The Haunting of Forest Lane

Chapter Thirty

Ally, Danielle and Marcus were by the indoor pool, talking about everything that was going on. Nothing paranormal was happening until they heard a loud noise.

"What the hell was that" Danielle asked with fear in her voice. 

Ally and Marcus looked around the room observing their surroundings, as they were looking a dark shadow and it started to come their way.

Amani stepped foot in Lauren's parents home and it was so welcoming, the smell the cute decorations representing the cuban culture and American culture. Photos of Lauren and her siblings and family portraits they took right after Lauren graduated high school. 

"You can sleep in Lauren's bed. Riley and Chris are staying at my sister's until I can be here to make sure they get to school on time even though it is the weekend, I just feel more comfortable knowing they're somewhere safe, and I can be with Lauren without worrying about them too.:

"I appreciate everything you've done Caroline. I'll see you in the morning."

"Goodnight Amani."

"Goodnight."

Amani walked upstairs and saw Lauren's door still decorated with her softball number '22' and the glitter posters Camden insisted on making. She went in and saw a picture on her dresser of the two, sophomore year right before she had met Camden. She was drunk and Amani was taking care of her like usual and Ally was at the coffee shop. They were laying on the beach, Amani laughed at how drunk Lauren looked just by her smile.

"Lauren you really need to stop drinking."

She took another sip, "why? It's just wine coolers, they're like 3% alcohol. They don't even bother me anymore. Stop being like my mom."

"Lauren! You've had like 12 of them and you've had shots that you had in your bag. Are you building a fucking sandcastle?"

She found a bucket and started filling it with sand, "Uhh yeah, people do that at beaches you know."

Lauren tried to stack two buckets full of sand and it collapsed. She laid down.

"What are you doing?"

"I fell down like my sandcastle did. The sunset is pretty come lay down Mani."

The two were admiring the colors, when Ally came running down from the coffee shop with a Polaroid camera. 

"Say cheese!"

She snapped a photo of the two laying in the sunset, the golden hour and it ended up being one of Amani's favorite photos.

"I'm putting this on my wall, so I can look at sexy Amani all the time."

Amani rolled her eyes, "I hate you so much Lauren."

She playfully slapped her, "no you don't you love me." 

Amani kissed her forehead, "you're right I love you so much. I would be lost without you."

Amani pulled one of Lauren's shirts out of the closet, it barely went over her stomach, she stood up and looked at her stomach in the mirror. She definitely had a baby bump. She wasn't for sure if this made her happy or stressed. She laid down in Lauren's bed and turned the lights off and when she glanced up it was covered in glow in the dark star stickers, Amani couldn't believe they were still there. The two put them up there when they were 8 years old. Lauren got them in her stocking during Christmas and the first thing they did was jump on her bed and tape the stars to the ceiling, and Marcus came to help.

Mani you have to jump higher. I want the big stars above my bed."

"I'm trying, it's hard, the ceiling is so far."

The two jumped and got one star up there, "Mani higher!"

Amani jumped higher the next time and she landed on her butt and jumped onto the floor causing a loud noise and Marcus to intervene.

"What are you girls doing up here?"

Lauren immediately turned to Amani, "it was her daddy, she made the noise."

Amani turned towards Lauren, "but she told me to jump higher. She wants the big stars on the ceiling. I couldn't reach."

Marcus laughed, "come here you two, you can take turns on my shoulders and hang the stars up? How does that sound?"

"Me first daddy!"

"Amani is the guest. She goes first."

Lauren rolled her eyes, "fine whatever." 

By the time they were done, they had 50 stars hanging on the ceiling, going to sleep every night after that made Lauren excited. She felt like she was sleeping outside and it made bed time fun, every time she looked at the stars she thought of her best friend.

Back at the hospital Lauren was staring at the wall, she hated the ICU. It was cold and she didn't have her phone and there was no TV in the room. Her mom had a stack of magazines but she couldn't get out of bed to get them or she would more than likely fall. The ICU had so many different noises and people were constantly running around, and every time someone took off running she was afraid something had, had happened to Camden and her body grew tense and her stomach hurt.  She knew she wanted to leave as soon as possible. 

Camden and Nancy were together down the hall and Camden was staring at the wall trying to piece together everything that had happened in the past few days.

"So mom, Lauren you said, that's my fiancé?"

Nancy nodded, "yes honey, you're engaged to get married, you proposed to her at our Thanksgiving dinner."

"But I remember something, I-I- I shot her didn't I? It wasn't me, It was a demon, It shot Lauren, it made me come back and It had the gun pointed towards me, I saw Lauren for a brief second on the ground and I let it shoot me. I was able to keep it from shooting me in the head but I know I hurt her really badly. Is she alive?"

Nancy sat down and rubbed her shoulders, "Lauren's okay she's recovering. She's probably sleeping right now as you should be."

Camden's eyes turned from brown too black, "next time I see Lauren I will kill her!"

Nancy backed up from the bed and Camden's eyes turned back to normal and she laid back and fell asleep.

Nancy sat down and kept a close eye on her daughter while she slept.

Marcus and Danielle both got up and ran over to the other side of the room, Ally didn't move. Danielle immediately knew what was wrong. 

"Marcus, Ally is fucking possessed."

Ally took off running towards the other two, her eyes were all black and she was making some horrifying hissing sound, she had blood running down her face from her mouth and nose, her nails were super long they looked like snakes, and she had this really thick liquid running down them, this was a demon that hasn't seen before, and this was one of the most terrifying yet.

As Marcus placed his hand on the door to leave, Ally placed her long nails on Marcus and Danielle.

"Not so fast."

***Sunday December 6th***