Haunted Souls

Chapter 8

Mom,

Weird things are happening here...really weird things. I don't know if it's safe anymore. I'm scared. Nico is, too. He's been so stressed lately, aggravated. He's not himself and I think it's the castle that's doing it to him.

I know I grew up with something eerily similar when grandma lived with us. I don't remember much but have that one memory I've told you about. The one you have on video. The possession.

When grandma left again for Scotland everything got better. But now I think it's back again. It's affecting my family and we need help. Please tell me what to do. I'm running out of options. My baby got hurt. I don't have the money to move.

Please get back to me soon. I need help.

Love,

Will.

Will set his pen down with a sense of desperation. This was his last chance. This was his last shot. If this didn't work... He failed his family. Failed the love of his life. Failed his children.

Maria had finally fallen back asleep, her small head rested against his chest. Tears still moistened her soft cheeks around the bandages, marking the pain she had felt. A pain that never would have happened if they hadn't moved here.

Will didn't believe in ghosts. He still didn't. But he believed in demons, believed that there were entities that could hurt, that could possess. He had witnessed it himself as a small child. The raw fear it fed on, the rage of emotions that took over. How could he ever forget? Most nights it haunted his dreams, haunted his soul.

Nico himself had something haunting him, but it wasn't an entity. It was his past. But it did just as much damage.

Will had first met Nico when they were fifteen. Highschool sweethearts. When they first met, however, Nico's life was anything but picture perfect. And Will could tell with just one glance. Dark bags under dark eyes, long sleeves on the hottest of days, messy hair and uncared for skin. Dark eyes... Dark eyes that were as dead as those six feet under.

Just the sight of Nico had sent dread running into Will's stomach. But in that dread, butterflies emerged.

It was love at first sight. Both would agree, but they never knew why. Something about the other boy caught their attention, caught their heart and soul. Kept their eyes glued together.

Love hit. It changed Nico for the better, changed him into a good man. It changed Will, changed him into an understanding man. Together, they adopted their first daughter as soon as they were married. A marriage that would last decades.

But like all marriages, they had their fights. They had their rough spots. They had instances when they thought it was over. But something always pulled them back together. Maybe they were soulmates. Maybe it was just love.

Whatever it was, it bound their souls as one. Two haunted souls, together fixed.

But now their life was once again thrown upside down.

Will got up from the old desk and started to pace, rocking his baby in his arms. His Maria. His daughter. He needed to keep her safe. But how could he keep her safe from something he couldn't touch, something he couldn't see?

How could he keep her safe from something he wasn't even sure he believed in?

With a dark heart and a shaky conscious, Will went downstairs to tell Nico what he had never explained before, the connection he had with this castle. The connection that might explain what happened to Maria, what Nico saw their first night there.