Impotent Death: A Paranormal Mystery

Chapter Seventeen

"Get away from her now!" Amanda demanded, waving the knife in Liam's direction.
     Liam shot up off the ground and backed away into the wall, his eyes full of fear.
     "Don't hurt him!" I screamed at Amanda. I kept working on freeing my right wrist with one hand while staring between Amanda and Liam in terror.
     Amanda quickly lunged at Liam with the knife—I screamed, Liam barely ducked and avoided the blade—she tried again, this time slicing a clean cut across his left shoulder. He moaned in pain and hesitantly touched it with one hand.
     "Stop it!" I cried, yanking at my wrist so hard I felt the rope cut my skin. I gave another tug and it came free. Now I had both my arms.
     Amanda gave a shriek like a battle cry and charged at Liam again, this time aiming for his throat. He escaped the blade by an inch and managed to give Amanda a shove into the sink.
     "You're going to regret doing that!" Amanda screeched at Liam. She looked angrier than I'd ever seen a person be as she attacked Liam again with no hesitation.
     Liam's face was stricken with terror; he was backed into the corner of the sink with nowhere to run to. No!! There had to be something I could do—I looked around frantically for something I could throw at Amanda. I spotted a bar of soap sitting on the edge of the bathtub and flung it as hard as I possibly could in her direction.
     I must've been the luckiest girl in the world—the soap nailed Amanda right between the eyes. She let out a groan of pain and dropped the knife. Liam quickly scrambled away from the corner and kicked the knife away from Amanda. Then he put her in a headlock (which wasn't hard to do with his big football player arms) and held her in place until a bunch of men in blue uniforms burst through the bathroom door: the police.
     I heaved a sigh of relief as they surrounded Liam and Amanda and took Amanda away in handcuffs, telling her all the usual "you have the right to remain silent" stuff. Two of the officers finished untying my legs and helped me out of the bathtub. My head ached so badly I nearly toppled over getting out.
     A third officer asked Liam some questions while they treated the cut on his shoulder. They finally led us out of the house where there were sirens blaring and caution tape blocking off the front of the house. One officer wrapped me in a soft towel and began asking me some questions. It was a long afternoon, one I hardly remember after being put through so much trauma.
      But I do remember what an overwhelming comfort it was to give Liam a big hug after it was all over and let him hold me tightly. His reassuring words and soft touch gave me more peace than anything.
     Ruth and the rest of my family rushed home as soon as they got the news of what happened. No one could believe it. How I'd almost been murdered in our own house, and even more so how Kevin Lee Raymond was indeed innocent.
     "Benjamin was the killer! We were right!" I said to Ruth while we embraced each other.
     Benjamin looked horrified. "What? I didn't do anything!"
     "Not you, stupid," I said to my brother. "Benjamin Weller."
     "Well, you've really complicated things for me, you two," my dad said to me and Ruth as our whole family shared a group hug. "My own daughters proved that the book I was writing was false. I guess it's time to start rewriting it—correctly this time." We laughed.
     "So, Kevin warned you I was in trouble, didn't he," I said to Ruth later. "What else happened?" I'd been dying to hear the whole story.
     "Yeah. Kevin came to me while we were at the zoo. He said you had been attacked, and he overheard the whole plan of how Amanda and her brother were going to kill you. I knew I needed to call Liam, so I—"
     "How did you call Liam? You don't have his number," I pointed out.
     "I memorized it that night you were saying it over and over," she said.
     Wow. I was never going to doubt my sister's abilities again.
     "You're literally amazing, Ruth," I said to her, and she couldn't suppress a grin.
     She continued. "I called Liam and told him to get over to our house and call the police. And I told mom and dad everything too. That was a little awkward, but they believed me and we got straight on a flight home. Anyway, I explained to Liam about the secret passageway to the bathroom and how he needed to record Amanda to get more evidence. He took his phone, climbed up the slide, and sat in the passageway listening to her. He recorded all of it. Her whole confession of everything."
     "That's perfect!" I said excitedly. "Now we have solid evidence that Benjamin is guilty. We did it,  Ruth. I can't believe we didn't just solve it, we proved it! And... I'm glad we did, even if it meant I almost died," I said as I carefully touched the back of my head.
     "Me too," Ruth agreed, only she looked sad.
     I frowned at her. "What's wrong?"
     "Well... now that we're done... Kevin won't be with us anymore. He's gonna... move on." She hugged herself and a tear slid down her tiny cheek.
     I put my arms around her. "I didn't think about that. That's really sad. You know, even though I didn't know him, Kevin seemed like an awesome guy."
     "He's my best friend—where have you been, Kevin? I thought you'd already left!" Ruth had started talking to a corner of her bedroom, where we were hanging out. "Why do you have to leave? Please stay... oh, you have something you want to tell Makayla? Well, okay. I'm going to repeat what he says word for word."
     I gave a small nod, feeling nervous for some reason about what the old ghost wanted to tell me.
     Ruth took in a deep breathe and began: "Makayla, I don't know what to say—there's so much. Thank you for being willing to sacrifice everything for my cause, even if it meant putting your own life in danger. Thank you for proving my innocence, and thank you for listening to Ruth and letting her help you. I'm not sure I will ever understand why she happened to have the ability to communicate with me when so few mortals do. All I know is that this was meant to be. Thank you for not giving up on me."
     I smiled as tears filled my eyes. "Of course, Kevin. Thanks for saving my life, by the way. Without you, I would've been a goner."
     "It was my pleasure to assist you. And, just so you know, Makayla: that night you were talking to me, I was listening. I was there. And I promise if you keep trying to hear me—to hear us—one day you will."
     I was at a loss for words. Did he really mean that? Was there really a chance I could learn how to hear ghosts someday? I felt a distinct shiver go down my spine and smiled.
     "With help from you two, I have finally completed my purpose on this earth—no, please don't go!" Ruth pleaded with tears running down her face. "D-don't go!"
     I gave my sister another hug of comfort and whispered, "Ruth... it's okay. It's time to let him go." I found myself getting teary-eyed again and wiped my eyes on the back of my sleeve. "Kevin is going somewhere better than here. He's going where he's always meant to be. But let him finish what he was saying."
     Ruth's eyes were red and puffy. Her lower lip was trembling as she slowly gave me the rest of his message: "Remember—listen, and you will hear. Goodbye, my friends."
     And he was gone. Even I seemed to feel it; an empty feeling filled the room, and for the first time ever it felt like we were missing someone. It was just me and Ruth now. Why did that feel so weird? Maybe I'd been able to recognize Kevin's presence the whole time, but I'd gotten so used to it that I didn't know he'd been there until he was gone.
     Ruth and I sat in silence on the edge of her bed for a long time, wondering what we were supposed to do now. We'd solved a murder that happened eighty years ago... what else was there to do in life?

