aiden," she said calmly, "I think it's time we got out of here and went home."
"Funny you should say that, Hope, cuz I was thinking the same thing," Aiden replied.
"You call and check out. I'll pack up our things," Hope said jumping out of bed.
Aiden nodded, and they both quickly got to work.
~Fear~
Claire knew she had to call Rochelle. She knew that Rochelle worked with spirits. She always had been a little scared of Rochelle, but she knew she had no choice. Anyway, she would take Rochelle over demon Ciara and time, day, and place!
She dialed Rochelle's number after looking her up on 411.
"Who is this?" Rochelle answered, sounding annoyed.
"It's Claire; from school. Look, we need your help. Ciara's possessed. She tried to poison us with bleach and antifreeze. She is currently chasing Theo around the house. I only got out because I jumped out the window. She blocked all the doorway exists. She admitted she is trying to kill us and her eyes glowed green! I'm only calling you because I know you work with spirits and might be able to help rid her of the demon."
Rochelle sighed. "Great! Just great. Just what I need on Halloween. I knew I shouldn't have used the Ouija board with her! She's far too inexperienced!"
"Ouija board?" Claire asked; confused. When did you—"
Rochelle interrupted her. "I'll be right over."
Claire was confused. "But—"
The phone beeped indicating that Rochelle had already hung up.
Claire hung up too, then tried to see if she could see Theo through any of the windows.
Theo meanwhile was trying to get out the front door again.
"There's no use in trying to escape, Theo. You cheated on me and now you have to pay the price!" Ciara said, appearing behind him.
Theo jumped and screamed. "I'm sorry! You were right. Claire is stupid. I never should have left her for you. You're so much better than she is!"
"Too little too late! I'm not stupid, Theo. I know you're just telling me what you think I want to hear so that I'll save your life. Well, guess again!" Ciara made the coffee table float.
Theo's eyes got big as he realized what she was going to do. "Ciara… Don't do it. Ciara, no. Ciara!" He ducked out of the way just in time as she hurled the coffee table at him. Instead, of hitting him, it hit the door, causing a hole through the door.
Theo swallowed hard. Demonic strength way outweighed human strength. Had that table have hit him, he'd have been toast for sure. Thinking quickly, he dashed out the hole.
"Get back here!" Ciara screamed.
"Theo!" Claire was relieved to see her boyfriend escape.
Theo grabbed Claire's hand. "Let's go!" he said.
They both ran as fast as they could down the street, and screamed when they bumped into someone.
"Relax! It's only me. I've got this." It was Rochelle.
Claire and Theo only partially relaxed as they watched Rochelle stand in front of Ciara's house.
Ciara was just climbing out of the hole in the door, her eyes filled with nothing but complete and total evil.
Rochelle held out a cross. "Stay back, Demon!"
Ciara instantly pushed herself against the house, and hissed. "You put that down!" she said in a deep, demonic voice.
Rochelle shook her head. "Evil is not allowed in this house." She then took out a Holy water sprinkler like a priest would use. "I banish you spirit. Be gone from this house! This is a Christian house filled with people who love The Lord. I forever vanquish you from this house, the people in it, and also from their loved ones. Now be gone!"
"Trick-or-treat?" A little boy who looked to be no more than five asked as he came up to Claire and Theo, dressed as a dragon, holding his little pumpkin basket out to them.
"Sweetie, please, go next door. The lady there will give you extra candy. It's not safe here right now," Claire said to him.
But the boy didn't listen. He stayed and watched as Rochelle got closer and closer to Ciara.
Ciara screamed as Rochelle now took out a bottle of more Holy Water and squirted her with it.
Demon Ciara screamed. Her eyes glowed so green that they lit up the whole front yard with a green tint.
"Be gone, Demon be gone!" Rochelle then began to sing "Amazing Grace."
Theo and Claire soon joined in when they saw Ciara thrashing and heard her screaming, her hands covering ears.
They sang louder and louder until finally, there was an explosion of green light.
Then, the screaming stopped, and all was quiet and calm again.
"Cool!" the little boy said.
"Bryan! There you are! You had me worried sick! What did mommy tell you about running off?" A blonde woman said, picking up her son. "Sorry about that," she said to Theo and Claire before walking him over to the next house, still gently scolding him.
Ciara fell to the ground with a loud thump. She then sat up a moment later, looking confused with her hand to her forehead. "Where am I?" she asked.
"Ciara!" Claire said. She ran over to her aunt with Theo right behind her.
"Claire? I'm still mad at you, you know," Ciara grumbled.
Claire nodded. "I know, and you have every right to be. We just had so much in common, and you didn't seem interested in Theo anymore. I still should have talked to you about my feelings for Theo, and I'm sorry that I didn't and for cheating."
Theo nodded. "I'm also sorry. I'm so sorry I called you a bitch, and I'm sorry I didn't talk to you about how I was feeling. I felt like you didn't even like me anymore, let alone love me. Claire was there and she was nice to me, and…"
Ciara cut him off. "You know what? I'm sorry too. You're right. I wasn't very nice to you. I guess I didn't want to be in the relationship anymore either. I was just angry you went behind my back before we even had a chance to break up."
"It was wrong of me," Theo said.
"Of both of us," Claire agreed with a nod. "Forgive me?"
"And me?" Theo asked.
Ciara looked at them, then sighed. She smiled. "All right. But from now on, you come to me if you have a problem with me, all right?"
Claire and Theo both nodded.
"Deal!" Claire said.
"Deal!" Theo agreed.
"Come here!" Ciara said, holding out her arms. "I know my dad would want me to forgive you guys anyway."
