Haunted Book 2

RANDY

Another day, another murder.

Well, five.

Woof.

I materialized on the corner of the street, just opposite the crime scene.

Across from the bus that was flipped on its side and surrounded by yellow tape and swarms of cops and news cameras.

It was raining—I mean, really raining—and the sky was a dark gray. It looked like it might turn violent.

Floating through the crowd of onlookers, I watched as people shivered, burrowing into their jackets. It felt weird for me too.

A tiny tingling sensation. The only feeling I knew anymore. Honestly, I didn’t even remember what it felt like to really feel.

I scanned the crowd, looking for signs of afterlife. For the poor dudes who’d been whacked by Willy Woods.

Nothing.

The world already knew who murdered them. Maybe they had already moved on into the light.

My eyes flew over to the bus.

Or, maybe…

I floated through the bottom of the overturned monster of a vehicle. The heavy rain hammered against the top of the bus, making it sound like we were in the middle of an air raid.

The compact space was dark and shadowed, illuminated every second or two by the flashing red and blue lights of the police cruisers.

I scanned the space, inspecting the damage.

A bus driver lay on his side, a massive shard of glass stuck in his jugular and blood smeared across his face and hands. He’d also been shot several times in the chest.

One…

Two prison guards lay on their stomachs, lifeless, limbs sprawled out from the impact of the crash.

Two, three…

My gaze swept around the interior of the bus.

Behind me, a body sat in a massive pool of blood on the floor, propped up against a seat. Gunshot wounds decorated the chest, and the throat had been slashed as well.

Four…

And just behind him, an arm draped into the aisle from one of the seats.

Five… I moved closer to get a better look.

Oh, God. I’m gonna puke.

Oh, wait…I can’t puke.

The fifth victim had been shot square in the forehead and disemboweled, his entrails sprawled out in a disgusting heap beside him.

“Gross!” I exclaimed.

“Excuse me,” came a voice from behind.

I jumped, spinning around. “Oh, God! You can’t do that to people, man!” I replied, catching my breath.

At the very back of the bus, huddled together and looking terrified, were the ghosts of all five victims.

“Are you like us?” one of the guards asked, venturing closer to me. He looked young—older than me, but not by much.

“If you mean dead, then yeah,” I replied.

“What do we—what do we—” he tried to ask, voice wavering.

God, he’s gonna start crying.

“What do you do?” I finished.

He nodded.

I looked back at the other four, who remained crouched in the corner. They were probably still trying to figure out which way was up.

“Well, you move into the light. Or you stay here and try to find something entertaining to do with the rest of eternity.”

I continued: “Pro tip: following your family around forever is just really creepy and sad. Don’t do that.”

The poor sucker just stared at me.

Jeez, tough crowd.

“Alright, well, um…” I glanced around the inside of the bus again. “So what happened here anyway?”

The ghost was staring at his own corpse, eyes filling with tears. “He—Woods—he got free somehow. And then he started going crazy.”

“He killed Joe, the driver, first. And then—and then the bus flipped,” he choked. “And then he…”

“But how did he get out of his handcuffs? Didn’t you guys have him restrained?”

The guard nodded. “I don’t understand. I mean, if he was trying to pick them, we would have noticed. At least with the legcuffs…”

So, Willy Woods performed a miraculous escape.

And nothing makes sense.

What else is new?

“Thanks, dude,” I told him. “I’m just gonna—”

“Wait!” one of the other ghosts exclaimed. A middle-aged, scary-looking woman. “How do we leave this place?”

She floated toward me, the other three following her nervously.

“Do you see a light?”

She nodded.

“You just imagine yourself going inside of it. And then, you will.”

The ghost nodded, closing her eyes. I watched as her body became fainter and brighter before disappearing altogether.

Then two more disappeared.

I was left standing with the younger guard and the bus driver—an older man who still looked too shell-shocked to say much.

“Why don’t I see anything?”

“If you don’t see the light, that means you have some sort of unfinished business,” I replied. “Probably a family thing…

“Whatever it is,” I continued, “do it now. Before it’s too late… Before you start to forget who you are.”

RAVEN

I slammed the door of the Camaro, tossing the keys to Cade.

“I’m an incredible driver,” I grinned.

Cade rolled his eyes, smirking. “You’re not bad,” he conceded.

His gaze drifted over to the police cruiser parked across the street from my house, and I watched the smile drop from his face.

Grace was waiting for us inside with a plate of cookies.

“How was it?! Did you make any new friends? Do you guys have any classes together?”

“It was fine… No classes, just lunch,” I replied, grabbing Cade’s hand and heading straight for the staircase. “We’re going to do some homework now.”

Cade grabbed a cookie and trailed behind me. “Thank you, Grace.” He shot her his dazzling smile and I rolled my eyes.

When we reached my room, I carefully shut the door behind us.

Cade flopped onto my bed, groaning dramatically. “I forgot how much I hate school.”

“It wasn’t that bad,” I insisted, climbing on top of him and kissing his forehead. Cade’s dark eyes fluttered open to stare into mine.

“You’re right,” he replied, wrapping his arms around me. “No matter how much it sucks, at least I have you.”

“And I have you,” I countered, gently stroking the side of his face. Cade closed his eyes again, sighing contentedly. “I don’t know how I got so lucky.”

