Walk in My Haunted Shoes Read online

  Walk in My Haunted Shoes

  A Haunted Tour Guide Mystery

  By Rose Pressey

  All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form, (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the copyright owner. This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, incidents, places, and brands are the product of the author’s imagination and not to be construed as real. The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.

  Index

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  About the Author

  Chapter 1

  Sometimes a creepy abandoned old building is just that, a creepy old building. But sometimes it can be a portal to the other side—the door from this world to the next. As I stood in the middle of this old building, I wondered why I had decided to enter a place that I suspected might be a portal to another dimension in the first place. I was just asking for trouble. But when a friend had asked me for help dealing with a ghost, I’d felt like it was my duty to help. Sure, I wasn’t an expert, but I had some experience. However, even with all my experience, that didn’t mean I wasn’t scared.

  I stood in the middle of a long, dark hallway. Armed with only a flashlight and a digital recorder, I was trying to get the spirits to speak to me. It didn’t matter which ghost as long as I received some kind of communication. Maybe I should have just left and not tried to communicate with an angry ghost. Based on the things my friend had told me, I thought for sure this ghost was a teensy bit annoyed. However, asking questions was probably the only way I might get answers. In order to get rid of the ghosts I would need answers. Where had it come from and why was it here?

  My friend waited outside. She’d offered to come inside, but after what had happened to her recently, I’d told her maybe she should just wait in the car. There was no need to anger the spirits any further.

  My friend Dana owned the coffee shop in town. She was also a member of the Book Wormers, a book club that gathered at the library once a month. We had met when she’d come into the library for the monthly meeting and I’d been the new librarian. That seemed like a lifetime ago now. My one-year anniversary as head librarian was coming up in a week. As far as I knew the library board had no big plans to celebrate the milestone.

  By day, I dealt with books, but by night, I dealt with spirits. When a psychic had told Dana that a ghost had followed her back to her coffee shop, and that the only way to get rid of the ghost was to take it back to the portal, Dana had immediately come to me for help.

  The building I was in right now was a former school. Walton Academy had been founded in June of 1900 and functioned as a school until 1984. It had been sitting in the same condition for many years now, which was a shame really. Such a beautiful building, I wished there was a use for it. Well, a use other than being a portal to another dimension.

  Even though I felt a bit safer with my back pressed against the corridor’s wall, it was time for me to move. Standing in the middle of this spooky hallway wasn’t producing any new activity or leading to a ghost moving on to the next dimension. I took a couple of steps and I thought for sure it sounded like someone was walking right behind me.

  My heart rate increased. Did I dare peer over my shoulder? I moved a couple more steps and the footfalls continued behind me. My breath caught in my throat. I wasn’t sure if I should even turn around to see what was behind me. Nevertheless, ignoring it probably wouldn’t be a good idea either.

  Using all my courage, I spun around, shining my flashlight down the hallway. Nothing was there. At least nothing to the naked eye.

  “Is anyone there?” I held the recorder out, hoping to catch a voice from the great beyond.

  When I played back the recorder maybe someone would have a message for me. In hindsight, perhaps I shouldn’t have come into this building alone. After all, my boyfriend Brannon Landon was a part-time paranormal investigator and a full-time detective with the Devil’s Moon Kentucky Police Department. He was used to doing things like this.

  Doors lined each side of the hallway. The rooms had been classrooms when the school had been in use. The doors were open, all except for one at the end of the hall. When sound came from the door to my right, I backed up a couple of steps and shone my light into the room. I thought for sure I saw a black shadow scurry past the door. Jumping to my left, I now had my back pressed against the other side of the wall. My breathing was heavy and my heart beat faster.

  I watched the room to see if that dark shadow moved again. Thank goodness there was nothing. But that didn’t mean that the spirit wouldn’t return soon. As much as I hated it, I needed to be brave and take a peek inside the room. Then again, why did I need to be brave? Why not just be chicken and run out of there? No, my friend needed help and that was what I was going to do.

  “If you’re the spirit who followed my friend to the coffee shop, come forward. Do you have a message for me?” I asked in a weak voice.

  “Hello?” a soft female voice said from somewhere behind me.

  I spun around, shining my light again. No one was there. But I was certain I had heard that voice.

  “Who’s there?” I called out.

  Silence engulfed the building. Though it sounded as if I was all alone here, I sensed someone’s presence. The spirit was just playing tricks on me. Sure, the voice had sounded friendly, but I couldn’t let my guard down just because of that. I had to assume that this was something bad trying to trick me.

