A Haunted Walk to Remember Read online

  Still in shock, I said, “Oh, my goodness. You scared me. What are you doing over there? I’ve been looking everywhere for you. Why haven’t you talked to me? Furthermore, how are you talking to me without a phone? I can hear you loud and clear.”

  “I have no idea how you can hear me now, but that’s not the issue at the moment. I’ve been hiding out,” he whispered again.

  I glanced around. “From who?”

  “Maybe it’s not from who, but from what. I don’t know,” Josh said.

  “What on earth do you mean? Something’s chasing you? Like an animal?”

  I didn’t want to think the worst. Maybe if I said it was something else then that would make it true. I knew what he meant though. The worst thing that could happen.

  “You know what I mean,” he said.

  I shook my head. “Yes, I suppose I do. Demons are after you.”

  “Yes, demons are after me,” he repeated.

  “How do you know?” I asked.

  “Well, that big black thing that’s chasing me everywhere is a pretty good clue. I’m assuming that’s what that means. And maybe the fact that it told me it was a demon and that it had come for me.”

  “This is terrible and it’s your fault. You caused all this,” I said. “Now make it go away.”

  “I can’t make it go away. That’s why I came after you. To make you take care of it.”

  “Why should I take care of it? I didn’t cause this problem.”

  “Yes, but in case you don’t remember, I’m dead and I can’t fix this right now. So you have to. That’s why I came to you. You’re the one who deals with the demons.”

  “I’m not a demonologist. I don’t take care of them,” I said.

  “Fair enough, but you know about them, and you know someone who can get rid of them. So can you kindly get on that right away? I’m in a little bit of a pinch here.” He looked to his left and his right.

  “You’re telling me,” I said.

  “I don’t want to be dragged to hell,” he said. “I did nothing to deserve that.”

  “I imagine there are quite a few people who would say the same thing. Namely me.”

  “All right, let’s not blame each other here,” he said. “Let’s just do something about it. We can work together, am I right?” He offered a smile as if that would sway me.

  Did I have any choice? I absolutely had to help him. My life depended on it.

  “All right, I’ll help you get rid of the demon, but just keep it away from me, okay? Kindly lure it around until I can figure this out.”

  “No way,” he said, waving his hands. “I’m trying to get away from it. I can’t help where it goes.”

  “Oh, this is disastrous,” I said.

  What had Josh and his great aunt done to cause this? Now I had to find a way to stop it.

  “Why are there demons around? What did you all do to bring them here?” I glared at him, letting him know I demanded an answer.

  “We were just playing around at first. Things got seriously quickly though. Aunt Ellen found spells from various books and kind of made her own conjuring book. She thought it would help get rid of what we’d brought through from another dimension. It never worked though.”

  “Peachy. Just peachy,” I said sarcastically.

  “Ripley, you have to stop it,” he begged.

  “Okay, okay, just let me think. Stop yelling at me. Yelling at me is distracting. I can’t concentrate.” I rubbed my temples.

  He held his hands up. “Okay, I’ll be quiet.”

  “Did you leave this photo for me?” I showed him the picture. “What does it mean? Why did I find the other one?”

  He stared at me blankly as if suddenly he had no clue who I was.

  “Well?” I asked. “I need answers.”

  He didn’t answer. In fact he just disappeared right before my eyes. He was gone.

  “No!” I called out. “You can’t leave yet. You have to answer my questions. How do you expect me to solve this if you can’t give me any clues? Don’t just pop away like that.”

  I stood there in frustration, trying to figure out why he would do this. Then it hit me. What if that demon was around and that was why he’d taken off again? I looked around in a panic. So far there was no sign of the thing, but maybe I should get out of here too. If it was chasing me along with Josh, then maybe there was nowhere I could go to get away from it.

