Ghost Story

Chapter 11

"I feel a very strong presence here. A male presence," Sarah said. "Smoke. There's a lot of smoke."

"He died in a fire when he was eighteen," Emma said.

"Yes." Sarah suddenly turned around. "He's attached to you, Emma. His previous tether was this house, but it's not anymore."

Emma smiled. "That sounds like my Killian."

"I feel a lot of love," she said with a smile. They continued the walk through the house, but Sarah hesitated when she got to Emma's door. They all looked at her weirdly.

"What's wrong?" David asked.

"He's in there. He knows we're here, and he's not happy about it," Sarah explained. A shudder ran down Emma's spine.

Father Matthew grabbed his rosary beads. "What are we dealing with here?"

"Nobody's in danger. He wants to protect her." Sarah looked at Emma. "He's not going to stop."

A shudder of fear rolled through Emma for the very first time since the second or third day of being in the house. She wrapped her arms around herself as Father Matthew opened the door to her bedroom.

"We will do it in here. The energy is the strongest," Sarah explained.

Father Matthew opened his bible. "Everyone join hands, and don't let go."

Emma reluctantly did so and held both of her parent's hands. As Father Matthew began reading prayers, Emma felt sick to her stomach. The lights began to flicker and fear joined the uncomfortable churning.

"You don't belong here," Sarah said. "Go to the light. Leave this house and everyone in it alone."

Father Matthew continued the prayers. He continued to pray, and just as he finished, the lights flickered for the last time before they came back on. Sarah closed her eyes and breathed heavily. "It's done."

Emma's heart stopped. One thought ran around wildly in her head. 'He promised. And now he's lied.'

The energy in the room had lifted and was lighter than ever. It felt as if all the oxygen had been sucked up out of the room. Everyone had left the room except for Emma. She stood there, almost paralyzed. Tears threatened to fall, but they never did. A sharp ache was in her chest and she felt abandoned.

That evening, she sat on her bed with the recorder open. Her lights were turned off and her camera was recording on night vision. "Killian? Are you still here?" She asked, but there was no response, which brought tears to her eyes. "You promised me!" She yelled in a whisper. "You told me you wouldn't leave me!"

She shut her camera off and closed the recorder. As she laid down, tears fell onto her pillow. She knew she shouldn't have gotten her hopes up. She knew she shouldn't have gotten involved. She knew she shouldn't have fallen in love.

The next day, Emma went shopping with her friends. She thought that it would help distract her from her broken heart. Neither of her friends or her parents knew about the strong connection she had with the ghost that lived in her house. She wanted nothing more than to have him hold her in her dreams. She wanted to hear his voice. She also wanted to smack him and tell him that he was an idiot for thinking that he would be able to stay with her. She wanted to smack herself for letting herself get hurt. Again.

Over the next few days, she finally got enough strength to read more entries from Killian's journal. Emma knew that reading his journal wouldn't help her get better, but she found herself going back to it more often. She read all the entries and almost cried when she got to the last one.

March 30, 1849

Gold and Father have gotten along for the time being, but there has been an evil glint in his eyes. No one else seems to notice, but I do. Father, Mother, and Liam are going into town this evening, and I have a bad feeling in my stomach.

Because Liam is now older, he teases me about my journal. I have been hiding it in a trunk in the basement, along with my drawings. I couldn't risk anything happening to my books. They are all I have.

Last night, I had a dream that was different from the ones of Milah. Instead of her, I dreamt about another beautiful girl. She was a few years younger than me, but still perfect. I could see her clearly, but she wasn't wearing clothing from this time. However, she did have blonde, curly hair. Her vibrant green eyes bore into mine. Her smile could light up a thousand rooms. It made me wonder who this woman was, and more importantly, where I could find her.

The entry had taken her off guard. Destiny had planned that she would be in his life, in one way or another. That entry was the very last in the book. He died sometime after that. 

Emma held Killian's book close to her chest that night. She had run out of tears long ago. Her head pounded and she could tell that her eyes were puffy. There was a knock on the door before it slowly opened, letting in the light from the hallway.

"Emma, honey," Mary Margaret said sadly. "I haven't seen you this sad since you and Neal broke up."

"He's gone," Emma finally choked out. "And it's all Dad's fault."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"Nope."

"Do you want to be alone?"

"Nope."

Mary Margaret laid down next to her daughter and let her feet hang over the side. Emma turned over and let Mary Margaret hold her. Neither of them said a word. The only sounds that could be heard were Emma's occasional sniffles and the crickets outside. Eventually, the lights went off downstairs, but David never came to see Emma. She could hear his footsteps going up the steps, but they disappeared on the carpet in the hallway. She was very upset with her dad. But how was he supposed to know that he tore apart two connected spirits?