Bear In The Rough: Book 1: Treasure Hunt (BBW Bear Shifter Romance) (36 page)

Chapter 35

Laura sat by her dresser. It had a simple design of softwood painted over with a green background and small red cherries. She had gotten it from a moving sale. She had loved the tri-fold mirror top. It reminded her of what her Nan had when she was little.

Laura brushed her hair and was trying to work out a knot while she began her soliloquy.

'A cute couple! Oi, that Billy will be the death of me. I should have known better to take Henry to a place like that. We should have just grabbed something at the pub.

'Oh well, what's done is done. I suppose. Much like this bloody knot.'

Laura held one end of hair with her hand and then ran the brush through again. Her head tilted to the side with the force of the brush holding against the knot.

'If you don't behave, I will have to get the scissors and cut you right out. So, you just keep this up and see who's laughing soon!' Her self-inspired theatrics was apparently keeping her company.

Despite the threat, the knot wouldn't yield.

'That's it. I'm getting the big brush out. You'll be sorry.' Laura said and tried to pull the brush from her hair. It wouldn't budge as it was thoroughly stuck in the knot. She turned to get a spray bottle from her dresser. The brush held in place without her touching it and then it yanked forcefully out.

Laura turned her head towards the mirror and put her hand towards her hair feeling a slight but sharp pain. Behind her, the reflection of a motionless girl stared back. The girl's hair was dark and her skin was paler than Laura's. The eyes looked to be only pupils with no pigmentation at all. The girl smiled and maggots crawled around her gums where the teeth would normally be.

Laura spun around sharply in shock. Her brush hitting the floor. It lay motionless with a wad of Laura's hair stuck to its bristles. The girl was gone, but a chill went through Laura. Turning back to the mirror, red lipstick scrawled a single word on the pane.

'Friend'

'Leave me alone! Leave me alone!' Laura screamed.

Chapter 36

Henry sipped his tea. He looked over the room he was in. Everything seemed to be in order. Everything in its own place. He then looked through the open kitchen door and saw a small disaster area.

'You said this happened all in one day?' Henry asked.

'Yeah. Things started after Rose-View. I'm pretty sure. I felt like rubbish in the morning and just couldn't get out of bed most of the day. And when I did finally get out of bed.... well...' Matthew stops and looks to Jenny, then to the ground. He's hesitant, trying not to say more.

'Well, what?'

'I'd rather not talk about it. Let's just say it's messed up. Messed up with a side order of therapy.'

Jenny was next to ask questions. She was more concerned about how Matt's little trip to Rose-View might have caused the strange occurrence they just witnessed. She had thought the house wasn't even haunted and even if it were, she never knew ghosts could follow people home.

Henry looked at Jenny and then back to Matthew. He knew Matthew wasn't telling the whole story. Not about this and not about Rose-View.

'There are the odd exceptions.' Henry said.

'Odd exceptions?' Jenny asked.

'You mean that attachment thing you talked about?' Matthew said.

'Not saying that's what it is, but there's a strong possibility. Are you sure you saw nothing at that house?'

'I was pretty tired that night. I think I must have hallucinated a bit.'

'Does this look like a hallucination to you, Matthew?' Henry asked pointing at the kitchen.

'It was nothing.'

Jenny immediately swung into anger. She blamed Matthew for bringing whatever it was he brought to her house. Henry tried to calm her down. His argument was quite reasonable. He asked Jenny not to dangerously assume that Matt was the one who brought the problems to her house and not the other way round.

Jenny was confused. 'What do you mean?'

'What I mean is, maybe something was already attached to Matthew. Mind if I look around?'

Matthew shrugged at Henry and gave him the approval that wasn’t really necessary. Besides, he was called to see if he could provide the right answers. He most certainly was going to check around.

The three started towards the upstairs. There were pictures littered over the stairwell. Most of the frames had broken and Henry's shoes crunched over the glass. When the three finally got to the top of the stairs, Henry inhaled deeply.

'Smell that?' Henry asked.

