"Ok, here's the deal. Max is giving us two more days off. He had to tend to some personal business and since we are moving along with such speed he doesn't seem to think we won't finish on time." Kevin announced to the others. "Cool. We can bond with the girls." Nick said grinning. "Well guys I am off to pick Claudia up at the train station. I'll see you guys tomorrow night. We are going to have some alone time." Howie said grabbing his overnight bag and waving to them. Nick, Aj and Kevin were happy they had found some girls to hang out with. Brian was happy for them but he felt a bit down not having anyone to himself. Kevin noticed his sad look and walked over to him, "You ok man?" Brian nodded but knew he couldn't fool his cousin. "I don't know what to say about you breaking up with Leighanne. Maybe you two will get back together, who knows. But I know it's easier said than done when I say that you have to just get out there and live and not harp on what could have happened or been." Kevin said giving Brian a hug. Brian smiled at him, "I think I am going to go down to the kitchen and see what they have going on for lunch."

"I am so hungry!!! Is there any food here?" Emily asked rubbing her stomach. "Yes there is, why don't we go down to the kitchen to see what Felipe has for us?" Laura said pulling her friends downstairs. Laura was the first to walk into the kitchen, "Hey Brian, I see we aren't the only ones hungry? Is Nick around?" Brian couldn't seem to pull himself out of the fog he was in until he saw her. Emily breezed into the kitchen and it seemed like the whole room was illuminated. Emily stopped dead in her tracks when she saw Brian. They both locked eyes and stood there motionless. Kelly waved her hands in front of Emily's face, "Hello?????? Anyone in there?" Laura was too busy laughing to help her out. "I'm sorry, I don't mean to stare. I guess I was just caught off guard." Emily said slightly blushing. "Hello, I'm Brian, and you are?" Brian asked. "Emily, it's a pleasure meeting you." Emily replied shaking his hand. Laura and Kelly didn't know whether to speak up or just leave them alone. "So have you seen Felipe around?" Brian asked Laura and Kelly. "Nope, we were wondering if you had seen him. Maybe we should raid the refrigerator and just make ourselves a sandwich." Kelly said already pulling open the refrigerator. They found some lunchmeats and various condiments and after searching a few cupboards found some rolls. "Well it seems we have everything to make something." Brian said clapping his hands. "All you need is a chef hat." Emily said softly nudging him. Kevin came stomping into the kitchen and his sour face turned to a smile when he saw Kelly, "Well hello there gorgeous. Sleep well?" Kelly had this huge impulse to just jump on him and do whatever came to mind but Laura must have read her thoughts and kept a firm grip on her. "I slept very well. Thanks so much. You hungry? We are making some sandwiches." Kelly said separating the meats. "Yeah I am starved. Might as well make some for Aj and Nick because they will be bombing in here shortly." Kevin said standing behind Kelly and kissing her on the neck. Everyone's heads jerked up when they heard a stampede of footsteps coming down the hall and then Aj and Nick barging into the kitchen. "What in God's name is going on?" Laura said laughing. "Oh just a friendly race nothing else. How are you my little kiwi?" Nick said scrunching up his face. "KIWI?" Everyone said in unison. "Ok, um nevermind." Nick said softly. "Where's Kimberly? And you are?" Aj said frantically looking around and stopping on Emily. "Aj, Kevin and Nick, this is Emily our friend. She'll be staying here as well. Last minute thing, you know how that goes. As for Kimberly, she went into town to get a few things she said she'd be back later but I don't know exactly when." Kelly said slapping Kevin's roaming hands away. "Looks like somebody needs to get a room!" Aj said under his breath. Emily and Brian had taken over making the sandwiches and Nick was planting little kisses on Laura's face while she sat in his lap. Kelly and Kevin were trying to find plates that didn't look so darn expensive for the sandwiches. Aj was staring out the window and saw a shadow of a little girl. He slowly got up and without anyone noticing walked towards what he had seen. Aj quickly realized he should have worn a jacket feeling the cold air go through him. He heard movement behind him, then in front of him. He was confused but kept moving forward. After about 30 minutes of walking he came to a little pond. He sat down on the rock right by the water and ran his fingers through it. "Damn that is cold!" He shouted. He lowered his head wondering if he was going mad or if he really had seen a figure of a little girl. He ran his fingers through the water again only to yank his hands back in pain, "HOLY SHIT!!! It's hot!" He had no explanation and didn't know if he wanted one on why the water was suddenly at a boiling temperature. He heard rustling in the bushes behind him and turned his head slowly coming face to face with the little girl. She was about 6 years old and had the most beautiful black wavy hair that surrounded her round slender face. It was almost as if she was old beyond her years yet trapped in a little girls body. He eyes were a sparkling green and her lips the color of blood. Aj was too frightened to say anything, he didn't know if she was real or not. Aj wet his lips, "Hello? You lost?" The little girl bent down and picked up some dirt and held it in her hand and when she opened it a flower rested in her palm. She made a gesture as if to give him the flower but instead dropped it somewhere close to him. "Thankyou very much. Do you speak?" Aj asked once again. The little girl smiled at him and all she said before she disappeared once again was, "Be strong. No tears and don't look back when you leave." Aj didn't move until the sky opened up and began to pour. He started running back towards the house and got lost. He ended up somewhere close to the front gates and saw headlights coming towards him. Kim saw the figure in the road and as she got closer realized it was Aj and stopped the car. "What are you doing out here in the rain?" Kim said opening the passenger door. "Kim, park the car NOW!!" Aj demanded slightly out of breath. Kim turned off the car and listened to him as he told her what had happened. "I think I know where we can find out." Kim said starting the car back up and driving back into town.