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     Things changed very fast in the next week. Everyone had heard about how I'd almost been murdered, and no one would leave me alone about it. I was all over the news (which was miserable: I hate being the center of attention!) and the only thing anyone talked about anymore. And everyone started treating me like I was something fragile—even a few of my teachers gave me automatic A's on assignments. I felt kind of embarrassed about all of it, but I guess it was better than having everyone call me a liar.
     Hannah Green apologized profusely for all the rude things she'd said to me. She was so nice about it that I decided not to get my revenge on her; we actually ended up becoming pretty good friends, which was the last thing I expected to have happen this school year.
     Hannah wasn't quite my best friend, though; that spot was occupied by Liam. The same day he saved me from Amanda he asked me to be his girlfriend. And, of course, I said yes! We went on so many dates and had such good times. He is my one true love; I'm convinced I'll never love anyone else for the rest of my life.
     The Papillon Hotel's business did slow down quite a bit after the crimes of Benjamin and his family were exposed, but it was still up and running. Mrs. Harrison and Mrs. Bakersfield insisted on taking me and Ruth there to celebrate the fact that we'd solved a murder (what an ironic way to celebrate). I swear, it's the creepiest place ever! And since it was built by Benjamin's family, I'm sure there are some secret passageways in it somewhere that Ruth and I will have to find someday. Who knows, maybe there's another mystery in The Papillon Hotel just waiting to be solved by a sleuth like me. And maybe there are other ghosts out there who need Ruth's help.

I still can't believe it's over, I thought to myself one night as I lie in bed. I was, as I so often did, pondering everything we'd been through and trying to find an explanation for all of it. It really was meant to be. Fate or something, right? Anyway, whatever the reason...I'm glad we could conquer this together, Kevin. You, me, and Ruth.
     So am I, said a voice other than my own. And I knew, for the first time ever, that I'd heard the voice of Kevin Lee Raymond.
I came to realize that the truth behind the murder Ruth and I discovered wasn't supposed to be found. It had been buried under years of lies, false assumptions, and death. But somehow, death didn't have a say in this one; it'd been powerless. Kevin Lee Raymond had miraculously defied the laws of death and found a way to set things right.
And I'm eternally grateful he did because I don't want to know how things would've turned out differently if he hadn't.

The End