Dark Secrets [COMPLETED]

Chapter 15: More Than You Know

I should've known something was wrong when I walked in through the front door to find Mom, Carlos, Robert and Roger all sitting in the living room together. They stared at me as I came in with my eyebrows raised.

"What's going on?" I asked.

Carlos rolled up a sleeve on his blue Hawaiian shirt and patted the empty kitchen chair they'd pulled up just for me. "Can you come sit down? We need to talk."

Reluctantly, I came over. I sat in the chair, looking to everybody's faces for an explanation. Mom had her head hung down in shame, Robert was as expressionless as ever, and Roger looked as confused and worried as I felt. "What's going on?" I repeated. "What happened?"

"We need to talk about your...fixation."

He tapped the box on the coffee table, and my stomach sank when I realized they were Meredith's journals.

I glared up at him. "What are you talking about?"

"Your mother and I have noticed your fascination with the history of this house," Robert said. "Carlos has expressed concerns as well, that you're becoming obsessed."

Carlos jumped in. "I mean, ever since you found that secret door in your room, you've been talking nonstop about nothing but Meredith Kendrick and this house. And you know that you've been having a hard time sleeping, and then there was the night when you saw someone in the house..."

My face flushed red, although whether it was from shame that they weren't wrong, or indignation at being accused, I wasn't sure. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath to calm down. "Okay, I see how bad this looks. But trust me, it's not just about Meredith. I've been feeling this way for a while. And while wanting to learn more about her is part of it, it's more of an explanation for what I've been experiencing than the cause of it."

"Care to explain exactly what you're talking about?"

I glared at him. "You won't believe me even if I tell you."

"Oh no? Well try me!"

"Well, it started when we first moved here when I was seventeen. I hated Kendrick House from the moment we got here. I don't expect you to understand, but it feels like living in a dangerous place. I had to get out. Then all the shit at my school happened and now I'm back. On the night I came back, I heard a sound. It was like a faint sighing. It led me to the place behind my armoire, which was Meredith's door. I had no idea that door was even there until then! I opened it, just out of curiosity, and then found Meredith's journals inside. I read them, and I'll admit I related to her very strongly. She hated it here too. Then I started seeing things. Having visions or whatever, of her life. Stuff I never would've known any other way, like her mother dying of poisoning or her believing that William Castle killed her grandfather. And I wasn't sleeping when I had these either!

"In any case, I think that these visions are real, and that this house might be haunted by her ghost, because she disappeared and no one ever found her."

There was a long silence as everybody absorbed what I just said. Then Carlos spoke again. "You're right, I don't believe it."

I shook my head, exasperated. "Then why the fuck did you ask?"

"Calista!" Mom hissed, and I rolled my eyes.

"Frankly, I don't care what you think, Carlos, because it's real." I continued. "It happened, and I don't have any other explanation for it other than something paranormal."

"Well, do you have proof for any of this?"

"She does, actually," Roger piped up. Everyone looked at him. "She showed me photos. Right, Calista?"