'This isn't the time, Henry...' Matthew’s voice was soft.

'No. Seriously. Do you smell that?'

'Smells like...' Jenny started.

'Charring. It smells like Ozone.' Henry said.

'Is that important?' Jenny asked

Henry told them paranormal entities could interfere with electrics hence the charred smell. He walked over to the hallway light switch and gave it a flick. When the lights came on, he flicked the switch back off and the lights darkened. With a shrug, Henry opened the bathroom door, but he detected nothing out of place. He then walked over to the office and looked inside. The office looked like another disaster area.

'No use trying that switch, Henry. The lights are blown.' Jenny said.

Henry nodded and walked towards the bedrooms. He stopped before entering Matthew’s room.

'Anything?' Matthew asked.

'Not that I can see. Nothing current at least. Looks like most of the excitement happened last night.' Henry replied.

'So...so it's gone then? Good.' Matthew managed to sound a bit less restive.

'Hold on now, I didn't say that. Listen, entities pop in and out on their own volition. Time doesn't really matter much for them. They come and go as they please. Sometimes they leave for a few hours, days, months, years, whatever. But they never cease all together. Not without some sort of intervention.'

As Henry explained the situation to his friends, a scream came from the living room downstairs. The three rushed downstairs with Henry in the lead. When he got there, he saw the screams were coming from the television. It had been turned on with the volume at full. The tea they were drinking was arranged in a flower formation on one side of the coffee table. The table itself was seemingly moved over three feet from its original location and the sofa was against the kitchen door.

Henry turned the television off and continued from where he left off before they heard the scream. He continued his brief lecture by postulating that those entities sometimes returned a lot sooner than years. He picked up his teacup, examined it briefly and held it to the light.

'Matt... Jenny....do you guys mind if I got some of the team here? This is the most activity I've seen in a while.'

'Anything! Yes. Bring them over!' Jenny's agreement was mixed with fear and urgency.

'Henry, can you get rid of this thing?' Matthew asked.

Henry put the tea cup down and looked at his friend with uncertainty. His gaze then shifted to his shoes. He knew he had to be sincere.

'I don't know, mate. I just don't know.'

Chapter 37

Chris walked towards his car carrying his chips. Phil was already waiting inside. The smell of vinegar followed him into his car which only seemed to have angered Phil so much that he rejected the chips Chris had offered out of the kindness of his heart. After a couple more word exchange, he asked Phil if anything happened while he was away and the latter replied in the negative. Chris reminded him ghost hunting in the morning was a boring move. 

'Scientific proof is scientific proof.' Phil lashed out. 'That means it's repeatable, dude. Besides, I thought we'd take a few night hunts off a bit until you stop getting love letters from Winchester.'

'How did that bird ever get my address anyway?' Chris asked.

'It's on your business card, dummy.'

'Oh right! I knew those would pay off! So what do we know about this place?'

'Big murder inside. Bad feelings. I think this is the one Henry said he investigated before. Can't believe he didn't find anything.  Not like him to be sloppy.' Phil added.

'Right. Henry. Forgot to tell you, he buzzed me the other day.' Chris said.

'Yeah? What’s cooking?'

'Apparently he's got a hot one this time. Said it was off the charts and even the Vatican is interested.'

'Really? What? You mean John Andrew? Must be serious then. What did he say?' Phil asked.

'Just an old friend of his got himself mixed up into something strange. He's not sure what, but he thinks it’s a bit heavy.'

'It must be heavy calling in the big guns like that. Say anything else?' Phil said.

'Yeah. Wants both of us along with game faces. You know, he actually said game faces?' Chris said.

'You know our Shaggy. Trouble magnet has a good nose for it. So, did he say where to meet?'

'Nah, said he'd text over the info later. Told me to clear our decks for the next few days. Looks like Rose-View is going to have to wait. Nothing happening here anyway.'

'Just like Cal. Always interrupts a good ol' fashioned boring ghost hunt with something dodgy and dangerous.'