They arrived at a newspaper archive library and walked in hoping someone would speak English. The woman behind the desk smiled at them as they came forth, "Hello, you are Americans?" Kim and Aj both nodded. "What can I help you with?" She asked. "Well, we are looking for some information regarding some occupants of a house. The house on Wafer Street." Kim said. The woman's face turned ghost white, "Oh, madam, um I don't think" Kim interrupted her, "Please, we really need some information." She hesitated for a moment, "I'll be right back." Kim and Aj stood at the counter nervously awaiting her return. Aj started to sneeze repeatedly and shiver. "Oh god Aj, please don't get sick. You don't need this right now." Kim said trying to warm him up. The woman returned with a box of microfiche and a blanket for Aj, "This is all we have. You can go over to that booth in the corner and look at them." Kim and Aj thanked her repeatedly as they made their way to the booth. Kim pulled another chair up for Aj and wrapped the blanket tightly around him and kissed him, "Shall we?" Aj nodded as they began to filter through all the articles on the film. They were getting rather tired when Aj shouted out, "THAT'S HER!!!!!" A picture of a little girl and her mother was on the screen. The article read:

Mother and Daughter found dead in hotel room. Annabelle and Brianna were the survivors of Clay Forsythe who some say disappeared in the house on Wafer Street. Their cause of death is unknown at this time but people who had gotten to know them in the hotel say the mother, Annabelle was on the verge of a nervous breakdown.

Kim and Aj sat there frozen when they read the date of the article and it said March 28th, 1869. "You believe me don't you?" Aj said sneezing once again. "Yes Aj I do." Kim replied flatly and kept going through the film. They came to the article pronouncing the older lady Darryl had told her about. What she noticed was that from the time the first occupants moved out to when she moved in more than 40 years had passed. She died from old age and dementia as far as she could read in 1975. Darryl had bought the house in 1998. She couldn't recall if he had spent any time in it, but was pretty sure he hadn't. She would always hear him talk about renting it out after he finished doing some repairs on it. The last thing that caught their eye was the obituary of the older woman. She had a daughter who at the time of her death was still living in Sweden. They came across a picture of her and both of them gasped when they saw who it was. Kim quickly gathered the film together and pulled Aj out of the chair and back up to the front desk to return them. "Excuse me?" Kim asked the tall slender man who was now manning the desk. "Yes?" Kim frantically looked around to see if she could find the woman who had helped them earlier, "Where did the woman go who was here before?" The man gave them a confused face, "I don't understand. I have been the only one here. You must be mistaken." Kim described her and still got no answer from him. "Thanks anyway." They left and returned to the car and sat in there trying to process all the information they had learned. "Are we going to tell the guys about this?" Aj asked. Kim slowly turned her head, "Do you really think that is a good idea? I mean can you imagine the panic and confusion we will have caused." Aj flipped on the heater in the car trying to get warm, "Kim I don't know if I can keep this from them." Kimberly started to drive, "Aj let's just think about this and just play it cool ok?" Aj sunk into the seat and before he knew it he was asleep. Kimberly had stopped off at the store and picked up a few things for dinner just in case Felipe decided not to cook. She nudged Aj when they got to the house, "We're home darling!" Aj slowly woke up and smiled at her, "Kim, I think I am going to get hideously sick." Right as they walked into the door Kim turned to him, "I'll take care of you, don't you worry."