  This was terrible. I couldn’t go to the tavern and talk to Tammy because I didn’t want it following me there. Brannon had wanted to pick me up. Should I involve him with this? He’d be upset with me if I didn’t call him for a ride though. While standing on the sidewalk, I pulled out my phone and touched the screen. While I listened to the ringing, I peered around for any sign of a demon.

  The skin prickled on my arms. Brannon hadn’t answered and it went to his voicemail. Waiting in this same spot for him to call me back wasn’t an option. I needed to get out of here. I’d head home, and with any luck, he’d call while I was on my way. Now I realized I was all on my own. As I walked down the sidewalk, I realized it was probably a good idea to call the demonologist. Porter was trained with this. I had to contact him for help. For right now, I had to get home. I’d call him when I got there.

  The only light guiding me through town came from the streetlights. I’d thought I was all alone out here now. However, that wasn’t true. Up ahead, I noticed Jill as she walked down the sidewalk. This would have been nothing out of the ordinary until I spotted the two people standing along the sidewalk as she approached them. What was this all about?

  I recognized Kendra right away. I didn’t know the man standing with them. I stopped for a moment and watched, hoping that they wouldn’t notice me. How could I get to the bottom of this? Walking up to them and asking what they were talking about would seem kind of weird. Obviously, I was suspicious of Kendra. Was she trying to get to Jill to ask questions about me and the murder?

  After a few more seconds, they got into a black car parked along the curb. The red taillights lit up the night sky and then they pulled away. My curiosity about this would have to wait. Right now, I had to get home.

  I took off in a rush down the sidewalk headed for my house. My legs couldn’t move fast enough as I headed across town to my place. It wasn’t that far but when I thought a demon might be chasing me it seemed as if it was taking an eternity. An eternity in hell. Finally, the steeply-pitched roof of my Victorian house came into view. I quickened my step until the rest of the lovely home appeared. I’d never happier to see the place. The long expanse of the front porch, pointed arches, gables, and delicate wood trim of the beauty made my heart sing. Sure, it was spooky, but compared to a demon, I would take spooky any day.

  I hurried up the sidewalk toward the path that led to the front door. Even in the darkness, the charming pots of flowers along the steps guided me toward the red front door. All seemed charming and sweet except for the reality that faced me. The eerie feeling was all around and the bad part was it could just come inside. Just being in the house wouldn’t guarantee that there wouldn’t be something that would come after me.

  I had to do a cleansing on the house to get rid of anything that might have slipped through. I had to banish it and keep it away. As soon as I got inside, I’d call the demonologist. This was an emergency. I sensed something watching me as I raced up the path toward the front door.

  Glancing over my shoulder, I spotted the dark shadow headed my way. I screamed out and ran for the front door. Now I had to unlock it though. Oh my gosh. It would surely get me while I did that. Would it carry me to the depths of hell? Was it trying to get my soul? What was the purpose of this?

  “I command you to leave me alone,” I said.

  I yelled out any other sayings or phrases that came to mind.

  “Be gone with you.”

  I was just making up stuff at this point. My hand trembled as I shoved the key into the lock. When I glanced back again, the thing had disappea
red. My heart thumped so fast that I thought it might pop out of my chest. What the heck happened? Where had it gone? Had the things I said really worked? Finally, I got the door opened and I rushed inside. I slammed the door shut behind me. I twisted the lock so fast that I worried I might have broken the handle.

  My heart rate slowed down just a bit, but I wasn’t safe yet. I moved over to the window and took a peek outside to see if there was any sign of the dark shadow. Nothing so far. Maybe what I’d said really had worked. Why hadn’t I thought of that earlier? I wasn’t going to give myself too much of a pat on the back just yet though. The demon could come back at any moment. Right now, I had to give the demonologist a call so that he could get rid of this thing. I pulled out my phone and hit the number. Yes, I had him on speed dial.

  Chapter 19

  I prayed that he answered. It rang several times and I was losing hope when finally, in a groggy voice he answered.

