Callie's Haunting

Jimmy grabbed his colt and brought it out from under his pillow before he realized that the apparition was gone. All at once he was off the sofa and lighting the lanterns. Cody sat up groggily.

"What are you doing?"

"We are going to find those remains now. I am not spending any more time in this house than is right necessary." Jimmy said as he pulled his pants up.

Cody was now wide awake. "Why are you changin' the plans? I thought we all agreed we'd start the search in the morning, when it was daylight."

Jimmy quickly buttoned his shirt and was buckling his gun belt, "You're not the one being visited by the ghosts of Holloween 'stay', 'help', and 'get out'." Jimmy couldn't help but compare this night to the Dickens story someone had read him one Christmas.

"Jimmy?" Kid's voice arrived in the room seconds before his body did, "What's going on?"

Jimmy was muttering to himself as he searched for a missing sock so Cody answered for him. "Hickok wants to look for Joseph's remains now." He couldn't keep the annoyance out of his voice.

"Why?"

Cody shrugged, "He's mumbling something about someone named Scrooge."

Kid was beginning to become confused, "Who?"

"Are you two hens done cackling?" Jimmy asked, "Cause I'm ready."

An hour later the three men with Lou by their side began to search the house. The group knew that you really couldn't bury anything in an upstairs room especially the remains so they decided not to search it.

The search began in the living room. Hickok and Cody searched the floors for any hidden hatchways, while Lou and Kid examined the fireplace and flue for any signs of remains hidden there.

As the group worked in silence, Jimmy couldn't help but feel they were being watched. He lifted his head and with one hand poised over his colt, looked around the room.

Cody stood upright and searched the room as well, "What is it?"

"Nothin'." Jimmy said as he searched the darkness.

Just then Kid yelled, "What the. . ?! Hey I think I found something." Jimmy and Cody ran to Lou's side and added their lamplight to the two she already had in her hands.

"What is it?" She asked Kid.

"Don't know but it feels pretty big." Kid said, his words punctuated by grunts of his exertion. "Urghhh" Kid yelled, "Oh, it smells!" After a few seconds the putrid stench of rotting flesh struck the other riders full force, and in an instant the room began to get cold.

"Who opened the door?" Cody asked as he pulled his jacket closed.

"This happened before," Jimmy whispered. Cody and Lou looked at him questioningly. "When I was visited by the ghost." Jimmy answered.

"I got it!" Kids voice echoed. His friends stood silently waiting for him to bring out whatever was in the flue. Suddenly the room went black.

When Jimmy opened his eyes moments later, he couldn't help but laugh. Standing before him were his friends covered in soot. Kid was holding what looked like a bird.

"I don't know why you're laughing, you look just as bad as us." Lou said dryly.

"Could someone please remind me why we're even doing this?" Cody whined.

"Because Callie deserves to be at peace." Lou said.

"We're not even sure this is gonna work." Kid said as the group shook soot out of their hair and clothes.

"Okay so we can count this room out." Jimmy said, "We'll head for the kitchen next then we'll go outside."

"Outside?!" Cody exclaimed. "We ain't gonna find nothin' out there in the dark. Besides, if old man Forrester had buried Joseph anywhere near the outside of the house someone would have seen his freshly dug grave."

"Cody's got a point." Kid said.

"Okay so we'll check the kitchen and then what?" Jimmy asked.

"Then we will leave. I don't want to stay here anymore." Cody said as the whine began to reappear in his voice.

Jimmy raised both eyebrows, and his voice took on a tone that he had heard both Emma and Rachel use on them when they spoke to them like children. "How? We ain't got our horses."

Cody thought a second, "I'll walk if I have to."

"Hey wait a minute," Kid interrupted. "I am not leaving Katy."

"Oh come on Kid." Cody pleaded. Kid began to shake his head and make his protest again when Lou stepped between the two men.

"Alright! Cody, we know you never even wanted to come here, and we all know how Kid feels about his horse. Let's go check the kitchen and then we'll decide what to do, agreed?"

"Sounds good to me." Jimmy said happily.

Both Kid and Cody shot Hickok a dirty look. Lou grabbed both their chins and pulled them to face her, "Boys?"