Chapter 8

Aj could barely keep his eyes open walking up to his room. Kim helped him into bed and tucked him in reassuring him she would be back later to check on him. "Hey there? Have you seen Aj?" Kevin asked coming out of his room. "Yes, he's in his room. I think he is coming down with a nasty cold though. He went walking outside and sort of got lost and I ran into him as I was coming back in the house." Kim replied. "How long ago because we've been looking for him for a couple of hours?" Kevin said rather concerned. "Long story Kevin but don't worry I'll take care of him. Is the rest of the group downstairs?" Kim asked trying to change the subject. "Yeah, your friend Emily and Brian are hitting it off rather well. It's nice to see Brian happy." Kevin replied glancing back into his room. Once Kevin saw Kim head down the stairs he stepped back into his room where Kelly was sitting on the bed reading a magazine. "You guilty about something Kevin?" Kelly asked giggling. Kevin slowly walked over to the bed and threw the magazine off to the side, "Well no, maybe." Kelly frowned at him, "You know if you lost my place I am going to have to hurt you!" Kevin smiled at her and kissed her slowly pushing her back onto the bed. Kelly ran her hands underneath his shirt and heard him gasp when she gently raked her fingernails down his chest. Kevin nibbled at Kelly's neck and began to slide his hands up her shirt when they both heard a muffled scream. Kevin jumped up and tried to follow the sound of the scream. Kim bolted up the stairs and ran right into Kevin knocking both of them down. "Jesus Christ!! You heard it too?" Kevin yelled. Kim nodded and picked herself up off the floor, "I am sorry, I should really pay attention to where I am going." Kim saw Kelly come out into the hallway her hair slightly ruffled and her shirt askew and gave her a look. "I think it came from Aj's room." Kelly said trying to divert the attention away from her. "He probably just had a bad dream. I'll go see him. Kelly, Emily was looking for you. You might want to see what she wants." Kim said giving her a fake smile. Kim walked into Aj's room and found him sitting up in bed shivering, "Aj, you ok?" He shook his head, "I had a nightmare. It seemed so real. But I can't really remember it for some reason." Kim crawled into bed and held him close stroking his face until he drifted back to sleep.

Kelly was a bit upset the look Kim had given her. After all she was an adult she could do what she wanted and with whom. "Kelly, she's probably just being protective. But it was probably a good thing we stopped because I don't know if I could have stopped myself." Kevin said kissing her. "Kelly!!" Emily shouted as she stepped into the room. "Where have you been? Or should I ask what have you been doing?" Emily continued laughing. "I found Aj guys. He's in his room. Kim found him. He got lost but he's coming down with a nasty cold I think." Kevin said running his fingers through his hair. "Oh man, that sucks." Nick said shifting Laura whom was sitting in his lap nibbling on his ear. "I think someone is hungry!" Brian said laughing. "Can you blame me? Look at this face!" Laura said scrunching Nick's face up. "Is Aj still thinking this place is haunted?" Nick asked. "I don't know man. I think this house is pretty cool." Brian said sitting down next to Emily. "So what is for dinner? Does anyone know? Should we go out?" Kevin asked giving Kelly a wicked look. "Ok ya'll need to calm your hormones or get a room!" Brian said feeling the sexual tension in the room. They all seemed to ignore Brian and all turned their heads when they heard someone clearing their throat. "Excuse me. I regret to inform you the Felipe has called in sick. So I am afraid that dinner will be your responsibility." Hans said. "Ok, thanks so much Hans." Nick said. "I remember Max telling us about this little restaurant that serves American and Italian food. Anyone game?" Kevin said. They all seemed to be in agreement. "What about Aj and Kim?" Kelly asked. "Well I don't think Aj is up to it but we'll ask." Kevin replied. "Ask me what?" Kim said as she stepped into the room. "We were going to go out to eat because Felipe is under the weather. You want to come?" Kelly asked. "Um, I think I will pass. I am going to make some soup for Aj and just make sure that he is ok. But thanks anyway. You all have fun." Kim replied.