  “Hello, Porter? It’s Ripley. I’m so sorry to call you this late but I have a bit of a problem.”

  “Oh, what’s wrong?” he asked, sounding more alert now.

  He knew that there had to be something serious going on if I was calling him at this time of night.

  “Well, it’s something like a demon that’s followed me home.”

  “Oh, dear,” he said.

  “I wondered if there’s something you can tell me I can do to get rid of it.”

  “No, don’t you worry, I’ll be over right away,” he said.

  I hadn’t wanted to ask for him to come over, but I had hoped that he would volunteer. I just hoped that he would be here soon. I never knew when the thing might pop back up.

  He was such a great person. I wasn’t sure how he dealt with these demons all the time. He was good at his job though and I was glad that he had that talent because apparently, I attracted these types of things. I was the type of person that kept him working at all hours of the night.

  “I can be over within the hour,” he said.

  “That would be wonderful. Thank you,” I said.

  How would I ever repay him?

  “Are you safe right now?” he asked.

  “Yes, everything seems to be calm for the moment. I just hope it stays that way until you arrive.”

  Not that I wanted things to start when he got here, but my point was once he got here and got rid of the bad spirit, then it would be all over. Could it really be that easy, though? Porter was good at his job, but anything could go wrong. In the past he’d made things go away, but what if this was the one time when it didn’t work? That was always a possibility.

  No sooner had I ended the call when a bang came from upstairs. I jumped, startled by the sound. Sure, there were a lot of bangs in this house. That was nothing unusual, but still disconcerting. As long as it was only noise, I’d be fine with that. As scary as it was, bangs were better than having a demon chase after me.

  I set my bag down on the table by the door. As I started to turn, I noticed something on the table. I had a notepad and pen on there, but the paper had been blank. Now words were written on the top page. I picked up the pad.

  I made sure you found the photos. I didn’t want you to forget about helping Josh. Aunt Ellen.

  “What?” I said out loud.

  Had Aunt Ellen left me this message or was someone just pulling a prank? This was almost more than I could handle. I stared at the notepad for several seconds before placing it back on the table. Had someone been in my house? That was impossible. The doors were locked.

  I decided to try to calm my nerves with a cup of tea. I’d only made it halfway through the parlor headed toward the kitchen when another bang filled the house. And then another. And another. One right after the other, a chorus of doors slamming upstairs. This was absolutely terrifying. I wanted to run out of the house. Maybe I thought there would be safety outside, but then I remembered the demon could be out there too. I had nowhere to go. Stay inside or go out was all the same. I didn’t have a lot of options.

  Was I really brave enough to go upstairs and find the source of the noise? I suppose I could take a quick peek and not go all the way up there. Though I eventually would have to go up there and go to bed. My bedroom doors had probably been some of the doors slamming.

  In fact it had sounded like all the doors up there had been slamming at the same time. I eased my way up the staircase, one tread at a time, my nerves growing with each step. When I reached halfway up the staircase, I peeked up to the second floor. Pausing on the stairs, I peered down the hallway through the balusters. There was nothing there. However, all the bedroom doors were closed. I had to see if anything was broken and make sure an intruder wasn’t in the house.

  As much as I hated it, I continued up the stairs. Did I really have the nerve to go all the way up there? Maybe it wasn’t bravery, but more like stupidity. Why check it out? Why not just go back downstairs and wait until Porter arrived and let him do it? No, that just wasn’t my character. I had to be the tough one and check it out myself. I was perfectly capable of handling this situation. I pressed my shoulders back and marched up the rest of the stairs. I would confront this head-on unless of course it was a demon and tried to attack me, then I would run and hide.

  When I reached the top of the stairs, I peered down the hallway toward my bedroom. I’d check there first because that was where I had to sleep. It was the place I wanted to devoid of demons the most. I paused at the bedroom door with my hand on the knob. I tried to prepare myself for what I might find by inhaling and releasing a deep breath. Something could lunge out at me as soon as I opened the door. Could I ever really be prepared for something like that? Probably not.