"And you didn't even need a Ouija board to tell you that!" Rochelle said, her arms crossed over her chest and a smirk on her face.
Ciara looked up at her. "Rochelle. What are you doing here? I thought you had other plans." Her eyes fell up the door. "And what the hell happened to the door? Mom's gonna be so pissed!"
Claire and Theo both laughed.
"Well she's definitely back to herself again!" Theo said.
Claire and Theo helped her up.
"It's a long story. Come on in and we'll tell you all about it," Claire said to her.
"The last thing I remember is playing on the Ouija board with Rochelle," Claire said.
"I'm going to let you guys handle this. Peace out!" Rochelle turned to leave.
"Hey. Thanks for saving the night and bringing my aunt back to us!" Claire called out to her as she left.
Rochelle, back still turned as she continued to walk, held up a peace sign in response.
"That is one cool chick," Theo said as he watched Rochelle leave.
"I know, right?" Claire asked, watching her leave as well.
Ciara cleared her throat. "Hello? You were going to tell me what happened?"
Claire and Theo turned their attention back to her and each took an arm, leading her back into the house.
"Well, it all started when you came over to apologize…" Claire began.
~Fear~
Hope and Aiden drove home as fast as they could.
"I'm not going to feel safe until we're back in our own bed!" Hope said as Aiden drove them back home.
Aiden nodded. "You know, until tonight, if you had told me I would one day believe in ghosts, I would have said you were crazy."
Hope nodded. "Same here."
"At least Madison didn't seem to be a vicious ghost," Aiden said.
Hope shook her head. "Even so, a ghost is a ghost, and I hope we never see one again. Well, I wouldn't mind seeing Gran, Bo, or Zack, but it would still be a bit scary."
Aiden shook his head. "I don't think I'd even want to see any of my passed on loved ones. I'll wait till I get to Heaven, Thank you!"
"Do you think Meredith is in Heaven?" Hope asked.
Aiden sighed. "I don't know. I hope so for Chase's sake."
Hope smirked. "I believe all animals go to Heaven. Just think, one day you can spend all eternity with Meredith the cat!"
Aiden shuddered. "Now that's even scarier than the prospect of seeing another ghost!"
Hope laughed.
~Fear~
"It's safe to come out now, my Darling," Madison said as she lay down on the bed in her and her husband's room at The Salem Inn. "They checked out early, and it's late. We have the rest of the night to ourselves."
James came out of the bathroom and laid down onto the bed with his wife. "They seemed like such a lovely couple. I do hate that we had to scare them."
Madison smirked. "You're too kind. We're ghosts now. Scaring mortals is one of the best parts of becoming a ghost! Learn to live a little!"
"I'd rather spend our remaining time on Halloween to enjoy our wedding night. Another benefit to being dead is that we can relive our wedding night over and over and change the ending to any way we'd like it to be. There's no one to interrupt us this time, and no one to shoot us dead," James replied.
Madison smiled, and took her husband's face between her hands. "True. And we can make contact when we touch each other. We can't do that to humans."
"So, I guess me finding a hot human mistress is out of the question then, huh?" James teased.
Madison gasped and gently swatted his chest. "Just shut up and help me enjoy our wedding night."
James grinned. "Now that, I can do!" He snapped his fingers and the lights flickered off. Then, he and his new bride went back to enjoying their 43rd wedding anniversary as ghosts.
~Fear~
"I can't believe I was possessed by a demonic spirit and tried to kill you! Trippy!" Ciara sighed. "It's safe to say that I am forever done with Ouija boards. I'll stick to talking to my Dad through prayer."
Just then, Hope and Aiden came home.
"What the heck did you guys do to the door?" Hope asked.
"It's a long story," Ciara said.
"Tell me!" Hope ordered, her arms crossed over her chest, an eyebrow raised, and her left foot tapping.
Ciara sighed. "All right, but I'm warning you, you're not going to believe me."
"After what happened tonight, try me," Hope said.
Ciara, Claire, and Theo all told her what happened then.
"Well, I trust Theo and Claire not to lie to me, and I know you wouldn't even lie about something like this," Hope said to her. "I can't believe my baby was possessed by a demon. I mean, I believe it but… I'm just so glad you're all all right." Hoped held her daughter close, and then brought Claire and Theo into the hug.
"You said something happened to you tonight. What was it?" Claire asked.
Hope and Aiden then told the story of what had happened to them that night.
Ciara, Claire, and Theo all shivered.
"Creepy!" Claire said.
"Tell me about it!" Aiden replied.
"Well, we'll have to board up this door before bed," Hope said. "We can all do it together, and be done quicker."
"Theo, do you want to come down with me to the basement to help me carry the supplies?" Aiden asked.
Theo looked a little scared.
Ciara rolled her eyes. "Claire and I will go down with you to protect you."
Theo smiled. "Okay."
"Don't be long," Hope said to Aiden.
Aiden pulled her close. "I won't be."
They kissed, then Aiden went down to the basement with the teens.
Hope shivered. The room temperature in the house was only fifty degrees, so she turned it up to seventy-two.
She felt a little creeped out upstairs all alone. She suddenly got a feeling someone was watching her, even though the only one staring at her was Meredith. She shivered again, then promptly headed down to the basement to help Aiden and the kids—whether they needed her help or not!
~Fear~
Meanwhile, a five-year-old boy had strayed from his mother for the second time that night.
As he headed down the street with a pumpkin basket full of candy in his little hand, he smiled, and his eyes glowed green as he sucked on a lollipop.
~*The End*~
Happy Halloween ;)