The two nodded silently, "Good lets go." Lou turned, grabbed a lantern and headed o the back of the house and the kitchen followed closely by Jimmy Cody and Kid.

The group once again split up and began to search the small room for any doors or hidden hatches.

Lou thought she saw something, so she glanced at Kid who had remained silent since coming into the room.

"Kid can you hold the light up a little more?"

Kid did nothing.

Lou fully turned to face him. "Kid-" It was then she realized he had his pistol aimed at her chest.

"What the hell you doin?!" At her outcry, both Jimmy and Cody looked over at the two. Instantly the two young men had their guns out of their holsters and cocked as they saw the reflection of light off of gun metal.

"Lou!!" The exclamation was followed immediately by the sound of footsteps running toward the kitchen. All heads turned to see Kid run into the room his own gun drawn.

"Kid?" Lou whispered.

Kid was looking from Jimmy to Cody, "What's going on?" He asked as he leveled his gun towards his two friends. "Why are you aiming at Lou."

"We were gonna ask you the same thing, 'sides we ain't aiming at Lou we was aiming at you." Cody said.

At that point all heads turned back to the area where Kid, or what they thought was Kid, was standing. Lou who up to that point was frozen in place, ran to Kid and hugged him tightly, while Jimmy and Cody holstered their guns.

Kid hugged Lou as well. "Shh, it's okay." He whispered soothingly into her hair.

Lou pulled back and slapped him in the arm. "Don't you ever pull a gun on me again Kid or so help me. . ."

Kid rubbed his arm, "But I didn't pull a gun on you, I could never do that." He said in his defense.

"Well then who did?" Cody asked.

"I don't know. All's I can say is that I went back into the chimney to close the flue."

"Which brings us back to the question of who was holding a gun on Lou?" Cody said.

The group stood silently in the room looking at one another for any signal that they would heed the voice.

"Who was that?" Cody choked out.

"I figure that was Callie's father." Jimmy whispered.

The room instantly became very cold, and vapor appeared as each rider exhaled.

The voice was harsher. Without warning the room seemed to take on a green glow.

"Mommie . . ." Cody whined

"Maybe we should go." Kid said to Jimmy.

"We told Callie we'd help." Lou whispered.

With that exclamation, what little furniture the room had began to topple over and shake. Suddenly the figure of a man appeared in the doorway and slowly began to stalk towards the group of friends.

Jimmy quickly pulled out his colt and began shooting at the apparition.

The other riders looked over at the hot headed young man with raised eyebrows.

"What?" He asked.

"That there's a ghost Jimmy." Cody said calmly.

"And...?"

"And you can't shoot one and expect it to lay down and die!" Cody yelled hysterically.

"You have another idea?"

All of a sudden there was a burst of white light followed by a blood curdling scream.

When the group could see clearly again, the room was as it had been prior to their visitor.

"Jimmy?" Callie's voice called from the doorway, "Is everyone all right?"

"Yes, we're fine. Was that your father?"

Callie materialized before them, her head hanging.

"Callie?" Jimmy said worriedly.

Callie shook her head slowly. "No that wasn't my father. That was Joseph."

"What?" Cody exclaimed.

"Why?" Lou asked.

"He thinks that if you find his remains, we will forever be separated." Callie explained.

"How does he figure that?" Kid asked.

"He murdered my father. He was a God-fearing man, he thinks that he'll be punished because he took matters into his own hands instead of leaving it to the powers that be."

"So Joseph makes himself look like Kid and pulls a gun on Lou, then tells us in his best scary voice to get out, all because he hopes to scare us out of the house so he won't go to hell?" The skeptic in Jimmy appeared again.

Callie looked at him with confusion in her eyes. "Wait, Joseph was the cause of the chill and the voice, but he'd never threaten the life of another person . . .well except my father."

"So your saying that wasn't Joseph pretending to be Kid just then?" Lou asked.

"Exactly. That was not Joseph, that was my father."

Jimmy exhaled sharply. "Okay Callie, so what do you want us to do?"

She stared back at him blankly.

"Do you want us to find his remains or not?" Jimmy clarified.

"Yes."

As soon as the word was out of her mouth the three lanterns were extinguished and the house began to shake around them.