  Pushing my shoulders back and holding my head up high, I made the few steps across the hallway to that room. Before stepping in though, I flashed my light across the interior of the room.

  “If you’re in there let yourself be known,” I said.

  Maybe this was doing absolutely no good. The ghost would just keep taunting me and I could end up hurt. Or worse. Maybe this was a job better left for Brannon, He was the professional.

  Nevertheless, I pushed my fear back and then stepped into the room. This was crazy. My best friend Tammy White would think that I had absolutely lost my mind for doing something this ridiculous. Maybe I wouldn’t even tell her because the fact of the matter was it really was crazy for me to be in here alone. No matter, now I was in the middle of this dark room where I had just seen a dark shadow. For all I knew, the spirit could be evil.

  “I command you to leave my friend Dana alone,” I called out.

  Yes, I was winging it now. When the dark shadow zipped toward me from the corner of the room, I screamed and lost my balance. I stumbled backward, falling to the floor. Pain zipped through my body. A cold chill encircled me. Please don’t let this thing attack me. Things grew dark. The walls seeme
d to close in on me.

  Chapter 2

  When I came to, I was still on that hard floor. Darkness still engulfed the room. I hated when this happened. Sometimes the spirits could drain my energy so much that I’d just topple over. My phone and flashlight were beside me. There was no sign of a dark shadow around, thank goodness. But how long had I been lying here like this? I remembered the shadow coming after me. Had I blacked out? Yes, that had to be the case. I hadn’t even hit my head. I knew all too well that the spirits could cause missing time. What caused this I wasn’t sure, but I knew it happened sometimes.

  I managed to push to my feet. It was time for me to get out of this building. Something really bad was in here and I wanted absolutely no part of it. I ran down the hall with my flashlight guiding the way. With labored breathing, I felt as if I might faint at any moment. Had I fainted before or had the ghost attacked me?

  Dana spotted me as I ran out of the building. She jumped out of the car and ran over to me.

  “Are you all right, Rip?” she asked.

  “I think so,” I said, peering back at the old building. “Let’s just get out of here.”

  “Fine by me,” she said, rushing toward the car.

  I ran to the car too and jumped in. She slid into the passenger seat. Even after what had happened I sat there for a moment with my hand on the ignition.

  “What are you waiting for?” she asked.

  As if I was in some kind of daze, I didn’t answer.

  “Nothing, I suppose,” I finally answered.

  I started the car and backed out of there. I glanced in my rearview mirror at the stone building as we pulled down the long driveway. Nothing seemed out of place other than this was one of the spookiest places I’d ever been. The full moon lit up the place like a spotlight highlighting a work of bone chilling art. Broken windows, overgrown trees with gnarly branches that looked like they might reach out and grab us, and tall weeds just waiting to consume anyone who got near. I pulled out onto the highway and headed back toward town. We remained silent for a moment.

  Finally, Dana asked, “What happened in there? I knew it was a bad idea for you to go alone.”

  “But I wanted to help you.”

  “It wouldn’t help me if something happened to you.”

  “Nothing happened to me,” I said.

  “Well, thank goodness for that,” she said.

  I knew she wanted to know if I’d got rid of the ghost. There was no way to know if that had happened. More than likely it had done absolutely no good, but I hated to tell her that. She’d been counting on me. Professional ghost hunter was not one of my titles.

  “Maybe you don’t want to talk about it, but what happened back there?” Dana asked.

  I shook my head. “There are scary things in there.”

  “I assumed that,” she said. “Like what?”

  “I saw a dark shadow and I heard a voice. Something knocked me down and that’s when I got out of there.”

  I wouldn’t tell her that I wasn’t sure how long I had been on the floor. That would freak her out even more. Thank goodness we were coming into town now. The lights of the small town lit up the night sky. Sure, it wasn’t a big town, but it was my hometown. I had been gone for a while from Devil’s Moon, but then I’d returned to take the job as the head librarian.

  I’d never known that I had missed the place so much until I’d come back. I hadn’t only come back for the job at the library either. I’d gotten it in my head as soon as I discovered the job was open in Devil’s Moon that I could open a haunted tour here because this place was seriously one of the most haunted, if not the most haunted, places that I’d ever known. Even the library was haunted.

  “When will we know if the ghost is really gone?” Dana asked.

  I pulled up in front of the coffee shop and put the car in park. “I suppose if he doesn’t come back around, we’ll know it worked.”

