The House on the Hill

Chapter 9: Another One Gone

Ava lay unconscious on the couch with her mom nervously playing with her hair and stroking Ava's face with the back of her hand. Quinn watched sadly from the doorway, wanting to say something but stopping himself hesitantly.
"Stacey?" Quinn finally said. Ava's mom slowly looked up into Quinn's eyes. Her eyes were swollen from crying.
"Yes?"
"I know this has been hard for you..." Quinn nodded apologetically. "But everything will be alright. We are determined to find this thing that's haunting your family. We are determined to take it down."
Stacey's face softened and she slowly smiled appreciatively for the first time in days. "Thank you, Quinn."

Just as Quinn was about to say something, the door to the basement slammed shut.
"NOO!!"
They heard a yell from inside along with the sound of the doorknob rattling.
"Nick!!" Quinn yelled as he raced to the door and tried to open in from the outside.
"Quinn?" Nick's muffled voice sounded from the other side of the basement door.
"Nick, it's me! Can you get this door open?"
"No! It won't budge!!"
"On top of that, our flashlights went out!" James yelled from the other side.
"James!! Harry!!" Stacey wailed as she held the limp body of Ava tightly against her chest.
"Okay, hold on, I'm going to get the crowbar," Quinn said. Just as he was about to move, he heard three horrified screams from inside the basement.

Then everything went quiet.

Five down. Who's next?

"Five down? Oh no, the old man's got them too!!" Quinn said in defeat as he hid his face in his hands.
Suddenly, Stacey stood up from the couch and pointed a finger accusingly at Quinn.
"You," she scolded in a nasty snarl.
Quinn slowly put his hands up in surrendering confusion.
"I-I'm really sorry--"
"You are a liar!" Stacey yelled. "You are a liar!" she repeated. "You said everything was going to be okay!! But everything is NOT okay!"
She took a step closer as Quinn took a step back.
"Why haven't you caught the spirit yet?"
"I'm doing my best, ma'am--"
"NO! No, you're not, because if you were doing your best, you would have caught the spirit by now and you would have prevented this stupid spirit from sabotaging my whole family!!" she took deep, gasping breaths as her breathing slowly went back to normal. She stared at Quinn, who honestly looked like he was about to cry, and her expression softened. "I-I'm sorry Quinn, I know you're trying to help me, but I just can't take it. Why does this stuff happen to my family? I want my kids back!" She sobbed. "I'm sorry for going off on you, but I'm a single mom with four kids. You realize how hard that is by itself, don't you?"
Quinn stepped closer to Stacey and rested a hand hesitantly on her shoulder.
"I know it's hard for you. I'm sorry this is happening. I will try to clear this up as soon as I can..." Quinn's eyes began to water. "And I'm really sorry if you feel like I'm letting you down."
"Oh, Quinn, it's not like that! I just...sometimes I can't control myself. I didn't mean anything I said."
Quinn smiled sadly and realized for the first time how fragile and delicate Stacey was.
"Right, well I think I know something that will help Ava wake up."
Stacey's face lightened up a bit as she looked hopefully into Quinn's eyes.
"You do?"
"Yeah, it's sort of like a tea, but it has special leaves in it. They're called Captivora leaves. They help with injuries caused by unnatural beings. Also warm water will help her wake up. Hopefully open her sinuses so she can get enough oxygen."

...................................................

When Quinn was finished making the tea, he brought it over to the couch and sat Ava upright.
"Drink this, and you'll be better," he whispered as he titled Ava's head up and poured the tea inside her mouth. He paused to let her breath and let her drink more. Ava's eyes bolted open as she sputtered and coughed on the tea she was in the middle of drinking.
"Ava!!" Stacey exclaimed as she smiled widely and brought Ava in for a hug.
"What happened?" she said as she looked around the room groggily, as if she just woke up from a nap.
"That's what we were hoping you could tell us," Quinn said, putting a hand gently on Ava's shoulder.
"What..? I don't really remember anything..."
"Ava, I need you to focus. When you and Brian were in the basement...what was in there with you?"
"What made those scratches on your face?" Stacey added.
Ava scrunched up her face as she tried to remember what had happened.
"All I remember is Brian and I in the basement...he tripped and then...and then...I can't remember what happened after that..."
"He tripped? On what?" Quinn asked.
"He tripped on...wait...no, no, he didn't trip...he..." her voice trailed off. "Something grabbed his foot and.." she gasped as she remembered Brian's horrified scream. "...he got dragged into the darkness..."
"Where's Nick?" she asked suddenly. "Where's Harry and James?"
Stacey and Quinn exchanged worried glances.
     "Well...the spirit got them..." Quinn said, his voice small and quiet.
     "WHAT??" Ava bolted upright from her slouched position. "They got all of them?"
Quinn looked shamefully at the floor.  "Yes..but we will find them."
     "So you're the only experienced ghost hunter left in this whole place!!" Ava pointed angrily at Quinn. "Mom and I are the only ones who haven't been taken in the whole Denver family!!"
     "Ava, you need to calm down," Quinn said, a worried expression clouding his face. "Please, we are the only ones left so we have to work together on this."
     "How am I possibly supposed to calm down!!" Ava stood up from the couch and began to storm up the stairs. "I'm leaving. There's no way we are going to catch this thing. We couldn't do it with eight people. We'll never do it with three."
     "Ava, give it a second chance..." Quinn said, his voice losing hope by the second.
     "I've given this too many chances already. I give up. You will too. There's no way we can get out of this F***ING house, no doors no windows. Okay, well we are all going to die, just accept the d*mn truth," Ava growled as tears filled her eyes. "I'm giving up. I'm done with this...now and forever," her voice quivered as tears streamed down her face. She gave one last look at Quinn and Stacey before running up the stairs. The last thing they heard was a door slam shut and muffled sobs coming from inside.

