The Ghosts Of New Orleans (A PARANORMAL RESEARCH AND CONTAINMENT DIVISION (PRCD) CASE FILE) (25 page)

Sally climbed the stairs slowly,
taking care that she didn’t fall through one of the rotted treads.  She wore a
headband flashlight and took the time to examine each step with it. She climbed
to the top, avoiding the step that cracked under Paul’s weight, and followed
the hall down to the end of the west wing.  She pulled open the attic door and
climbed up the narrow staircase.

The top door was still open from
the last time she and Eloise had entered it, but she still approached it
cautiously, remembering the last time she had nearly walked through it.  She found
a splintered piece of wood on the step below the door and stuck it through the
doorway first and breathed a sigh of relief when nothing happened.

Stepping into the attic, she looked
around and gasped.  It was as if a tornado had swept through the room.  Tables
were overturned and broken, plywood torn from the windows, skulls were
scattered across the floor and the steamer trunk was broken into several
pieces.

Sally ran over to the table that
had held the little girl.  It was on its side and the little skeleton had been
scattered carelessly across the floor.  Sally bent over and tenderly picked up
the pieces, placing them in a pouch she made from the front of her shirt.  Then
she picked up the delicate skull and, with tears filling her eyes, placed it
carefully on top of the other tiny bones.

She stood, sniffed, and took a deep
breath.  Then she spoke aloud.

“My friend, Eloise, has a wonderful
gift,” she said, “She can help you find your way home.  She can help you leave
this terrible place; she can reconnect you with your families. But you need to
go outside.  You need to go toward the gazebo.  She’ll help you, I promise.”

Sally felt a breeze stir past her
and watched as a soft mist formed in the attic and slowly moved down the
stairs.  At the end of the mist, the little girl solidified and smiled at Sally,
then turned back into mist and followed the rest down the stairs.

Sally followed them down the stairs
and out of the house.  She walked to the back of the house and found a
protected, grassy spot under a large magnolia tree.  She knelt down and carefully
placed the little skeleton under the tree.  Then she took the pick ax out of
her pack and dug out a shallow grave.

“You’ll be safe for now,” she
whispered.  She stood up and looked down on the tiny grave. “Bon voyage, little
one.”

Wiping the tears from her eyes, she
turned and found herself face to face with Delphine.

“Crap!”

Sally tried to dodge and run, but
Delphine grabbed hold of her.

“So, you are her friend?” Delphine
asked, “I wonder if she will be willing to sacrifice your life?”

Paul moved so that he was behind
Eloise, his arms still wrapped around her.  He leaned forward and kissed her on
the cheek. “Darling, tell them that you can help them.”

Eloise took a deep breath and spoke,
her voice coming out a little shaky, “Most of you have been trapped here for a
long time.  You still feel the sadness of your lives and especially your
death.  I want to help you move forward.  I want to help you reconnect with
your loved ones. I want to help you find peace.”

The crowd of spirits surged forward
toward the gazebo.  Eloise could see people representing many generations
coming from all directions.

“I need you to turn around and look
up for a light, a passageway.  That’s your doorway to peace.  That’s your
doorway to the next world.”

She watched them scour the skies
and then, she saw as one by one they located the door in the sky.  A murmur
passed through the crowd as spirit to spirit they spread the word, thousands of
pairs of eyes were turned upward to the same spot.

Eloise, her eyes filled with tears,
smiled tremulously. “And now, you need to walk toward that door.  You need to
enter it to find peace.”

The spirits started to move, the
first entering the door, the rest forming a large ring in the sky, slowly
circling, waiting their turn.  Eloise could feel the start of the vortex and as
more spirits left the earth, the pull became stronger and stronger.  Eloise
turned and wrapped her arms around Paul.  Paul tightened his grip around her
waist as the vortex continued to grow. 

The gazebo started to sway and
small pieces of woodwork came loose and were whipped up into the sky.  Sergeant
Turner was knocked against the SUV.  Using all of his strength, he was able to
open the back door and climb into the truck.

Eloise, her hair whipping around
her face, looked up to Paul with love shining in her eyes.

“Hold on,” she yelled.

Paul smiled down at her.
“Sweetheart, I’m never going to let you go.”

They turned and looked out towards
the house.  Hundreds of modern day spirits were rushing forward to join the other
spirits. Eloise watched as the diameter of the vortex grew to nearly 50 feet. 
The wind started to increase in intensity with the growth of the vortex. 
Shutters and shingles from the house blew off and were caught up by the wind.
Plywood that had covered the windows was peeling off the house too.  As the
vortex grew even more powerful, Eloise watched as a section from the east wing
wall of the house ripped off. A moment later, she saw the spirits of the girls
who had been murdered peer out from behind the exposed studs.

