ONE NIGHT IN THE CABIN HOUSE (Completed...)

7

The girls were puzzled from what they'd heard. The voice sounded like some child pleading earnestly to someone to spare his mother.
“Yeah I know this place is scary, but what the heck was that?“ Julliete gazed around the dark room.
“I heard it too.“ Claire whispered. Her eyes continued scanning the whole place.
“This place is haunted.“ Gracia spoke softly as if to remind them.
“Sure it is. Oh lord I'm scared.“ Claire held her body together. She could feel the cold sweat on her brows.
Gracia was sitting tight with her heart drumming very fast. For some moment, the voice had had her too shocked and frightened to move.
“Maybe that was the voice of one of the children that had died?“ Gracia says.
“By murder.“ Justine assumed.
“Not murder.“ Claire immediately shot her eyes at Justine's way.
“It definitely should be. Because in what other way will a child die in this kind of awful place?“  Justine waved around.
“Sickness, disease, or any thing that could possibly lead to death.“ Claire didn't want to believe that someone would kill a child. It sounded cruel to her.
“What are you saying? There's a thousand possibility that a child is assassinated each day. Don't you watch documentaries on how kids are killed brutally?“ Justine was somehow amused that Claire would ever think in such way. There was some minutes silence before Gracia spoke up. “Justine,“ She looked at Justine whose eyes where at her way. “you'd said you saw a pregnant woman and her—” Gracia had remembered.
“her feet wasn't touching the ground. Yes.“ Justine finished off.
“I don't think it was in your imagination.“ Gracia said to her.
“I knew it wasn't.“ Justine said.
“Wait, it was actually real?“ Claire became surprised. She'd wanted to believe back then what Justine said she'd seen was real, but didn't because, Lee and Bate had instigated it to be just a wild imaginary scene.
“It wasn't my imagination. I decided to let it go since the rain was going to fall and I couldn't risk staying outside alone.“
“We wouldn't have left you stay outside alone. Not Lee.“ Gracia said.
Justine grinned a little with a nod. “I know.“ Her face was downcasted. “I wish they're still here with us. I know how much I want to fall on the floor and weep my eyes out. But I've got to be strong. At least one of us should survive to tell the story.“
“I find it hard to believe that Bate and Lee is no more. Like no more late night clubs during weekends, or partying wild.“ Gracia utters.
  “Or playing cards.“ Claire pointed out.
“Yeah…” Gracia grinned a little. “i would cheat and Lee is always there to cover up for me.“
“Not when he's among the players.“ Justine said, and they laughed.
Gracia's eyes were watering. “They're no more. There's pain in my heart everytime I think about it.“
“Wish I could reverse the time and never come up with the idea of exploring this city, maybe they would still be alive. Oh how I wish this was only a dream.“ Claire couldn't control the tears coming down. Gracia went over to her and held her. “You have to stop crying. Lee and Bate would want us to be strong.“
“What are we going to do with Bate's body?“ Justine asked after some while.
“I don't know. Perhaps we should survive and call the police. Wipe your tears.“ She fondled Claire's arm. “We must know that whatsoever that killed Bate is likely to harm us too, so we must be very careful.“ Gracia said.
“How did you know that the ghost you'd seen was female?“ Gracia was gazing at Justine.
“I saw the long hair and the torn garment that stopped beneath her knees.“ Justine reminisced. “She wore no shoes.“
“Her feet was bare?“ Gracia continued staring at her.
“Yeah, and her whole attention was focused at a particular position to the left.“ Justine stated with a demonstration. “She walked like there was no strength left in her. She took some steps to the tallest tree with a signboard and disappeared.“
"I'm sorry, what signboard?" Claire says almost immediately.
"There was a signboard? What did it read?" Gracia queried.
"I'm not surprised that you two didn't see the board. Everyone was in a hurry to escape the approaching rain. The board was little, chopped at some corners. I tried to see what was written on it but didn't. The letters was engraved."
"Why did you hide this information from us?" Claire says.
"No one was going to listen."
