A Key of Blood

Chapter 6

"Remember that night, the sleepover? The night before I left the town for good?"

Serena nods slowly, taking what Daniel just said into account and revising the situation. 

"The story which you had told us that night, its true, there was a woman haunting the house."

"B...But that was just a story that I made up!" Serena exclaimed, sounding nervous, she tried to explain about the story which she had made up but when she opened her mouth, no words came out.

"The problem is that we saw her, from what I can gather, you may have accidentally made a story which relates to the real one."

Serena looks at Sean for confirmation, he nods in return. Everyone stopped talking as the waitress came to pick up the empty plates and hand them each a scoop of ice cream. Daniel read the waitress tag, it said Misty. "It's on the house, so here I thought that both of you were on duty."

"Taking the day off to spend some time with an old friend." Was Sean reply, he turn his head to look at Misty and she gasped.

"Are you alright dear? You don't look so good."

"I'll be fine, excuse us." Misty gave one more look at him before leaving, Teresa had already begun eating her share of the free dessert.

"As always, he's not fond of these things, so please don't pay so much attention to him." Serena helped Sean explain his situation to Teresa who look like she doesn't really care about what's happening.

"Anyway, the murder case was not solve to this day which I think may be the reason why she haunts the house, probably in look for her murderer."

"Actually I want to know more about this town's dark part of the history, I hope both of you can help me, after hearing your story, maybe we can spend a night at your old house? Perhaps this weekend, that gives us four days to prepare. What do you think?" Teresa suggested.

This time everyone at the table were staring at Teresa, Sean's mouth opened wide, as if he had wanted to say something. After experiencing some eerie feeling being in town for only a day, Daniel certainly did not feel like wandering looking for ghostly beings. Solving the town's dark history is one thing, but what Teresa is asking is something he would rather not be involved in.

"Come on, think of it as an adventure, maybe its someone faking the haunting, who knows?"

"Daniel, please tell me that your friend is joking." Sean began.

Daniel shake his head in reply and sigh, "Teresa never joke about going on adventure."

"We'll just have to do it then, since we promised that we'll help you, but how about we start collecting information about the town history first?" Serena said, she had probably figured that there won't be able to argue with her.

"Great!" Teresa's mood almost immediately lighten up. "So we should adjourn the meeting for now, rest up for the day and start scavenging information tomorrow."

"Since when did this meetup became a meeting?" Sean asked, feeling confused. 

Daniel patted on his shoulder, feeling sorry for having dragged him into this mess. The four of them left the diner and headed their own direction, Teresa excused herself and went shopping, Serena and Sean had other businesses to attend to, leaving Daniel alone to wander the streets.

Halfway walking along the streets, he felt tired and decided to went back to the inn. The door to his room was unlocked when he was sure that he had locked it.

He entered the room cautiously, scanning the surrounding as he placed his shooting hand on his firearm. He could make the choice to call room service but the intruder might be gone by then. It was only afternoon but the room was dark because the curtain was closed, he hadn't touch the curtain since he checked in and it was opened all along therefore someone must have close it.

He edge closer to the window, door unclose, in case he needed to make a quick getaway. When he finally reached the window and opened the curtain, the afternoon light shine through the window into the room, lighting up everything. It was then that the door slam shut loudly, making him jump.

"What...." He stopped mid-sentence, because something was on his bed, under the blanket. He can see the outline, his mind was running through the possible possibilities.

He pull the blanket away from the bed in one quick movement, the next moment he moved a step back. There was a shirt on the bed, it was his shirt that was supposed to be in his luggage and it was wet, like someone had worn it and ran non-stop for hours as the shirt was soaked through. Not to mention that there was wet hair on the pillow, it was also wet and it appears to be woman's hair. 

Suddenly, he felt a presence directly behind him, making him shudder, he stood completely still as his body froze from fear. It felt like minutes for him but in truth it it was only a minute, when he finally recompose himself, he turned and gasped.

There was nothing behind him and he realize he was sweating real bad, his shirt was almost soaked and he had scare himself witless over nothing. 

When he turn to look back at the bed, he stare at it in disbelief because the hair and the shirt was gone. It was there a moment ago and now it wasn't, either his mind was playing with him or someone or something was. Objects don't suddenly appear and disappear.

Daniel walked over to the window and looked out, two days of being scare was enough, he had enough with whatever was toying with him. He wasn't prepare for these kind of things before, but now he'll be better prepared. 

He's gonna start digging on anything that he can get his hand on, this town was definitely not normal, perhaps it was the reason why his parents left. It felt as if something or someone wants him to leave and never return, but he never backs away from a mystery, especially one that is threatening.

Regardless of what it was, now he has a purpose apart from it being a job. He's willing to bet that it was Fate that lead him here, he has a part to play in this town, rather it is rescuing it or destroying it, he's about to find out.