  Slowly I eased the door open. To my relief, nothing jumped out at me. And even though darkness filled the room, I still realized that apparently no one was there. That was until I glanced over at the corner of the room. Something was there after all. Tall and dark, it stood in the corner. What was that? Did I have the nerve to go find out? It didn’t move, but it could definitely be the demon. This was now the time that I should turn around and run away. But no, I didn’t do that. Instead, I stared at the thing and didn’t budge.

  When it finally came into focus, I realized that it was just the floor lamp. All right, I was being ridiculous now. My mind was playing tricks on me. Rushing over to the bed, I knelt and pulled up on the bed skirt. No one was hiding under there. That left only one more place in the room to look. I had to check the closet. It was doubtful anyone was hiding in there, right? I probably had absolutely nothing to worry about. As I walked across the hardwood floor over toward the closet, I reminded myself to keep a positive attitude. Everything would work out fine.

  I paused with my hand on the doorknob. I sucked in a deep breath, released it and then twisted the knob. Slowly I opened the door. So far so good. I pushed a bit more. I had the door wide open now. There was nothing there. Of course, it was dark inside, but I still made out that I was alone in the room. Thank goodness. That was a huge relief, but now I had to check the rest of the rooms.

  Before I could turn around to head out of the room something pushed me. It was clear that something had their hands on my back. I felt the shove. The hands clearly pressed against my body. I stumbled forward and was now inside the closet. Not only that, but something had slammed the door shut.

  I banged on the door. Unfortunately, that wasn’t making the door open. It seemed as if nothing would make it open. No matter how hard I shoved.

  “Let me out,” I yelled.

  Of course, there was no answer. Someone had locked me in the closet.

  I pounded on the door harder this time.

  “Let me out,” I screamed.

  Being claustrophobic, this made me feel as if the walls were closing in on me. The space was already small, but now it seemed minuscule. How much smaller would it get? It would keep getting smaller and smaller until it finally just crushed me. All right, remain calm, I told myself. Take another deep breath. Brannon would
find me eventually. He would realize that I hadn’t contacted him, and he would look for me. What if it was too late? What if I’d lost all oxygen at that point?

  No, that wasn’t possible. A crack under the door allowed air in. I would be just fine. No need to panic. But what had pushed me in here? What if it came in here after me? I’d be fine with that if it was just a prankster ghost playing tricks, but if it was something that wanted to harm me then that was a totally different situation. I tried the knob, twisting it to get it to open. The weird thing was that the door didn’t have a lock on it, so I wasn’t sure why it wasn’t opening. I suppose it could just be stuck, but I was sure that something had pushed me. That hadn’t been my imagination.

  The demonologist would be here soon. He would knock on the door, ring the bell, and there would be no answer. I wouldn’t be able to let him in. Would he just assume that I hadn’t needed him any longer? Or would he think that the demon had gotten me? He would be right with that assumption. The demon had gotten me. I was pretty sure that it had pushed me into this closet. That demon had been the one to slam the door shut. It had taken that chance to lock me in here. What would it do with me now? I wasn’t sure and I certainly didn’t want to find out.

  Chapter 20

  I slammed my fists against the door one more time and it opened. Momentarily, I stood there in shock, staring at it as if I couldn’t believe it actually happened. Then I got my senses about me and dashed out of there before it had a chance to close again. There was nothing in the room with me, but I never knew when that might change.

  What would I do now until the demonologist arrived? I just had to wait it out. That was the only answer. I didn’t bother checking the rest of the house because what was the point? The demon would probably just play more games with me. Whatever this was had to go immediately.

  I raced back down the stairs and into the living room. Standing in the middle of the room, I tried to catch my breath and calm my nerves. Thank goodness I’d gotten out of the closet. Being free didn’t make my fear go away though. I was still scared.