"We would've if you'd told us this part." She told her.
Immediately Gracia knew that they'd made a mistake. They should've waited and listened to what Justine had seen earlier and maybe, just maybe they would've figured out something together.
“It is unbelievable.“ Claire said.
“It is.“ Gracia agreed while in thoughts.
“Do you think that that was the Marylou Bellamy?“ Claire asked. “Maybe her ghost?“ she added.
“I wouldn't say it wasn't,“ Gracia told her. “but it should be a ghost since the feet wasn't touching the ground.“ She said.
“Creepy.“ Claire hugged herself.
Justine was going to suggest what they should do to Bateman's body at the moment. She wanted them to cover it up with a cloth at the meantime. She was about to speak up when a flickering light gleamed on the small window.
“What was that?“ Claire's eyes were fixed on the curtain..
“I wish I knew.“ It was Justine.
“This place is evil.“ Claire wondered how many times she'd said that.
“It's more than 300 years so it definitely is.“ Gracia said in a low voice.
“I wonder what it is.“ Justine took first step to go over the window.
“Justine, do you think it is wise to go towards to that place.“ Claire asked.
“What. To go to the window?“ She paused.
“It's not a good idea.“ Claire said.
“Oh, come off it.“ Justine chortles. “It's just there.“ She pointed.
“I can't make out anything from the darkness.“ Justine peeked. Her toes were raised in order to get a better view. “jeez, it's so dark.“
“where did the light come from?“ She wondered.
“I can hear the raindrops.“ Justine spoke. “It's about to rain. Tuck yourselves tight. We aren't leaving here tonight even if we wanted to.“
“What if we're eaten?“ Claire said too quickly.
“Eaten by what?“ Gracia eyed at her.
“By whatever that killed Bate.“
“Come on, why use the word eaten. You could've said killed. Besides, Bate wasn't feasted on. Don't make this sound like some vampire series.“ Justine rolled her eyes with a sigh.
“Eaten, killed. They are the same as long as we could die.“ Claire says. “Oh, my throat is dry, I'm thirsty.“
“Thirsty. Thirsty for blood?“
“Yeah, your blood. It would taste savoury.“ Claire teased back at Justine.
“Stop, okay?“ Gracia was on her feet. “We need to figure out something so we wouldn't get hurt by what you saw.“ She told Claire, and her eyes went to the inner room.
“I don't think there's anything else to find out.“ Claire shook her head. “Let's just pray and leave everything to the Almighty.“
“You're right but we can't fold our arms and do nothing.“ Gracia said.
“We should, until morning.“
“And you think the demon would let the morning rise without harming us?“
“What do we know.“
“Our lives are in danger. We mu—”
“We can't be doing anything. Bate suggested something and now Lee is gone.“ Justine interrupted.
“And Bate as well.“ Gracia said.
“Bate left us for outside.“ Justine said. "through a mysterious door.“ she joined.
“We went outside also and didn't get hurt.“ Gracia spoke.
“The lord's mercy.“ It was Justine.     They went quiet with thoughts flowing in and out of their heads.
“Look, the paper I'd found back then.“ Claire's hand had gone into her jacket pocket.
“The one Lee had read the meaning for us. Give it here.“ Justine stretched forth her hand.
“I didn't know that it was with me all this while.“
“Please help mum she has a baby.“ Justine reads. “Why did he write this?“
Claire shrugged. “That's what I'm trying to understand. His mother was definitely in trouble.“
“Don't you think maybe she was in labour and was yelling in pain and then the little child became frightened and I don't know—“ Justine says.
“It's probably a helpless child that picked up a pen and paper and wrote. He didn't have the strength to fight back what was hurting his mother and that's why he wrote hoping that someone would see it and help.“
Justine looked at Gracia for a moment and said. “How do you know that.“
“I was only assuming. As a journalist I can tell something from a little meaning.“
“A pity you are no longer a journalist. You were so good, and from your face each day I came across you at your workplace, I could tell you loved the job.“
Gracia was quiet for a sec. “wait… how do you know I was fired.“
“Oh.“ Justine gasped. “You were fired? Why? I thought you'd resigned.“ She couldn't believe it. “But you were very good and even dedicated your spare time. Why did they have to do you wrong?“
“You haven't answered my question?“
“Lee told me. He didn't tell me that you were fired. I'm only knowing about you getting fired now. He was very concerned and worried for you. He said that i should check up on you since you no longer have a job. That's all.“
“Yeah he must've, since he was the only one that knew about it.“ Gracia nods.
