BEAR VALLEY MANOR

5

I come jumping out of the Estes session, my heart nearly exploding out of my chest as I look around the room. Tanya comes running over to me, ripping the headphones off my head and wiping my long locks out of my face as I breathe heavily.

"Danny, come back to me babe. Take some deep breaths and come back to me," Tanya whispers, kissing my forehead and holding me as I took control over my body again.

"Tanya, we have to get out of here," I whisper back to her.

"What do you mean? What happened?" I explain it all to her, every moment inside the vision Max and Delores sent me. While it all appeared as jumbled scenes when it first happened, now it makes all the sense in the world.

"I don't know how or who they are, but every couple of decades or so this house is used by a killer. They have been killing couples inside this home and Max and Delores just warned me about it. I saw it all happen, Tanya. I can't explain how I know it or why I was shown this is such vivid detail, but I know this to be true. We've been set up."

"Set up? Do you think someone lured us here? Who sent you the email about this place?"

"Some random person. I wouldn't have even come here if I hadn't reached out to some locals and confirmed the story first. I didn't even reply to the anonymous tip though, so how would they have known we'd be here?"

"Maybe they've been tracking our social media presence. We have been delaying our posts until we're long gone from our investigation spots, but maybe someone pieced together our path somehow."

"Tanya, grab everything we can, and let's get out of here. Someone is coming," I whisper, my heart stopped in my chest again as I see something. Tanya and I both look and see the haunting, bloody image of Max and Delores, their spirits standing in the hallway and pointing down the hall towards the stairwell. We stay quiet, unable to believe what we are seeing when we hear the familiar sound of boots walking up the stairs.

Tanya and I moved quickly, grabbing our equipment and getting ready to run. I look up again and see Delores and Max waving frantically, and I gather that they want us to follow them, and quickly.

"We have to follow them," I whisper. Instead of arguing, Tanya nods, fear spreading across her face as the true threat of a real killer emerges. We quickly run towards the spirits, who glide frantically down the hall away from the staircase. They lead us to an empty room three doors down from where we were, and they motion for us to stand near the door and be quiet. We nod, and listen as the footsteps grow louder, slowly making their way into the area where we once were.

Covering our mouths, we hold our breaths as the footsteps move further and further into the room we were at, and wait for our next move. Delores looks at us, pointing towards the door and miming to us that we needed to make a break for it. We both nod, and wait as she counts down from three to zero on her hand. As she finishes her countdown, we both take a deep breath and sprint down the hall.

We make it down the hall and nearly to the door we had emerged from when Delores appears before us, quickly miming for us to duck. We scream as we both drop and roll forward, nearly missing the sharp wisp of the ax the latest killer tries bringing down on us. We roll and keep moving, running towards the stairs and ignoring the mystery killer's grunts and growls behind us, as if he's become a savage animal in our presence. We are after all his prey.

Delores waves us forward, pointing towards the stairs and the exit from this fresh nightmare we find ourselves in. Just as we turn towards the staircase, we hear the crackle of energy just as the killer reaches our position. Running down the stairs, we turn in surprise as the killer screams in terror. Max and Delores have taken on a frightening appearance, their mouths elongating in a classic horror movie scream as they charge towards the killer. Clearly taken aback by the ghostly appearance, the madman tumbles and falls backward as the rotten railing of the staircase landing shatters against his massive weight.

The killer falls screaming, landing on the first floor with a sickening thud as he does so. Tanya and I quickly run down the stairs and see the killer lies limp at the entrance foyer. His limbs are bent and broken backward, and the large ax he had attempted to use on Tanya and I is wedged into his shoulder, blood oozing out from his massive wound. Despite the status of the killer, Tanya and I waste no time in getting the hell out of there.

As we run down the steps of the home and out into the emerging thunderstorm, I stop and look back at the entrance. As Tanya calls my name and begs me to leave, I see Max and Delores, holding one another's hand and standing in the home's entrance. No grand white light emerges to take them to a brighter tomorrow, but I sense in them a peace they had been lacking for so long. Despite it all, this is their home, and they are with one another. Nodding to the spirits, I turn and leave behind my experience at Bear Valley Manor.