by Ashley Brooke Payne
The house was huge, dark and damp looking. Kerri stood outside looking at it, wondering what mysteries lurked inside. Tiffany begged her to keep walking.
"Come on Ker, this place is giving me a bad feeling." she tugged on her friends arm.
"Don't be such a baby. It's just a house." Or was it? They walked on and Kerri kept glancing back. Curiosity killing her. "Let's go back." she suggested.
"No way! You have to be crazy. I'm so not going into that house."
"Why not? It's abandoned. For goodness sakes it's four in the afternoon. Everyone knows that ghosts don't come out until midnight." she said in an eerie voice.
"Very funny. I'm not going. You can go by yourself."
"Fine I will."
"No Kerri don't go back there. Please?"
"I've made up my mind. I'll call you tonight." she flashed at smile at Tiffany and walked back.
She ran up the steps to the house and rang the doorbell. She knew that no one lived there but she just wanted to be safe. She waited. No answer. She was about to touch the doorknob when it opened slowly. 'Weird.' she thought but proceeded anyway. The floor creaked beneath her feet.
"Hello?" she called out in the dark. "Anyone here?" Silence.
"Kerri." a voice whispered.
"Who's there?!?" she thought it was Tiffany playing a trick on her.
"Kerri..." the voice whispered again.
"Tif this isn't funny! Where are you?" she trembled.
"I've been waiting for you." the door slammed shut. It was too dark to see. She went running for the door and tried to pull it open but it wouldn't budge. She banged on the door and screamed.
"Help me! Please God someone help me!!" but no one heard her. She felt a hand grab her. It was like ice and it was strong. Stronger than a human hand. The hand turned her toward it. She closed her eyes tightly. It was a woman she knew. By the shape of the hand it was a woman creature. A candle flickered by her face.
"Don't be scared." the voice whispered. "I won't hurt you."
She opened her eyes. And screamed. She screamed and screamed. The woman before her was like a monster. One ear was cut off. Her face was badly burned and scarred and she had no hair. Kerri tried to run but the woman wouldn't let go.
"Don't be afraid, please?" she begged. Kerri closed her eyes tightly.
"What do you want?" she stammered.
"I need your help."
"Please don't hurt me I'll do whatever you want."
"I'm not going to hurt you but listen to me carefully."
She led her to the living room. Candles were lighted all around the house to guide the way. She sat down on a red sofa with the woman.
"My name is Angeline. Seven years ago my family was murdered. I was left for dead. I barely survived." the woman looked down. "I was fourteen when it happened. He tortured us. He was sick, very sick. It was my fault my family died. He wanted me to marry him but I refused. He terrified me and he was 15 years older than me. I was just a child and I was very intimidated by him. He came in while we were sleeping. He shot my father. Spared him all the torture. Then he drug me and my sister from our beds by our hair. My sister was only seven years old. Then he brought us to the basement. He tied us to chairs and brought my mother downstairs. She was already dead. Actually it wasn't my mother that he brought the basement. It was my mothers severed head and arms. He threw the head in my lap and I fainted. I woke up to hear my sister scream. He was cutting her arm off. He gagged her. I was screaming through the towel. Begging him to stop. Not to kill her she was just a baby." the woman began to cry.
"I watched my sister bleed to death. She kept looking at me. She was crying. Her eyes looked so haunted. I'll never forget the way she looked at me and I couldn't help her. I tried but I couldn't. He stood there laughing. Telling me I had to pay for being such a bad girl. He cut my hair off with a knife. Then he slowly cut my ear off. I fainted. I knew I was going to die. He raped me so many times over the next few days. I had never hurt so much in my entire life. I was starved for days and days. He cut my arms up pretty bad." she rolled up her sleeves to show some severly scarred arms.
Kerri sat there quietly, she didn't know what to say.
"Before he left he untied me and locked me down in the basement with the corpses of my family. Then he sat fire to the bottom part of the house. I died in that fire." Kerri's mouth dropped open.
"You mean you're...you're dead?"
"Yes. I'm dead. But I cannot move on. I'm in a state of limbo. Some where between heaven and hell but not quite living. No one can see me but you." she said.
"Why me though?" Kerri asked. She was no longer afraid.
"Because you're the third generation of the Castelle family. Haven't you ever heard about things coming in three's?" she asked.
"Yes."
"Psychic powers increase with every generation and you are the strongest generation. You have to help me Kerri."
"What can I do? I'm not psychic."
"That's what you think but you are Kerri. That's why you came in here. That's why you've always had these feelings and dreams about things. You are psychic but your powers haven't been unleased yet. Are you ready to receive your gift Kerri?" Kerri nodded her head yes. Angeline rubbed oil on her face and arms and made her recite a little prayer in greek. Then she told Kerri to think back to her earliest memory and say the prayer again. Kerri did so and a thousand pictures flashed through her head at once. She almost blacked out. She was dizzy.
"Sleep my child." Angeline waved her hand over Kerri and Kerri fell asleep on the couch. She uttered words in her dreams. When she woke she felt like another person. "Now you must go to the police." Angeline told her.
"But what will I say?"
"You'll know exactly what to say when you get there. I'll send you telepathic messages."
"But what if it doesn't work?" And Angeline whispered in her mind 'It will work.' Angeline smiled.
"You're my last hope Kerri. Please don't let me down." Kerri ran all the way to the Police Department.
"Hello! I need to speak to an officer." an officer took her into an office. Words came from Kerri and it was like it was no longer her it was Angeline now. She told him about the bones he'd find at 522 Pearl Lane and that the killer was Marvin DeGrassi Monticello and he was now 36 and lived on Catalada Drive in a big gray house. He drove a red truck and he worked at Richie's Department store. Then she proceeded to tell him what had happened 7 years before.
"How do you know about all this?"
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you." and she left. Angeline whispered to her, 'You've done good my child. Go home and get some rest.'
She went home and got ready for bed. All this had drained her. She wasn't used to this kind of stuff. She decided to tell Tiffany another time. When it was right.
The next monday night she had a dream of Angeline.
"Thank you Kerri. I'm at rest now. You will be greatly rewarded someday." she smiled. "Please never abuse your gift. Treat it like a precious jewel, for it is very precious and it will help you in the future." Kerri hugged her goodbye in the dream. When she woke she found Angeline's locket around her neck. She smiled to herself.
The next day the police called her.
"You were right about the house on Pearl Lane. How did you know?"
"Let's just say I had a dream." she said.