     "Well, I guess it's just you and me..." Quinn gave a weak smile. Stacey sighed deeply and relaxed her tensed shoulders. 
     "Ava's always been dramatic," she returned the weak smile. "I guess she got it from me."
     "This is terrible isn't it," Stacey said after a long pause. "This spirit. How are we going to catch it by ourselves?"
Quinn stayed silent. He didn't know the answer.

A silence filled the room.

     "Have you had any other cases like this?"
     "Not at all like this," Quinn said as he stood up and paced back and forth. "This is by far one of the strangest cases yet."
     "Why do you think the spirit is stealing my kids?"
     "Well, he's not just doing it for fun, that's for sure. There has to be a reason behind this. Now several times people mentioned an old man...does anyone you might have known come to mind when I say "old man"?"
Stacey fell deep in thought...
     "No...no one in particular.
     "Hmm...." Quinn hummed. "That's odd. We really don't have much to go off of here..."
     "You know, I think since we can't find the spirit, we should try to open the door...maybe we can call in some backup from other ghost hunters and stuff," Stacey suggested.
     "Hm...that's not a bad idea," Quinn nodded. "It's worth a try."

The two walked over to the door...or at least where it used to be. Stacey gently rubbed her hand against the sealed door.
     "Wow...I-it's solid, hard wall!" she said in disbelief. "How did the wall just...grow over the door?"
     "...I don't know....but I do know that the spirit can use it's supernatural powers to posses things...you know, candles, doors, lights...stuff like that. This one must be really powerful to be able to posses a whole wall...that also means it's most likely powerful enough to posses a living human..." Quinn said, feeling the wall over the door. "I don't think we're going to get this open."
     "W-well...we'll try anyways," Stacey stuttered as she grabbed hold of the handle and yanked. "H-help me, would you?"
     "Oh, yeah, sure thing," Quinn said as he stepped next to her and wrapped his hands over the door handle.
     "Okay, we're going to pull with all our might on three...ready?"
     "Yeah.."
    "One...two...three!"
The two pulled the doorknob with all their strength but the wall was solid over the door.
     "Let's brake the wall!" Stacey suggested suddenly. "Do you have a hammer?"
Quinn's face lit up.
     "I do, actually!"
He grabbed his hammer from his bag and gripped it tight around the handle.
     "I'm gonna bust open this door in three.."
Stacey braced for impact.
     "Two..."
Quinn gritted his teeth together in suspense.
     "Three!"
As soon as he swung the hammer at the wall, every light in the house went off. Quinn lowered the hammer in confusion.
     "Did you turn off the lights Stacey?"
     "N-No," Stacey quivered, afraid and lost. "I can't see anything! What's going on?"
     "I don't know??"
     "Mom?" Ava shouted from her room. "Why are the lights off?" 
Quinn set down the hammer and was just about to feel around for his flashlight in his bag when the lights came back on.
     "Oh," he sighed in relief. "Must've been a power shortage."
He turned around to get his flashlight in case it happened again, when he realized his bag with all his equipment was gone. He turned to Stacey, only to find that the hammer he had set down had disappeared.
     "What the...? Where's my stuff?"
Stacey looked around, bemused and a bit frightened. Suddenly, the lights went out again.
    "Oh no, what's happening?" Stacey quivered as she hung on to Quinn's arm.
    "I don't know!" Quinn panicked. Suddenly, he heard Stacey gasp. "What?"

Silence.

     "There's something grabbing my leg..." she whispered.

All of a sudden, Stacey screamed as she let go of Brian's arm and fell to the floor with a thwack!
     "Stacey!!" Quinn yelled, bending down and searching for her in the dark. Instantly, the lights flickered on again. Stacey let out a horrified shriek. The last thing Quinn saw was Stacey being dragged into the darkness before the lights flickered off again. 
     "NOO!!" Quinn wailed as he fell to the floor.

Six down. Who's next?