Whispers

Chapter 8

Jeremy and I waited in my room until everything went silent, we checked all of our gear. We put in some of our ghost hunting equipment as well. EVP recorder, thermal camera, and the works. It was roughly one in the morning when everything settled and there was not a peep in the entire hotel. I nudged Jeremy and we silently crept out of my room. We looked like little spies on TV as we kept an eye out the entire time, looking left, right, and behind us. We had to slow our movements as we got to the stairs because they had a tendency to creek. When we managed to get down to the lobby, we went dead silent because old man Mr. Richards was at the counter. He was in a chair. leaning back with his hands clasped together on his stomach. He seemed to be asleep, but I knew better.

"I know you're there, boys," Mr. Richards said softly. "I'm keeping an eye out for ya. Go get your answers, Michael."

"Thank you." I grabbed Jeremy and we jogged to the door. A blast of cold air hit our faces. I hoped that the hedges in the garden would keep a lot of the wind out. "Thank god I talked to him earlier."

"How much did you two talk?"

"Well, the women in my dreams and on that footage has no name. I'm thinking that she saw something she shouldn't have. Grigori had her killed and buried her in the center of the garden-"

"The only trimmed down area of the garden?"

"Yes. Here's the thing, though. Nobody has gone in there since 1985. That's when their eldest son died."

"Wait, how come we've never heard about this?"

"It gets creepier, Jeremy. Nathan doesn't know he has a brother. They don't want him to know. Nathan was born a few years later. They would be roughly eighteen years apart if I were to take a guess. That's why Nathan is young compared to the people who usually have parents that age." We rounded the building towards where we saw the gate and I had to pause. I sifted through my bag and pulled out two flashlights. They were small, but had a good beam. "Anyway, I don't want to tell you anything else since I know it'll freak you out."

"Oh great. That just makes me freak out more."

"I'll explain more as we get further inside the garden."

"Why not now?"

"Promise you'll still go with me?"

"You sound like a teenage girl." Jeremy rolled his eyes. "I won't back out or leave you here by yourself. I'm your friend."

"Good. I'm guessing their son got possessed and shot himself. No valid evidence, though." We reached the gate and I reached inside my pocket. I grabbed the padlock and brushed all the snow off of it. "Did you pack your lighter? The lock is frozen."

"Yeah." He patted his pockets, grabbed his lighter from his jacket, and handed it to me. "I keep it on me for all the good stuff."

"Did you really plan on smoking weed out here?" I scoffed and flicked the lighter. It took two turns to light it, but it was burning hot when I did. I held it to the lock and the ice melted away slowly. The heat wasn't enough to fully de-ice it, but just enough to allow me to put the key in the lock. I twisted it with some difficulty, but I managed to unlock it. I had to yank at the lock, though.

"I was thinking about it," Jeremy whispered. I rolled my eyes and opened the creaky gate. It was loud in the dead of night, but wouldn't have been noticeable in the day. We walked through the snow. It had melted a little bit from over the day. It was turning to spring here, so the days were getting warmer, but the ice and snow still remained at the end of the day. "Let's find that door."

"No kidding." We kept quiet. The only noise was our feet and legs against the snow. We kept to the hedges until we found the door again. Jeremy grabbed out his hunting knife from his boots. "What the hell?"