“Paul,” she said, he moved closer
to hear her over the wind. “Some of the spirits of the murdered girls are
watching from the east wing.”

“Are they ready to go?” he asked.

The girls walked away from the
opening back into the room.

“Not yet,” Eloise sighed.

Then she saw them come closer to
the opening again, but this time, in their midst was the spirit of Sergeant Anderson.
He was struggling against them, trying to get away from the opening.  However,
their combined struggles and the pull of the vortex were too much for him and
his spirit was soon sailing through the sky toward the vortex.  The girls
floated next to him making their way up to take their place in line.

“They’re back and they have Anderson
this time,” Eloise said.  “They’re taking him toward the vortex.”

“Wait, he gets to go to heaven?”
Paul asked. “Isn’t there another place for people like him?”

“Yes, Paul, there is,” Eloise said
as she watched the sky.

She saw a dark black cloud form
below the vortex.  It grew in a matter of seconds from a puff of smoke to a
billowing presence that was over 10 feet wide. When Anderson saw the black
cloud he frantically tried to stop his upward movement. His face was contorted
in fear as he tried to struggle away from the black cloud. Suddenly two streams
of grey burst from the cloud, taking the shape of arms as they neared Anderson.  He screamed in agony as they twisted around his body and bore him back into the
darkness.

“He’s gone,” Eloise said.

The black cloud dissipated and the
spirits of the young women continued to their place in line.

Eloise laid her head against Paul’s
chest; he tucked her in closer and kissed the top of her head.

“It’s so sad,” Eloise said, “For a
while I considered him my friend.”

“He will be judged fairly, Eloise,”
Paul said, “By someone who knows what was in his heart and his mind.”

Eloise looked up and smiled softly,
“You’re a wise man, Major Tall, Dark and Military.”

The semblance of laughter froze on
their lips as another realization hit. 

“Where’s Sally?” they asked in
unison.

Wrapping her arm around Paul’s
waist, Eloise helped Paul off the gazebo and they made their way through the
powerful wind to the SUV.  Turner, using all of his strength, pushed the door
open from the inside.

“Sally,” Eloise screamed against
the wind. “We have to find Sally.”

They climbed into the back of the SUV,
and then Eloise climbed over the seat into the driver’s seat and started the
car.

“Where do you think we should
start,” Paul asked.

Eloise was about to answer when a
large gust of wind ripped away part of the roof, exposing the attic.  She could
see that someone was up there.

“The attic,” she cried, putting the
car into gear and speeding toward the house.  Eloise shifted the car into
four-wheel drive as the wind buffeted it and she maneuvered around downed tree
limbs and other obstacles tossed by the wind. 

“I think the vortex is getting
bigger,” Eloise said, watching a large tree being sucked from the ground. “And
there’s nothing we can do to stop it.”

“We’ve got to get Sally out of
there quickly,” Paul said, “Before the vortex reaches the house.”

She pulled up in front of the house
and Turner pushed open the back door.

They climbed out of the SUV, Turner
helping Paul. Eloise turned to them.

“Turner, help Paul – I’ll see you
up there,” she said, her eyes pleading with Paul to understand.”

“Go,” Paul said.

Eloise pushed the door open and ran
up the stairs. Wind pummeled the house shaking it to its foundation.  Eloise
dashed up the stairs, avoiding the chunks of plaster than rained down from the
ceiling.  She ran through the west wing, hearing the moan of timber as the
house swayed in the wind.

Pulling open the attic door she was
momentarily pushed back by a strong gust of wind. She grabbed hold of the
railing and pulled herself up, against the wind.  The wind whipped through the
attic and Eloise grabbed hold of the eaves in order to pull herself through the
top doorway.

“Sally,” Eloise yelled into the
wind. She turned and saw Sally, strapped to a table and laying motionless.  Delphine
stood next to her, her arms latched on to the table as the wind blew through
the room, a satisfied smile on her lips.

 “So, you’ve come at last,” she
purred, turning to Eloise, “I was waiting for you.”

Eloise moved to the table and took
Sally’s lifeless hand in her own.  Sally’s face was white and Eloise couldn’t
feel a pulse. She looked over Sally’s body, but could see no sign of any other
damage done to her.  Eloise turned back to Delphine

“What have you done to her?”

Delphine shrugged, “See for
yourself.”

Eloise turned and saw Sally’s
spirit holding tight to a beam on the other side of the attic, while the winds
of the vortex blew around them.

“Sal,” Eloise called.

Sally turned towards her.

“El, you can see me.  Does that
mean I’m dead?”