"Ok who's driving? Can we all fit in the Volvo?" Brian asked holding Emily's hand. "I am sure we could squeeze ourselves into it. If not we'll take two cars." Nick said helping Laura put her coat on. They walked outside and all managed to pile into the car. "Well this is cozy isn't it?" Brian said as he positioned Emily who was halfway on his lap. Nick and Laura were nuzzling one another and in their own little world. Brian made a funny face towards Emily and reached behind her and smacked Nick lightly on the head. "OWWW!!! Brian you are going to pay dearly for that!" Nick yelped. "Aww let me make it all better." Laura said kissing his head. "Ok you two are going to have to seriously cool it otherwise we are throwing you out in the rain so you can cool off." Kevin said laughing. They drove for about an hour and finally Kevin fessed up that he was lost, "I could have sworn I went the right way." Brian had Emily reach into his pocket and grab his cell phone and call Max. "Good going swifty, you should have taken the left when we told you way back there." Brian said in a mocking tone. Kevin ignored Brian and turned the car around and headed in the opposite direction. "THUD!!!!!!" was the noise they heard the car make after hitting something. "What the hell was that?" Kevin said steering the car off to the side of the road. Kevin, Brian and Nick got out of the car and inspected the flat tire they were looking at. Brian walked up and saw the huge pothole Kevin had managed to hit and came walking back, "Nice job Kev! Did you not see that pothole back there?" Kevin glared at his cousin, "It's dark and it's raining and I was trying to navigate our way back. Lay off of me will ya!" Nick stood there underneath the umbrella that Laura had handed him and just grinned. "What the hell you grinning about?" Kevin barked at Nick. "I just think it's funny. You two are out here arguing when we could be fixing this tire and getting on our way." Nick said trying to keep from laughing. Kelly turned on the light inside the car and flipped the lever popping the trunk, "I think we should get out and lighten the load of the car while they do this." The girls pulled on their jackets and their umbrella's and stepped outside into the rain. Kelly held the umbrella over Kevin and Emily over Brian. Kevin was getting more annoyed by the minute, "Who the hell put these lugnuts on, Hercules?" He stood back up and threw the wrench onto the ground. Emily was getting rather impatient as well and stomped over and picked up the wrench and gave it her best try and managed to get the last lugnut off, "There now, last one's off." The boys just glared at her as Kelly and Laura were laughing extremely hard from the looks on their faces. Shortly after that Kevin managed to put the spare tire on and they got on their way. It was dead silent in the car until they got to the restaurant. "Ok, let me say something about the whole tire fiasco. I was lucky in getting it off. Maybe you loosened it and that is why it popped off so easily. I didn't do it to mock you in any way and if you took it that way then I suggest you get over it." Emily said opening the door.

The restaurant had an opening and sat them shortly after arrived. The waiter gave each of them a once over and partially scowled at their appearances. Emily was rather annoyed and decided to say something, "I understand your curiosity but all you have to do is ask rather than stare and assume what may not be true." The waiter smiled and took their drink orders and quickly ran off. "Good going Emily. Who knows if he'll come back." Nick said glancing at his menu. "Just out of curiosity, do you always say what you feel?" Brian asked grinning. Emily looked up from her menu, "Well yes, most of the time I do. Some people appreciate it and others don't." To their surprise the waiter returned promptly with their drinks and took their order for dinner. "If the food doesn't come quick someone is going to get nibbled on!" Kevin said turning his head towards Kelly who was trying to find something in her purse. Kelly heard the giggles and turned back towards Kevin and saw him grinning at her, " I missed something, didn't I?" Kevin laughed, "You didn't hear what I said did you?" Kelly shook her head no and kissed him on the cheek. "I wonder how Aj and Kim are faring?" Brian asked a bit concerned about Aj's health. "Well I know Kim and I can assure you that he is in good hands." Kelly replied proudly. Laura and Nick decided to share a pepperoni pizza and Kelly opted for the barbecue chicken burger. Brian and Emily both ordered cheeseburgers and Kevin got some pasta. All you heard at the table was grunting and groaning. "Man I was hungry!" Brian said glancing down at his empty plate. He saw that Emily still had some fries left on her plate and tried to divert her attention elsewhere to sneak some of them away. "HEY!! I saw that!" Emily shrieked laughing. "Awww, come on. What do I have to do for some fries?" Brian asked giving her his best puppy dog eyes. "OH, don't do that, I can't take that. NOOOOO, its torture." Emily said not being able to take how cute he looked. Brian grabbed her hand and kissed her palm, "Please!" Emily felt her body go weak and gave in piling most of her fries onto his plate, "Now don't ever say I never gave anything to you!"

Back at the house

"Knock, Knock!" Kim announced as she pushed Aj's door open holding two tray tables stacked on each other. "Hey there!" Aj greeted her as she walked into the room. " I hope you have some sort of appetite, cause I have a few things here you might be interested in." Kim said setting the tray down on a table. She walked over to Aj and sat next to him on the bed feeling his forehead and letting out a small sigh of relief, "Your temperature is down." Aj smiled and then kissed her on the cheek, "I hope I didn't give you whatever I had." Kim brought the tray table over and sat it in front of him, "We have a lovely vegetable and noodle soup and accompanying it is some sourdough bread. There is a cheeseburger somewhere on that tray, but I am sad to say it is not from your home away from home." Aj was blown away at what she had done, "Wow, I am really impressed and touched. This was entirely too much, although I did hear you say cheeseburger?" Kim laughed and got the cheeseburger she had made and put in on the tray in front of him. "You going to eat or just watch me make a pig out of myself?" Aj asked already sinking his teeth into the burger. "Aj, I think I'll hold off on eating for now. I am not that hungry at the moment." Kim replied happy that he was feeling better.

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