The Fine Line Book One Between Worlds Series (26 page)

“
I don’t
understand.”

“
Something
big.”

“
I’m not following,” she
said as she took Olivia back into the living room. They sat on the
couch.

“
Something scary and big
was right there on the porch. I’ve never seen something so
black.”

Robin got up, walked outside, and looked
around. She couldn’t see anything unusual.

“
Is it still here?” she
called into the house.

“
Yes.”

She walked back inside and sat down.

“
You can see it, can’t
you?” Robin asked.

“
Yes. And I see Emma more.
I talk to her. When we were at the party store buying things for my
Halloween party, there was a man there. He talked to me. I’m sorry
I didn’t tell you.”

“
You don’t have to be
scared to talk about this. It just shows how special you are.”
Robin smiled as she touched Olivia’s face.

“
But the big scary
thing... I don’t like it.”

“
It’s still here then?
Even now?” she asked.

Olivia took Robin’s hand and walked her to
the porch. She pointed to the far right rocker. “It’s standing
behind the rocker.”

“
Here?” she asked as she
walked to it.

“
Yes. It’s looking right
at you.”

“
Is it saying
anything?”

“
It just growls a lot,”
she answered.

Final confirmation: a demonic presence
inhabited the house. Her faith shook unsteadily as the comfort of
her belief system fell by the wayside. She had truly believed that
demons didn’t exist.

“
Does it look like a
person?” Robin asked.

“
No. I can’t see its face.
It looks like it has a hood on.”

Robin kept looking in the direction where
Olivia described the figure to be. Still, she saw nothing. Moments
passed.

“
It’s gone,” Olivia said
calmly and then walked back into the house.

Robin walked in behind her. They both sat on
the couch again.

“
Olivia, do you understand
what is happening?”

“
Kind of,” she
answered.

“
What do
you
think
is happening?”

“
Well, I see Emma all of
the time now; she comes to me a lot. She talks to me about what she
sees. I guess there are all sorts of things going on when you’re
dead because she tells me about things all of the time. The lady
that walks in the field doesn’t talk to me at all, but I can see
her when she’s near. There’s also a man in the house, but he
doesn’t want to talk to me either.”

“
Has Emma mentioned seeing
a light?” Robin inquired.

“
She said that there’s one
sometimes, but then it gets farther and farther away. Is that where
we go when we die?”

“
My beliefs are a little
different; probably more than anything else you’ve ever heard. I
personally believe that all of us are timeless souls. I think that
our souls are trapped here in these bodies and when we die, we’re
not trapped anymore. When we die, we can go see the
Creator.”

“
You mean God?”

“
Well, yes. We can meet
the angels that have been with us throughout our entire human life.
I also believe that when some people die, they get stuck and don’t
know how to get to the Creator, so they sometimes need help from us
to get there.”

“
Kind of like when you’re
on the highway and you stop for directions?” she asked.

“
Exactly like that!” Robin
answered. “I think that you have a gift. You can give those souls
directions. They need to get to the light and you can help them do
that.”

“
How can I learn more
about how to help them? None of them scare me, not even the ones I
see when I’m not at the house. They all just seem so
sad.”

“
I can teach you to
meditate and to talk to the Creator through prayer. Those angels I
just told you about, I call mine spirit guides. When I’m sad, one
is assigned especially to me to make me happy. They can protect you
and give you guidance.”

“
Wow,” Olivia said with
wonderful astonishment.

“
I can teach you about how
to get to know your guides,” Robin said with a smile.

“
I would like to do that,”
Olivia replied.

Each day, Robin took time to talk to Olivia
about her spiritual gift and offered advice with researched
explanations. Olivia was wise beyond her years. She accepted
spirituality willingly and without reservation. She learned to
meditate and to pray. She learned how to seek out answers for her
own questions. Robin introduced spiritual meditation books to
Olivia also and took time to read passages to her.

As much as she wanted to talk to Matt about
everything, Robin didn’t. She hated hiding things especially since
they had made a pact to always be honest with one another. However,
she knew that he would debunk everything. Olivia didn’t need that.
She needed positive reinforcement and assurance about her feelings,
thoughts, and gifts. Most of all, she needed acceptance.

One evening Robin stood looking out the
window of the porch facing the field. She rubbed the little bump
protruding from her abdomen. A sort of uneasiness returned. She
couldn’t attribute what she felt to pregnancy jitters either.

Glancing over at the rocking chair on the
porch, she watched as it moved back and forth. Suddenly, she felt
she wasn’t alone. In her mind she saw the woman in her dream. “I
know you’re here,” she whispered. The familiar sadness swept over
her.

The incident helped Robin make an important
decision. Monday she would research the house. She needed to know
why the woman always felt sad.

As she continued standing at the door, the
mood changed. It felt more foreboding and darker. The temperature
dropped several degrees and she felt the woman leave. A sinister
presence emerged.

“
I know what you are,”
Robin said quietly.

She turned and walked down the stairs to the
basement where Matt stood, boxing. With her hands on her hips, she
bit out,

“
I just want you to know
that I’m going to research the house Monday. It’s time.”