Eloise shook her head. “I don’t
know. It could be that she just snatched you.  How do you feel?”

“Weird, really weird,” Sally said,
a tear slipped down her cheek, “El, I’m not ready to die.”

“You’re not going to die, Sally,”
Eloise said. “Remember our promise; we have to wait until we’re old.”

 “Thanks for reminding me, El,”
Sally said, sniffling to hold back the tears, “Now all you have to do is
convince Delphine.”

Delphine laughed. “So, now you have
a choice. Do you sacrifice your friend’s life or do you protect me?”

Eloise shook her head. “What do you
mean protect you?”

“Use your power to keep me from the
other side,” she said, “Use your power to keep me here on earth.”

Suddenly Maria appeared in the
attic, the wind buffeting her as she wrapped her arms around another beam. “No,
Eloise, you cannot allow her to stay.  She will just increase in power.”

“Maria, can you help?” Eloise
asked, “I need to save Sally.”

Maria shook her head. “I cannot put
back what she has taken out.  And the longer Sally is out of her body, the more
likely she will never return.”

Eloise turned on Delphine. “Put her
back, put her back now.”

Delphine taunted her, “And what
will you do to me if I refuse? You can’t hurt me, you can only help me.”

Eloise recalled the struggle she
had just seen between Anderson and the women he had murdered. Then she heard
Turner and Paul coming up the stairs.  She had an idea.

“I don’t have any power the way I
am right now,” she said.

Turner and Paul entered the attic,
both holding on to the eaves as the wind rushed around them. Eloise made her
way to Paul, grasping eaves to pull her along as she went.

“I need you to have faith,” she yelled
into the wind. “I need you to let me go and I promise I will come back to you.”

Paul shook his head, “What are you
talking about?”

Eloise turned to Maria. “I need you
to take my spirit out of my body.”

Paul wrapped one arm around
Eloise’s waist and pulled her to him. “The vortex will pull you up, you can’t
do it.”

She shook her head. “She has
Sally.  I have to go.”

Paul closed his eyes for a moment,
then opened them with a sigh, “I will always love you.”

Eloise smiled through her tears, “I
believe you.”

Paul clasped his arm loosely around
Eloise and she closed her eyes. She could feel herself being lifted from her
body.  She opened her eyes and saw Paul lowering himself to the floor, wrapping
his good leg around a beam and cradling her body in his arms.  She turned and
saw Delphine, Maria, Sally and Turner below her, the wind still playing havoc
with them all.

“Where is she?” Paul yelled to
Maria.

“She is here in the room with us,”
Maria answered.

Eloise grabbed hold of an eave and
pushed herself down behind Delphine and grabbed on to her waist. She was
grateful and relieved that Delphine felt solid to her touch. She twisted her
and threw her on the floor. Delphine screamed and flung out her arms, grabbing
onto a table leg.

“How dare you?” Delphine cried, pulling
herself up and slowly moving toward Eloise by grabbing onto the attic wall.

“You mess with my friends, you mess
with me,” Eloise said.

Eloise reached up and grabbed on to
a cross beam. She jumped up and double-kicked Delphine in the stomach.

“Way to go, El,” Sally yelled.

Delphine flew back and crashed against
attic wall, grabbing hold of the wall to keep from being sucked up. “You
bitch,” she screamed.

Eloise shook here head. “Tsk, tsk,
such unladylike speech.”

Delphine grabbed hold of a rope to
steady herself.  Then she waved her hand and Sally was propelled across the
room.  While Eloise reached out to grab for Sally, Delphine swung herself toward
Eloise and knocked her sideways, forcing her out of the side of the attic. Eloise
tried to reach for something; anything that she might have been able to reach
had already been pulled into the vortex.  She floated outside and felt herself being
drawn up.

She looked down and saw that the attic
was already about fifteen feet below her and she was moving further away by the
minute. She looked up and saw the line of spirits waiting for their turn to
enter into the light was about thirty feet above.  The pull of the light was
strong.  Eloise could feel the peace and warmth emanating from it, even at this
distance.  But she knew that it wasn’t her time to go.

Eloise closed her eyes and thought
about Paul. She pictured him as he saved her from Anderson, she pictured him
back in Turkey, and finally she pictured him standing in the attic with her
body in his arms.

“I believe you,” she whispered
aloud, “and I will always love you too.”

Eloise felt another pull on her spirit,
stronger than the pull of the vortex. Slowly she started to descend.  She
opened her eyes and watched as the attic came closer and closer.  Finally,
dropping onto the attic roof, she grabbed hold of an exposed eave and swung
into Delphine, once again knocking her to the floor.