Return to the Haunted Mansion | BOOK 4

9. Blue

Sprinting into my room without a single glance at my surroundings, I hide myself under my blankets, breathing heavily.

"This isn't happening," I whisper in a chant. "This must all be a dream. It has to be."

The world around me flickers and I've returned to the hospital, everything seeming blurry, beeping in my ear. The room is dark, a single light beside the bed casting a warm glow through the room. A bright moon sits outside the window, blue wisps floating around its edges. A chilling sigh rushes around me and a chill fills the air. I whip my head around, a headache pounding through my skull, and I come face-to-face with the blue tinted Megan, her face showing her frustration.

"Stop it."

"Katelin!" I hear, making me turn the other direction. My mom stands up, groggy from sleeping on the couch-thing inside my hospital room. "You're awake," she says, a bunch of other grateful mumbles tumbling from her mouth as she hugs me. I pull away with a shiver, something not right about this. The blue wispy hue is on her face too, just as it had been before.

She goes into a spiel about what the doctors have done and what they're doing, but my mind is elsewhere. What is going on with me? Why do I keep having these nightmares, and why does it feel like I'm trapped inside my own body while they occur?

Shifting uncomfortably, I scratch at the IV in my arm.

"When am I going home?" I ask, not meaning to interrupt my mom. She pauses a minute before answering.

"The doctors wanted to keep you for a few more days after you woke up to make sure everything's okay with your brain."

I frown. I don't want to be here for a few more days. With a sigh, I relax into the uncomfortable bed. "What happened to the other car?"

My mom shakes her head. "They were fine. There wasn't a scratch on them, surprisingly. It was a miracle."

My brow furrows and I glance out the window. The other person wasn't scathed at all, and I ended up in the hospital? I mean, great for them, but... what's wrong with me?

I shake the haziness off and my mom hands me some water, telling me to drink it slowly. I hadn't realized I was so parched.

I'm discharged the second day I'm awake, the doctors not seeing anything wrong with my brain of my body. I'm perfectly healthy, physically. Mentally, I'm a little cloudy.

Megan didn't show up the entire rest of the time I was in the hospital, but the blue wisps ended up staying. Anytime I closed my left eye or covered it, the blue hue went away, as if I can only see it with one eye. My room was waiting for me when I got back, the dairy on the floor once more. Eleven years ago...

I set my stuff down gently as I stride slowly over to the book, its pink cover seeming to call me forth. The book has a blue hue in the shape of a handprint, sending a chill down my back. I reach down to grab it and the handprint immediately disappears, a small chuckle reverberating around me. Is Megan here?

Goosebumps trailing my skin, I sit on my bed and read through the short entries.

"Why did you go back? I didn't need your help."

I jog my memory with the stories, a cold sense filling the cavity in my chest.

"What do you mean? I went back because of you."

Could this have really happened to me?

Another laugh pulsates around me, my house disappearing. I'm standing in my room from eleven years ago, Megan trembling with anger before me, diary open next to us. She'd read my last entry about her at the mansion. I couldn't wrap my head around all the craziness, so I did what I knew to do: write about it.

"You don't trust me, do you?"

My ten-year-old self squeezes her lips shut. This time, I'm staring at the two of us from my own eyes, blue enveloping me like it had for Megan.

"Do you?" She nearly shouts. I recognize the hurt. She'd only known me for a short time at that point, but... maybe she was so upset... because I was the only real thing she could cling to.

I clutch my sternum.

"Barely," I hear myself whisper. Megan hesitates, clenching her jaw as she takes a step toward my tiny self.

"What?" She snaps.

"Barely," I tell her, unable to look her in the eye. At that, a fire lights in her eyes and I see her physically cave in the slightest, eyes watering. It's barely noticeable at first.

"Thought so." She turns away, her fists clenched at her sides. "You don't understand how lonely it is."

"Why?" I heard myself ask, guards up and guilt wrenching my body.

"Who are you talking to, Kat?"

My dad makes the younger me jump, but I knew he was coming. I remember. This couldn't have really happened... It couldn't have.

The world flickers.

"Um..." My young eyes flick to Megan. "Myself."

This couldn't have been real.

The room pulses.

"Well, keep it down, would ya?"

The air is knocked from my lungs and I drop to my knees.

"Sure, dad," I hear myself say as he closes the door.

"You're believing," I hear, the airy whisper filling the space.

"You can distrust me all you want, but don't come back tomorrow," Megan warns the younger me as my chest continues to constrict. "They'll be making a plan and you need to be as far away as possible, idiot," she snaps, adding the insult to make me feel like she doesn't really care what happens to me.

I gasp, unable to breathe as I fall to the floor, my cheek against the cool wood.

"What's the plan?"

"Just don't go back," she pushes angrily.

A blue figure appears before me, dropping her bloodied head in my line of sight, red hair pooling around her as the wisps devour her skin.

Megan.

"Promise?"

"I should have never warned you," Megan says, her bloody sneer turning into a sadistic smile.

"Promise."