'Guess that's why we like him. He's as crazy as we are!' Chris said as he scrunched up the chip bag and tossed it in the back seat. He put the key in the ignition and started the engine. They planned on heading to the shop first to get ready and hoped there wouldn’t be any distractions.

The two drove off. Rose-View gradually became a small speck in Chris's mirror before it vanished into the background.

Chapter 38

Father John Andrew sat back in his chair. A cup of Earl Grey was in his hand. He looked over at Henry and nodded as if to acknowledge his presence. He offered him tea for the second time. Henry nicely declined.

How have you been?' Henry asked.

Father Andrew chuckled and told him he was fine. He seemed optimistic about that not changing anytime soon as well. He did say he was worried about Henry though. It was always something of huge importance anytime an old student reached out to him. He knew this meant Henry was troubled and asked him why.

'I need some help, Father. Remember when you lectured on possession?'

'Possession? That's a mighty strong word for this time of day. I should have gone with the Irish Breakfast.' Father Andrew said as he stirred his tea. 'What would you want to know of that for?'

'As you know, I am a parapsychologist...'

'A para what? Just what is that?' Andrew teased.

'I see you still have that sense of humor.'

'I do. I do indeed. There isn't much use tending the flock if I can't laugh with them. So, you are studying possession as a science experiment? Dangerous. Very dangerous indeed. Is God's word not enough for you?'

Henry apologized and re-affirmed that His word was indeed enough', but his world needed to be found in silence. Henry slows, and watches the senior clergyman's movements, awaiting a response. He did look much frailer than the last time they met for sure.

Father Andrew spared no words reiterating that there was a difference. He mentioned that the Lord exists whether human beings choose to believe in Him or not, and He also exists whether He can be shown as a scientific theorem or not too.

'To try to prove that which he tells us is to deny the faith we seek. Faith is the substance of things hoped for. It is the proof of things not seen. That's from Hebrews 11:1. A good verse. You would do well to remember that.' Father Andrew looked at Henry briefly. Just as he looked away, Henry let out a confession

'Please, Father. I haven't lost my faith. I just...I just need more.'

'We all struggle, son. We all have our doubts. But the trick is to overcome them. Life wouldn't be much of a trial otherwise. But enough of that now. You have something else to tell me, Don't you? You didn't come all this way to discuss science's place in the world, have you?'

Henry frowned. 'No. I wish I had, but I haven't. It's about a friend...'

'A friend is possessed; you think?'

'I don't know what to think. I'm not sure if his issue is from something I did. I invited him to a vigil...'

Father Andrew put his tea down and looked sternly at Henry. The warmth in his eyes had disappeared and was replaced with something Henry couldn’t fathom. Father Andrew soon lashed out with controlled rage. He was more disappointed than shocked that Henry had dabbled into the occult and launched into making séances. He was offended Henry didn’t grasp an understanding of the fact that what he had gotten himself involved with was no child’s play.

Henry knew that instant that Father Andrew was angered by his move. Father Andrew rarely sought to communicate his dismay with anger. As a matter of fact, he almost never resorted to anger. In that moment, the thought that he may have taken things too far crossed his mind, but he was here now, before Father Andrew and there was no going back. He had to make sure he got what he came for. More importantly, he had to make Father Andrew see things from his vantage point.

'Father, I may want to experiment scientifically, but I'm no fool. It wasn't that at all. We were investigating a property. Nothing more.'

'And you think he was possessed by some evil of the house?'

'That's just it. He saw something. I'm sure of it. He won't come clean. Even though he knows it can destroy him, he won't believe!'

'Sounds like someone I know.' Andrew said, staring intently at Henry.

'Father, I need help.'

Andrew shifted in his chair. He looked out the window towards the graveyard, took a sip of tea and mumbled something under his breath. The place was warm, yet a chill rose up his spine. Without returning his gaze to Henry, he asked him to tell his story from the beginning, leaving no details out, no matter how insignificant he thought they were. He was to discuss every single piece of information he had on Matthew as well. Henry could sense the mildness return to Father Andrew’s voice and heaved a sigh of relief.