“Why didn't you tell any of us. We're your friends aren't we?“
“I didn't want you guys to know that I'm jobless. I begged Lee not to say anything to any of you. To think he would listen. Such a big mouth.“ Gracia hissed.
“Why did you tell only Lee. You are making us seem less important in your life. We are friends and we should tell each other things, right.“ Claire says.
“I didn't tell Lee, okay. His aunt's friend is a waitress in my office and she overheard when the manager sacked me. She told Lee and he phoned to ask me about it, and then I pleaded with him not to tell any of you. I was waiting for the right time to do so.“
“It's been four weeks long.“ Justine informed.
“I know.“ Gracia said. “Fine. I'm sorry.“ She was finally apologizing.
“Apart from Lee I wasn't the only one that knew about it by the way. We were all aware and was hoping you got another job. That's why we visited with groceries and other stuff."
  “I suspected that.“ Gracia was quiet for some second and uttered. “guess I might never get a next job.“ she shrugged with a sigh.
“What sort of trouble do you suppose she must've been in.“ Justine squeezed the paper in her palm.
“Maybe a burglar?“ Claire said.
“There's no way any one is going to break in to steal from this kind of place.“ Justine was disagreeing.
  “Might be a stalker or someone she owed.“ Gracia guessed. “From what I can tell, it was a dangerous case.“ she rubbed her nose.
“Yeah.“ Justine nods.
“There must be something here we could find.“ Gracia left them and was searching the room hoping to find something that she prayed should be useful. Her hands reached to where the sack of old clothes were, and was pulling it over. Like she'd wished for, she was gazing at a hardback book. Her eyes were scrutinizing the information on it.
“Girls…” She called on their attention. “We were wrong all this while.“ She stopped looking at the book.
“What's in there?“ Justine wasn't sure if she should take it from her or not.
“The lady in the picture wasn't Marylou Bellamy but Sarah Michigan. Have a look at the passport and the identity card.“ She gave it to Justine. She'd seen them placed in between the book. They saw the face on the card and the name Sarah Michigan boldly written on it.
“I don't understand.“ Claire said. “It was issued on the 2nd of February 1999. It's a year ago.“
“Don't you think maybe she's playing with our minds as she did before?“ Justine uttered.
“I don't think so.“ Gracia shook her head. “Here's a library card. Sarah visited a library alongside coast highway city on the 3rd of march 1999.“ she read the address.
“So this place wasn't more than 300 years after all?“
“It is. What I found out is that we mistook the lady on the picture to be Marylou.“ Gracia said.
“I'm confused. If she went to the library on the 3rd of March, she would still be alive. It says here that she's 47 years.“ Justine blinked.
“And then what about the children.“ Claire said.
“I don't believe this. This must be her deceiving us. You saw what happened earlier, right?“ Justine was in disbelief.
“We should search this place for maybe a clue.“ Gracia let out a sigh.
“Clue on what?“ Justine said.
“Clue on who this two women are and why they are tormenting us. Why they killed our friends.“ Gracia intones.
"Their ghosts." Claire was correcting.
"Yes, their ghosts." Gracia said.
Just then, a voice that sounded like it was from another realm, blurted out. “You're the victim of your own circumstances. Chew the skin off!“ Then there was a scream of a lady in terror and the sound of some feet stamping violently on the floor. A minute after, a cry from a toddler spoke aloud. “Mum please stop hurting yourself, please stop!“
“What's going on.“ Claire was crying.
“Shhh, listen. She's trying to tell us something.“ Gracia said.
“Who.“ Justine asked.
“Sarah…”