Haunted (Book #1)✔️

ℭ𝔥𝔞𝔭𝔱𝔢𝔯 𝔖𝔦𝔵

Mark had entered through the large double doors into a big room that was similar to a library. He had his notepad and pen ready to search for any clues that were to be absolutely necessary to help him figure out what happened to Sean. His footsteps echoed on the wooden floor until he arrived at the informations desk. Standing behind the desk was a young redhead with brown eyes.

"How may I help you sir?" Questioned the young girl.

"I'm looking for any information about the McLoughlin's," says Mark. "You see, I'm part of the National Register of Historic Places and we're trying to preserve the McLoughlin household since it's important to the 1920s,"

"The McLoughlin household?" Says the girl in shock. "Are you telling me your living in that house?"

"Yeah, why?" Said Mark whose face was plastered with fake confusion.

"Nothing," says the girl "I'll search the location of that section and point you in the right path,"

"Thank you," spoke Mark. He waited patiently while the girl was typing away on the computer. Though while he waited he looked around the opening area until his eyes landed on a young male with Red Hair and looked an awfully lot like the girl. Mark's heart dropped to his stomach the man was a spirit, he should have guessed the Archives had that problem, especially since it was old and some of the texts are ancient, saved for years and kept preserved in cold temperatures so it wouldn't fall apart.

Mark watched for a while that is until the young man felt like he was being watched. He turned at the same time he and Mark locked eyes. Quickly tearing his eyes away, Mark tried his best not to look at the spirit. However, like the flash, the young man appeared right next to Mark.

"Can you see me?" Asks the spirit. Mark nodded his head slowly without the girl noticing. "Thats great!" He exclaims. "Look my name is Aaron Landen and I need you to deliver a message for my sister," he continued. "The girl behind the desk," Mark looked at the girl wondering how he was going to tell her that her brother was standing here leaving her a message.

"Alright," says the girl "information on the McLoughlin's will be in this room," she grabbed a piece of paper and wrote down a number then slid it to Mark. The man looked between his sister and Mark who started to grow impatient.

"Her name is Lisa and tell her that her boyfriend is cheating on her with another girl," he says, Mark snuck a glance at Aaron.

"That's it?" He said in a low whisper. "That's what you want me to tell her?"

"Excuse me?" Says Lisa who arched her eyebrow.

"Sorry," spoke Mark feeling slightly embarrassed. "Just thinking out loud,"

"Tell her! Please! I don't want her to get hurt," Aaron said worriedly. Mark nodded his head and started making his way toward the hallway but not before he turned around and faced Lisa.

"Lisa?" Mark spoke up catching her off guard. "I want to let you know that your brother Aaron," he continued "told me to tell you that your boyfriend is cheating on you with another girl," turning on his heels, he sped up until he arrived at the room he needed to get into. Mark pushed open the door and entered the dimly lit room, it had been slightly chilly which was understandable since the records could fall apart at anytime. Mark carefully closed the door and walked through the shelves hoping he'd be able to find the correct documents. He walked up and down the aisles until he arrived at the M's a sigh of relief passed through his body as he started looking up and down and eventually he stumbled across the one thing he had been searching for.

Mark grabbed the box, carefully and brought it over to a table. Pulling out his pen and paper he sat down and started going through paper after paper eventually, he stumbled across a couple documents and a newspaper clipping. Setting the other documents down, Mark began to read through it.

March, 1920

Tragedy hit this weekend when the body of missing thirty-one year old Irish immigrant, Sean McLoughlin was found dead in the alleyway of California. Mr. McLoughlin's family has been notified and are attempting to set up a funeral for him.

Police suspect that the shadow murderer has struck again only this time they seem to be attacking changing up their tactics. Police have questioned all possible suspects but can't seem to pinpoint the exact motive. More to come soon.

Mark was shocked, Sean had indeed been murdered but they were having trouble trying to come up with a motive. Mark wrote some notes down and went through the rest of the documents and pulled out another newspaper clipping that was dated for the same year and month.

Police are unable to solve Sean's Murder but it seems that they got a few clues as to what has been going on. "The shadow murderer is smart, he's continued to outsmart us at whatever the cost, but we won't give up until we've stopped this murderer form causing anymore harm," spoke officer Daniel. There was another from a month later stashed inside the box. Mark pulled it out and read through it.

Police are unable to find and arrest the murderer, no new evidence has appeared and police are confused as to how this criminal could slip through their grasps. "Without anymore evidence," Officer Daniel said "I'm afraid that we have to put this case on hold. That was it, the officer had done everything they could but nothing was working. Whoever the shadow murderer was he had to of been pretty damn good. Mark was still going through the papers when someone snuck up on him.

"I see you've found the newspaper clippings of the shadow murderer," says a voice from behind him. Mark jumped in fright and turned around to find Lisa standing there with her arms crossed.

"When did you get in here?" Questioned Mark only his voice came out as a small squeak.

"I just walked in," says Lisa. "I came to check on you and see how your doing,"

"I'm doing good," Mark squeaked. "And as for the news clippings, what do you know about the shadow murderer?"

"The shadow murderer is kind of famous around California, he struck between 1920-1930," she said. "Stories and clippings tell us about how he would pick and choose his victims,"

"And how does he do that?" Asked Mark who was busy scribbling down notes.

"Well," said Lisa as she sat next to Mark. Mark felt slightly uncomfortable when Lisa sat close to him. "There are different stories, some say he hides in the shadows and waits for his victims to pass by while others say he targeted them specifically because they had special powers,"

"Do you know what he looked like?" Mark questioned.

"Well..." says Lisa, she got up and dug through the box until she found a sketch. "He kind of looked like you," she pulled it a thin white sheet of paper and handed it over to Mark, Mark took the picture and looked at it, his eyes widened when he realized what she was talking about. The portrait wasn't just of the supposed killer but he looked almost identical to Mark except with a darker color in his hair. Mark was shocked, it was possible that an ancestor of his had been a killer but that didn't make sense, none of his ancestors had special powers not even remotely close to how the killer could hide in the shadows. The minute he looked at the picture he knew immediately what to do. He had to ask his father about his ancestry and try to solve Sean's death before something bad happened to him.