  “What will I do if I see the ghost again?”

  “Call me right away,” I said. “I’ll call Brannon and have him come over. If I have to, I’ll call the demonologist.”

  Her eyes widened. “You really think this is a demon?”

  “No, I don’t think so,” I said. I reached for my bag, pulled out a cross and handed it to her. “Just in case though.”

  “I’m scared,” she said, clutching the cross to her chest.

  “I’m sure things are fine. It’s probably just a ghost that wants to get your attention. Just having a little bit of fun.”

  “Just having fun,” she said, shaking her head.

  “That’s right, just fun.”

  She released a deep breath. “Okay, well, are you stopping by in the morning for coffee?”

  “I’ll be there,” I said with a smile.

  “Thanks again,” she said as she squeezed my hand. “I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

  Some people in town thought that I had brought the ghosts with me when I started this tour, but I knew that wasn’t the truth. They knew that this place had always been haunted.

  I watched as Dana got out of the car and headed into her coffee shop. I thought she would check on things and then head to her house. I really hoped that the ghost left her alone. I knew how it felt to deal with spirits. I had them everywhere—in my house, at the library, on the haunted tour, of course. But I wasn’t sure if it was because I was seeking them out or because they were attracted to me. Perhaps it was a little bit of both.

  Also, it didn’t help that I had bought a former funeral home. It was an old Victorian that I had been working to bring back to its original glory. The spirits were just part of the house that I had to deal with. The same went for the library too. One ghost in particular at the library was quite friendly. I even called her a friend.

  Relief came over me when I pulled up to my house. I was ready to get inside, have a little snack, maybe some cookies, and then get under the warm sheets of my comfy bed. I assumed Brannon would be calling soon to find out just exactly what I’d been up to tonight. I’d kept my mission tonight a secret from him. I didn’t like doing that, but I would tell the truth if he asked.

  Chapter 3

  The rest of the evening had been uneventful. Now it was the next morning and I was awake, dressed, and headed toward the coffee shop so that I could pick up coffee. Sadly, there would be no breakfast at the coffee shop this morning because I had been good and eaten a protein bar at home. After the coffee, I’d head on to the library.

  It was a bright sunny day and I was looking forward to a full day of fun activities at the library. We had the children’s group meeting, plus the Book Wormers would be there later. Not to mention I had to plan the upcoming book sale and another charity party at the library, so my schedule was jam-packed full of things to do.

  I liked to walk to work because it provided good exercise, and after leaving the library at the end of the day, I could just head over to Devil’s Moon Cemetery and start my tour for the evening. Devil’s Moon, although spooky, was also full of charm, and I was glad that I’d returned. When the former librarian had retired, I had jumped at the chance to return to my hometown. I’d left a cheating fiancé back in California—good riddance. Yes, what a great decision it had been to come back to Devil’s Moon. Now I had a great boyfriend, a fantastic career, and my own business. Sure, I found myself in trouble sometimes, but I made the best of it.

  I had a tour every night except for Sunday. That was my only night off. Ironically, I had spent my night off in another haunted location. I didn’t always do that, although occasionally it was necessary. I planned for my next day off to be spent shopping with my best friend Tammy White or my mother. Also, on my off-time Brannon and I liked to go to the lake or go antiquing. Well, I liked antiquing and he just went along to keep me company. There were plenty of other activities that we enjoyed, but I had to admit the majority of my time was spent hanging out in the ghostly world.

  The crisp scent of fall lingered in the air as colorf
ul leaves drifted to the ground. I was thankful I’d worn my warm fuzzy socks today. I passed by all the usual locations that were on my haunted tour. The bookstore, the antique shop, the restaurant that was close to the tavern. The tavern was the main stop on the tour. I spent a lot of time there because Tammy worked part-time there. The tavern staff helped me sell tickets for the tour and kept my flashlights behind the bar too.

  As for social happenings in Devil’s Moon, the tavern was the place to be. The old building that housed the tavern had originally been used as a stagecoach stop built in the late 1700s. The stone walls and old creaking hardwood floors of the tavern made me feel as if I’d stepped back in time. I had the impression that some of the ghostly visitors had been patrons of the tavern years ago, standing in the same spots where patrons stood today.

  Though the place had been used as a tavern since the first day it had opened back in the 1700s, some things had changed about it. Instead of hitching their horses out front before stopping in for a drink, now people used the parking lot around back to park their SUVs and sedans.