He propped himself up suddenly, his hands on my waist. Cade kissed me gently, prolonging each euphoric touch, and I felt my head spinning.

The kisses became hungrier, faster, and he sat up, pulling me into his lap. My lips moved to trace his jawbone, then down the side of his neck, and Cade groaned.

He pulled back suddenly, sliding the leather gloves from his hand slowly, grinning.

God, I have NEVER been so attracted to someone.

Tossing the gloves onto my bedroom floor, Cade brought his hands back to my waist, snaking his fingers along the hem of my shirt, then just underneath it.

“Is this okay?” he asked.

I nodded, biting my lip, and his hand traveled further up to the bare skin of my ribcage. I shivered a little, but it felt really nice…

“Knock knock!” Grace called, opening the door.

Crap!

Cade pulled his hands out from under my shirt just as the door swung open, and I quickly hopped off of him, rolling onto my side.

“Oh! Oh, God, I’m so sorry. I—” Grace stammered.

“Grace! We were just…” I was certain my face was beet red.

“I was just leaving,” Cade said suddenly, standing up quickly and running a hand through his hair. “I have to get to work, anyway. First day. Don’t wanna be late.”

“Oh, honey, you don’t—” Grace began.

“No, really,” Cade insisted. He turned to me, placing a kiss on the crown of my head. “I’ll see you in the morning.”

“Oh—okay. Have fun. You’ll be great.”

Once Cade had left, Grace moved to sit on the edge of the bed, an uncomfortable expression on her face.

It looked like she was debating something in her head, and I could only guess what it might be.

Don’t do it.

Don’t say it.

“Raven…,” Grace began. “Kiddo, I know you’re almost eighteen…”

“Grace, don’t—”

“No, let me finish,” she said firmly. “If your mom were here, she would be the one giving this talk. But it looks like your options are me, or your dad.”

I shuddered at the thought of receiving the talk from my dad.

“I know that—that doing it might not seem like a big deal.”

Kill me.

“Mhm.”

Kill me, now.

“But it is. And you really need to make sure that whenever you decide to have sex, you do it with the right person. When you’re both ready. If you’re not ready, then you’re just going to resent him…”

She continued: “I’m not naive. I know that you’re going to do whatever you want, regardless of what any adult tells you.”

I imagined being able to pull my head into my body like a turtle.

“So, if you do decide to… I just want to make sure you’re being safe. Do you know what I mean by that?”

“Of course I know what you mean!” I exclaimed, mortified.

Grace nodded. “If you want, I can buy you some—”

“Grace! No. Absolutely not. We’re not sleeping together. I-I don’t need you to buy me…”

A look of total relief spilled across her face. “Okay, honey. I just wanted to offer.”

And I just want to die, now!

Grace rose from my bed, heading for the door. She paused, bending down to retrieve something from the floor. “Oh! Cade left his gloves.”

CADE

I jammed my keys into the ignition, anxious to get the hell out of there. I was still cringing from Grace’s interruption.

At least nothing was ACTUALLY happening…

I moved to unlock the emergency brake and realized that my hands were still bare.

Shit.

The last thing I wanted to do was go back into Raven’s house—into whatever awkward speech Grace was undoubtedly giving Raven, but I really needed my gloves.

Delivering pizzas without them sounded like a death sentence.

As I hopped out of the car, the front door opened and Grace emerged with my gloves.

“Cade, honey, you left these.”

“Thanks, Grace,” I replied warmly, taking them from her.

And then it happened. Just for a split second.

But long enough.

Her hand brushed against my bare skin.

No. No!

I was standing—hovering in the foyer of Raven’s house. The lights were turned off, and the house was cloaked in shadows.

Streaks of cool, bluish light streamed in from several of the windows, cast from the heavy snowfall visible through the windowpanes.

“Don’t make me see it!” I shouted to no one. My voice seemed to echo off of the walls, reverberating.

The force pulled me forward in response, propelling me toward the kitchen, slowly…

I glanced down to where my feet hovered and saw a trickle of dark liquid spilling across the hardwood floor, leaking out from the kitchen.

No…

The image felt like it was pulsing. Like it was alive.

My invisible captor dragged me into the kitchen. The oozing blood was growing thicker now.

Oh, God.

Don’t do this to me.

A body was sprawled out on the floor, her figure bloodied and mutilated—eyes growing lifeless.

Grace.

Her entire body was covered in deep stab wounds...her chest, her limbs, her throat...

I tried not to look at Grace’s face, but the soft light from the window above the sink cast a perfect beam across her, like a spotlight.

I could see the terror sewn into her face for all of eternity. Eyes wide, mouth gaping open...

I tried to look away, but the dark force’s claws dug firmly into my skin. Making me watch.

Trapping me in its sadistic game.

A sudden CLANG from behind stirred my attention. And then I was moving again. Spinning around.

I watched as a massive, bloodied kitchen knife skidded across the hardwood floor, coming to rest just before my feet.

No...

Its owner took a step forward from the shadowed corner of the kitchen, blood drenching his hands. Splattered across his face.

He was grinning.

NO!

Standing over Grace, looking down upon her corpse in disgusting, unbridled joy...

...was my father.