He stopped.

“
Why, what
happened?”

“
I’m just creeped out. The
rollercoaster of emotions is too much and I want to find out what
has happened in this house. Sometimes I feel such overwhelming
hatred; not toward anyone or anything. It’s just an awful
feeling.”

“
I thought things were
better,” he interrupted. “And you are pregnant. You’re emotions are
going to be out of whack.”

“
Things are better, but
Olivia saw something and I believe what she saw was the
demon.”

“
She saw what?”

“
I know you’re not very
open about these things, but I know she saw it.”

“
The demon?” he asked in
disbelief.

“
Yes. It’s the only thing
that makes sense. Are you still so closed off you can’t accept any
of this?”

“
None of this has ever
made sense.”

“
I know you don’t believe
Matt.”

“
I’ve tried believing and
I’ve tried to be open-minded. A demon; even though your dad and
I’ve talked about it I still can’t quite believe it. In fact, you
mentioned this before, but you weren’t even sure that you believed
it.”

“
It’s the only thing that
explains what Olivia saw. I’ve been wrong not to believe. It’s
possible that whatever has happened in this house could have
ushered in a demonic attachment of some kind,” she
explained.

Matt sighed.

“
Since this whole thing
began I’ve had to swallow some pretty incredible things. Stuff I
never even imagined existed; I’ve had to accept those things as
truth. Do you realize how difficult this is for me?”

“
I do, but what Olivia
described to me explains the dark figure you saw standing over me
even after the house was blessed,” she continued.

The conversation troubled Matt as he found
himself battling another sleepless night. He had wrestled with his
own belief system a great deal since he had been with Robin. His
mind felt heavy and cluttered as he lay awake rolling his wedding
band around his finger. A million unanswered questions bounced
around in his brain.

Rapidly, the temperature in the room
changed. He glanced over at Robin as she gathered the covers up,
snuggling under them. He watched as the breath moved in and out of
her nose. He looked down and realized he could see his own breath.,
too.

His eyes then focused on the doorway to
their room. A tall, dark misty figure floated in the doorway. He
watched as the black mist entered the room and walked to the end of
Robin’s side of the bed. Paralyzed by fear, his hands felt as if
they were chained to the bed. Helplessly he watched as the covers
were pulled off of Robin and her bare legs were exposed. He
observed as depressions were made on Robin’s legs as if fingertips
were pressing down onto her flesh. Still unable to move or speak,
Matt felt the temperature in the room as it continued dropping.

Robin stirred and instinctively grabbed the
covers pulling them over her. Matt, still powerless and immobile,
watched as the covers were pulled off again by the intimidating
dark mist. It groped Robin, pushing down on her skin. Suddenly,
three bloody scratch marks appeared and she woke immediately. She
turned toward Matt. He knew she was preparing to blame him, but
then her focus turned to what stood at the end of the bed. Quickly,
she turned on the light.

Matt gasped for breath. He sat up and leaned
forward taking in air, coughing.

“
Are you okay?” she
asked.

He nodded and then got up to get the first
aid kit for the scratches on Robin’s body. He walked back in with
it and sat down at the end of the bed.

“
Are we going to talk
about what just happened?” she asked.

“
I don’t think I even want
to,” he said shaking his head as he tended her wounds.

“
You saw that, right?” she
asked.

He looked intently into her eyes and
nodded.

“
I saw it.”

History &
Discovery

Robin and Matt sat waiting as property
records were pulled for their house. Robin sighed impatiently.
Finally, a lady brought in a very large box and then left. They
were unsure where to even start, but bravely opened the lid and
pulled the paperwork out in handfuls. There were stacks of papers,
technical drawings, news clippings, and other things that might
help them understand Pikeview Manor.

As they sifted through the news clippings
Matt’s mouth dropped.

“
What is it?” Robin
asked.

He read from a news clipping dated March
1870.

“
Local butler suspected of
murder. Mr. Michael Sims was arrested today on suspicion of murder.
Sources say Mr. Sims assisted a local doctor with performing
unsavory acts on runaway girls. Sims refuses to reveal the
whereabouts of the master mind behind this and remains in the
county jail without bond.”

The dream came rushing back into Robin’s
mind. She remembered the woman on the table with the two men
standing over her. Things made sense now. She continued listening
as Matt read.

“
This one is dated a month
later,” Matt continued, “‘Michael Sims escaped today from county
lock up. He has not been located. A man hunt continues as Sims is
said to be armed and dangerous. If seen, please contact the
police.’ Then this one is from just a few days later. ’Michael Sims
found dead this morning in the Pikeview Manor on West Elm Lane.
Sources say Sims hung himself from a rafter in the basement of the
home.’”

“
Oh my God,” she whispered
as she grabbed her throat.

She remembered the incident in the basement
when she felt the noose around her neck.

“
Do you remember?” she
asked.

Blankly, Matt looked at her.

“
The day that I told you I
felt like someone was trying to hang me?”

“
This is real,” he said
softly. He continued, “And he killed girls on our property. So why
didn’t we see the other women? What about the other victims? Why
just the one lady?”